Riverdale for the last few months had been anything but the perfect, quaint little town you read about in comics. But of course, if you've read the prequel to this story, you already know what I'm talking about.
Yes, I'm talking about the murder of Jason Blossom, the perfect, rich heir, football co-captain of Riverdale. Every town has one, every town secretly plots to get rid of him. Spoiler alert, it was his father, and it got everybody and especially their parents riled up over the whole thing. I'd rather not go into the gory details here, else I wouldn't be writing this book separately, no, I'm here to talk about the mess it all made.
After we uncovered the sick truth about the Blossom's, their son's untimely fate, relation to the Cooper's, and their drug business on top of the maple syrup... we thought we were done with them. Oh, how wrong we were.
That spring day started out just like every other we enjoyed before the Blossom drama erupted all over us like a volcano that had been inactive for years. I was sitting in a booth at Pop's Diner with my best friend, Archie Andrews, his girlfriend, Veronica Lodge, and my own, Betty Cooper. We were just talking about something—I can't remember. I just remember laughing and being so happy. The others were too; you could practically see the light reflecting off their big, toothy grins and the windows to their everlastingly merry souls. It was as if nothing had happened. As if Veronica had always been there, or Betty had always hung out with us. Archie seemed especially beaming with positivity.
Ever since he had put all of the drama behind him, it was like removing the mask he had donned. No longer was he "Bad Boy Archie", he was now officially "Boy Next Door Archie." It pleased me to an extent to see him lowering his walls and coming out of his tense state, but something about it seemed more like a facade than the actual facade to me. You can sense things like that once you're friends with someone for a while.
Me and Archie, we go way back. Even when we weren't friends, he decided that it was his moral duty to stick up for me and fight my fights. It was no shock that we became fast friends(our fathers worked together anyway). My dad actually wanted me to stop hanging out with Archie after he began backing me up. Apparently, I needed to fight my own battles. Truthfully, I didn't want to after meeting Archie. He was everything I wanted to be. Strong, tall, great with women... not to mention strikingly good-looking. Only thing I wouldn't want would be his intellect. He's got edge, sure, and I don't like to brag but, let's just say I'm the sharpest in the knife drawer that is Riverdale High when it comes to common sense.
I'm not the kind of person to sugarcoat anything, ask around. I'm not afraid to admit that Archie lacked complete common sense throughout the whole bit of drama. Tragic, what happened with Grundy, but Fred refuses to send him to therapy. Maybe he just doesn't need it. He's Archie, he can get through anything.
Specifically, that spring day that we all hung out, I remember eating pancakes. They were the fluffiest, lightest, barely even singed pancakes. The butter provided was enough to melt your palette just thinking about it. Butter slathered all over the hot cakes was just heaven in such a small dish. The pancakes had the diameter of a football, but don't get confused, because they were in the most perfect circle shape. My only regret was ordering just four stacks of three.
Sweet sensations filled my cheeks as I tried to keep the pancakes all to myself. Hard as I tried, of course Betty watched liked a vulture circling its prey. I knew there was a reason I didn't feel as full as on a normal day, it was clear she was stealing parts of the cakes to add to her own plate of biscuits and sausage. Though, I suppose it is weird that twelve pancakes it a normal day for me. I'm weird, get used to it.
The only thing that made the pancakes amazing, was what made any breakfast item amazing. That's right, maple syrup. What was best about it, was that it was locally grown, so there were no additives or preservatives. Just pure sap from the tap. It's what everybody loved. Who cares if it came from the Blossom's? Syrup was syrup.
Betty kept her hands to herself once I decided to douse my food with the sugary delight that was the maple syrup sitting so idly by on the table, just waiting for me. Archie and Veronica didn't pay much attention, they were too caught up in making bad sexual puns over their breakfast of eggs and gravy. Adorable, cheeky, and incredibly naughty was the only way to describe the two.
Once the pancakes were reduced to crumbs, I found myself slurping down the last bits of syrup still on the plate. Say what you want about the horrific family that was the Blossom's, but they had a damn good monopoly on the syrup in Riverdale.
