JUGHEAD
I heave a sigh, adjusting my sitting position for the hundredth time on these uncomfortable metal bleachers. You'd think a fancy school like Riverdale High could afford some better benches. Toni shoots me an amused look. "It's more than half over, Jones. Chill."
"I'm fine."
She rolls her eyes, smirking as I shift again. "I'm gonna step out for a smoke, you want me to bring you back some candy?" I nod, giving her a sheepish smile. The one thing I really love, food. She stands and jerks her head at Fangs who follows her down the nearly empty visitor's section of the gym bleachers. They don't bother moving to the actual stairs, just push through a few kids as they step down the seats. Some "speak to your manager" mothers on the Riverdale side glare at them as they almost walk onto the basketball court.
"We're blue and gold! We're Dynamite!"
I watch the River Vixens cheer after their star player, some tall redhead with ANDREWS stamped across his back, scores again. Sweet Pea looks up at me from the court, miming strangling the Andrews kid behind his back. 'I'll hold him, you punch' I mouth to him. He smiles and heads to the visitor's bench as the Southside coach calls for a timeout. My gaze is drawn back to the cheerleaders as Andrews walks up to a raven haired girl. They kiss, really giving everyone a show. I roll my eyes and pull out a small leather bound notebook from the inside pocket of my serpent jacket. Maybe I can get a little writing done before Toni and Fangs get back.
I've maybe scratched out five sentences when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a blur of blue and blonde slide onto the bench next to me. I look up and see one the Riverdale cheerleaders smiling at me.
"Hello?"
"Hi," she smiles wider, "I know this is weird but can you just pretend to flirt with me for a few minutes?" The raven haired Vixen is watching us, almost staring daggers but with too much curiosity to be truly murderous. Her basketball boyfriend watches too, his jaw clenched tight.
"Making an ex jealous?" I ask, raising a brow at her.
She looks down, cheeks pink, and smiles embarrassedly. She's pretty cute, blonde hair tied into a gently curling ponytail, soft green eyes. "Maybe just a little," she meets my eyes again, "but more so just so they stop looking at me so pityingly."
I nod, "I get that. Alright, we can pretend to flirt if you tell me the story." I lean towards her, cocking my head to the side and try for a winning smile.
"I'm Betty Cooper," she pulls her hair over her shoulder, playing with a few strands, "Archie Andrews, the redhead down there, and I have been next door neighbors and best friends our whole lives. We started dating about four years ago until he dumped me last month for my best friend Veronica Lodge."
"The dark haired cheerleader?"
"Yeah. And the cherry on top is that they had been messing around behind my back all year before he told me. Then he tried to tell me it was my fault he went to Veronica," she shakes her head, giving a quick eye roll. "Okay, I'm going to touch you arm, if that's okay." She says it so seriously that my shock and anger over her situation gives way to genuine laughter.
"Go for it, Betty Cooper," I laugh again when she gives me a quizzical look. "Sorry, I'm not laughing at you, just the juxtaposition of those sentences together." Her hand rests lightly on my forearm, her torso leaning into mine. I know it's fake flirting but still some part of me feels good about her attention. I did mention she was cute right? "I'm sorry for your shitty friends. No one deserves to be treated like that. I'm Jughead, by the way, Jughead Jones the third."
"The third?" she smirks, "is Jughead a family name then?"
I shake my head, grinning, "no that's my nickname. I do not go by my real name. Neither does my dad. Too awful."
"Oh come on, now you have to tell me!"
"Sorry, our friendship level is not there yet." Her laugh is musical and, when she's finished, I want to hear it again. I lean back slightly, reminding myself this is fake. She's not really into you, Jughead, relax.
"I guess that's fair." She glances around the gym, eyes resting on Veronica and Archie for a moment before swinging back to me. "So what are you dong here? No offense but you don't seem the type for school spirit?"
That pulls another laugh out of me, "you're right about that. No, I'm just here for my friend, Sweet Pea. He's on Southside's team and they've been doing well this year so my friends and I wanted to come support him."
"I'm sorry, did you say your friend's name was 'Sweet Pea'? Does everyone on the Southside have weird names?" she jokes, squeezing my arm. She has a nice smile.
"Says the girl who cheers for a team that has a kid called 'Moose'. It's even written on his jersey thing."
