Chapter 1: Please, Please, Please (Let me Get What I Want)
Author Note:
This is exactly what it looks like. Riverdale meets John Hughes. The nostalgia of summer time has inspired me to send these kids on a teenage movie adventure. Every chapter will be a song title (or a nod to one) that will fit the part and can be an added extra bonus if you want to listen along! A majority will be the Ferris Bueller soundtrack, but I'll throw some other jams in there too. This one is of course Please, Please, Please Let me Get What I Want cover by The Dream Academy.
Let me know what you think of this kind of story! This will be my major writing project over the summer. It's gonna be an adventure 3
"The more he looks at it – there's nothing there. He fears the more you look at him the less you see. There isn't anything there. That's him." – John Hughes
Veronica Lodge knows life is fleeting. Things come and go. The shoes she bought last season will be worn with a hole by June. The limited time chocolate-strawberry milkshake she currently adores at Pop's will be gone with its dying popularity by next week. Though it would hardly register as a monumental loss. She would have a replacement pair in the mail along with a sip of a classically plain chocolate milkshake before either absences could sting.
Losing things just didn't carry weight anymore.
There was hardly a prick of emotion when Archie danced into her end table, jostling her favorite porcelain mug to the wood floor, almost a month earlier. The mess was brushed up, the coffee wiped clean, and the mug was replaced with a sincere and adorable apology gift from her boyfriend and his two left feet. The new mug which Archie (or more likely Betty) had chosen for its decorated words on the front – "Queen of Everything" – now sat safely by her bedside to avoid another living room disaster. It was inevitable, but one day, the heartwarming replacement would meet its own fate and something else would take its place.
The thought hardly bothered her now. Maybe two years ago when her summers were still spent on the family yacht, her pearls were the absolute signature of her existence, and her father was the untouchable pillar of her life, she would have shed more than a few tears over that mug.
None of that was true now. She wasn't Veronica Lodge princess of a New York pent house or Veronica Lodge only daughter of Hiram Lodge, the giver of any material treasure she desired. That Veronica was fleeting. That Veronica had been replaced.
The sun beats relentlessly on her back. The bleachers scald the skin of her right thigh which peeks out from the edge of her high buttoned shorts. Veronica shuffles, moving to rotate the order of legs, resetting the building of heat to her left side.
June was always a challenge. Black hair, black shirts, black shorts, her personal style was usually the perfect magnet for the sun's rays. On a normal day she would retreat into the school to find the room with the best access to the building's questionably certified air conditioning system, and recover from her near spar with heat exhaustion.
A sharp tang of grass passes by, she breathes the familiar smell in with a deep shudder. Her ears catch the rumble of a mower as it rounds to her side of the field, only to continue along its path and past the edge of her private seating area.
The smell is overpowering and the sharp burn of the sun has become a prickling irritation, yet, she can't bring herself to move.
Right now, if Veronica could freeze herself in this blistering two o'clock sunlight she is sure everything would be perfect for eternity. In this moment she is a Veronica Lodge that she adores. She is the Betty Cooper's best friend Veronica, Archie Andrews's dream girl Veronica, Jughead Jones's fellow debater and companion in apathy Veronica, Kevin Keller's partner in crime Veronica, and Cheryl Blossom's foil and sometimes ally Veronica. Right now, Veronica knows who she is.
She is the Veronica Lodge of Riverdale, and she is terrified.
The lulling rumble of the far off mower halts. A Riverdale High employee saunters away from the tractor, leaving the machine alone in the center of the field. Her eyes follow the figure across the foul lines until he disappears farther than her head can turn. The field is left with an overgrown circle of grass adorning the middle, its centerpiece an overheated tractor.
The preparation for this year's graduation ceremony is weighing heavily upon the school. Veronica is absolutely certain she should be feeling nothing less than relief at the anticipated arrival of the summer. Fling her heels across her room, kick her feet up, and relish in the end of a horrifically smothering junior year. In typical Veronica Lodge fashion she had been ready to shift gears and slowly drift into her favorite mode of relaxation and retreat.
Her exposed knee turns a slight pink in the ongoing process of sunburn. The purple liner of her lips has faded to a dull reminder of the closed press her mouth is stuck in. She anxiously twists the borrowed hair tie from Betty around her wrist as she looks out past the freshly cut grass at nothing in particular.
