xoxo, Betty and Veronica: In Each Other's Shoes Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

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  Chapter 1

  “Hey, Betty!” Veronica called. “Wait up.” She hustled down the hall to catch up with her best friend, her mile-high heels click, click, clicking on the linoleum floor of Riverdale High School.

  Betty shook her head with bewildered amusement, causing her long, blond ponytail to swing. “I don’t know how you do it, Ronnie.”

  “Do what?”

  “Wear those stilettos all day.” Betty nodded toward her friend’s designer shoes. “Aren’t your feet killing you?”

  “Dah-ling,” Veronica said, doing her best to sound like a Hungarian socialite, “zees are Giammos. Zhey are wary, wary chic.”

  “Huh?” Betty wasn’t sure what her friend was talking about.

  “They’re Giammos,” Veronica explained, slipping back into her own, middle-American accent. “Your feet could hurt so bad you think they’re going to fall off, but you have to keep wearing them.”

  Betty looked down at the shoes. They were pretty cute, but not worth losing a foot or anything. No shoes were that cute. “Why?”

  “Fashion,” Veronica said as if her oneword answer made everything clear.

  Betty shrugged. Mr. Lodge, Veronica’s wealthy father, indulged his only daughter with numerous credit cards for which he promised to always pay the balance. Veronica took him at his word and bought designer clothes by the pound. She did look great all the time. Still, Betty thought, teetering around the school on stilts all day was just too painful and way too silly. Betty looked down at her own feet. She had on a pair of brown ankle boots that were supercute and supercomfy that she had found on sale for 50 percent off.

  After opening her locker, Betty piled her math and history books on the shelf, and then yanked out her book for social studies. Veronica stood nearby, peering into a compact and freshening her lipstick. “What are you doing after school?” she asked, making a small kissy face in the mirror to even out the color.

  “There’s a meeting for The Blue and Gold,” Betty told her.

  Veronica did her best not to roll her eyes. Writing for Riverdale High’s newspaper sounded megaboring to her, but if Betty liked it, she wasn’t going to judge. “Well, I just heard that Ms. Crouton is choosing someone to organize the school’s charity fashion show this afternoon. It’s coming up, you know.”

  “Oh,” Betty replied.

  “Wouldn’t you rather go to the fashion meeting? I just know Ms. Crouton is going to pick me to head up the committee, and I’m going to need a ton of help. It’s going to be so much fun! Don’t you want to go?”

  “Uh, no. Not really,” Betty said, trying to make her rejection as gentle as possible. “But tell you what. When we get closer to the fashion show, I’ll write an article in The Blue and Gold to promote it.”

  Fluffing up her black bangs, Veronica chuckled to herself. She never read the school newspaper and was pretty sure no one else did, either. But Betty enjoyed it, and there was no persuading her otherwise. “Okay, that sounds . . . um . . . great,” she said, snapping shut the compact and then slipping it back into her bag.

  Betty loved being a writer for The Blue and Gold. It was just so much fun crafting articles like a real journalist. Even if sometimes the articles were about proper lunchroom etiquette or that time the gym teacher twisted his knee trying to show his students how to climb a rope. Ms. Grundy, the faculty advisor for the school paper, had mentioned that there would be a big announcement at the afternoon meeting. Betty couldn’t even begin to imagine what would constitute a “big” announcement.

  After her last class of the day, Betty rushed to the school’s newspaper office. Sometimes the newspaper’s meetings could be sparsely attended. Especially if there was something else going on like a pep rally or a dance committee meeting. But not this time. The room was packed. Everyone was curious about Ms. Grundy’s “big announcement.”

  “What do you think is going on?” Betty asked, slipping into a seat next to Ginger Lopez.

  “No idea,” Ginger said as she vigorously brushed her two-toned hair. She had a luxurious expanse of rich, chestnut-brown hair, but she always kept her bangs tinted blond. Her look wasn’t exactly the style at Riverdale High, but Ginger worked parttime as a teen editor for Sparkle Magazine in New York City, so no one dared question her fashion choices. “There are only two issues left to put out this year. I hope they’re not going to announce anything crazy like we’re not doing them due to budget cuts or something.”

  “Oh, they wouldn’t do that, do you think?”

  Ms. Grundy stood up and walked to the front of the room so everyone immediately stopped chatting and settled down. “I’m glad so many of you decided to attend the
meeting today because we have a very important decision to make,” she said. “I’m sorry to say that The Blue and Gold’s current editor in chief, Larry Parks, will be leaving us very soon because his mother has been transferred to Indianapolis. Therefore, we have to decide on a new editor for the last two issues of the school newspaper.”

