Choni

Choni is the femslash ship between Toni Topaz and Cheryl Blossom from the Riverdale fandom.

Canon
FACE-OFFS Cheryl and Toni meet at the Ghoulies vs. Serpents drag race as Cheryl takes over the flag prompt from a bemused, but nonchalant Toni. Their later re-introduction goes far worse as Cheryl demeans the Southside High students, who have been transferred to Riverdale High following the closure of Southside High. Following Jughead's article, Toni, inspired by her grandfather, leads the protest against Pickens Day, the celebration of a man who slaughtered the indigenous Uktena people who have the rightful claim to Riverdale and today exist as the Serpent community. Cheryl's mother confirms the horrible crimes of General Pickens at the behest of her great-great-grandfather, Barnabas B. Blossom, and Cheryl, horrified at this, goes and stands with the Serpents in protest. Taking a stand against her family's gruesome acts, Cheryl looks on in reverence and admiration as Toni speaks.

SUPPORT When Cheryl lashes out at the core four, Toni calmly confronts Cheryl and sees beyond Cheryl's defences. Cheryl balks at Toni's kindness, but starts letting her guard down when Toni persists in knowing the pain behind Cheryl's evil facade. Cheryl opens up to Toni and shares with her how Cheryl fell in love when she was younger and Penelope branded her a deviant, tearing Cheryl from her love Heather and crushing her as she began to hid her true feelings. Toni tells Cheryl that Penelope is completely wrong and that Cheryl is deserving of love and Cheryl lets herself receive Toni's comfort.

ROMANCE Cheryl and Toni start hanging out at Thistle House and are very flirtatious around one another. Cheryl asks Toni to be her emotional support at her late father's will reading, where she faints when her late father seems to enter the room. Cheryl finds out that it's her long lost uncle and keeps Toni around, inviting her to family dinner. Cheryl invites Toni to join the River Vixens and confesses to her inner circle that she's afraid to be alone in the house, fearing for her life in the face of her mother and uncle's scheming. Toni is sympathetic and Cheryl admits that she had to invite several girls over for a slumber party to have Toni over in the house. They almost kiss, when a loud crash wakes and scares everyone.

The attempt on Nana Rose's life has Cheryl confess to Toni that she fears she might be next. Toni later goes looking for Cheryl at Thistle House and is told by Penelope that Cheryl's been sent off to a Swiss boarding school. Toni is sure Cheryl's in danger and enlists Josie and Veronica's help in confronting Penelope, but to no avail. Nana Rose calls Toni at school to inform her that Cheryl's with the 'Sisters' and Veronica figures out that it's the Sisters Of Quiet Mercy.

With info from Kevin they lead a rescue mission through a secret tunnel leading to the facility and break into the screening room where a despondent Cheryl dares not think that Toni has really come to her rescue. Shaken out of her reverie, Cheryl runs to Toni and hugs her and they also kiss for the first time, before escaping with Veronica through the tunnels. Following her ordeal, Cheryl's out for vengeance, but oddly relaxed given what she's been through and happy to be with Toni, at school, out in the open.

During the musical episode, as Cheryl stars as the lead, she and Toni hang out and enjoy themselves, until the murder. When Cheryl's pulled out of the musical by her mother, with Toni's encouragement, Cheryl stands up to Penelope and takes Thistle House for herself and Nana Rose. Following Midge's death, Cheryl sings at her funeral and is livid, giving a speech where she states that she is adamant at finding whoever's responsible. Meanwhile, Toni and the Serpents get busy protecting Fangs once it's published he was having an affair with Midge. They escort him out when he's released from prison to protect him from an angry mob, but Fangs is shot.

Cheryl's attacked by the Black Hood at her house, but manages to get out to her quiver and shoots him in the shoulder with an arrow, leading the Black Hood to flee. During the chaos of the Riverdale riots, Cheryl is contacted by Jughead who needs her help. Penny abducted Toni to threaten Jughead and he rushes to save her, with Cheryl in tow. Toni is released and she and Cheryl huddle together, relieved to be together again. The three of them go to the Whyte Wyrm, where Cheryl seems to join in allegiance with the Serpents. They later witness FP carrying a limp, beaten Jughead and are horrified. Luckily, Jughead is fine in the hospital, and Cheryl sets the legal emancipation from her mother in motion with Attorney McCoy, providing her with Nana Rose as her legal guardian.

Cheryl learns from Penelope that the Whyte Wyrm is being raided and warns Toni, Jughead and Archie. They all escape in time and seek refuge at Fred Andrews' house. Toni puts forth that Cheryl be honored for rescuing the Serpents and Cheryl is made an honorary Serpent, receiving a cherry red Serpent jacket from new Serpent leader Jughead, as Toni proudly looks on.

JUNIORS Following the harrowing years she's had, Cheryl and Toni motorbike across country together for three months. They return in time for Cheryl to throw a last day before summer ends pool party, where she tells Toni for the first time about what happened at Sweetwater river in the winter. Cheryl tells Toni she lost hope - that Archie saved her life and she wishes she could do something to help him stay out of prison. Once Fangs gets intel that the Ghoulies have Hotdog, Toni and Cheryl join the Serpent boys and Betty on a mission to retrieve him. They walk into a trap and to protect Jughead, Cheryl shoots an arrow in Malachi's shoulder as a warning and they manage to get Hotdog.

They help Veronica stop Hiram from ruining her speakeasy opening by helping her find evidence of the Ghoulies working for him. They later find themselves involved in the dangerous board game sweeping the town, Gryphons and Gargoyles, when Jughead’s investigation into it involves the Serpents. When Toni and the other Vixens suffer from the mysterious seizures going around town, Cheryl nurses her back to health and asks her to move in with her, to which Toni says yes.

TENSIONS

While Riverdale is under a town wide quarantine for weeks, Cheryl and Toni entertain themselves by becoming cat burglars and stealing from the rich people around town. When they return home one night, Toni tells Cheryl that she loves her and Cheryl returns the sentiment. Their fun is short lived when Jughead declares a no crime law for all the Serpents, even though he secretly gives Fangs a pass for selling drugs. Cheryl and Toni ignore this rule and break into the Pembrooke, where they steal an expensive egg and Cheryl leaves a lipstick mark on Hiram’s portrait as a calling card. When Jughead finds out, he kicks Toni and Cheryl out of the Serpents, and has to kick Fangs out too, when they call him out for his hypocrisy.

When Cheryl tries to help Kevin move forward with Moose by reading a blind item suggesting someone in the RROTC is in the closet as a way to encourage him to come out, Toni confronts Cheryl for basically outing him, as well as acting too blasé about how much losing the Serpents hurts Toni, because they were her family and legacy. Cheryl sincerely apologies, telling Toni that she’s the most important person in her life, and she will do whatever it takes to fix things. She apologizes to Moose, gives her interview spot at her family’s legacy school, Highsmith College, to Toni, and finds a bunch of girls around school to form a new gang, which Toni names The Pretty Poisons.

Between adjusting to living together and differing opinions on their new gang, tensions begin to rise between Cheryl and Toni. When Toni tells Cheryl that Jughead insulted the Pretty Poisons and called them a vanity project for Cheryl in an attempt to get Toni to rejoin the Serpents, Cheryl and the other girls confront Sweet Pea and Fangs and beat them up when they belittle them. Toni doesn’t approve of using the Poisons for petty vendettas and reminds Cheryl that she’s a leader, and not to use them without her permission again. But when another fight breaks out between a Poison and a new Serpent under Cheryl’s watch, Toni threatens to suspend Cheryl from the gang, while Cheryl threatens to not let the gang use her house for meetings if she does. Toni ends up making a deal with Veronica for the Poisons to work security for her at her speakeasy without discussing it with Cheryl, who later declines the invite on to join them.

