New Girl in Town // Archie Andrews

Chapter Ten

Okay, so I was wrong. The sleep did not even help one bit to reduce my muscle ache. It actually made them worse. My back felt stiff and hard while my leg felt like a hundreds of needles were prickling through them. That's how I really felt during this moment.

I had to sit down on a high chair in order for me to wear my shoes. That's how bad it was. I grabbed everything I needed for the day and headed to Betty's house. I guess I was still early since she told me to be there by 7:40 and now it's only 7:30. My dad texted me earlier and said that he'll be back by afternoon and as for my mom, she'll be back later this evening.

I rang the doorbell and few seconds later, Mrs Cooper was seen standing behind the door. "Good morning, Mrs Cooper." I smiled.

"Morning, Alessandra." She said and opened the door wider for me to enter. I sat down on the couch while Mrs Cooper shouted for Betty to hurry up. Her house was very neat and everything was well-organized. Even her home smelt like fresh flowers and a hint of bacon and eggs.

While waiting, a man around the age of 40 or so, walked into the living room with strips of bacon in between his fingers while taking a bite. He must be Betty's dad. There're two obvious resemblances with her dad which were their emerald green eyes and their golden blonde hair.

I stood up and straightened my clothes before greeting him with a polite smile. "Good morning Mr Cooper. I'm Alessandra."

"You're a friend of Betty's?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting–" Before I could complete my sentence, Betty was walking down the stairs with her backpack.

"Hey, Sandra! Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Hey!" I grinned. "I was early though."

"So I guess you have already met my dad?" She asked me while she's wearing her shoes.

"Yup."

"Hal, locked up the door after us, would you?" Mrs Cooper said when she was standing outside the house.

"Uh, yeah." He replied and gave Betty a forehead kiss before we headed out from her house.

✖️✖️✖️✖️✖️✖️

"Sandra, are you hurt?" Betty asked me when we were walking out of Biology lab.

"What? No." I replied. "What makes you think that I was hurt?"

"Do you think that I would not noticed that you're walking with a strain?" She said with a look of concern.

"It's nothing to worry about." I muttered a smile. The truth was, my back ache might have something to do with Archie pushing me against the wall in that alley. It did had a slight impact on both my head and my back but I doubt his that strong to cause me any internal injuries.

"You sure?"

"Yes." I said with more confidence this time.

"Alright then." She dismissed the topic and talked about something else. We have our next class in 20 minutes time so there's no need for us to rush. We were walking down the hallway and we saw a crowd of students gathering around the side. Betty and I walked towards them to see what the fuss was all about. We excused ourselves and made way through the front.

How could I forget?

It's Jason's funeral that they had in school. There was a picture of him pasted on the locker alongside with some flowers, candles, stuff animals, cards and some other memories of him  arranged neatly on the table against his locker. There were even short notes and quotes being written on his locker. His strawberry red hair was the contrast as his face looked so fair in the picture. He undoubtedly looks alike with Cheryl.