Chapter 7: Starting Riverdale High!
* Aria's POV*
I woke up to my alarm clock playing the song 'Here comes the sun' By the Beatles and decided to let the song continue. I know it's 5am but I wasn't sure when to wake up. I know school starts at 7am back home but I wasn't sure about here. I think it's the same. Either way I got up and stretched and slipped out of bed. I went over to my closet and looked over what I had. Today was day one of Riverdale High. I know for a fact that the 1st day of high school is judgment day basically. I wanted to look decent at least. * What am I going to wear?* I thought as I looked through my old and new outfits. I decided on my 'Old school rocker' look that I used to do. It was simple really. I wore my new shorts that were with the biker outfit along with the hat. Next I pulled out my one shoulder hanging off tee shirt that was black and featured the band 'Kiss' on it. Yes it did expose a bit of my belly but not a lot. I wore fish net leggings under my shorts that were red and had guitar designs on them. I grabbed my ankle boots and two black studded leather bands/bracelets. I grabbed a pair of silver stud earrings and my bra and panties as I turned my alarm off and made my way to the bathroom. I hopped in the shower and started singing softly again. I was randomly singing 'Danger zone' By Kenny Loggins as I got out of the shower and got dressed. I put my hair up and then my hat. I smiled at myself as I went back into my room and turned on my music quietly and pulled my make up and hand mirror out. Just as I did so I heard the shower running and movement on the stairs. Everyone was up now. I looked over and the clock read 5:50 AM. I smiled as I then proceeded to put on my make up. Once I was done I slipped my boots on and then grabbed my bag. Just as I walked out of my room I heard my aunt call me and Archie downstairs for breakfast. I got downstairs and began eating my scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. I was half way done when Archie made it downstairs and began eating. "How did you sleep Aria?" I heard my aunt ask as I told her I slept comfortably. I finished my food and fixed my lip gloss as I waited for Archie to finish. Once he was done my uncle came down stairs and we hugged them and told them bye and that we loved them and quickly left out the door. We got in the car and started heading to school. It was 6:35 Am. "Oh man. School starts at 7." He told me as I rolled my eyes a bit at him.
We made it there 5 minutes before 7 and grabbed a parking spot. I hopped out of the car and immediately went to the principle's office to grab my schedule and a note to excuse my tardiness. I looked at my schedule. 1st was homeroom for 10 minutes, then it was English class for 50 minutes, then Chemistry for 50 minutes, History for another 50 minutes, after that was choir for 40 minutes, then gym class for 40 minutes and then 30 minute lunch, after that I had my advanced math class for 50 minutes, then a 20 minute free time, after that was 40 minutes of French class and then 40 minutes of art class. Man what a packed day. Oh well. I was already late when I knocked on the door to Homeroom with only 3 minutes left of it. The door opened to a woman, I believe her name was Miss Haggly, and handed her the note. At first she didn't seem to happy but she let me in never the less. I saw Archie and waved as I went up to him. "Hey Arch." I said. "Well? Lets see." He said as I showed him my schedule. "Well we're in almost all the same classes. Cool." Archie said as he handed me back my schedule. "Ok. Besides math which ones are we not in?" I asked him as he told me art, choir, French, free time and math. "Cool. Only five out of eleven. Thats not too bad." I told him with a smile on my face.
