Memory lane we're here again, back to the days, and I'll remember you always. So much has changed, now it feels like yesterday, I went away—McFly, Memory Lane

Three weeks had passed since the Southside students transferred to Riverdale high, and suffice it to say, Cheryl had hated every second of it. Since they had arrived, they had caused nothing but trouble.

There had never been as many fights in the halls of Riverdale, truancy had gone up tenfold, there seemed to be someone called to the principles office at least once a day and locker searches had never been more of a regular occurrence. There seemed to be a new issue everyday since they arrived and it seemed that all of Cheryl's worries were coming true.

But the worst part about it all for Cheryl had been the small serpent with the pink hair. The one that was always surrounded by the boys, Cheryl would never admit it, but she had never been so intrigued by anyone else. She needed to know everything there was to know about her.

The serpents had been attending Riverdale for a week before Cheryl had learned her name, Toni Topaz; she had tried to feign disinterest as Betty had sat at their lunch table talking about her. But all Cheryl could think about now was her name.

She hadn't been fully aware of her actions when she had asked what Toni was short for, the words had slipped out of her mouth before she could even stop them, she was used to having very little brain to mouth filter, but that day, for the first time in her life, she had hated it.

She had hated it even more when she'd found out that her name was Antoinette, all she could think about was how nice her name was, how different and unique it seemed, just like the girl it belong to. No one had ever had a hold on Cheryl, especially not someone she had never had a real conversation with.

Someone who all her life she had been told wasn't worthy.

Wasn't worthy of anything, someone who definitely wasn't worthy of Cheryl's attention or affection.

But there was something about Toni that intrigued her, and everyday her intrigue had grown even fiercer. It wasn't until the Friday of the third week that the serpents had been there that she had utter words to Toni, not since the minor confrontation she had had on their first day.

Cheryl was sitting in history class, doing her best to pay attention to the lesson despite the fact that it had become increasingly difficult to focus in that particular class ever since Toni Topaz had been assigned the seat directly behind her three weeks ago.

A collective groan echoed throughout the room, startling Cheryl from her distracted musings about what the pink-haired girl behind her was thinking about. She glanced around and quickly caught on that their teacher had announced a pop quiz as he passed papers around and the students rifled through bags and pencil cases for writing utensils.

Cheryl was reaching down towards her own backpack when a small tap on her arm caught her attention and made her heart rate jump. She put on her usual mask of indifference and mild irritation as she flipped her hair over her shoulder to glance behind her.

"Do you have a pen or pencil I can borrow?" Toni asked. "I don't have one."

"Why can't afford it." Cheryl retorted, instantly regretting her words. She was shocked when Toni let out a breathy laugh and shook her head slightly.

"No, I just don't care enough to bring one, what being an under achieving ragamuffin and all." she teased.

Cheryl woke earlier than she would have liked to the next morning; as the light seeped in through the curtains of her childhood bedroom, her head began to thrum in pain, she hadn't realised just how much she'd had to drink last night, but she was certainly reaping the benefits of her actions now. Her mouth had never been drier, she had a heavy, nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach and a dull pain in her head that only intensified with every breath that she took.

She looked over her shoulder to see Nick lying beside her, his back facing her, she figured he'd spent most of the night turned away from her. Not that she could say she cared. She had heard him creep back into the bedroom in the very early hours of the morning, and had felt him cuddling up next to her, pulling her closer to his body. She shook him off of her harshly.

She'd already told him once that she wasn't in the mood that night, she thought that he'd have understood the first time, even dogs could understand the word no, and yet he had such a hard time accepting it. She figured that was just something she was going to have to get used to, she'd been warned about this behaviour most of her life.

Men have little controlled compared to women, Cheryl.

Her mom had told her that time and time again.

But that didn't mean it made it any easier to repeat herself continuously. In fact, it only made matters worse.

She'd felt him push himself away from her, turning over aggressively in the bed. Before long, Cheryl could hear him snoring lightly beside her; she couldn't help but envy how quickly he had been able to fall asleep.

She had far too many things on her mind.

Being back in Riverdale after all this time.

Her parents lying to her about the purpose of last night's dinner.

And of course, this room, she had never envisioned herself lying in this bed again, the room was deafly silent, save for Nick's snoring.

