Just Friends

By: Despite The Void

Chapter 1: The Flagpole

I sighed at the reflection in my mirror.

First impressions were important. What was I telling everyone at my new school by my appearance alone?

Well, the soft pink knitted sweater suggests you look like you've raided your grandmother's closet.

The collar of your dress shirt beneath tells the world you take yourself too seriously.

The tight, perfectly slicked back ponytail suggests you're a perfectionist and that you're uptight.

Your jeans do add a touch of modernism but is overshadowed by the antique flower brooch.

"Forget it, Mom," I shook my head, peering into my mother's face behind my shoulder in the reflection. "Thanks for your advice, but there's no way I'm wearing this. And you know ponytails give me a headache."

Mom scowled. "Elizabeth, this ensemble says you're serious about your education."

I snorted. "It says I'm ready to be put in a nursing home! How can you expect me to wear this when even you wouldn't be caught dead in it?"

"I did wear something like this once!" She protested. "A job interview….eleven years ago."

"Did they hire you?" I asked.

She didn't meet my eyes.

I laughed and ripped off the sweater and dress shirt. I stormed into my closet, pulling out my favorite graphic tee-shirt depicting coffee cups that are in love. Next, I let down my hair, parting it down the middle. It fell in soft waves down to my collar bones.

Better.

"I'll wear the new jeans," I offered. "No rips in them. That should make you happy."

"It doesn't. But I appreciate the effort." My mother pressed her lips together in defeat, turning away.

I saw the flash of anxiety in her eyes before she did, though.

"Don't worry about me, Mom." I squeezed her arm, and she sighed heavily, looking wary. "Really, I'll be fine."

She smiled feebly, nodding. "I know you will be, honey." She pulled me into a hug, kissing my temple. "Make new friends and have fun."

That wasn't going to happen, but I smiled back at her. I hoped she didn't see right through me.

Our move to Riverdale wasn't by choice, but necessity. My mother had grown up here, spent early adulthood here. She knew all the families and their histories. She also knew that The Register, Riverdale's local newspaper, would hire her again in a heartbeat, should she need a job. And she did.

See, things had been tight since my parents separated two months ago. My dad left, and my sister, Polly, went with him. I stayed with Mom.

Mom hadn't worked in years, never needing to with Dad's generous income. Now, it was like a lightswitch had been turned on inside her. She didn't just need to work, she wanted to work. She missed editing for the newspaper, missed the gratification of it.

I was excited for her, really, I was.

It's just…

A new school.

At my old school, I had grew up with the kids, I knew them. That was a good and a bad thing by the end of it. But now? Now it was a whole new world. I was starting completely over. I was happy...but deep in my gut I felt sick with nerves.

It'll be different now. No one knew me here. Clean slate, right?

I squared my shoulders, taking a final look in the floor length mirror in my bedroom.

"No fear." I told myself.

I was late. It was my first day of school, and I was late.

Our car wouldn't start, and it took twenty minutes for an uber to to pick me up, plus another seven minutes to the school because, despite my pleading, the driver would not exceed the 35 MPH speed limit.

"Ice on the roads, honey." The older woman told me, gripping the steering wheel with hands so tight that her knuckles were white. "Don't worry, they'll understand."

Sure they would.

I stared out the window, continuing to silently will her to go faster.

Indeed, the world was blanketed with snow, and it continued to fall lazily from the sky in fat flakes. So sure, the road was a little icy. But as the minutes ticked by, my opportunity to make a good impression was dwindling. Minute by minute.

Of course I was starting in the middle of the school year. January, to be exact. Not at all awkward.

Be optimistic, Betty. That's what Polly would tell me. Why is your glass always half empty?

Because someone spilled the the other half on top of my head, that's why. Because when you're constantly screwed over, you always expect it in any given situation.

I blinked and suddenly we were pulling in the parking lot.

It was empty outside. Footprints littered the snow, indicating everyone had gone inside. My heart was beating like crazy, and I thanked the Uber driver before shakily opening the car door.

"Good luck!" She called just as I was shutting the door.

The main building loomed ahead of me and I walked briskly towards the entrance. The snow crunched under my boots, an oddly soothing noise. My eyes were trained on the doors. I was trying to go over what I'd say to the principal. My mom had already called the school to explain my tardiness, but it still didn't look good.

I was approaching the doors when I heard a voice call out from the left.

"If it w-wouldn't be t-too much of an in-inconvenience," called a deep voice, "I c-could use a hand."

I whipped towards the direction of the voice and gasped loudly.

