"Tori! Are you up?!" Veronica said through the closed bedroom door. Victoria halted her hand, as it had started drawing her eyeliner.
"Girl, I've been up."
"Oh. Okay. Just making sure. Carry on." Tori laughed and finished her winged eyeliner before proceeding through her makeup routine. Surprisingly, she'd slept fine the night before. First day butterflies had not come just yet and she was still waiting for them. Breakfast had gone down smooth and she was happy as she'd showered that morning.
Her phone beeped, interrupting the subtle music she had playing and she looked down at it. Curious about having a new Snap from CJ, she felt a smile spread onto her face as she opened it.
"Is it weird that I kind of can't wait to see you at school?" he said in the snap. A moment later another snap came through. She opened it. "Ah, crap. You played it. Okay, yeah, it's weird. Sorry. It's cool if you avoid me completely." Victoria had to laugh at the slightly panicked look on his face in the clip. Despite not having finished her hair, she filmed her own snap.
"CJ, is it weird that I kind of can't wait to see you either?" She played back her snap and scoffed at her slightly damp disheveled hair, but clicked too fast to delete it before it was sent in reply. She snapped again before he could reply. "Don't look at my hideous hair." Rolling her eyes at herself, she set her phone back down on the vanity and worked on her hair. Not a minute later, her phone beeped again. Tori all but threw her flat iron down to pick it up and view CJ's snap.
He shook his head, looked away from the camera, smiled, bit his lip slightly and then looked at the camera. All of these motions were swift and naturally charismatic, she could tell. She wondered if he knew how to use these moves to flirt. He had to. "Stop. You're fucking gorgeous. I'll see you at school." All the awkwardness over the weekend had dissipated. She couldn't figure out why she had felt so weird around Veronica's friends. It might have been because they seemed to not even know she had a sister, but they all were pretty accepting of her, so Victoria was growing quickly fond of them.
A knock at the door startled her and she set the phone down. "Yeah?"
"Can I come in?" her father asked. Victoria turned sideways on her stool and picked up her flat iron.
"Yes." Hiram came in and smiled.
"Morning."
"Morning, Dad. What's up?"
"I have something for you." She looked at him blankly for a moment.
"Me?"
"Yes, Nenita."
"What is it?" He held out a jewelry box; one that would hold a necklace and Victoria barely flinched. Normally, he bought the women jewelry because he had done something he needed to apologize for. This also wasn't anything new with him. "You didn't have to."
"I wanted you to have something nice to wear on your first day."
"Are you saying I don't have nice things to wear?" She thought she saw tension roll through his expression, but he laughed and shook his head.
"No. Of course not. Just open it, please, Tori." That was new. He never called her Tori. She laid the flat iron down again and took the Tiffany's box from him. She opened it to find a sterling silver necklace inside with a matching music note pendant on it. "I don't want you to stop practicing your music even though you're not attending Ravenwood."
"I won't," she took the necklace out of the box.
"No pressure. I know now you have more freedom for your own style and I want this to remind you of that." She finally smiled and looked up at him. For once, she felt like he was being genuine with her.
"Thank you, Daddy." She stood up to hug him. He hugged her back, though only for a moment.
"Okay. Hurry up. You don't want to be late on the first day." He let her go and disappeared from the room.
"Tori!" She heard Veronica call from down the hall.
"I'm almost ready!" Victoria hated rushing, but it appeared that her father's impromptu bonding moment had set her back a few minutes.
"I'm out of tampons!"
"I did not need to hear that." Hiram called. Victoria laughed and shook her head. It was already shaping up to be an interesting morning.
"Bye Xander," Veronica called to their new driver as the two of them exited their town car in front of Riverdale High. Victoria looked up at the building and then around at the teens walking around. It was just as she suspected: nothing abnormal. "Ready?" Veronica said to her sister.
"Yep."
"You nervous?" Victoria shook her head.
"Nah." Veronica smiled and linked arms with her sister.
"Let's go." The Lodge sisters walked confidently into Riverdale High, but not without being the focal attention of a few onlookers wondering who Veronica Lodge was bringing into the mix. Soon, no doubt, the whole school would know who Victoria Lodge was – if they hadn't heard around town already that the eldest daughter had arrived. Most would be curious about her, especially since Veronica had never mentioned her.
"Ronnie!" Archie called, running up behind the duo and resting his arm around Veronica's shoulders. "Hey, Tori."
"Hi Archie." Tori said. Veronica let go of her sister to hug her boyfriend.
