The shutting down of Southside High had impacted students from both sides of the tracks. Classes were larger, schedules were changed, hallways were crowded, and every aspect of school became louder. For you, much didn't change. You never had many friends, remaining close with few throughout the years. Jughead Jones was one of those few. However, his other friends were a different story. Betty, Veronica, and Archie were not people you wanted to associate with and Jughead was well aware, so he kept your friend groups separate. You took school seriously, and you enjoyed it. Grades were a top priority, and you studied often to achieve those grades. AP courses filled your schedule, and when you weren't in class, you were a teacher's aid. Unlike many of your peers, you were quiet, shy, and awkward around others. People made you uncomfortable. They made you stutter, your palms sweat, your hands fidget. When you first heard of the merging, you were concerned about people trying to get to know you, for kind or for sinister reasons. Thus, the night before major changes were happening, you were scared.
Your phone buzzed next to your head and woke you up from your slumber. Flipping it over lazily, you answered the phone, wiping the drool from your chin. "Hello?"
You heard a chuckle over the phone, "(Y/N), you should hurry up and get on over to school to welcome me back."
Smiling, you rolled out of bed, beginning to get dressed while you spoke. "Thanks, Juggy. Where shall we meet?"
"Blue and Gold?" He suggested and you heard the rumble of what was most likely a motorcycle. "I'll see you there, I have to go." You chuckled at your friend's antics and set your phone down. You pulled on a pair of denim skinny jeans and a white button up, slipping on a pink sweater over top, folding the collar down over the neck of the sweater. You then styled your hair with your favorite product and grabbed your bookbag along with your phone. You slipped a pair of boots on your Walking out of your room, you waved by to your parents and began to walk to school. You were focused on your phone, reading the flashcards of your physics formulas and concepts to prepare for your test. You finally saw the front of the familiar high school and rushed inside. The halls were packed with people, many new faces and many familiar ones scattered amongst them. Slipping by the crowds, you made your way to the Blue and Gold room.
"I hate crowds and I hate people, so why the fuck-" You began, turning to see Betty, Veronica, and Kevin all with Jughead and a pink-haired female you hadn't met before. "Uhm, sorry. I'll go," You began until Jughead spoke to you.
"(Y/N), don't go. They're my friends and so are you."
You sighed and reluctantly sat down, sitting in the chair farthest from the rest of the group. "My name is Toni," you looked up and saw the pink haired girl giving you a slight wave.
"I'm (Y/N), nice to meet you." You kindly responded, waving back at her. Looking back down at your phone, you sighed at the amount of content you still needed to review and tapped your foot on the floor anxiously.
"Could you stop that?" You felt yourself blush at the harsh command from Veronica and stopped tapping your foot. Putting your phone in your pocket you stood up, turning to Jughead.
"People just aren't my thing, Juggie. I'll be in the physics room if you need me." Turning on your heel, you moved swiftly out of the room, retreating to the physics room. You took out your notebook and began to doodle, trying to calm yourself down. Your physics teacher entered the room and welcomed in some of the new students, gesturing for them to take their seats.
The tests were still handed out, him using the test as a baseline for the new students. You finished quite early and you handed your test in, taking the rest of the time to doodle in your notebook and review your latest chapter from AP chemistry.
Once it was time for lunch, you moved to grab a seat, placing your things on the floor around you. You felt a hand tap your shoulder and you turned to face Jughead.
"Mind if I sit? Along with some friends?" He asked kindly, a few of who you were assuming were his Serpent friends stood behind him.
"Sure," You replied softly, turning back around as they all took their seats. There were only three other people with Jughead. Toni, the girl from earlier, a boy with brown hair and a mysterious attitude, and a tanned boy with raven hair and a serpent tattoo on his neck. You exhaled deeply and pulled out your statistics book, going through the chapter you had read for homework.
"So, (Y/N), I heard you're a little genius," You heard Toni say and you lifted your head up, giggling at her comment.
"Oh, no, I wouldn't say that," You began, blushing at her flattery. "I just enjoy learning is all." You mentally face-palmed as you added the last sentence. You truly did enjoy learning, but when you said that to others, you sounded weird.
Jughead rolled his eyes at your embarrassment. "She's the smartest in our school, honestly. Such a nerd." He joked, nudging you with his elbow. You chuckled and shook your head at him.
"Anyway, why don't you introduce me to your other friends?" You suggested, earning a slightly surprised look from Jughead since you were never eager to meet people.
"Well," he began, beginning to gesture between his friends, "This is Toni Topaz, who you have already met. This is Fangs Fogarty, and then this is Sweet Pea."
You smiled at the three people and gave them a shy wave. "It's nice to meet you guys."
