WITHOUT YOU [RIVERDALE] (on hold)

10

When Cheryl insisted that Veronica join their sleepover, Julia was less than pleased. She wanted to warm up to Veronica, she really did, but their personalities were so alike that they couldn't help butting heads.

Julia poked at the ham that the Blossoms had served for dinner, and watched the family eat in silence. Blossom family dinners were even worse than Knox family dinners, believe it or not. It seemed like Veronica had finally had it with the quiet and decided to speak up. "Thank you for having me."

"Cheryl invited you. I have no idea why you're here," Penelope bluntly stated.

Veronica didn't seemed fazed by the comment, "Me neither. I thought there would be other girls," she said through clenched teeth and shot Cheryl a look.

"Good to see you again, Julia," Penelope said to the blonde who hadn't yet said a word.

"It's nice to be back," she curved her lips into a smile, "I actually kind of missed it here." Penelope nodded at her and went back to her ham.

"Nana Rose would you like some more ham?" Cheryl's dad spoke up.
The three girls turned their heads towards the lady who was so old she was practically dead.

"I'm guessing that's a no," Julia muttered to herself. This had to be the worst dinner she had ever been to.

"Veronica would you like some more maple ham?"

"I'm good. It's delicious, though. You can really taste the maple," she spoke evenly while eyeing the ham.

"You do know that Riverdale was founded in the maple syrup industry," Mr. Blossom explained. Julia felt like yawning, this dinner was becoming even more worse now that there was a history lesson involved.

"I didn't actually. Fascinating."

"Thats where Sweetwater River got its name. Perhaps you should ask your father about it sometime. How is he, by the way?"

"Okay," Veronica replied in a firm voice.

"There are worse things than prison," Cheryl's mother said with a straight face. Julia couldn't believe that the Blossoms were completely roasting Veronica throughout the entire dinner. She turned to the dark haired girl and gave her a sympathetic look.

"Like this dinner party," Cheryl whispered to Julia, who choked on her ham.

"What did you say?" Penelope snapped at her daughter.

Cheryl didn't respond and yet again, they were eating in complete silence. The sound of their forks scraping the plates made Julia cringe.

"It must have been hard for you, watching your father being handcuffed and dragged out of your home in front of you, your neighbors, all those reporters. "

"The worst part is how fast it happened. He was just gone. I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye," Veronica looked at her lap before getting herself together. "Which I think it's great you're all getting a chance to say goodbye to Jason tomorrow."

"Not all of us" Cheryl muttered and scraped at her plate once again.

"That's because some people already got to say goodbye to Jason. While rowing him across the river. To his death," Penelope snapped at her daughter before storming off.