Chapter 5: Pop's
Ali walked into the diner for the first time in her short shorts and her Pop's t-shirt. It was definitely an old fashioned American diner. She noted the jukebox on the other side and decided to see if it held any of her favourite songs from the 80's later on.
"Ali! You're finally here!" She turned around and saw Veronica come up to greet her.
"Hi Veronica. Sorry I'm late. I didn't really have a ride here." Ali admitted.
"You should've called me, I would've had my driver come and get you on our way." Veronica said. Ali noted that Veronica had a driver at her disposal and wasn't afraid to say so.
"I don't have your number." Ali admitted.
"Oh my God I totally forgot to give it to you. Betty!" Ali looked over and saw that Betty was talking to a young man with black hair that was covered by a grey beanie. The blonde walked over to the two with a smile.
"What is it?" She asked the pair.
"Ali doesn't have our numbers. How can we expect her to be our friend if she doesn't have our numbers?" Veronica told her best friend. Betty shook her head as she smiled at Veronica.
"Then we'll just have to fix that, won't we? Pass me your phone." Ali did as she was told and unlocked her phone before passing it to Betty. The blonde quickly placed her contact information inside the phone before handing it to Veronica. Once the black haired girl was done, she handed the phone back to her new friend.
"Now you have no excuses, if you ever need us, call us." Veronica stated. "You haven't met Betty's boyfriend! Come with us." Ali was confused as she was pulled to the counter. She was placed in front of the black haired boy from earlier.
"Jughead this is Ali, Ali this is Jughead." Betty introduced the two individuals to each other. They exchanged pleasantries as Ali noted the interesting name. She was beginning to think that this town was in some parallel universe with all the interesting names she was running into here.
"So you're the new girl from England, huh?"
"I am." Ali said. She was also beginning to notice that everyone knew that she was British.
"What brings you to the small town of Riverdale?" Jughead questioned the young lady in front of him. Ali didn't want to answer that question because she really didn't know how to, but luckily Veronica came to the rescue without even knowing,
"Let's not talk about that. An even more important question is – do you know how to roller blade?"
"I do." Veronica was handed another pair of roller blades from one of the other Vixens.
"Then put these on. We're bringing this diner back in style." Veronica informed her new friend.
"I'd love to, Veronica, really, but I really don't want to." Veronica shrugged as she placed the roller bales back down onto the ground.
"No worries, but you know what you can do for us?" Ali raised an eyebrow at the question.
"Let us post a video of you telling everyone to come to Pop's. I know everyone at school is dying to meet the new girl!" A red flag was raised immediately in Ali's head. She couldn't do that.
"I'd rather wear the roller skates, to be fair." Veronica was about to question Ali's decision, but said no more. She handed her the roller skates and Ali quickly placed them on her feet. "You can tweet that I'm here, but no photos or videos, okay?" Betty and Veronica didn't question it, but Jughead narrowed his eyes as he watched the new girl that was talking to his girlfriend and her best friend. Why was she being so suspicious? What exactly was she hiding?
Pop's began to fill up with people as the night continued. Ali was seen rolling around in her roller blades handing out drinks and food to all the customers. Many of the Riverdale students took this as an opportunity to speak with the new girl. Ali had made a comment to Pop's about so many of the students coming in to see her and he agreed with her statement.
"Alita!" Ali turned around at the sound of her name to see her mother and father standing at the front door of the diner. Her mother was waving her hand while her arm was wrapped about her father's. Ali quickly skated over to them.
"Maman, papa, you're finally here!" Ali greeted her parents.
"Désolé, mon chou. Your mother didn't know what to wear." Ali laughed.
"Well you both look great, come, you can sit over here." Theo and Cecile watched as Ali skated in front of them to a booth near the counter. They noted that Ali looked extremely happy to show them to their table.
"I'll go around and see some of the other customers and then come back here, okay?" Ali told her parents. They nodded their heads and watched as their daughter went off to serve the other customers.
"Cecile?" The black haired woman looked to her right to see the all too familiar black man standing behind the counter.
"Pop's!" Cecile waved over to the man.
