AN: Bon soir, mes amis. I've had a bit of writer's block with I'm Still Here, so I worked on this so I have something else I can give you while I work out where our couple are going in that. This story is set in an AU Riverdale where Jason never died, and is, well, you'll find out. I hope you all enjoy it :)

Cheryl's POV

"Bombshell," Veronica began, and – knowing she couldn't see me – I rolled my eyes. She had that tone of voice… the one that would either tease me or deliver bad news… It was Monday morning, the first day back after a two week Christmas vacation. I did not need either of those things from her. "Cher, look," she insisted, "is that…?"

I glanced in the direction Ronnie had pointed, and did a double take. That girl… it was her. Of course it was her. Karma hated me. I shouldn't have been surprised. Not in the slightest. But still, maybe I was. It was her. It was the Serpent girl with the bubblegum pink hair. With the flannel shirt, ripped jeans and black Doc Martens. That undeniably beautiful specimen, whom I had only ever seen once and been captivated by every moment since.

It was her.

And I was me.

She passed me, looking straight ahead; her gaze fixated on the end of the corridor. She didn't even seem to register the growing throng of students against the lockers, nor did she acknowledge the way she made them all part like the Red Sea as she walked through them.

Okay, maybe it wasn't her specifically that did that. Maybe it was the fact she was amongst a small horde of Serpents walking through the corridor, a tiny mouse surrounded by six bulky boys built like oxen. The girl in question was barely five four, and I was pretty certain at least two of those inches were given to her by her boots.

It was most definitely her, and I cursed whoever it was that hated me enough to mean that – out of the hundreds of pupils at Southside High – it was her, that specific girl, who ended up getting transferred here, to Riverdale High, in a group of six.

To misquote the Hunger Games, it would appear that the odds most definitely were not ever in my favour.

It had to be her, didn't it? The girl from Pop's.

"Earth to Cheryl?" Veronica all but shouted, popping the bubble of thought I was trapped in.

"What Ronnie?" I muttered through gritted teeth, forcefully shoving a biology textbook and my notepad into my satchel, beyond caring if it ruined the (otherwise) perfect organisation I had going on in there. I usually kept it in an OCD Marie Kondo way. I carried the bare minimum to class, instead keeping all my supplies in my locker. You see, it stops you straining muscles in your shoulder, a necessary feat if you're HBIC of the River Vixens.

"That girl's cute," she teased, and I groaned, instantly regretting telling my friend about the Serpent girl I'd been admiring from a distance in Pop's diner on Christmas Eve. I'd told her at New Year's, when both of us were just slightly drunk at Kevin's, because Jason had been quick to tell everyone of how I'd spilt my milkshake down my dress when the girl had made eye contact with me.

In the words of my twin brother, it was almost as if the Serpent girl had managed to thaw the Ice Queen.

I told him he was absolutely wrong, and he just shot me a knowing look, wandering through to Kevin's kitchen to get more beer.

"V, please don't," I moaned, shutting my locker door and turning to look at her.

Like always, Ronnie was in a black dress, with a string of fancy pearls around her neck. Her raven hair hung neatly at her shoulders, and her eyes were fully focused on my face, searching for any chinks in the armour of a disinterested expression I always wore.

"But why not…" she hollered, and I just rolled my eyes.

"We'll be late for biology, V," I pointed out, beyond wanting to engage in Veronica's teasing this morning. "Please can we go?"

"Don't pull that crap with me, Blossom," she snapped back. "Anyway, as members of the Riverdale High elite, I think we should make it our business to introduce ourselves to the new arrivals. Who knows, they might be River Vixen material."

I laughed hollowly at that. "There was one girl and she's barely tall enough to reach the middle shelf in Target. I don't think she's River Vixen material."

"Didn't stop you obviously checking her out when she walked down the corridor." Veronica pointed out, shooting me a knowing look.

"Checking who out?" A voice greeted from behind me, and I turned to see – much to my displeasure – Betty Cooper.

"Nobody, Hobo's wife," I mumbled, glaring at the blonde. It's not her fault, not really, that I don't like her. Okay, maybe it is. She is easily the most irritating person I know. And she might just happen to pop up at the most inconvenient of times to drag my best friend into her never-ending drama with her boyfriend, Jughead Jones. And her sister, Polly, might just be dating Jason. And she might be a Cooper. There it is! That's the only thing that isn't her fault. Blossoms hate Coopers, it's a blood feud that runs right back to Great-Grandpappy Blossom. That's the only thing that isn't her fault. I hate the blonde with a passion. Not just because of the feud, but just because she's, well, Betty.

"Play nice, Cheryl," Ronnie scolded, shaking her head at me, "Betty's a friend."

Me and Betty both opened our mouths to argue at that.

Veronica ignored me completely to address Betty. "You're either with me or against me, Cooper, and I know which one I'd rather be."

"Anyway, Cheryl," Betty interjected, quickly changing the subject, "who is the unlucky person to catch your eye?"

I rolled my eyes at her snide remark. "Unfortunately, nobody. Veronica just seems to believe me people watching translates as me crushing on everyone."

