Chapter 1: The Horrifying Fact That School Has Started Again, As Well As Other Things

Not much had happened after Edward and Veronica had arrived at The Pembrooke, other than the small conversations that allowed the pair to escape the more serious discussion between Jules and Hermione, their respective parents. They had enjoyed the small amount of time they got to spend together, before Edward had been called to go home by his father. He gave his cousin a tight hug, whispering to her that 'everything would be okay' before doing the same to his auntie, soon leaving to catch up with his father.

"Dad, is Aunt Hermione alright? Did she say anything about what happened?" Edward quickly asked, vocalising his thoughts louder than he should have done.

Jules gave his son a stern look, one that Edward had come to label as the 'shut up now' look. Whilst Edward soon stopped speaking, it didn't stop him from trying to imagine what had happened from what Veronica had told him. Uncle Hiram had been taken away in the middle of family dinner, charged with illicit trafficking, fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion. It was a nasty combination of charges to have thrown at anyone, but it didn't matter. While they might not have seen Hiram, Hermione and Veronica as often as they wished, it did not make them any less a part of the family.

It just meant that they would have to readjust until everything had been dealt with, whether it were temporarily dealt with or permanently.

They took the elevator down to the ground floor, giving the chauffeur, Smithers, a small nod of recognition before leaving the hotel. Whilst his father had gotten into his slick BMW i8, Edward returned to his Focus RS and soon saw that his father was trying to call him through the dashboard, connected to his phone. Edward quickly tapped the green button, his father sighing heavily before he began.

"What have I told you about talking about the family where people could hear you, Chico?" Jules half-heartedly growled. He had called him 'boy' He was making his son, the son that towered him physically feel as if his dad was the most intimidating person in the world.

Edward took a few seconds. "I'm sorry, Dad, but I was only asking. I didn't even say anything about Hiram or what happened."

"That's not the point, kid! Just… you need to keep quiet whenever you decide to bring up your uncle and what he's got himself into down in New York." Jules responded. "Look, just don't bring it up unless it's only me and you, and nobody else is around, bien?"

Edward grimaced for a time. "Si, padre."

Of course, his father would be a little sore when it came to the Hiram situation. Hiram and Jules were as thick as thieves, if everything that his father had told Edward were true, even if they were polar opposites to the other. Perhaps he was keeping his cards to his chest, as well as Hermione may have been too to keep both Edward and Veronica away from the situation in case they were ever brought into it. Even if their was the slightest chance of that happening, his dad and Veronica's mother would never allow danger to come to either of them, never. Besides, the two new Lodges needed to adjust to life in the sleepy town of Riverdale. Edward could help Veronica with fitting in at Riverdale High, alongside Betty, Archie and Jughead while Jules would have to worry with what was happening with Hermione and the situation with his brother.

If only life agrees to make it that easy…

-X-

Sometimes, waking up for the first day of school since the summer was a good one, but not always.

The Riverdale High School community, as well as the North Side of Riverdale were still reeling over the news that a member of the most influential family in Riverdale, The Blossoms, had been reported missing. Jason Blossom, the star quarterback for the Bulldogs had apparently fallen into the Sweetwater River, never to be seen again. The last one to seem him alive had been his Cheryl, who was then found by the edge of the river by Dilton Doiley and his scouts. The river was soon dragged and trawled by the Police, but no body was found.

Without the circumstances of the disappearance, Veronica might have been the talk of the high school, coming to Riverdale whilst being perpetually over-dressed as she flashed the riches and designer clothes that she managed to keep out of the hands of the New York Police Department. The more he thought about it, the more Edward wondered if Veronica was going to ever acclimatise to the small town she found herself in. He doubted himself, that if he was going to New York or Monaco, he would ever be used to the skyscrapers or exotic hotels. No, so he had no reason to doubt his cousin on whether Riverdale would soon become her home. The Pembrooke Hotel didn't exactly have the most welcoming feel to it, yet Veronica had probably spent more time in penthouses than anybody else in Riverdale.

Edward was stood outside Principal Weatherbee's office, waiting for his dear cousin to escape so they could get on with the tour and then be done with the rest of the day. Betty was waiting alongside him, although she was a lot more patient than Edward ever would be.