Tied to the flagpole was a boy. He was naked, save for black boxers. The image was so extremely startling that, for a moment, all I could do was stare at him.

He was slim and stood around six feet tall. His wrists were bound behind his back and around the pole, as well as his feet, which I noted with horror, were bare. His hair was a mess of black waves. I could see his teeth chattering from where I stood, as well as bold black letters that had been drawn crudely onto his abdomen:

BLOW ME!

"Oh my god!" I found my voice, and my feet began to work again, running towards him. "Are you okay!?"

A shaky laugh was my response. "Are you fucking s-serious?"

I was in front of him now and went behind him, inspecting the knotted rope that bound his wrists and ankles. I took off my gloves hastily and began to work at the knot around his wrists as best I could with my shaking fingers.

"Shouldn't I go and get someone?" I asked, managing to get the knot the tiniest bit looser.

"No!"

I looked up at the boy in surprise. "Why not?"

"It'll just m-make things worse if you do," he said, "trust me."

I didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but I continued my work.

"There!" I exclaimed when the knot loose enough to undo.

He flexed his fingers, wincing as he pulled his arms free. I shrugged out of my jacket and handed it to him before kneeling in front of him to begin working at the knot at the rope around his ankles. As I was kneeling, my eyes caught once again at the crude words written on his abdomen. It was lightly defined, almost elegant looking. The muscles underneath the letters quivered against the cold. Underneath his belly button a dark line of hair disappeared into his boxers. I read the words painted on him again and flushed, feeling heat spread across my face and down my neck.

He caught me reading them, and no doubt saw the flush spreading across my face and neck.

"Thanks," he muttered as he put on my blue jacket, covering the message. "You don't have to do that one, I can do it. "

He was bending over just as I was rising, and we ungracefully bonked against the other's skull. Pain exploded in my head and I cried out.

"Fuck!" He hissed quietly.

I fell back onto the ground, clutching my throbbing head.

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling the snow seep into my jeans.

The boy shook his head and bent over again, working furiously at the knot. "It's fine."

His fingers shook so bad that he couldn't get a grip on the rope. I sighed and impatiently pushed his hands away, replacing them with my own. "Let me do it. You'll take too long and we need to get you inside before you get frostbite."

A hoarse chuckle. "Yes, ma'am."

I ignored him, concentrating.

Who the hell was this guy? Why was he tied to a pole in the dead of winter, naked? Who had done this to him? What was his name?

All questions that could wait until I was sure he wasn't going to get hypothermia.

I sighed in relief when the knot came undone and stood up. His face was several inches away from mine, and I noted that his eyes were a green-gray color. His lips were pale, on the verge of turning blue. But he had a pretty mouth. It was full and the shape of his lips perfect. He had small dark moles that dotted around his face and his neck. They weren't ugly. They suited him, somehow. There were light freckles adorning his straight nose.

"Now what?" I asked him, tearing my eyes away from his adorable freckles. "If you don't want any the faculty to know about this...where do you plan to go? It's not like you can just walk home like this."

His blue lips twitched in what I think was supposed to be a smirk. "I keep an extra s-set of clothes in my locker. This isn't the f-first time something like this has happened."

He walked towards the school, not seeming to mind that he was barefoot. They had to be numb.

I caught up to him. "Who did this?"

"You'll know him when you see him," was his reply.

And then we were inside. The hall was empty, no one in sight. The walls had posters plastered all over them of Riverdale's football team, the Bulldogs.

The warmth was heavenly, but the boy was still shivering. I knew it would take quite a while for him to warm up from the cold he'd been exposed to.

"Thank you, new girl." He took off my blue jacket and handed it back to me.

I blinked at him. "My name is Betty."

His eyes sparked briefly, his dark brows lifting. "Retro."

I scowled as he put his back to me and walked away. He walked as if he weren't naked, as if he hadn't just been tied to a pole in the snow.

"And you are?" I snapped, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes bore into mine. They were so intense. My breath caught in my throat.

"Good luck, Betty."

And then he turned a corner and was out of sight.

I leaned up against the door, blinking rapidly. I stared down at my coat that I gripped and I caught a scent that smelled a bit like pine needle coming from it that had definitely not been there before.

I looked back up to where he'd rounded the corner.

What the fuck just happened?

Authors note: We hope you enjoyed the first chapter in a story that we're so excited to tell! We've wanted to write something for Bughead for a long time! It's very exciting.

We will hopefully be updating this story 1-2 times a month, but please be patient. One of us is a full time mommy with two babies and the other works full time!

xoxo,
Cee and Tiff ~ Despite The Void