up a grade so that both she and Raj are in the same year as Archie and the gang. After Raj's introduction, he often appeared in daily newspaper strips as well.Brigitte Reilly: A brown haired, amply contoured girl who was introduced in the late-1990s and who is close to Betty and Veronica. She is an exchange student from Waynesboro High, Centerville. Betty was the first one to meet her and introduced to Veronica and others. Brigitte is one of the few female teenagers in the Archie Comics universe without an hourglass figure. Although she lacks the sexy appearance of most of Riverdale's girls, she is not portrayed in a comical or unflattering way (as she might have in the early years of Archie), but has been made as attractive as possible. Briefly, Maria was actually jealous of Brigitte's friendship with Frankie. When she was introduced in Betty and Veronica Spectacular #27, she joined the school show, and turned out to be good at singing. She's also a guitarist, and has a record deal in Central City. In a few stories, she is in a musical duet consisting of herself and Frankie Valdez—she sings and Frankie plays the guitar—but in other stories, she is often a solo artist. When the Spice Girls were popular, she, Betty and Veronica formed a group called the Sassy Girls. However, Brigitte outshone the others, so Betty and Veronica returned to the Archies and let Brigitte go solo. Brigitte is known to date Dilton Doiley. Generally peaceful and friendly, Brigitte is on good terms with everyone in Riverdale. For a minor character, she has been featured prominently on the Archie Comics website.Maria Rodriguez: Frankie Valdez' girlfriend, a Hispanic girl who started out as shy but friendly, and a bit of a “plain Jane,” as in her first appearance in Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica #257. Despite this, she eventually evolved into a more forceful and fiery character. In the past, she was seldom seen except in conjunction with Frankie. She was introduced as the daughter of the new vice-principal Mr. Rodriguez. While Maria continued to appear, her father did not. Frankie and Maria were added for ethnic diversity, following the success of Chuck and Nancy. The four of them became good friends. For a time, she had black hair and usually wore it in a bun. This was quickly changed to brown flowing hair. Maria is