"Are you lost?"
I glanced up at a middle aged woman who was casually staring at me while leaning up against the wall of the school. Everything about her aura seemed tiring, and her appearance showed to lack effort. I assumed she worked here given the tag she was wearing on her clothes. She eyed me slowly, observing my whole figure and the way I seemed to present myself. I looked down at my clothes and realized I should've put effort on a more clever disguise to fit in. All I was wearing was a simple white blouse and a skirt with my original ponytail in it's place, but it maybe was a little too obvious I wasn't from around the area.
Once the woman was done looking at me, she motioned towards me to answer her question. "What's your business here? You don't seem to be the type to snoop around in shady places, much less another high school." She said, her voice a little gruff, probably from the second hand smoke that seemed to be everywhere. "Oh I'm..transferring here! I'm observing my surroundings so it doesn't seem foreign when I do transfer." I replied, coughing a little bit. She raised her eyebrow questionably, but motioned for me to follow her into the school. Thankfully the halls were empty. Most of the students seemed to piling into the lunchroom.
The woman led me towards a large room filled with office supplies and a rusty desk that was waiting in the corner, dust collecting at the seams. She sat on one end of the table and motioned for me to sit on the three-legged chair at the opposite end of the table. She stuck her hands inside the desk drawers until she pulled out a small stack of paper. "Fill them out." She ordered, passing me the papers and a pen.
Riverdale High usually had a simple check in policy when you were just visiting, but Southside High was probably more cautious in their security. I simply filled out all the necessary information like Name or Age. By the time I finished, the woman grabbed the papers and stapled them together. Then she threw them into a whole new stack of similar papers. The woman leaned forward and planted her hands on the table.
"Welcome to Southside High! Try not to get into too much trouble."
My eyes widened and my mouth hung wide. "W-What do you m-mean?!" I yelled at her, leaning forward in my chair. The woman looked at me. "You said you were going to transfer here right? Might as well get that part over with while you can."
I stuttered at her words. Not only did I accidentally transfer to Southside High, the literal enemies of Riverdale, but I realized that it's way away from my house. If I was going to attend this school, even just to get Jughead back, it would take a long amount of time just to reach the border. I would have to live here, and I don't think Jughead or any other Serpents would like to accommodate me into their houses.
I looked at the woman. "Since I'm officially admitted...can I look around? Just to get acquainted of course, I don't want to jump into any classes." I asked, for which I got a nod as a reply. I smiled and walked out of the office.
It seemed to be lunch time so I headed towards the cafeteria while looking at my surroundings. On the contrary to many people's visions of Southside High, it was very clean-cut. There were a few holes and the plaster on the ceilings and walls were mildly falling apart, but there was no graffiti or any sign of damaging to the school as a whole. As I was nearing towards the cafeteria, I heard chatting among friends and playful bickering occurring towards couples. Somehow the same atmosphere as other schools was the same here. I was being a little judgmental though.
They may be delinquents, but they have families and personalities of their own that make them a genuine person. Just because some people are more fortunate it doesn't make them any less of a person.
When I reached the doors of the cafeteria I stumbled onto the wall which received a large banging sound. I stood still for a moment hoping no one heard it. The usual conversations were still going on so I was hoping no one payed attention.
That was until an obviously mad girl barged through the doors looking at me like all heck was going to rain down upon me. "You." She whispered, stomping towards me with her dark as night hair lifting off of her shoulders. When she reached me, her hand pounded against the wall, almost hitting me in the face. If she wasn't trying to hit me, I wouldn't have thought she was a Southside Serpent. But looks can be deceiving.
"Don't you dare show up here now. I finally have a chance once again and you show up now?" She whispered- shouted, obviously trying to hide our conversation from the public of the cafeteria inside. I tilted my head. "What chance?" I asked. She pounded her fist again near my head. "You know what I mean. He's on the rebound now and I just so happen to have changed my whole persona just to make him notice me more. I'm the perfect amount of innocent and danger. Don't you think for a second you can try to get him back."
I honestly didn't know what she was talking about until she slumped her head down after another punch to the wall. Her hair fell slowly around her face as tears streamed down her face. "I finally have a chance.." She whispered, covering her eyes with her hand. I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before she realized that the students were wondering what was happening outside. She gasped and pushed me to the ground before running towards the front doors.
My head lie perfectly still against my shoulder as golden locks enveloped my face. I hear a boy yell, "Ruby! Wait!" before shoes clamored the ground going in the same direction. Swarms of students are surrounding the area but I couldn't care.
Because at that moment I realized, she was talking about Jughead.