snake charmer | toni topaz x reader

Chapter no.2 - Neon Lights

Your POV
      I've been walking down the streets of Riverdale for about seven minutes now. I pass by streets that have nice suburban homes that go on for miles. I pass by a school called Riverdale High, a couple grocery stores, and a pharmacy. The road leads me to a diner called Pops Chock'lit Shoppe and I bask in the neon red and blue lights which illuminate from the sides of the building. I take a chance and walk to the door, this is the only place that has seemed remotely open. Luckily, the glass door softly opens. I step inside and it's warm. I stand there for a moment enjoying the heat and letting myself defrost, my fingers regain feeling that they lost out in the 34 degree weather outside. My body slides into one of the red leather booths on the right side of the diner. I sit there, my knees tucked into my chest and my hands intertwined with each other. An older man mopping the floor a few feet away slowly turns to face me and gives me a cheerful smile. I smile back, studying his eyes. Poor guy, he looks so tired, I know the feeling of the late night shift all too well. He rests the wooden mop against a booth adjacent to mine and trudges over.
     "A little late for a midnight snack," He chuckles, pulling a white notepad and blue pen out from his white apron.
      I don't know what to say so I just give him a small chuckle and I look down at the table.
      "Well, what can I get you?" He asks flipping to a clean page in the notepad.
       I didn't expect to order anything, I didn't even expect this place to be open. I can't order anything, I need to save my money, I can just eat a granola bar from my backpack.
      "Oh, um...sorry, I'm not gonna order anything," I say hesitantly, I feel bad I'm not ordering anything.
      He doesn't respond, he just looks at my face. His facial expression changes to the all too familiar one that I get when people notice my bruises. Usually no one ever does anything, they just give me a sympathetic smile. I don't want to meet his gaze so I look at his name tag, Pop Tate, it says. Without any warning he turns away and leaves. I'm left puzzled, maybe he's mad I'm not ordering, I wouldn't blame him. Yet, I feel a little hurt. The first person I meet in this town abruptly leaves? Oh well, I won't be staying long, doesn't matter. I stare out the window and notice how truly dark and empty roads look at 4:00 a.m., only one car passes by during the three minutes I spend staring. Out of nowhere I hear clattering next to me. I turn to see Pop Tate placing a plate with a hamburger and fries on table. I look up at him, dumbfounded, and he just smiles.
      "I didn't know if you are vegetarian or not so I just took a chance, I'll be right back." He says and turns away, heading back into the kitchen.
      I stare down at the plate in front of me and a tiny smile creeps across my face. He is the complete opposite of what I thought of him a minute ago. He returns with a glass of water with a red and white striped straw in it.
      "Thank you," I manage to sputter out.
      "Don't worry about it, just enjoy." He responds.
      "Um, what's Riverdale like?" I ask, using this moment as an opportunity to learn about the place I will be staying in for a couple more days.
      "A nice town," He starts, but then his breath hitches, "...but be cautious, not everything is as perfect as it seems. And trust me, it seems really perfect here," He finishes and scratches at his grey hair.
       "What's that suppose to mean?" I ask, I realize afterwards he's probably going to give me a vague answer but something about what he said fascinated me.
       "All you have to know is this town is infested with drama, war, and jealousy. You'll meet a variety of folks, but keep in mind, no matter what, all people here are divided into two groups. People from the Southside and people from the Northside. Northside people are usually very kind and outgoing, whereas, Southside folks are more kept to themselves and can be quite harsh. Well, that's about the basics, if you had all night I could maybe begin to explain," He chuckles at the last sentence he spoke.
       "Well, guess it's your lucky day because I have all night." I smile, my whole body completely enthralled into what he is saying.
He gives me a half smile and continues the story.

