Chapter 1: Her

The trees that framed Riverdale High seemed to beckon with their gnarled branches, welcoming the flood of returning students with limbs filled with the reds, yellows, and oranges of autumn. It even looks more welcoming, Toni Topaz thought to herself as she warily ascended the front steps, taking in how different this new school was than the glorified detention center that was Southside High. Toni was a bit apprehensive about her transfer to Riverdale; she wasn't a huge fan of many of the Northsiders she'd met in the past, and she knew the feeling was most likely mutual. Still, she was excited to attend a school not guarded by gun-toting policemen and metal detectors, and who knows—maybe the other kids wouldn't be so bad either.

Toni walked into her homeroom class after checking that the room number was correct, scanning the rows of desks for an open seat. Tucking her pink hair behind an ear, Toni made her way to the back corner of the room where an unoccupied desk sat next to a redheaded girl who was focused intently on her phone.

"Hi, is this seat taken?"

The redhead looked up, her large brown eyes immediately boring directly into Toni's before raking themselves up and down her body. Toni shifted uncomfortably, nervously fingering the waistline of her leather Southside Serpents jacket.

"No, but I'd appreciate it if you sat somewhere else. I try to avoid contact with Southside scum like you as much as possible," the redhead said with a sickening sweetness, not even looking at Toni before she went back to furiously typing on her phone.

The nervousness was quickly replaced with anger. Toni threw her backpack down and made a show of exaggeratedly sitting in the seat. "Actually, I have the same philosophy about frigid Northside bitches. Guess we cancel each other out, huh?"

The other girl looked up again, but this time her gaze dripped with venom and didn't budge from Toni's eyes. Toni almost faltered; she'd never seen this much hate in just an expression before. Who hurt this girl? Not breaking eye contact, Toni started to dig her supplies out of her bag. "Got something to say to me, Red?"

By now Toni could sense some of the other students turning to look in their direction. She got the feeling that someone standing up to this girl was a rare occurrence.

"Nothing with words you'd be able to understand," she replied, again directing her attention back to her phone.

What is this bitch's problem? Toni clenched her fists and started to stand up from her chair, but then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see another girl with light blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail. "Trust me, it's not worth it," the girl whispered.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Toni said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Toni."

"I'm Betty." The girls shooks hands. "I love your hair! How'd you get the pink to be so deep? Color never seems to stick on mine."

Well, this is already an improvement. "Thank you! I'm not really sure; my friend Fangs did it. The kid insists he's straight but he sure does know a lot about cosmetics," Toni said with a knowing smile. She was almost certain that Fangs was gay, but knew he would never admit it.

"Well tell him to book me an appointment! What kind of name is Fangs anyway? It's cool but I can't say I've heard it before."

"He gave it to himself. I'd tell you his real name, but then I'd have to kill you—if he doesn't get to me first." They both laughed.

Betty started to say something else, but was interrupted by the loud ring of the bell. The jarring sound was punctuated by the arrival of who Toni assumed was their teacher, who walked briskly across the front of the room to his desk, set his briefcase down, and immediately began talking.

"Hello class, my name is Mr. Hadley. I look forward to meeting all of you this year. Just to make sure everyone is the right place, this is AP Language and Composition, and also your homeroom class."

A few embarrassed-looking students slowly got up from their seats and walked out of the room.

"Never fails," Mr. Hadley said with a wry smile. "Now, for our first order of business: as most of you probably know, Southside High closed down this summer, and a lot of those students are now enrolled here at Riverdale. I have one thing to say to all of you, Southside and Northside alike. You may have your differences, but we expect everyone to get along. Conflict will not be tolerated."

Toni felt a rush of appreciation for this new teacher. If only some of her peers shared his philosophy. She thought about shooting a pointed look at her neighbor, but decided it wasn't a great idea.

"Alright, now that we have that out of the way, we're going to jump right into the heart of this course: rhetoric."

"So what was that girl's deal in Lang today?" Toni asked Betty as they walked outside to the stone picnic tables that dotted the lawn.