"So, what were you doing with Archie Andrews before my dear cousin rudely interrupted, Miss Cooper?" Edward said, not looking at her but around the room.

Betty seemed a little sensitive when she spoke. "Nothing much, just reuniting after a long time apart. We were just… talking. Yes, just talking."

Edward finally turned towards the blonde. "You don't have to lie, Betty. We all know that you like Archie, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

Betty sighed, rather loudly. "I had planned with Kevin before I met Archie last night that I would bring it up with him, that now after coming back from my internship I thought it was now or never. We got to talking about the summer, the internship, him working with Mr. Andrews. He even started talking about how he started singing, Eddie. It was so..."

"Romantic? Blissful? Perfect? It seems like a perfect little rendezvous for Betty Cooper."

"All of the above and more, Eddie. I was about to tell him when we met Veronica." Betty replied, now looking directly at Eddie. "And then you came in too, thank God."

Before Edward could say anything, the door to the office opened up and Veronica joined the pair. Overdressed, she made both Eddie and Betty look like paupers in comparison. The trio wandered the school for first period, soon being joined by Kevin Keller, updating Veronica on the drab and dull nightlife that permeated in the town. It was true, there was not exactly much to do when it came to a small town like Riverdale, but that was why friends made their own fun, why they did what they did together as well as all of them having their hobbies and family lives. As they walked through the school, they soon saw the metaphorical devil that they had just been speaking of. The red-headed footballer that was the object of Betty's desires: Archie Andrews.

"Okay, so Archie and Betty may not be dating, but they are endgame." Kevin had stated, one part of the conversation that Edward had managed to catch a hold of.

Edward caught the blush that Betty seemed to now have on her cheeks. "Considering it's been endgame since we have all been in elementary school, it's about time."

"Then perhaps, my dear cousin, we should advocate for Betty here to ask him to the semi-formal." Veronica began. "It would only be appropriate for the red-headed Ansel Elgort to go out with the blonde beauty at my side."

"I heard it might be getting cancelled, after what happened to Jason. There gonna tell us at the assembly." Kevin stated, his sombre tone giving away what he thought happened to Betty and Edward, but not Veronica.

"Who's Jason, and what happened to him?"

There was an uncomfortable between the four members of the group. Whilst they had been nattering away at the supposed handsomeness of Archie and the possibility of the Back-to-School Semi-Formal Dance being on or being cancelled, nobody really wanted to confront why it may or may not have been on soon. What had happened on July the fourth had been the cause of much debate, from what happened to Jason Blossom, if his sister Cheryl had much to do with it and how he had just disappeared. An innocent boat ride had turned into a mystery, with one question on everyone's mind: what happened to Jason Blossom?

As soon as they had finished their first class, of which for Edward and Betty it was Biology, Principal Weatherbee called an assembly in the sports hall. The blue and gold paint was shining, just like the basketball arena which looked as if it had been spit-polished and wiped down by hand. There was a small podium set out, where both Principal Weatherbee himself as well as the queen of Riverdale High, Cheryl Blossom, were sat. She was dressed entirely in white, making even Veronica in all her extravagance look like a part of the peasantry in comparison. Edward and Betty had tried to get as close to Archie and Veronica as they could, but only ended up a few rows behind them. As soon as everyone had been filed into the massive room, Weatherbee began preaching the regular sermon that he would repeat at the start of every beginning year. He was relatively calm and collected, but whenever someone decided to get on the bad side of the principal, it was horrid to see or even hear. He had the look of an older and weary man, but the anger of the angst-ridden teenagers that populated his school.

Amongst other whispers, Betty and Edward soon joined in, trying to be careful as to not catch anyone's attention. "Do you really think Weatherbee will cancel the Semi-Formal? It seems like it might just be a bit too much for one person, considering this hasn't happened before."

"Can't exactly say I would know, Betty." Edward murmured, looking at the teachers below to see if they were looking at those in the bleachers. "Jason was the captain of the football team, water-polo team and you know, just a good guy in general."

Betty sighed. "You know what I'm going to say, Eddie."

"I have an inkling. Something to do with Polly."

