Veronica Lodge was the type of girl who had a lot more secrets than most. The rich, spoiled city girl had done many things that she regretted in her time, and she had many secrets she had sworn to herself that she'd never share. She stuck by that vow – even though there was a chance that the secrets might come out by themselves. Before they could, though, Veronica and her mother moved to Riverdale, where Ronnie really hoped she could have a fresh start.

At first, everything was fine. Other than the fact that there was a murderer in amongst them, she liked it at Riverdale. She liked the people, she had real friends here – not just people who wanted her for her money – and it all seemed to be going okay. But Ronnie was harbouring yet another secret, this time one that could never be told.

Since Cheryl's after party, on the night of the semi-formal, Veronica had been struggling to hold back blossoming feelings for Archie Andrews. Also known as the boy her best friend liked. It was wrong on so many levels, but she'd never felt like that when someone kissed her before. She'd never felt her heart race the way it did when she saw Archie. She'd never had any of the things they described in books and movies, until she met Archie Andrews. It was so wrong, but she couldn't just tell herself to stop feeling something for him.

She wasn't entirely sure it was hidden, though. Because a conversation she'd had with Archie the other day had put her on the spot a little...

Ronnie looked down at the sound of another girl's name tumbling from Archie's lips. She tried to hold back her frown, but clearly wasn't very good at it, because his eyes were focused on her face. "Valerie, huh?"

He gave her an odd look, and she shook her head immediately. "No, I endorse this!"

"You jealous, Ronnie?" he asked, and he had that stupidly charming grin on his face.

YES! Her mind screamed, but Ronnie swallowed the temptation to tell him the truth, and instead said something else. "Please. I've had my seven minutes in heaven with Archie Andrews." Oh, how she wished she didn't have to lie to him. She wished this wasn't wrong. But it was.

Veronica had decided that she wanted to distance herself from Archie, but she knew for a fact that it wasn't going to be that simple.

Monday rolled around, and Ronnie walked into school alone, keeping her head down in the hopes of avoiding her friends. As well as Archie.

Being alone wasn't going to be fun, but being around that stupidly amazing ginger boy was only going to make things worse for everyone. She didn't want to be the same basic bitch from New York – who'd have dated him without even a second thought – because this place was supposed to be her fresh start. So staying away felt like the only option. Even though it really wasn't what she wanted.

She approached her locker and opened it quietly, slipping a few notebooks from her bag into her locker, and then pulled out a beautifully patterned notebook with lots of pages. She ran her fingers across the spine of the notebook before slipping it into her bag. She slammed her locker shut, turning to walk back the way she came when she spotted a blur of ginger in the crowd. There was Archie, with Betty and Jughead. None of them had seen her yet.

Ronnie turned on her heel and walked the other way, heading out towards the back of the school.

She could have sworn she heard Jughead say, "Was that Ronnie?" but decided she must have been imagining it.

She ended up sitting on one of the benches outside, writing away in her notebook. She figured writing down how she was feeling and what she was thinking would help. Her secrets had to be saved somewhere, and since she certainly couldn't tell anyone about this one, she wrote them all down. Ronnie's tongue poked out slightly in concentration as she wrote.

Of course I had to go and fall for the one boy that I can't have. Archie Andrews. Why did we have to kiss in that closet at Cheryl's? Why did he have to turn out to be different, and just the kind of guy I'm looking for, now that I know we can never be together? Life just has to work that way, doesn't it? Betty would never forgive me if I dated Archie, which wouldn't happen anyway because he doesn't feel anything for me, I'm sure of it. He's too busy going after Valerie now...yeah, okay, maybe I am jealous. I won't let him know that, though.

"Veronica?"

She almost jumped out of her skin at the sound of a voice. She quickly slammed the notebook shut and put the lid back on her pen, before gingerly looking upwards to meet Jughead's gaze. He was alone – eyebrows raised as he looked her up and down.

"Oh! Hey, Jug." She smiled in what was probably the most fake manner on the planet, and slid her notebook and pen back into her bag. "What's up?"

"I came to ask you the same thing. Can I sit?" he asked.

"Of course." She replied.

Jughead sat down opposite her, eyes completely focused on hers as if he were reading her like an open book. Ronnie had no idea why, but it made her feel a little exposed. She folded her arms, eyebrows arching.

"Whatever it is you have to say, spit it out, Jughead." Veronica said, after a minute or two of silence. She felt nervous, though there wasn't really an explanation for that. Maybe it was because she knew how smart Jughead was, and really, if he tried to piece everything together, it'd make sense to him.

"Something's wrong with you." He said, at last. "I can't figure out what, but something's wrong. Has been for a while, I think. It's like you're...holding yourself back from something. Pushing people away because of whatever it is. But you should know that we're your friends, and you don't have to push us away no matter what it is that's going on." He told her, eyes searching hers. "Do you wanna talk?"

"No!" Veronica said quickly. "No, no, I'm fine. You're wrong." The lies were coming out far too easily. "I'm just tired because I was up late arguing with my mom. It's not great, but...it happens."

Jughead rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Ronnie. I'm not six. I know that's not true."

He was good. Too good. "How?"

"Well, actually, Archie taught me how to tell when both you and Betty are lying." Jughead shrugged. "There's one telltale detail for both of you. It's not something obvious, so you'd never notice you do it, but Archie noticed. Now I've noticed too."

"What? C'mon, you can't tell me I do something and then not tell me what it is." Veronica protested, pouting.

Jughead laughed. "You start ever-so-slightly biting your lip when you're lying, plus you talk really fast."

Veronica's eyebrows raised. "Archie noticed that?" she asked, despite herself.

"Yeah." Jughead shrugged. "He notices a lot of things about you, you know."

Ronnie felt her cheeks flushing and her heart began to race, but she stopped herself quickly before she started smiling. She couldn't give herself false hope, and she certainly couldn't risk anyone, especially Betty, finding out how she felt. It'd break her and Ronnie would lose her. She didn't want that.

"Hey, guys!" Archie's voice called out, as he and Betty walked down the stairs and began making their way towards them.

Veronica panicked and gathered up her things, shoving them carelessly into her bag. "I gotta go."

"Where are you going?" Jughead asked, looking from Archie and Betty to Veronica.

"I, um...wanted to look into more extra-curricular stuff. So. See you!" with that, she placed her bag on her shoulder and walked away, just as Archie and Betty got to the table she'd been sitting at with Jug moments before.

"What's with her?" Betty asked, as Archie stared after Ronnie.

Jughead was watching Veronica's retreating back thoughtfully, his eyes flickering from her, to Archie, to Betty, then back.

"I have no idea." He replied. "But I'm gonna find out."