"Did you guys get your schedules already?"
"Yeah, we just came out of the guidance office." Veronica said, handing Archie her schedule. He read over it for a moment.
"Sweet! We've got Calculus and American History together." Veronica grinned. "Do you guys have any classes together?"
"Not this semester. We're gonna try to pick the same elective and hope for the best next semester. We have the same lunch period though."
"Oh, right. You're a year ahead, Tori. I forgot." Victoria nodded. "Let's go see if the others are in the lounge."
"They probably are. Jughead probably hit the breakfast bar." Victoria laughed.
"There's a lounge and breakfast bar?" she asked.
"Well, it's like a common room and they put muffins and fruit and stuff out for snacks." Archie explained. She nodded.
"Gotcha." They trio trekked to the slightly buzzing lounge where they indeed found their friends.
"Good morning!" Veronica said boisterously. Betty, Jughead, CJ, and another boy in a letter jacket looked at the three of them from where they sat spread out on sofas.
"Morning!" Betty chimed back. She slid over and Archie sat down beside her. Veronica perched on the arm of the sofa. "Tori! I love that skirt!" Victoria felt like all eyes fell on her in that moment. She wore a cap sleeved black top, tucked into a maroon leather pencil skirt that laced at the top. She only accessorized with black heels and the necklace that her dad gave her, and wore her honey brown hair straight.
"Oh, thanks!" Victoria said.
"Who is this?" the unfamiliar boy asked, raking his eyes up and down Victoria's form. CJ looked at the boy from his seat on the back on the second sofa.
"This is my sister, Victoria. Tori, this is Reggie Mantle."
"Hi, Reggie." Victoria said. Reggie smiled.
"Sup, girl?" Tori traded glances with CJ, who seemed to have his jaw clenched in aggravation.
"Uh…not much…"
"I didn't know Veronica had a sister. I'm pleasantly surprised."
"Why is that?"
"Victoria, do you want a muffin?" Jughead asked before Reggie could open his mouth again. Tori's attention was drawn away from the boy hitting on her.
"Oh, um, no thanks Jughead. I ate breakfast already."
"So? What about second breakfast?" She stared at him blankly for a second before laughing.
"Oh, are we hobbits?" A grin broke onto Jughead's face and he pointed toward her.
"Sorry, Arch. I have a new best friend." Archie laughed.
"You act like I'd be offended or something." A round of laughter was had. Tori looked toward Veronica.
"Can you show me where my locker is?"
"I will." CJ volunteered, stepping off the sofa. Victoria looked up at him as he stepped toward her. She bit back a smile.
"Alright." He held his elbow out for her and she took hold before he escorted her out of the lounge. Reggie looked both jealous and baffled.
"Do they know each other?" he asked. Veronica smiled.
"Tori got to meet these guys over the weekend."
"Oh."
"You look amazing today," CJ said as they walked through the hall.
"Yeah? Apparently so do you."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at all the ladies checking you out." She motioned to the looks they were getting as they strolled.
"No. They're jealous that you're prettier than all of them." Victoria rolled her eyes.
"Stop that."
"It's true." She looked up at him. He looked down at her out of the side of his eyes and smiled.
"Don't be a cheeseball." He covered his face with his hand for a moment.
"Okay. Sorry. What number were you assigned?" She looked at her paper.
"H14."
"Oh my gosh." He suddenly seemed incredibly concerned. Victoria stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"That's two down from mine." He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes.
"You're an idiot."
"Can I see your schedule?"
"Are you going to stalk me?"
"Probably." She handed him the paper. After a moment he handed it back.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Do we have any classes together?" He shrugged and stopped at her locker.
"Yeah." She looked at him expectantly. "This is your locker."
"What classes do we have together?"
"The lock might stick a little so give it a little tug."
"Are you ignoring me?" He kissed her hand.
"I've gotta go talk to Coach before homeroom." Coach? Victoria was taken aback for a moment. She hadn't even noticed that he was also wearing a blue and yellow letter jacket; just as Reggie and Archie had been.
"CJ!" He smiled and let go of her hand before bounding off down the hallway. She sighed when he was out of sight and turned to focus her attention on her locker, but was met by a vibrant redhead with even brighter red lipstick. "Hi…"
"Hi! I'm Cheryl Blossom, Riverdale's resident IT girl and the only person to truly give you the need to know deets about Riverdale High." She smiled. "I was assigned to show you around, so dump your notebooks and try to keep up, newbie."
