Girls Your Age 》fp jones

3

The sound of her alarm chiming made Lydia feel sick to her stomach. Pulling the covers over her head, she wished the duvet would make everything disappear.

"It's senior year!" Lydia muttered to herself. "One last year before you're free." She sighed and pushed the covers off of her and turned off the alarm.

She shivered as the cold air hit her naked body. She opened her wardrobe, uninspired by any of her outfit choices. She hadn't fully developed her Riverdale character yet, so when it came to clothes she was stumped. She tapped her fingernails on the door of the wardrobe and chewed the inside of her cheek in thought. Deciding to go with something safe, Lydia pulled out a simple crop top, a pair of high waisted shorts and matched it with some fishnets and pulled on her heavy, leather boots.

Her mouth full of toothpaste, Lydia stomped down the stairs. Rachel gleamed as she entered into the kitchen. "I made us breakfast for our first day." Pancakes were already piled high on a plate on the kitchen table. A bottle of sticky maple syrup placed next to them.

"I don't eat breakfast." Lydia replied bluntly.

"Oh." Rachel looked down at the plate in front of her and mashed the pancakes with the back of her fork, looking disappointed.

"Where's dad?" Lydia asked ignoring the look of sadness on Rachel's face.

"He was called into work, he got the job at Andrew's construction." A smile reappeared on her face. "Well, I've got to go to work now, do you want a lift?"

"No, I'll walk thanks." Lydia replied after spitting out her toothpaste and washing her toothbrush in the kitchen sink.

"OK well have a good day sweetie." She smiled as she picked up her files and left to go to work.

Lydia sighed, the house now in silence, contemplating whether going to school was actually worth it. She groaned before pushing herself off the counter and collected her back pack from the table.

The car park was full of cars and tired teenagers. A few stared as Lydia walked by. Riverdale was a small town and everyone noticed someone they hadn't seen before, so, much to Lydia's dismay, everyone noticed her.

She walked to the schools reception and collected her class schedule. Turning round, Lydia came face to face with a smiling, blonde girl.

"Hi, Lydia!" She called. "I'm Betty Cooper. I'm meant to be showing you around." Lydia rolled her eyes and nodded. She was used to this now, the overly excited teenager, most of the time at the top of the class, telling Lydia that they'll be great friends, giving her no say in the matter, and then Lydia would never speak to them again. And that's exactly what Betty Cooper was and its exactly what she said.

"So you've got English first, with Mrs Cartwright." Betty said but Lydia wasn't listening.

"So I'll see you at lunch then?" Betty grinned and Lydia was brought back to earth completely unaware of the constant chatter Betty was spewing out her mouth.

"Yeah, maybe." Lydia muttered before entering into the English classroom they had been standing outside of.

Lydia was drained by the time lunch came around. Picking up her lunch from the service area, Lydia found an empty table and sighed contently at being alone at last.

"Lydia!" She groaned at the calling of her name. "Come sit with us!" Lydia looked up to see Betty sat with three boys a few tables away.

"No I'm fine." Lydia tried to smile politely, but she was pretty sure it came out as a grimace.

Betty chuckled, leaving her seat and sat in front of Lydia with her tray of food. "I'll come sit with you then." She smiled and started eating. Soon the three boys joined them. 

"She won't quit until you give in." A black haired boy said before stuffing his face with the burger he gripped onto tightly.

"Hello, my lovelies ." A girl arrived at the table and Betty's side shuffled along to fit her in.

"Oh, V." Betty began. "This is Lydia. She's the new senior. Lydia this is Veronica Lodge."

"Oh, Lydia. It's erm nice to meet you." Veronica said through gritted teeth and looked straight down at her burger, avoiding eye contact with the blonde that sat in front of her.

"It's lovely to see you too." Lydia smirked. "V." She said almost sarcastically.

The ginger boy that sat next to Lydia looked up at Veronica noticing her weird behaviour, but never mentioned anything, not even when she never uttered a word all lunch.

"What are you doing here?" Veronica whispered as Lydia shut her locker. The crowds in the halls were beginning to disperse but Veronica still kept her voice low.

"Why? Did you miss me?" Lydia winked at the raven haired girl that shrunk before her. "V."

"Don't call me that. Only my friends call me that, and we are not friends!" Veronica stood up straight finally finding confidence. She could always stand up for herself, but she had found that in the presence of Lydia Prescott she was a mere deer caught in the headlights of a truck. And Lydia was that truck, a complete disaster waiting to happen.

"Oh, I know we're not friends, baby." Lydia stepped closer to the girl, watching her sink lower again at the sound of the word baby falling from the girls lips.

"You can't just waltz back into my life again. It's not fair." Veronica voice broke. Out of the many hearts Lydia had broken Veronica's seemed to be the most shattered.

"Sweetheart, it's not all about you. I didn't know you were going to be here. You know I move about a lot and I'm here now. By next week I'll probably be gone. Unless," Lydia tucked a strand of hair behind the girls ear. "You want me to stay of course."

Veronica closed her eyes feeling the familiar warmth of Lydia minty breath fan her face. And yet again she was caught under the Prescott girl's spell.

Lydia pushed herself away, teasing the younger girl. "I'll see you around, beautiful."

Veronica watched as the senior walked away down the hall and out the exit. Her heart pounding and back pressed tightly to the lockers feeling the cold metal start to heat up from her body temperature.