The bell rang and we went to English class with teacher named Mr McGee. I was quickly introduced to the class as I noticed a few boys were staring at me. One even whistled as I blushed softly. I sat down behind Archie and we immediately had to start out with picking a book to read the 1st two weeks. I walked up to the book choices and quickly found a classic I liked. Actually I was quite surprised it was in here. 'The Silence Of The Lambs' By Thomas Harris. I knew both this book and the movie. The book was way scarier than the movie. I immediately grabbed it and walked back to my desk as I began reading the book. I knew this book very well so I can write the entire essay during my free time. I'm just reading it because not only do I like this book but I get 2 weeks to read it and freak myself out again. I already finished 3 pages by the time everyone picked a book and sat back down. I noticed Archie grabbed 'The Invisible Man' as I shook my head. "Archie." I said catching his attention. "Yeah?" He asked as he looked at me. "You do realize 'The Invisible Man' Has absolutely NOTHING to do with the movie right?" I asked him as his face suddenly fell. He smacked his head and groaned as I laughed quietly at his reaction. "I didn't know that! Now I really do have to read the book all the way through." He said as I laughed a bit more. "Sorry Archie." I told him as he groaned. English class went by rather quickly as I grabbed my stuff and followed Archie to Chemistry class. We got there before the teacher and saw Dilton in the back. I immediately ran up to him and greeted him. "Hey Dilton!" I said in a cheery voice. "Salutations Aria! I see we have the same class time together then." He told me as I nodded. "Yeah! It's nice to know people. I have 5 classes without Archie though but I think I can manage my way around the school." I told him. "Which ones?" He asked as I told him. "Well if it helps I, also, have Math and French with you." He told me as I smiled brightly. "That does help." I said as suddenly I felt an arm around my shoulder. "Hey there Doll face. Glad to see we have this class together." I told me as I shrugged his arm off of me. "Reggie I told you not to call me that! Also please stop putting your arm on me. I hate it when you do that just to flirt with me or pull me closer to you." I scolded him and even waved my finger in his face as Archie came right up to us. "Reggie leave her alone. She's not interested." He told him. Reggie just waved his hand nonchalantly at him and continued. "Oh please Archie. I know she'll fall for me and my charm. All girls do." I rolled my eyes at him just as a man, I presumed to be Professor Flutesnoot, Came in and told us we would be seated with whomever we were next to. I quickly moved away from Reggie and sat next to Dilton without even thinking. Yes I could've chose Archie but I wanted to get to know a bit more about his friends, except Reggie, and decided that Dilton could help me a bit more anyways. Reggie and Archie looked shocked, More so Reggie with a hint of hurt, as they soon realized they were next to each other and had to sit at a desk together, which was near the front, as Dilton and I sat all the way in the back. "Uh Aria? Why did you choose me over Archie? Reggie I understand." Dilton whispered as I whispered back "I need to get to know Archie's friend's more and I didn't want to be stuck with Reggie and I figured you wouldn't either so I left him for Archie to handle." and turned my attention back to the front just as Professor Flutesnoot asked me to stand up and go up to the front to be properly introduced. As I did I noticed a few new guys staring at me and Reggie whistled loudly making me blush again. "Mr Mantle, control your hormones." The professor said as the whole class laughed and Reggie pouted. After I was properly introduced I sat next to Dilton and we started class with a small chemical project and an assignment for the week that required a lab partner, which would be the person we were next to. "Hey Dilton, I'm sure your done with your half already but, could you please help me for a couple minutes? I don't know exactly what I'm doing." I asked him sweetly and looked at him as he looked at me and smiled. "Well sure. I can help you out." He told me as I smiled wider at him and we got started. I soon figured out what I was supposed to do and did the rest by myself with ease. I had a few minutes left of class so I managed to get a bit of my report done. "Hey Aria. If you need help finishing with your half of the project I wouldn't mind." He told me as I smiled at him. "I'll let you know if I get confused on something ok? I need to try this a bit on my own. Maybe you can proof read it and see if I did ok or not." I said as he nodded. "If thats what you want." He told me as I nodded a yes.
Class went by a bit to fast as Archie and I soon rushed off to history class. As soon as we got to class Archie immediately ditched me to go talk to Betty and Veronica, and take a seat between them, as I saw Jughead and decided to sit next to him. "Hey Jughead." I said as I sat down next to him. "Oh hey Aria." He replied casually. I looked up ahead at Archie, who was still flirting with Betty and Veronica, and glared at him a bit. "Let me guess; Arch ditched you to flirt with Betty and Ronnie again?" He asked as I nodded. "Don't take it personally Aria. He's been avoiding them to spend more time with you. He was bound to start up again." He explained as I sighed. "Yeah but I wish he would've at least said something to me." I told him as I sighed again. "Well, think about it this way, at least Reggie's not in this class." He said as I turned to him and smiled. "Thats a blessing." I said as we laughed a bit before an elder woman, who was Miss Grundy, came into the class and we all quited down when the bell rang. I was introduced, again, and the guys, whether they were new to meeting me or not, stared at me, again, and made me blush. I quickly sat down next to Jughead and, luckily, we all got to keep our seats. Again class went by quickly. I went to ask Jughead or Archie where the choir class was but they went on ahead of me. I sighed as I tried to ask for help.
