Fred Andrews was alive and back in his own bed by Monday. It took a whole bulldozer to get me out of my bed, though. That bulldozer being my dad. My tall, broad, clean-cut, square, disciplined father. What had my mother ever seen in him?

Sure, I could see how he'd once been handsome during his younger years. He still was good-looking for his age. But he was the complete opposite of my mother, who had always taught me to follow my heart and gut over my head, which was problematic in itself. That mentality had gotten me in a whole lot of trouble before, and her 'free spirit' had landed her in prison. She wasn't just wild, she was reckless. She was erratic.

My father, on the other hand, was controlled. Cold, almost. The only time he showed emotion was when he was worried about my safety. Especially now that there was a gunman on the loose, Dad wanted me to be more careful. I had to be home before dark, have my phone on me at all times, etc, etc.

I was a good thing he was at work all day, or he would have driven me to and from school every day. Instead, I rode with Moose and Midge.

"Look who's still wearing Reggie's jacket," teased Midge instantly, as I got in the backseat. Moose had a grin on his face too, but he said nothing.

I rolled my eyes. "He said I could give it back on Monday, so I am. I don't want to wrinkle it by putting it in my bag," I said quickly.

"Relax, Sol, I was joking," she laughed. "You and Reggie would never work. Anyone with eyes can see that."

"My point exactly," I said with a nod.

As usual, the morning went by painfully slowly. All the while, I felt a pair of eyes burning holes into my back. I turned around finally, and noticed Archie Andrews sitting two rows back, staring shamelessly. I raised my eyebrows questioningly, but he only put his head down in response.

I spun back around to face the front.

It wasn't until lunch that he approached me at my locker.

"Hey," he said.

I glanced up. "Archie," I said. "How's your dad holding up?"

"He, uh, he's getting better." Archie rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand. The hand that wasn't bandaged. "I can't get what happened out of my head. Everytime I think about it, I - I don't know."

"I get it." I nodded. "I do, Archie. My blood runs cold each time I remember the robbing. The shouting, the blood. Hell, I even drew the guy in my notebook while doing homework last night. I couldn't get him out of my head."

Archie's eyebrows went up. "Can I see?"

I hesitated, but reached into my bag for the sketch. "Well, it's not very good, but -" I handed him my notebook, and his eyes widened.

"Are you kidding? This is perfect. Now I can hand out flyers. Ask people if they know who it is," he said. "Can I..."

I nodded. "By all means," I said, and he proceeded to rip the page out of the notebook.

"Thank you so much," said Archie, before setting off in a hurry. I shut my locker and was just about to make my way to the cafeteria, when my phone rang. The number showing on the screen was unknown.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby," sighed my mother. "How are you?"

I sagged back against the lockers, my eyes shut in relief to hear her voice. "Mom. You have no idea how happy I am to hear from you."

"I'm glad," my mom said softly. "You weren't in class just now, were you? I only have about fifteen minutes to talk."

"No, it's fine. Mom, I was thinking of coming to visit. I have my license now, so maybe Dad'll let me come. Hell, even if he doesn't, I'll-"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Sol," she said, cutting me off. "I'm just calling to check up on you."

My chest was tight with disappointment. "I haven't seen you since last Christmas, though." I hated how small my voice sounded, but there was nothing I could do about it.

"I know, honey, but things are complicated right now," she said.

I put my head back against the metal and swallowed. "They always are," I argued. "I gotta go, Mom. My friends are waiting." I was lying, but my throat was closing up and somehow I had just lost all motivation to talk to my mother. Maybe I was being cruel, or petty, but I was afraid that I would start crying if I continued the conversation.

"Okay, I'll try to call on Wednesday. But you know, no promises. It's all very -"

"Complicated, I know," I said wryly. "Talk to you later." I hung up the phone, not even giving her a chance to say her good-byes. It wasn't like I'd had a chance to say mine last year.

A shadow suddenly cast over me, making me open my eyes. Reggie Mantle stood in front of me, his height almost towering, his eyes squinted curiously. "What's wrong, did your boyfriend just break up with you over the phone?" he said.

I sighed and pushed myself off the lockers. "Tell me, Reggie, do you have an off-button I can use to make you stop talking? You have crap timing, as usual."

"There's ways to make me stop talking, you know -"

"You can choke, Reggie Mantle," I grumbled.

He sucked in a sharp breath between his teeth. "That's not very nice," he said. I tried to push past him, but he held onto my arm. "Seriously, though, what's wrong?" he asked, his tone suddenly different somehow. The mellowness in his voice caught me off guard.