It had never felt this quiet, and this lonely before. But now, it felt like something was off—missing almost, she just didn't know what. She pushed herself from her bed, slipped on her red, silky robe and made her way down into her parent's kitchen.

She was shocked to see Jason pouring himself a cup of coffee. He had always been such a deep sleeper when they were younger, and was usually the last one awake in the house.

"I didn't expect anyone to be up." Cheryl spoke softly, her brother turned to face her and greeted her with a soft smile, "Especially not you, I didn't think you knew there was a seven am." She joked.

"Well, I've been getting up early for some time now, Petunia thought that getting up early would improve our life style and give us a routine," he explained, "Don't you and Nick have a routine?"

Cheryl nodded her head slowly, "We do. They're just separate routines," she admitted.

"Oh. So you don't have a routine, you have yours and he has his."

"Yeah, but it's the same thing."

"Not really." He replied shaking his head.

"Shut up or I'm gonna bitch slap you, shit bag."

"Well, someone's cranky." Jason chuckled, "Do you want some coffee?"

"Yes."

"So, how are you feeling this morning? You got pretty drunk last night, everything okay?"

Cheryl sighed and ran a hand through her auburn hair, "Well if I am being completely honest with you, I have never felt worse in my life." she admitted, "I know it's my own fault because I drank so much, but still, it's nothing a strong coffee can't fix." she smiled.

"And how are you feeling about, everything else?" He asked.

"Everything else is good." She shrugged, "I mean, Nick and I had a minor tiff last night, but no everything's fine." She smiled, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm great." He smiled handing her a cup of coffee, "I had a good time last night, plans were put in motion, looks like everything could be working out for the better with this new business endeavour."

"Good." Cheryl replied, "The last thing I would want is for the three most important men in my life to have made the worst mistake ever. I'm glad it looks like things are gonna go well."

Jason nodded his head, "Yeah, dad and I are meeting with a marketing team later, we're gonna see what we can do with the new branding. We have a lot of people offering their assistance, but we just don't know who to go with, we need to make sure its the right decision."

"Is a re-brand a huge deal, like can't you just tweak what we already have?"

Jason nodded his head; "It's kind of a big deal. We could just tweak something, but the St. Clair's think a total re-brand is in order, and if we wanna keep this merger going and actually make something of it, then we need the re-brand."

"I see. So what you're saying is, the Blossom's have little control over this?" Cheryl asked.

"Not exactly."

"So how come only you and daddy are going?"

"It was a business decision the three of us made last night. We also thought it would be good for Nick to get a feel of Riverdale, and for you to show him around."

"Oh. Well that makes sense."

"You don't seem to happy about our decision, do you not want to spend time with your fiancé?" Jason asked.

"No. I do." Cheryl replied, "there's just not much to show him in Riverdale."

She wasn't lying, Riverdale on a whole, was an incredibly boring town. It had been when she was younger, and she was almost positive that it would be now she was older. But her real issues with showing Nick around Riverdale, was the chance of her running into her past.

Most people she knew never got out of the one horse town, her mother and father had lived there all their lives, Jason was heading in the same direction, her high school friends' parents had been life long Riverdale habitants. It was almost impossible to get out.

She just hoped, that her generation had been a new wave of Riverdale alum that they had all managed to break free after high school and college.

"You're really not happy about being back here are you?" He asked. "Is it because of her? Because really Cheryl, we've all moved on from that, it didn't mean anything—"

"Jason, that's not what any of this is about." She snapped. "I just think that Riverdale is going to be a very boring place to us. I mean, we're used to Manhattan and now we're here it has nothing to do with her."

Cheryl knew she was lying. It was definitely about Toni. Everything about being back here reminded her of her. She knew what she'd had with Toni was nothing, a childish fling, a phase. But she didn't want to have the past dragged up again.

Not after all she had been through to get away from it. Not after all she had been through to repent her sinful ways.

Disgusting. Sinner. Deviant.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I won't mention it again."

The twins found themselves sitting in silence, sipping their coffees with a tension hanging between them that they had never experienced before.

Nick had woken a mere fifteen minutes after Cheryl had, she'd greeted him with a tight lipped smile, which he had ignored and rolled his eyes at. The couple had eaten breakfast in silence, with Jason looking between them uneasily. Cheryl wasn't used to seeing Jason so tense, he was the charming one of the two of them, he always knew what to say to break an awkward, tense silence, but even this had left Jason speechless.

