As You Are.

Athena sighed as she took a breath, looking up at Riverdale High in all its glory. It was her first year back after moving when she was in the fourth grade. Her parents had both found new jobs in California, so they packed the house up and jumped ship. Athena was never sure as to why her parents really wanted out of Riverdale, but she figured it had to do with the Southside Serpents, at least that's what Athena had gathered from the years her parents spent trying to brainwash her into hating them. FP had always been like another father to her, having been best friends with Jughead since she was a child. He was the first friend she had made in kindergarten, and he, along with Archie and Betty, was her best friend up until she moved. Athena spent the majority of her time at the Jones residents, whether it be playing in the backyard with Jughead and Jellybean or having a sci-fi movie marathon with Jughead.

And you'd think after all this time, she wouldn't be as nervous as she was to walk through the doors of Riverdale Highschool, but she hadn't spoken to her friends since she had left. She wasn't given the chance. Since she had lived on the Southside when she was younger, her parents wanted to do everything possible to distance her and their family from the Southside and everything that came with it. Athena wasn't allowed to try to contact Jughead, Betty, or Archie despite the fact that Archie and Betty lived on the North Side. Athena was terrified to see her friends again. It had been so long she wasn't sure they would even want to talk to her. All these thoughts swirled around her head as she walked through the doors of the school. She quickly went to the main office to get her locker number as well as class list. Athena spoke very little to the woman at the front desk but made sure to stay polite before she hurried to her locker to make sure she had the things she needed. She kept her head down until someone was next to her, causing her to look up and see a familiar mop of red hair, "Archie?"

---

Archie had a busy morning trying to get ready for his first day of sophomore year. He was already running late for his first day and didn't even get time to take Vegas for a walk like he wanted. He jogged down the stairs, giving Vegas a quick pet before his lab rushed over to sit by his dad's side. Archie had a quick talk with his dad before he rushed out the door to head to school. Archie hurried to school, taking his bike which made it a lot quicker to arrive than walking. As he walked in, he looked around for Hayley, Betty, or Jughead, but didn't see any of them, so he headed to his locker to get his things ready for the first day. He didn't even spare a glance at the girl at the locker next to him, well until she spoke his name, that was when he got a good look at her and realized she looked very familiar, "Athena?" He questioned. When she smiled in response, he looked at her with wide eyes. It had been so long since he had last seen her, fourth grade if he was being exact, "What are you doing back in Riverdale?" He asked, "My grandmother is sick, so my parents made us move back to take care of her."

"Hey, Archie, I just wanted to say have a good first day back before I go give my tour." Betty said as she approached the two, "Betty, wait, look who it is. It's Athena Grimes." Archie pointed to the brunette next to him. Athena smiled nervously as she looked over at Betty, "Hey, Betty, long time no see." Athena stated. Betty gave her a tight-lipped smile before she spoke, "Hey. I've gotta go give that tour. See you later, Archie." Betty said, not sparing Athena another look before she walked toward the main office, "She'll come around, Athena. It's been a long time, and when you left, she lost her only other girl in the group." Archie quickly started to explain, "I know, but it still hurts. I didn't really have a choice when I had to leave. I didn't want to leave you guys." "And she knows that. It's just gonna take some time to come back around. You'll have to meet Hayley, though, she moved here about a year after you left. She's super cool, you'll like her." Athena nodded before shutting her locker, "So...what about Jughead?" "He's around here somewhere. I'm sure you'll see him." Archie said, giving her a small smile. He looked around and spotted Hayley down the hall, "Hayley!" He called out and motioned for her to come over, "Hayley, this is Athena Grimes. She used to live here and moved to California the year before you came. Athena this is Hayley Greene." "Nice to meet you." Athena said as she stuck out her hand to the blonde with a smile.

Hayley took the helmet of her head, shaking out her hair as she got off the back of Sweetpea's bike. She wore a pink baby tea over black ripped jeans and a pair of low-heeled ankle boots, of course with her Serpents jacket thrown over it to pull the whole look together. She stuffed the helmet in to the bikes storage compartment and popped some gum into her mouth before strolling in too the school's hallway. Even though it had been almost a year now, it was still clear that to most student- The serpents were not welcome. Hayley had to admit that when she heard that Southside high was closing she hadn't been all too upset, she had been excited to get a better education in a school that had proper extra-curricular activities, however she hated that this change had farther marginalised the population of the southside, with serpents being blamed for every misdemeanour that happened in the town.

She spotted Archie and happily strutted over to him, protectively wrapping an arm around his waist as she spotted the girl talking to him. There was a mild familiarity in the girl that she couldn't place.Archie, of course, being the sweet guy he was came across as far too enthusiastic as he introduced the two. "Athena Grimes... name rings a bell. Where was it you said you come from?" Hayley asked, a smile on her face however she didn't bother to return the blonde's handshake. She stared her down, as she waited for an answer a smile on her face that only a fool would mistake for kindness.

