testing the waters.

Archie's summer had been interesting, to say the least. He'd planned on spending it all with Jughead on a road trip just that would allow them both to get out of town for a while, but that didn't exactly happen. He really had meant to spend his summer with Jughead, but well he'd been in a weird funk, and then on his way to meet Jug he'd gotten distracted by a pretty face. And well it kind of made him feel good to be with her. He liked her company even though he knew deep down that they really shouldn't be together. She'd really helped him out too though. Ever since Claire had moved away their group had kind of grown apart in a way. They were a smaller group now and replacing her didn't feel right, then Betty and Kevin had started hanging out a lot more, and things were just weird. So Archie kind of took spending the summer with someone as a way to distract himself from his group of friends all growing apart. But now with school about to start back up, and Jason Blossom being dead and kind of the only thing the town could even talk about, Archie knew it was time for him to get back to reality.

---

Kara found it hard to believe that summer was already over and time to go back to school. She couldn't believe that she'd spent well all of it really with Jughead of all people either, because she'd thought he'd be with Archie all summer. And honestly, things were weird now. Kind of with her and Jug but also kind of because of the whole Jason thing. People don't really think about the town they live in being dangerous, or about awful things happening until they happen. Like Jason Blossom dying. It came as a shock really that he was gone to most people, and Kara knew it was going to change things. Now Kara didn't exactly like Jason, or the blossom's in general for that matter, but she also did feel bad for them because losing a child or a sibling, or just someone you're close to in general was hard and painful. Once Kara was ready she pulled her bag over her shoulders and head out towards the school wondering what the day held.

It had always been the four of them. The four musketeers: Betty, Archie, Claire and Jughead. Best friends forever. Until Claire's father took on a promotion that required the Hoffman family to move out of Riverdale. They didn't even stay in Rockland county, let alone the same state or even the same coast. For the last five years, the Hoffmans have been living in sunny California. Claire couldn't really complain about anything, everything seemed perfect really. She wasn't the most popular girl in her high school, but she had quite a few friends. She was involved in the school plays and thespian society. Shit hit the fan at the tail end of her freshmen year though when her mom caught her dad in his office with his secretary. Divorce papers were filled out soon after that, and before Claire realized it, she was packing up her things to move back to Riverdale with her mom while her older brother stayed in California with her dad while he attended UCLA. Though things had taken a pretty shitty turn, Claire was hopeful that seeing her old friends would help make it all, well, a little less shitty. Though, there seemed to be quite a bit going on in the town that she once remembered to be fairly quiet. She had a feeling her being back in town and word of her father's affair wasn't going to be as big of a deal as she had originally thought it would be. Not with Jason Blossom being dead.

---

Jughead never imagined that he'd end up spending most of his summer with Kara Stonecipher. At the end of freshman year, he and Archie had a slew of things planned for the two warm months that followed, namely, the road trip they had planned. But then Archie ditched him last minute the night before they were supposed to leave, and he hadn't really spoken to his childhood best friend since. That summer had been anything but uneventful though, and he wasn't just talking about spending time with Kara or the death of Jason Blossom either. There was more to him now than met the eye. He wasn't just the weird loner kid anymore. He was newly recruited member of the Southside Serpents. He kept that part of him on the QT though. He knew the kind of rep that people from that side of the tracks got, and he also knew the kind of rep the serpents got as well. Truth be told, he didn't care so much about tainting his reputation in Riverdale as he did about Kara finding out who he was, or rather what he was a part of. It was fairly easy to hide considering everyone was concerned about Jason Blossom and pretty much nothing else at the time, but he had a feeling hiding his identity from his friends was going to become much more challenging soon enough.

[I rambled so much ]

Archie had been so consumed with his own thing over the summer that he honestly hadn't exactly kept up with anything. He hadn't noticed that Claire was back in town with her mom, that Betty and Kevin had spent the entire summer together, or that Jughead and Kara had gotten close. Archie had thought of nothing but himself all summer really and honestly if he hadn't heard the gunshot while he was out near the lake or heard like everyone else that Jason Blossom was dead he probably wouldn't have even known about that. Because all Archie could think about was well the beautiful woman he'd been with all summer long, and his pretty new aspration towards music. Though it was probably going to cause a problem when it came to football, Archie wasn't sure he cared. It was only the first day of school and he was sure he had plenty of time to figure everything out.

