CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

↳ SING YOUR HEART OUT

     KEVIN ENTERED THE STAGE, A BRIGHT SMILE on his face as he greeted the audience. "Hello, Riverdale High, and welcome to the 75th annual Variety Show! That was Josie and the Pussycats! Long tails and ears for hats."Kevin called out as the cheers began to diminish. Virginia smiled, happy that Kevin was enjoying himself as the director of the event, it suited him.

"You guys killed it." Archie told Valerie with a large smile on his face as the group ran off stage.

"Thanks. So will you. I know you will, Archie." Val responded, and Virginia watched the correspondence between the two, a sour feeling in her stomach. Valerie left Archie, and Virginia wanted to step towards her friend but paused at the sight of an approaching Veronica.

"Okay, so this is my mea culpa moment. I was angry at my mom and I took it out on you." Veronica told the ginger haired boy.

"And I shouldn't have tried to bench you when Valerie came back." Archie told the raven haired girl, he felt sorry for what he did, knowing what he did was wrong.

"Truer words could not have been spoken."

"You holding up?"

"Honestly, I'm hanging on by my whiskers. You?" Veronica told him and Ginny winced at her use of whiskers.

"The prospect of total humiliation in front of this entire town is terrifying." Archie breathed out nervously.

"Want some company out there?" Veronica offered.

"Yeah, Arch. You don't have to do this alone– I mean, you're helping me, it's okay for you to have some help too." Virginia told him softly, touching his shoulder gently.

"More than anything. No. I have to do this on my own, Veronica." Archie smiled at the two girls before him, grateful for their support.

"Well, if you freeze out there, Red Troubadour, just focus on someone that makes you feel safe."

"Hey, Arch–" Virginia grabbed onto the lean arm of Archie and both froze at the contact. She blushed, letting go. "C-Can we talk when you're done?" Archie nodded and she sent him a forced smile as she watched him run onto the stage.

"Here's Archie Andrews!" Kevin announced to the audience and Virginia stood in the wings, watching her friend.

"Stick to football!" Reggie Mantle's friend yet again yelled from the audience. Virginia's mood soured, wondering how someone could be so mean to their own teammate.

"Can you hear me? Am I drowned out in the crowd? Are you listening? Or is everyone else too loud for you to hear anything? Are you just gonna walk away?"

Archie turned and smiled at the sight of his friends on the side of the stage, his gaze lingering on his oldest friend who he had kissed last night.

"Cause there are so many things I can do, but instead I'll say, I'll try I'll try"

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"Now it's for our next performer, Virginia Hopkins!"

Scattered clapping came from the audience and Virginia rolled her eyes, knowing her mother's reputation preceded her own. She walked on stage with Archie, who was glowing, and sat down on the stools. The previous days leading up to this performance, the young girl had asked her redheaded friend for backup.

The nervous girl brought the mic closer to her, a nervous smile sent to the audience. In reality, she couldn't see their faces though– the bright lights blinded her, saving he the worry of watching people's reactions.

Virginia took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she cleared her mind of her problems. She looked to Archie beside her, guitar in hand. She gave him a nod, signaling him to start playing.

"There's a ghost, she's wearing my face." Virginia began to sing, her fingers lightly pressing down on her legs. "At parties being introduced with my name. Just a skeleton of bones, wearing nothing but clothes and she is paralyzing."

Her light eyes tried to look into the crowd despite the bright lights but in her heart she knew that Jughead Jones was not one of the members of the audience.

"Am I afraid to be alone, that nobody will ever know. This death I'm dying?"

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     ARCHIE CLEARED HIS THROAT AS Virginia entered the dressing room backstage. He was nervous to why she wanted to talk with him, ever since he was twelve years old, he had a massive crush on Ginny.

He itched to walk up and kiss her– just like he did last night. He had thought about kissing her all day and just wanted to kiss her again and again.

"What did you want to talk about?" He asked wearily.

Virginia leaned against the mirror, smiling sadly at the ginger boy.

"I know you've had it rough the past month or two," Ginny began with a teasing tone. "You've got so many girls after you– Betty, Geraldine Grundy, and now Valerie–"

"What?" Archie frowned, wondering what she was getting at. He had pushed the thought of his old lover from his mind– it was a wound that was still fresh.

"C'mon Arch." Ginny sighed, pushing herself off of the framed mirror. She stood in front of him, a small smile on her face. "I know you've had a crush on me but admit it, it was a puppy crush– it never meant much."

"Don't say that," Archie told her, his frown deepening, stepping closer to her. "Don't diminish my feelings into a small crush, Gin."

"But Arch!" Ginny exclaimed grabbing onto his shoulders and shaking him. "I know you don't think of me as much as you believe." Archie stayed silent and Virginia took that as a sign to continue. "I mean, all week you've been flirting with Val, I think last night was a mistake–"

"It wasn't a mistake." Archie told her firmly.

"Arch, I'm in love with Jughead." Ginny told him firmly. Archie always knew that deep down in his heart but that's why he was so stubborn right now. "You know that, that's why this can't happen." She gestured between the two, a wrinkle between her brows as she concentrated on what she wanted to say. "You're also hurting, after Geraldine, you changed. You need to figure out what you like– and I'm pretty sure that's Val."

"Okay," Archie admitted.

"But, Gin." He held her closely. He pressed his lips to her soft ones quickly before pulling away. "If you and Jughead don't happen– please give me another chance."

"Okay, Arch. You've got a deal."

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     VIRGINIA HOPKINS RARELY GOT MAD at Jughead, but waiting around for Jughead was annoying her to no end. She was disappointed in her best friend, he was supposed to be there tonight to hear her sing but he wasn't. She was there all alone with no one to celebrate when the event was over. Sure, there was Archie and Veronica but those two had parents– all whom were going to go home and celebrate.

So, here was Virginia, sitting alone at Pop's with a chocolate milkshake in front of her, waiting for Jughead to come. There wasn't much change in Jughead and Virginia's routine so she knew the only place he would go would be Pop's, especially since the drive-in was shut down.

Jughead plopped down in the seat across from Ginny, a smile on his face. "I-I kissed her, Gin." Jughead breathed out and Virginia felt her heart stop.

"O-Oh?" Virginia asked, wishing her hurt expression wasn't that noticeable.

"Yeah, it was weird though." Jughead shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "It wasn't what I was expecting."

Virginia stayed silent, listening to Jughead rant about Betty and the day they had before she grew impatient with her best friend. She pushed away her empty glass, her mood soured by Jughead's selfishness. The brunette teenager stood up and Jughead looked up, confused.

"I'm going," Virginia stated, staring down at him with a poker face on. She knew that Jughead could tell what she was feeling but right now, she didn't want him to understand and sympathize with her.

"Why?" Jughead asked, standing up too. "I just got here."

"Yeah, exactly." Virginia hissed out with a frown. "You've barely gotten here and all you want to talk about is fucking Betty and your adventure."

"You left me out for some reason– am I really not that important once I told you to give her a chance? "

Jughead stayed silent, watching his friend pensively. Virginia rolled her eyes, wishing he would say something– say sorry at least. He felt bad, he thought pushing her away from the drama of Jason Blossom's murder would be less of a burden on her– he didn't realise pushing her away made it worse.

"Thanks for asking how I'm doing, Jug. I just performed for the first time to an audience and the one person I wanted there, wasn't."

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who's ready for tonight's episode ?