Eddie turned to his blonde-haired friend, seeing through the act and spotting the yearning that Betty had for her missing older sister. Ever since Jason had disappeared, Polly had gone off the deep end and had to be put into a group home. Since then, nobody had ever gotten the chance to visit the eldest Cooper daughter. Eddie soon took a hold of Betty's hand, giving a small squeeze. He could sympathise with her plight, even if he had never exactly experienced what she had been going through recently. It was a horrifying concept, Eddie had to admit.

"…Jason wouldn't want us to spend the 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 school's semi-formal, but to use it as a way to heal collectively, to celebrate my brother's too-short life on this mortal coil. Thank you, all."

Whilst neither Eddie or Betty had strictly been paying attention to the speech that both Weatherbee or Cheryl had made, they both joined the masses in clapping when Cheryl revealed that the school dance would not be cancelled at all.

-X-

After the assembly, it had been a short run to the nearest restroom for Eddie before sprinting into his AP Psychology class. It had been a completely incidental encounter that Eddie had been chosen for the course, but instead of resenting the subject, he soon grew to become fascinated by the mind and it's various behaviours. However, it had not just been the reading material and work that interested Eddie, yet the classmate that had been sitting right next to him whilst he worked.

Josie McCoy, lead singer of the Pussycats. Only the best girl-band in Riverdale, and Rockland County by extension since they won the Battle of the Bands competition just a few months before Jason's disappearance.

She had been a few pages ahead of him when he actually arrived, but she had been somewhat kind enough to fill him on the lesson so far. They had been focusing on the psychodynamic approach, created by Sigmund Freud. At first glance, Eddie was slightly repulsed by what he was reading. Psychosexual stages which lead to such regular things like oral fixations and other personality traits had began to weird him out just that little bit more. Whilst tuning out of conversations was something he did a lot, Eddie was nothing if not a talkative and slightly sarcastic teenager.

Going through his own guidebook and highlighting specific sentences, he was soon tapped on the shoulder by Josie. Turning to her, Eddie had immediately noticed that the brown and greys of her jacket and jeans seemed to compliment her already dark skin, with her hair being pushed back and frizzed up a little by the pussycat ears on her hairband. Pulling his earplugs out, a small rumbling emerged from them when Eddie looked to her.

"You're not the only one that finds this stuff weird, Lodge." Josie whispered, quickly readjusting the hairband.

Eddie sighed. "You're telling me, McCoy. I think Reggie Mantle might have a lot of issues if all of this stuff is true."

Josie stifled a small giggle, sighing before picking up her pencil again to circle two lines. "I think Reggie has a lot of issues even if this isn't true, he's a pervert. A very well-built and handsome pervert, but still a pervert."

God, why is her smile so amazing? Why is her voice so heavenly? Jesus, why am I internally monologuing about this instead of actually trying anything with her? Christ, why am I such an emotionally torn individual with barely any social skills that pertain to the female race?

Looking around the room, Eddie caught sight of Mr. Lang sitting at his desk whilst everyone else was scribbling down storms of notes. He was the only one who wasn't writing, because now even Josie had continued doing her own work whilst Eddie was caught observing everyone else. Soon, Mr. Lang had caught sight of this too and spoke aloud.

"Edward Lodge, I know the concept might be different to slamming people onto the wrestling mats, but do try to actually get some notes down, okay?"

Eddie shook his head to pay attention, now with other students around looking at him to see what he was looking at. "Sorry, sir." Eddie sputtered, placing his left earplug back into his ear and changing the song. The phone on his lap rumbled, and a small notification that had Josie's name above it had popped up.

Josie: Nice job :-)

Eddie turned to his classmate, who had the most miniscule of smirks on her face whilst she was writing notes. Eddie shook his head and kept his head down, placing his elbow against the desk until he 'slipped' and caused Josie to create a massive black dash against the rest of her empty page in her book. Josie turned to Eddie, eyes closed and mouth slightly before she took a small breath and turned back to working. Eddie smiled when his phone rumbled once again, with the same name at the top of the text.

Josie: You have started a war.