  The room immediately began to buzz as students discussed the sudden departure of Larry and the vacancy it would create. Betty felt her heartbeat quicken. Being a reporter for The Blue and Gold was one thing, but to actually be the editor in chief? That would be a dream come true.

  “A-hem.” Ms. Grundy gave a stern clearing of her throat. “Settle, everyone, settle,” she said as if the students were an unruly pack of Irish setters. “First of all, do we have any nominations for a new editor?”

  Betty scanned the room, trying desperately to make eye contact with anyone who might possibly nominate her. Her eyes locked on Kevin Keller, who was nonchalantly leaning against a bookshelf. She turned up the full wattage on her baby blues, pleading with him to please, please, please say her name. Seamlessly taking the hint, Kevin raised his hand and said in a casual tone, “I nominate Betty Cooper.”

  Betty felt her face go bright red. Ms. Grundy looked over at her. “Do you accept the nomination, Betty?”

  “Yes,” Betty said, her voice cracking slightly. She hoped she didn’t sound too eager, but she couldn’t stop beaming. “Definitely.”

  A second later, Ginger Lopez shot her hand into the air. “I nominate myself.”

  “Can you do that?” Chuck Clayton wondered from the far corner of the room. He was the paper’s cartoonist, but he still felt invested in getting a good editor.

  “Of course you can,” Ginger replied. “Or at least I can. I mean, after all, I’m the only one here with actual professional journalism experience.”

  As soon as Ms. Grundy agreed that Ginger’s nomination was permissible, there was a rash of student self-nominations. It took just thirty seconds for there to be six candidates vying for the position of The Blue and Gold’s editor in chief.

  “Oh, dear,” said Ms. Grundy. She had hoped for one or maybe even two reasonably qualified students to want the position. She hadn’t expected to have to decide between half a dozen. “I guess we’ll have to put it to a vote.”

  “That sounds good to me,” Ginger said, getting to her feet. “Everyone who wants me for editor, raise your hand.”

  “Not that kind of vote,” Ms. Grundy said sharply, interrupting the impromptu proceedings. “I meant an official school vote. There are school elections tomorrow, and we’ll just make this part of the ballots.”

  Chapter 2

  Veronica drummed her fingers on the desk in front of her. Ms. Crouton, the home economics teacher and faculty advisor to the fashion show, was late. “What can she be doing?” she said half to herself and half to Midge Klump, who was sitting at the desk next to hers.

  “Maybe some kind of soufflé emergency,” Midge joked, shrugging her petite shoulders.

  Scanning the room, Veronica took in the other girls that had shown up for the first fashion show meeting. Her competition. Or the lack thereof. Veronica assured herself that she was the obvious choice to organize the show. Ms. Crouton only had to look at their handbags alone to know that Veronica had more fashion to decorate her little finger with than some of the girls had in their whole wardrobes.

  Ms. Crouton bustled in. “Sorry I’m late.” She dumped a large armful of papers, recipe books, and fabric swatches on her desk. “So,” she said in a getting-down-to-business voice, “it’s only six weeks until Riverdale High School’s charity fashion show to raise money for the children’s hospital. I don’t know about any of you, but it’s my favorite event of the year.” Several of the girls nodded in agreement. “There is a lot of work to get done,” Ms. Crouton continued. “We have to find vendors, and we have to pick a theme. But first of all, I need to pick a student to head the fashion show. Are there any volunteers?”

  Of the dozen and a half girls that showed up for the meeting, seven hands immediately shot into the air. Veronica let out a little gasp. She couldn’t help it. Wasn’t it painfully obvious to everyone in the room that she was the only real choice to be in charge of the fashion show? Unable to restrain herself, Veronica blurted, “Ms. Crouton?”

  “Yes?” The teacher looked over at her.

  “I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s only one girl at Riverdale that’s really qualified to head up the charity fashion show.”

  “Why, thank you, Veronica,” Ginger said, breezing into the room. “I accept your nomination. That’s so sweet of you.”

  “What?” Veronica was stunned. “What are you talking about? I didn’t mean you.”

  “Really?” Ginger feigned surprise. “I heard you say that there was only one obvious choice in the whole school to head the show, so I naturally assumed you meant me.”

