It was a usual Friday afternoon when Archie Andrews decided to disturb your life. A wonderfully normal day in Riverdale like every other day, at least before Jason Blossom was murdered. You kept to yourself throughout the morning periods, as usually, ate your lunch in the sun under the big oak tree and pretty much spent the whole day thinking about how you could improve the stage design for the newest play the little drama group at your school was planning. That was your thing. Making props, painting them, working on them in peace and alone. That was what you loved most.
Only that Friday afternoon it didn't go down like that. You sat down to continue painting the majestic tree that would be at the centre of the stage in act three, biting your lower lip, frowning and placing brush marks here and there in highest concentration. Forgetting pretty much everything around you or just blending it out because it didn't matter in that moment. That's why he caught you off guard when he cleared his throat to get your attention.
You twitched and turned around, staring at Archie Andrews standing there with a curious expression, grasping the strap of his backpack and wearing that blue and yellow football jacket that you never really liked. You just never got why they felt the need to wear them 24/7. Maybe to show their status, which didn't make them appear any more sympathetic in your eyes.
"Ehm...did you lose your way?", you asked him because nobody ever came into that room. Especially no popular kid. Never.
Archie raised his eyebrows in surprise and hurried to answer. "Oh, no, I was searching for the props department. That's right here, isn't it?"
"Yeah...what do you need?" You were absolutely aware of the fact that you sounded a little hostile but you couldn't help yourself. Archie had never talked to you before. You doubted that he had even noticed you before. You only knew his voice from scraps of conversation you took up when you passed him in the hallway or, more currently, from when he was singing. He was one of the people who never really hurt others, or at least don't attempt to do so, but also rest themselves in their social status without looking at those who surround them. At least that's what you thought.
"Well, I thought I could do this as an extracurricular activity", he explained, still without moving an inch. It was obvious that your reaction scared him away a little.
"But you're in the football team", you stated irritated.
"Yeah. So?"
"So why would you want to join the prop department?Which, by the way, consists of only me."
"I kinda need the extra credit", he finally admitted and you sighed to yourself. Of course. That was so typical. They thought painting cardboards was an easy way to gain credits. You actually would've been surprised if he had had any passion for this. Well, you didn't really want to get upset about it because they usually never came back for a second time, so why bother?
"Alright. You can paint this tree over there, I already draw the lines and we can put it somewhere in the background. Just don't screw up too badly", you advised him, pointing at a prop in the corner of the room and returning to your own work. He shot you another amazed look before he pulled a chair to the cardboard, placed his backpack next to the door and sat down to start painting.
For a while you worked in silence and you tried to ignore that Archie was there, which was nearly impossible because whatever you could say about him, he definitely had some emission. While you were a person that could easily disappear in a crowd, he wasn't. Maybe because of the red hair.
"Why are you the only one working on this?", he asked you at some point without looking at you. It didn't seem like the mere attempt to do smalltalk but like he was honestly interested in the answer, so you gave it.
