texts from riverdale

13

REAL LIFE

VERONICA'S POV

As soon as I woke up, I knew something was off. It wasn't until I opened my phone and saw my texts with Archie that the memories came flooding back. Daddy was arrested. Again.

"Mjia? Are you awake?" Mom asked gently, poking her head into my room.

I nodded, staring blankly at the wall.

"Keep your chin up, Mija. We'll get through this." Mom reassured me, sitting next to me and rubbing my back. "Breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes. I'll let you get ready." She smiled softly, and with that I was alone in my room once again. I took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom to start getting ready.

As soon as I finished eating breakfast I walked out the door. I need to act like it's a normal day. Archie was already waiting to walk with me.

"So... do you want to talk about what happened?" He said after we had walked in silence for a few minutes.

"I appreciate your concern Archiekins, but can we please just pretend today is like any other? I just need a sense of routine right now." I looked up to him, intertwining our fingers.

"Of course Ronnie. But when you need to talk, you know I'll be here to listen." He stopped long enough to give me a quick kiss.

As soon as we walked into school we went straight to the lounge. Kevin sat in an armchair, with Josie perched on the arm of it. Cheryl and Toni sat on one side of the couch and Betty and Jughead sat on the other side. I sat on another armchair with Archie and enjoyed the gossip, like I would every other day.

"Ok but how could you not tell me about this Cheryl? I'm still never going to forgive you. You have to tell the gay best friend about anything and everything gay related. It's non-negotiable." Kevin was saying to Cheryl as she played with Toni's hand.

"I'm sorry Kev, I just couldn't really talk about it. I'm kinda new to the whole opening up thing." She said shyly.

After that I zoned out. I couldn't help it, Cheryl isn't the only one who isn't great at opening up.

"V? V? Are you okay?" Betty asked as Archie nudged me.

"What? Oh, I'm fine. I just didn't sleep too well last night." I mumbled, feigning a yawn. Betty nodded and looked away, as did the others, but Cheryl glanced back at me with a questioning look. I smiled back at her and listened into the conversation, interjecting occasionally. After five minutes the bell rang and we all split up to go to our separate classes.

CHERYL'S POV

During first period I couldn't stop thinking about Veronica. I could tell that she wasn't telling the truth earlier, there's clearly something bothering her. After first period ended, I found her in the bathroom fixing her makeup.

"Hey, Veronica are you sure there's nothing bothering you? Because I can tell when someone is only pretending to be ok." I asked gently.

Veronica looked up and replied, "I'm totally fine! Why wouldn't I be?" She quickly responded with a fake smile. I scoffed and checked to make sure nobody else was in the bathroom then locked the door.

"It's just us. I'm not going to tell anyone, but if you don't want to tell me that's okay too. If not me, at least tell Cousin Betty or Archie because I know how dangerous an untold truth can be." I studied her expression.

"I did tell Archie." She whispered, looking down at the floor. "Last night daddy was arrested again. This time for good." She sniffled, a tear rolling down her face. "And I know he's a bad person, but I mean he's still my father. I feel awful for feeling bad." She sobbed.

"It's okay to feel that way. Even after what daddy did to Jayjay, I couldn't help but cry at his funeral. It's one hundred percent normal Ronnie." I reassured her, pulling her into a bear hug. After her tears subsided I helped her fix her makeup and we walked to fourth period, which we had together.

"You know you can skip practice today if you want." I whispered to her once we sat down in our seats.

"No I'll go. I just need everything else to stay normal right now." She smiled sadly.