photo is rena lovelis as luna martinez

***

"I didn't mean to," was the first thing Luna Martinez said when she rode into Riverdale with her 19 year old brother, Anthony Martinez.

"No, it's no problem," the red haired boy in front of the Martinez's car gasped, smiling.

Luna got out the driver's side, running over to check if he was okay.

He didn't look much older than Luna, 15, but he sure as hell seemed way more mature than any fifteen year old.

"I was practicing my driving, we didn't think anybody would be out here really," Luna started her apology, the boy looking up at Luna through his eyelashes. "so, I'm sorry."

"No problem," he lifted his body off the hood of Luna's car, pushing his hand out towards her. "I'm Archie Andrews, and I'm assuming you're new to town?"

"Yes, I am," Luna shook his hand and nervously brushed a hair back behind her ear.

They stood there for a while before Anthony Martinez, Luna's brother, honked the horn loudly.

"We have a house to get to! And I have a job to get to!" Anthony yelled from the driver's window, Luna sure as hell was not going to drive anymore.

She waved goodbye to Archie and got into the passenger's seat, her brother drove off and as Luna left, she could have sworn she saw a woman drive up to Archie as well.

Luna shrugged it off and turned to her brother.

Anthony laughed a little and shook his head, "I swear you almost killed him."

You see, a few moments before Luna's first words in Riverdale, Luna had been distracted by what seemed like roadkill, and by the time she looked up Archie Andrews was already standing in front of the Martinez's car.

"Shut up!" Luna yelled furiously at Anthony, who only laughed harder, almost crashing the car for the second time.

"I swear we're going to die in this town," Luna gripped her seat arms harshly.

However, like most of the Riverdale citizens, no one could have prepared for the events waiting to happen.

But anyways, a few minutes after Luna had said that last phrase, the Martinez siblings pulled into their new home.

It was small, but it was large enough the fit the two family members.

Luna had put her bags upstairs and now she sat down at one of the stools by the island.

She pulled out her phone, scrolling through Instagram blindly before she heard her brother yell, "I'm going out of town for a little while!" which was followed by a bang of a door.

Luna scrambled off the stool and to the window, where she saw the small car pull out of the driveway and towards the way they came.

But Luna couldn't help but wonder why exactly they hadn't just stopped on their way there, would that not be more convenient?

Why go back now?

Luna pushed it to the back of her mind, slumping down on the couch, completely and utterly bored.

She soon thought, if Anthony can leave whenever, I can too, right?

He was a good 4 years older than her, but Luna made up for it in maturity and smarts.

Okay yes, she was the one who almost ran someone over on the way here, but she wasn't driving, so why would Anthony care?

She was skilled in the art of hand to hand combat, and by straying away from the typical horror movie decisions, she would be able to survive if anyone tried to kidnap her or try anything like that.

So with a great deal of confidence, Luna stepped outside into the warm air of the Riverdale town.

Luna started walking down the street, taking in her surroundings.

She made note of houses, signs, her environment basically, Luna always had a thing for studying her surroundings.

The only thing she hadn't made note of was the blonde and black haired girls standing in her pathway.

"Oh!" Luna yelled, falling down right on her butt.

"I'm sorry!" the blonde one said loudly, giving Luna a hand.

Luna took it, pulling herself up, "No, it was my fault, I'm very sorry."

"I haven't seen you around here," the blonde said. "I'm Betty and this is Veronica."

"Veronica Lodge?" I asked her, a bit astonished I would be breathing the same air as her at the moment.

"The one and only," she said comedically.

"Are you new to town?" Betty asked, leaning against a nearby tree.

"Yes, I am, me and my brother just moved here," Luna explained.

"How old is he? Because the hotties in this town seem to be missing..." Veronica was hit on the shoulder by Betty, who gasped.

She looked back to Luna, smiling politely, "I'm sorry, she doesn't seem to know when exactly to shut up."

Veronica laughed, "I know when to, I just choose to keep talking."

Luna laughed too, enjoying the company.

The truth was, Luna had been very anxious about the idea of moving.

Moving across country, that is.

