Young Gods || [Not Updating]

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[chapter three]

Principal Weatherbee calls the doorman, who backs Veronica's story then immediately calls her mother.

It's understandable.

Hermione is his boss after all. Well, Hiram then Hermione. But it just seems petty. He could have at least given her the chance to bribe him.

At least, she decides, he didn't call her father.

They'd all be on the firing line if that happened. Jughead especially.

Veronica fiddled with the pearls on her necklace, moving them backwards and forwards between her thumb and her forefinger.

She's sat in the living room, her legs curled up on the sofa and a blanket covering her, half listening to her mother's lecture on appropriate company and the importance of not putting unnecessary stress on her father.

Neither of them actually care about the words. It's an empty gesture. Hermione talks because that's what she's supposed to do. Veronica pretends to listen because it's easier than causing a fuss.

The quieter she is, the quicker she'll be able to get back to her magazine.

"Imagine if your father found out," Hermione says. "Boys are one thing, Veronica. But South Side boys, they're something else entirely."

Dangerous. That's what she wants to say. The cast offs of society. As rough as they are mysterious. Bad boys from the wrong side of the tracks. Forbidden in each and every way.

The sort of boy she's supposed to stay away from.

A description that really doesn't apply to the antisocial geek that she used to know. But, who knows. People tended to change when you weren't looking. For all she knows, Jughead has sharpened all of those smooth edges.

She really hoped that he hasn't.

"Please. He was helping me study," Veronica says. "You said it was important to do well in school."

"And, since when are you so big about studying?" Hermione sighs. "Really, mija, I thought we'd gotten past you being so difficult?"

"I'm being normal, mama, not difficult."

Veronica tries her best to keep her voice steady and sweet. She hasn't called Hermione "mama" in years. Not since she was a kid. A pet name from back before she realised that she didn't have to get her parents to like her.

Hermione flinches at the use of it. Softens a little. There's a flash of something close to nostalgia.

"Can't you just be good?"

Veronica holds back the urge to roll her eyes. "Anything for you, mama."

Smiling, Hermione grabs her purse from out of her handbag. It's new. Real leather with a faux-fur interior. A present from Hiram. Her payment for being a good little house wife. It makes Veronica wonder when she's going to get something. He hasn't tried in a long while.

"Good, good." She takes some bills out of her purse. "Now, will you be a good girl and do me a favour. I thought we could get Pops tonight, a little treat for your father. You don't mind picking it up, do you?"

Sighing, Veronica stands up. "Of course."

"Oh, one thing, the driver had to go home sick earlier so you'll have to walk there and pick it up. That's not a problem, is it?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"I could call your father and ask him to pick it up, but then I'd have to tell him everything else that's happened today."

It's not an empty threat. That's the sad thing. Hermione would really do that. She'd tell Hiram and sip champagne while he drove to the Southside and ripped Jughead's throat out with his bare hands.

Or worse.

She didn't want to think about it. His displays of power are usually bigger and more hurtful than they need to be.

"Fine," Veronica says. "But, you know, the food will probably be cold by the time I get back."

"Isn't if a pity that you didn't pick a boy with a car to drive you places. Think about that, won't you, on your walk."

Veronica bites her tongue and stands up, grabbing her coat from the back of the sofa. It's an long black thing, big enough to hide her identify if she wanted to.

Her mum keeps smiling, tight lipped, till she steps out of the front door. Veronica keeps a straight face till she gets on to the street. It's politics. She acts obedient so that next time the punishment is less harsh.

The long game.

One of the only games she really knows how to play.