Riverdale.
It seemed to be such a typical small-town place. A place where neighbours greeted each other kindly in the streets and baked each other pies. A place where the community spirit flowed through the veins of every person.
Bullshit.
Riverdale was in reality a toxic waste dump. A dark town where families were at war and murderers stalked the streets. It was a town run rampant with lies and death, blood and tears. It was a town of chaos.
None knew that better than Lorcan Jones.
She was sat in a booth at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe blowing bubbles into her soda on the last day of summer vacation. AKA the last day before returning to hell on earth.
And Jason Blossom wouldn't be there anymore. Although, to be honest, that had never meant much to Lorcan. Not until July 4th anyway.
The knot in her stomach had still not left her.
Lorcan shook her head to dispel such thoughts and tried not to listen in on the conversation Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper were having in the booth in front of her. Something about demos – looks like Andrews was into music…huh – and construction. Betty seemed to be wanting to tell him something. Probably the fact that she was in love with him, something the entire world had known for fifty odd years but that Archie still seemed to be oblivious to.
(It was also common knowledge that Archie Andrews had been in love with Lorcan Jones ever since she transferred to Riverdale High just shy of eight months ago.)
Although, perhaps the summer had changed that, Lorcan mused, glancing up from her soda to look over at the redheaded boy whose attention now seemed fixed on the figure that had just entered the diner. Lorcan surreptitiously glanced round to see a dark- haired girl wearing what could only be described as a cape glide into the diner.
Attention turned back to her table, Lorcan tried not to snort. Maybe that was Andrews' type: the 'new girl'.
Shaking her head in amusement, Lorcan took a glance down at her sketchpad which was resting on the table in front of her. Pencil in hand, she finished shading the last bit and drained her glass of soda. Sudden raucous laughter from the table in front of her – apparently New Girl had said something to make Archie and only Archie laugh – nearly surprised her to the extent of snapping her pencil lead but, thankfully, the piece was done.
Lorcan put down her pencil and leaned back in her seat, taking in her latest sketch in all its morbid detail.
It was of Sweetwater Bay. Just the water, no boats or Blossoms in sight. But still, an air of sadness permeated the piece.
As if Lorcan somehow knew, then, just what had really happened that day.
But, of course, she didn't. All she did know was that Jason Blossom had never reached the farm she had sent him to. And that was enough to constantly make her feel sick.
"Lorcan Emilia, you get that lazy ass out of bed before I drag you out of it myself."
The voice of Irene Astor floated through Lorcan's closed door early the next morning and the aforementioned girl, who, contrary to her aunt's belief, was not in bed but hanging half way out of her window as she helped someone out of it, groaned.
"I'll speak to you later," she hissed at the person currently hanging precariously in front of her and closed the window. The other person nodded, before dropping out of sight. Lorcan watched him make his furtive escape out of Astor territory before turning back to yell, "I'm up! Jesus, woman!"
"Don't you speak to me like that!" her aunt yelled back, probably still at least a floor away but that didn't stop Lorcan from rolling her eyes at the door.
"Oh crap," Lorcan sighed, spotting a piece of incriminating clothing that had been left behind by her clandestine night guest. She scooped the flannel shirt from the couch at the foot of her bed and quickly stuffed it into her school bag.
Her mom wouldn't have been bothered by the person she had had sleeping on said couch. But Irene most certainly would have. Irene hated anything that had anything to do with her sister's past, to the point where she refused to even utter the name 'Jones' in her ridiculous house, so the fact that a living, breathing reminder of it had been sleeping on her niece's couch on and off for God knows how long would most certainly have caused her to hit the roof.
Although, it was getting increasingly harder for Lorcan to find it within herself to give a shit about what Irene thought.
The North Side's schooling system was a helluva a lot stricter, was one thing Lorcan had noted since moving in with her aunt. There were rules for just about everything, from how much of the shoulder a girl was allowed to expose to some stupid list of complicated etiquette surrounding football games. On the South Side, the general rule had been 'try not to kill anyone' and everyone had just got on with their lives. Simple as that. There was no pretence as the majority of the student body was forced to pretend to care about their education. School wasn't for everybody and that was accepted on the South Side.
But then, Lorcan supposed, that was the North Side to a tee. Pretence after pretence. Fake.
She felt suffocated here sometimes. Isolated too.
But the North Side did have one thing going for it. Jughead.
"Hey," Lorcan bumped shoulders with her cousin whilst walking down the main corridor, reaching into her bag and presenting him with his flannel shirt. "You left this."
Jughead looked down at the offering and grinned gratefully, taking it and putting it over his arm. "Thanks."
"No worries," Lorcan waved it off. "Just, next time, don't leave anything. If Irene had found that, you would no longer have been able to crash at mine because I would be dead."
Jughead snorted. "That's a little dramatic. Couldn't you have just said it was yours?"
