Happy Father's Day to all the sick, twisted, dead, and/or abusive fathers of Riverdale (and also Fred Andrews)! As your gift, I'm posting this fic.

So here we go! A multichap! My first multichap since the sixth grade when I wrote Victorious fanfictions and never finished them! This one I promise I'll finish tho. I promise.

Anyway, so this is just sort of a fun story about Betty, Cheryl, Jughead, and Veronica because I'm on summer break and don't have a job. It's vaguely AU, as in "Riverdale is basically the same place but Jason Blossom never died so everything's kind of OK".

Don't take it too seriously, it's not meant to be too dramatic or anything; it's pretty lighthearted. Enjoy the ride and please drop a review if you get the chance!

Riverdale High Gymnasium- Friday, 4:00 P.M.

"River Vixens, reassemble," Cheryl's voice echoed across the gymnasium. "We were sloppy today. You were sloppy today. Work on it." Cheryl turned coldly from her subjects and began packing her stuff, another day of practice under her belt.

"Hey, Cheryl," Veronica's voice came behind her.

Cheryl whirled and narrowed her eyes at Veronica, who had Betty nipping at her heels, as always.

"If you girls don't want the River Vixens to crash and burn at the last assembly next week, you need to practice harder," Cheryl said harshly.

"Yeah, okay," Veronica obliged as Betty nodded wordlessly. "But I wanted to ask you something, actually."

Cheryl raised an eyebrow dangerously.

"Archie told me that Jason told him and the Bulldogs that Thornhill is haunted," Betty said.

"Yeah, so what?" Cheryl asked. "It's just a dumb rumor that people have been spreading since the beginning of time."

"That's what Archie said," Veronica told her. "And to that, Jason said that if he didn't believe the place is haunted, he should stay the night and see for himself. So Archie is coming to your house to sleep over with Jason tonight."

Cheryl shot her a look. "Are you suggesting that Gingerbread and my brother are banging tonight?"

"What? No!" Betty sputtered.

"We just want to know if it's actually true," Veronica said.

"Well, it's not. And Archie is going to see that tonight. End of discussion."

Cheryl brushed her bright red hair behind to her side, shouldered her bag and walked out of the gym, leaving Betty and Veronica alone to wonder what Archie and Jason would find that night.

Pop's Chock'Lit Shoppe- Friday, 6:00 P.M.

Cheryl had nothing better to do than grab a milkshake at Pop's while Archie and Jason ate dinner at Thornhill.

She was waiting for her strawberry milkshake when Betty and Veronica caught her eye, sitting in a booth and eating burgers.

She considered leaving, returning to the house after taking her milkshake without a word to Betty or Veronica, but her parents were out of town and the boys were probably going to be occupied, so she swung into the booth and sat down next to Betty to stare down Veronica with a bright smile.

"I've decided to take you up on your offer, Veronica," Cheryl smiled.

Veronica's face twisted in confusion. "What offer?"

"How you wanted to know if there was really a ghost at Thornhill. And you wanted to come over to see."

Veronica narrowed her eyes. "I never asked to come over."

"And now you don't have to!" Cheryl clapped her hands together in saccharine delight. "I'm cordially inviting you to stay the night, Veronica. At your request, of course."

"But I never requested—" Veronica tried to protest.

"I'll drive you over after you finish your dinner," Cheryl continued. "We can stop at your house and pick up your stuff and then I'll drive us back to my house."

"Can Betty at least come?" Veronica huffed, motioning to the blonde girl in the booth who Cheryl might as well not have even noticed.

Cheryl turned her head, looked Betty up and down, and then declared, "If she must."

"Fine," Betty agreed. "But I'm telling my mom I'm going to Veronica's." Given the Coopers' epic grudge against the Blossoms, Betty couldn't let her mother know that she was going to their mansion.

There was to be no more discussion; it had been decided. So, Cheryl waited in the booth with Betty and Veronica, sipping her milkshake as they finished their burgers, pretending not to notice how begrudgingly they addressed her in their conversations.

Thornhill- Friday, 7:30 P.M.

As Cheryl's convertible, probably worth more than everything Betty owned combined, rolled over the gravel up the driveway of Thornhill, Betty recalled the past times she'd been there.

High school parties, mostly, but she had come to Thornhill once, back when she was a child. It was a birthday party for Cheryl and Jason, and because her parents would be out of the house, Betty had had to choose between running errands all day with her parents or coming to the party with Polly.

She'd chosen the party, but wished she hadn't as soon as she'd caught sight of Thornhill.

Great pointed dormers stretched into the sky and the jet-black shingles that covered the roof like scales on a dragon invaded the sky's bright and cheerful colors, obstructed the view no matter where she looked.

Today, the house looked just as she remembered; every bit as scary. In the early summer, the sunset was rendered eerie and ominous as the backdrop of Thornhill.

The gates swung open; big black metal things with heraldic letters wrought into them, Roman numerals below with a Latin phrase to match.

RADICES CURRERE ABYSSI, the gate read like a warning.

Betty remembered again the birthday party, the feeling of her skin crawling the whole time, feeling like she was being watched.

She had always felt that way at high school parties hosted by the Blossoms, but she was older then, and surrounded by drunk party students, which were creepy in and of themselves, enough to take her mind off of whatever lingered in Thornhill's shadows.

As she entered the house through the massive front doors which were anything but welcoming, a chill ran down her spine. She felt violently out of place, light and bright and blonde in the face of all the bold darkness. This was Cheryl's home, she was a creature of darkness. She belonged. Veronica was strong and confident, dark eyes and hair settling into the dark house effortlessly. She could survive here too, but Betty?

Suddenly she was eight years old again, cowering behind Polly as her sister placed their present for the twins on the dining table.

Paranoia or something more?

Paranoia, she told herself. It was just the mansion, the way it was dark and vast and played up in such a way that one's mind couldn't help but imagine things lurking all around.

"How do you live here?" Betty blurted out, horror dripping from her voice.

Cheryl turned and glared. "No one asked you to come, Betty. If you're scared, you can leave, but allow me to remind you that you are not six years old and this isn't the haunted funhouse at the state fair. There is no reason to be scared."

Betty reddened and Veronica placed one hand on her shoulder as wordless comfort before changing the subject.

"So where are the guys?"

"I don't know," Cheryl said, leading the girls up the stairs. "Probably Jason's room. But our parents are out of town and the staff's got the night off, so really, they could be anywhere."

At the top of the stairs, Cheryl turned right and lead the girls down a long, dark hallway. Despite its size and age, though, everything was incredibly well-kept.

No dust, no clutter, no signs of decay or wearing on the walls or floors.

They walked in silence until reaching Jason's room, when Cheryl called for Archie and her brother and swung open the door.

Empty.

Again, a chill ran up Betty's spine. She didn't trust the house and she didn't trust Cheryl.

She took a step closer to Veronica.

"So where do think they are?" she asked.

Cheryl shrugged. "Downstairs, maybe? I really don't care."

Veronica look concerned, too. "We should find them," she said.

Cheryl eyed Veronica. "I hope you didn't ask to come just so you could hit on Archie or my brother all night. That would be kind of sad."

"I didn't ask to come at all!" Veronica objected.

"Whatever," Cheryl said with a faux smile. "They're probably downstairs."

They were not downstairs, the girls found upon inspection. Still, Cheryl waved one hand and told them it was no big deal.

"It's a big house. A big estate. They could be anywhere."

They could, Betty and Veronica decided uneasily before following Cheryl to another room.

And so marks the start of our story. The boys are missing, Cheryl is lonely, Veronica is dragged out to Thornhill, and Betty is there too, scared out of her pretty little socks!