the varchie college chronicles (college au)

chapter 1

move in day. id been looking forward to this day since i had gotten into the prestigious sweetwater river university. this had been my second choice school, first to colombia university, ever since i had started looking into colleges my freshman year of high school. they had a fantastic law program, second best to colombia university, but unlike colombia, it seemed to be st-clair-free, and i didn't want even a hint of my ex boyfriend who would be going to colombia, after our messy breakup.

my roommate would be betty cooper, a girl that i had met through the schools class of 2023 facebook page. she had lived in riverdale all of her life, and we both could not wait for me to finally move into the school, so that she could show me everything there is to see of the small town that was about an hour away from the school.

"wow, it's very nice." my mother commented, and my dad made a grunt of agreement, as we walked into my living space for the next ten months. my dad was not very happy that i had chosen sweetwater over colombia, but i did not really care what he thought.

the dorm was bigger than i expected. betty had already moved in several days ago, so her stuff was already organized, with the purple and white color scheme that we had agreed on.

i spent the next few hours working with my parents to settle into my room. betty hadn't arrived yet, choosing to hang out at her boyfriends apartment just outside of campus instead, so that i could have privacy with my parents.

first i made my bed, with the white sheet set and purple plush blanket on top, before hanging up a tapestry, along with other wall decorations. then, i organized all of my clothes into my side of my closet, put my toiletries and makeup supplies away, and then organized the food i had brought into storage bins. i had agreed to bring all of the food for the first stash, while betty decided to bring all of the cleaning supplies. we would switch off on replacing it.

i pulled my phone out to let betty know that we were almost done setting up, so that she could finally come over to the room.

almost as soon as i sent it, i heard the lock to my door clicking, and looked up to see betty.

"oh my gosh hi!! it's so nice to finally meet you!" i squealed.

"i'm so excited for this year!" she squealed right back, hugging me. after we stopped hugging, she introduced herself to my parents. "hi, i'm betty cooper! so nice to meet you." she smiled.

"i'm hermione, and this is hiram." my mom said, giving her a warm smile.

"why don't we take you both out to dinner? it will probably be your last good meal for quite some time." my dad offered. he made a weak attempt at a joke, which helped me to understand that he was at least trying to be supportive.

"that'd be great. thank you daddy." i said happily.

and so, we decided to go to a steakhouse for my first dinner in college. my mom ordered a salad, while my dad and i both ordered steaks with mashed potatoes, and betty ordered some chicken wings with a small side of salad. we spent the time at dinner chatting about many different topics of conversation.

from betty's major (journalism) to her life in riverdale to stories of our hallmates (it seemed like we had two really nice girls right next door to us, but also two douche-y football players across from us) to many other things, my parents practically gave her a whole interview.

finally, dinner was over. my parents dropped us back off at our dorm (to which i said "bye mom! bye daddy!" and gave them both hugs and kisses) and we headed inside.

"so i'm going to introduce you to cheryl and toni! they live two doors down and are so sweet. i already know toni, from jughead, and then cheryl moved in a few days before you." betty explained, as we dropped our stuff off in our dorm.

we headed back outside and to our hopefully eventual friends dorm room. betty walked right in, because the door was slightly ajar, with me trailing slightly behind her, nervous to meet new people. before, everybody had to be approved by nick, but in a post-nick life i got to make my own decisions.

"hi!" the first girl, who had brown hair and copper toned skin, said, waving at me. "i'm toni topaz!"

"i'm veronica lodge. it's so nice to meet you! betty has already said so much about you." i smiled.

"i'm cheryl blossom. my instagram handle is cherylbombshell, so you should definitely give me a follow." the girl with vibrant red hair that contrasted against her pale skin, said straightforwardly.

"okay, i'll do that." i replied.

we ended up all chilling in cheryl and toni's room, talking about our lives before moving to sweetwater river university. apparently cheryl had lived in florida, and had gotten into many prestigious pre-med schools, but had chosen the one as far away as possible from her parents, needing an escape, similar to my situation. toni was homeless in southern california, until jughead's father, apparently a distant relative of hers, took her in and taught her a love for repairing and creating machines, leading her to the major of engineering. i already knew about betty, who lived about one hour away, in riverdale, and majored in journalism. we all exchanged instagram handles, and betty and i were about to head back to our room, when we got some apparently unwanted visitors.

"archie, reggie, what do you guys want?" an exasperated toni grumbled.

"we heard about the new company in our hallway and wanted to come investigate." the dark haired boy with tan skin said, a smirk taking over his face, reminding me of nick st clair, making me want to bolt.

"well it's almost midnight, you didn't have to investigate right at this time." cheryl said.

"well jeez, it's not like y'all were going to bed anytime soon. you have guests, so we decided to join the party." the redhead replied. compared to cheryl, who's hair was a sharp, vibrant red, he had more of a softer red shade, with a sort of brunette mix.

"you're not welcomed here. leave your antics for another day, it's literally veronica's first day living here." betty sighed.

"veronica, that's the beauty's name. so nice to meet you. i'm reggie mantle." the dark haired boy said, reaching his hand to me, as if he wanted to shake hands, but i was already thrown off by the comparison i had seen between him and nick, so i couldn't stop myself from slightly backing away.

"reg, come on. i don't think she's comfortable. let's go. we have all year to make friends." the seemingly more levelheaded redhead said.

the both of them walked out, but i was sure that that wouldn't be the only last i would see of them this year.

"who was that?" i asked when i finally found my voice.

"reggie mantle and archie andrews. they live right across from us and are very obnoxious. mostly reggie, archie usually knocks some sense into him. they're on the football team, so naturally act rowdy thinking that they can get away with anything, which is why they blast music all night, and have friends over all the time, with no control over their noise." cheryl said, with a slight eye roll.

"i've never seen them back off so quick, they'd normally not leave us for over an hour. you have a superpower veronica." betty said, laughing.

"yeah, the superpower of piquing archie's interest." toni replied. "he'll probably be wrapped around your little finger until he gets over whatever thing he has for you, use it to your advantage."

we stood there and talked a little bit longer, making plans to go to a pre-syllabus week party tomorrow night, before betty and i headed back to our dorm room. i already noticed the loud noise of the tv, and couldn't help but roll my eyes, not looking forward to the sleepless nights i was going to get with the duo across from us.

a/n: first chapter done! yay! don't worry, you will be getting more of a background on nick but i'm sure you can imagine what is going on with him and veronica. it'll take veronica quite some time to open up, betty being the more bold of the two, but she will open up soon. cheryl and toni will eventually become lovers but for now they are friends. and this is probably gonna be some very slow burn archie, sorry about that. this will probably be mostly from veronica's pov.