Chapter One.- The Odd Meeting.
Things had gone smoothly enough the first day back to school, about as well as she had expected. She was as invisible as ever and that worked out for her, she had had her stretch of being seen and realised it wasn't for her. The study session she had at the end of the day was spent in one of the music rooms, it was a good size and had a piano, she was hoping she would be able to claim it for any of her future study sessions. She was sat at the piano making changes to the song she was working on when she felt the gaze on her, someone was looking at her through a gap in the door and she wasn't sure how long they had been there. She blushed slightly at the thought of someone hearing the songs she had been singing throughout the first half of the sessions. She tried to subtly look over her shoulder to see who was looking in but she couldn't make out anymore that a shape sat in the doorway. She shook her head as if to shake the feeling free but it wouldn't budge, she had terrible stage fright and even singing in front of one person could make her palms begin to sweat so the idea of singing now was out of the question and her focus had slipped away from the song she was attempting to finish. Instead she shuffled the papers around before putting them back into the bag by her side and pulled out some other things she could work on until the end of the hour. It came quicker than she was expecting but she heard a small buzz from her phone signalling the alarm she had set for a couple of minutes before the bell rings, she quickly packed up her items and slung the bag back over her shoulder. As she turned back towards the door she saw a shadow still falling over the opening, moving now as the person sat on the other side seemed to be standing as she was approaching. She pulled the door open in a quick motion and found a beanie-clad boy straightening up and stretching as if sitting on the ground hadn't been overly comfortable. At full height he came to a head taller than her, he had a small look of surprise on his face as he turned to face her, she knew who he was right away but they had never spoken, or even been this close before. She noticed his green eyes first and the curl of hair that fell just over them, her gaze seemed to remind him it was there as he reached up to sweep it out of his face before shaking his head lightly as if to clear it.
"I had no idea you were interested in music." She couldn't help the short burst of laughter that came from her lips at that statement as she made her way past him.
"You say that as if you know anything about me." She heard a slight huff of frustration before she felt a hand around her upper arm, light but enough pressure to stop her walking and draw her attention back to him.
"Who says I don't know anything about you?" He look confused and unhappy with the idea he wouldn't know anything about her.
"I've been in the same class as you for two years, do you even know my name?" He was surprised by that, clearly thinking she was a lot newer in town. "And I don't go by 'Chuck's girlfriend' anymore." She saw the flash of recognition in his eyes and cut off the response she predicted coming, she had been called that by everyone for the whole of the summer and the two months prior, at least it had been accurate then. "Goodbye, Jughead." She saw his face fall as she turned away began walking back towards the doors of the school.
Jughead couldn't help but feel intrigued by her, he had heard her singing and couldn't stop himself from sitting and listening to her, the songs were obviously her own as she kept stopping to change certain words or phrases, her voice was amazing and she clearly had a talent for writing too. He kept sneaking looks through the door, he couldn't see her very well from his position, just dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. He hadn't realised how long he had been sat there when the music stopped, he looked back in to see her sat in strange way and suddenly very still, when she moved again it was to begin putting things away and pulling new items from her bag. A look at his phone showed him that it was still some time before the end of the hour and he was determined to talk to her before she left the school so he sat and waited. Her appearance had shocked him when she opened the door, a mixture of the messy ponytail high on her head, the small scar on the side of her chin, the complete lack of make-up adorning her face and the most prominent of all the bright blue eyes that looked as if they could look straight into his soul had struck him silent for a beat until he could force the words out. It did him little good to talk to her anyway, all it did was make him feel terrible. He had always thought himself fairly observant, especially with people and here was someone he had failed to notice the existence of, except for who her boyfriend was, for a whole two years. As he watched her walk away from him a different figure entered the hallway, Chuck followed a few other football players were making their way through the school, he watched her freeze at the sight of them and shift herself as far away as she could from them in the confines of the hallway. It wasn't until they had walked passed her that he realised she had been holding her breath and she let it out in one big burst that slumped her shoulders. The bell rang to signal the end of the school day and he lost sight of her through the floods of people hurrying out of their relative classrooms.