"Yeah," Lorcan scoffed, grabbing the collar of the shirt and pushing it in front of Jughead's face. "Cos I wear a lot of clothes with 'JJ' on them."
"Oh," Jughead frowned at the felt letters sewn onto the collar. "Hey, you only have yourself to blame for that because, as I remember it, you sewed those on there."
"That's neither here nor there," Lorcan waved it away and the pair came to a halt in front of her locker. She opened the door and started piling things into her bag whilst Jughead leaned on the locker next to her.
"You could always say that it's Jet's?" he suggested humorously.
Lorcan snorted. Jet was her ten-year-old brother, one of fraternal twins. Irene had always had a problem with what to call Jet: his real name was Horatio Christopher but that was after their father and Irene was loathe to admit that that man had ever existed. (Honestly, she acted as though Lorcan and her siblings with the result of some kind of Immaculate Conception…it was ridiculous.) But Jet felt too 'South Side' so the woman often seemed at a loss. Lorcan had more often than not caught her just sort of gesturing vaguely towards Jet before settling on something like 'Sweetie'. It was a little bit hilarious.
"That would swamp Jet," she pointed out, closing the locker door and gesturing for them to move on.
"You may have a point," Jughead conceded dryly. The shrill tone of the bell sounded above them.
Jughead took a deep breath and flashed his cousin a sarcastic grin. "And let the games begin."
Lorcan groaned and the two Jones' turned towards the gymnasium for the welcome back assembly.
"Many of you were lucky enough to have known my brother personally."
Cheryl Blossom, bedecked in full grieving gear, stared out at her peers as she delivered her message. "Each and every one of you meant the world to Jason."
Lorcan swallowed. She knew just how much she had meant to Jason. She had been his chance to escape. His ticket out of Riverdale. And she had no idea if he had made it out.
Where are you, Jason?
"I loved my brother," Cheryl continued. "He was, and always will be, my soul mate. So, I speak with the confidence only a twin could have. Jason wouldn't want us to spend the whole year mourning. Jason would want us to move on with our lives. Which is why I have asked the school board not to cancel the back to school semi-formal."
She looked triumphantly out as the entire gymnasium erupted in cheers. Lorcan and Jughead, seated next to each other towards the top of the bleachers, exchanged tired looks. Another ridiculous part of life on the North Side, Lorcan mused. She stole a glance at the screen of Jughead's laptop and frowned.
"Another exposé about small-town life?" she asked quietly, deciding to tune out the rest of Cheryl's speech. It was clear that Jason's 'death' was little more than a chance for the girl to exert some power and Lorcan wanted no part in that. She had done all Cheryl had asked of her and that was enough. She didn't need to listen to her bullshit now as well.
Jughead looked down at the screen and sighed. "Something like that."
Lorcan was half way down the corridor, trying to make a hasty escape after her last class, when Cheryl caught her. "Well if it isn't the resident Bad Girl," the Blossom smiled, causing said girl to send a quick 'Thanks a bunch' towards the heavens before turning to look at the redhead.
"Cheryl," she sighed. "Can I help you?" Jughead, the traitor that he was, had seen Cheryl coming long before Lorcan and had practically tripped in his haste to get out of her way. Luckily for him, she had no business with the male Jones, and now stood, arms crossed and grinning ferally at his cousin.
"You'll be coming to the back to school semi-formal tonight," Cheryl replied cheerily.
"That a question or an order?" Lorcan muttered drily, pulling her bag strap more securely over her shoulder and she shifted nervously.
Cheryl pulled a fake smile. "Walk with me Leprechaun."
Lorcan raised an eyebrow at the choice in nickname, but recognised that that was indeed an order and reluctantly fell in line beside Riverdale High's Queen.
"Look Cheryl, what do you want?" Lorcan sighed as the two made their way out towards the lunch tables.
"I want," Cheryl began brightly, spotting a familiar pair of heads and pulling Lorcan by the arm in their direction. "To introduce myself to the new girl."
Lorcan, realising where Cheryl was taking her, groaned. She really did not want to talk to Archie Andrews and his friends. When she had only been at Riverdale High a week, Jughead had felt it his duty to tell her that his childhood pal was majorly crushing on her. That, coupled with the fact that over the summer it seemed that puberty had finally taken its toll on the red-haired boy, was enough to make her feel more than a little awkward around him. And Betty…well she was Polly's sister. Kevin, she had no qualms with. Despite being the Sheriff's son and Lorcan having a less than stellar relationship with the police, Kevin had never caused her any problems. So far at least.
But Veronica Lodge? That could be a whole other kettle of fish.
Thankfully though, it seemed there was such thing as small mercies, as Archie Andrews left the table just as Lorcan and Cheryl arrived in front of it (probably making a quick escape of his own, Lorcan thought). Betty and Kevin seemed to be hastily giving instructions to Veronica but it was too late.
