Chances ▻ Riverdale

7

In Mrs. Hellmold's English class, Eliza and Johnny sat across from each other, about to do an arm wrestle. The teacher hadn't shown up yet, meaning they had a bit of free time. Nate, Jackson and gathered around, watching the scene occur,

"Okay," Alice spoke up, kneeling in front of the two Serpents, "Three...Two...One!"

As they arm wrestled, Johnny and Eliza kept their eyes locked on each other. Johnny seemed to be struggling a bit, causing Nate to start laughing, "Come on, man. You're going to let a girl beat you in an arm wrestle?"

Eliza scoffed loudly, using all her strength to try and beat Johnny, "Uh, I take that offensively! This 'Girl' will be the queen of your asses when I starting leading the Serpents in a couple years."

Johnny made a face, clearly trying his hardest not to lose. Jackson couldn't help but let out a loud laugh as he watched the boy struggled. Annoyed, Johnny turned to glare at Jackson and Nate, "Okay, stop! Both of you! You're distracting me."

As if on cue, Eliza used all of her strength to slam Johnny's arm down, meaning that she had one. Eliza smiled proudly, standing up from her chair as she gave Alice, Nate, and Jackson a high five.

"Come on!" Johnny complained loudly, throwing his hands up in the air, "That isn't fair! I was distracted."

"Sorry to break it you, Sweet Cheeks..." Eliza trailed off, jokingly stroking Johnny's cheek with the back of her right hand, "But life isn't fair."

Johnny scoffed, roughly picking up his backpack before rushing out of the classroom, just as their teacher entered. Mrs. Hellmold walked in, a confused look on her face as she watched Johnny storm out of the classroom. She sighed, shaking her head before walking over to her desk. FP soon entered the room and walked over to his seat beside Eliza. He smiled as passed by her desk, quickly placing a kiss to Eliza's lips, "Hey," He greeted her happily.

"Hey," She replied, sending him back a smile.

Just as the late bell rang and everyone began to find their seats, one of the Serpents that attended Riverdale High, Teddy, rushed into the classroom, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hellmold, but I need Eliza and the rest of my friends right now! It's an emergency!" He exclaimed and Eliza frowned in concern.

Mrs. Hellmold turned her head to look at Eliza, who gave her a pleading look. It was known to everyone in the class that Eliza was her favorite student and always got away with things in her class that she wouldn't in anyone else's classroom, "Go," Mrs. Hellmold spoke up, "But you are expected to make up all your missed work."

"That is against the rules, Mrs. Hellmold!" Penelope spoke up loudly.

"Penelope, for once, just be quiet." Mrs. Hellmold told Penelope, causing the redhead to immediately shut up.

Eliza quickly stood up from her seat, looking over at Nate, Jackson, and Alice. She gestured for them to follow her out the room, which they did, "What's the emergency?" Eliza asked Teddy confused as she and her three friends followed Teddy down the hallway.

They turned the corner, causing them to face the entrance doors, which gave a clear view of Johnny outside, in the middle of fighting Marty Mantle. Hal Cooper, Darryl Doiley, and Tom Keller all stood nearby, watching the scene occur.

"Hey!" Eliza shouted out loudly, rushing over to the group of Bulldogs, "What do you think you're doing?"

Marty punched Johnny in the stomach before pushing him to ground. He smirked, looking over at Eliza, "I'm teaching your snake friend here a lesson. He thinks he can just say whatever he wants to me and get away with it. I'm the captain of the football team! He's just some greaser-snake lowlife."

Marty was about to kick Johnny while he was down, but Eliza roughly pushed him back before holding her hand out to help Johnny up. Before she could do so, Marty suddenly pushed Eliza back, causing her to fall to the ground when losing balance. Her mouth gaped open as she stared up at Marty in shock. Alice gasped, running over to Eliza as she helped her friend up.

Nate, Jackson, and Teddy immediately charged for Marty, which ended up starting a small brawl between the Bulldogs and Serpents, "Enough!" Eliza screamed out in a powerful tone, causing both sides to turn to her shocked, "This isn't the time and definitely not the place for a rumble, boys."

"When, then, huh?" Marty asked with an attitude.

"Tomorrow night at seven," She informed them confidently, "Meet at Herk Harvey bridge. No weapons allowed."

Eliza sighed, holding out her hand to shake hands with Marty. Marty glanced at his friends, who nodded their heads. He turned back to Eliza, shaking her hand.

_______

Eliza, as always, was sitting with her Serpents friends at lunch when she was suddenly approached by FP, "We need to talk right now." FP demanded and Eliza frowned, hearing the urgency in her tone.

Johnny scoffed loudly, "I don't think she takes orders from Bulldogs, Jones," He commented, earning a glare from FP.

"How about both of you shut your trap hole, alright?" Eliza spoke up in an annoyed tone, "Neither of you have the right to tell me what to do. Do it again and I'll make sure you regret it."

With that, Eliza got up from her seat and followed FP to somewhere more quiet to speak. At the lunch table, Nate and Jackson laughed at Johnny, who still seemed a bit taken aback by what Eliza had said, "Ooh. She told you." Alice laughed.

"Shut up, Alice," Johnny said quietly before he continued to eat his lunch.

Eliza and FP stopped walking when they arrived in the Blue and Gold's office. Eliza stood a seat on the large desk, ready to hear what FP was about to tell her. She had the feeling it had to do with the rumble, "Eliza, you do realize that I'm a Bulldog, which means I'm being forced to take part in the rumble tomorrow night."

"Well, I can't help you, FP," Eliza replied in a monotone voice, "That rumble is happening tomorrow night and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. The Bulldogs messed with Johnny, which means they messed with all of us. But to top it all off, Marty had the nerve to lay a hand on me, which just stirred the pot even more."

"He what?" FP asked protectively and Eliza sighed, shaking her head.

"It's fine, FP. I have it handled," She assured him, "There's no need to get involved. Getting revenge on one of your own teammates will not end well for you."

"But you're my girlfriend! I should be protecting you from assholes like Marty Mantle." FP argued defensively.

"I don't need anyone protecting me, FP. I can do that perfectly on my own if you haven't noticed." Eliza reminded him and FP sighed, finally nodding his head in agreement.

"Yeah, I get that. But still. Can't I just be the one protecting you for once?" He ask0 ed her and Eliza couldn't help but smile, shaking her head at his choice of words.

"Why, am I bruising your large male ego, FP?" She asked jokingly, clearly trying to crack a joke.

FP gave Eliza an annoyed look, only to watch as the girl cracked a smile, causing him to begin laughing, "This is a supposed to be a serious moment, Eliza!" FP complained and Eliza continued to smile, placing her arms around FP's neck as she pulled him closer to her.

"Sorry, sorry," Eliza sarcastically replied, becoming quiet for a brief moment before speaking up once more, "And girlfriend, you say?"

"Yeah, girlfriend," FP nodded his head in agreement.

Eliza smiled brightly, leaning forward as she quickly kissed FP on the lips before pulling away, "What do you think your dad's going to say when he hears you're fighting against the Bulldogs?" She asked him quietly and FP shrugged.

"I don't know," FP replied quietly, "But I know it won't be good."

"Go easy on whoever you're fighting, please," Eliza told FP, "I'll tell them to take it easy on you, too."

"Who will you be fighting then?" FP asked curiously.

Eliza sighed, "I'm the leader of the younger Serpents. I'll be going against the leader of the Bulldogs. And that means..."

"Marty," FP answered through his gritted teeth, clearly not happy about it.