"E-excuse me?" I whispered gently as I caught the attention of a tall girl in a pink dress, pink shoes, pink bow, with black hair and buck teeth. "Uhm. Do-do yo-ou kn-know whe-ere the-the choi-ir cl-class-s is?" I stuttered. She was freaking tall. "Yeah sure. I know where it is. I'm going past there anyways. My names Ethel by the way. Everyone calls me Big Ethel though." She told me and a low pitch nasal like voice as she smiled and held out her hand for me to shake. I gladly shook it. "You already know me as Aria Andrews. Archie's cousin." I told her as she nodded. "Oh yeah! Archie hasn't stopped talking about you all summer. It's nice to have you around Aria." She said as we headed down to the choir room. We got there and I thanked her again as she replied "It's no problem." and went off to her class. I walked in the class and knew no one there. I was shy enough as it was. Soon class started and the teacher started off. "Good day class. My name is Miss Holloway and welcome to choir class." She said in a British voice. She had us sit down and called us up one by one to sing a small part of a song to see what we could do. Most people sang something happy or sweet or lovey dovey. "Alright. Next is Aria Andrews." I stood up and walked up in front of her. I heard a couple flirty whistles that Miss Holloway didn't approve off. "Enough! No birds in my class unless they sing instead of whistle." She scolded as I blushed. She then turned to me. "Alright my dear. Sing a part of a song that you like. It can be anything of your choice." She told me. I tried to sing but nothing came out the 1st time. The 2nd time I squeaked and covered my mouth. I got a few laughs as the teacher looked at me. "Ms Andrews may I ask what is wrong?" She asked as I whispered "I'm not used to a crowd." And shuffled my feet. "I see. Stage fright it is. Well, this is not the 1st time I've seen this, but never the less you must try. Try to imagine someone is here with you. Someone you care for. Or perhaps imagine yourself in a peaceful place where you sing to yourself a lot." She told me as I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes. I imagined the 1st time I did karaoke with Archie. Granted we were seven but it was fun. I thought about it for a moment. "Miss Holloway? Does the song have to be in English?" I asked her. "Of course not. In fact if you can sing in multi languages then that would be interesting indeed." She encouraged as I began part of a song. I chose 'Dernière Danse' by Indilia and began with the ending in a strong confident voice.
"Dans cette douce souffrance.
Dont j'ai payé toutes les offenses
Écoute comme mon cœur est immense
Je suis une enfant du monde
Je remue le ciel le jour, la nuit
Je danse avec le vent la pluie
Un peu d'amour un brin de miel
Et je danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse, danse
Et dans le bruit, je cours et j'ai peur
Est-ce mon tour?
Vient la douleur.
Dans tout Paris, je m'abandonne
Et je m'envole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole, vole"
Once I finished I sighed and looked around at the shocked faces and then at my teacher's shocked face. Was I really that bad? "Was I really that bad?" I asked in a quiet voice. "Wonderful! How wonderful! You have a wonderful voice. And singing in French! Even better! How long have you been singing for?" She asked me with a small applause as I heard the rest of the class give small claps, whistles, whispers from the other kids. "Well…..Uhm…...I've been singing since I was 6. I've been interested in music for some time and hope maybe I can try to make a song or two of my own. I mean I like poetry too and different melodies I just like music and singing." I said as I shrugged nonchalantly. "Tell me; can you play any instruments?" She asked me. I thought about it. "Well I can play the keyboard and I used to play piano. Also used to play the flute and violin for at one point but had to stop. I know how to use the DJ record set as well but thats different I suppose." I told her as I stopped myself from rambling on about these things. "Well thats very impressive. Perhaps you could stay after school some time and we could work something out for the choir shows." She said as I blushed, shrugged, and sat back down in my seat.
