What We Once Were

Chapter 34

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Veronica's POV

I stand in front of my mirror and smooth out my dress for the graduation ceremony. I turn from the mirror and look over my empty room. All of my things are already in boxes and in a moving truck, headed to my new apartment in New York, where I'll be headed after the graduation party tonight. "Mama" I hear Reign babble in the living room. I walk out of my room and she smiles when I walk through the doorway. "Hey baby" I coo, lifting her off of her play mat. "You're gonna stay here with Grace until it's time to leave for New York okay?" I ask. I know she doesn't understand what I'm saying but I've heard that this is good for her brain development. She smiles and I kiss her cheek before handing her to my nanny, Grace. "We'll be leaving for the airport at 7:30 tonight. Try and get her to stay up so she'll sleep on the flight" I say before smiling at her. "Of course, V" she says before walking away to Reign's play room. Grace and I have become close friends since we've hired her, I know that I wouldn't be able to do this without her, and that is why she is moving to New York with us. "Mija, you ready?" My dad asks as he and my mom walk out of their room. "Yeah just let me get my cap and gown" I say before walking into my room to retrieve the garment bag on my bed. I grab the metal part of the clothing hanger and pull the garment off the bed. As I lift it up something metal falls out of the bag and onto the ground. I set the garment bag on my ottoman and look around the floor until I spot it. The heart locket that Archie gave me for Christmas 3 years ago. I sigh and bend down to pick it up. I run my thumb over the letters engraved on the top of the locket, A & V Forever. I sigh again and put the locket in my purse for safe keeping. I grab the garment bag again and look around at my empty room, reminiscing about all of the memories I had in here, mostly all involving Archie, and some with Reggie. "I need this. I need to leave" I whisper to myself, before turning off the lights and closing the door behind me.

I step out of my car in the parking lot of Riverdale high, and within seconds I hear Betty call my name. "V! Over here!" She shouts, waving me over to her, Jughead and Archie. I walk over to them and Betty wraps her arms around me in a tight hug, "I already miss you so much" she says. I hug her back tightly, "ugh me too, B" I say quietly. "We're here too, just saying" Jughead jokes, making laugh. "I could never forget you guys" I say as I pull out of my hug from Betty. "When do you leave?" Archie asks, avoiding my eyes. I look at him, hoping he'll just glance at me but he doesn't. "I have to leave for the airport at 7:30 tonight, so I'll be here for the party" I say. Betty smiles, "good. I can't believe you can't stay the whole summer" she says. I nod "I know, but Reign needs to adjust to New York before I'm at school all day, and some evenings" I say as I adjust my cap and gown. "You know your good parenting is a loss for us" Jughead says. I smile, "I know that was supposed to be a dig but all I hear is your compliment to my amazing parenting skills" I joke. Betty takes my hand, "honestly V, when I heard you were pregnant I didn't think you could do it. I'm sorry but I didn't, but you really proved me wrong. You're incredible and I'm so proud of you" she says, and I can see out of the corner of my eye that what she said made Archie smile a bit. "Thank you, so much" I say squeezing her hand back. "I agree" Archie says, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Yeah me too" Jughead says, giving me a small smile. "Okay it would be wrong for us not to do a group hug right now" Archie says, finally softening up a bit. I laugh and we all stand together, wrapping our arms around each other. "Can we get in on this?" Josie asks from behind us, making us look back. Reggie is standing next to her awkwardly and I glance up at Archie. "Yeah. Get in here guys" he says while making room for them. "Yo kev! Get in here!" Archie shouts over to Kevin who is standing with his dad. He runs over and wraps us all in his arms, "I couldn't miss an iconic group hug" he says. "Me too!" Cheryl yells, "I'm getting in on this" Toni adds. Soon enough we're all a dozen of emotional teenagers huddled together in a group hug, that idealistically lasted forever, but sadly, it won't.

Archie's POV
"Class of 2020, you will now hear from your Valedictorian, Elizabeth Cooper" Principal Weatherbee says into the microphone. Everyone claps, but mine is delayed because I was distracted by the fact that my seat gives me perfect view of Veronica. "Thank you, Principal Weatherbee" she starts, leaning into the microphone at the podium. "Graduates, family members, and faculty, it is an honor to be speaking at this wonderful occasion. It's a pleasure to be able to share with you this incredible overload of emotions we all must be feeling, and an honor to be celebrating this day with my classmates who have, against my will, become my family" she says, making everyone laugh. Her speech goes on but I can't even hear her over how loud my conscience is screaming at me about how stupid I am for letting Ronnie go. "Thank you, class of 2020. It has been an honor sharing this experience with all of you" she finishes, and I instantly feel guilty for not paying attention to every word that she said.

"Congratulations class of 2020, you are all officially high school graduates!" Principal Weatherbee says into the microphone. Everyone gets up and throws their caps in the air. I greet my friends with high fives, fist bumps and hugs, until I get to my actual friends. "Betty that was a great speech" I say to her when I get close enough. She smiles, "thanks Arch, I was so nervous" she says. I shake my head, "it didn't show" I say. She suddenly hugs me and I hug her back, laughing from her suddenness. "We've been neighbors since we were 4, what am I going to do without you right next door" she says. I smirk, "I'm just a phone call away, Betts" I say. She pulls out of our hug and smiles at me, "go talk to her, make things right. She won't leave if she thinks you hate her. And despite how much we want her to stay, she has to leave" she says. I nod my head and look around to see if I can spot Veronica. "She's outside" she adds before patting my shoulder and joining Jughead again.

Veronica's POV
I sit on the stairs of my now former high school and I stretch my legs in front of me. Due to the blistering heat, I've removed my cap and gown and now I'm just lying under the sun in my maroon dress. "Ronnie" I hear Archie say, making me sit up and face him. "Can I sit?" He asks. I nod my head, "Yeah. Go ahead" I say gesturing to the stairs. He sits down and removes his cap and gown, leaving him in a plain white dress shirt, that I've probably worn at some point. "I wanted to talk to you in private before you leave" he says as he leans forward with his elbows on his knees, and looks at me. "Yeah I wanted to talk to you too" I say in agreement. He sighs, "look what I said wasn't fair. I understand why you're moving near Reggie. You share a child and she deserves both of her parents in her life. And I really just didn't want you leaving thinking that I hated you... or something" he says. I nod my head, "I get why you were upset, we meant- well if I'm being honest, still mean a lot to each other" I say, "and I never thought you hated me" I add. He smirks, "good. And honestly, I don't think I could hate you even if I tried" he says. I smile at him and I place a hand on his upper back, "me too, Archiekins" I say. He laughs and looks up at me, "Ronnie" he says softly. I nod my head, waiting for him to say something. He leans himself up so he's sitting  straight next to me now and he puts his index finger under my chin, pulling me in for a quick kiss, too short to even be significant. "I'll always love you. No matter where we are or who we're with, always." He whispers, before getting up and walking into the school, not even waiting for me to say, 'I love you too.'

Ngl, this kind of made me emotional and I'm the one who wrote it. And just a warning... I'm 50% sure I'll be killing off a character in the near future, we'll see bc it's a character I really love.