"No one really knows what makes Cheryl Blossom tick." Betty gestured to a table where a boy wearing an odd crown-shaped beanie sat typing on his laptop.

Blossom. Toni knew that name from somewhere. "As in Blossom Maple Syrup?"

"The very same," the boy sitting at the table said, closing his computer. "No one embodies the stereotype of a rich, entitled, completely narcissistic daughter of a business magnate like Cheryl Blossom. I wouldn't recommend getting in her way."

"This is Jughead, my boyfriend." Betty sat down, motioning for Toni to do the same. "He hates the Blossoms more than anyone."

"I'm Toni." She reached out to shake Jughead's hand, who gave her a warm smile. Two for three. The rest of these Northsiders might not be so bad.

"Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of those ginger ghouls. They tried to get my dad evicted from his trailer because he looked at Clifford Blossom the 'wrong way' on the street."

"Jeez, that's awful," Toni said sympathetically. "Is he okay?"

"He's a fighter. It would take a lot of manpower to ever convince him to leave Sunnyside Trailer Park."

"Wait, Sunnyside? That's where I live! I might know your dad, what's his name?"

"F.P. Jones. He's the leader of a gang called the Southside Serpents."

Toni knew this boy looked familiar. "I'm well acquainted with F.P." She shrugged out of her jacket and proudly displayed her Serpents tattoo.

"Ah. Should've guessed from the leather jacket," Jughead said. "I only wish he could be as good of a dad as he is a gang leader."

Toni wasn't really sure how to respond to that, so she changed the subject. "Hey, my friends Sweet Pea and Fangs just texted me to ask where I'm sitting. Is it okay if they join us?"

"Of course!" Betty replied brightly. "Just tell them they have to explain to me where the hell they get the idea for these names."

Toni laughed as she started to reply to Sweet Pea's text, but felt her mind start to wander amidst the lull in conversation. She couldn't help but come back to the image of a certain redhead, who Toni couldn't seem to get out of her head. Not only was Cheryl disarmingly beautiful, but Toni was fascinated by her vicious personality. There's no way anyone is that evil for no reason, Toni thought, and made a promise to herself that she would figure out what lay beyond Cheryl's HBIC facade...until her tall, leather-clad friends walked up to the table and she was pulled from her thoughts.

Later that day, Toni sat at the kitchen table in her uncle's trailer as she completed her first assignment for Mr. Hadley's AP Lang class. A half-eaten box of reheated fried rice and Toni's Serpent jacket sat next to the paper on the cluttered table, and everything was slightly illuminated by the flickering of the TV in the living room.

"Hey, Toni! Come and look at this!" her uncle called out from where he sat in front of the TV. Toni set her pencil down and padded to the other room, where she immediately saw the giant headline plastered across the screen: HEIR TO BLOSSOM EMPIRE MURDERED. It was accompanied by a large picture of a good-looking boy with fiery red hair, who pretty much looked like a male version of Cheryl, who Toni quickly deduced was his sister. Her eyes widened as she listened to the newscaster describe how Jason (the boy's name) had been shot and his body dumped in Sweetwater River.

"Holy shit. His sister is in my English class."

"Can't imagine what she's feeling right now," Toni's uncle said. "Did you talk to her at all?"

"Tried to. She totally shut me down. Called me 'Southside scum.' "

"Stuck-up bitch."

"My thoughts exactly. I sort of feel bad for her though, she doesn't seem to have many friends."

Toni's uncle scooted over on the couch and patted the cushion next to him, which Toni flopped down on. "I'm not surprised. But hey, she probably needs one now more than ever. What if you gave her another shot?"

Toni's eyes widened in surprise. Pretty much everyone she had talked to about Cheryl had said some variation of "she's a lost cause." But here was her uncle, whose advice she trusted more than anyone's, telling her to keep trying with Cheryl.

"I was already thinking that, actually. Even before this I guessed that she was hurting; no one is that awful unless they're trying to push people away."

