All characters in this story are either 16 or 17 years old. I know they're younger in the show, but I felt more comfortable writing for them being a little older. Hope you enjoy!

Nora Rhodes was the sort of girl to breeze through life like a hurricane and never bother to look back at the damage she left behind. She could have anything she wanted with a click of her manicured fingers, and she knew it. At least, that was what Jughead Jones thought to himself as she walked into his fourth period English class. She was ten minutes late.

She walked in with a smile on her face, the same smug look she always wore. Her eyes scanned over the room quickly and, for the briefest of moments, met Jughead's glare. His scowl deepened, but she wouldn't have noticed. She had already moved past him, sharing a brief look with the teacher before she was moving to take her seat in the classroom. No punishment, Jughead thought. Of course.

This was nothing new, or out of the ordinary. Nora Rhodes had been given treatment like this her whole life, or at least for as long as Jughead could remember. They had lived in the same town, shared the same classes, eaten at the same places, for all their lives. Jughead doubted if the blonde girl even knew his name.

Nora's allocated seat was beside Jughead, though she usually sat three rows further back. Today, however, the spot next to Jughead was the only one still free. Normally, no one would dare to take Nora's seat in fear of ending up on Cheryl's hit list. After being absent from school for three days though, it was assumed that Nora would not be in class and the seat had been filled.

Nora often had entire weeks off from school, disappearing from her usual hang out spots and seemingly vanishing off the face of the planet. People used to wonder where she went and gossiped over possible reasons. No one spoke of it anymore, though. It was no longer a mystery. This was just how it was. Jughead still wondered, though didn't care enough to actively investigate. More so just a passing thought, flashing through his mind whenever he happened to see the girl. Fleeting.

He was snapped from his thoughts by the screeching of metal on the floor as the chair next to him was pulled out. Nora lowered herself into the seat beside Jughead. He noticed that she did this slowly, almost as though she was avoiding pain that she associated with quick movements. This caught Jughead's attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Nora. He noticed that her hands shook slightly as she pulled out a pencil, and that her nails were not manicured like he had assumed. Instead, her nails were bitten and uneven, to a point that Jughead thought must have been painful. Then he noticed the small, dark bruises that littered her arms. Jughead turned his head a little more fully in her direction, wanting to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

Nora saw him turn and followed his gaze down to her arms. Immediately, she grabbed the sleeve of her sweater and pulled it down to her wrist, hiding the purple flesh from Jughead's stare. When his eyes darted up, he met her eyes, and Jughead thought this was the first time she had ever really looked at him. Then, he realised that maybe this was the first time he had ever really looked at her, either.

He saw her chapped lips, covered but not hidden by a layer of dark lipstick. He saw her red eyes, looking at him through one too many layers of mascara. He noticed the piercing in her nose and wondered when she had gotten it done. He saw her dark roots peeking through the blonde of her hair. He saw her imperfections, and realised that perhaps she was not the girl he had thought her to be.

After their first and only interaction in English class, Jughead didn't really see Nora again before Summer began. Though he had been mildly curious, the fascination had faded over the school break and any thought of Nora faded along with it.

With the death of Jason Blossom, Riverdale's It boy, Jughead had bigger mysteries to solve. Or, that's what he had thought. But when the first day of school rolled back around, Nora rolled in not like a hurricane, but a tsunami.

Of course the first thing on everyone's mind was Jason's death. But under the roar of that gossip, there was something else. A whisper of Nora.

"Have you seen Nora? She looks… different."

"I heard her family went bankrupt."

"I heard she spent the summer in Europe."

"I heard her parents split up."

Jughead heard a few theories circulating the girl throughout the day, but he figured none of them were really true. Maybe all of them were true. Jughead really couldn't be sure, and that frustrated him.

He got a proper look at her when she walked into his chemistry class that afternoon. Her once long, blonde locks had been chopped to shoulder length and dyed back to her natural brown colour. She had ditched the sweaters and jeans, and now wore a dark dress with fishnet stockings underneath. Jughead wondered if there was anything in the dress code about fishnet stockings, and made a note to look it up later. She was no longer smiling when she walked into the room, but instead her eyes were glassed over and her lips were downturned just slightly.

Jughead took in her appearance and found himself wondering how this could be the same upbeat, smug woman from a few months ago. He wondered what had happened over the summer, and how so much mystery could cloud Riverdale so suddenly. And when Nora walked into the class and sat down beside him, Jughead wondered what the strange feeling was in the pit of his stomach. He told himself it had nothing to do with the girl sat beside him, and didn't let himself dwell on it a second longer.

Nora Rhodes rolled in to his life like a tsunami, and Jughead Jones found himself drowning before he even had a chance to take a breath.

A/N

Well hi there! I haven't written anything in a heck of a long time, but Riverdale has got me totally obsessed and I need an outlet to deal with my frustration for Jughead (And Cole oml).

There might be some sneaky smut in later chapters... Would you guys want that? Or prefer to keep it PG13? Let me know! And please leave me a review if you're into this story, I need your validation in order to continue publishing lol (no jk)

If you don't want to leave a review, just add it to your favourites / follows so I know you're keen for more!

Also, this won't be following the storylines in the tv series, so please don't bite my head off if it differs a little from being canon.

Also also, let me know if you spot any grammatical or spelling errors. I'm super crazy about them, but there always seems to be one that I miss.

Xxx