-X-

"So, you are friends with one of the most popular girls in the school?" Veronica spoke, dinner tray in hands. "Cousin Eddie, you are definitely a little sly puppy."

"I believe the term is 'sly dog'. Besides, you are definitely overthinking it. Me and Josie sit in one class, yes I may do a little bit of musical theatre from time to time, but she is in a different ball park to me. She's Fenway Park and I am, the batting cage just away from the football pitch." Eddie replied, before taking a few small sips from his orange juice.

It had not taken long for Eddie and Veronica to get their seats next to Archie, Betty and Kevin. The trio, which soon turned into the group of five had just managed to catch the end of one of Archie's original songs. The redhead teen seemed more shy than usual, which Eddie could completely understand. Singing made people vulnerable in the way that sports like Archie's football and Eddie's wrestling didn't. Songs were meant to be inner thoughts, emotions that were held near and dear to the hearts of those who sang them. Whenever Eddie sang on stage, he was vulnerable to the fear that if he forgot his lines, he would freeze and be made a mockery out of. It was horrifying, which was why he had always threw himself into wrestling and a lot of the time as well, throwing himself or someone else onto the floor with him.

"It's incredible, the little snippet from what I heard. Is that your thing, music? Are you doing something with it?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah, yeah, that's the plan." Archie mumbled, quickly pressing the pause button on his phone. "So, how's your first day going good?"

"Not to be a complete narcissist, but-"

"You thought people would be more obsessed with you. Any other year that would be true but this year, the trending topic is all about Cheryl getting the supporting psycho Oscar for Riverdale High's grieving red widow."

With Kevin catching on to Veronica's expectations of the school with alarming accuracy, Archie soon left to attend a session with the school's teacher, Miss Grundy. Soon after, Kevin had to assuage Betty of the fear that Cheryl Blossom, the aforementioned grieving sibling had yet to make a move on Archie Andrews either, keeping her intentions safe and secure to the four people on the table just for a few more days before the red widow herself, Cheryl, had towered over their table. If her fiery red hair had yet to give away the fascination with the colour, then the skirt, brooch and nail colour definitely did. Eddie didn't exactly have the greatest of social skills, and that was more than enough for Cheryl and many other kids at Riverdale High to pick up on. The way she stood above them had Eddie thinking of how many God Complexes that Cheryl had before she began to speak.

"Veronica and Edward Lodge. I heard whisperings another one was joining my dear friend, Eddie here. If you didn't know, I'm Cheryl Blossom. May I sit? Betty, would you mind?"

Betty didn't even have the time to get a word in edgeways before Cheryl sat next to them, immediately sticking her nose into Veronica's business. The topic of Archie was dropped in favour of extra-curricular activities. "Cheerleading, it's a must. I am the captain of the Riverdale River Vixens."

"Is cheerleading still a thing?" Kevin enquired, a sceptical look upon his face as he looked at what he previously called the 'Queen Cee' of Riverdale High School.

"Is being the gay best friend still a thing, Kevin?" Cheryl quickly spat back. "Besides, you wrestle. I do cheerleading, and one is clearly better than the other."

"The captain of the wrestling team disagrees with that statement, Cherry Bomb." Eddie quickly interjected. "I'd rather be throwing people on the floor than dancing in vests and short skirts."

Cheryl gave a death glare towards the male Lodge. "I would be very careful with what you say to me, Edward. I really do not need to bring up what happened between you and Chuck Clayton the last time you and him got into a petty little scrum because you couldn't decide who was the better wrestler."

Edward scoffed, before he muttered. "Yeah, tell that to his face."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, dear Cheryl. Must have been the wind."

Cheryl began to chat with Veronica about joining the cheerleading squad, how she had done it before and also wanted Betty to try out too. A small barb about how much Betty ate and how it was a full time requirement later and the passive-aggressive, will-she-won't-she firebomb that was Cheryl Blossom had left their table. Eddie let out a massive sigh before he downed the contents of his bottle, leaving nothing but bits of orange sliding down the inside of the plastic. Veronica looked at her cousin with widened eyes, curious to what event Eddie and Cheryl had been hissing at each other about just seconds ago.