The boy, Sweet Pea, nodded and you felt his eyes practically burning a hole in the side of your face, "so, what does the rest of your schedule look like?"
Why was he asking you? You were a nobody, a shy dork, even if you were Jughead's friend, especially if you were Jughead's friend. You pushed the thought back and listed off your schedule and he cracked a smile. "We will be sharing the second-half of the day in the same classes." You bit back a smile and nodded to signal you listened to him.
Lunch passed quickly, your time spent listening to the four friends speak, complaining about the 'northsiders' and their attitudes and other things you didn't pay attention to. As the bell rang, you began to collect your things you had set on the floor. "How about you be my tour guide, (y/n)? I mean, we're going to the same place anyways."
You blushed and nodded, "sure..." you trailed off and waited for him to grab his things. "So, this class is pretty easy as long as you pay attention and take notes. All tests are open note." You explained as you walked toward your history class with Sweet Pea. He nodded and followed your lead through the hallways. He watched as you weaved through the crowded halls with ease, it was almost humorous how you seemed to rush from class to class. Your teacher stood outside of the classroom door and greeted each student, smiling as you entered but it then faltered when he noticed you were walking with a Serpent. "Well, this is where I normally sit, and there are open seats practically everywhere,"
Sweet Pea nodded and sat in the seat diagonal to yours. He had a great view of you without seeming too interested in you at the same time. Once class started, he leaned back in his chair lazily and observed you. He watched your face as you concentrated on the lecture, taking notes when you felt necessary. You bit your lip often and ran your hand through your hair when you were thinking particularly hard. To say the least, you were incredibly beautiful, especially when you were focused on learning.
The next two period continued in the same manner, Sweet Pea paying more attention to you than the teacher. When your last class ended five minutes before the bell, you packed your things away and turned to talk to Sweet Pea. "So, how was your first day at the prep school of the undead?"
You felt proud when he chuckled at your joke, "It was okay, second half of my day was great," he playfully winked at you. You blushed and smiled at his comment and brushed it off since he obviously just meant it as a joke. His brown eyes were very dreamy, so easy to look into and get lost in. The bell rang and removed you from your daze and you stood up, moving out of the school quickly. Your hatred for people extended to those in crowded hallways, so you often rushed.
"Wait!" You heard a deep voice call out and you stopped until they caught up to you. "Damn, you walk fast." He paused and began to walk with you, "Topaz, Fangs, Jughead and I are all going to Pop's. Wanna come with? I can give you a ride."
You blushed and turned your head to hide the pink on your cheeks. Normally, you would reject any sort of offer, but he was very cute, you were friends with Jughead, and you were tired of feeling like a loser. "Sure, that sounds fun." As you accepted the invitation, the three people he'd mentioned came up and joined your group.
"Hey (y/n), you wanna come with us to Pop's?" Jughead asked and you chuckled at the question.
"Yeah, I was actually just invited to come with by Sweet Pea."
"Oh! Cool, you need a ride?" He offered and responded with a shake of your head. "Alright, see ya there." He grabbed his motorcycle helmet and hopped on, waiting for Topaz to get on her own to join him.
"Ever ridden on one of these?" Sweet Pea asked you as he patted the seat of his bike. Biting your lip, you nodded. You had grown up in a different town, where riding a motorcycle was less affiliated with local gangs, and your dad would take you on rides around town. "Good, want a helmet?" He asked, holding up the single helmet he had and you nodded, deciding to be safe, and put the helmet on. He then straddled the bike and you got on after, placing your hands on his hips. The cool air hit your skin as you rode off to Pop's, the trees passing by in blurs of green. Once you stopped, you removed the helmet and handed it to Sweet Pea as he got off of the bike. Jughead, Toni, or as Sweet Pea caller her, Topaz, and Fangs were already inside taking their seats.
As both you and Sweet Pea joined the group, and sat next to Jughead and Sweet Pea sat beside you. "So, is there any reason for this, or just because?" You asked Jughead, trying to figure out why you were invited.
"I mean, it's their first day at Riverdale, and my first day back there, so I thought lunch would be something nice after a crazy day." You nodded and tapped your fingers on the table lightly. You still didn't understand why you were invited. Sweet Pea inviting you made more sense, maybe because you were nice to him, but Jughead was aware of your shyness, and your overall dislike for people. Before you could ask Jughead why, your regular order of fries and a burger arrived and you thanked the waiter. The others aside from Jughead gave their orders and waited while you and Jug both ate. The conversation was interesting, they were all discussing the fight that went on between them and the football players. Jughead brought up the new dress code: no visible tattoos and no gang affiliated clothing, meaning they needed a change in clothes.
"So, genius, you dress like a normal northsider, why don't you help us out a bit," Topaz suggested and you giggled.
