Hi! Sorry it's been a bit. Life has been busy! How is everyone enjoying Riverdale season 6 so far? This episode was for sure one of my favourites! It was so good! The flashbacks were so good, Veronica killed the Toxic dance number, seriously, so good!, savage Nana Rose is always my favourite, and can we talk about Cheryl taking advice from a Magic 8 Ball? I loved it! (For anyone wondering, the most recent episode as of right now is Chapter One Hundred and Nine: "Venomous".

Anyway, in this chapter, we get crazy-cousin Cheryl threatening everyone, our favourite girls meeting all the guys for the first time, and a bit of backstory for some of our Selected, plus a bit of backstory for one of our favourite girls...

Enjoy! As always, let me know what you think, I love getting feedback from you all! 3

Chapter 5

Betty

"Alright, gentlemen!" I was standing in front of all the men in the Men's Room. "I met all of you yesterday, and I just wanted to say that all of you made a great impression. While that's not everything, I do know that it will reflect parts of who you are. But, I do have some other friends who want to meet you." I looked over them. "Please welcome Lady Veronica Lodge of SoDale and Lady Cheryl Blossom of Thornhill." The boys stood as Cheryl and Veronica entered the room. They were both in simple, but elegant day dresses in their signature colours. The boys all bowed and Cheryl and Veronica curtsied and came to stand next to me.

"We are thrilled to be here." Veronica said and Cheryl nodded.

"As the princess's cousin, I'll make sure that if any of you hurt her, I will personally make sure you all pay hell and back. My vengeance will have you wishing for treason." Cheryl said, staring them all down with an icy glare. Then she smiled. "Now, shall we get to know each other?"

"Thank you, Cheryl." I said pointedly, my tone warning her to tone it down a bit. "Is Toni coming?"

"I'm here! Sorry!" Toni came in, quickly. Her hair was tied in a loose knotted braid and pulled to the side. She was wearing a knee-length black skirt and the tails of her button-up white shirt was tied in a knot higher up on her stomache. It was clear she was trying to dress like herself at the moment, while sticking to the uniform but trying not to look like the rest of the maids, because I would've sent her back for sure.

"Gentlemen, this is Antoinette Topaz, also known as, my head maid, and my best friend. Well, one of them." I smiled at the three of them. I'd only known Veronica for a couple of days, but we are definitely getting close. And I'd gotten to know more of Cheryl recently, which was really nice.

"Toni." Toni nodded at them.

"Ladies, and I'm just going to skip formalities because this doesn't need to be longer than it already is. You can get to know them throughout today."

"Sounds good." Veronica smiled.

"Great. Ladies, may I present in order of appearance, Bret Wallis, Fangs Fogarty, Nick St. Clair, Reginald Mantle, Fester Belmont, Harvey Kinkle, Kevin Keller, Sweet Pea, Andre Gonzales, Daniel Dickinson, Archibald Andrews and Jughead Jones." I felt bad calling Jughead Forsythe when he'd specifically asked not to be, but I had to introduce him formally. Although I had no idea what Sweet Pea's actual name was. It hadn't said on his application.

"Oh my god. Sweet Pea? Fangs, Jughead?" Toni looked surprised and I now noticed that their faces looked very similar to her's.

"Do you guys know each other?" I asked. Toni grabbed my arm and pulled me out of earshot of the others.

"Do you remember when I told you about that gang that I was in?"

"Yeah. Um, the Slytherins?" I asked.

"The Serpents." She nodded. "Well, it was the Southside Serpents. Made up of the south side provinces. Those three were in different branches of the gang. Jughead and I are from the same province. The four of us were pretty close back in the day. Before I came here. Then we kind of drifted."

"They were part of a gang? Should I be worried?"

"No! They're tough, but big softies underneath. And if they do anything at all, I'll go after them with pitchforks. I can let them know that if you want."

"It's okay. I trust you. Thank you for telling me."

"Of course. I'll go talk to them."

