The Adorkable Adventures of Arwyn Bishop

Jughead Jones

**** QUICK NOTE TO READERS*****

hi, my name is skylar acosta and this is a story about a more "realistic" version of many of the stories i have seen on wattpad about high school, love, friends etc. (not saying that i don't love those) i wanted to bring in a new perspective and a new light on the endless possibilities of "there once was a new girl in high school and this her tale". hope y'all enjoy. 

***********************************************************************************************

Plaid pants, white tube top, and Doc Martens? Solid maybe. Oversized college sweatshirt with some leggings? C'mon, it's literally only the first day of school and you are going to give up that fast. Eh, welcome to teenage apathy.  Knitted sweater, mom jeans, and a beanie? A little too "jughead jones"-esque. Like honestly Arwyn, all you are missing is a fluffy jean jacket and/or a leather jacket, a perky yet supposed "dark and twisted" girlfriend, a hipster vibe that not even your atypical family abandonment and solidarity could shake off, and an obsession with some honestly mouthwatering looking milkshakes. 

"Honey?" My mother's voice broke through my mini attempt to try and organize my thoughts for honestly the most challenging thing about high school- choosing one's clothes. Especially for the first day of school, I mean I don't want to be that one girl who goes in wearing like a prom dress but also want to attempt to not look like the burn-out an that I inevitably might turn out to be. Just saying. 

"Oh hi mother." 

"Shouldn't you be in bed? You know that your first day of school is tomorrow." Ah, yes. My first day of school literally ever. I am not even kidding. I have been homeschooled pretty much my whole life, so you could literally call me a high school rookie. Rookie doesn't even cover it considering all the other people there would have had a least some basic experience with schooling and humans in general. Well, I am not a hermit so I would know some basic human interaction, but only on the most microscopic level compared to these, what I assume, are social butterflies. 

"Oh, I know."

"Then what are you still doing up?"

"Oh, you know. Just daydreaming about having really nice clothes." Mother looked to the floor, her eyes lowering in shame. "Oh, um yeah no, I just can't decide what to wear, that's all. Sometimes I just imagine some other outfits. I think I am going to go with this jacket." My jean jacket. Yes I know I may have mocked them in association with Jughead Jones, but this jean jacket was the embodiment of... well, me. It was worn out, my father's old and shall I say, vintage, jean jacket that was perfectly washed out and oversized, as is everything teens wear these days. The inside was soft and warm with white fleece but it was the outside that had the most significance to me.  Since it was given to me on my 10th birthday, almost all of the exterior was covered in embroidered patches that I had bought and collected over the past 5 years. With edgy band patches to hilarious patches referencing my favorite Vines and TV shows, the jacket was not only, in my most highly regarded fashion opinion, fashionable but also just personal. 

Mother chuckled, shaking her head. "Okay, well goodnight honey. See you in the morning." With that, she left the room, probably thinking of how stupid I must be for thinking of such trivial matters. She wasn't wrong, but hey, this is my first ever time going out to the outside world for a duration that is longer than going grocery shopping for some Lucky Charms cereal. Things are different. I walked over to my bed and picked up my phone.

 11:25. Acceptable, I thought. A solid 7 hours of sleep. I set my alarm on my phone and laid it on my bedstand along with my glasses. I plopped back in bed, letting the soft mattress envelop me in warmth and comfort. "High school is going to be great." I vocalized my thoughts out loud before turning off the lights in my room. Or at least, here's to hoping. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The faucet ran as my mother hummed and finished doing the dishes, finishing a round of dirty dishes and placing them in the dishwasher. My father was at the coffee machine, eyes dropping as he had yet to been rejuvenated by his morning cup of "wakey-wakey juice". His words, not mine. "I'm making a cup of coffee sweetheart, would you like some?"

"Oh sure thank you." Mother returned back to the dishes, as father returned back to his "fountain of sanity". Yet that was the morning, like any other. The monumental first day of school and it was just like any other morning of my life, with the smell of freshly brewed coffee permeating through the kitchen and my mother's hummed tunes of Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" serenading me. 

"Good morning." My voice wasn't chirpy per se, but the tone was rather upbeat and hopeful. I rounded the dining table and plopped my backpack down beside me as I sat down. 

"Good morning Arwyn." My mother peered behind her shoulder as she continued with the dishes. "Excited for your first day of school?" 

"You bet." Though my tone was a tad sarcastic, there was a bit of hope within me. I wanted high school to be a good experience, unlike what I had seen in overdramatized teen TV shows and movies. I knew, however, that I wasn't going to be all smooth sailing with rainbows and rays of sunshine, oh and don't forget the unicorns! There's that sarcastic tone again.  I poured a bowl of my elixir, my one and only true love in life, wait for it... Lucky Charms. Good fucking lord, if there is anything in this world that was literally made of pure wholesome-ness and goodness and just... the shit unicorns and fairies are made of, it would be Lucky Charms. 

"Can we go now?" I put up the Lucky Charms box and gave my plate to my mother. "My my, someone is certainly eager." My mother chuckled, quickly washing the dish and placing it in the dishwasher. "Well, I don't want to be late.." I tried to hide my anxiousness and my excitement as I went back to the table to check my phone. 7:30. 

"Alrighty then, let's go." My mother smirked, looking more than pleased with herself. It was her idea for me to go to 'real' school and quit homeschooling, partially because of her and father's relationship. The two were high school sweethearts, one of the beautiful, it-girls that was coincidentally a cheerleader and a handsome football player that had the senses knocked into him. Literally. After the senior year championship when the Lakeside Wildcats won the game, a young Eleanor Scotts accidentally tackled the linebacker, Jackson Bishop. From there bloomed a relationship that did have its ups and downs throughout an attempt at a long-distance relationship across the continental US but ended with the birth of their first, and last, born Arwyn Bishop, or me. Mother romanticized school, and I mean who wouldn't in her shoes. She had her Prince Charming, an army of close friends which we still meet up with to this day, and "sense of the real world and its problems". Her words, not mine. But I knew that I shouldn't be overly optimistic, because their relationship and love story was quite frankly one in a million. However, that doesn't mean I still couldn't find some new friends and possibly even a short high school fling to satisfy my anti-social yet hopelessly romantic heart. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the- "Here we are. Monroe High." My mother interrupted my explicit yet justifiable thoughts. The school was huge, stretching endlessly on both of the side wings. The front had a huge statue of the school mascot, a Jaguar, while perfectly trimmed topiaries and bushes framed the front entrance building of the school, skimming the bottoms of classroom windows. A massive 'Welcome Back!' banner hung from the top of the two glass double doors and kids littered the two front lawns, benches, and the stairs leading up to the doors. My mind began to spur to life, processing the new ecosystem that I now would be a part of. "Nervous honey?" I nodded as I gathered my bag and started to open the car door. As I started to walk towards the front doors, I could hear my mother's voice in the background. "Hope you have a great first-day honey!" Yeah, me too mother.