I had a few guys, who were sitting around me, immediately start flirting with me. "Wow. Aria fits you nicely. So musical!" One boy said as another piped in. "What a voice! And Beauty to match it!" "Wow! Hard to believe your related to Archie Andrews." another boy piped in. "Wait! How are you and Arch related?" Another boy soon asked as they all huddled close together. "I'm his cousin." I told them as they sighed. Before anything else happened the bell rang and I started to get ready to leave for my next class. "Allow me to escort you." One boy said as another soon piped in. "No. Let me bring you to class." "I'll show you to your next class and carry your books!" Another boy said as I soon had 6 guys around me making me blush and feel embarrassed. "Well I have gym class right now and I don't remember where it is. Could someone take me? If it's not to much trouble?" I asked politely while still blushing softly as the boys nodded. "I'm heading that way now." one said. "Yeah I have that class too." Another said the others didn't have that class but they were close to the gym so they offered to take me there. I smiled and thanked them as they took me down that way. "So Aria. How old are you?" One boy who had black hair, green eyes named Geoff asked me. "Oh. Well I'm 15. I'll be 16 soon." I told him as I heard the boys sighing again. "Is the red your natural hair color?" An African American boy named Tyrone piped in. "Yes. It's natural. Archie and I are both part Scottish in our fathers' sides so by chances of DNA it's actually miraculous that we both turned out having red hair." I said as I stopped talking and went red. I learned in NYC that guys HATE smart girls. "Wow. A voice, Beauty, AND Brains? What a Perfect combo. What else can you do?" The boy, Blond hair with brown eyes named Collins, mentioned earlier, but added the brains in, asked me making me blush softly. "You boys aren't intimidated my me being smart?" I asked awkwardly as they laughed lightly. "No. Why would we be?" An Asian boy, named Ronin, asked me. "Well. Back in the city guys usually hate smart girls." I flat out told them as they laughed again. "We don't judge here. Not at all. In fact a smart and beautiful girl is always the way to go." Ronin said again as I blushed more. "Which City are you from?" A black haired browned eyes pale boy, named Jimmy, Asked. "NYC." I told them. "Wow. Never would've guessed. You seem way to nice to be a city girl." A brown haired green eyed boy, named Tyler, Said to me. "Let's just say I'm as nice as Archie. Simple as that." I said as I saw Archie, Jughead, and Reggie at the front of the gym waiting for me. They soon spotted me and the 6 boys around me as we were soon next to them. "Well thank you boys for showing me the way to class. I'll see you four later." I said to Tyler, Jimmy, Collins, and Geoff as they waved goodbye calling me beautiful on the way out. I looked at Ronin and Tyrone and smiled at them. "I'll see you later in class?" I questioned. "Most definitely." Tyrone nodded "Of course." Ronin said as they went off to the boys changing room.
I turned to my cousin and his two friends as they looked at me funny. "They liked my singing in choir class. Guess I'm growing a fan base." I smiled as I walked passed them and went into the changing room where I ran into Betty and Veronica. I started changing into the school gym uniform as they asked me about my day so far. "Well I think I have a club of fan boys growing. For some reason the guys in the classes stare at me and some whistle. I had 6 boys in my choir class walk me here and two of them have this class with me. They were nice actually. Real sweet too. The other four had other classes to go to but since they were close by they were kind enough to bring me here and even offered to carry my books." I told them as I finished getting dressed and waited for them. "Wow. Sounds like your becoming popular already." Ronnie said as I shrugged. "I'm not sure why really. I'm not as beautiful as you two are." I told them truthfully as Betty chirped in. "Aw stop. Your beautiful in your own way." The two finished as the three of us walked out of the changing room and into the gymnasium. "Hey Aria." I heard as the three of us looked to our right and saw Tyrone and Ronin walking up to us and greeting me. "Oh hi boys." I said as they began talking sweetly to me. "Hey Betty? Veronica? I don't want to be rude or anything-" Before I finished they nodded and were soon running to Archie's arms and clinging on to him. My attention was brought back to the two boys next to