Chapter Text
A Brief History of Parties
A month after The Rule was instituted, Veronica casually asked her father if she could go to a party at Josie McCoy’s house. They were best friends, after all, so maybe this party would be different. She came prepared with a list of reasons why it would be perfectly fine for her to go. He said no.
Two weeks later, Moose Mason threw a party only a 10 minute walk from Veronica’s house. She didn’t ask if she could go. She waited until 11, when her parents were fast asleep, broke into the alarm system and snuck out the back door. She only stayed at the party for an hour and a half and had one drink. She didn’t want to risk staying out for too long. She was back by 1 AM and no one knew she was gone.
A week later, Reggie Mantle threw a rager across town. She had to go. He was the hottest guy in school, he seemed into her, and his parties were said to be legendary. Josie picked her up two blocks away at 11. She had a beer and two cups of spiked punch, not realizing the differences in alcohol levels or even that the punch was 80% Bacardi. She was wasted at 1:30 when Josie drove her home. She tripped the alarm system coming in and her dad was on her in seconds. She hadn’t attempted to sneak out since.
Archie Andrews had gone to a few parties his freshman year of high school, picturing that they would be like they were in the movies. After a few of them, he realized that the people who already thought he was a nerd were now drunk, and more free flowing in their words. The most popular girl in school had called him “dollar store Ed Sheeran” followed up by laughter from the entire group and shout outs of “when you buy it online vs when it arrives” and “deflated Cheeto puff.” As mean as it was, it was the only time anyone at the parties even spoke to him. He stopped going.
Jughead didn’t go to parties. He sometimes came home to find his dad’s friends drunk, having some kind of sad party of their own, which usually made Jughead leave so he could avoid them.
Betty had been to one party her freshman year. That’s a story for another time.
Groupthink occurs when a group of people insist on conformity to the point of completely avoiding raising any differing opinions, creativity, or uniqueness. High school is a perfect place for this to thrive, since everyone is afraid of being rejected. Riverdale High operated in two primary factions: the in-group and the out group. The football team, cheerleaders, the girls that the varsity jocks considered attractive- they floated above everyone else. But they still invited everyone in the school to their ragers. The more people there, the bigger the party, the crazier the outcome.
Cheryl managed to float just within the in group. She was pretty, captain of the cheerleading squad, but she didn’t actually associate with any of the popular people. This confused them, but since she wasn’t bothering them and in a position of power over some of them, they let her slide past. Having the biggest house in the town automatically meant that she would host the Back to Class party, and they all wanted to be on her good side for that.
So for now, groupthink warranted that Cheryl and everyone and everything she cared about be left alone. Betty was on that list, so no one was bothering her. And since she was actually going to the party, Veronica had been able to convince her dad to let her go too.
The girls had to promise to check in with him every hour on the hour, and curfew was set at midnight. This all hinged on Betty’s attendance of the party, so on Saturday afternoon when she left to go to Cheryl’s house, Veronica let out a sigh of relief that she would finally be able to enjoy herself at a party instead of worrying about sneaking back in afterwards.
Betty
Betty sat on Cheryl’s four poster bed, a bowl of tortilla chips placed between herself and Toni while Cheryl did her make up in the vanity mirror.
“Betty, I love you.” Cheryl stated as she applied her mascara. “And I will support you no matter what. But can you please consider using this occasion as an excuse to dress up a little bit?”
Betty gestured to her casual ensemble and feigned shock.
“You don’t like my flannel?”
Cheryl let out a sigh and turned to face her friend. She didn’t say a word, just held her eyes on Bettys.
Betty stared right back at her and gave a short shake of her head. “I’m not dressing up for these people.”
“But you’re not doing it for them. You should know by now that my greatest wish in life is to force all those assholes to recognize how gorgeous you are. This isn’t for them. Or for you, for that matter. It’s for me.”
“Yeah yeah.” Betty popped a chip in her mouth and waved this off. She’d heard it before and she was sure she’d hear it again. But then Toni spoke.
“What if we make a deal? Betty keeps her flannel, but Cheryl gets to change the other pieces of her outfit?”
It was Betty’s turn to let out a sigh.
“What does it matter to you?”
“B, you’re beautiful no matter what, but I genuinely think it would be fun for you to dress a little different for once. All these people are coming over here expecting exactly this from you.” Toni gestured to Betty’s worn in white tee, jeans and purple and blue flannel.
“Exactly!” Cheryl capped her mascara and put her full attention on Betty. “How fun would it be to show them your maximum level of hotness instead?”
Toni raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend.
“Maximum level of hotness?”
Cheryl shrugged, but didn’t take her eyes off of Betty for a second. And in the moment, Betty didn’t really see the point in arguing. She trusted her friends. They wouldn’t make her walk out of this room not feeling like herself. But if she let Cheryl dress her up a bit, maybe she’d never have to have this conversation again.
“You know what? Fine. Let’s do it. But it’s a one time deal, and I’m keeping my flannel.”
Cheryl ran to her giant walk in closet with a squeal as Betty plucked a chip from the bowl.
“By the way, what do you guys know about Jughead Jones?”
