"Veronica, can I sketch you?"

The arrival of the rain had forced the group and their conversation under the tarps, and while the other three had busied their hands with bottles of beer and Jiffy-Pop, Jughead had retrieved a small sketchbook from his rucksack. He'd been idly doodling while listening to the general conversation, glancing at Veronica every once in a while, with a look of concentration and something resembling amusement.

"Me?" She looked at him incredulously. "Like this?"

He laughed and nodded. "Exactly like that. Properly some other time, but right now you're just begging to be a caricature. Please?"

"I should be insulted by that statement, but I do own a full-length mirror. Fine, go nuts. But I get to see the finished product."

"As you wish." He bent his head and moved his pen quickly.

"So, Westley, when did you start drawing?"

"Uh, that's Dread Pirate Roberts to you, please. When did I start drawing? In utero, I think. I can't remember not drawing. "

Archie laughed and whispered conspiratorily to Betty, "Yeah, and you should have seen his mom losing her mind when it was on everything but paper."

"Sounds like someone I know." Betty smirked at Veronica. "Didn't you design an entire retail complex on your bedroom wall once?"

"To scale." Veronica tossed her head saucily. "I still have a copy of it somewhere. It'll be my first big build."

Jughead looked up from his drawing. "Build?" He asked.

"Yeah. My family owns a real estate and development company. I'll be joining it officially when I graduate."

Archie's drink stopped half way to his mouth. "Yikes. Legacy job opening. Is it what you want?"

Veronica shrugged. "It's not what I don't want. I have other interests, but it turns out I have a knack for it. I'm doing a double major in business and engineering and I'll have plenty of time to get experience."

"A knack," Betty gave an unladylike snort. "She's a genius. First year, she designed and built that fridge. It's completely solar powered and we've been using it without issue for 3 summers." She indicated the mini fridge that housed drinks and groceries. "She's only gotten better since then."

"Wow. You should patent that. I've never heard of anything like it." Archie examined the little refrigerator with interest. "This does not look like it was built in someone's basement."

"That's 'cause it wasn't," laughed Veronica. "I built it at school out of pre-existing components. It's not that impressive. But thank you."

Archie helped himself to another drink and passed refills to the others. "What about you, Betty?" He asked. "Any family empires to inherit?"

Betty shook her head vehemently. "No way. My family owns a small newspaper. I like it well enough for a hobby, but it's a little bit too cut-throat for me. I'm a business student, too."

"Tell the truth, B. The BBA is a front to keep Mama Cooper off your back," Veronica mock scolded.

Jughead's eyebrows rose over his sketch pad. "Ooh. Intrigue. What's the real plan? Mafia? War Lord? A career in space tourism?"

"As lucrative and respectable as those sound, it's nothing so exciting. I like cars. I've been working in a garage since high school, every summer. I'll finish an apprenticeship after I get my Bachelor's, and the eventual goal is my own chain of female-run shops."

"Awesome. Your Mom doesn't approve?"

"No. No, she does not. She doesn't think trades provide an appropriate future, but she's willing to be less hostile about it if there's a corner office on the horizon. That reminds me, Kevin was driving the truck when he was here. I need to look at the poor transmission tomorrow."

"Kevin's your boyfriend?" Archie asked.

Betty and Veronica looked at each other and laughed. "Oh Lord, no," Betty squeaked out. "Kevin is our other best friend, and although he never loses an opportunity to stroke our egos, we are definitely not his type."

"Kevin likes tall, dark and handsome." Veronica wiggled her eyebrows at Jughead. "He'd be all over you, actually."

Jughead shook his head and continued drawing, biting his cheek to keep from laughing. "Compliment accepted. Moving on."

Archie agreed. "Yeah, you two are both way more interesting than Jug. Business, engines and engineering, plus cheerleading, big scary knives, cooking, camping and rescuing strangers. Is there anything you don't do?"

"Sing," both girls answered together, then burst out laughing again. "We are both completely tone deaf. It's a good thing our dorm only has one bathroom because if we were both singing in the shower at the same time, we'd be evicted," Betty said.

"Come on, everyone can sing," Archie protested.

"Not us. Neither of us have any musical talents to speak of. Dance, maybe, if it's choreographed, but nothing that requires natural-born skill. Practice only. Right B?"

"100%. You sing, Archie?"

"Yeah, a bit. I mean, I can carry a tune alright, but I'm better with instruments. That was my major, actually. Music. I'm starting an education program in the fall, and hopefully I'll be a music teacher in a couple of years."

"Was that what you always wanted?"

"Kind of. Music's always been my passion. I started writing songs in high school, but I was playing piano and guitar pretty much before I could talk. I've always wanted to do something with music but it was only in the last few years that I figured out a practical option that will actually pay the bills. I'm pretty lucky."