After Nick and Cheryl had finished their morning routines, separately of course, Cheryl broke the silence and suggested that the two of them head out to explore her hometown, she knew it had already been decided for them the night before, but she had felt the need to say something, and so, she made it seem like it was her idea. The offer sounded nearly as reluctant as Cheryl felt about the idea, but if Nick picked up on any of her hesitance, he clearly ignored it and even managed to express mild enthusiasm for the plan as he led the way to their car.

Cheryl spent the first part of the day showing Nick around the wealthier parts of town - the Riverdale Country Club, the golf pro shop frequented by many of the club's members, and the high-end boutiques on Poplar Street. As she predicted, Nick was enthralled by these places and his desire to network with every wealthy looking couple he saw ensured that these three stops took up a good part of the day. Best of all, Cheryl didn't have to constantly be on the lookout for familiar faces from her past as her high school friends were not club members and preferred the Riverdale Mall to the upscale boutiques on Poplar.

Cheryl was debating whether or not these stops would be enough to satisfy Nick's interest in exploring the town when he asked to see her old school. She hesitated before realizing that her high school friends had also grown up and moved on, they wouldn't still be hanging around the walls of Riverdale High. Feeling the knot of tension in her stomach loosen the slightest bit, Cheryl navigated their way towards the once familiar building not far from the centre of town. She pointed out various other spots from her childhood from the safety of the car.

After a casual stroll around the halls of her old school and a quick tour of the field where she often led River Vixens practices, Cheryl convinced Nick to return to the car. The feeling of making it through a tour of her hometown without seeing a single ghost from her past left Cheryl feeling giddy. As they were driving down a familiar street, Cheryl began to crave one of her favorite childhood treats to celebrate her small victory - a milkshake from Pop's.

"One final stop - up there on the right." She instructed as she pointed out the neon sign up ahead.

"What is this?" Nick asked with a frown as if the mere sight of the small diner left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I just thought it would be nice to stop by Pop's get some burgers and some milkshakes and head home. There's only one thing I have missed about Riverdale and that is Pop's." Cheryl smiled.

"So we're heading to some greasy spoon diner when we have perfectly good food at home or could just drive into the city?" Nick asked.

Cheryl rolled her eyes, "Do you want to see the place I grew up in or not?" she asked, Nick nodded his head somewhat reluctantly. "Then yes, we are going to Pop's. But one thing," she smiled slightly. "Don't ever call it a greasy spoon diner again because it is so much more than that."

The last time she had been here things were so different, Pop's had been the place of her youth, of all of their youths. Her days had been filled with laughter, friendship and love. As she walked through the front door she was struck by how little had changed. Certain things had been updated or altered since the last time she'd been there, but for the most part Pop's was exactly how she remembered. A wave of nostalgia swept over her and she had to fight to keep her expression neutral as she led the way towards the counter to place their to-go order. Nick was too busy eyeing his surroundings with an unimpressed expression to place his order, so Cheryl simply doubled her order and figured he'd be fine with a burger and fries as long as they ate it at their elaborate, hand-carved, mahogany dining table.

"Cheryl Blossom, as I live and breathe," Cheryl turned around at the sound of the familiar voice, only to see Veronica Lodge smiling widely at her. "How have you been?" she asked, taking a couple of steps forward and pulling Cheryl roughly into an awkward hug. Cheryl wrapped her arm around the other girl hesitantly, only reciprocating the hug for a matter of seconds before pulling away. Veronica looked to the dark-haired boy standing beside Cheryl and gave her a questioning look.

"I've been very well, thank you," she replied, she could feel her heart rate increasing, "Oh, this is Nick St. Clair, Nick, this is Veronica Lodge, an old friend of mine." Cheryl explained introducing them both.

One ghost down Cheryl, six more to go from the inner circle.

"St. Clair?" Veronica asked, reaching a hand out for him to shake, "Of the honey manufacturers?"

Nick nodded his head grinning widely, taking her hand and shaking it once, "That's right, and soon to be maple manufacturers, too. Right Cheryl?" he asked smiling at the redhead beside him.

Cheryl nodded her head slowly. "Right."

"You're merging?" Veronica asked, "Well, I never thought that the Blossoms would ever do anything like that." She admitted, "What's making your family want to?" she asked Cheryl. The red-haired woman opened her mouth to answer before being cut off by Nick.