Veronica can't possibly relax now. Not when everything is so good. She's an experienced and hardened woman. When life is perfect, untouchable, and finally right, it is also at its most vulnerable.
Once again the impeding future is going to threaten everything that makes Veronica Lodge, Veronica Lodge. Only this time the target is not her possessions. The loss of her wardrobe is something Veronica can handle. It is something she did handle, two years ago. Her things are not the problem.
Betty, Archie, Kevin, Jughead, Cheryl – they are the problem.
Eventually they're all going to slip away. Fall out of her life like a fragile mug that was once a treasured piece in her everyday life. The fall would be painfully slow. Different schools, busy schedules, new relationships, shorter phone calls, flimsy excuses, stretches of silence, until finally, she would be left to clean up the mess, alone. And eventually, life would send her a dazzling new replacement as an apology. Attempt to replace people who changed her, into a version of herself that she can truly be proud of – she knows better. Nothing can replace that.
Veronica knew the cliché crisis of the teenager. The friends growing apart troupe was overused and expected, she knew it was coming.
A huffing breath blows upwards and tickles a stray hair from her face. "I am so above this teenage angst," she groans crossing her arms, creating a matching set of tangled limbs.
Sitting in a stressful knot of sweat was not how she wanted to be spending her first days of summer. Usually she could find her way to a clever Lodge-like plan that would help motivate her with its need for organizing and outfit picking. The common contestants – parties, clubbing, dates, shopping – just weren't good enough, and they only applied to herself, and maybe one or two of the group. The issue was all six of them.
The fresh air was supposed to help clear her head. Instead, everything was feeling more oppressive and lonely than before.
Especially the heat.
"Alright! Enough is enough." Shooting up from the metal seat, and clutching her purse she struts away from the sweat covered seat. "Screw summer."
Reaching the surface of the track Veronica starts her walk back into the school. In her relentless stride the poor man returning to the field with his tool box in tow is nearly toppled to the ground. There's only one place Veronica can go now.
Her destination: Best friend.
The freshness of the drop in temperature is an immediate relief as Veronica steps through the door of the Blue and Gold office.
"Hey, B, still working?"
Betty Cooper sits cross-legged at the end desk of the office, which is barely visible under a sea of white papers. The familiar blonde ponytail slides close to the girl's cheek in her curled position as she scribbles something between two sheets.
A slight nod of recognition is given as Veronica slowly shuts the door behind her.
Looking around the room the striking absence of a usual presence catches her by surprise. "Where's Romeo today? Exile from Verona come early?"
The slight scratching of pen on paper meets her ears, as she turns back to her friend.
"Betty?"
The blonde bunch of hair whips backwards. "Yeah, Jug went home early today, he's still meeting us at Pop's later." The chair squeaks as Betty pushes up and stretches her arms into the air. "He's thinking of working over the summer, so he's going to talk to his dad."
Veronica takes note of the added issue to the unity of their group. "That's going to be hard. I mean, with you helping Polly this summer after she graduates."
"It'll be a tight fit, but we'll manage." Betty flashes an equally tight smile.
"God, all we've been doing this year is managing." Veronica huffs swinging her bag onto a table top, letting it press into the keyboard of an old computer.
A shuffle of paper responds sharply nearby. "Well, next week is summer break. We'll have some time to relax."
"Individually, yes. But I'm talking about as a collective." Her hands press into a prayers. "Come on B don't you want one day – one date, with Jughead, where the back of your mind isn't permanently sending white noise about finals, internships, parents, or even Polly and the babies!?
"V!" Betty squeaks, attention suddenly sharp as her eyes swipe across the room. "Polly and the twins aren't a burden for me!" Green eyes pinch closed. "Everything is just… extra hectic, the last few months. Besides, even I know how to relax with my boyfriend time to time." Her eyes open with a new cut of indignation in their color.
"Please –"Veronica squeezes the last syllable out. "Even Archie, who has his life mapped out with the safety net of football can hardly sit still during a one hour movie with me. I swear his hair is going to turn white before he hits twenty."
