High School Musical (Riverdale)

When There Was Me And You

The next day, Josie sat down at the piano, playing with passion and energy. No one was in the room. Just Josie and her music. Exactly the way she liked it.

Jughead sat at a stairwell, practicing his audition song. He kind of liked the way his voice echoed.

At that moment, Jason rounded and slowed down to listen. He could have sworn he heard someone singing . . .

Meanwhile, Betty had found her own private spot with great acoustics: the girls' bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and sang.

Cheryl was heading for class when she thought she heard the faint sound of singing. She turned her head to spot where it was coming from . . . there! She opened the bathroom door and went in, looking everywhere for the source of the music.

She found . . . nothing.

I've been rehearsing too much, Cheryl thought as she left the bathroom. I'm starting to hear that music everywhere I go!

Betty stepped out of the hiding place he had quickly found for herself and smiled.
—————
Later that day, in the school's music room, Josie played the piano for Betty and helped him with his phrasing.

Then it was Jughead's turn. He worked as hard as he could, but singing was harder than he thought. Just when he was getting frustrated beyond belief, Josie would step to encourage him.

Just like basketball, he thought. You've got to keep practicing.

And he started to sing again.
——————
The other basketball players were in the gym, earning up for practice. Coach Jones kept checking his watch. Where was Jughead? He frowned. Something was going on with that boy. Something weird. Something different. And it was getting in the way of his championship dream.

F.P. didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

He would have liked it even less if he had known where Jughead was.

In detention. Again.

The only bright side was that Betty was there, too. They stole glances at each other as they painted scenery. Each one was smiling a secret smile. Each one was hearing the audition song in their heads.

Finally, detention was over. Jughead raced into the gym—only to find that practice was over, too.

The players headed toward the locker room. Hoping to recover a bit from his absence. Jughead said to his father. "I'm going to stay awhile, work on some free throws."

Coach Jones nodded coldly in agreement. "Since you were late for practice . . . again . . . I think your teammates deserve a little extra effort from you."

He gave Jughead a hard look, then headed for his office.

Jughead sighed. He started shooting hoops, sinking one after the other.

Then Betty poked her head around the door. Jughead smiled in welcome and waved her in.

Betty entered cautiously, looking around with curiosity. "Wow, so this is your real stage."

"I guess you can call it that," Jughead said. "Or just a smelly gym."

He bounced the ball over to her. Betty grabbed it and took a shot. It went in, and Jughead turned to him, surprised.

"Whoa . . . don't tell me you're good at hoops, too?"

"I once scored forty-two points in a league championship game," she said, straight-faced.

"No way." He said, impressed.

"Yeah," Betty laughed. "That day I invented the space shuttle and microwave popcorn."