In an attempted to reconnect, Cheryl books them a Spring Break ski trip to Mont Blanc, but is disappointed when Toni informs her that she’s already made plans to go camping with the Poisons without telling her. Their tiff is interrupted when Toni gets a call from Veronica to go work, but when Cheryl shows up with freshly baked snacks to make peace, she finds Toni i having fun and singing karaoke with Veronica. After learning that Toni has secretly been paying Nana Rose rent and trying to get her attention, Cheryl shows up at the speakeasy when Toni is working its casino night, making a show of casing the place, so that Toni will stay after closing at catch her pretending to steal from the safe. The confrontation leads to the two of them having sex in Veronica’s speakeasy after hours, and then finally agreeing to talk about their issues now that the tension has been eased. Cheryl feels like Toni would rather spend time with the Poisons than her, while Toni feels like Cheryl doesn’t like someone else having the power with the Poisons, which Cheryl denies. She also says Cheryl’s house doesn’t feel like it’s her own and that maybe they moved in together too fast. Cheryl says if she feels that way, then she should move out.

Cheryl decides to channel her angry and heartbreak at their breakup into a musical, and has Kevin change his planned choice to Heathers, which she’ll star in. She attempts to appear as if she doesn’t care, but when Toni joins the musical as a choreographer, she grows petty, ignoring her instructions and even engaging in a dance/sing off with her. When the Farm throws a cast party, Cheryl suspects most of it sulking and watching Toni, but when Evelyn informs her that Toni is wearing red to school the next day, she confronts her in the hallway and tries to tell her she needs to leave the school. After the confrontation, Toni sings Dead Girl Walking and leads Peaches N’ Cream and Sweet Pea to the auditorium for a revenge hook up, but stops it before anything can actually happen after she imagines Cheryl singing to her. Toni then goes to Thistlehouse to try to work things out with Cheryl. When she asks her what love was like in her family, Cheryl explains that it was “all or nothing, pure adoration or distilled hate.” She says that Jason was her only light growing up until he died and her life was dark again, until she met Toni, but lately, it’s felt like she’s losing her. Toni assures her that she’s still here and it’s not too late for them to make it work. They sing Seventeen and kiss, reuniting.

THE FARM

When Betty approaches Cheryl for help infiltrating the Farm - a cult run by Edgar Evernever that's slowly taking over the town by recruiting new members - Cheryl gets hypnotized into believing that she's speaking to her dead twin brother Jason, and joins the cult in an attempt to continue seeing him. After Toni learns of this turn of events, she attempts to remind Cheryl that Jason is dead by showing her a video of his murder, but when it doesn't work, she instead resorts to seducing Cheryl to stay at home instead of going to a meeting at the Farm. When Edgar's daughter Evelyn finds out about Toni's meddling, she first threatens Toni to back off, and when that doesn't work, she forces Cheryl to break up with Toni or lose Jason again. When Cheryl tries to break up with Toni, Toni says she won't let her, and suggests there has to be a way for Cheryl to have both of them. And that way is for Toni to join the Farm too, but she does it as an undercover agent for Betty, with the plan of taking the Farm down and getting Cheryl back.

However, Toni is quickly turned and becomes a genuine member of the Farm with Cheryl. Their dedication is put to the test when Edgar says they are not allowed to run for Prom Queens as Farm members, but any doubts they express are erased by a new round of hypnotism by the time Betty next tries to get through to them. It isn't until Betty discovers that the Farm is harvesting organs from its members and Cheryl realizes that Toni is in danger, does she truly snap out of it. She saves Toni from surgery just in time, but fears they won't be able to outrun the guards chasing him; she tells Toni she loves her and forces Toni to leave on her own, while she stays behind to fight the guards in an attempt to give Toni enough time to escape. When Toni returns to Thistlehouse and tells Penelope what happened, Penelope poisons Toni, knocking her out. While still at the Farm, Cheryl discovers that when she thought she was talking to Jason, she was actually speaking to his corpse, that Edger had taken from his grave. When Toni comes to, Nana Rose informs her that Penelope has her other friends held hostage, but Toni's first priority is saving Cheryl. She rounds up the Poisons and Serpents with plans to charge the Farm, but Alice has already helped Cheryl escape with Juniper, so Cheryl and Toni have an emotional reunion at their home. When Cheryl finds out what Penelope has done, she and Toni decide to take gathered Poisons and Serpents to go save their friends.

SENIORS

Due to Polly and Alice disappearing with the Edgar and the Farm, Cheryl and Toni end up taking care of Polly and Jason's twins, Juniper and Dagwood, but unbeknownst to Toni, Cheryl hasn't quite healed from her time in the Farm as well she's acting. In fact, she took Jason's corpse back from the Farm and has been keeping it in Thistlehouse's chapel all summer, so she can continue talking to him like she did at the Farm. Despite her continued deteriorating mental health, Cheryl strikes up a rivalry with the school's new principal, Mr. Honey, who is much stricter than the previous principal, and doesn't bend to Cheryl's whims. When he cancels the annual Back to School dance due to the deaths as Junior Prom, Cheryl and Toni throw a party for their classmates at Thistlehouse instead.

When Toni hires a nurse named Darius to help take care of Nana Rose and the twins, Cheryl becomes paranoid that he'll discover her secret, and she becomes convinced he has when she notices Jason's body has been moved. After Darius informs them that Thistlehouse has a rat problem and that he went down to the chapel, Cheryl fires him on the spot. She later finds some of those rats have been lured to Jason's body, and Toni walks in on her trying to fix the damage they've done to him. Toni forces Cheryl to bury Jason's body again, but Cheryl isn't ready to let him go again and uses a doll to try make Toni think Jason's spirit is haunting them for burying him. Toni sees through Cheryl's antics, but plays along on Halloween night, where Nana Rose informs them both over a Ouija board game that it's not Jason in the doll, but Cheryl and Jason's triplet Julian, that Cheryl absorbed in the womb. When Toni relents out of frustration and agrees to let Cheryl bring Jason's body back, she confronts Cheryl about why she's still trying to scare her with the doll, to which Cheryl admits she was before, but she's not anymore and that Thistlehouse must truly be haunted.

Cheryl becomes increasingly paranoid about the Julian doll to the point that she starts skipping school to stay home and keep guard. Toni eventually gets her to leave the house, but when she comes back to find the doll has been moved again, she tries drowning it, only to get a call at school the next day that Dagwood has been rushed to the hospital after almost choking on a ping-pong ball. When Cheryl gets home, she discovers her Aunt Cricket, Uncle Bedford and Cousin Fester waiting for her. She faints and wakes to Toni at her bedside, and together they're informed that Cheryl's family is there to discuss selling the family business. Cheryl initially refuses, but Toni reasons with her, that a fresh start might be best. However, as soon as she agrees, her Uncle requests to visit the chapel, which causes Cheryl to kick them out. Cheryl and Toni later wake to strange noises in the house, and when they investigate, they find Bedford in the chapel, having discovered Jason's body. He calls Cheryl sick and attempted to harm her, until Toni hits him in the back of a head with a candle stick, accidentally killing him.

Sensing Toni's guilt, Cheryl assures her that she was only protecting her and didn't set out to do any harm. She devises a plan to dump Bedford's body in Sweetwater River, which will soon freeze over. However, Toni discovers that Bedford's wife Cricket has been staking out Thistlehouse because she thinks that they did something to him, making it impossible for them to move his body undetected. Cheryl comes up with another plan, inviting Cricket and Fester over for Thanksgiving diner and tricking them into thinking they've just eaten Bedford's body in the meat pies and thus, it will never be found. Cheryl and Toni cuddle on the couch later that night after dumping Bedford's body in Sweetwater River, celebrating successfully getting away with murder. Cheryl tells Toni that she loves her and is grateful to her, and Toni returns the sentiment.