"You're a wise kid, Toni," her uncle said, ruffling her messy pink hair affectionately. She smiled, gave him a hug, and went back to work.

When Toni walked into AP Lang the next morning, she realized how early she was when she saw only one other student in their seat: Cheryl. The girl's appearance was equally as impeccable as the previous day; her long red hair fell in waves past her shoulders and onto the tight-fitting black blouse that adorned her torso. Toni swallowed heavily as she stared at Cheryl, admiring the way her clothes clung to her impossible curves.

"What are you looking at?" Cheryl snapped, breaking Toni out of her ogling session.

"Sorry, didn't mean to stare." Toni started to walk over to her seat. "Hey, I heard about your brother. I know we didn't get off to the best start yesterday, but I want you to know that—"

"Please. Don't." Cheryl quickly looked away, but not before Toni saw the glittering wetness that threatened to fall from her eyes. The red-haired girl abruptly stood up and stormed out the room, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a sniffle.

Toni watched her leave, her heart aching with sympathy for this girl. Now, more than ever, she wanted to break through the walls that Cheryl Blossom was trying so desperately to keep up around herself. Before Toni could talk herself out of it, she followed Cheryl out of the room and into the bathroom down the hall, slightly jogging and pushing away the bustle of arriving students to keep up.

As she approached the bathroom door, a black-haired girl in a dress that seemed way too fancy for public school attire exited, along with two others. "Believe me, you do NOT want to go in there," she told Toni as she walked away. Not to be deterred, Toni pushed open the door and immediately heard the unmistakable sound of sobbing.

"Cheryl? Is that you?" Toni called out hesitantly.

"Leave me alone!" was the response.

Toni continued to walk into the bathroom.

"If you're here to gloat, I don't want to hear it," Cheryl said, as Toni finally saw her sitting against the wall near the sinks. Toni wasn't sure what she would be here to gloat about; this girl seemed to think the entire world was against her, a realization that only made the pink-haired girl want to help more.

"I'm not." Toni knew she wouldn't get anywhere by talking, so she just sunk down to the floor next to Cheryl, taking a leap and offering to put her arm around the crying girl's shoulder. To her surprise, Cheryl accepted and leaned into Toni, her tears running down her face and onto the black leather of the Serpent jacket.

The two girls sat without speaking for a few more minutes, the silence of the bathroom only disturbed by Cheryl's muffled sobs, at least until the jarring racket of the bell seeped in from the hallway.

"Hey, you should get to class. I don't want you to be late because of me," Cheryl said to Toni, sitting up and wiping her tears with her hands.

"Absolutely not, Cheryl. I will sit here as long as you need me."

Toni might have been seeing things, but she could have sworn she spotted the faintest of smiles grace Cheryl's cherry-red lips. "Thank you."

They stayed there a little longer before Cheryl stood up and cleaned her face in the sink, making sure to touch up her makeup so that nothing looked out of place. Toni leaned against the wall, trying not to stare but finding it impossible not to. This girl was so beautiful, it was unfair.

"If you could...keep this to yourself, I would really appreciate it," Cheryl said without looking away from the mirror.

"Of course," Toni responded.

They didn't speak another word until they walked into Mr. Hadley's classroom, interrupting him in the middle of a lecture about rhetorical techniques. He looked as if he was about to say something to them about their late arrival, but when he saw Cheryl his gaze softened and he resumed the lecture. Toni and Cheryl walked back to their seats as the former shrugged away a bewildered look from Betty.

"So...do you want to tell me why you walked into class with Cheryl Blossom today?" Betty asked as she and Toni walked through the hall after AP Lang.

"Oh, uh…" If you could keep this to yourself, I would really appreciate it, Cheryl had said, but Toni didn't want to lie to Betty. "I'm sworn to secrecy."

Betty gave her a quizzical look but didn't push the subject, for which Toni was grateful. "Speaking of Cheryl," the blonde girl said, "the Vixens are having tryouts today after school and I was thinking of going. Are you interested?"

"I'm sorry, the 'Vixens'?" Toni asked.