"I'll talk to them too. Tell them that I'm aware of their past and that I won't…" I trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence.

"Judge them for it?" Toni suggested.

"Yeah."

"Go get 'em princess." She smirked.

Later that day, I was out in the garden, clearing my head after a busy morning of talking to all the boys that were in the Selection and then sitting in on a council meeting, when I ran into Jughead Jones again. And again, I mean literally.

"We need to stop meeting like this." I laughed, as he pulled me up from the ground again.

"I don't know. I quite enjoy my evening strolls." I laughed as I brushed off my dress. "Actually, I am glad I ran into you." Jughead said.

"What?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I just wanted to say…thank you. For saying what you did to Sweet Pea, Fangs and I. We really appreciated you not immediately kicking us out."

"Of course. Toni is one of my closest friends. I trust her when she says that you three aren't going to be any trouble."

"We won't." Jughead promised. "This is actually the first time we've spoken in a couple years."

"Since Toni left to come here, right?" I asked.

"Uh, it's a little more complicated than that."

"I have time." I offered, looking him in the eye. "If you want to talk about it, that is." I added, quickly.

"Yeah. Sure." I waited a moment for him to offer his arm to me, but it soon became clear that he didn't know to do that. I smiled to myself and started walking, Jughead falling into step beside. It was refreshing to have someone who didn't know all the protocols, and who in turn, didn't expect me to follow all the protocols.

"Uh, where to start?" He laughed nervously. "Toni is from Whyte Wyrm, like me. We grew up together. When my parents were fighting, I would go over to her grandpa's trailer and we would find some kind of trouble to get into."

I smiled. "That sounds like Toni."

"She and I are similar in a lot of ways. She was like my sister. When we were about thirteen years old, her grandpa convinced her to join the Southside Serpents. She was considered Serpent blood because her family were some of the original members."

"She's mentioned this before. It was a couple years ago, but definitely after we started to get to know each other. She was always pretty quiet about her family life."

"That somehow doesn't surprise me." Jughead smiled, and I laughed.

"Was she ever seeing someone before she came to work here?"

"Well, she's been here for what, three years? You're eighteen, right?"

"Yeah. And, I think she has been here for three years. We were around fifteen when she was here working alongside Peaches."

"Peaches?" Jughead asked, skeptically.

"Jughead?" I asked, mocking his tone.

"Okay! Okay!" Jughead laughed. "I get it!"

"Seriously, though. What's your real name?"

"I don't know you that well yet!" He protested, laughing.

"Can I ask Toni? I bet she'd tell me..."

"Only if I'd pissed her off." Jughead paused before saying, "Remind me not to piss her off."

"Noted." I laughed again. I don't think I've laughed as much as I have in the past few days in forever.

"So, what do you do? Did you work before coming here?"

"Well, you can run background checks, can't you? You tell me."

"I have the option to have them run, but I argued against it unless anyone gave me reason to believe I need to."

"Letting us prove ourselves first… nice."

"Thank you?"

"No! I mean it. It's kind of you to give us a chance without judging us. Which leads me back to this afternoon, when you acknowledged the Serpents."

"Well, thank you. But, maybe don't mention this to my mother? She will have you thrown out faster than you'll have a chance to explain.

"I'm not ashamed of who I am." Jughead said, getting defensive. I could feel the past day of trust slipping away from us.

"No. Of course not. I'm just saying that she won't approve."

"Isn't it up to you anyway?"

"Technically, but you don't know my mother. She controls every aspect of my life, and… and it's suffocating!" I cried out. I quickly shut my mouth. I couldn't believe I'd just admitted that out loud, to a stranger at that. Jughead and I had stopped at this point, and we were silent for a moment, both thinking over the other's words.

"Betty!" I heard a voice calling my name. "Betty!" They tried again. I finally found my voice.

"Over here." I said, just loud enough for Toni to hear. A moment later, she found us on the path.

"Sorry. Am I interrupting something?" She looked like she hoped she was.

"You're fine, Toni." Jughead said, and I nodded.