When Mr. Honey forces Cheryl to go see the school's guidance counselor, Mrs. Burble, due to her troubling attendance, she finally breaks down. She confesses to having and talking to Jason, that she's crazy and how she believes she's being haunted by the brother she absorbed in the womb. Mrs. Burble assures her that she's not crazy, but simply grieving, and suggests that someone is attempting to make Cheryl think she's going crazy by moving the doll around the house when she's not home. She sends her to get a test done to determine if she really did absorb a twin in the womb, and tells her that she needs help with the Vixens, so she can focus on herself, but otherwise, she thinks she's doing well considering all she's been through. Cheryl waits until she's with Toni to read the results of her test, and after Toni assures her that she loves her no matter what, Cheryl is elated to discover that she never absorbed a twin and that the doll isn't really haunted, but rather someone must really be moving it, and whoever it is will pay. She later discovers that it was Penelope, who has been secretly living in the walls of Thistlehouse while on the lamb. Cheryl holds a makeshift trial to decide what to do with her, and Penelope confesses that she was jealous seeing Cheryl reunited with Jason when she couldn't be, and wanted to ruin it. Cheryl decides to lock Penelope up in the bunker as punishment, and later decides she's finally ready to let go of Jason. She gathers Toni, Archie, Jughead, Veronica and Betty at Sweetwater River to give him a vikings funeral, lighting his body on fire and setting it adrift. She tells Toni she wishes she could have met him for real because he was a good brother.

HEALING

Mr. Honey hires a new coach for the Vixens, Miss Appleyard, much to Cheryl's chagrin. Her attempt to get the Vixens to strike until the coach is fired falls apart when Mr. Honey threatens to ban them from Prom, and only Toni stands with Cheryl. She eventually locks Miss Appleyard in her office, and she, Toni, Veronica and the other Vixens perform Cherry Bomb at the football game. Veronica asks Cheryl to go into business with her, selling maple rum at her speakeasy and Penelope's old Maple Club, which Toni helps with.

It's at the Maple Club that Toni meets Nick St. Clair, a rich boy from New York that previously roofed and attempted to sexually assault Cheryl. When Toni asks why Cheryl disappeared from work earlier that day, she tells her about what Nick did to her and that even though she thought she was over it, seeing him again triggered her. Toni understands, confessing that something similar happened to her before she moved to Riverdale, and that she got through it with a lot of help, which she wants to give to Cheryl. Later, Nick comes back into the Maple Club, and Toni lures him into a room, where she drugs him and has Fangs and Kevin film a tickling video of him, that she uses to blackmail him into never returning to Riverdale or coming near Cheryl again. Cheryl thanks her for tackling yet another one of her traumas, and acknowledges how lucky she is to have Toni.

When Veronica starts suspecting her half sister Hermosa is scheming on behalf of their father, Cheryl and Toni come up with a plan to catch her spying red handed. Toni meets her at the speakeasy first, pretending not to know her, and sets up part two of the plan, which involves Cheryl meeting them another night, and pretending to invite her for a threesome. When the three of them get back to the motel room, Veronica is waiting there to confront her.

After Mr. Honey denies Kevin's attempt to perform Hedwig because it's too sexual in nature, Cheryl and Toni attempt to convince him to change his mind, and perform Sugar Daddy in Pop's. However, the song ends up proving Mr. Honey's point that it's too sexual, and he threatens that anyone that performs a song from Hedwig will be barred from Prom. The gang end up coming together to support Kevin and put on a Variety show at the speakeasy, where they play songs from Hedwig.

FAMILY DRAMA

With senior Prom approaching, Cheryl attempts to organize a dinner for her and Toni's families, which Toni shoots down. She says that while she's out to her grandparents, they're not the most supportive and they'd probably be uncomfortable at a "big gay dinner party" and that it might even be a good idea to tell them that Cheryl is only her friend, which Cheryl is very upset by. When Toni visits her Nana to tell her about Cheryl, her Nana reveals that she already knows because Cheryl already stopped by. They get into a fight due to the violent history between the Blossoms and the Serpents/Uktena tribe, but even after Toni tries to assure her that Cheryl is nothing like her family, her Nana still declares she's not allowed to date a Blossom. When Toni confronts Cheryl about going to see her Nana behind her back, Cheryl calls Toni out for lying about why her grandparents wouldn't be supportive; she thought it was because she's a lesbian, not a Blossom. When Toni tells her that her Nana doesn't want them to be together, Cheryl says she hopes Toni will still go to Prom with her. And though Toni shows up a little, she does, much to Cheryl's relief. They become Riverdale High's first openly gay royal couple when they win Prom Queens, but their high is short lived, when Toni later reveals she can't go back to Thistlehouse with Cheryl. Cheryl is confused because she thought Toni chose her, but Toni says it was just for tonight for now. Cheryl understands that family is the most important thing and thanks Toni for coming because she'll cherish the memory forever. Toni thanks her for understanding, promising that her Nana will come around in time. Cheryl pretends to believe her, but ends the night crying in Nana Rose's lap, believing that she and Toni won't end up together because the Blossom curse has finally come to get her, and that she's destined to end up alone.

Toni apologizes for not going home with Cheryl at school, but Cheryl assures her it's okay and things will work out. Cheryl attempts to prove herself worthy of Toni's Nana's approval by trying to right some of her family's wrongs, starting with selling part of their land and having it declared sanctuary grounds for the Uktena people. But when the Blossom Board members, including her Aunt Cricket and Cousin Fester, don't agree with her proposal, she goes to Penelope for help getting them to listen. Penelope instructs Cheryl to take a weekend getaway to give herself an alibi and promises to take care of it. So Cheryl invites Toni away for the weekend, but when she comes back, she discovers that Penelope has poisoned the entire Blossom board, leaving Cheryl in full control.

Cheryl and Toni celebrate the last day of school with their friends and perform their duties as senior class president and vice president. But come graduation day, when Cheryl witnesses Toni showing her Nana around school and hears her Nana tell Toni she's doing their family proud, Cheryl realizes that she can't let Toni make such compromises for her. The next night, she informs Toni that she's not going to go to Highsmith College with her, because she plans to stay in Riverdale and rehabilitate the Blossom image, so that one day, she might be worthy of being with Toni. Toni tries to talk her out of it, telling her that her Nana is slowly coming around, but Cheryl's mind is made up. She tells Toni she loves her with every ounce of her soul, but she doesn't want her to have to choose between her and her family; maybe someday she won't have to but until then... Toni doesn't want to hear Cheryl say they're breaking up, so Cheryl promises her she never will.

TIME JUMP

It’s been seven years since Cheryl and Toni broke up, Cheryl is now a reclusive painter living in a rebuilt Thornhill, while Toni is finally the Serpent Queen, a guidance counselor at Riverdale High, and pregnant. When Archie returns to town, Toni gives him updates on everything he’s missed. She shares that when she got back to Riverdale after graduating college, she went to Thornhill to check up on Cheryl a few times, but always got the cold shoulder, until her most recent recent visit, when Cheryl requested to paint her and she agreed. While Cheryl painted her, she revealed how well she kept up with Toni’s life since their break up and though visibly upset by her pregnancy, she said she won’t ask who the father is. Toni told her that she still talks to her family about Cheryl, that they recognize all she’s done to atone for her family, and that she thinks they’d approve of them being together now. But Cheryl insisted that it’s not enough, and besides, she’s cursed to be alone, which is why she’s been rebuilding Thornhill, in an attempt to stay safe from that curse. She told Toni she’s glad she’s happy because she deserves to be, and they spent the next twelve hours in silence. Cheryl sent her the portrait she painted a week later and Toni hung it up in the Whyte Wyrm, which she now owns. When Archie questions why Cheryl didn’t keep it to remember their relationship, Toni dejectedly says she guesses Cheryl didn’t want it, but unbeknownst to her, Cheryl painted an exact copy of the painting of Toni to keep for herself.