***

Jughead Jones was of course running late as usual, and it didn't really bother him. Having embraced his serpent-hood, his schoolwork just didn't seem as important. He knew he could follow in the footsteps of his father, so why change? Besides it wasn't like anybody in Riverdale would ever show him the respect he deserved, no matter how good his grades were. After straightening the beanie on his head, Jug noticed Betty surrounded by a group of freshman at the end of the hall and waved to her. He could see her signalling back to him, but couldn't tell what she was trying to mouth. Following the direction of her gestures he noticed Archie and Hayley standing over by the lockers. He could see Hayley was standing defensively close to Archie and figured Betty was trying to warn him to go save some poor freshman before Greene decided to pounce.

He shook his head at Betty as if to say "She'll never learn" and made his way over to the group. "Archie, Tell your woman to heal" he teased, immediately reaching his hand out to this assumed new student. "Hey, I'm Jughead and welcome to- Thena?" he asked, a look of both happiness and bewilderment crossing his face. He now understood what Betty was trying to warn him. It hadn't gone down to well with the other South Siders when her family jumped ship, and while most would never have blamed Athena for her parents choices, Betty had been severely let down when her best friend left without so much as an explanation. "Well what are you doing back in town?" he questioned again, moving awkwardly to give her a hug, not entirely sure how to treat the situation without stepping on somebody's toes. He listened as he told them about her Grandma and nodded empathetically. "I'm sorry to hear it, you should have let us know you were coming!" He couldn't help but feel excited to see his best friend again, and seen as betty wasn't around he figured he didn't need to conceal that in any way right now. "So how have you been?"

@ The Great Khal

@ KhaleesE16
Athena smiled at Hayley, the girl seemed like she was very close with Archie, and Athena hoped the blonde didn't think she was overstepping any boundaries or anything. The girl was clearly a Serpent, and despite growing up with them, Athena had no idea how to react to them anymore. She was about to answer Hayley's question before another kid came over, and Athena instantly felt her heartbeat speed up at the sight of him. She couldn't help but smile when he recognized her, "Hey, Juggie." She said happily as she hugged him back. When he said that she should have let them know she was coming home, she shrugged, "I wasn't sure if you all would remember me if, I'm being honest." She explained. Her parents hadn't really given her a chance to say goodbye to her friends. They were just ready to jump ship, and Athena's relationship with her friends suffered because of it, "I've been good." She replied with a tight smile, "I'm glad to be home. How are you and your family?" She questioned, not giving a second thought to the question. She would never have thought about the awful things the Jones family have gone through since she left. When she had left, the Jones family was tightknit and happy, Athena didn't have any other reason to believe they wouldn't be anymore.

---

Archie couldn't help but laugh lightly at Jughead's words before he looked over at Hayley, sending her a warning look. He knew that Hayley was protective of the group and didn't really like new people coming in to mess things up. Archie had grown used to it. Archie watched as Jughead quickly recognized Athena, and he smiled lightly at the look on Athena's face. He could clearly see that she was happy that he was excited to see her, or at least appeared to be excited. Archie knew that if Athena had been closer to anybody in their group of four when they were younger, it was Jughead. She had spent the majority of her time at the Jones residence with Jug and Jellybean. Archie also knew that Athena's parents weren't exactly the biggest fans of their only daughter spending all her time with the son of a gang leader despite the fact that the Grimes family also lived on the Southside, "Athena used to be attached to Jughead's hip when we were younger. It was practically impossible to separate the two. All our teachers in elementary school hated when the two were in the same class because they were always talking back in forth in the back of the class, and they never paid attention. Most of them ended up having to put them on opposite sides of the class." Archie explained to Hayley. Archie was excited to have Athena back in everyone's lives again, and he hoped that it was for good this time.

Hayley smirked as she heard the new girl asking Jug how his family was. "Some friend you are" she scoffed under her breath, raising her eyebrows at Archie's disapproving look. If somebody was going to claim to have been Jug's best friend, she would surely have known that FP lost his job due to alcoholism and His wife and daughter along with it. She listened carefully as Archie explained to her who this Athena girl was, her face growing in anger as she heard it. "Grimes.... I knew I recognised your name. Your parents decided to jump ship a few years back, threw each and every serpent under the bus when they went too, thinking they were better than everyone else... Well just to remind you, you're south side scum too sweetheart, so don't go getting any ideas" Hayley snapped at her. Because of Athena's parents skipping town, Hayley had almost lost her home. when the last 'decent' family moved out of the small neighbourhood, the landlords had tried to turn all of the serpents out on their asses. "I'm going to find Betty" The blonde announced, walking away, turning after a couple of steps to make sure Archie was following her.