---

Kara was confused to say the least about the entire summer really. Honestly, she was pretty sure it was a fluke that her and Jughead even hung out at all, but they had and she'd had one of the best summers ever. Summer was over now though and Kara was sure that Archie would likely be back and somehow he'd consme all of Jughead's attention which would leave her out. Sure she could be wrong, but given that Kara wasn't exactly in their little group she felt like it could happen. And maybe she was being paroniod, but maybe she wasn't. Either way she'd find out soon enough. Once she arrive to the school she walked in and headed right towards her locker trying to convince herself to stop overthinking everything because all that did was give her a headache.

[ it's okay girl! I do too! ]

Claire had never really associated with either of the Blossom twins. She knew of them, but they simply didn't travel the same circles as kids. Nevertheless, the news of Jason Blossom's death had shocked her. Things like this just didn't happen in Riverdale. Back in LA, a big city, deaths and other major incidents like this happened frequently, but Riverdale was far from being a big city. It was a small town, and word traveled fast in small towns. That was why the news of Jason's death had reached Claire and her mother long before they even set foot in Riverdale again. "Have a great first day, sweetheart. Don't forget about Pop's tonight for dinner." Her mother said to her daughter as she finished stirring her cup of coffee. "How could I possibly forget about one of Pop's burgers and milkshakes? That's all I'll be thinking about all day." The petite blonde said with a slight grin. Her mother laughed. "My apologies, I should know better." She walked over and pressed a kiss to the side of her daughter's head. "Have a great day, just be yourself." She said once more. "I always am, mom." Claire said before slinging the strap of her backpack over her shoulder and walking out the front door.

---

Jughead really didn't know what to make of the events of the summer. He didn't know if he and Kara could be considered friends now. Had they just hung out so often because neither of them had anyone else to hang out with? He normally spent every waking moment with Archie, but that hadn't happened this summer. Instead, when he wasn't working at the drive-in or dealing with serpent stuff, he was hanging out with Kara. He hadn't realized until this summer just how similar they could be. They had a similar sense of humor, and she seemed to appreciate Quentin Tarantino films just as much as he did. He didn't know if any of that was actually going to matter in the grand scheme of things though. He didn't exactly have a lot of friends to begin with, and he wasn't sure if Kara would want to be seen associating with the weird loner kid of Riverdale High. He supposed he'd find out soon enough though.

Archie walked into school with a nice bag of doughnuts that he'd picked up on his way to school and made his way towards Jughead's locker. He knew that he'd been a really shitty friend for ditching Jug the way he had for the entire summer and he kind of wanted to make up for it. Plus a lot had happened over the summer that he kind of wanted to talk to his best friend about. Halfway to Jug's locker though he stopped because he spotted a rather familiar blonde girl. Though, he wasn't sure if it was really her because well Claire had moved all the way to LA and he hadn't exactly heard from her since. He would hope that if Claire was coming back to town that she would've at least let him know. But well they hadn't really kept in touch very well. He'd missed her like crazy that was for sure, so if she was back for good Archie would gladly go back to hanging out with her all the time. Even though she had maybe forgotten to mention that she was going to be back in town. And at the thought of seeing an old friend, he forgot all about delivering Jughead a sugary filled breakfast.

---

Kara was well known around the school, probably because well her mom was on the school board, and her dad worked in the Mayor's office, which to her parents meant that she had a reputation to uphold. Though to Kara, it didn't mean much. Because to her parents, it meant that she was supposed to make the best of grades and be involved in all these things. It meant she shouldn't hang out with outcasts like Jughead Jones who'd grown up on the other side of the tracks. To Kara's parents being their child meant living this perfect unblemished life, and to Kara, it didn't. Kara wanted to live a life full of adventures and hang out with Jughead more. So once she stopped overthinking everything, and had pulled out her books for the first period Kara made a decision. She walked up to Jughead's locker and said hello.

"Hey," she said smiling at him a little shocked that Archie still wasn't around, but she wasn't going to question it.

Truth be told, the thought of getting in touch with some of her old friends before returning to Riverdale hadn't exactly crossed Claire's mind. Though they had all lost touch over the years, and she of course made new friends at her school in LA, she still had missed them all like crazy. The move back to Riverdale had been so sudden that she hadn't even thought about reaching out to any of her old friends. After stopping at the main office to get her schedule, she had insisted that she didn't need someone to show her around, she headed down the hall where the sophomore lockers were in search of her own. Unbeknownst to her, a certain ginger had noticed her. She smiled triumphantly once she had found her locker and opened it, putting her backpack inside and only taking out one notebook and a folder for her first class.