Hiram’s latest attempt to own Riverdale means that Riverdale High is in danger of shutting down, unless they can become a private school. In order to do that, though, they need funding, to which Toni decides to ask Cheryl. She invites her to Pop’s retirement party and asks her there, but Cheryl declines, convinced that it will start out good but end up corrupted like everything she tries to do. But when Toni asks if she’ll do it for her, to prove that their love meant something to her, Cheryl can’t refuse. When Toni announces the good news at the town hall meeting later, she credits the accomplishment to a very generous donor and sends Cheryl a smile.

With budgets set but still tight, Archie requests more money for the football team, which Toni refuses because she’s had it earmarked for something else. When she makes a show of revealing the new Vixens squad, complete with her own HBIC shirt like Cheryl always used to wear, the school secretary, Miss Bell, calls Cheryl to inform her of the development. While Cheryl is initially upset by the news, she later shows up in Toni’s office, warning her that she’s playing a dangerous game. Toni just smirks in response, her plan to lure Cheryl out of the house successful. But her attempt to bring out the old Cheryl works a little too well, because while she agrees to be co-coaches with Toni after her dance off with a Vixen ends in a draw, Cheryl calls a second practice without informing Toni. It leads to a confrontation between the two, where Toni calls Cheryl out for her past antics and selfishness, and tells her that while she wants Cheryl to be one of the good guys, helping with their fight to save Riverdale, Cheryl needs to take a long look at herself first.

When Kevin and Fangs announce their engagement to their friends, they also reveal that they’re the fathers of Toni’s baby, and that the three of them are having it together. Cheryl confronts Toni for not telling her, and Toni admits she wanted to, but wasn’t sure if they were even friends anymore after their recent fight. When Cheryl expresses confusion about why Toni would agree to this arrangement, Toni reveals that in college, she found out she has a condition that makes it harder to get pregnant the older she gets, so when Kevin and Fangs started talking about surrogacy and adoption, she volunteered. Cheryl expresses her sympathy and understands better, but still thinks doing this with them is a bad idea. Toni tells Cheryl she still cares about her deeply, and if she wants, they can still try to make a relationship work despite her situation, but Cheryl doesn’t see how that’s possible.

Cheryl later vents to her art appraiser, Minerva, about everything she’s just learned. She feels like Toni is flaunting her happiness in her face and has stuck a dagger in her heart. Minerva suggests that she can either step aside or infuse some chaos, to which Cheryl chooses the latter. She decides to throw a key party at her house and invites all their friends, to which Fangs brings a date at Kevin’s insistence. Once everyone else has chosen a key and left with someone, Cheryl ends up with Toni’s key, claiming fate has brought them together again, while Toni suspects Cheryl manipulated the evening so they’d end up together. Cheryl shows Toni a gothic looking nursery she’s set up in Thornhill for Toni and her baby, because she can’t count on Kevin and Fangs, due to how fragile relationships like that can be. Toni is horrified by the gesture and scheming, feeling like Cheryl is trying to trap her, and tells her that she’d never bring her baby into that house, that she’s done trying to be her friend and that she should have left their relationship in the past, where it belongs.

MAKING AMENDS

Cheryl feels immense guilt and regret for what she’s done, and while she acknowledges that Toni may never forgive her, she tries to help Kevin and Fangs repair their fractured relationship. Fangs admits Cheryl’s antics revealed far bigger and deeper issues that were already there in their relationship, but Kevin isn’t interested in dealing with them yet. Later, when he is, he admits that walking out on Fangs and their baby is the worst thing he’s ever done, to which Cheryl can sympathize, because her own regrets from that night haunt her too. She advises Kevin to go to Fangs and try to make amends. When it doesn’t work out because Fangs has moved on with Moose, Cheryl invites Kevin to join the ministry she and Penelope have started at Thornhill, claiming it’s helped her to feel the best she has since the key party.

When Toni, who has been on bed-rest recently, goes into labor during a Josie and the Pussycats concert at the Whyte Wyrm, Fangs declares that because they’ve been preparing for a home birth, they can handle it, they just need another set of hands, to which Cheryl immediately volunteers. After helping Toni give birth to her baby in the back room of Pop’s, Cheryl informs Kevin and all their waiting friends that Toni had a boy. Later, when Toni and Fangs introduce the baby to everyone and reveal his name is Anthony, named after her grandfather, Cheryl is much more somber and can’t seem to look at them.

Once Toni returns to work as a guidance counselor, she meets with a young girl on the football team named Britta, who reveals she’s gay and getting teased for it. When she later learns that Britta’s parents have kicked her out and she’s been living at the high school, Toni works to try to find her a temporary home, until Fangs suggests she ask Cheryl, who he swears has really changed since the key party. Though Toni is hesitant at first, she eventually goes to Thornhill and tells Cheryl about Britta, saying their stories are similar and she thinks she can help her. When Cheryl expresses her surprise that Toni would trust her with something so important after everything, Toni reminds her that she loved her and felt Cheryl’s love for her, and therefore knows the huge capacity for love Cheryl’s heart has. Cheryl says she’d be honored to take Britta in.

RIVERVALE

A parallel universe called Rivervale - where everything is the same as it is in Riverdale, except that the supernatural exists - is introduced. Just like how things were left in Riverdale, Cheryl is on the outs with the rest of the community, and is butting heads with Archie, in particular. A sacrifice needs to be made to ensure a plentiful harvest and Cheryl is concocting a plan to make it, but needs the cooperation of everyone in town. She runs into Toni on a walk late one night, who, at Fangs' insistence, is in the forest with the intention of leaving Baby Anthony out all night to toughen him up and stop his crying. Cheryl offers to try to calm him down, and as soon as he's in her arms, he stops crying. When Toni asks how she managed that, she suggests it must be her calming perfume. She offers to mix up some for Toni if she'll agree to help her with her plan, and Toni does. They, along with the rest of the town, later sacrifice Archie in a ritual killing.

When Nana Rose is close to dying, Cheryl readies for another ritual, this time to be done in private, with only the help of her friend and fellow witch, Sabrina Spellman. Cheryl reads the stories of Abigail Blossom and Poppy Blossom to Nana Rose and Britta in preparation, and it's revealed that Cheryl's ancestor Abigail and Toni's ancestor Thomasina, were once in love in the 1890s. Abigail ran a school for girls in Thornhill and Thomasina arrived looking for a teaching job, keeping her dark past a secret. Though they butted heads over what was best to teach their students, Abigail quickly agreed to Thomasina's way of thinking and they fell in love. When a policeman came looking for Thomasina, she admitted to murdering her abusive husband and fleeing, and Abigail invited her stay with her in Thornhill forever. However, when Fen Fogarty, an ancestor of Fangs, arrived with a story that Abigail's twin brother's dying wish was for his sister to marry him, Abigail felt it was her duty to do so. Thomasina, not trusting Fen's intentions, urged Abigail not to agree until they investigated him properly. When they did, they found objects of witchcraft and proof that Fen murdered Abigail's brother. But Fen caught them and forced Abigail to marry him by threatening Thomasina's life, and although Abigail agreed and later killed him on their wedding night, he had already murdered Thomasina. With his dying breath, Fen cursed Abigail to an eternity of lonely misery. Due to this curse, it's revealed that both Poppy and Rivervale's Cheryl are actually Abigail, who was forced to create new identities over time to hide her immortality. The ritual they finally perform switches Abigail's soul with Nana Rose's, so that Abigail, now in a mortal body, can finally die, and she's reunited with Thomasina in the afterlife.

