Sunlight flooded the streets of Riverdale as adults and teenagers flocked to work and school. Birds chirped and children laughed and Jughead Jones knew, irrevocably, that something was wrong. Off, somehow. He just didn't know what. He voiced his concerns to Betty as he walked with her to their first hour class, quiet and hesitant.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" Betty asked, concern lacing her voice as her eyebrows furrowed and her blue eyes stared ahead. She looked over at him and frowned. "Is it Archie?" She lowered her voice. "Because I'm getting kind of a bad feeling about him too."

Jughead started to smile. "What, is it because of his music or his grades or the way he doesn't wear a seatbelt sometimes? Because there's already a mother bear in the Cooper household."

Betty punched his arm playfully, laughing. "No, stupid, he just hasn't been answering my calls."

Jughead's smile started to fade. He scratched the back of his neck lightly and sighed, "Yeah, me neither."

"Maybe we should talk to Veronica."

"Or maybe his girlfriend?" Jughead was raising an eyebrow and Betty rolled her eyes, fighting a grin.

"I almost forgot. Archie's a lucky man," Betty said, half-joking, half-not. "So should we ask Valerie if she'd heard from him?"

"Heard from who?" Veronica Lodge was sitting in the desk right ahead of the two as they sat down, and Jughead jumped the slightest bit.

"You know, sometimes eavesdropping is considered impolite," Jughead said with a light chuckle, breathy and shaking his head. "We were just noticing the suspicious lack of Archie."

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows in thought. "Well, where do we know he was last? The Blossoms, right?"

Betty crossed her arms, shifting her weight from one foot to another. "That's right. He should've been back with information about Polly yesterday morning. Me and my mom were expecting him at our house, but he never showed. I texted him, but…"

"No answer," Jughead said, a grim frown on his face. Betty nodded.

"Well, what do we want to do?" Veronica said, looking between the two. "I don't know if it'd be the best idea to storm the castle just yet. I mean, we haven't even looked at his house yet, or asked his dad where he could be."

"Then that's what we'll do." Jughead's voice was firm, unwavering.

Betty looked up at the clock just as the the bell rang, sighing. "Well, after school, anyway."

The three met in the Blue and Gold's room, Jughead and Betty lounging on the couch until Veronica walked in. "Archie will just be at home with a flu. That's all it'll be."

Jughead exhaled quietly. "I hope so." He started to stand, slinging his backpack over one shoulder, when he felt his phone vibrate violently within his jacket pocket. Frowning, he reached into the pocket and pulled it out, staring at the screen for a full minute with an odd expression on his face.

"What?" Betty eyes were on him, worried as she played with her shirt collar absentmindedly. "What is it?"

"Oh my god," Jughead said, his voice breaking as he fell back onto the couch. "Shit." He looked up, solemnly telling the two, "I think I know why Archie's not returning our calls."

He passed his phone to Veronica and Betty, allowing them to see the same thing he'd seen. Betty covered her mouth with her hand, and Veronica shook her head repeatedly. "We have to show this to Mr. Andrews," Betty said, her voice firm but quiet. Shaken, Veronica and Jughead nodded.

They all arrived at the Andrews household minutes later, knocking on the door frantically and pacing back and forth on the doorstep. A minute or two passed and Fred finally opened the door, harried and disheveled. Bags under his eyes sank his expression, and a frown pulled deeply at his face. "Did you get it too?" The teenagers looked at each other, then back to Mr. Andrews, nodding. Fred swore under his breath, running a hand over his face. "Come in," he said, gesturing behind him. Veronica, Betty, and Jughead all walked into the house, sitting on the living room's chairs and couches uneasily. Floorboards creaked as Fred made his way into the room after closing the door, slow and aching and defeated. "I don't know what I'm going to do." Betty slid her hand into Jughead's almost subconsciously, her eyes on Archie's dad. His eyes were on the floor. "You read what they said. This isn't-there's no easy way out of this."

Jughead glanced at Betty's hand in his. "We'll figure this out," Betty promised, ever the optimist. Jughead pulled his phone out again, staring at the words on the screen with a gnawing anger in his stomach.

To whom it may concern,

Archibald Andrews is a Blossom now. We realize that simple people have difficulties accepting simple truths, so this notification is simply a reminder of what we can do-what we will do-if pushed to a certain point. Not only will you refrain from any attempted contact with Archibald, but you will relinquish all ties with him. Fred Andrews, you will begin the legal processes of transferral in guardianship. All friends of Archibald, including but not limited to Jughead Jones, Elizabeth Cooper, Veronica Lodge, and Valerie Brown, will sever all relationships with him and will not seek to restore him to his previous positions. What we are willing to do to secure this is beyond your control. To ensure that you make the right decisions, there have been safeguards put into place. People to watch you and report to us if you decide to act rashly or tell anyone any of this. Traps within law enforcement, the high school, the town itself. Not to mention the young man we have in our custody. If any of these safeguards begin to fail, there are many ways to convince impressionable young people to do what they are told. Fred Andrews is expected to contact us discreetly within 48 hours concerning Archibald's legal guardian. The rest of you are advised to forget about Archibald Andrews.

The Blossoms

Jughead wanted to punch a wall. Maybe burn something down. He wasn't going to do what the Blossoms told him to, and he sure as hell wasn't going to just 'forget' about his best friend. If there was one thing he knew for sure, it was that the Blossoms were not going to get away with it. They were going to pay, even if it tore him apart. He at least owed that to Archie. To himself. He would make them suffer. He just had to figure out how.