"Sure thing. The first thing would be to wear lighter colors. Also, no crazy holes in your jeans." You told them, chuckling since that was a lot of their clothes already out of the choice.
"Maybe we could go shopping?" Topaz suggested and you nodded, half-smiling at the invite. You hadn't had friends like this in a long time.
"Yeah, I'd like that."
"Well, let's finish our food and head out."
The group nodded and finished their food and I pulled out my wallet, going up to pay the bill. You walked back and bit your lip, shoving the receipt in your back pocket. "Off we go then?"
The ride to the mall was short, or at least it felt short when you could just relax and watch scenery. When you arrived, you felt excited to finally do something with people. You weren't studying, you weren't just over at someone's house, you were out with people that you liked.
The five of you went inside and began searching. You quickly found clothes for Toni and her shopping was done. She didn't really enjoy the style of brighter colors, but for now she wanted to fit in. Jughead went with Fangs so they could pick things out, and Toni ended up ditching you and Sweet Pea to check on them.
"Now, with you, we have the problem with your neck tattoo." You trailed off, looking around the mens section for clothes that would suit him. "You could always cover it with makeup, but I don't think that would go well."
He rolled his eyes and shrugged, he hated the rules at the Northside school. It was run by people who were against the southside, the Serpents in particular. "How about this?" You asked holding up a turtleneck. He scowled and shook his head. "Just try it with this polo. It won't look bad." You pleaded, handing him the clothing.
He sighed and reluctantly walked to the dressing rooms. You sat on the stool outside and waited for him to come out. When he exited the room you smiled. "See? It looks good."
He shook his head and went back into the dressing room, removing the shirts and tossing his t-shirt back on. "We can go look at pants next." You offered as he left the room, holding the two shirts in his hand.
After an hour of pants shopping, you purchased two pairs of khakis and a few nicer pairs of jeans. When you were in line, you took the clothes he was holding and purchased them, taking the receipt and putting it in your wallet. "Why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you buy those for me?"
"I wanted to. I dragged you here, and you hardly like them."
Sweet Pea hated feeling in debt of someone, especially when the person's actions were from a place of pure kindness. "They just aren't my style is all. I didn't hate them." He then began to walk away and you noticed he was moving toward your three friends.
"Well, what did you get?" Topaz asked, trying to peek in the bag.
"No peeking! You'll see tomorrow, right?" You looked over at Sweet Pea and he nodded in agreement, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink. Topaz laughed and peered at her tall friend, smirking when she noticed his slight embarrassment. He was already into the nerdy girl, and there was no going back.
The next month of school held a lot of changes. These changes impacted you outside of school as well. Your nights were spent studying, and then sneaking out to hang with your new friends. The best nights were the ones where Sweet Pea would sneak in and you would help him out with homework or talk about life. No one knew you would hang out since he was embarrassed about asking for help. This night was the same as any other, and you were waiting for Sweet Pea to show up. However, he was about an hour late before he had climbed up the tree next to your window and jumped into your room.
"Hey, you" You greeted him, waving from your desk where you were finishing your notes.
"Hey, sorry I'm late... I was busy."
You frowned at his vague answer, "With what?"
He shrugged and sat down on your bed. "Dealing with stuff."
You chuckled, "yes, but with what stuff, I'm dying to know."
"Nothing important, just getting advice from some people."
You rolled your eyes and turned around to face him. "From who? And about what?"
He laughed to himself, you were very persistent when you wanted to be, and he could never tell you no. You were truly his only weakness. "From Jones and Topaz. About stuff."
You nodded and dropped the topic since you knew he wouldn't share what it was about. "Okay, so you want to study tonight?" You offered and he shook his head. "Okay... so then what?"
"Um, I actually have something for you," He started and took his bag off of his shoulders and pulled out a box and then handed it to you. You blushed and began to open the box, smiling when you noticed it was a charm bracelet. It had an erlenmeyer flask charm, a nerd glasses charm, and a flower charm. The flower charm slightly resembled a particular flower, a sweet pea.
You smiled and set the box down, moving to wrap your arms around him. "Thank you, Sweet Pea." You thanked him and then kissed him cheek, before blushing and pulling away quickly. You had not intended reacting that way. "I-I'm sorry," You began before he cut you off with a gentle kiss on your lips.
"I wouldn't have gotten you a charm that literally resembles my name if I didn't like you, genius." He whispered, grabbing the bracelet and putting it on around your wrist.
You blushed and nodded, smiling at him. You both had changed in the past month for the better. Sweet Pea was trying in his classes, and cared for someone, which usually kept him out of trouble. Then, you were more outgoing, you had friends who cared about you and vice versa, and you finally felt happy.
Credit: rdale-fics--fuck.tumblr.com