"Well, we both wanted to expand our businesses, the St. Clair's bought into Blossom's maple syrup, in exchange for the Blossoms to own half of St. Clair Honey, we're merging as businesses and a family."

Veronica gave Cheryl a questioning look, "Nick is my fiancé," she admitted, she held up her left hand showing the dark-haired girl her overly priced engagement ring. Veronica looked from the ring, to Nick and then back to Cheryl, her dark eyes suddenly a lot harsher than they had been when she first saw Cheryl.

"Wow, Bombshell, I never thought you'd come back here engaged." She replied dryly.

"Why?" Nick asked.

Veronica sighed and turned to face him, brown eyes meeting with green, "I guess I just never thought anyone else would be good enough for her."

She knew that by Veronica's words she didn't mean it in the way it could sound; that no one else in the world would ever be good enough for Cheryl Blossom, no, Cheryl knew all too well, that Veronica was simply stating that no one but Toni would be good enough in Cheryl's eyes.

An awkward beat of silence fell over the trio before Veronica's face lit up in a smile, "The others will be so excited to see you," she insisted as she began to lead Cheryl towards a booth at the far end of the diner.

"Others?" Cheryl said with a nervous edge to her voice, she glanced around the brunette dragging her by the wrist to spot a blonde ponytail, a grey beanie, and a familiar redhead at the booth she was being led to. Her tense posture relaxed the slightest bit at the lack of pink hair among the group, though she was far from excited at the prospect of the unexpected reunion. She glanced behind her to see Nick trailing dutifully after her and Veronica, a confused and mildly vexed expression on his face.

"Cheryl!" Betty was the first among the trio seated at the table to notice the redhead following after Veronica. The blonde quickly climbed from the booth to greet her cousin with a friendly hug while the two guys seated at the table turned to face Cheryl with surprised expressions.

Cheryl welcomed the hug from her cousin before forcing a smile on her face as she greeted the two seated at the table, "Hello Archie, Jughead."

"Hey Cheryl," Archie replied as Jughead offered a small wave, his gaze sweeping over her critically, as if he was already drafting up an article about her unexpected return in his head.

A brief silence fell across the group of friends as Betty and Veronica settled back into their seats. Cheryl's gaze swept over her friends, noticing the tiny changes in their appearance that marked the six years that had passed since she had last seen them.

"Nick ," her fiancé introduced himself, stepping around Cheryl to shake hands with the two guys at the table and offering a polite nod to Betty before falling back in step next to Cheryl, shooting her a brief admonishing glance for not introducing him to the group.

"Sorry, this is Nick my…fiancé," Cheryl completed the introduction, hesitating only briefly over the word as she was reluctant to share that with the others, expecting them to react similarly to Veronica to the news. However, she knew if she didn't introduce him as such he would either do it for her or else Veronica would fill the others in.

She watched as Jughead shared a glance with Betty and Archie looked over at Veronica who merely raised an eyebrow in return, communicating something silently with her boyfriend.

Betty recovered first and offered the pair standing stiffly at the end of the table a warm smile, "It's nice to meet you Nick, how have you enjoyed Riverdale so far?"

"It's quaint," Nick replied after a moment's hesitation, as if he was struggling to find a word to describe it. "I very much enjoyed the tour of the Country Club you all have here, it's not as nice as the one I was a member of in the Hamptons, but it's not a bad place to play a couple of rounds of golf I suppose."

"Yes, that's what I've always thought," Jughead mused with a smirk, his sarcasm obvious to everyone at the table. Archie covered his chuckle with a cough as Betty shot a look at her boyfriend.

Cheryl could practically feel the awkward tension that surrounded the group, or perhaps it was just her own feeling of unease that she was fixated on. Fortunately, Pop soon called out their order, giving her and Nick an out.

"That's us, sorry we didn't see you sooner or we would have joined. But perhaps another time," Cheryl said with a forced smile, "It was great seeing you all again, enjoy your dinner," she called out, already moving towards the counter and away from the unwanted reminders of her past life.

"Bye Cheryl," Betty called out, the others offering their own farewells to the retreating pair.

Cheryl walked briskly to Pop and picked up their order, she exchanged a brief greeting with the older man who was still as kind as she remembered. She hoped the food hadn't changed either.