"Did you take a breath?" Archie chuckled, watching me. I just gave him a smirk in reply, it was all that was needed.
Veronica flipped a page in The Register, our town paper which was owned by Betty's parents. She had been perusing it after finishing off her biscuits and gravy which I admit, I eyed jealously. Somehow, she made the simple act of turning a page a turn-on. I could see Archie studying her expression coolly.
"Oh my god," she said, covering her mouth with one hand, the other clutched in a death grip on the paper. We were all alarmed, staring at her with anxious eyes. "It says here that the Blossom Maple Syrup had been previously poisoned!" It came off as the obvious joke that it was.
"Well, that's the end of me." I rolled my eyes, though there was a very small part of me that trusted her information for a second. "You could've made that a bit more believable. Maybe the delivery."
"I'll work on it." Veronica deadpanned. She perished the paper further, both hands on it now. "There is an interesting article in here though."
"What's it say, Ronnie?" Archie leaned over her shoulder, his face just as buried in the paper as hers was. Annoyed, she briefly pushed his nose away from the newspaper with her finger.
"'This story is not for the faint of heart,'" the article began. "'If you have any fear of the living dead, you may want to stop reading! On the night of the twentieth, a gravedigger who wished to remain anonymous testified to seeing a decrepit body on Thornhill rise out of the ground. When questioned on who it was, he revealed that it was possibly Jason Blossom due to the strikingly red hair. However, no pictures were taken, so it cannot be verified. Is this another chapter in the horrendous Blossom story?'"
Veronica folded the paper in her lap and stared down at the pool of gravy left on her plate. Archie leaned back with a sigh, watching a flickering light on the ceiling. I couldn't see, but I knew Betty was clenching her fists, making them bleed. As for me, I pulled apart her hands, trying to get her to stop. Inwardly, all I could think about was how bogus the whole thing seemed. It was bad enough that the Blossom's were in the spotlight again, but to be back in such a daunting way certainly spoiled our morning. After all of the things I had been through, getting into the mess with them, I decided then and there that I would have no part of it.
As a group, we walked out of Pop's; hearts heavy, knees weak, palms sweaty. Betty and I walked behind Veronica and Archie. It was a tough pill to swallow for the others that they would have to bear the cross of the Blossom's return. I was having none of it. I knew Betty would immediately hop onto this chance for another story and that I would have to distance myself from her if I wanted to survive this year with no worries or harm done to my personal life.
"I guess we better do something for the Blue and Gold," Betty said, positioning her head in the crook of my neck. Her arms were already wrapped around me, this was another invasion of space. She sensed my tensing up at this, so she sent me a look of worry.
"I'm not getting caught up in it again. You know what happened last time." I grumbled, struggling from her grasp.
"It won't be like last time. This is something minuscule. No one will even care as much." Betty pleaded, clenching her grasp around my waist. "I love you, and I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
"If you loved me, you'd respect my wishes." I pulled myself away from her, catching up with Archie's stride. I put my hands in my jacket pockets.
"I do, but you've got the knack for journalism that I need. I need you to help me with this." Betty strutted over, reaching a hand out to touch my cheek, probably to console or kiss me.
Shocking everyone was the resounding crack that echoed across the cloud-filled sky of me smacking Betty's hand away from me. I gazed at her coldly through slits. Tears welled up in her doe brown eyes, but I couldn't find myself feeling guilty in the slightest. Veronica and Archie moved to support her as she crumbled to the ground in despair.
"You went too far." Archie mumbled, helping Betty up by himself. Veronica held her shoulders up.
"I can't do this again." I simply replied, shaking my head.
What ensued was the world's best staring contest as I took on three opponents, all shocked that I was beating them with my uncaring attitude.
This was only the beginning.
Author's Note: Yes, everything in this first chapter has a purpose despite what you might think ;)
Though it is going to go in the direction of a zombie apocalypse like the Afterlife series, it's my own story with nods and hints to the OG(mainly taken off TV Tropes lol)