Chapter Text
1989
They were loud. They were Cuban. They were Riverdale’s brand new residents.
On their very first weekend in town, the Martinez’s had a bunch of family members come to their house at the end of the main street. Those whole two days were about celebrating: the patriarch’s new job, the house that was very well located but that they, somehow, managed to get it and, of course, their children’s acceptance into one of the finest schools in town and, of course and most important, their third child’s tenth birthday.
Their house wasn’t big like the others, in fact it was very simple looking, but they managed to shove in there and in the little backyard all the tías and tíos, the primos and primas and some other people that ended up showing unannounced.
As the party went on, the music was quite loud and at that point all the neighbors had started to complain. It was just a matter of time until there was a line outside their door and all the people waiting with torches and pitchforks, ready to stone the whole family. That was /bound/ to happen.
Or..at least it was, in the middle child’s head. A ten year old, rather skinny looking girl, with messy, long black hair and mischievous chocolate colored eyes. Birthday girl Hermione Apollonia Martinez; ‘Mimi’, if one had a death wish for she hated that pet name.
“Mimi! Qué haces? Ven aquí y por favor, ayúdame con tu abuela, que ya no puedo más!”,shouted the girl’s mother from the bottom of the stairs as she looked up to the second floor where she knew her daughter would be, probably playing board games or a new version of the hide and seek game with her cousins.
“Mamá!”, she suddenly said, in an annoyed but hushed tone, while peeking out of her hiding spot, behind a vase. “Me vas a hacer con que pierda el juego!”
“Y yo con eso? Vente aquí ya que tu abuela tiene un death wish y quiere pelear con los vecinos.”
“Pero mamá, yo-”
“1,2,3, I’ve found Mimi!”, came a little squeaky voice all of a sudden as a little girl came in sight and tapped Hermione’s shoulder.
“Luisa! Mamá- ugh!” grumbled the girl before huffing and stomping down the stairs with all her cousins giggling at her from the top floor. “Así que esperen por los board games. Les voy a matar!”, she said, fuming, and sticking her tongue out at the group of children before storming out of the little entrance hall and into the kitchen, following her mother.
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Not far away from there, loud noises could be heard from another house, it just wasn’t as cheerful as it was at the Martinez’s. In fact, it was worse than that.
It was known to everyone in town that the Southside wasn’t a good place. The people there were seen as “shady”, just like their lifestyles for most of them were members or former members of the famous gang entitled ‘The Southside Serpents’. But it wasn’t just that that made the Southsiders earn dirty looks and mean names from the Northsiders.
Oh no, being from the “wrong side of the tracks” meant living in a trailer that, most of the times, wasn’t comfortable at all, going to a school that was practically ruled all over by gangs and also enduring constant rounds made by the police who was just convinced (by the most influential families of the Northside) that, going there, they’d find profane parties, where drugs and sex were sold like water.
However, despite all of the rumours, despite all of the cons of living there, it was still Alice Smith’s favorite place in the whole world. The eleven year old loved her friends, her school, her little cat Whiskers (because when you’re a child that name sounds like the most genius thing anyone could ever come up with), her grandfather, her grandfather’s place, her room, her things. She wouldn’t trade that for anything.
Well, maybe she would. If that meant her parents would stop almost killing each other every single night. Countless letters to Santa, from age four to nine (because at that age, since no one ever came to rescue her and Santa seemed so busy to hear the pleas of a poor girl, she’d just given up believing) explained just exactly how the girl felt: sad, terrified, anxious, disappointed. The only thing that could cheer her up in nights like those was the fact that her grandpa almost always came by, pretending he was just walking his dog, a pompous cur named Toby, and would interfere in the fight, give Alice some money for ice cream and tell her to stay at his place until things calmed down.
That night, wasn’t different.
Grandpa Smith came and Alice was already sitting on the steps of the trailer, playing with a stick and some pebbles, chin resting on her knees.
“Hey, Ali.” The old man greeted, a warm, apologetic smile on his face even if the reason why she looked so down wasn’t him. “They at it again?” He asked, pointing towards the trailer with head, to what the girl only nodded and sighed in response.
“At this point, I think you shouldn’t even bother, grandpa. They hate each other anyway.” She sad in a sad tone, not even looking up at him. “Don’t bother about me either. I’ll just snuck in when it’s all over or go to Mr. Jones’s place.”
The tone in his granddaughter’s voice showed that something had hit a wound this time and the man was determined to find out. Limping his way towards her, he sat down as well, Toby at his feet, constantly looking up and between the two people towering over him.
