Young Gods || [Not Updating]

•18•

[chapter eighteen]

Sitting in the back row of the auditorium, Veronica tries her best to ignore the chaos happening in front of her.

Of course, Cheryl Blossom wants to be Carrie. On what planet wouldn't she want the main role? But they could have worked that out without having to listen to her have an impromptu sing-off with the other contenders.

"This is crazy," Betty says from her seat next to Veronica.

"It's musical theatre." Veronica smiles. "What'd you expect?"

"For someone to have even the tiniest bit of chill."

Veronica laughs. "In Riverdale? Are you kidding?"

Cheryl spreads her arms in front of her as if they alone could carry the notes across the room. It's a successful attempt until Josie steps in front of her, cutting her off with the next line. Ethel, for all of her effort, hasn't managed to make it off the sidelines. She stands to the edge, shoulders hunched and a slushie in her hand.

"Do you think anyone would notice if we just left?"

"I wish." Betty sighs. "I promised Archie I'd meet him at Pops half an hour ago." She looks at her watch. "So that's definitely going well."

"Serves him right, using his dad to get out of here early."

"He had to work." Betty defends him but she's smiling. "It's true, I swear."

"Damn him for being so honest and hardworking."

Betty shakes her head but carries on smiling. "I've missed this."

"Making fun of the human labrador that is Archie Andrews?"

"Talking to you," Betty says. "Normally, like actual friends."

"Me too."

And it's true. Even though she has Jughead, who has no choice but to be her friend, it's nice to have someone else in her corner. Being friends with Betty came naturally. It's riding a bike after years of not touching one. The more they talk the easier everything gets. Even Jughead has noticed that she's smiling more.

"Which reminds me," Betty talks carefully. "I was wondering, now we're all OK, if you wanted to go on a double date? I know it might be a bit awkward but we're both happy now and-"

"A double date with who?"

Betty blinks. "Jughead? Who else?"

At the mention of his name, Veronica scans the room for the raven-haired boy. She spots him down by the stage, settled down near Kevin with a bulky camera in his hands.

Of course, he's found a way to get out of being in the play. She should have known that he'd keep his promise, but this is ridiculous. Getting out of singing by filming a behind the scenes documentary for a high school production? Talk about extra.

Luckily he's far enough away to not have a chance of hearing their conversation.

Since the Flyers started to drop, it has become hard to keep track of the rumors about Jughead and Veronica's "relationship". Broken up? Still together? Involved in a weird relationship where Jughead liked to watch her cheat on him? There are a hundred different versions and the best way to deal with it is to stay completely silent.  They never confirmed the relationship, no need to complicate it now.

The only comfort in all that is knowing that Betty knows the truth. It had been one of the only ways to get her to agree to write the articles. Even when she was on board with tearing Veronica down, she would never do something to hurt Jughead. Even by proxy.

Veronica laughs. "Good luck getting him to agree to that."

"Why wouldn't he?" Betty narrows her eyes. "Are you two fighting or something?"

Veronica looks down. "Come on, B."

"I see the way you look at him."

"I look at everyone like that."

Betty rolls her eyes. "You're being defensive."

"And you're being offensive."

"Offensive to what?"

"My sense of taste," Veronica says but immediately regrets it. "Wait, I didn't mean that in a bad way. I just mean that we're different people. Like whole other worlds. He wouldn't go on a date with me if I was the last person on earth."

Betty shakes her head. "You're a lot more alike than you think."

Veronica is about to ask what she means when Cheryl starts screaming. Her face is bright red and her hair is damp around her face. Josie stands back, hands covering her mouth, staring at the empty slushie cup and the hand that's holding it.

"I'm sorry-" Ethel mumbles. "I didn't mean to, I-"

"Are you really going to let this musical-terrorist be part of our production?" Cheryl shouts. "She just sabotaged me in front of a room of witnesses. This is assault. It's betrayal and treason and it's punishable in the highest sense of the word."

Josie looks at Kevin and shrugs. "Look, this is too much drama, I'm out."

"I guess that settles it," Kevin sighs. "Cheryl Blossom is our Carrie White."

"Finally." Cheryl rolls her eyes and takes a step forward, coming face to face with Ethel. "In the immortal words of Carrie White, I am the sound of distant thunder. And, boy are you going to regret the storm that's coming for you."

Veronica looks over at Betty, who's rolling her eyes at Cheryl, and catches Jughead aiming the camera at her.

She pulls a face at the camera and pulls her attention back to Kevin. Now the dispute over the main role is over, they can finish the meeting. He goes back over the roles one last time. She's Chris. Rich, spoilt and cruel. The perfect role for a girl like her.

Or, at least, the girl she is pretending to be.

Betty, of course, is cast as the girl next door and Archie is cast as her perfect boyfriend. It's another set of casting that no one argued with. Why would they? They're the embodiment of their characters and putting them together will contain their gooey-eyed looks to one small section of the stage.

"Rehearsals every other day," Kevin says. "No exceptions, no excuses. We're lucky they're giving us as much freedom with this musical as they are. If we want another chance like this then we're going to work harder than any of you have ever worked before."

"What about classes?" Betty says. "Exams? Homework?"

Kevin waves his hand. "Unimportant."

Betty's eyes roll so hard they almost fall out of her head.

"First real meeting is tomorrow." Kevin picks up a handful of scripts and starts to hand them out. "Start learning your parts and getting into character. Because we're going to make this-" he grins. "-a night to remember."