  Veronica folded her arms. “Why would you assume that?”

  “Well, there are plenty of girls in this school who are fashionable,” Ginger said with a superior smirk. “But as far as I know, I’m the only one who actually works in fashion.”

  “So?” Veronica kept her arms folded.

  “Don’t you get it?” Ginger laughed as if it was so obvious. “I write the articles that dictate what fashionistas such as yourself actually wear. I’m the one that creates fashion. That’s why I’m the obvious choice for the job. I mean, really, who do you think should head up the show? A girl who follows fashion or a girl who creates it?”

  Ginger’s comments must have rubbed most of the girls at the meeting the wrong way because there was an outburst of angry chatter when no one could get a word in edgewise. Ms. Crouton held both her hands up in the air. “Girls, please! Quiet!” The chatter faded to a dull roar. “It’s admirable that so many of you are eager to participate in charity work. So I think the only way to choose a committee head fairly is to do it by school-wide vote.”

  “What?!” both Veronica and Ginger said simultaneously.

  “Can you believe Ginger?” Veronica asked, refilling Betty’s glass with lemonade. The Lodge family naturally had a butler on hand to do such things, but Veronica felt that sometimes it was nice to have a conversation without the staff standing there listening. “I mean, as if I would nominate her.”

  “Well, you’re not going to believe this,” Betty said, adding a bit of sugar to her drink, “but Ginger’s also running for editor in chief of The Blue and Gold.”

  “I thought Larry was the editor.”

  “He’s moving to Indianapolis,” Betty explained.

  Veronica thought about it. “Oh, that’s too bad. Larry’s cute, and I’ve never had the chance to go on a date with him.”

  “Geez, Ronnie.” Betty laughed. “You’ve already got half the boys in the school lining up to take you out. You don’t have to go on a date with every single one.”

  “I can try.”

  The girls laughed, but Betty knew Veronica preferred Archie Andrews over any other boy in the school. Even though they weren’t dating exclusively or anything. She was free to go out with whomever she wanted. It’s true that half her dates were strategically staged to make Archie jealous, but he didn’t know that.

  “You should have heard Ginger at the meeting,” Betty continued. “She practically threw it in everyone’s face that she works at Sparkle Magazine. I mean, if it’s so great working there, why does she want to work on the school paper?”

  “She was bragging about Sparkle at the fashion show meeting, too!” Veronica exclaimed. “I mean, I love Sparkle and everything, but it’s not the final word in fashion.”

  Betty took a big gulp of lemonade and set down her glass. “You know what? I hope you get the fashion show and I get the paper. We both deserve it.”

  Veronica nodded her head enthusiastically. “Wouldn’t that be awesome? And it would definitely show Ginger.”

  Chapter 3

  “Vote for Ginger,” Ginger Lo
pez said, handing Nancy Woods a bright red campaign button.

  Nancy was wearing a fetching yellow dress that made her mocha skin all but glow. Nancy considered the fashion option of adding the red button to her ensemble. “Vote for Ginger for what?” she asked.

  “Everything.”

  “No, seriously,” Nancy pressed. “I have no idea what you’re running for.”

  “I’m running for everything,” Ginger explained without a hint of sarcasm.

  “Everything?” Chuck Clayton asked, slipping his arm around Nancy’s trim waist.

  “Well,” Ginger conceded, “everything that matters.” Then, a little impatiently, she added, “Oh, come on, Chuck. You were at the meeting. You know I’m running for editor of The Blue and Gold.”

  Nancy looked at her boyfriend. “Why aren’t you running for editor? Or me, for that matter?”

  Shrugging, Chuck told her, “I’m too happy being the cartoonist for the paper. Being editor would just get in the way.”

  With a laugh, Nancy nuzzled him. “That’s my honey.”

  “And you’re not running”—he thought about it—“because you skipped the last meeting, I guess. I wanted to nominate you, but I wasn’t sure if you’d have time to be editor with all your other activities.”

  “Oh, that’s sweet.” Nancy nuzzled him.

  “I’m also running to head the charity fashion show,” Ginger hurriedly added. She didn’t need Chuck and Nancy getting all cuddly wuddly in front of where she had set up to greet potential voters. “Have a button, Chuck.” She thrust a VOTE FOR GINGER button at him. “See you guys later!” she added briskly, nudging them down the hall.

  Betty trotted up the front steps of Riverdale High, riffling through her papers, looking for her math homework. “Betty!” Someone called out her name.