"Okay… uh, well, Betty. Your mom wants to see you. Like, yesterday." Toni rolled her eyes. She understood how controlling my mom could be, but yet whenever I complained, she would say 'Don't take it for granted. You never know what's going to happen'. Hearing some of her background from Jughead now, it made more sense.

"I'm coming." I sighed, and glanced back at Jughead. "Sorry to cut this short."

"What is this exactly?" Jughead asked, a small smile playing on his lips.

"You know, I don't even know." I smiled back. "But it was really nice talking to you. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?"

"Oh, he'll be eating you out of house and home." Toni snorted.

"Shut up!"

"Should I give Pop a call and we can ask him how much you eat? I'm convinced you literally supply him with his entire profit."

"You didn't hear?" Jughead looked surprised.

"What? Is Pop okay?" Toni moved closer, concerned.

"Oh, he's fine!" Jughead assured her and Toni let out a breath of relief. "He just retired. His granddaughter took over. She's about our age."

"Wow. That's young to take over an entire business." Toni now looked impressed.

"She's doing great." The way he was praising her made me think that maybe he was closer with her then he was letting on. By the look on Toni's face, she agreed.

"What's her name? I never heard Pop talk about his family much. It was more like he listened to all of us complain about our families."

"That's what made Pop's home." Jughead smiled. "Uh, her name is Tabitha. Tabitha Tate."

"Huh. I never thought Pop would retire."

"Oh, don't worry. He's still there at least four times a week."

"That sounds more like him." They were both laughing at this point. I felt a little left out, but it was good Toni had someone else to talk to. Someone she didn't technically work for.

"Elizabeth!" My mother strolled over to us. "I see Antoniette found you." She said pointedly.

"Yes, mother. I was just saying good-bye to Jughead." I said.

"Jug-head?" My mother sounded the words out slowly.

"Bow." I mouthed at Jughead when she wasn't looking right at me. He quickly obliged.

"Your Majesty." She nodded.

"Mother, this is Jughead Jones from Whyte Wyrm. He's one of the Selected." I said.

"Do you have a real name?" Oh my god. She didn't.

"Mom!" I cried incredulously. Jughead turned bright red.

"Um, yes. Forsythe." He admitted.

Toni fake coughed, then squeezed out, "Pendleton Jones the third." Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third. I suddenly understood why he didn't want people to know his real name. But what surprised me more than his name was my mother's face. She had recoiled as though he had insulted her.

"FP." She said, dazed.

"That's what my dad goes by." Jughead, Toni and I were all confused.

"Did you… know him, Mom?" I asked.

"What? No." She got really defensive.

"Mom…" I started.

"Elizabeth, we're leaving."

"Mom, seriously, what was that? You reacted to the name Forsythe and it wasn't disgust."

"Elizabeth, we're not talking about this. We have bigger issues."

I sighed. It was clear I wasn't getting through to her tonight. "Like what?"

"The Lodges. I just got word that Hiram is a good for nothing money-robber and I won't have them in my home any longer."

"What? Money-robber? What did he do?"
"That's not important. I'll deal with Hermione and Hiram, you throw their daughter out."

"Mom, Veronica is a nice person." My mom stopped and turned to look at me.

"How would you know? Hm? Just a couple weeks ago, you were against the Selection because you weren't sure you could trust if someone is who they say they are. What makes you such an expert now?" I was at a loss for words.

"Um…" I tried to think of a response but when I couldn't think of one, I changed the subject. "What happens when the media gets a hold of this?"

"I have people working on that already. Now go."

"I think they deserve more of a chance."

"Oh, good. Next you'll say that your good-for-nothing cousin should stay here for the rest of her life too."

"Well, have you met her parents?"

"Yes, Elizabeth. I have. I've also met her. Now go."

"I can't. As princess, Veronica stays. If she becomes a problem, I'll deal with her." I held my ground and kept my eyes on my mother's.

"It's your funeral. But her parents are going."

"Fine." I turned, and headed to bed.