Strange Connection

Chapter One

It was a usual cloudy day in the small town of Riverdale. Sweetwater River was clear and crisp, the birds were singing their traditional songs, and the temperature was a little below 65 degrees. It looked like it was going to be one of the better days of September. For Cheryl Blossom, however, today was not such a great day.

It was the first day of school for the Riverdale district and Cheryl's first day of 11th grade. She was anxious about what could happen today and didn't even want to think about the other 179 days after it. Most kids wouldn't necessarily be happy about going back to school, but for Cheryl, it was ten times worse. She always felt like she had to be on guard and aware, and she definitely didn't want a repeat of last year... Cheryl gulped and brushed off the thought. Everything will be fine, just keep to yourself.

Riverdale blurred past her as she continued to school in her small Mazda, which was painted red. For the first day back she wanted to wear her new overalls with a long sleeve matte red shirt underneath. She practically had to beg her mom in order to get the white Converse she wanted. Penelope and Clifford Blossom are very strict when it comes to appropriate clothing, so they were naturally unsure about buying Cheryl the popular sneakers for school. Luckily they caved and bought them for her, much to Cheryl's surprise. Unfortunately, Penelope thought Cheryl's red hair should be down for the first day, "To look presentable" she said. Cheryl rolled her eyes at the memory as she fixed her straightened hair, wishing it was put up instead.

All too quickly Cheryl arrived at the high school and pulled into an empty space. She was about to turn off her AUX, but instead, she sat there for a minute listening to the last part of one of her favorite songs called, "Strange Magic". She pushed up her glasses and smiled. Sure it was an old song, but Cheryl liked earlier music because it always made life seem simple and happy. The song came to an end, signaling the time to go inside. Cheryl sighed and opened her car door tugging her plain white backpack along with her.

...

By lunchtime, nothing had happened to Cheryl. She took that as a good thing and hoped that it meant she wasn't going to be everyone's target this year. Sadly, she spoke too soon. As she opened up her locker, a note fluttered to the ground. Cheryl curiously picked it up and opened it only to find the words "Nerd" and "Dork" scribbled all over the page. People started calling her names like that after she got glasses the year before. Needless to say, they were lame insults, but they still hurt and made her insecure.

She heard two boys laugh farther down the hallway and instantly knew who it was. Chuck and Reggie were both part of the reason 10th grade sucked for Cheryl and apparently, now they were starting their "Jokes" again. She turned back to her locker, put her books away, and closed it. She threw the note in the trash on her way to the cafeteria.

She walked through the double doors and saw all her friends sitting at one square table. Betty and Archie sat on one side, while Jughead sat alone on the other. Cheryl walked up with her lunchbox in hand and took the vacant spot next to Jughead. The pale boy seemed to wake up from his dazed state and looked over at her.

"Oh hey Cheryl, glad you have this lunch too." He said quietly as he gave her a tired smile. Jughead and Cheryl had always stood out of the crowd for one reason or another, so she got along with him well and liked to talk with him.

"Yeah I'm glad you guys are here too, I don't know what I would do if I was alone," Cheryl responded to him gesturing around the table. Betty and Archie took each other's hands and nodded in agreement. The two had been dating for about 6 months now and were the cutest couple around in Cheryl's opinion. Archie is a classic nerd who wears glasses with sweaters and spends crazy amounts of time on school. Betty being Ms. Perfection herself, saw Archie and fell in love immediately. The only downside of the relationship being that Cheryl doesn't get to spend as much time with her best friend. Do I even consider Betty a best friend anymore? We barely see each other...