"Only when your eyes linger on a certain someone's ass as she walks down the corridor…"

"Would you stop?" I groaned, and Ronnie burst out laughing.

"What?" she gasped between laughs. "It's true!"

"Is not!"

"Oh, it is."

"My eyes didn't linger on her ass for god's sake V."

"Her?" Betty asked, a question that went fully ignored.

"But you admit you were watching her."

"Only because she was in my line of sight."

"What colour t-shirt was she wearing?"

"A purple flannel," I replied without missing a beat, groaning when I realised I'd proven Veronica right. "But that might not be right," I argued, "seeing as she had that Serpent jacket on."

"Serpent jacket?" Betty repeated, and I sighed in frustration at the blonde.

"Could you just shut up?" I demanded. "I'm trying to talk to my bestie."

In response, Betty just broke into a fit of giggles. "Toni Topaz?"

"What?" I asked, not sure what she was getting at.

"The girl you were checking out is Toni Topaz?"

"How am I supposed to know?" I grumbled. "I've never spoken to her before."

"Small, ripped jeans, pink hair, flannels, Doc Martens and a Serpent jacket?" Betty described.

"That matches our suspect." Veronica interrupted. "Come again B, what's her name."
"Don't you fucking dare, Cooper," I muttered.

"That would be Toni Topaz, V," Betty replied, and I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.

"Why would you do that?" I muttered well aware my question would go ignored.

"Time to get insta stalking then. Any idea what her handle is?"

"She's following Jug, but idk."

"Guys…" I groaned. "Can we not?"

"Why not?" Ronnie argued. "We're all for new friends round here."

Noticing the mischievous glint in her eye, and the smirk on her lips, I shook my head. "There is no way that's innocent friendship."

"Oh it is for us," Betty declared. "But if you're checking her out…"

Betty's sentence was cut short by the arrival of Kevin Keller who, forgetting about me, was Riverdale High's resident gay.

"Hey you guys," he greeted, "guess what?"

"You got off again with Moose in Fox Forest last night?" Veronica suggested.

"Perhaps, but that's not it," he said. "I was in the student lounge with Jason and Archie and guess what!"

"What, Kev?" Betty asked, giving the poor guy a chance to spill his gossip.

"A horde of Southside Serpents just strolled in. Six of them. Five very sexy hunks of junk, I will admit, and one petite fille, who, in my eyes, is tres belle. But that's not the best of it…"

"For god's sake, Kev, just tell us," I said, shaking my head.

"The girl, Cheryl, she's bi."

"Toni Topaz likes girls?" Betty asked, slightly bewildered.

"Toni is a Top," Veronica joked, and I groaned again as she and Betty burst into a fit of giggles.

Seeing my obvious frustration and the duo's amusement at Veronica's statement, Kevin looked confused. "Am I missing something here?"

Betty smirked at me, opening her mouth to speak. "Bombshell has the hots for Toni Topaz."

"No way!" Kevin exclaimed.

"For god's sake guys!" I said, shaking my head at the trio. "I watch a girl walk down the corridor and suddenly I'm into her. What will it be if you guys ever see my talk to her?"

"A proposal?" Kevin joked, and Ronnie high fived him as the trio all started to laugh.

Fighting my own smirk, I stuck my middle finger up at him. "Just to clarify, I will admit the Serpent girl is cute, but that does not mean – by any sense of the word – that I am into her."

"Disappointing, Blossom," Veronica replied. "I do believe dear Penelope brought you and Jason up not to tell lies…"

"That she did," someone said from behind me, and I turned around again to be faced with my twin brother. "So tell me V, what's my baby sis been making up now?"

"I'm not your 'baby sis' Jason. I'm ten minutes younger than you."

"And those ten minutes were the best of my life," he retorted, turning his attention to the others. "So, Lodge, what's my baby sis been lying about?"

"Just about her crush?" Veronica mused. "Did you see who's amongst the new arrivals?"

"Is this Diner Darling?" Jason teased, tickling me.

"Fuck off, the lot of you!" I shrieked. "Leave me alone!"

"I take that as a yes," he deadpanned, and the entire group started laughing.

The bell rang, and suddenly that familiar wave of students started to surge through the corridors, washing pupils up outside their various classrooms.

I breathed a sigh of relief, because it appeared I was going to be freed from my friends' teasing by the promise of double biology.

Saved by the bell, I thought, as we all went our separate ways.

Arriving at bio, me and Ronnie walked through the door to the lab and I froze in the doorway, not amused in the slightest.

There, sitting at the desk I did, in the seat next to mine, was none other than the Serpent girl. Toni Topaz, whatever Betty had called her.

"This is hilarious," Veronica mused, walking to go join Josie in their seats.

I groaned under my breath as I attempted to regain my composure.

Well, fuck.

AN: Thank you so much for reading this! I hope you enjoyed it, and would greatly appreciate if you could follow, or favourite, and be massively grateful if you drop a review to tell me what you guys think, and if I should continute… five reviews and I'll post my next chapter :)