---

Part of Jughead wanted to continue hanging out with Kara and the other part of him didn't. He was perfectly content being alone, and if it wasn't for her that was how he would have spent his summer anyway for the most part. He knew who her parents were, and he knew how they looked at people like him. They saw him as southside trash and that was without them even knowing that he was a serpent. He doubted that they knew that their daughter had spent a decent chunk of her summer with him, and if they did, well, he wouldn't be at all surprised if Kara stopped talking to him completely. He'd know why if she did, that much would be obvious. Just as he finished grabbing his stuff for first period, the girl who had caused a bunch of questions to form in his head showed up. He glanced over to her, trying to hide the surprise on his face. "Hey..." He said. Maybe this wasn't just a summer thing after all.

Once Archie had convinced himself that it had to be Claire that he'd seen walking down the hallway he pretty much sprinted to the other end of the hallway to catch her. "Claire?" he asked hoping that it was indeed who he thought and wanted it to be. He'd missed her quite a lot since she'd moved away and seeing her, or even just someone who looked like her, made him miss her more so it'd be great if it was her. There was so much they needed to catch up on because Archie wanted to hear all about her time in LA, he kind of wanted to know why she was back in Riverdale, and he'd love to tell her all about what all had been going on in his own life. After all, if there was ever someone besides Jughead who truly had known him better than he knew himself, it would be Claire Hoffman.

---

Kara smiled in Jugheads direction happy just to see him. She still wasn't exactly sure what the summer had meant to him, hell she wasn't even sure she knew what the summer had meant to her. What Kara did know though was she wanted to keep spending time with him. Even as confusing as everything was Jughead had been fun to hang out with. They understood one another on a level she'd never truly been understood before. Plus there was something very mysterious about Jughead that drew her in. There was also the fact that she knew her parents would freak out if they saw her talking to him that made her want to hang out with him more. She hadn't told them he was who she'd spent most of her summer with, and she didn't plan on telling them that it was who she planned on spending more time with. Honestly, though, Kara didn't believe that just because he'd grown up on the other side of the tracks that he was automatically a bad person. "So I was wondering if you'd want to do something after school today?"

Claire had just closed her locker when she heard someone say her name. She knew it was only a matter of time before someone recognized her, but she hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Turning around, her eyes widened slightly in surprise at who had spotted her. She knew that she would probably see Archie and the other two at some point during the day, but it definitely caught her off guard that the first person she saw happened to be one of the three people she had hoped to see today. She had missed all three of them, Betty, Archie, Jughead, but, whether she cared to admit it to herself or not she knew that she had missed Archie the most. "Oh my God, Archie?" She grinned.

---

They lived extremely different lives, that much Jughead knew. He knew that her parents would probably flip if they knew that she was spending time with him all summer, and something told him that they didn't know where she'd been spending all of her time or who she had been with more specifically. It didn't necessarily bother him per say, but it did weigh on him a bit. He didn't know why she wanted to spend time with someone like him. He'd enjoyed hanging out with her, they had more in common than he had originally thought that they would, but he just didn't understand why she chose to hang out with him over guys like Reggie Mantle or even Archie. "I was planning on going to Pop's. You can come if you want." He told her.

Archie felt his heart swell just a little at the confirmation that it was Claire. "What're you doing back?" He asked as he went in for a hug really hoping it wasn't going to be too much. After all, they hadn't really seen each other in awhile. "Actually a better question would be when did you get here? Because if you've been here all summer and I missed out on seeing you," he said trailing off towards the end. Archie was sure there was no way she'd been back that long because surely he would have noticed her by now. But then again he had been so preoccupied with Geraldine over the summer that he hadn't really focused on anything else so he really wouldn't have known. And given how focused on other things Archie had been all summer even if someone had told him he honestly probably wouldn't have registered it. But with Claire back and standing clearly in front of him the summer slipped from his mind because it wasn't important anymore.