"Veronica Lodge. I've heard whisperings. I'm Cheryl Blossom," Cheryl introduced, hands on hips and red lips pulled into a smile. She looked expectantly at Lorcan, which Lorcan took to be her cue.
"Oh, and I'm Lorcan Jones," she said tiredly, flashing the ex-socialite what she hoped was a smile. Probably looked more like a grimace though.
"May we sit?" Cheryl asked brightly, already moving towards the bench and pulling Lorcan with her. "Betty, would you mind?" The girl pulled a face but had no option but to move.
Lorcan felt incredibly on edge sitting at this table, especially next to Cheryl who was asking, "So, what are you three hens gossiping about? Archie's Efron-esque emergence from the chrysalis of puberty?" Lorcan screwed her face up.
Veronica, it seemed, did have a brain as she tactfully said, "Extracurriculars. Weatherbee wants me to sign up for a few."
"Cheerleading," Cheryl exclaimed. "You must. I am senior captain of the River Vixens." She pushed her hair over one shoulder and grinned at the dark-haired girl.
"Is cheerleading still a thing?" Kevin asked and Lorcan had to hide her snort in her hand but still received a venomous glare from Cheryl.
"Is being the gay best friend still a thing?" she shot back and Kevin's face was a picture. "Some people say it's retro," she turned back to Veronica, still trying to sell her on the idea, "but I say it's eternal and iconic."
"At Spence, I sat at the top of the elites' pyramid. I'm in." Veronica actually seemed enthusiastic about the idea and Lorcan almost felt herself shrivel up at the smug tone the girl's voice had taken on. Seems she may have been right about this girl; more Cheryl's kind of person than hers. "Betty, you're trying out too."
Said Cooper seemed horrified by the idea and Lorcan shot her a sympathetic look.
"Lorcan," Veronica had now turned her attention to the other dark-haired girl. "Do you cheerlead?"
"You're not serious?" Cheryl seemed flabbergasted by the idea. "Lorcan is the complete opposite of cheerleading. Knowing her, she probably does some sort of ritual every football game in order to make our team lose."
Lorcan was amused by the idea. "How did you know, Cheryl?" She gasped. "Oh God. Did you see that goat that I sacrificed the last time? I knew I'd forgotten to clean something up!"
The others laughed but Cheryl's face turned stony. Lorcan, grinning, took that as her opportunity to make her exit and stood. "Well, I best be buying a horse this time. The more Vixens, the more I have to do to counter it. Laters." And with that, she turned to stride away.
"Why not a snake?" Cheryl called acidly, causing Lorcan to halt in her tracks. She shot a wide-eyed look back at the girl, who was now making her own departure and had grabbed her harshly by the arm.
"Ciao!" Cheryl called back to the very bemused looked trio, nails digging into Lorcan's arm despite the denim jacket she had on and practically dragging the dark-haired girl along.
"What the hell was that?" Lorcan hissed, trying to pry the claws out of her skin.
Cheryl pulled her into an empty classroom and closed the door. As soon as the door was shut, it was as though her mask slipped off. Her entire demeanour completely changed. The brash, snarky girl Lorcan knew was replaced by one with tears in her eyes. Cheryl had dropped her arm as though it burned her and started to pace around the classroom. Lorcan watched her nervously, sitting on the edge of the teacher's desk.
"Have you heard from Jason?" The girl halted and looked expectantly at Lorcan.
Lorcan swallowed. "No." She paused, knowing that Cheryl would only have asked if she was desperate. "And I take it, you haven't either?"
Cheryl shook her head, causing a few tears to fall. "Do you think he's okay?"
Lorcan jumped off the table and took her hands gently. "By God I hope so. And I'm sure he is, only…"
"Only what?" Cheryl's voice had taken a darker tone.
Lorcan took a deep breath, terrified as to what her next words would do. "I called the farm and they said that Jason never made it there."
Cheryl gasped and started backwards, pulling herself out of Lorcan's grip.
"But," Lorcan continued hastily. "That doesn't mean that he's not okay. Maybe he's strapped for cash or he found a job and a nicer place to live or- or- "
"Or he's dead." Cheryl's voice was despondent now. After a moment, though, she then turned to look at Lorcan with blazing eyes.
"Don't say that," Lorcan muttered quietly, looking down and running a hand through her hair.
Cheryl took a menacing step towards her. "You were supposed to get him out of Riverdale safely. So, if anything has happened to him, it is your (she punctuated this with a sharp jab against Lorcan's chest) fault."
With that Cheryl stormed out of the classroom, slamming the door behind her. Lorcan winced at the loud noise and remained standing in the middle of that classroom, not trying to stifle her tears anymore.
Little did she know, that things were about to get a whole lot worse.