"You really are." Betty smiled at him. "Your parents were supportive?"

"Totally. My dad's in construction, but he knew it wasn't my thing. He did insist that I work with him and learn the business, as a safety net, but he didn't try to talk me out of what I really wanted."

"More parents should be like that." Betty said softly.

Veronica reached over and patted Betty's hand. "Hey, cheer up. You're going to get what you want and your crazy mother's going to eat her words."

Jughead looked at her curiously. "Crazy mother?"

Betty let out a gusty sigh. "Don't ask... Mother is nuts, I'm a disappointment...it's an old story and I don't care to get into it." Jughead shook his head at the thought of Betty being a disappointment to anyone, but kept quiet. He understood about families.

Veronica popped a piece of popcorn into Betty's mouth. "Smile, B. You're too pretty for frown lines."

Archie found himself, by some stroke of luck, aware of Betty's shift in mood and tactfully changed the subject. He looked over at his friend who was furiously drawing and asked 'How's the great work, Jug?"

Jughead held up one finger on his left hand and quickly dashed a few more lines onto the page, brow furrowed in concentration. Finally, he held his work at arms length, nodded in approval, then passed it to Veronica.

Veronica's peal of hysterical laughter had Betty out of her chair and craning over her friend's shoulder to see the drawing.

"Oh, my God, Jughead, it's perfect. This is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen." Betty shook her head and laughed until she could barely speak. "Look at her chair! Look at her HAIR!"

Veronica passed the sketchbook to Archie and said to Jughead "Pretty please sign that and let me keep it. I want to frame it for my father's birthday."

Jughead took the drawing from Archie and dashed his name across the bottom of the page. "All yours. I'm glad you like it. Some people can't laugh at themselves like that."

"Then they're missing out."

Archie playfully grabbed the drawing back from Jughead. "I'd like to see it too, since you're all in on the joke." He glanced at the picture then at Veronica, and chuckled, nodding his head. "Amazing, man. Your best yet."

The pen-and-ink Veronica could have been a photograph of the real Veronica, in terms of face and features, and Jughead had cleverly woven her imperious and confident personality into his drawing. The Velcro rollers gave the impression of sitting on her head like a crown; the folding camp chair on which she was perched had been drawn as an imposing throne, complete with the word "Coleman" carved across the top of it. In her left hand, like a scepter, was a slide rule, while her right hand cradled a small pom-pon. Even the collar of her fuzzy pyjamas had been enhanced until it sat around her jaw like the Queen of Heart's gown. She was regal and ridiculous at the same time: pearls gleaming, a dangerous glint in her eye and a cheeky smile tugging at her mouth.

Veronica accepted the drawing from Archie and carefully pulled it out of the book. "I've got a folder in my bag. I'll be right back: I don't want it to get creased."

Betty turned to Jughead, still smiling. "How did you get her so well? You should have to know someone for more than a few hours to capture a personality like that."

Jughead reached for the popcorn nonchalantly. "Anyone who spends five minutes with her can see that she's in charge. That woman doesn't bow down to anyone she doesn't want to, does she? My guess is that she compromised on taking a job in her parents' company but she's going to do it on her terms when the time comes. Drawing her as a Queen was a no brainer. It was fun, though. She's a walking oxymoron which is always good. Who accessorizes with a Leatherman and pearls?"

Veronica emerged from the tent in time to catch the end of his explanation. "Veronica Lodge, that's who. But I'm impressed that you figured me out so quickly. Most people say I'm an enigma."

"Only to someone who walks around with his eyes closed." Jughead stretched out in his chair. "But you said you like to keep people on their toes. I bet you do it on purpose."

"As I mentioned earlier; a lady never tells." Veronica regarded him curiously. "So obviously drawing is your thing. Is it also your life's work?"

"No, actually. It's not even really my 'thing'. My sister's way better than me. I just really like it. I'm a writer, in the real world."

"Sorry, you said your sister is a better artist than you?" Betty picked up his sketchbook and flipped through it. "Is your sister Georgia O'Keefe? These are incredible."

"I'm good, and I like it. JB though, she's a prodigy. If something stopped her from doing her artwork, I think she'd die of a broken heart. Her art is part of her."

"How did we not pick up on the fact that you're a writer before?" Veronica mused. "You sure as hell sound like one, and you figured me out in no time at all so you're obviously used to observing people. What do you write?"

Jughead exchanged glances with Archie. "Ever hear of the maple syrup murders?"