Her friend lets a breathy chuckle through a struggling smile that favors her right cheek. "Okay, but that's just Arch-"
"And you know as well as I do, that your boy is wound up so tight that he's going to snap like a cheap hair tie by the end of the week. Or, at the very least, that beanie is going to catch fire with the incoming of his future-fretting-meltdown."
Betty's bottom lip worries out of sight as her chin angles into a slight twist of acknowledgment.
Veronica's got her now.
"See! Everyone's on edge! We need a complete out from Riverdale and all of its nonsense!" She paces in front of Betty grappling for her perfect solution. "An end of the year party will not cut it this time."
"So, something like, a vacation? Betty offers.
"No, that won't work. We need quick and we need spontaneous. Something that we can just do." Her wandering ends at the cluster of Blue and Gold desks, allowing her to begin tapping a nail in frustration. "We need something we won't overthink – no planning – just, a sudden…"
The longing of wind pushing her hair back, the sun beating through a window, her friends by her side, the destination unknown- That's it!
"A road trip!" Veronica beams.
"A road trip?!" Betty gapes.
Hands meet hips as Betty's face scrunches. "V, I thought we were at least aiming for a one day kind of thing! A road trip is exactly the kind of thing that needs planning! We were just saying there's hardly anytime this sum-"
Veronica brushes past the argument grabbing Betty's hands. "No, no, no, no! You're right, this is perfect! One day is hardly enough time; we need a full-blown, week long, excursion! Out of Riverdale, no thinking, no stress, we'll just go!" She swears her body is vibrating at the thought.
"No, no, no! Excluding you and me, who else is going to be able to come! Jughead wants to start working this summer, Archie I think– he's starting that renovation project with his dad… God, even Kevin can't go!"
"Maybe they don't think they can go, but we all know they want to." Veronica continues on despite the side to side shaking of Betty's ponytail. "We just need to start the engine and hit the road! Once we're moving everything we thought was a major necessity will be second hand news!"
"We don't have a car," Betty laughs.
"Oh, well. I meant metaphorically but – yes, we totally do." Her smirk must be contagious because Betty seems to be catching her exuberance. "If I recall… You just finished a massive automobile project with Mr. C, apparently there's a conveniently placed vehicle sitting in your garage."
There's no immediate response, the two girls hold their breath and glare their positions across the room.
"This road trip's itinerary not only offers an adventure with yours truly," Veronica angles her eyebrow mischievously with another possibility. "It certainly provides once in a lifetime opportunities for uninterrupted alone time with your very own Llyod Dobler."
Veronica's definitely got Betty Cooper now.
Betty huffs, flinging her hands up in surrender. "Okay! Okay! Even if I liked the possibility of a getaway with everyone, it doesn't matter! Once you ask the group this is going to hit a serious road-block."
A hand is placed over her heart. "Please Betty. If I can persuade you, the queen of plans and preparation, then everyone else will hardly be a speed bump in my momentum."
Veronica reaches for Betty's brown handbag and swings it towards her friend's chest. "Now come on. Let's go to Pop's and test my theory."
The diner is rumbling with noise. With a week left of school every Riverdale High student has come to squeeze into a dimly lit booth. Each minute the soft jingle of the entrance bell echoes around the building, mixing with sporadic laughter and conversation. Flat glass meeting table top clinks create a common rhythm as milkshakes are served for each new patron to arrive. For the six teenagers crammed into a single booth, the summer rush is just as nostalgic as it is hectic.
Cheryl, Betty, and Veronica have fit comfortably together on their side of the booth facing the uncomfortable sandwiched together Kevin-Archie-Jughead side. A single booth was lucky to find in the currently overcrowded establishment, so they were forced to improvise. They each suck down their respective milkshake attempting to smother the heated trek, except Jughead, who makes good work of Kevin's unfinished macaroni side. Kevin's appetite was seemingly lost when he was forcibly pushed into a permeant relationship with the wall, though he continues to sip his drink leisurely. Only Veronica's swirling brown and pink shake has remained full as she becomes distracted with her idea's pitch.
Betty swipes a finger of whip cream from Veronica's glass, and avoids the blank looks of the other teens.
The macaroni tilts from Jughead's fork matching the angle of his curving brows. "A teenage… excursion?"
Two perfectly polished fingers snap nearly an inch from the boy's nose. "Keep those foreboding floodgates closed Cameron Frye." The red velvet nails retreat to move a black strand away from their owner's particularly smug smile. "I'm not your average Ferris Bueller – I actually have a plan."