"Touché, Jughead Jones, touché," she pulls her hand away, leaning her cheek into it and propping her elbow on her knee, bringing her head within a few inches of mine. I swallow hard, feeling a little nervous for some reason. Before I can say anything though, the black haired Vixen, Veronica, comes over, stopping in front of us.
"Betty," she hisses, "the timeout has been over for a while now. We need you to come cheer now."
Betty sighs deeply, giving me an annoyed look before turning to her ex-friend. "Alright, Ronnie, I'll be right there," she stares at her until the Vixen walks back to the squad in a huff.
"Well, I guess I have to go," she holds her hand out to me like she's asking for something. At my dumbfounded look she says, "you're phone, dummy, I want to get to the appropriate friendship level to unlock all your secrets."
My stomach swoops, not unpleasantly at her words. "Oh! Yeah, here." I dig it out of my pants pocket, unlock it, and hand it to her, surprised, figuring I'd never talk to this girl again after this weird but fun conversation.
After typing out her info, she hands it back, "I texted my phone so I'd have your number too. Call me soon and I really mean that. Thanks for flirting with me, Jughead Jones the third." She stands and walks down the bleachers slowly. When she reaches her teammates, she looks up at me and smiles. I wave, ironically ecstatic and shaking my head, as my friends come clamoring back up the seats.
Toni's eyes dart between me and Betty. "Who's thaaaat?" she trills excitedly, slapping a pack of MMs in my hand.
I groan, "no one. Her name is Betty." Toni has been pushing me to date since we were freshmen, even setting up a few double dates, but I haven't found anyone I like enough to take out again. "She came over to flirt to make her ex jealous."
She looks at me, confused, "and she picked you?"
"Gee, thanks," I mutter sarcastically, ripping open my candy.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," she laughs, elbowing me in the ribs, "just that you don't seem like her type. Which one is her ex?"
Fangs and Toni scan the court. I sigh, resigned to the fact that they aren't going to give this up. "Andrews," I relent, "the ginger."
After a few seconds appraisal, Fangs raises an eyebrow, nodding, "no I get it. You're very different from him. I could see it as like a 'I'm so over you I don't even want to date someone who looks like you anymore' thing."
"Yeah," Toni concedes, "that makes sense." She puts her attention back on Betty who is halfheartedly shaking her pompoms at the Riverdale basket end of the court. "She's cute, Jones. You gonna call her?"
The one called Moose fumbles the shot, the ball rebounding off the rim. Sweet Pea, the tallest one on either team, snatches the ball out of the air. "She's Northside," I shrug.
Betty walks over to a bench on the sidelines, rummages through a duffle bag for a while and eventually pulls out a water bottle. "So? I saw her on your phone. She gave you her number, right? You should talk to her again."
"She probably doesn't care one way or the other. "
My phone buzzes in my hand, the screen lighting up with "1 new message".
I pull up the conversation, first seeing 'Betty, it's Betty on Jughead's phone' going from my phone to hers. I smirk. What an efficient nerd.
'If I guess your name will you tell me if I'm right?'
"Is that her?" Toni asks too innocently.
"Shut up," I mumble, tapping out a 'sure', confident that she'll never guess Forsythe Pendleton in a million years. Who would? It's a terribly stuffy name.
I look up at Toni in time to see her opening her mouth to say something more about Betty I'm sure. I really don't want to discuss my nonexistent love life or how she wants Betty to change it.
To my surprise, Fangs sides with me, "drop it, Topaz. It's his choice." They're usually so singularly minded, especially when it comes to making fun of me. This is a nice reprieve. I nod my thanks, turning back to watch the rest of the game. To my surprise, we are winning, not by much but it is a lead. I really don't care about sports all the much though so my attention diverts back to the River Vixens, wondering if she really was sincere. Admittedly I don't know much about her but she doesn't seem fake to me.
Faintly I can hear her ex-friend (captain?) call her name sharply. She's looking up at me in the stands again and when I meet her gaze, she smiles, shimmying her pompoms in a sarcastically excited way.
Alright, if she texts again after this game is over I'll believe she wants to be friends for real.
(A/N what a cheesy title right? lol I couldn't think of anything else except "Riverdale au" and that's not fun. hope you guys like it. updates when I can)