---

Kara tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded in his direction. "It's a date," she said with a smile glad to continue their hangs out, even if they were a little out of the ordinary. She knew that she and Jughead might not seem to mesh well with others. From the outside, if you knew nothing about them, or even very little, they might look strange together. If you knew who her parents were and where he lived it'd be weird to see them hanging out. But Kara felt like if you looked a little closer and really got to know them both you'd see that they did mesh well. She wasn't dating Jughead but she was his friend, or at least she wanted to be. And if she were being honest, Kara would much rather date Jughead Jones than ever go on another date with Reggie Mantle again. Because well Reggie was a jerk, a he'd only become a bigger jerk since then from what she'd gathered. Though as far as she knew no one even knew that she'd went out with him all of one time.

Claire smiled and happily accepted the hug from the red-haired boy. It had only been a few years since she last saw him, but he hadn't definitely done a bit of growing up in that time. "I got back a week and a half ago. Mom and I moved in with my grandma." She told him as she pulled back. She didn't want to go into all of the details right then and there about why she was back, though she knew that it would all eventually get around to everyone else in the school. That was just how things were in Riverdale. No one really had any secrets in the small town for long. "Jake's with dad in LA. He started at UCLA two weeks ago."

---

"Alright, cool." Jughead nodded. He wasn't one to admit that he was looking forward to something, but he was looking forward to spending more time with the blonde. He had enjoyed hanging out with Kara over the summer, and he was glad that she didn't want to stop hanging out with him now that school was starting back up. A part of him had always thought that would be the case, but he was glad that he was being proven wrong. He still didn't really know what someone like her wanted to do with someone like him, even though she didn't know fully who he was and he didn't plan on telling her any time soon or ever for that matter, but he was glad that he still had someone who he could count on as a friend.

Archie wanted to know what had happened since her and her mom had moved back, but he didn't. If there was one thing that Archie didn't want to do it was overstepping some boundary, so he was sure he'd find out when she wanted him to. Yes Archie knew that this was Claire, he'd known her for the majority of his life, but he also hadn't really talked to her in a couple of years. Things could change. Things had changed. Archie was, of course, going to try his best to pick up where they'd left off and be a friend to her still. But at the same time, they were going to have to spend some time reconnecting, and he was fine with that, but it would mean getting to know what all had gone on since last time they'd seen one another. All in due time of course. "That's awesome that Jake got into UCLA. I bet you're glad you don't have to listen to him talk about it nonstop anymore though," he said laughing a little. "I mean he did talk about it a lot before you guys even moved to California. And I'm also really glad you're back. I mean I don't know what the circumstances are, but good or bad it's good to have you back," Archie added.

"Well that's new," Archie said when he saw Kara Stonecipher and his best friend Jughead standing at his locker talking. It wasn't exactly every day that you saw two people who seemed to totally opposite talking to one another as if it's nothing. Honestly, he hadn't even known that they knew one another. Well, he was sure they knew of one another, after all, she did come from a pretty popular and powerful family. But he hadn't ever thought her and Jughead would run in the same circle. Then again Archie supposed he wouldn't know much about anything Jughead may have done over the summer since he'd ditched him. Which caused Archie to sigh because he remembered how shitty he'd been that summer. He was going to have more than one relationship to work on this year.

---

Kara knew that by the few looks she'd already gotten that it was strange to see her with Jughead Jones. But she didn't exactly care. He was nice after all, and she'd rather spend her time with someone nice than with a jerk. Plus there were so many things about the handsome raven-haired boy that drew her in. Like how he'd been nice to her since the moment they officially met at the drive-in to how he'd kept her company on those lonely quite nights at her house when her parents were out of town. Which was often actually, her parents were hardly ever home. Apparently, their jobs required lots of hours at the office and lots of traveling. Literally, Kara couldn't even count how many times her parents were being sent off somewhere for some seminar they needed to be at about something. Just like she couldn't count all the times they'd leave town without her for a week, or a weekend because they needed a break.

Honestly, Jughead was sweet. He was handsome, he was good at keeping her company, he made her laugh, and she'd enjoyed spending so much time with him. But she was slightly confused. She didn't understand why he had such a bad reputation just because of where he lived, she didn't get why people wouldn't just give him a chance. She was also more or less confused about what was going on between them. She knew they were friends, and she knew she wanted to keep being friends with him. But sometimes there was so much low key flirting, at least from her, that she didn't know if he would want to date her or not. But she supposed she could feel the situation out and decided from there. "Oh, you left this at my house and I wasn't sure if you'd want it back or not, so I brought it just in case," Kara said, mentally slapping herself from forgetting one of the reasons she'd even came to talk to him, as she pulled a beanie out of her backpack to give back to him.

