Riverdale One Shots

4. Aggravating and Vain

The River Vixens stand in the center of the football field with Cheryl screaming at them. She had quickly taught them the new choreography and expected them to have it perfect right away. Veronica Lodge's silky ponytail falls into her eyes, so she has to keep readjusting it. Finally after she's fixed it for the twelfth time in the last half hour, Cheryl snaps.
"Veronica! You're so vain!" She screams, "Get the hell off my field!"
Veronica runs off the field into the change rooms and out into the dark, empty halls of Riverdale High. That word. Vain. She hates that word. That's how so many people referred to her back in New York. After trying so hard to become a better person, Cheryl calling her vain felt like a punch in the gut.

Meanwhile Archie Andrews is working with the Pussycats on some new songs. Valerie has asked him to give his input on the chorus since they're struggling with it a bit. Through out the session, Archie suggests a few chord and lyric changes. After about half an hour of these suggestions, Josie gets sick of the boy wanting to change so much.

"Stop it already!" Josie snaps. "Just leave! You're so aggravating!" Archie quietly collects his things and walks out of the practice room. He wanders down the hall, his eyes well up with tears but he refuses to let them fall. He follows the hall in the direction of the gymnasium where he finds Veronica curled up on the floor. It's dark in the hallway, but Archie can still see the tears rolling down the Latina woman's cheeks.

"Hey, why aren't you at River Vixens practice?" He asks gently.

"Well aren't you supposed to be sitting in on a Pussycats rehearsal?" She asks back.

"Josie kicked me out." Archie mumbles sitting down beside the brunette.

"Cheryl did the same to me." Veronica explains. "I know how much Cheryl hates it when our hair falls in our eyes, so when my ponytail kept coming undone I had to fix it so she wouldn't get mad at me. But then it just kept falling and falling, so eventually she got mad at me for fixing my hair so many times and called me vain."

"Cheryl Bombshell, the rich witch." Archie states.

Veronica giggles "I like it. So what happened with Pussycats rehearsal?"

"Well Val asked me to suggest some things for the chorus since they'd been struggling to get it right. So I made my suggestions for them to change a couple of notes and lyrics and chords and stuff, but eventually Valerie got fed up and snapped at me. She told me I was aggravating and said to 'just leave'" He explains.

"We've both had a great day, haven't we?" Veronica jokes.

"Definitely."

"What really makes me mad about Cheryl is that she's such a hypocritical tyrant! She hates tardiness but she's always late because she has to get her ponytail perfect. She doesn't allow us to wear our undershirts and leggings during performances in zero degree weather. Finally, she expects us to put 'fire' into the boring routines that she choreographs for us." She rants.

"Wow, she's extremely hypocritical!" Archie comments.

"Uh huh!" Veronica agrees enthusiastically.

"Josie is an extremely egocentric tyrant! Her, Val, and Mel have asked me to help them with their songwriting but she often ignores my suggestions. She gets angry if I have too many suggestions but then she presses me for more. Don't even get me started on what happens when one of my suggestions plays to Val or Mel's strengths instead of hers." Archie lets out.

"Wow, sounds like we're both working under tyrants." Veronica comments.

"Definitely." Archie agrees.

"I mean, I get that her mother practically runs the Vixens and has extremely high expectations for us, but Cheryl needs to see that she can get better results if she respects us more." She thinks aloud.

"Sounds like Josie. I know that her father is very hard to impress and her mother doesn't want her to let anyone down, but she needs to be more gentle with her tactics and maybe let the other two have the spotlight a bit." Archie says matter-of-factly.

After the two are done their ranting about the tyrants they practice under, they sit in silence in the dark hall. They stare at the wall adjacent to them and let their minds wander. Archie glances over to see Veronica's deep, sultry eyes, her soft and full lips, and the way her hair curls perfectly around her face. Veronica meets his stare out of the corner of her eye and notices his sharp jaw line, gentle yet mischievous smirk, and his flaming red hair. They take in each other's features and before they know what's happening their lips are crashing together.

Archie cups Veronica's jaw with his right hand while his left supports him and Veronica runs both hands through his messy red hair. They are both shocked from the sudden turn of events but that doesn't stop them. They pull back and breath heavily staring at the floor between them and then looking up to match glances.

"Wow." Veronica breathes.

"A good wow?" Archie ventures.

"Definitely a good wow" Veronica assures him. She weaves one hand back into his hair for one last kiss before he helps her off the ground and they leave Riverdale high hand in hand.