My eyes slowly flutter open as my Mum gently shakes me awake, crammed into the back of our volvo with the rest of my belongings and my little brother Ben, still fast asleep against the window. My pillow has fallen to the floor and I can already feel the crick in my neck from sleeping in the car for so long.

"Come on hun, we're here. Time to see our new home." Mother murmurs into my ear, undoing my seatbelt for me and touching my cheek briefly before leaving my side.

I stretch my arms out before grabbing my bag and climbing out of the car so I can take a good look at the house in front of us. Our new home. The building is with two garages, one big oak tree to the left. The roof is pyramid shaped, covered with grey ceramic tiles, two chimneys on either side of the house. The front garden has rugged long grass, beginning to overgrow the stone pathway leading up to the door.

"Well it's definitely not New York" I murmur under my breath so my parents can't hear me. Yes I had been dragged from our glamorous apartment in New York to live in the dump named Riverdale. My parents had decided that my little brother Ben deserved to grow up in the fucking suburbs, because I turned out so unobedient in the end. Oh, that and the fact my father was going into business with Hiram Lodge, a known criminal I might add. If only my family would actually bother telling me what's going on, but with Ben in the picture I have no hope now.

I shift my backpack and grab as much as I can from the car so I can follow my parents into our new home. Inside the rooms are open and plain, ready to be littered with our precious pictures and decor, I take a peek at the backyard and see the covered pool, which is bigger than I imagined. I allow myself a small smile, before heading upstairs to check out my new room. It seems so empty, nothing but a large double bed and a chest of drawers, but I know how to fill my space. Chucking my things to the side I check the time, 3:07am, because apparently there's less traffic if you travel at night. Considering I haven't even got a mattress I groan at the thought of setting up my room at three in the morning.

I hear my father shouting for me, "May, come and help us unpack the car! The rest of our things will arrive in a few hours."

I roll my eyes but follow my orders, unpacking our car as instructed by our lord and master who is my father. As much as I want to crash on the sofa, it's not worth the ordeal that follows when you don't do as told. Maybe Riverdale will give me an opportunity to get a bit more distance from my father, if he's caught up in this latest dodgy deal I can get away and meet people whose sole purpose isn't to report my every move back to him. It could be a whole new start for me.

I check my phone, 4:12am, great. I can see messages from Lily, my best friend in New York, telling me to call her as soon as I get to this new place and give her a facetime tour of the place. Other messages from friends wishing me good luck, other messages saying how glad they are that I've left and hoping I die in a car crash. Nice.

I thank my lucky stars that I have Sunday to recover before I have to start the tragic school of Riverdale High. I am certainly not looking forward to dealing with the cliches round every corner. My only solace is knowing none of them will know who I am, or who my father is. At least this way I know for now people will like, or dislike me for who I really am, rather than who my parents are.

I crash on the sofa exhausted, closing my eyes ready to get a few hours of precious sleep before a day of unpacking. Yes Riverdale High will hopefully be my new start, as long as no one starts digging into my past.

It's late Sunday afternoon and everything is finally unpacked, my father hates mess so put us to work until everything had a place in this house. Looking round my finished room I catch sight of myself in my mirror; I look a state, hair in a messy bun, brown strands of it falling in my face over my hazel brown eyes, my leggings covered in dust, from where I can't be sure but it's not a good look for me. I rummage through my newly unpacked clothes and fish out my running gear, ready to go for a run and get out of this house for a short time to clear my head.

I try to creep past my parents and out the door but my Dad sees me out the corner of his eye, "Where you headed sweetie?"

"I was just going out for a run Dad, get a quick look around here and stuff." I say sweetly, praying he doesn't try and keep me here to do more chores.

"Okay, I want you back here within an hour, we clear?" He says it like a request but I know better, it's an instruction. A warning.

I nod with a smile before heading out the door into the low sunshine, popping in my earphones and starting up my playlist before heading off down the road, trying to take in our local area and spot any other locals.

I see someone running towards me, clearly on a run same as me, as he gets closer I see floppy ginger hair and some clearly defined biceps. Damn. He smiles as we pass and I nod, wondering if he even noticed that he hasn't seen me around here before.

That evening I ponder that ginger haired boy, I could have sworn he looked familiar to me in some way… Wait, I jump onto my laptop and begin scrolling through my social media until I find him. There, with Veronica Lodge, of course it's Archie Andrews, her boyfriend. Not that I had ever been close with Veronica, she had been one of my schools biggest bullies, and a close friend back in the day. Veronica Lodge was going to be at Riverdale High tomorrow… I just had to hope she wouldn't give too much away about my family.

Shutting my laptop I fall into an unsettled sleep, fretting about starting a new school.

I tap my foot waiting in the principles office of Riverdale High, waiting to be shown around by some goody goody called Elizabeth Cooper. A blonde ponytail walks into the office and I internally groan at the stereotypical girl next door introduces herself as Betty Cooper. She starts to natter on about the schools history and I tune out, smiling and nodding whenever she turns to look at me. The school is nothing impressive, your typical halls and classes. I notice eyes lingering on me as I walk down the halls, undoubtedly wondering who the new girl is and why she would join so far into the school year.

"So what made your family move to Riverdale?" Asks Betty.

I flick my hair casually, "My father has business here so uprooted my family and brought us here."

Betty and I make small talk about Riverdale while she walks me to our first class, till I spot none other than Veronica Lodge in the hall, talking to Archie and some guy in a beanie.

"Well well if it isn't the one and only Veronica Lodge." I say with a wicked grin, walking up to her with Betty hot on my heels.

"No way, May?!" Veronica looks disbelieved to see me in the halls of Riverdale High, "What brings you here?"

I roll my eyes, "I thought you'd know, it's your father who brought my family here. Fathers will do business you know."

Her eyebrows furrow, "Daddy's doing business with your father? I thought those times were behind them?"

I shrug, "Who knows, you know he never let me in on anything to do with business." I notice Archie and his friend staring at me, "You going to introduce me to your friends?"

Veronica laughs, "Whoops, guys this is May, I knew her back in New York, we went to school together for a while." She gestures to Archie, "Holly this is Archie and Jughead. I can see you've already met Betty."

"Jughead?" I ask in confusion.

"Forsythe Pendleton Jones the third, aka Jughead" Says so called Jughead, rolling his eyes. I notice the crown shape of his beanie, with a flick of jet black hair covering his forehead and those green eyes…

I realise I haven't said anything and grin, "Well nice to meet you guys but Betty's got to get me to Chem, right Betty?"

Betty smiles, "Yeah I'll see you guys later, lets go May."

I rush off to Chemistry with Betty, but not without one last glance at the mysterious boy in the beanie.

For a first day at a new school mine was feeling pretty good, considering I had found Veronica and her little gang of do gooders. I spotted their group across the field at lunch and joined them, reminiscing about the time Ronnie had gotten pink highlights and got her Dad to pay off the principle so she could keep them.

"So how come you changed schools anyway?" Asks Archie, who was clearly uncomfortable talking about Ronnie's father.

"My Dad moves around for business deals and I get dragged along too, LA, Ohio, then back to New York and now here." I explain breezily, as if I don't even care, "My Dad thinks Riverdale will give my brother a better childhood anyway."

Betty gives me a sympathetic look and I grimace, "Please no pity looks Betty, otherwise I will tit punch you to save my rep."

The group laughs, thankfully including Betty, and conversation changes to Archie's latest songwriting. I glance at Jughead and we lock eyes, his deep green eyes staring deep into my hazel ones for a few dragging moments, until he half smiles, turning back toward Archie. Face warming, I try to pay attention to what Archie's saying about his latest song inspiration.