“Alice..what’s wrong? I know you, pumpkin. Something’s on your mind.”
“It’s just..yesterday was my birthday and it all seemed so perfect for one day, you saw it. I loved it, I really did. So when I blew the candles, I wished for it to never change.”, she said, fiddling with the hem of her old jeans. “I even lit another candle and blew it before going to bed, when everyone was asleep, just to make sure. But..nothing changed. They’ve been at it since early afternoon and I just can’t get it..”
Hearing that made the man’s heart sink to his stomach. How could two mature adults do that to a child? /Their/ child. Did they not see her suffering?
The Smith patriarch was about to place a hand on his little girl’s shoulder and say something when a scream and the sound of loud banging and shattering glass made them both jump and the dog to bark. Quickly, he stood up and seeing just how terrified Alice looked, he searched his pocket for money, giving her a ten dollar bill.
“Ali, listen. I’ll go inside. You know the drill. Just take the money, your bike and go to my place. Toby will stay with me today.” He advised in a serious tone the little blonde had never seen him use before and knowing she’d most likely protest, he shook his head. “Just go. /Now/.”, and at that, Alice nodded frantically and got on her feet, scurrying towards her bike.
As she cycled her way out of the trailer park, the girl tried remaining calm, breathing in and out the way she could until the screaming disappeared and the Southside was out of sight. ‘Think happy thoughts’, she caught herself mumbling over and over under her breath until she reached a part of the town she wasn’t familiar with. Great, she was lost; so much for not going straight to her grandpa’s house. But maybe..maybe losing her way wasn’t entirely bad at this point. Imagine just cycling away, reaching somewhere nice and new, meeting nice people, new people..maybe even parents who would actually give a damn about her.
In her dreamy state, the blonde hopped off of her bike and inhaled the forest’s soft and gentle air as the breeze of early dusk caressed her face and made her hair float behind her. Opting to walk for a bit to try and see if she found anyone, the southsider just allowed her feet to take her.
When bright lights hit her in the face, making her shield her eyes, she knew exactly where she was: just outside the entrance to the Northside. A long sigh left her lips and she was ready to turn around again and hop on her bike when a rather loud groan close by caught her attention.
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After returning her abuela to the house, even if against the woman’s will for she wanted to just go and pick a fight with basically every neighbor in the street, Hermione set off to play soccer with her cousins and siblings, running around like the little tomboy she was, getting her sheens kicked and dirty, as well as her outfit for the day, only stopping to briefly take a bite of the cake her mother was constantly trying to shove on her face.
But that moment of fun only lasted a couple of minutes before one of the younger children kicked the ball too hard, throwing it all the way outside the house. And, of course, Hermione was the one assigned to go and fetch it.
“Hermione, ve a buscar la pelota para que tu hermano deje de llorar. Ya, ya chica.”, the girl grumbled, mimicking her mother’s tone while walking through the bushes and some small trees nearby, getting maybe a tad deep into them. “Siempre yo. Nunca puede enviar a uno de mis hermanos. Estoy harta!”. With that she kicked the ground too hard and ended up slipping on moist soil, falling flat on her ass, a groan leaving her lips. “Ugh! Stupid mud!”
Not too long after, the leaves of the trees around her rustled and she panicked. Was she to be eaten by a wild animal on her first week in town? No, that couldn’t be. She had so much to do with her life! ‘Quizás si me quedo quieta, el no me va a ver’, the little brunette thought to herself, trying to crawl away from the noise but only ended up breaking a stick with the heel of her hand.
“Ay!-”
“Who’s there?!”, came a voice in response to her noises and she held her breath; but whoever it was insisted on asking and walking closer, “Who’s there? I’ll call my grandpa and he will deal with you!”. It was a girl’s voice. Maybe her age, maybe older but not too old, at least not by the way she sounded.
Suddenly, the questions and noises stopped and she exhaled, standing up in what she felt were “quiet movements” when a bike came running towards her at full speed with a angry blonde girl riding it with a stick in one hand.
However, as soon she spotted Hermione, the other girl stepped on the break, bike coming to halt, and managed to hold herself before she was thrown out of her seat.
“Wow! Slow down!”, Hermione panted, a hand over her heart.
“You almost killed me! I thought it was some vicious creature or a thief!”, the blonde girl snapped, hopping off of her bike and marching towards Hermione. “What are you doing here, anyway, hm?!”