"It's been so many years, how have you been?" Pop's leaned against the counter, so he could have a better look at the woman in front of him.
"I've been well. This is my husband, Theo." Pop's waved to the curly haired man.
"Of course you managed to find a handsome man. You are one lucky man, Theo." Pop's spoke to the couple. Theo reached over and grabbed onto Cecile's hand,
"I know I am." Cecile patted the top of Theo's hand.
"You're going to be seeing a lot of familiar faces, Cecile." Pop's told the woman in front of him.
"I know. I wonder if they'll all recognize me…" Pop's laughed at Cecile's comment.
"You were one person who was hard to forget, Cecile. I think you have no worries about that." Pop's laughed. Theo looked over at his wife and saw that she was smiling, but he didn't see that she was slightly nervous. She was ready to come back to Riverdale, but she wasn't completely ready to see all the familiar faces.
Ali, on the other hand, had taken her skates off and made her way outside. She had heard that Josie and the Pussycats would be performing and she was curious about the hype. So she stood outside the diner with all the other individuals who came to support Pop's. Cheryl was singing with the two other members on top of the roof. They were only singing a cover, but it was a decent one, so Ali was enjoying her time watching them perform.
"They're pretty good, huh?" Ali looked up to see Reggie standing next to her in his varsity jacket.
"I was wondering when you would appear, stalker." Reggie had a smile appear on his lips as he heard Ali 's comment.
"Did you get my present?" He asked.
"I did. I'm wearing them right now." Ali smirked at the thought of Reggie being internally excited about her wearing the socks he had bought her.
"Can I see?" Ali lightly laughed at his question and Reggie felt his heart flutter in his chest. It was the smallest laugh, but he felt a sense of accomplishment wash over him. This hard-nosed British girl was laughing.
"I bet you'd only want to see me in that." Reggie's head almost snapped off with how fast he turned to look at Ali. He couldn't believe the sexual innuendo that had just escaped her lips.
"Well, if you're offering…" Ali applauded Josie and the Pussycats before she started walking away from Reggie. She quickly spun on her feet, so she would be walking backwards. She looked right at Reggie and said,
"You're biting off more than you can chew, captain." With that, she spun back around and walked back into the diner, so she could continue to serve food. Ali waltzed over to the booth her parents were sitting in. She sat down beside her father and gave her mother a smile.
"Why are you so happy, mon chou?" Theo asked his daughter as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze.
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just happy you two are here." Ali said as she leaned her head on her father's shoulder.
"Your mother has been very popular tonight." Theo stated. Ali sat up straight, so she could give her mother her full attention.
"Arrête. It's nothing special." Cecile tried to shake off what her husband had just said to their daughter.
"C'est vrai! So many people have been coming up to your mother saying hello and asking how she is. I didn't realize just how popular your mother used to be." Theo told his daughter. Ali looked at her mother with a surprised face.
"Like who?" Ali questioned her mother.
"Well first it was Pop's, then the Lodge's, then Alice Cooper and we were talking about Fred. I heard he still lives in the same house, so I was thinking about going to see him tomorrow." Cecile spoke to her daughter.
"Wow, you're telling me to make friends, but look at you, already know half the town." Ali joked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Dubois." The trio looked to their left and saw Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper standing in front of them.
"Oh, papa, maman, this is Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper." Ali introduced the two girls to her parents. The two girls shook hands with Ali's parents.
"It's so nice to meet Ali's friends. Are you two also on the Vixens?" Cecile asked the two girls.
"We are. We also heard that you were on the Vixens." Veronica pointed out.
"I was, but that was a long time ago." Cecile laughed.
"Maybe you can come by one of our practices and see our new routines?" Betty asked Cecile.
"I'll definitely think about it." Cecile said. The sound of the bell for the door of Pop's chimed. Veronica and Betty looked over at the door and saw the familiar red headed boy walk into the diner.
"Excuse us, I want to go say hello to my boyfriend." Veronica and Betty both left to go say hello the Archie Andrews while Ali was left with her parents in the booth.
I know I know! I posted late...again! Don't pelt me with any peanuts please!