"They're the school's cheerleading squad, and they're actually really good. Cheryl's a bitch but from what I hear, she's a great captain."

She's captain of the cheerleading team too? Toni was uncovering more mysteries about Cheryl faster than she could solve the existing ones. "You really think I should try out?"

"Hey, it's worth a shot if you're even a little bit interested. My mom has never let me before but she says this year I've 'earned it,' whatever that means."

"I'm not much of a dancer," Toni said quietly.

"So, let me get this straight. You're not at all fazed by the prospect of spending time with Cheryl Blossom, Riverdale's own Marie Antoinette, but you're scared of trying out for cheerleading?"

"Hey, I'm not scared," Toni replied with a defensive tone, but her face quickly morphed into a sheepish smile. Betty was right; she had nothing to lose by trying out, and cheerleading did seem like it could be fun.

"Seriously think about it. One, you're hot as hell, and two, something tells me you've got moves."

"Well, you're half right."

Right as Toni's next class started, the ringing of the bell was immediately followed by an announcement by Principal Weatherbee. "Good morning, students. This is your principal speaking. There have been many inquiries about the upcoming pep rally. So let me state clearly, it is happening, as scheduled. Now, on a less felicitous note, if you could give your attention to Sheriff Keller."

Toni clenched her fists. She held no love for the grizzled old sheriff; he'd given her uncle many a roughing-up in the Riverdale Police Department's frequent searches of Sunnyside Trailer Park, as well as many of her Serpent friends.

"Most of you already know the details, but your classmate Jason Blossom's body was found yesterday. So as of now, Jason's death is being treated as a homicide. It is an open and ongoing investigation. Anyone with information can come to Principal Weatherbee's office throughout the rest of the week."

The sound of a microphone shuffling was soon followed by an unmistakable voice. "And may I interject, neither I nor my parents will rest until Jason's death is avenged, and his cold-hearted killer is walking the green mile to sit in Old Sparky and fry. I, for one, have my suspicions. #RiverdaleStrong."

Toni smiled to herself. This girl was something else. Barely an hour ago she was sobbing into Toni's jacket, and now she was calling out Jason's killer and introducing hashtags to the entire school. Toni prided herself in being able to figure people out, but Cheryl was giving her a run for her money.

"Okay wannabe Vixens, if you're still here that means you have a fighting chance at joining the ranks of the best cheerleading squad this side of the Mississippi." Cheryl Blossom had a way of speaking that made it seem like what she had to say was the most important thing in the world. "In an effort to determine your raw talent for this magnificent art, each of you will perform an impromptu solo dance to a song of your choice."

Toni's stomach dropped. A solo dance? She looked over to her right, where Betty stood looking every bit as nervous as Toni felt.

"If that's too much for any of you, I'd suggest you take this time to leave. A true River Vixen is always prepared for even the most unforeseen and difficult challenge."

As Toni watched some of the other candidates walk out of the gym, her nervousness began to transform into a fiery determination. All she could think about now was showing Cheryl that she had what it took to join the squad. Toni wasn't sure why this was so important to her; she had just met the redhead the day before. But right now all she wanted to do was impress her.

"Who wants to go first?" Cheryl asked, shaking her yellow pom-poms as she flashed a blinding smile at the girls.

"I will."

Toni felt all the heads in the room turn to look at her, but she didn't take her eyes off Cheryl as she walked to the center of the gym. "I'll be dancing to 'Don't Hurt Yourself' by Beyoncé." Toni was originally thinking about doing a song different from the one she danced her ass off to alone in her room every night, but she figured it would be the best option to showcase her moves...if she even had any.

"How brave of you, Ms. Topaz," Cheryl said, and it was unclear whether the compliment was sarcastic or not. But it did tell Toni one thing: she hadn't ever told Cheryl her name, so that meant the redhead had found it out somehow. The thought spread through her body like a mouthful of warm tea, and as the opening notes of the song began to blare from the speakers, Toni focused every ounce of her being on making this the best, most badass dance ever.