The next few days flew by, with the only thing concerning me was how many people at school came up to me and asked me if I was ok. I assured everyone that I was fine, but they kept asking. Apparently, someone had heard about my kidnapping and they leaked the gossip, and now the whole school knew about it.
Luckily some of their attention was diverted by the other new girl who came to the school a week after I did. She - Dixie- had long blond straight hair with pink streaks through it. She dressed similarly to Toni and I, but even more scandalous. Her first day, Dixie wore a pink mini-skirt with fishnets tight with a black crop top and choker necklace. All the single guys - and even some with disapproving girlfriends- turned their eyes to Dixie whenever she passed them in the hall, or when she was sitting alone outside against a tree during lunch, headphones on, listening to music.
I tried to make friends with the girl, but every time I tried talking to her, she would just give me an angry look and walk away. I had no idea what her deal was. No one knew much about Dixie, she claimed her last name was Smith, but she could easily lied about that. Dix - as she liked to be called- wouldn't tell anyone where she was from - but most people believed that she was from the South-side. Which was odd, because I had never seen her before, but Jughead told me he had seen her around a few times, but she didn't appear to be in a gang. She definitely wasn't a Serpent, but she might have been a Ghoulie, as they didn't wear jackets or anything to distinguish themselves.
Beside the anti-social new girl and all the attention regarding my kidnapping, life was normal. I had to study for my midterms coming up soon, and when our chemistry teacher assigned us a project, I was really glad that Mr. Lincoln appointed Ryder as my partner.
I met up with Ryder after school that day, waiting for him by his locker. He smiled at me once he noticed me, telling his friends, with whom he was walking the hall with, that he'll catch up with them later. As he walked towards me, I matched his smile with one of my own. He leant down and kissed me gently, lingeringly, until some guys walked by and cat-called and wolf-whistled at us. Ryder and I both were still smiling when we pulled apart and he rested his forehead against mine.
"I haven't seen you since last night" Ryder whispered softly, referring to when he walked me home from school. "I missed you."
"It hasn't even been 24 hours!" I said, chuckling.
"Well, that doesn't make me miss you any less than if I hadn't seen you for a week"
"That's very sweet", I tilted my head. "Thank you."
Ryder just smiled and gave me a quick kiss.
"The reason I caught up with you, beside me missing you of course," I assured him, "is I think we should meet someplace so we can work on our Chemistry assignment together. Mr Lincoln only gave us two weeks".
"Yeah, definitely. I'm free this afternoon; we can go to Pop's and study there" Ryder suggested.
"Sure", I looked around. "Let me just tell Jug and Betty that I'll be going with you".
I saw the pair walking out of the Blue and Gold offices. And headed towards them. "Betty, Jug!" I called out to them.
They turned from their conversation. "Hey girl", Betty greeted. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to tell you two that I'm going to Pop's with Ryder to study for an Chemistry assignment".
"Ooh," Betty raised her eyebrows, a grin on her face, "like a date?"
"No, just just school work", I told her. I realised then that Ryder and I hadn't really been on a date before. We were boyfriend and girlfriend, definitely, but beside sharing a kiss or two in the hallway and he walking me home from school, we're not like most couples. I made a mental note to talk to him about it.
I glanced behind Betty and my brother, noticing the Blue and Gold office. An idea came to me. I looked back at the pair. "Hey, I was wondering…" I trailed off.
"What?" Betty cocked her head. "Wondering what?"
"Do you think - could I, uh, maybe, write for the Blue and Gold?" I tentatively asked.
Betty and Jughead looked at each other. "Yes, that would be great!" Betty said.
"Yeah, we've been a bit short=handed lately, and we could use a few more articles in the paper." Jughead spoke up. "
"Great!" I was really excited. "I can write articles, or some short-stories or even some you want".
"Well, we'll let you know about your first article soon", Jug told me.
"I'll see you later", I walked back to Ryder. Today was a good day, I had a feeling it was only about to get better.