Rivervale resets itself, bringing dead characters - including Toni - back to life. Cheryl is no longer Abigail, and everyone thinks the previous supernatural events in Rivervale were a dream. A second reset occurs, and now, Toni and Cheryl are dating again, when Toni was previously with Fangs. Jughead learns that the Rivervale universe is becoming unstable, causing glitches, resets and anomalies, all while Archie is going around killing people to prevent Jughead from destroying this universe. He kills Cheryl before his rehearsal dinner, leaving her body for a heartbroken Toni to find, who then breaks the news to all their friends. Once Jughead figures out how to keep Rivervale alive and functioning on its own, Cheryl and the other characters Archie killed are once again brought back to life, and Cheryl and Toni are happy and reunited.

SUPERPOWERED

Nana Rose manipulates Cheryl into reading a spell that summons Abigail Blossom's spirit and allows her to inhabit Cheryl's body and get revenge against the descendants of the people that burned her at the stake - Archie, Betty and Jughead. Abigail's plans for revenge are quickly sidetrack when she sees Toni, who looks exactly like her long lost love, Thomasina. After grilling Britta for information, Abigail uses her as an excuse to meet with Toni in her office, claiming she plans to adopt Britta. They later meet at the Whyte Wyrm to discuss it further, where Cheryl asks if Toni knows anything about her ancestor Thomasina, and gets upset when Toni says something negative about her. But before she can say more, Fangs joins them, giving Toni a casual kiss in greeting, triggering a flashback of his ancestor Fen, who killed Thomasina, and revealing their relationship to Abigail. She wonders how this happened, and gets so upset when she learns of Baby Anthony's existence that she quickly excuses herself. Toni can tell something is off with Cheryl, noting to Fangs that she didn't seem like Cheryl to her.

Abigail vents to Nana Rose and Britta about what she's just learned, and when Nana Rose expresses gratitude that Abigail can now stop being distracted by "Serpent trash", Abigail locks her up as punishment, declaring her mission to get revenge on her killers' descendants, and to do it with Thomasina by her side. Her plan is to summon Thomasina's soul and put it into Toni's body, so that they can kill Fangs together, but she needs a drop of Toni's blood to do it. She brings a bouquet of roses to Toni, who pricks her thumb on them and opens up to Abigail about the recent troubles in her life while she secretly collects her blood from the cut. Jughead, Betty and Archie eventually figure out that Abigail has possessed Cheryl with the help of Britta, and they burn her at the stake again, allowing Cheryl's spirit to return to her body, and vanquishing Abigail's spirit to the Julian doll.

While Cheryl and their other friends are dealing with newly developed superpowers and trying to figure out how to defeat the town's newest villain Percival, Toni is dealing with a messy custody battle. Kevin, after a few concerning incidence orchestrated by Percival, files for sole custody of Baby Anthony from Toni and Fangs, demeaning their lives as gang leaders too dangerous. The case causes a lot of friction between Toni and Fangs, who can't agree on how best to handle the case or how they want to raise Anthony. Toni confides in her social worker friend, Janet, about how bad things have gotten between them, but when Janet tells her that the best thing Toni and Fangs have going for them in the case is the fact that they're a couple united, Toni proposes to Fangs without revealing her motives. Meanwhile, Heather, Cheryl's junior high crush, has returned to her life and is helping her navigate her new identity as a witch.

When Toni informs Cheryl of her engagement to Fangs, Cheryl is shocked, but Heather interrupts before she can say much more than a forced congratulations. Cheryl introduces her to Toni, who remembers her from the story Cheryl told her back in the day. Toni invites them both to her bachelorette party and they accept. Later, when Heather assures Cheryl it's natural to be upset about an ex's wedding, Cheryl insists that she's not upset, only to then show up at Kevin's apartment, asking if he wants to curse Toni and Fangs' relationship with her. They cast a spell to put a wedge in their relationship, allowing the universe to decide what that wedge should be. When she visits Toni and Fangs' apartment, she discovers that Baby Anthony has suddenly developed colic, keeping him up all night crying, and when Cheryl realizes it's a consequence of the spell, she immediately leaves so she can reverse it. After Heather helps her ensure Baby Anthony is okay, she asks why Cheryl is so upset, to which Cheryl admits that it's partly because a part of her has been holding on to the idea that she and Toni are fated to reunite, and also because she's scared to open herself up to another person and be hurt again. She and Heather attend Toni's bachelorette party, and after share a kiss, agreeing to just keep it casual.

As the wedding approaches, Kevin drops the custody case and Percival brings biblical plagues to Riverdale, forcing the gang to up their efforts to take him down. Cheryl suggests they kill him and is met with no support. But after Toni asks Cheryl to officiate the wedding and Cheryl agrees, she declares she's going to give Toni the best wedding present ever: she's going to kill Percival for her. However, the spell she and Heather try backfires, and instead only harms Nana Rose. When it's discovered that Percival wants Anthony, the gang devise a plan that ends in his capture, so that the wedding can go forward. While it goes off without a hitch, Percival escapes his bindings and evokes the final plague, death of the first born. Half the guests at the reception start dropping dead, including both Fangs and Toni, who Cheryl immediately runs to and holds as she dies.

Cheryl and the rest of the living go through the motions of grieving their friends to make Percival believe he's beaten them, all while Heather has called Sabrina Spellman to town, who will possibly be able to bring back the dead. In order to do that, they must temporarily die and go into the Sweet Hereafter and convince their loved ones to return. Cheryl doesn't hesitate to volunteer to get Toni, and tacks on Fangs, Nana Rose and Dagwood too. When she arrives in the Sweet Hereafter, she finds Toni with Fangs and a grown up version of Anthony, and tries to convince them of what's going on. Neither Toni nor Fangs believe her when she says they've died, and Fangs accuses her of making it up to try to ruin their relationship because she never got over the fact that Toni chose him over her. Cheryl keeps her composure and tries to appeal to Toni's motherly instinct, telling her that her real son is still a baby and needs her, and she would never abandon him like this. When Cheryl and the others return without any of the dead, Sabrina reveals that there's another way to bring them back: Cheryl has the power of the phoenix and she can bring them back against their will. Just as she's performing the spell to bring them back, Toni notices that their photo albums are practically empty and says she thinks Cheryl was right, and they don't belong there. Cheryl succeeds in bringing them all back from the dead.

END OF THE WORLD

After the gang finally defeats Percival, he leaves them with one last problem to overcome: Bailey's Comet is now heading straight for Riverdale instead of passing by it, like it was supposed to. In a search for answers, Cheryl summons Abigail's spirit from the Julian doll and asks for help on how to defeat the comet and break the spell keeping everyone trapped in Riverdale. Abigail agrees to help on one condition: she gets to spend time with Thomasina. When Cheryl agrees, Abigail tells the story of how Thomasina once told her that comets are made of ice, and so, Cheryl should be able to use her pyrokinesis and phoenix powers to melt the comet. Cheryl shares the good news with the group, and then later tells Toni about Abigail's request, because they'll need two vessels to fill it. Heather preforms a ritual that puts Thomasina and Abigail's souls in Toni and Cheryl's bodies, and they run off to have sex. Once they're through, Toni and Cheryl wake up in bed together, back in their own bodies, and both unconvincingly deny remembering what happened between Abigail and Thomasina. Before she can leave the bed, Cheryl thanks Toni for helping, and they share a smile when Toni play it off by replying she'd do anything possibly save the town.