me, one on each side, as we made our way to the group. "So Aria what made you leave the city for here." Tyrone asked as I got a bit nervous. "Oh. Well. You know. I wanted a change in scenery and I haven't seen Archie in about 9 years so It works out." I told them. "So your here alone?" He asked as I nodded. "Mom and dad didn't want to move but they agreed to this." I said. "So your living with Archie?" Ronin asked as I nodded. We were soon by the crowd and I caught Archie looking my way in a protective manner and Jughead seemed to look at me in a weird way. "Hey guys. Don't bother. Doll face here is mine." I heard Reggie say as he put his arm around me. Before anyone could blink I grabbed Reggie's arm and flipped him on his back, hard. "Reggie Mantel I warned you not to touch me. Plus It's Aria, NOT Doll face. And another thing, I am not yours, I told you when pigs fly and a volcano freezes then I'll date you but those things will never happen so drop it!" I said in a slightly raised voice with my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. Next thing I knew Tyrone and Ronin grabbed Reggie and tossed him onto the mats. "If the lady says leave her alone then leave her alone Reggie." Ronin said. "Yeah! And you shouldn't give her a nickname such as 'Doll face'. It's demeaning and disgraceful!" Tyrone said as they defended me. I was shocked that they did that but was glad at the same time. "You didn't need to do that to him but thank you." I told them as they went back to talking sweetly to me. "Do you know martial arts? Judging from that move you might." Ronin asked me. "Yeah. I took a few classes when I was younger and I'm glad I remember a few moves." I said as Tyrone laughed a bit. "Dang girl. Your a Dangerous Beauty." He exclaimed as I laughed a bit at that. "I've never been called a Dangerous Beauty before." I told them as we laughed a bit. Soon Gym class began and we got to go outside. We got to do a few things so I decided to run with Betty and Ronnie and Ronin and Tyrone started showing off by playing a bit of football. It was cute really.
Soon gym class was over and, after getting dressed in the locker room, started heading to lunch with Archie and Jughead. "Seems like you've caught some attention." Archie said with a small attitude. "Oh Archie relax. It's nice attention at least." Jughead said, with a hint of something I couldn't put my finger on, to Archie. "Yeah I guess. But still." Archie mumbled as soon Ronin and Tyrone caught up with me, along with the other four boys, and went to the cafeteria. I grabbed a simple roast beef wrap, no veggies, mayo, cheese, and a side of chips with a small carton of chocolate milk and, after paying for lunch, went to sit down and the boys soon joined me. "Not much of a veggie girl are you?" Jimmy asked as I shook my head no and replied "I really don't like most fruits and veggies. They don't settle well with me and they taste gross. I'll eat a burger over a salad any day." "Dang. Definitely not like most girls." Geoff said. They continued to flirt with me and, the other four found out about what I did to Reggie, agreed that I was a unique girl they would like to keep around for a while. The boys offered to buy me some dessert but I declined and told them that I really didn't deserve it. They just laughed and said if I ever wanted anything extra then I could just ask them anytime. Soon Lunch was over. I asked the boys where advanced Math class was and Geoff offered to take me there since he was closer that way then the others. I waved goodbye to the others as I followed Geoff to the math class. "Advanced math? Dang you must be really smart for that class." He told me as I nodded. "I love math class. You see we use math everyday whether we realize it or not. Like for example if we take a gum ball machine and, judging by the diameter, circumference, dimensions, and see how many gum balls we have on the outside we can estimate and calculate how many are inside. Not only that but if said gum ball machine were to be smashed then by seeing where all the gum balls have bounced, flung, and landed we can use mathematics to put every single gum ball back into the machine in the exact spot they were in, even the ones we couldn't see." I told him. Judging by the look on his face I lost him a bit. Ok maybe a lot. "You understood everything you just said?" He questioned as I blushed and nodded out of embarrassment. "Dude. Thats awesome. Your so smart. Your like the smartest and most beautiful singer here." He told me as I blushed harder and whispered "Thank you."