The ride back was quiet, only punctuated by a couple remarks from Nick about how the cheap food was smelling up the car or how Cheryl better not let the grease from the bag ruin the leather of the seats. Fortunately, they arrived back at Hawthorn Manor without incident and Nick seemed to visibly relax as soon as they were back in their expensive estate.

"Your friends seem—" Nick trailed off as he shrugged out of his coat, "Nice?" he offered, his word sounding much more like a question.

"You don't like them. Do you?" She asked, dropping herself down onto the couch with a heavy sigh.

"Did I say that?"

"It's not what you said, it's the way you said it, Nicholas."

Nick rolled his eyes and sighed, "It's not that I don't like them, because I do, I guess." He sat on the couch beside her and let his head drop backwards before turning it slightly to face her. "They all just seem really awkward. Not at all the kind of people that I imagined you to be hanging out with."

Cheryl rolled her eyes, "They're not awkward. I haven't seen them in six years. The situation was awkward." She explained, "I mean, I show up completely out of the blue and I'm engaged now?" she shrugged, "I think a lot of people would be shocked about that and act that way."

"So you really didn't keep in contact with any of them when you transferred schools?"

Cheryl shook her head slowly.

Oh, how she had wanted to keep in touch with every single one of them, how she had longed to contact them telling them where she was, how she was being treated hoping they would somehow find a way to get her out.

But every time she tried to contact anyone who had not been placed on her approval list by her parents, her punishment had been most brutal, people could call The Sister's of Quiet Mercy a Catholic boarding school all they wanted, for all intents and purposes, she supposed it was, but for certain people, much like herself, there had been a much darker side to the school for troubled girls, a side that would haunt her for the rest of her life, that much she was sure of.

She shook her head slowly, "Nope." She lied, "It was hard to keep in touch with them, my life was so busy."

"I suppose it also didn't help being in Barrington, Rhode Island?" Nick asked with a small smile, Cheryl shook her head again.

She had gotten used to the lies, Nick knew about her living with her aunt, he just didn't know why. She didn't want him to know anything of her deviant past, at least, not now that she had learnt from it, not now that she wasn't that person anymore.

The Sister's had helped her with that.

"So you really thought all of them were awkward?" Cheryl asked.

"No, I liked your cousin, Betsy."

"Betty." Cheryl corrected him.

"Sorry, Betty." He replied, "She seems nice."

"Betty is amazing, we were so close as kids, all of use were, Me, Jason, Polly and Betty were like best friends, Polly's a little older than the rest of us, but only like a year and a half." She smiled.

"I'm not fond of her boyfriend though, what's his name?"

"Jughead?" Cheryl asked.

Nick screwed his face up at the name, "Who in the right mind calls their child Jughead?" He asked, the disgust evident in his voice.

"It's a nickname," Cheryl replied, in a tone that screamed 'isn't that obvious?' "His real name is Forsyth."

"Well it's stupid either way. No self respecting adult in their twenties should be using a nickname."

"Okay then, guess I'll call you Nicholas from here on out, since you have so much self respect." Cheryl snarked.

"Your sarcasm is one of your most undesirable qualities." He replied, his tone harsh, his eyes narrowed.

"One of? So there's more?" She asked.

"Let's not get in to that, our food will get cold."

"I still think we should say something to her," Betty protested.

"Well, we don't even know how long she's back in town for," Veronica said cautiously, clearly having changed her mind on the matter, "For all we know, she's leaving tomorrow and she'll be gone for another 6 years before we see her next. Is it really worth upsetting Toni if Cheryl's not even planning on sticking around?"

Betty glanced around the table as Archie nodded along with what his girlfriend said and Jughead gave a small shrug of agreement. She sighed, knowing she was outnumbered and not seeing a point in arguing further. "Fine, but if Toni finds out about Cheryl, all hell will break loose in Riverdale and I will not be taking the blame."

"Fair enough," Jughead said with a small smile directed towards his girlfriend, "But let's just hope Cheryl and her bland, rich-boy fiancé are out of town before it comes to that."

"Agreed." Archie and Veronica replied simultaneously.

Betty smiled slightly, she loved her cousin dearly, but she couldn't help but hope that her fiancé was right, and that Cheryl would leave again just as quickly as she had returned, even if just for the sake of Toni Topaz.