Abigail thanks Cheryl for fulfilling her wish and tells her that to break the binding spell, she just needs to undo the knots in a giant rope. When Cheryl and Heather are doing just that later, Heather tells Cheryl that if she manages to melt the comet, that she will return home to Greendale. When Cheryl asks why, Heather reveals that she saw something during the ritual earlier: Cheryl and Toni are forever soulmates. Cheryl argues that Toni is with Fangs, but Heather assures her that's only the case for now, but that Cheryl and Toni's fate is written in the stars and transcends time.

Later, when Toni is hiding in the bunker with Fangs and a grown up Anthony, and Cheryl is alone at Pop's, waiting for the comet, the whole group sings a song from their places scattered around town. Toni and Cheryl harmonize a section together, thinking of one another as the world threatens to end.

BACK TO SCHOOL

When Cheryl's powers fail to melt the comet, it hits Riverdale, forcing Tabitha to use the last of her life force to transport everyone back to 1955, where they're teenagers again and memories of their lives in the present have been erased.

Riverdale High is recently integrated and Toni is trying to get the story of Emmett Till's murder published in the school's newspaper, the Blue & Gold, but is shut down by Principal Featherhead. When Betty says she's going to publish it anyway, Toni suggests that she read a poem about Emmett Till on the announcements instead. Betty points out that Cheryl, as class president, is in charge of the announcements and the Blossoms also shut down one of their attempts to speak out about Emmett Till on the news channels they own, but Toni says that even though she doesn't know her well, she has faith Cheryl will help them. They approach Cheryl in the bathroom and ask for help, and she agrees. She creates a distraction with the school secretary, leaving the mic open for Toni to sneak in read her poem. When Principal Featherhead punishes them, Cheryl plays innocent, and Toni is intrigued by her.

The school is putting on a sock hop, at which Kevin is performing. Toni approaches Cheryl as she's selling tickets and flirts with her until she gets flustered, then suggests that she should have her friend Fangs play the dance instead, since he's much cooler than Kevin's band. Cheryl declines, not wanting to attract greasers to the event. The next day, Cheryl notices that nobody is buying tickets to the sock hop anymore and asks Dilton Doiley why. He says the Serpents, led by Toni, are threatening to egg anyone that goes, causing Cheryl to seek Toni out at The Dark Room, a coffee house for beatniks, and tell her off. Toni invites her to sit and hang out so she can hear Fangs play and they can get to know one another. The following day, Toni and Cheryl are selling sock hop tickets together, with Toni threatening people into buying some. When she asks Cheryl if she's told Kevin he's being replaced by Fangs, Cheryl says not yet, but she will, doing a little flirting of her own by using some of Toni's lingo she picked by hanging out with her. At the sock hop, Toni convinces Cheryl to dance with her to a fast song, catching the eye of Principal Featherhead, who later notices Cheryl staring longingly at Toni from across the room, and subtly threatens her by reminding her that God intended for boys and girls to dance together.

When Penelope grows concerned by Cheryl's painting of a half naked women, she tasks Julian (Cheryl's twin brother in the 50s) with setting her up with a boy and he approaches Archie, encouraging him to ask Cheryl out. Toni invites Cheryl to come see her spoken word poetry performance at the Dark Room, but Cheryl declines, at least until Archie asks her out, and she sees it as an excuse to go to Toni's show after all. At the show, Cheryl zones out during Toni's performance, imagining she's performing just for her and getting turned on as she does. She's so upset when she snaps out of it that she makes Archie take her home, where she forces herself to kiss him and asks him to pick her up for school the next day; she breaks down crying once she's alone inside. That night, she has a sexual dream about making out with Toni, and the next day, makes a big show of walking down the hall holding Archie's hand. After a confusing Sex Ed class, Veronica invites everyone over to her place for a make out party, but when Toni tries to tell Cheryl she doesn't have to try to prove anything by going to it or by parading Archie around, Cheryl snaps at her, telling her to stop making assumptions about her. At the party, Fangs draws Cheryl's name but she refuses to kiss him, and Toni ends up paired with Julian, whom she does kiss in an attempt to make Cheryl jealous. The next day, Cheryl lies to Penelope about sleeping with Archie to get her off her back, while Toni admits to Veronica that she's interested in someone and playing the long game.

Cheryl asks Archie to corroborate her lie about having sex, telling him that it will keep her safe from her family. But as a consequence of her lie, their parents decide that it's best that they get married to save Cheryl's reputation. They halfheartedly go through the process of preparing for a wedding for their own reasons, but when Toni overhears them agreeing to run off to California to elope instead, she confront Cheryl and tells her that she'll regret it, because no matter how far she runs, she'll never be able to outrun herself. Cheryl takes her advice and breaks up with Archie, and then finds Toni at the Dark Room to ask her where she should go from here. Toni offers her a lesbian pulp novel, The Cost of Pepper, and advises her to read it and see if any of it resonant with her.

When Cheryl returns the book, Toni invites her to the Dark Room to chat about it, but Cheryl declines because she has cheerleading try outs, something she knows wouldn't interest Toni, as it's too square an activity. Taking it as a challenge, Toni shows up and tries out for the River Vixens, where Cheryl sees Toni's entire routine in slow motion, and offers her a spot on the squad. Evelyn Evernever privately expresses concern about having a rumored lesbian on the squad, but Cheryl vehemently denies that Toni is interested in girls. Meanwhile, Toni's Serpent friend Lizzo teases her about how into Cheryl she must be to try out for the cheerleading squad. Later, Toni catches Evelyn snooping around her locker looking for evidence of her sexuality. When Evelyn tells her Cheryl denied that Toni liked girls and she didn't believe her, Toni demands to know exactly what Cheryl said. Upset by Cheryl's actions, Toni confronts her, telling her that she had no right to do that because Toni isn't ashamed of who she is, while Cheryl explains that she was just trying to protect her. When Toni expresses she's done doing whatever this has been with Cheryl, it prompts Cheryl to finally be truthful about her own feelings; she confesses to Toni that she is attracted to girls and that she's attracted to her.

They go to the Dark Room to talk further, where Toni shares that she's known she was into boys and girls for as long as she can remember, and that her parents caught her kissing her female neighbor when she was a preteen and they kicked her out, leaving her to live with her grandmother, who mostly approves of her sexuality. Cheryl shares a story about Penelope cutting ties with her sister for being a lesbian, and how it made Cheryl wonder if she was like her aunt, but unable to live like her. She explains that her brief bout of dating Archie was about playing a role, but now she's ready for something else, which Toni can dig. Cheryl makes a statement at Vixens practice, assigning Toni to the top of the pyramid and telling Evelyn she can quit if she's unhappy with it. When they're alone in the locker room later, Toni thanks her and asks if she can show her appreciation, to which Cheryl says that would be more than okay, and they share their first kiss.

GOING STEADY

After a secret steamy make out session after a basketball game, Cheryl suggests that she and Toni should go steady. Toni wonders what the point would be since it's not like they can do anything publicly, and when Cheryl says it could just be a secret for them, Toni says it's something only squares do. The next day, Lizzo teases Toni about being a cheerleader and calls her out for always going after closeted girls because she knows there's no future there. Toni also catches up with Tabitha, who expresses disappointment she's not writing for the Blue & Gold anymore, and surprise that she's a cheerleader. After Cheryl assigns all the Vixens to a basketball player to bake for and help with studying, Toni quits the squad, telling Cheryl that it's not what she wants to do or who she wants to be. When Cheryl asks if this is about her asking her to go steady, she says it's not, but that she's not the settling down type and she needs space and time to figure herself out.