Toni looked up from the bowl of chips. “Jughead? Why?”
Betty tried to keep her voice as casual as possible. “He’s been talking to me. He actually asked me out the other day and I’m just wondering what his deal is.”
She waited for someone to call her out on not telling them about his proposal, but Cheryl was too concerned with her master plan, so after a moment of silence and held eye contact, Toni only said “Are you interested?”
“No, it just made me realize I don’t know a thing about the guy.”
Cheryl popped her head out from the closet and walked with purpose to the bed, a stack of clothing in hand.
“Well he’s FP Jones son. The Serpents gang leader. Really shady guy.”
Toni nodded.
“He was in my photography class last year. Actually did really good work. I was kind of impressed to be honest. But I don’t think he has his own camera or anything, it was just an elective for his school credits.”
Betty watched as Cheryl sifted through the pile of dresses she had selected. A deep cut red number was vetoed and thrown back in the direction of the closet.
“Have you heard about him asking anyone out before?”
Toni shook her head and picked up the next dress in the stack, deep blue and completely backless, and threw it where the red one had gone moments before.
“No. He straight up doesn’t talk to anybody. Except sometimes the guys in his dad’s gang. Unclear whether he’s in the gang or not, he doesn’t confirm or deny it to anyone. What did he say to you?”
“Just asked me out on Tuesday, randomly at my locker, and then came and talked to me again on Wednesday during study hall. He’s in my English class, but other than those two times, he hasn’t talked to me.”
Cheryl selected a hanger and held it up in front of her as she spoke.
“Well you probably won’t see him again til Monday anyway. He never comes to these parties. He either hates them just as much as you or he thinks he’s too good for them. Put this on.”
Betty took the dress that Cheryl threw at her and hopped off the bed to change. Her new outfit was a far cry from the original white tee, jeans and flannel. It was fitted and black. It hugged her curves and even showed off a bit of cleavage. But she hadn’t pushed Betty completely out of her comfort zone to a plunging neck line or backless ensemble.
“What do you think?” Cheryl prodded.
“Where do I put the flannel?” Betty questioned.
Cheryl came over and tied the purple and blue flannel around Betty’s waist.
“You can keep the converse.” She said, pointing to Betty’s black low tops. “But the hair is coming down and we’re putting some lipstick on.”
Veronica
“I can’t believe your dad actually let you come tonight.” Josie squeezed Veronica’s hand as they stood at the Blossoms kitchen island.
“It still feels too good to be true.” Ethel Muggs pointed out from Veronica’s other side.
“Well I only have until midnight.”
“Like Cinderella.”
Veronica quickly adjusted her hair so it fell exactly the way she wanted it over her shoulder and straightened the hem of her black and yellow floral dress. The party was already going strong and Veronica and her friends had spent the last hour mingling with people from their class.
Unlike most of the people here, she’d actually been to the Blossom manor on several occasions. She knew that this first floor was a giant loop. Right now, they were in the extravagant kitchen, followed by a study that was locked tonight, a ridiculously large guest bathroom and a massive living room followed by a huge entryway that she could now see people coming in and out of. The two stories above held 7 bedrooms and 5 more bathrooms, as well as two only slightly smaller sitting rooms. It was a beautiful house, already being trashed by the student body of Riverdale High.
Veronica glanced around the kitchen and noticed a group of football players standing near the sliding glass door to the backyard. “Reggie Mantle is looking over here.”
“He’s not just looking over here, Veronica, he’s looking at you.” Josie nudged her friend with her elbow.
Veronica glanced back at Reggie to see that Josie was telling the truth. She quickly looked away and saw Kevin Keller coming towards them with the new red headed boy in her Econ class.
“Veronica. You look gorgeous.” Kevin gave her a big smile which she instantly returned. She and Kevin had never been close, but she had always liked him. The new boy had been nice to her on his first day, but she couldn’t honestly remember his name. They’d only talked twice.
“Thanks Kevin. You look pretty good yourself.”
The red headed boy started to say something, but someone cleared their throat loudly to Veronica’s left. She looked over to see Reggie Mantle looking right at her.
“Hey Veronica. Could I get you another drink?”
He gave her a smile that made her chest bubble up. Glancing back at Josie, she saw her friend watching her, wide eyed and waiting, and knew there was only one clear answer to the question.
“Sure Reggie.”
With an hour left before B & V’s curfew, things weren’t going as everyone expected. But they were going exactly as everyone should have assumed they would. Reggie Mantle had walked over and swooped Veronica away before Archie could say a word to her. Veronica was happy to talk to him; he was the school quarterback after all. And Betty was counting down the minutes until she could leave. 59. 58. 57.
But at the 57 minute mark, the in group and the out group made an unfortunate collision. As Betty was walking through the kitchen, one boy from the football team slapped another one on the shoulder, knocking the second boys drink off balance, sending its contents out of the cup and onto the flannel tied around Betty’s waist.
But even with this unplanned collision, the boy didn’t say a word to Betty, only walked away, leaving her seething with anger while he and the rest of his friends joined in laughter at her expense.
Since he chose not to say anything, no one else that saw the incident made a move to say anything either. As Betty opened the sliding glass door to the backyard, no one moved to help her. Except for a boy in a leather jacket who had been watching from across the room.