“What are /you/ doing here? You were alone as well /and/ in the middle of these..woods, just like me!”, the brunette answered in a thick accent, making the other tilt her head, “Cat got your tongue or are you going to speak?”
“I don’t know, I’m lost!”, the blonde shouted, clenching her jaw, “My parents were almost killing each other, my grandpa gave me money, told me to cycle to his house but I strayed from the way and now I’m here, stuck with you and I don’t know how to go back home!”, she snapped fully before turning around and crossing her arms with a huff.
Of all the ways this girl could behave, of all the things she could say /that/ was something Hermione didn’t expect. Like she didn’t expect to catch a glimpse of the girl’s quivering bottom lip and chin before she turned around.
Sighing, the brunette cleaned her dirty hands on her jeans, threw her hair behind her shoulders and walked over to the other, tapping her on the shoulder.
“Before this turns into a screaming..em..partido-”, partido meaning match (give her a break, she still wasn’t good with English), “-we should help each other. I’m Hermione. It’s nice to meet you!”, she said with a toothy grin, extending a hand. “What’s your name?”
After huffing some more and hesitating a bit, the blonde turned and looked down at the other girl’s hand, then back at her face, then back at her hand before finally smiling a bit and shaking it. “I’m Alice. Alice Smith. From..from the Southside.”, should she be even mentioning that? Oh, who cared at this point, this girl would find that out anyways. “It’s nice to meet you too. What are you doing here alone?”
“I’m looking for a..ball. Fútbol- sorry, soccer ball. My little brother threw it out here and I had to come get it.”
“On purpose?! Can he do that?”, Alice asked in shock, letting go of her hand.
“Oh! No, no. Not on purpose. He’s just smaller and doesn’t know how to control his strength yet.”, the brunette said with a sweet laugh. “But it’s okay. It’s getting late after all, I think I’ll just come here tomorrow with my dad.”
“Oh..”. At mention of dad, and for what it seemed, one that /actually/ cared, Alice shifted on her feet a bit, looking down all of a sudden. And that, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by Hermione.
“Hey..what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Hm? Oh..it’s just, my parents were fighting a lot when I left home, in a way I’ve never seen before and my dad would never do something like that for me, he’d probably just tell me to stop annoying him and go do something more “productive” with my life because now that I’m eleven, I shouldn’t be playing anymore..”, she explained with a faint, fake laugh, to what Hermione responded with seconds of silence before speaking again.
“Well, he sounds like he should get the worst dad ever mug. And you should stay away from him.”, she said, so surely and innocently that Alice chuckled, the tears that had formed in her eyes a while ago, already drying. “Luckily we have my dad here to help you out on that. He can take you to your grandpa’s house!”
The blonde’s eyes widened and lit up at that. “He’d do that? Really? But.. we just met! I don’t want to bother your family and they probably..I’m from the Souths-”
“Ay,ay, tontita. It’s my birthday today and I get almost everything I wish for!” Hermione grinned proudly. “Come on, my house is not far!” and with that, she turned around to start walking again.
Alice shrugged and quickly got hold of her bike to follow the girl, having to run a little to catch up with her. “Wait, wait! You said today was your birthday, mine was just yesterday!”, she said, excitedly, a bright smile adorning her features that now looked much more happy than they had been all day.
“Oh, really?! Then happy birthday, Alice Smith from the Southside.” She smirked, extending a hand again, which Alice promptly shook.
“Happy birthday too, Hermione Martinez from the Northside.”, the blonde chuckled as they continued to walk to the other girl’s house.
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Later that night, as she laid in bed, tucked under an old, pink duvet, Alice stared at the ceiling and thought about how good it felt to be treated just like a regular girl, without the Southside stigma hovering over her head, without people looking at her differently. She thought about how good it was to finally feel like she had more than just two friends.
The Martinez’s, especially Hermione, proved to her that she could be, indeed, welcome in a place and that stereotypes were just something awful. Maybe because they felt the prejudice themselves for being from a foreign country or maybe just because they actually truly cared for people, no matter who they were. Maybe. Whatever it was, it felt good and she didn’t want to let go of that feeling ever again.
Perhaps Hermione would like to be friends? She’d have to ask her Monday after school, when she promised the girl to take her to Pop’s to taste what she said it would be “the best milkshake of her entire life”.
Turning on her side, Alice stared at the callendar she had glued to the wall beside her bed at her grandpa’s house, a happy sigh leaving her lips, eyelids drooping already and, before she knew it, she’d dozed off to a peaceful and actually pleasant sleep.