𝕢𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕣𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕖

42

Cheryl couldn't come over Arabella's house to get ready for the dance — she had something personal with her family. It was okay, though. Jughead and Arabella got ready together.

"So, you two are friends now?" Jughead asked, attempting to loop his necktie. Arabella places her makeup brush on her vanity and sashayed over to help him. "She could just be playing you." He said.

Arabella did think of this and if Cheryl we're playing her, she would know exactly how to push back. But what's the worse that Cheryl could do to her? It's not like she had as many secrets as everyone else in Riverdale and if she did, they were already out in the open.

"If she's playing me, then I'll gladly be the fiddle. What is she going to do? I'm moving, remember?" Arabella said, folding the collar of Jughead's dress shirt. He glared at Arabella, hating every time she brought it up.

"What happened to the Arabella a few days ago who hated Cheryl so much that fire spewed from her ears when she even said Eric' name?" Jughead asked.

Arabella went back to her vanity to put the finishing touches on her makeup. "She realized her friends already care more about someone else than her." She said.

Jughead took off his crown-shaped beanie to shake out his hair before putting it back on. "I didn't realize how much Veronica had gotten to you." He said.

"Well, she thought she had the authority to tell me what to do," Arabella said, glossing her lips. "And that was her first strike."

Jughead reminded himself to never make Arabella angry, but she wouldn't do that to someone who's had her back and actually cared about her. She didn't know Veronica too well — she had gotten comfortable in Riverdale too quick.

Arabella's phone chimed with a message from Eric. "Let's go. We'll drop you at Betty's house." She said.

Her and Jughead left her home to get into Eric's Jeep. The ride to Betty's house didn't take long and Jughead suggested that Arabella talk to Betty at the dance, but Arabella told him that she wouldn't promise it.

Cheryl texted Eric that she would meet them at the dance — Arabella assuming it was something about her family. Upon reaching the school, Eric's straightened out his velvet blue blazer and rushed over to Arabella's door to help her. She did something similar to Eric, instead puffing out the bottom of her dress and delicately replacing her necklace to make it look like it was supposed to where the gold fell over her shoulder to give the illusion of sleeves. Using the emergency eyelash glue Arabella brought along, she glued the back of the gems to her arm so they wouldn't budge the whole night.

"Smart," Eric commented, holding his arm for her to link her's with. When they walked in, Cheryl was waiting for them at the entrance.

"Took you long enough," Cheryl said, linking her arm with Eric's free one.

Arabella smiled. "Beauty takes time." She said.

Betty couldn't have done a better job with decorating the gym — she actually made it look like somewhere Arabella wanted to stay for more than an hour. There were blue and yellow balloons adorning the stage that was prepared to feature live music and the colored lighting made everything seem ethereal. The theme was Blast from the Past.

Arabella spotted Betty as soon as walked in; she was talking to Principal Weatherbee and Mayor McCoy. Standing in Eric, Arabella and Cheryl's way was Archie and Veronica.

Arabella's heart desired to step on the back of Veronica's strapped heels but she refrained from doing so. That doesn't necessarily mean she left her alone, though.