Toni tells Clay and Tabitha about her idea to start a literary club for Black students and then she confesses that she quit cheerleading because she only joined because she had a crush on Cheryl, and that's over. When Clay questions what happened, Toni says that she and Cheryl are just too different and it could never work, to which he disagrees; he's dating Kevin, and though it's hard, they make it work. It just depends on how much you like the person. Toni approaches Cheryl to ask her, as class president, about getting money from the school's budget for her club. Cheryl says it sounds like a good idea and she'll ask, but warns her Featherhead will need to approve it and promises to help with any possible fundraising he denies the request. Before she leaves, she asks Toni if she ended things with her because she's white, and Toni admits that was one of the many interconnected reasons and Cheryl understands. At a fundraiser for the basketball team at her house, Cheryl overhears her parents saying racist and unkind things about new player Reggie, and steals the money from the fundraiser to give to Toni for her club, deeming it a more worthy cause. Toni thanks her and then invites her to go to the Dark Room, so they can talk about what trying to be together again would mean.

Between the Vixens and Toni's new literary club, Black Athena, Cheryl is missing Toni because they never get to see each other, and when they do, they have to be far apart. When Cheryl suggest she come to a Black Athena meeting, just to observe, Toni tells her that it's too early, but maybe once the club is more established and settled, she can. Cheryl understands, until she finds out that Clay invited Kevin to a meeting to hear him do a reading. She brings it up to Toni, who can see how much coming means to her, and invites her, loaning Cheryl her copy of the book they're reading that week, Native Son. Things at the meeting start off a little awkwardly, but once Cheryl feels comfortable enough to speak, she shares that some of the racist characters in the book reminded her of her parents. When another student asks Cheryl if this was the first book by a Black author she's ever read, she admits it is, but she's looking forward to reading more, to which Clay offers to give her a reading list. Afterward, Toni and Cheryl debrief, and while they both agree it went well, Cheryl realizes that Black Athena is Toni's space and she should have it to herself, and she'll stick to going to only the public events. She suggests that maybe she can read more books on Clay's list and the two of them can discuss them amongst themselves. Toni likes that plan and invites her on a date to Fangs' concert.

Veronica decides to host a secret show at her movie theater on Halloween night after learning the holiday isn't really celebrated in Riverdale, and Toni invites Cheryl to go and perform, telling her that Halloween is a night for people like them to be free, because everyone else is wearing masks for a change, but they don't have to. Cheryl tells her that it's tradition for her to host a sleepover at her house for the Vixens. But when Midge approaches her to ask if it's okay if she skips the sleepover so she can go to the show and see Fangs perform, Cheryl changes her mind and decides they should go, but only if Midge swears to keep it a secret. Toni is over the moon when Cheryl shows up, telling her it means a lot to her that she did, and Cheryl admits that Toni was right, if they can't let their masks slip on Halloween, when can they. They perform a musical number on stage with Kevin, Clay and Veronica, during which Cheryl impulsively kisses Toni in front of the entire crowd, a move that is met with applause. Later, Toni and Cheryl go on a double date with Midge and Fangs at Pop's, where Cheryl learns that Midge is pregnant, and promises not to tell anyone. Midge comments on their kiss, and Cheryl says she'll claim she was possessed if anyone ever questions her about it. When Toni says she's grateful the four of them were able to be themselves with each other for the night, Cheryl agrees and holds her hand, unaware that Evelyn is watching them from across the diner.

News of Cheryl and Toni's kiss reaches Cheryl's parents, and her father tells her that the only way to redeem herself for her deviant ways is to confirm that all the students on a list they've curated are also gay. When she refuses, he tells her that he'll take away the one thing she cares about, the Vixens. Cheryl immediately tells Toni, Kevin and Clay about the list and that her father and Featherhead are after them. They question who would have snitched on Cheryl, and she realizes it must have been Evelyn, who readily admits to it. Toni, Kevin and Clay come up with a plan for Cheryl/Kevin and Toni/Clay to pretend to date each other so that it will take the heat off of them. When Cheryl points out that hiding her sexuality and pretending to be someone she's not goes against everything Toni stands for, Toni admits it does, but for Cheryl, for all of them, she can live with that. Cheryl tells her father and Featherhead that she will never sign off on their list, and resigns from the Vixens. Toni, Kevin and Clay thank her, knowing how much the Vixens mean to her, and Cheryl laments that in a just world, she would be able to be a cheerleader and love who she chooses, but when given the unspeakable choice, there was no choice, and she and Toni share a smile.

When Kevin and Clay write a musical about Archie’s senior year for their friends to star in, Cheryl and Toni aren’t happy with being glorified chorus girls, nor are they happy when they shoehorns them into a song about all the girls fighting over Archie. Cheryl challenges Kevin to write something more truthful about them, as well as himself and Clay. He later presents them with a song about what it’s like to be in a gay interracial relationship in the 1950s, and the two couples sing it together in the music room, as well as imagine singing it to each other in the privacy of their bedrooms. Cheryl and Toni are much happier with this song, but when Kevin says it won’t be in the musical and was just written for them to enjoy on their own, they decide to drop out of the show because they already do enough pretending in their real lives.

Cheryl and Toni, along with Betty, Veronica, Evelyn and Midge compete for the title of Miss Teen Riverdale, but when Alice discovers that Midge is pregnant, she’s forced to withdraw from the competition and is sent to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Because Cheryl and Toni are the only ones who knew Midge’s secret, they answer all the questions the other girls have, as well as scold Evelyn for her insulting comments. They inform Fangs of what’s happened to Midge, but warn him against trying to do anything about it, since the secret of him being the father might still be safe. Instead, Cheryl sets up a phone call between the two. Ethel takes Midge’s place, and the girls all band together to help her win.

ART & LOVE

After Lizzo shares a copy of her favorite underground lesbian pinup mag, Femme-and-In Magazine, with them, Toni suggests that she and Cheryl do a pinup photoshoot of their own. Cheryl is intrigued, and says she can even paint their favorite picture in the style of their favorite pulp novels when they’re done. They have the photoshoot in the chapel of Thornhill after Cheryl swears nobody in her family ever uses it. Toni develops the photos in the school’s dark room the next day, and shows them to Cheryl, who is very impressed by her talents. Toni insists it’s not hard when her subjects are as stunning as them and tells Cheryl that Femme-and-In magazine publishes amateur photos, but Cheryl playfully suggests they should wait until after they graduate for that. They agree on a favorite and Toni says she can’t wait to see Cheryl’s painting of them. Cheryl finishes the painting quickly, but while she’s at Polly’s burlesque show with Toni and Lizzo, Penelope finds it. When Cheryl goes to the chapel the next day, she finds the painting destroyed and all their photos ripped up. Penelope is smug about what she’s done when Cheryl confronts her, so Cheryl meets Toni at Pop’s to ask if she still has the negatives of their photoshoot. Toni says she does, and Cheryl declares that she’s tired of living at her parents' mercy, that she’s ready to shut them up and shut them down.

Cheryl and Toni development another set of their pictures in the school's dark room with the intention of having them published in Femme-and-In magazine, as a grand coming out that will tarnish Cheryl's parents' reputations. Cheryl bumps into Betty in the hallway a little later, spilling the pictures on the floor, and Betty picks up one of them kissing. When she questions Cheryl about the photos, Cheryl says she's sick of lying and admits that she's going steady with Toni. Betty is not very surprised, and admits to Cheryl that she's the Girl Next Door, the one giving advise in the anonymous newsletter The Teen Mystique. Cheryl is impressed by the admission and honored to meet her, and Betty shares that she plans on publishing a book version of the newsletter and thinks Cheryl and Toni's story and pictures would fit into it perfectly. Cheryl agrees that it would be a better way to come out than in Femme-and-In, and says she'll discuss it with Toni. Betty then asks if Cheryl and Toni would be willing to take photos of her and paint her portrait for the cover of her book, and they agree. They go over to her house that night and do a photoshoot in her bedroom. Later, Cheryl and Toni attend Josie's movie premiere together.