__________

Jughead scratched the back of his neck nervously, trying to ignore Hayley as she mouthed off. "Yeah.. um Pretty soon after your family left, my dad started drinking real bad, my mom left and took jellybean with her.. I got left here, said she couldn't take care of two kids on her own" he explained, looking down at his sneakers. "Hey, don't worry about it though, Arch here took me in like his brother" he gave archie a pat on the back, showing him the respect he had for him, laughing as the redhead began to describe Thena and his' friendship when they were younger. He was shocked as Hayley began to rant at Athena, trying to step in and shut her down, but Hayley was a force to be reckoned with when she was on one. He sighed as she stormed off, turning his full attention to Athena. "Look, there is still a lot of Serpents sour over what your parents did... But Hayley will get over it, she'll realise eventually that it had nothing to do with you. And you always have me and Archie, Betty too just give it a day, you wait and see it will be like the gangs all back together" Jug reassured her, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. "What class do you have first?"

@ The Great Khal

@ KhaleesE16
Athena was taken back by Hayley's words about her being a bad friend before Jughead stepped in and explained the situation to her, "Oh my God, Jug, I had no idea. I'm sorry. I wouldn't have said anything if I knew." She stated. When Hayley quickly started jumping down her throat about what her parents did when she was younger, she took a step back and could feel tears burning the back of her throat. She watched as Archie gave her a sympathetic smile before he walked away with Hayley. She looked over when Jughead started speaking and frowned at him, feeling the tears rim her eyes, "I don't even know what my parents did, Juggie. They never told me anything about why we left." She replied, her voice cracking. When he squeezed her shoulder, she sighed and looked down at the list in her hand, "English."

---

Archie raised his eyebrows when Hayley spoke to Athena with attitude. When she jumped down Athena's throat about her parents, "Hayley, what the hell?" Archie spoke after he threw a sad smile Athena's way before he tried to catch up with his girlfriend, "Athena had nothing to do what whatever it was that her parents did. She was in the second grade." Archie spoke as he looked back to see Jughead was still talking with Athena, and Archie quickly looked back over at Hayley, "You don't even know her." Archie stated as they walked to find Betty. Archie had no idea what Athena's parents did and what it caused a lot of the Serpents, but Archie knew that there was no way that Athena knew anything about what her parents did. Athena had always been close with FP, so Archie knew that Athena would never believe anything nasty about the Serpents.

Jug shook his head, rubbing her arm as he could see her eyes welling up. "Thena, please don't let her upset you. It's just because she doesn't know you yet" he tried to reassure once again, taking the timetable from her hand. He glanced over it smiling up at her "We have first, Third, Lunch and sixth period together, so you can stick by me for those okay?'' he offered, gently guiding her down the hall toward the English classroom. "My Dad is going to be so stoked to see you Thena" Jug informed her taking a seat near the back of the class so that he could still talk to her while it was going on. He couldn't stop the smile that beamed ear to ear at having seen Athena again, it had been so long he was starting to wonder if maybe she had just been an imaginary friend. "You think you're back for good?"

_______

Hayley's eyes narrowed at Archie, she stopped walking and turned to face him, cocking her hip to one side. "How could you take her side Archie? I don't even know her? Her family don't even know me, but that never stopped them from looking down on my family for being serpents. I grew up in the house across the street from her parents and yet they still thought they were above my family? Why should I believe she's any different Archie? Why should I believe she's any other different to every other student in this place who looks down on me for who I am huh?" Hayley raged at him, crossing her arms hard across her chest, her eyes full of anger as she shook her head at her boyfriend. Hayley's green eyes fell to the floor as she nibbled on her lower lip trying to compose herself. "You wouldn't understand Arch, you grew up on the right side. You can't see what I see. She's just some bitch who's gonna claim she knows what it's like to grow up on the south side when in reality she wouldn't know how it really feels even if it bit her."

@ The Great Khal

@ KhaleesE16
Athena didn't want to let Hayley's words affect her, but she couldn't help but still feel a pain in her chest thinking about the words. When Jughead spoke about how many classes they had together, she smiled lightly as they walked to the first class together. When he mentioned his dad, Athena grinned, "I've really missed FP. He was always like a second dad to me." Athena said. The two had always been close, and Athena knew that she was like another daughter to FP. She sat down in English next to Jughead and nodded, "Yeah I think so." She replied with a hopeful smile. Athena really hoped that she was back in Riverdale for good, and she really believed that she was. Her parents hadn't indicated otherwise, and she was hoping to keep it that way.