"So, Chuck Clayton? Must be a real type of guy with a name like that." Veronica began, with Betty looking over her shoulder to see the six foot four giant with Reggie Mantle and Moose Mason.

"The guy is an asshole, and nothing happ-"

Before Eddie could even deny anything that had happened, Kevin had already decided that catching Veronica up on gossip was more important than Eddie's dignity. "Last year, Chuck and Eddie, both were in the light heavyweight division for the wrestling team. Since they were also the oldest ones their, the coach wanted someone to step up and try for the captain. Chuck and Eddie decided that a tournament for the role would be the best idea to see who deserved the role more, which in all fairness, was a good idea."

"Kevin, please..." Eddie tried to say, but now Veronica was already on the case.

"No, I want to hear this now. What did you do, cousin?"

Eddie sighed before Kevin continued his story. "It went just as everyone expected, both Chuck and Eddie were forging their way through anyone who wanted to be captain. In the semi-finals, it was Chuck, Eddie, Nick Hernandez and Jimmy Kitts. Chuck steam-rolled Kitts easily, like it was nothing. Eddie hear had a harder match. Hernandez is basically a giant, like, nothing you have ever seen. It was five round match, and after Eddie almost submitted to an armbar, he came back and pinned Hernandez after he took out his legs."

"Eddie, are you okay?" Betty asked. "You don't look too good."

"Talk about looking good, Hernandez, oh-em-gee." Kevin drooled, remembering the match as if it were just yesterday.

"Kevin, keep on topic. What happened?"

Kevin soon snapped out of his little fantasies, continuing. "Well, Clayton-Lodge was soon announced to be happening after school on the Friday. What nobody knew was that Clayton had decided to actually try and attack Eddie to knock him out in the match. He wouldn't get punished because his dad heads the Varsity Football team. When we saw what happened, we all thought Eddie wouldn't get up. It was just a straight uppercut, which..."

"Broke my nose, the asshole." Eddie muttered. "He almost fractured my orbital too."

"Your cousin is a tough guy, not many people can get a punch from Chuck and stand up. Eddie cut him open, elbowed him across the nose and left eye. He fractured his wrist too before the two were stopped. Your cousin was made captain because he actually managed to get Chuck to submit in the armbar, at least until he served his week's suspension."

-X-

"Gee, Kevin. Thanks for telling Veronica and Betty again about what happened between me and Chuck."

Kevin sighed as both himself and Eddie did press-ups on the floor outside. It had been the prerogative of the pair that they would train away from the other wrestlers when it wasn't official wrestling team training against schools. However, neither made it easy on the other and the fall weather was beginning to nip at the both of them. On the fields, Archie, Reggie and Moose were trying out for the Varsity Football team whilst some others were in the batting cages, not many changes had been made to the baseball squad evidently.

"Well, I couldn't not let Veronica not know about your legendary clash with the Chuck Clayton. It's almost legendary around the whole school anyway, what's one more person who knows about you and Chuck going out it like two bulls in a gym-sized china shop?" Kevin asked.

Eddie growled. "Kev, you know that is not the point. It's not something I am proud of, Keller. I only train in a cage for self-defence, not to be glorified by others because I almost fractured Chuck's wrist and cut him open. Wrestling is what I like, not fighting like dogs."

Almost immediately, Kevin had swiped both of Eddie's arms from under him, sending him falling to the freezing grass. Sighing from the mud, Kevin hovered above him, getting both closer and further to and from his face with every additional press-up. "I think that you need to stop being so ashamed of something that everyone supports you on, Eddie. What Chuck did was wrong, but he scared you. A broken nose and an almost fractured orbital, is bad, but you gave it back as good as you got it. You showed a lot of people that you can stand up to bullies."

After the final whistle from Coach Clayton, everyone seemed deflated as sports practice ended. The school bell echoed from the gym in the cold air, as Kevin offered his hand to pick up Eddie. The pair soon joined Veronica, Betty and Archie as they began the walk to the car so they could go home. Betty seemed unusually quiet, as did Archie. Veronica soon announced that for the Semi-Formal, the group would all be going together, just to relax so they could forget the stresses that had now returned in the forms of school as well as those around them.

Namely, Cheryl Blossom.