Betty nearly fell out of her chair. "Holy shit, you're FJ Jones. Ronnie, those stories I told you about, remember? About 6 years ago in Vermont, the kid that was shot by his dad and the whole case was solved by a high-school kid." She stared at Jughead, who was looking slightly embarrassed. "That was you, wasn't it? And you wrote about it in your local paper. My parents re-printed a bunch of your pieces. They were incredible."

Jughead cleared his throat self-consciously. "Thanks." He said. "I'm surprised the pieces travelled this far west. It was kind of a small-town story."

"You're joking, right?" Veronica demanded. "The New York Times ran a headline about it. It was huge news, a 17-year-old kid solving a murder that had the police running in circles, to say nothing of eviscerating the entire town in the articles. I remember it, because that was the same time as that ridiculous maple syrup heist in Quebec. Remember, B? People couldn't get over the fact that syrup was causing so much crime."

"Who knew that 9 out of 10 dentists were right, "Archie joked, trying to ease some of the attention away from Jughead who was looking as though he wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

Betty picked up on the tension and scraped her jaw up off the floor. Her initial excitement at meeting someone who had managed to impress her mother of all people was replaced with curiosity. "I haven't seen any of those articles in years. What are you writing now?"

Jughead flushed a deep, brick red. For the first time, he looked really uncomfortable. "I wasn't just writing articles. They were excerpts from a novel," he explained. "My, uh, my dad got himself caught up in the investigation and we needed a lawyer. The articles paid the bills."

"And you're still working on the novel?"

"Sort of. I finished it last year and it got picked up by a publisher in Vancouver. It's coming out next year."

Archie cut in again. "It's brilliant. The articles were amazing, but the novel is just WOW. It's going to be a best seller for sure."

Jughead laughed, relaxing a bit. "I don't know about that, Arch, but it's all working out very nicely for the time being. I don't know who's more excited: you or Jellybean. Both of you are more hyped about it than I am."

"Jellybean?" Veronica interrupted.

"Jug's sister. JB." explained Archie.

"Of course ..." Veronica exchanged a glance with Betty. "Artistic temperament in your family obviously runs deep – right down to the nomenclature."

Jughead stuck his tongue out at her, back to his laid-back self. "Anyway," he drawled, "JB goes to Emily Carr University, and with Archie starting UBC in the fall my whole family is here. Being picked up by a Vancouver publisher made everything perfect. The three of us have an apartment downtown and my sister is over the moon to be out of student housing."

"Plus she missed you, dude. She's idolized you since she was 2"

Jughead grinned. "The feeling's mutual. I don't know what I'd do without that kid."

"Kid." Archie rolled his eyes. 'She's 19, and this time next year it's going to be a toss up to see who's more famous; you or her." He glanced at Veronica. "You're going to want to leave room in that retail complex of yours, for JB's boutique."

"Boutique? I thought she was an artist?"

"She is; an incredible artist. She can do anything, and she does, but she's going to really make her mark in fashion."

Veronica's interest was piqued. "Really? Tell me more."

"You wouldn't know it to look at her right now, but Veronica's one true love is fashion," Betty explained. "And her favourite hobby is discovering new designers."

"Well Jelly'd sell her kidney for the chance to dress either one of you. She says having beautiful people wear her clothes is the best way to build recognition. Makes sense, I guess. That is the foundation of the entire modelling industry."

"We've already fed you, Jughead. There's no need to resort to flattery."

He snorted in laughter. "No flattery, I just call it like I see it." He looked between the two girls. "And I doubt I'm the first person to point it out."

Betty smiled. "Not the first, but definitely the most direct. You don't beat around the bush, do you?"

"Why bother? It's a statement of fact. Both of you, all three of you actually, are exceptionally attractive people. I don't think anyone would contest that."

"Aw, thanks brother. You're so sweet." Archie fluttered his eyelashes at Jughead and blew him a kiss.

"Can it, Arch. You're not my type."

"I'm gutted. Truly crushed."

"You look it."

Veronica cleared her throat. "So, if you two could stop flirting for a minute..."

"Sorry, force of habit."

"Why doesn't that surprise me. I'd like to know more about this multi-talented little sister of yours. Is she online?"

"Of course. Who isn't these days? She's on Instagram. JellybeanJones."

"I swear that's the best brand name I've ever heard," Veronica stated. "I'll be sure to look her up."

"No solar-powered wifi?"

"Funny. We have a no-net rule when we're camping. Phones get checked once a day for emergency calls, and that's it."

Jughead nodded. "Good rule. What's the point of coming to the woods if you're just going to sit around on your phone, right?"

"Totally. We're here to have fun and relax," Betty agreed.

"Speaking of having fun..." Veronica grinned mischievously. "Wanna play Truth or Dare?"