We rounded the corner and I saw Dilton waiting at the door for me. "Oh good. There's Dilton. He's going to take me to two of my other classes after this one. Thank you for taking me here Geoff." I told him as he smiled. "No problem. Maybe I'll see you later?" He questioned. "Maybe." I told him as I walked towards Dilton and waved goodbye to Geoff. I looked back towards Dilton, Who saw me wave bye to Geoff, and smiled. "Salutations Aria. Making friends already?" He asked. "Hi Dilton. I guess. It's more of a fan boy club. He's one of the 6 guys in my music class who likes me and flirts and is really nice to me." I replied as we soon made our way into Advance Math class. I didn't get to sit next to Dilton, Due to alphabetical order of last names, but it was no bother because Dilton and I answered most of the questions during math class and before I knew it class was over. Dilton and I met up after class and went straight to the library where he looked over what I had for science class. He pointed out a few things that needed to be corrected and I fixed them. Once free time was over we made our way to French class. "Hey Aria." I passed Jimmy as I waved hello to him. We made it to French class and, thankfully, I was next to Dilton. French class went by quickly, because we took a test to brush up on any French words we knew and stuff like that, and went outside of the classroom. "Hey Dilton. Do you know where Art class is?" I asked him as he nodded his head. "Actually here comes Big Ethel. She's probably got that class to. Hey Ethel. Do you have art class?" Dilton called her over and asked her. "Yeah. I can take Aria there." She replied. "Thanks Big Ethel. Thanks Dilton." I hugged him and followed Big Ethel to art class. "How do you like it here so far?" She asked as I smiled at her. "Everyone here is so nice. I really like it here." I told her as we made it to class. "Hey Aria!" I looked over and saw Jimmy, Collins and Tyler wave me over to them. "Wow! I see what you mean." I turned to her and smiled. "Thanks for taking me here." I told her as she replied "No problem." and waved me towards the boys. I smiled and waved bye to her as I went to the boys.
The teacher came in and she wanted us to pick a partner and try to sketch them out. Tyler, Collins and Jimmy were arguing who should draw me and I told all three to draw me and that I would draw all three of them together afterwards. And thats what happened. The teacher wasn't happy about that but it got them to stop bickering and do there work so she excused it. Once they were done I got to look at them before they gave them to the teacher. They were good. They each had a unique style to them. I pulled out a paper and got started. I got the three of them to pose like they were getting a photo taken. I finished the base quickly and started with the clothes, hair, and eyes. Once I got the bases of that down I got other details down like Collins' silver chain and Tyler's muscular exposed arms and Jimmy's extra sly grin. I soon put details in the hair and eyes, Wrinkles in the clothes, and shaded in the areas that were dark from the lighted opposite area and in a few other parts. There was 5 minutes left of class when I finally finished. "Ok boys. I'm finished." I said as they soon gathered around me and my picture as I saw them gasp and gawk. "Oh my!" "No way!" "Is that for real?" I heard all three say as they awed at my picture. To be honest it looked like I took a picture with a black and white camera. I even added the back round and detailed and shaded it in. "Do you have to hand this in?" Tyler asked as I nodded. "It's ok. I can always do this again soon." I told them as they perked up. I took the picture and handed it into the teacher and was starting to go back when the teacher stopped me. "You did this by yourself?" She asked as I nodded. "Well it looks like your going to be my top student already. If you can keep those three calm and in order like that then I'd like to keep you partnered up with them more often. It be nice to see them pass this class full on instead of barely." She noted as I nodded. "No problem. They're really nice anyways." I said as I went back to my desk and gathered my stuff just in time for the bell to ring.
The boys offered to walk me outside and I accepted. We soon ran into Geoff, Tyrone, and Ronin half way out of the school. They walked me out, Sweet talked me, said kind things towards me, threw Reggie into the dumpster when he flirted with me again, and even escorted me to Archie's car as they each said there goodbyes to me and hoped to spend more time with me tomorrow. Archie made his way to his car once the boys left and brought me home. He told me he didn't like the boys flirting with me but I quickly pointed out Betty and Veronica and boy did that shut him up. Once we got home I finished my homework, watched a movie, had dinner and then washed my make up off as I got ready for bed. I had 7 boys flirting with me. Thats more than at my old school. By 7. Yeah no guys flirted with me unless they were trying to get into my pants, which was easy to tell, and I usually kicked there butts and got into trouble for it. Oh well. These boys were different though. I could tell. I decided to just go to sleep so that I could wake up in the morning bright and early. I slipped under the covers and went off into dreamland.