Jughead
She was clearly unhappy with the way that things had been going tonight. Jughead had a feeling that this was true even before the drink incident. He’d arrived at the party an hour ago, and when he first saw her he had noticed two immediate differences in her.
One, she was wearing a dress. This had never happened before. She looked nice, really nice, but Jughead wasn’t sure that was new. It was just all the more clear with her hair down and lipstick making it hard to look away.
Two, she looked even more irritated than she normally did. Jughead hadn’t known that this was possible. So he’d kept his distance until now, waiting for a good time to approach. When the drink spilled, he realized a good time was never going to come. He also realized that irritation was coming over him too when the stupid guys started laughing at her, so following her out the door and away from the party seemed like the best bet.
He found her standing underneath a large willow tree a few yards from the house, her arms crossed over her chest.
He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him.
“You look like you’re really enjoying yourself.”
She shook her head and looked away.
“Even whatever was in that cup couldn’t make me want to go back in that house.”
Jughead gestured back towards the house and moved a little bit closer to her.
“Veronica seems to be having a good time.”
“No surprise there.”
Jughead nodded to himself. He wasn’t the best at small talk. He’d always known this. But since the beginning of this whole thing with Betty, it had become even more obvious. So he made the executive decision in that moment to just say exactly what he was actually thinking.
“You’re a good sister or whatever. For coming here with her. I’ve heard Hiram Lodge can be a bit tyrannical with letting his princess out of the house.”
Betty looked over at him, uncrossing her arms. Progress.
“He just loves her a lot. And he’s not stupid. She’s pretty. He knows guys like her. He just doesn’t realize that when they find out how smart she is they’ll run for the hills.”
Jughead laughed at this. Mostly because she was probably right.
“You don’t give teenage boys a lot of credit.”
Betty scoffed. “Do they deserve any?”
“No. They don’t.” When he said this, she gave him a small smile. It was the first one that he’d seen from her all night. He realized that he was actually a little bit worried about her.
“Some of us aren’t complete monsters.” He commented.
“Says the guy who rode up on a motorcycle.”
He smirked at this.
“You saw me ride up?”
She just pinned his eyes to hers, her face giving nothing away.
“Why are you here anyway?”
He decided to go with a half truth.
“I have no idea. I hate these things. No offense to your friend. Just an excuse for everyone to get wasted and hit on each other.”
She untied the wet flannel from her waist and held it out in front of her like it was contaminated with deadly chemicals.
“Does whatever everyones drinking taste as much like urine as my flannel smells right now?”
Jughead shrugged.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You haven’t had a drink?”
“I don’t drink.” She looked surprised. Of course she was. “What, a guy can’t ride a motorcycle and abstain from alcohol simultaneously?”
“Apparently he can.” She looked back at the flannel in her hands with a sigh.
“Here, let me smell it.”
He reached out for the flannel but she pulled it out of his reach, shaking her head.
“That’s disgusting.”
“Just let me smell it.” He moved closer.
She shook her head, but extended the hand with the flannel in it back towards him.
“Okay freak.” She said it good naturally and he leaned in to take a whiff of the shirt in her hands. The look on his face must have been ridiculous because she laughed.
“What did I say? Disgusting.”
Jughead went to untie the flannel from his own waist.
“You can have mine.”
Betty took two steps back and put up her hands in front of her.
“Whoa whoa whoa Prince Charming, I don’t need your flannel.”
Jughead knew this. If there was one thing he had learned about Betty Cooper it was that she didn’t need anything from anyone. That wasn’t why he was offering.
“No, but you want it. Because as nice as you look, you don’t want people staring at your ass when you walk back in those doors. Theres a reason you don’t normally dress that way.”
She glanced at the black and grey flannel in his hands and back to her own, soaked through and truly smelling like urine.
“Just this once.” She acquiesced.
“Just this once.” He held the flannel out to her and she took it, tieing it around her waist quickly.
“And this doesn’t mean anything. Don’t get excited.”
He smiled.
“I’ll try not to.”
She looked over at him, standing there smiling, and shook her head.
“You should be careful. You’ll ruin your reputation as a bad boy.”
“Nah. I might be helpful sometimes, but I still lied to you.”
Her eyes narrowed at this.
“What are you lying about?” She demanded.
“I told you I didn’t know why I came here tonight. That’s not true. I had heard a rumor that this girl who shot me down was going to be here with her sister.”
Betty rolled her eyes at him. Even in the dark, he could see a hint of a smile hiding within them.
“If she shot you down, what does it matter?”
He let out a sigh and took a step back towards the party.
“That’s the embarrassing part. Even though she finds me completely repulsive, I still like talking to her.”
He turned on his heel and started to walk away. After a few steps, she called out from behind him.
“She doesn’t find you COMPLETELY repulsive.”
He didn’t turn to look back at her, but a smile broke out on his face.
“Good to know.”
As he left the party, Jughead couldn't help but wonder how angry Betty would be if she found out that he still wasn't telling her the whole truth. He told himself it didn't matter. That marked the moment that Jughead started to lie to himself too.