---

Archie shook his head at Hayley's words before she sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Hayley, you've got this all wrong, there are no sides to take. Athena would never do anything like that. Why would she look down on any of the Southsiders when she was best friends with Jughead and Jellybean when we were all younger. FP was like a second father to her, and she loved him just like he was family. Athena is not her parents, and she knows that she doesn't know what it's like to live on the Southside. She used to tell us that when we were younger." He tried reasoning with her. He knew that Hayley was a force to be reckoned with sometimes and that once she had her mind set on something, nobody was going change her mind.

Jug smiled, nodding at her happily. "Yeah, he missed you too. I'm sure with Jellybean gone he'll be even more pleased to see a familiar face like yours" he reassured her. He wondered if he should possibly warn her about how here dad was arrested for the murder Jason. just incase it was an unwelcome shock to her. He figured it could wait until a better time, just wanteng his first few hours with Athena back in his life to be happy. "We should all go to pops after school to celebrate you being back, what do you think?" he suggested.

***

Hayley gave a sardonic laugh at Archie and shook her head. "Archie...don't bullshit me... we all know that up until FP was arrested, Jughead was treated more like a northsider than any of the rest of us could hope for. I just don't get how you can blindly trust this girl... people change over time Arch, how do you know she hasn't started to think like her parents? She's probably finishing off the job for them, making sure that all of the serpents burn" she raged, pulling her jacket closer around her for protection.

@ The Great Khal

@ KhaleesE16
Athena smiled widely at Jughead's words. She knew that her parents had never been fans of the Serpents and they didn't really ever like that she had been so close to the Jones family. Athena never cared because FP had always treated her just like family. When Jughead suggested going to Pop's after school, her face lit up happily, "I would love to!" She replied. She had missed Pop's so much. She and Jughead went all the time with Jughead's mom, Gladys, along with Jellybean. She was beyond excited to go back to the Choc-Lit-Shoppe again, "I can't wait to see Pop Tate again. I doubt he'll remember me though." Athena said.

--

Archie sighed at Hayley's words. People could change over time, but he just knew that Athena wasn't like her parents, she had never been like them, "Hayley, did you see how excited she was to see Jughead? That was pure excitement. Not fake. Athena was never a good liar, I don't think she would be able to pull something like that off." Archie defended. He knew that he shouldn't be arguing with Hayley over this, but he was just always so willing to see the good in people, and he knew Athena was good, maybe his opinion was biased because they were friends for a long time, but he just knew that Athena was good.

(TBH couldn't reply as I was reeling over wednesday nights events )

Jughead chuckled, glad to see she was so happy to hang out with them again. "You would be surprised, pops has a better memory than anyone i know" he whispered, seeing the teacher throw them a look as she went on with the class. "There's a lot I need to catch you up on, We can discuss it all this evening" he commented before deciding he actually needed to pay attention for at least some of this class and turning his head towards the teacher. He couldn't wipe the smile off his face, he was so so happy to have Athena back again.

***

Hayley threw her arms up, shaking her head at Archie angrily. "You just don't get it Archie.. of course how could you.. you're probably still pushing an agenda for the Lodges." she said angrily taking a few steps away from him. Her eyes stayed focused on him, a mixture of disappointment and anger on her face. She ran her hand through her blonde hair, aggressively fixing her bag on her shoulder. "We're done Archie. If you can't even see why I have a right not to trust this girl, I don't think I can do this" she said gently, watching him for a short pause before hurrying down the corridor, knowing she was already late to class.

@ The Great Khal

@ KhaleesE16
(I'm so sorry I'm just now getting to this. My life has been super busy lately, and because of work, I've been going to bed at like 9:30 and not wanting to actually post on anything)

Athena was already looking forward to her catch up session with Jug later that evening. She knew her parents probably wouldn't be the most excited about it, but they were just going to have to get over it. Jughead didn't hate her like apparently all the other Serpents did, and she was more than willing to take any kindness offered by him. Athena took notes during class, trying to make this year a good one grade wise. Her parents would probably kill her if she didn't do well. All they ever talked about was getting her into college. Most of their dinner conversations lately have been revolving around staying close or going far in terms of where she should go. The thought at this early in her high school career made Athena want to scream, but that was a feeling she usually got whenever she spoke with her parents about anything.

---

Archie felt himself tense up at Hayley's words. There was so much spite behind them, which there usually was when the two fought. When she spoke again, Archie sighed. Great another breakup. He thought to himself with a huff. Before he even got a chance to object, Hayley was rushing away from him and down the hall. Archie sighed once more before he hurried to his first class, already expecting a scolding from his teacher when he arrived about how late he was. Archie knew that he would talk to Hayley later, and they would fight more before most likely patching things up. It's how things usually went. Archie really wanted to see where Hayley was coming from, but he just felt like she didn't have a right to judge Athena on the mistakes and choices that her parents made, and he knew that trying to get Hayley to see that was going to be hard, but he had to try.