"So, we've heard," Kevin drawls. "Though you have yet to explain how this monumental event will be executed. But – I have to say – so far, I'm invested."
Cheryl pulls her hair over a shoulder flinging a strand across Betty's eye, leaving the blonde sputtering. "Whatever it is, I'm in!"
Jughead's noodle drops to the table at his girlfriend's now watering eye.
"It sounds great Ronnie…" Veronica perks up at the voice and turns from the brewing nonsense besides her. Archie offers a classic smile. "Just, what exactly is it… that we'll be doing, I mean?"
Her smile shines at the question, the perfect segue to her announcement. Peering over Jughead's arm that stretches over the table towards Betty, Veronica looks to the entire group.
"I propose the theme for this sum-"
"Ah! Watch out you layered rag doll!" Cheryl hisses just as Jughead's elbow brushes into Veronica's glass.
Everyone's eyes dart down as the clang of glass resounds and a melted chocolate-strawberry mixture pours off the table to the floor.
As well as splattering onto Veronica's bare legs.
"Veronica, sorry!" Jughead lunges to the glass now rolling towards the edge.
Betty bunches napkins from the dispenser with one eye squeezed shut, Kevin's hands shoot to his mouth, Cheryl practically climbs up the wall to avoid the spill, and the table jolts upwards as Archie's knees hit the underside in his jump to Veronica's rescue.
Sucking in a breath and nearly ripping the napkins from Betty's hand Veronica waves a hand. "Relax Jughead, no damage." She dabs the napkins across her thighs. "What I was," Her teeth grit together, "trying to say was: a road trip."
"A… road trip?" Archie mimics and Veronica doesn't quite get the look that he and Jughead exchange.
She continues on. "It's an opportunity for us to escape the smothering of life before it becomes deadly next year...just a fun, stress-free trip we can have…" Together.
There is a pause between them.
And then, the muttering of off handed excuses begins.
Work, study, parents, money, the list continues and by the time a diner employee arrives to mob up the mess Veronica's thighs are stuck to the cushioned seat with her sweat and the remains of a milkshake. The whole arrangement is so suffocating that she decides to take the echoing of dismisses into the bathroom.
The sink runs endlessly as she wipes damp paper towels across her legs. A tear slides onto the tile as she bends over to scrub her knee.
Hadn't she stopped crying over spilled drinks?
A sudden creek comes from the bathroom door and Veronica quickly brushes a thumb under her watering eye.
"V?" Betty's voice allows her to relax as she turns to meet the guilty expression of her best friend.
"Even though I thought this might happen – minus the whole milkshake fiasco – I'm kinda disappointed everyone gutted it so quickly." More paper towels are pulled from the black box on the wall as Betty continues. "On our way here I was getting excited just thinking about it, you know, being together with everyone. Having some stupid spontaneous adventure."
Betty runs the towels under the water before handing them to Veronica.
"And…" Betty mumbles. "You were right."
Veronica halts a sniffle and peers questionably at the girl before her. "About what?"
"Jughead and me… I hate it but, ever since we had those guidance counselor meetings, I just – I can't stop thinking about being separated from him." Pink glossed lips tremble. "And now, not just Jughead, but you, Kevin, Archie, Polly, the twins. I should be thankful that I can qualify – but if I do, if I decide to go away to some school…" the thought chokes her voice away.
Veronica drops the damp brown paper and reaches for Betty's hands. "It's like we'll all slip away," she breathes pulling them down.
"Yeah."
Couched over the subtly white of the bathroom floor Veronica feels a weight lift as Betty squeezes her hands.
"But..." Veronica peers up and the sudden glee in Betty's tone. "I was thinking. You said earlier that maybe we just needed to start the engine, buckle everyone in, and then go."
A mischievous smile creeps onto her friend's face.
Veronica voice is giddy. "B, I know I insinuated that we would borrow your dad's car, but I don't think I ever mentioned kidnapping everyone in it."
Betty chuckles. "It was metaphorical V, but I am saying that maybe we just need to hit the gas and worry about it all later."
"Betty Cooper, are you suggesting...?"
"That we throw them in the trunk and go? – then yes, I am."