The sudden move, that was one her brother had never bothered to explain, and by the neurotic look on his face when they had first left, Luna knew better than to ask.

But she did have 48 hours to stress out.

"Hey, we were about to go to Pop's, it's a diner in town," Betty's words had derailed Luna's train of thought, but that was good, because knowing Luna it probably would have went somewhere very, very dark.

"Would you care to come with us..." Veronica trailed off, signaling for Luna to say her name.

"Luna, Luna Martinez, my brother's name is Anthony, and he's 19," Luna answered a billion questions at once.

"But is he hot?" Veronica asked, earning a laugh and face palm from Betty.

"I'm not at liberty to say," Luna laughed loudly. "and there are hotties in this town, have you seen that red haired guy, Archie Andrews, I think?"

Betty gulped, and fiddled with her arm, Veronica laughing.

"Betty kind of has a thing going with Archie, so I'm not really allowed to say he's hot," Veronica laughed and Betty smiled weakly, although it was still genuine.

"I would love to come to that diner by the way, where we can discuss how exactly to get Archie and Betty together."

"I love you already," Veronica smiled widely, and Betty started walking, Veronica and Luna following.

***

"So should there ship name be Archetty or Barchie?" Veronica asked Luna.

"Maybe, Barchie, but Archetty has a great ring to it," Luna smiled widely at Betty, who seemed to be dying of embarrassment.

"Archie and Betty are meeting tonight, actually, where she is going to profess her love for him," Veronica smiled and Betty's back straightened immediately, like a dog who had heard an intruder.

"What? No, who even told you I was going to meet him tonight?" Betty frowned playfully, pouting while trying to hide her smile.

"Why, Kevin, of course," Veronica said to Betty.

She then turned to Luna, "He's the gay best friend."

Luna made an 'oh' face and Veronica smiled at her.

She seemed like she would be incredibly intimidating, but she was actually very nice.

She inspired one of those few surprises that happened in life, like a new food that looks disgusting but actually tastes very good.

While Veronica and Betty argued over if Betty should tell Archie how she felt about him, Luna's attention was drawn to the person behind the pair.

He was frantically typing on a computer, his eyebrows furrowed, a full pot of coffee next to him, he was intriguing but had a basic hipster vibe.

"Hey, does this place have good onion rings?" Luna asked Veronica and Betty.

They both turned to her and said simultaneously, "Yes." before turning back immediately to continue their debate.

Luna smiled and nodded, getting up to go towards the waiter, but as she was passing the boy's table, she couldn't help but steal a quick glance at him and was surprised to discover the boy had the same idea of what to do.

She looked away quickly, her face probably red, and she kindly got a waiter's attention and asked for an order of onion rings.

And, quite embarrassingly, as Luna was walking back to her table, she accidentally hit the coffee pot on the mysterious boy's table.

Curse her family's wide hips!

He caught it before it could get on his laptop, but not before it got to his jacket.

He pulled it off his body looking up.

"I'm so sorry!" Luna said, frantically grabbing napkins and dabbing at his skin and shirt.

It seemed as though she was saying that a lot today.

First she almost runs someone over, then she hits someone as she's walking, and then she basically burns someone with coffee.

"No, it's fine, as long as it's not on my computer," he chuckled and Luna smiled, faltering in her movements.

The guy took the napkins from her hand and dabbed at his clothes himself.

"I'm Luna, I'm new, and I'm sorry," Luna introduced herself, "seriously, I didn't know the coffee was so close and-"

"I'm Jughead, Jughead Jones. And don't apologize anymore," he stopped dabbing and looked up at her, placing the napkins aside, "it's seriously fine, and to be honest, you're the prettiest girl that's spilled coffee on me."

Luna blushed, "Wow, really?" she said in a sarcastic tone.

"No, I'm joking, there was a prettier girl who walked in yesterday and tried to burn me alive," Jughead laughed and so did Luna.

They talked for a while before Veronica and Betty called Luna over, her onion rings waiting for her with a lukewarm temperature.

"Who was that, and what were you talking about for so long?" Veronica asked nosily.

"His name," Luna looked up from her rings, smiling. "is Jughead Jones."