After Cheryl and Jughead team up to expose Cheryl's parents secret life as Russian spies, things in Riverdale start to change. At Toni's suggestion and insistence, Mr. Weatherbee is hired as Riverdale's first Black principal, replacing Featherhead, who stepped down from the position after the Blossoms were taken down. Cheryl challenges Evelyn to a dance off to regain her position as captain of the Vixens, and when she does, she comes out to her squad, telling them that she's going steady with Toni and anyone that has problem with that can leave. The squad supports her, and two other Vixens reveal they're also dating.

Angel Tabitha returns with news that everyone's inherent goodness and actions in the 50s have started to change the future for the better, and that she was able to weave all the different timelines into one and stabilize it, but that she can no longer move people through time, which means that they all have to stay in the 50s. But she can give everyone their memories of their old lives back, and they can choose whether to keep them or forget then. Jughead explains this to the gang, who come to him in groups to watch the tapes of their previous lives that Tabitha has provided. Cheryl and Toni, along with Reggie, Fangs and Dilton watch the tapes last. Once everyone has seen everything and remembers their past lives, Tabitha asks what they want to do with this knowledge. Veronica says they've all been discussing it and asks Tabitha if it's possible for them to just remember the good times they had, but forget things like superpowers, Gargoyle Kings and serial killers. Tabitha says she can do that, reset their memories and only reshare the good. Cheryl, Toni and all their friends gather at Veronica's movie theater and a watch a highlight reel of their previous lives, including Cheryl and Toni's first kiss, to remember.

Back in the present, as an 86 year old Betty nears death, Narrator Jughead lets her revisit a day in the past that she missed, the day of Senior year where they handed out the yearbooks. It's revealed that Toni was senior class president, she published a book called Black Athena, and that she was integral in publishing stories about Black issues and activism in the Blue & Gold. The next day, Cheryl and Toni host an exhibit at the Dark Room, of a project they've been collaborating on all year, called Beefcake Meets Cheesecake, a expansion of their sexy picture/painting hobbies to including all of their friends. Cheryl gives a speech about how their relationship is the most thrilling thing she could have ever imagined, that there's no separation between their art and their love, and calls Toni her partner in all things, before they share a kiss in front of everyone. Narrator Jughead tells Betty that Cheryl went on to become a very successful painter in the future, that she and Toni stayed together and moved out west together; they settled in the Oakland Hills, in a craftsman house, where they lived their lives as artists and actives. They also had a son named Dale, named after Riverdale. When Betty asks how they died, Jughead assures her they died peacefully, after living "full, gorgeous, sexy lives." Later, the gang gathers at Thornhill, where Archie reads a poem he wrote for his friends, where he recalls their past lives, and tells Cheryl and Toni he's glad to see them back together. When Betty dies, she returns to Pop's in is the Sweet Hereafter, where all her friends are waiting for her. Cheryl and Toni welcome her with hugs like everyone else does, and then they a share as kiss as they work on a puzzle in a booth with Kevin and Clay, happy and together, even in death.

Quotes
"We search every damn door until we find her"

- Toni to Veronica about finding Cheryl

"I didn’t want to invite all the girls tonight, but I knew my hideous mother would never allow me to invite just you, it's just ... what I crave"

- Cheryl

Songs
THEIR THEME

i was in love once | BLAKE NEELEY

Season 2
falling short | LAPSLEY

Cheryl tells Toni she only wanted to invite her to her sleepover

Fanon
Cheryl and Toni are one of the most popular ships on the show, and often deemed the one ship that the whole fandom can agree on, though many question the sincerity and motivation some people have for claiming to ship them. By the end run of the show, the Riverdale fandom was largely split between those that liked the early ships (Bughead/Varchie) and those that liked the later ships (Barchie/Jabitha), with Choni often claimed by both sides of the debate.

While Cheryl and Toni's characters were not connected in the comics, some fans were shipping them together on Riverdale before they even interacted, mostly due to the actresses' close friendship offscreen, but also due to Vanessa Morgan saying that she'd most like to see Toni date Cheryl. Due to this popularity, some people argue that Choni getting together was fanservice, but Madelaine Petsch has said otherwise, often telling the story of how she sent the showrunner a post about Choni dating after their first scene together aired, and he replied back suggesting they were already in the works.

Riverdale faced a lot of criticism with how they handled Choni in the early days, from their offensive predatory lesbian storyline used to tease Cheryl's sexuality by having her stalk Josie to the lack of screentime they received once they got together. Madelaine and Vanessa were not shy about sharing how many of their season 2 scenes were cut, including a romantic duet in the show's first musical. The backlash was so strong that the scene was released the following week, and all the deleted Choni scenes were included and hyped up on the DVDs.

But while the writers eventually got better at giving Choni the screentime and onscreen development they deserved, the biggest criticism remained: most of their storylines centered Cheryl, and Toni often felt like a support system to her rather than her own character, an issue that plagued all of the Black characters on the show. Unlike every other main character, Toni's parents were never seen or even mentioned, and she had little to no backstory. Despite Choni fans pleading for better treatment in the form of organized hashtags and tweets, and many empty promises from Roberto that we would finally meet Toni's family, it wasn't until Vanessa Morgan publicly called out the writers' racism in the summer of 2020 that anything close to real change occurred. Roberto promised to do better by Vanessa and all the other Black characters on the show, but ended up blaming Toni's lack of story on Choni's relationship instead of his own failures, claiming their relationship hindered their ability to write for Toni, despite that not being an issue for ships like Bughead or Varchie. Thus, he felt breaking them up was necessary to properly explore her character away from Cheryl. While some shippers were heartbroken by the break up, many were excited for the potential angst of a separation and eventual reunion arc. However, after a promising start to the time jump, things very quickly went off the rails for Choni's story and it took a very long time to get back on track. Some shippers jumped ship after a particularly brutal storyline played out in Toni's last episode before Vanessa's maternity leave, and there was a bit of a division in the fandom between Cheryl and Toni fans as their character were at odds, which continued when Toni returned to the fold and abruptly started dating Fangs.

As disheartening as Toni's relationship with Fangs was, it did eventually turn the tides back in Choni's favor when it became clear to naysayers that the writing for Toni wasn't any better when she was paired with someone other than Cheryl. Many of the complaints fans and non-fans had about the writing for Toni while with Cheryl were present in her relationship with Fangs, if not even worse. That, coupled with the early season 6 episode that focused on Toni and Cheryl's ancestor's love story, reminded fans of just much they were missing Choni, and soon enough, they become the most in demand reunion amongst the fandom, to the point that questions about them dominated the fan portion of the casts' Paleyfest panel. Though Roberto promised that Choni's story would be prevalent throughout S6 and to keep hope alive, it wasn't until the finale that their story really became clear, when it was revealed they were soulmates fated to end up together. After that, Choni became a central talking point in the press again and was deemed by fans and the media alike to be a real highlight of the final season.

Through the many ups and downs the fandom went through, Madelaine and Vanessa's support and enthusiasm for the ship stayed consistent. They were the biggest advocates for Choni from the very beginning, often providing fans with BTS pictures, spoilers, details on deleted scenes, and Youtube videos reacting to fan edits or answering their questions. They were even the ones responsible for getting Choni their first sex scene, when they collaborated with the director to insert one that wasn't in the script. While they showed some support for their characters' other relationships at the time they were together, they always made it clear they wanted Choni to get back together and be endgame.

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 * Toni/Cheryl tag on FanFiction.net
 * Toni/Cheryl tag on FanFiction.net


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Trivia

 * Vanessa Morgan (Toni Topaz) and Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl Blossom) are best friends in real life and met in 2015 when Morgan auditioned for Josie
 * Cheryl and Toni's son Dale is played by Vanessa Morgan's real son, River.