PROMISE // reggie mantle

prologue

people say that the dawsons were the family every family desired to be in riverdale. the grandfather to the young girl who resides in the dawson mansion was insanely lucky as he owned one of the top grossing companies in the state, soon passing down the reigns to his daughter, courtney dawson. however back then at 25 she wasn't a dawson, but a laker instead. and the laker family was all about money and business

at the age of 27, harrison dawson received his masters degree in chemistry, leaving him working in labs in the city. it wasn't until one day, the brown haired man discovered a blonde beauty walk through the elevator at the same hospital as our harrison dawson that he instantly knew that was the woman he wanted to marry. from there it was history. seven years later, harrison received his phd in chemistry and landed a job working as a medicinal chemist, creating and researching new medication.

when courtney was 27 and harrison was 29, lilac portia dawson was born. they pronounced her name as li luck instead of li lack because she was the luckiest moment of the couples lives and something they never lacked once she was born.

a few years later, the blonde little girl was the flower girl at her parents wedding, accompanied by the ring bear, jughead jones, son of harrison dawson's best friend, fp jones.

after this, the newly wed couple was more inseparable than ever with their little blonde angel in their white mansion perched on the edge of sweetwater river. the river was where lilac would paint, her canvas perched against a tree at the waters edge while she brushed against the white with a variety of colors, her first painting being of archibald andrews sitting by the water. she was also an exceptional pianist like her mother, learning how to play beethoven's moonlight sonata by the age of 10.

now the girl was 15 starting her freshman year of high school. an arm sling around her shoulders at all times around the halls. one that belong to tucker hastings, one of the boys from one of the richest families in riverdale. the wide receiver for the riverdale bulldog's varsity football team. it was no surprise when he was awarded the spot, seeing how his family had the boy in football camp since the age of one. the two were like lilac's parents; inseparable. but what lilac didn't know when she entered high school for the first time that tucker would end up showing his true skin, the ungentleman like structure underneath.

halfway through her freshman year, her father one day at his job decided to mix some chemical into the medical marijuana at his lab desk, fooling around during his working hours. the chemical enhanced the green drug, turning some aspects red to the eye. he asked his coworker to try the new substance after work and when she did, she had the most amazing trip of her life, something that had never happened to her before. he decided to name the product, "red ginger", after hearing her go on and on about the little gingerbread man dancing around on the pavement by her feet.

when harrison showed fp the video of his coworker, the man was all about the idea of selling the new synthetic mary-jane to the serpents at the whyte wyrm. this meant doing something harrison thought he'd never do. he accepted fp's invitation to join the serpents and become the gangs personal chemist.

it was a huge secret at first but once courtney found out, it wasn't the end of the box of unspoken truths to be opened. it was only the beginning. courtney kicked out harrison, just for a little while but as lilac, being the huge daddys girl she was, wondered when he'd come back as she tapped the keys of her piano patently waiting for him to return. however it wouldn't be anytime soon as the glass of secrets yet to spill over.

and as the end of the school year arrived and the death of jason blossom loomed a dark cloud over the town of riverdale, lilac knew that her family's secrets weren't the only ones that were yet to resurface. apparently the town had even more they were hiding in plain sight.

but yet here we are, here I am, trying to cope with my fathers return to the southside while my mother deals with her reputation on the northside. and yet here I am, with the most gorgeous boyfriend I'm so lucky to have, staring at reggie mantle as if he was a prize I had to have.