"I - well, it's just..." I trailed off. "Family stuff, I guess." I forced a smile, and suddenly remembered something. "By the way," I said, reaching into my locker for the folded blue-and-yellow clothing article, "here's your jacket back. I put it through the laundry, too."

The taller boy's eyebrows shot up. "Laundry? I should wife you up, ASAP," Reggie joked.

"Yeah, too bad neither of us do the 'commitment' thing," I chuckled. He stuck his nose in the fabric of his jacket and sighed into it.

"Coconut. Nice." He put the jacket on in one swift movement, winked and said, "I'll see you later, Madani."

And he did.

But the next time we spoke was a few days later at Pop's for Retro Night, which was an event hosted by Riverdale's very own Betty Cooper in an attempt to keep the Shoppe from closing down.

As it turned out, I was the only staff member who hadn't quit after the shooting. The River Vixens and I were the ones who made and handed out the milkshakes that night. A bunch of people showed up, including Josie and the Pussycats, who had taken to the roof of the building to perform a cover.

"Sol-ster!" an obnoxious voice hollered from the other side of the counter, as I finished putting whip cream on top of two milkshakes. I looked back over my shoulder to see, you guessed it, Reggie. I was taken aback by how minimal my annoyance for the captain of the football team had become lately. I barely even rolled my eyes at him anymore.

In fact, his loud, obnoxious, bro-ish behavior was kind funny to me now.

"You wanna keep it down, Mantle?" I said, a hand on my hip.

He smirked and leaned forward on his forearms. "Can you blame me for getting excited? You should wear shorts more often. I mean, damn. If this counter wasn't holding me back-"

"Down, boy," said Veronica, suddenly beside me. "Quit harrassing her, will you?"

"It's okay, Veronica," I laughed.

"Yeah, Veronica, can't you see we're having a moment?" Reggie's gaze didn't leave me for a second. I froze. Was he still just joking?

"Fine, but if you need pepperspray," Veronica said to me, "I have some in my bag." She left with the two milkshakes I'd prepared.

I pushed myself up on the counter, now only inches away from him. "I don't know why I put up with you," I said, nudging him with my shoulder. He put a playful arm around me, like he'd done so many times before. But it felt different this time. Less sleazy, somehow.

"I know why," he said.

I smiled, catching his drift. "Don't flatter yourself," I said, putting a hand under his chin. "Either tell me what you want or go and bother some other girl."

Reggie's eyes had a glint to them. "What I want?"

"Something that's on the menu," I said sternly.

"Bummer," said Reggie, his voice oddly low. All humor was gone from his demeanor, now replaced with something else. Something that put my stomach in a knot. He raised a hand to tuck a stray curl behind my ear. "Nothing on the menu even comes close to what I'm craving."

I needed a moment to compose myself, since I was seeing stars by now. I ignored the way he was looking at my lips; the way his fingers were hooked in the collar of my Pop's shirt, and I distanced myself from him.

"Then I can't help you," I said, as steadily as I could. "But if it's an Orange Freeze you want, I can get it for you." I jumped off the counter, pretending not to see his look of disappointment and sexual frustration, no doubt.

"I'll pass," he said, exhaling through his nose. "See you at school, Sol." He left with that, and I needed a whole minute to catch my breath.

Midge was beside me now, a tray in her hand. Her eyebrows were raised in alarm. "What was that?"

I cleared my throat and put a hand on my chest. "What was what?" I asked.

"Come on, I'm not blind," said Midge, half-gasping at the expression on my face. "You do like him! You like Reggie!"

My eyes widened at how loud she'd just said that. "Inside voices, please," I said. "It's just a stupid crush, okay? No, not even a crush. I'm attracted to him. That's it. You said it yourself - Reggie and I wouldn't work."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"But, nothing." I shrugged, somewhat aggressively. "Let's just forget this. He's not one for a serious relationship and the last time I was 'casual' with someone, it ended with my pictures on some sketchy porn site."

Midge scowled. "Wait, what? Why didn't I know about this?"

"Because," I sighed, "It's embarrassing. And the guy didn't use my name. No one found out, but he made a point of sending me the link when I dumped him."

"Oh my God." Midge put her tray down and wrapped her arms around me. "That's horrible."

And it had been. The whole ordeal was still on my mind hours later, as I was getting ready for bed. Little did I know I would have a lot more to deal with the next day.