Claire was really glad that literally the first person she spoke to at Riverdale High, other than the lady in the main office who had handed her her school schedule, was Archie. Although she had been close with Betty and Jughead when they were younger as well, she and Archie had always been the closest, and she had missed him so freaking much. Sure, she had settled into her life in California pretty quickly, but that didn't mean, despite losing touch with her friends back in Riverdale, that she hadn't missed them. "Oh yeah, now I'll just have to hear him talk about every little thing that happened during the semester instead." She said with a slight laugh. If I see him at Christmas that is. She still didn't know how the whole holiday situation was going to work out now that her parents were divorced. Her brother had stayed in LA because of school, but would he come to Riverdale or stay in California come December? She knew that she sure as hell wasn't going to California. She didn't want to see her father or his home-wrecking receptionist ever, and she certainly didn't want to see them during the holidays.

"The circumstances were pretty sucky honestly, but I'm glad to be back too." She said, mustering a small smile. "And since you're literally the first person I've talked to all day you get to help me find all of my classes." She added, elbowing him lightly before following his gaze down the hall. She recognized Jughead almost immediately with his signature beanie on his head, but she didn't recognize the blonde he was with. "Okay, I recognize Jug, but who's that with him?"

---

Jughead was sure that the simple sight of him and Kara talking in the hallway was earning them some attention. That didn't surprise him at all. He knew that it was probably an unusual sight, but he really didn't care. He had never really cared what the people of Riverdale thought about him, and that wasn't about to change now. He was honestly just surprised that Kara wanted to be seen talking to him in the first place. Maybe she'd change her mind by the end of the day or something. He wouldn't blame her if she did. He was sure that there would be people making comments and jabs about how she was hanging out with the weird loner kid. If no one else made the comments, he knew that Reggie definitely would.

"I didn't realize I left it, thanks." He said, taking the beanie from her and shoving it into his back pocket. It wasn't the signature grey one that he always wore, but, contrary to popular belief, he did have a few other beanies that he did wear on occasion. More often than not though, he did wear the same exact one. That was why he hadn't realized that he had left the other one at Kara's. It wasn't as important to him as the one he currently wore on his head.

Archie was sure that it was hard for Claire to go from living in Riverdale all her life to living in California, then moving back to Riverdale for whatever sucky reason. And he hated that she was back because of a bad situation, but he was overall happy she was back. It would actually mean that the whole gang would be back together finally. "And I'd be happy to help you find all of your classes," Archie told her keeping his fingers crossed that it'd be like before she moved to California when pretty much all of their classes except like one were together. It had always made things a bit easier when your best friend was in all your classes because then you always knew you had a partner you could count on, or at least he did.

"Do you remember Kara Stonecipher?" Archie asked pretty sure that everyone had always just known who she was, even if they couldn't always place a face to the name. As far as Archie knew she was super sweet it was just weird seeing her hanging out with Jughead given the fact that everyone knew who her parents were and how they felt about the southside. "Her parents are two pretty powerful people here in town, and it's just weird seeing her and Jug together because of how her parents feel about people from the southside. Which I do kind of think is total shit, but what can I really do about that," he said sighing and rolling his eyes. Honestly, it was people like her parents that really upset him. People like her parents made everyone from the southside out to be some awful gang member who would never make something of themselves, and they just looked down on all of them. Which he did hate because Jughead was his best friend, and didn't deserve to be thought of that way. Really no one on the southside did, but he knew it was just the reputation they held no matter what he did.

---

"No problem," Kara said smiling in his direction. If there was one thing that she hadn't always been the best with, it was flirting. Even though her mom had told her countless times that flirting just came naturally and not to think about it, she still knew that she wasn't good at it. Kara was naturally a fidgety person so she was sure there were times when she did something that might've come off as flirty when she didn't mean it to be flirty. Right now however was one of those times that Kara wished she could be flirty on command because she was feeling a little bold.

And she wasn't going to lie to herself and say that she hadn't felt anything at all over the summer. Kara wasn't exactly sure to what extent she felt, but what she did know was that her and Jughead had spent the summer hanging out and it had been nice. She also knew that she wanted to get to know him better beacuse she'd enjoyed hanging out with him and wouldn't be upset by taking their friendship to a more romantic level. She wasn't sure how he felt about anything though. So she was going to let herself hope that maybe she could figure something out the more they hung out.