Consequences

Chapter 35

Veronica was exhausted after the eventful date Jughead had planned for them. She had barely woke up in time the next morning to cook breakfast for everyone living in Thornhill. She thanked her lucky stars that she had premixed the pancake batter yesterday afternoon.

She gently threw the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, then hopped onto the truck that Jughead was driving Jason, Cheryl, Toni and her to school.

"You blew me off last night," Jason faked being hurt. "Another date to make up for it?"

The truck halted to a stop all of a sudden at a red light, causing the five of them to fall forwards slightly with the restraint of their seatbelts.

"My standards are really high," Veronica informed him.

"Her standards have been raised even higher due to her recent date experiences," Jughead's knuckles started to turn white from gripping the steering wheel tightly. "You should probably not embarrass yourself."

"Recent date experiences?" Toni cut in excitedly. "And whom did you go on a date with, V?"

Veronica shot Jughead an annoyed glare. Fortunately, she was shotgun so the three at the back could not see her facial expressions. Thanks to Jughead's gloating, he had got the both of them in a pickle.

"Noone important," Veronica retorted as payback for Jughead's big mouth.

Jughead rolled his eyes and kept driving.

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"Can someone tell me the main themes of Edith Wharton's Roman Fever?" Ms Iris asked her Literature in English class.

"Jealousy and violence," Veronica called out, then subtly winked at Jughead, who flipped her off.

"Good job, Veronica. It is blatantly obvious that jealousy fuels Grace Ansley and Alida Slade's rivalry. Another important main theme, as Veronica kindly pointed out, is violence. Even though the two ladies do not physically hurt each other, their words are very hurtful and aimed to injure. Can anyone else tell me how the setting of the story reflects the theme of violence?"

Jughead, competitively raised his hand. He was going to outsmart Veronica. "The story is set in Rome, near the Colosseum. It implies violence right at the start through the setting, and in a way, the two ladies are the Gladiators in this story."

"Excellent. Wow class, I'm impressed, you all studied Roman Fever. In that case, you are all going to do well on the essay that I am going to assign you for homework. Please submit an essay on 'Main themes of Roman Fever' by next Wednesday." Ms Iris handed out lined paper for the students to write on.

"One more question before I dismiss you. Please discuss with your partner who is the biggest villain of all the characters in the short story."

Jughead and Veronica turned to each other, ready to verbally spar. They were very opinionated about literature and they views usually differed. Ms Iris kept an eye on the two of them during the discussion time. Based on experience, their discussions sometimes turned into heated arguments that she had to end.

"Alida Slade is the biggest villain," Jughead started right away. "She wrote a letter that could have potentially killed her so called best friend. This act of viciousness that was blinded by jealousy makes her more evil than Grace Ansley. Even though Ansley is guilty of having an affair with her fiancee, what she did was minor compared to Alida."

"Well, as usual, I have to say I disagree with you, Jughead. Wharton portrays both ladies as equally evil and guilty of their crimes. Both ladies' actions were fueled by their jealousy and   both of their actions were vicious. Alida could have physically hurt Ansley by making her catch Roman Fever, and Ansley could have torn her engagement apart and ruined Slade's life. However, since the two ladies are of equal villainy, Delphin Slade is the biggest villain, as he is the object of their jealousy."

"Veronica, that is completely absurd, why would Delphin Slade be the biggest villain? He is just a trophy husband to the women in the short story and is a completely unimportant character!" He gaped at her. "If Delphin Slade was not the object of jealousy, another guy would have been. This is not about the guys, it is about the women's competitive culture, that has been passed on for generations, that is depicted in the story."

The bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. Ms Iris breathed a sigh of relief. Jughead and Veronica were her favorite students, but their discussions could get way out of hand.

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"Delphin Slade? Seriously, Veronica?" Jughead scowled as he sat down at their cafeteria table for lunch.

Veronica was about to bite back but Toni immediately cut in. "Guys! The cafeteria's serving pizza today!" She sensed a literary argument coming up and she did not want to hear her two fiery dark haired friends bicker during lunch.

As Sweet Pea and Fangs dumped their trays onto their table, Jughead suddenly remembered the task his dad had given him. "Guys, we need your help coming up with facilities to build or activities for a tourist center here in Riverdale."

"A tourist center, I like the idea of that," Cheryl smiled.

Everyone at the table looked excited at the idea. There were not many recreational facilities in Riverdale, and their fun was often limited to house parties, food at Pops and picnics at Sweetwater River.

Jughead pulled out a piece of paper from his bag. "I already wrote 'Reopening the Twilight Drive-in' here. You can all add your suggestions on this sheet."

As the sheet was passed around,  Veronica wrote 'Karaoke', Toni wrote 'A Rainbow Ferris Wheel', Cheryl wrote 'Boat rides across Sweetwater River and A Spa!!', Fangs wrote 'Amusement Park', and Sweet Pea wrote 'Laser Tag'.

"Thanks," Jughead pocketed the sheet. "My dad will be thankful for all your input."

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A/N

Disclaimer: Commentaries on Edith Wharton's Roman Fever may not be accurate. Jughead and Veronica's points are designed to be polarised for this book.