𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕖

13

Betty and Veronica told Arabella that they would text her everything that happened tonight because apparently, Betty had an idea for revenge on Chuck.

Betty! The sweetest blonde Square had an idea for revenge on Chuck Clayton!

Meanwhile, Arabella sucked it up and went to the Taste of Riverdale event that the mayor was putting on.

She hoped that she would see at least one of her friends there, but she didn't so far. The only people she saw was her friend's parents, which she dreaded because all they asked her about was how school was doing.

But a hint of interest hit Arabella when she saw Miss Grundy standing alone.

Feeling like she needed to say something, the young Queen rushed over to the music teacher and started up a conversation.

"Miss Grundy!" She nearly shouted with false excitement.

The woman, looking completely confused, smiled awkwardly at the random student.

"Oh, you don't know me. I'm Arabella Queen, Archie's friend. I heard you were giving him music lessons," the young Queen was trying her best to lie because lying to figures of authority before having a conversation with them, was not her forte.

"Okay, he's never mentioned you," Grundy smiled nervously.

Arabella smiled and nodded, "of course he hasn't... well, I just wanted to get acquainted. First name basis because I need to know the person who's going to make my Archie a star."

With furrowed eyebrows, Grundy looked at Arabella. "Your Archie?"

"Best friends, ex-boyfriend. He's kind of a big deal to me and I expect you will make him happy... by teaching him about music," Arabella said simply before saying goodbye and walking away, no longer to have a conversation with someone who didn't really know how to keep it going.

The young Queen wandered around by the Pop's buffet, picking off of Bleu Cheese Sliders, until someone very familiar walked up to the stand. "Arabella," the blonde lady said with a straight face.

Ara looked up at Betty's mother, Alice, before walking away. It was logical thing to do; then Arabella didn't have to interact with the wretched lady.

With boredom striking the girl from every corner and Eric not answering his phone because he's probably having fun with his family, Arabella resorted to taking a look around the building.

She walked and walked between small and large crowds, up and down stairs until she came across a steep staircase that was in the wall in the ballroom that the event was taking place.

Stealthily, she climbed up the stairs and almost jumped at finding two boys that were way too familiar to her.

"What the hell are you two doing up here?!" Arabella whisper-shouted to Archie and Jughead.

"We could ask you the same thing," Jughead said simply, "but we don't care enough."

The girl crawled over to Juggie and smacked him on the leg while saying, "stop being an ass, Jug."

The black-haired boy furrowed his eyebrows and rubbed where on his leg that Arabella hit.

The girl moved between her friends, still sitting on the balcony with them when Josie and the Pussycats began to sing a new song.

"I helped write that, guys," Archie said, his eyes not moving from the band.

Arabella smiled and sarcastically said, "in that case, its horrible."

Archie had to look at his friend to realize that she was only joking. He wasn't a very serious person either, like Juggie, so he laughed a little.

The black-haired boy looked between his two best friends before saying that he needed to go hunt down an Adventure Scout.

Arabella nodded as the boy left, her eyes slowly trailing to Archie. The red head watched the girls performing and excitement was prominent in his face.

He looked like a kid in a candy store and she was a proud friend.

It took Ara a few seconds for her to notice that she was staring at Archie, so she quickly looked back at the Pussycat's performance.

When the group finally finished, everyone cheered and applauded, especially Ara, knowing that being enthusiastic would make her friend happy.

"My dad doesn't want me to do this," Archie said suddenly after the applause had died down.

Arabella was taken off-guard by this news, so she didn't really know what to say. What she did say, though, did help though.

"Who cares, Arch?" She said with slightly furrowed eyebrows and a smile on her face. This got her friend's full attention, as he was surprised that she would say that.

"Look, not everyone is going to support your dream. And I understand that that's your dad, but your friends believe in you and that's enough. I believe in you, Jug believes in you, Betty definitely still believes in you. Just keep going," Arabella explained enthusiastically, which surprised her because she didn't know that she could rant like that. "I mean, seriously, it hasn't even been three weeks back at school yet and you've already helped Josie and the Pussycats write a new song for a performance... in front of people."

Unknowingly, the two moved closer together when the dark-brown-haired girl was ranting; they were sitting close enough so that their hands were nearly touching.

Arabella didn't really put much notice into it because she unknowingly did it all the time when they were dating. But, as if all most in a trance by what she had said, Archie smiled down at their hands nearly touching then back up at her.

As if almost instinct, the red-headed boy leaned in closer to Arabella and the girl wasn't completely aware because she was watching the people at the party mingle.

It was only when Archie actually grabbed her hand when she took notice in how close their faces were. "Archie," she said lowly as their noses nearly grazed and their lips were only a few millimeters from each other's.

It was a matter of seconds before Archie would have actually kissed Ara, so she quickly put her hand over his mouth to stop him from doing so.

"Archie," she said, pulling away from their nearness, "I love you. Just not like that anymore."

Ara removed her hand from her friend's face and kept an eye on him to see if he was okay. He was, at least from what she could tell, but he looked a bit confused with his eyebrows stitched together slightly.

"I have no idea why I did that," he laughed awkwardly, still not making eye contact with Arabella. To ease the tension that he was feeling now, a smile tugged at the corners of the girl's lips before she kissed him on the cheek.

"Don't worry about it, Weasley. It's a pass; cause we dated and we're best friends," she smiled wider now before saying a quick goodbye and skipping down the staircase of the balcony, which she entered on.

Arabella did have a small feeling of wanting to kiss Archie. But this boy has his feeling thrown into a scrambler. His lips are literally attached to nearly every girl: Miss Grundy, Veronica, and lord knows who else.

He's just trying to find who the best match is for him, so she doesn't really have a problem when it comes down to him trying to kiss her.