1 hour later

      Pop Tate finishes his last sentence. I know that this wasn't the whole story of Riverdale. But, for now it was good enough. I learned a basic amount about the Southside high closing and the Northside Southside high school collide, I learned a bit about the murder of Jason Blossom, but what really interested me was the black hood. What Pop told me was that he was killed and ever since then Riverdale has slowly started to recover. Something about the story of the black hood made me feel uneasy, like a gut feeling you just can't shake.
      "5 a.m., schools gonna start in two hours," He shakes his head, I take the hint that he is done talking about this town and it secrets but I want to know more.
      "Is it busy here in the morning?" I ask, shaking off the coma I was in while listening to the story.
      "Kind of, this place really starts hopping after school. It's like the designated teen hang out," He says while looking at the door. A woman can be seen getting of her car from the glass through the door. Wow, people are early birds here!
     "Well, thank you so much, for everything!" I exclaim while looking down at my plate which is now clean except for a few crumbs.
      "No problem, you be safe now," He says while getting out of the booth.
      "Will do!" I respond and sling my backpack around my shoulder.
       I head for the door when Pops voice stops me.
      "I never got your name," He says while wiping down a counter.
      "Y/N," I say, "Nice to meet you,".
      He nods in response and continues to clean. I turn back to the door and open it, the familiar cold air slaps my face. I can feel the pink spread across my nose and cheeks as I step out of the diner and walk back to the sidewalk.

     Hours of walking and wandering go by and I decide to go back to the diner. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe a part of me is expecting to learn more about this town if I do. When I turn the corner I notice the diner is crawling. Cars and people all around. I head inside and look around at all the people. There's isn't a booth or seat that isn't taken. Pop isn't there, instead a young man with black hair is running the cash register. To save myself from looking like a weirdo I walk down the aisles of booths, acting like I know where I'm going. A blonde girl from the booth I'm about to pass pops out of her seat and stands in front of me. She smiles brightly and I notice how pretty she is.
      "Hi! This is totally out of no where but you look lost, wanna sit with us?" She cheerfully ask and motions toward the booth that seats three other people who are all staring at me.
      Okay, odd, but it would be rude to turn down her offer. 
       "S-sure," I stutter awkwardly. She just giggles and lightly grabs my wrist and pulls me into the seat next to her.
      "Okay, I'm Betty. This is Veronica and Archie!" She points to the black haired girl and red/orange haired boy sitting across from us. "And this is Jughead, my boyfriend!" She exclaims and hugs the black haired boy sitting next to her.
        "Um, I'm Y/N. Obviously, I'm new here," I nervously chuckle.
       "Cool! Are you going to be attending Riverdale high?" Archie asks putting his arm around Veronica.
      "Uhhhh...yeah," I lie. I didn't know what to say and now i'm internally face-palming.
      "Neat! I'll request that you shadow with me for a day tomorrow!" Betty squeals and clasps her hands together.
       "So are you guys Northsiders or Southsiders?" I ask and immediately regret it. What the hell kind of question is that?! They all look at each other.
        "They're all Northsiders, I'm a Southside serpent," Jughead answers and plucks the cherry from his milkshake.
       "I'm sorry, that was such a weird question. All I really know about this town is the North and South side," I sheepishly say
       "It's all good," Veronica says. "Do you know about the Southside serpents?" She asks raising her eyebrow at me. I shake my head.
      "A complicated mess," Jughead states.
      "It's a gang in the Southside. Most Southsiders are apart of it. They are like a family and really don't interact with anyone but there own kind," Betty explains placing her hand on the table.
       "Our Juggy here is an exception of that!" Archie teases Jughead while giving him a snarky smile. Jughead tosses his straw at him and Archie laughs.
       "Let's meet at 7:15 tomorrow out side of Riverdale high and you can shadow me for the day!" Betty says turning to me.
      "Sounds like a plan," I say semi quietly.
      They all start to get out of the booth and I do the same. In a few seconds we are all standing in a small circle in front of the booth.
       "Welp, see ya guys!" Archie says. "Toodles!" Veronica laughs. They walk away and Archie puts his arm around her shoulders.
      "Ready to go, Jug?" Betty asks Jughead. He grabs her hand in response and they say their goodbyes to me and head off. I stand there for a second and wave goodbye. Once they all have left, I ponder what I'm going to do or where I'm gonna go until tomorrow. I decide that I should walk around town and scope out a good place to spend the night. Once again my skin collides with the bitter cold air outside. Taking in a shaky breath I head out to find a place to sleep.

A/N
woot woot! i promise we will see toni in the next chapter. i just want to thank you all sm for 20 reads. i've only had this story published for one day and even though to some people 20 isn't a lot, to me it means the world. you guys rock !
- kendall <333333