Chapter 3: The Mornings Regretted

When Edward had finally returned home after his heartfelt conversation with Betty, and his somewhat passive-aggressive confrontation with Archie, he had hit his bed harder than he thought. He woke up in his suit, just as he expected he would do when he went out the night before. He woke up, a small humming in his head which was amplified just a little when he groaned louder than he expected. It wasn't bad, he was the designated driver but Eddie knew he was most certainly a bit of a lightweight. He knew he couldn't handle his drink.

He turned to the night-stand on the right side of his bed, which had a small glass of water and a collection of medicinal pills just by the glass. He could remember his door was not open before he hit the bed, and it had been opened so his father must have left the glass and pills in the room when he woke up. Eddie slapped his night-stand multiple times, in an attempt to grab his half-charged phone only to find out that the time was eleven-thirty in the morning. His dad had really screwed with him, made it look like he cared with the water and pills but not bothered to wake him up at all. Eddie should have been used to his dad's shenanigans at this point, not that he did it to be mean, but that his father expected Eddie to be responsible for himself at the age he was. As much as Eddie wanted to blame his father for letting him sleep in and miss his first two classes, Eddie knew he could blame himself for drinking a little too much and staying out too late.

Obviously, he had good intentions in doing so, to make sure Betty got home safe and sound and at least was cheered up by whatever he could do on the way from the manor of Thorn Hill. Cheryl had ruined her night, which didn't help when he childhood crush had stepped into the closet for seven minutes, doing god knows what to each other. If anything, Eddie would have thought his company made it worse (his confidence hadn't been the highest as of late) but he had tried his best to be somewhat hospitable to the heartbroken girl.

"Jesus….." Eddie mumbled, pulling himself out of his bed. He realised that his life was so easy, he couldn't complain about being late to school or having a hangover.

Eddie soon walked into the walk-in wardrobe. The off-white mixed with the light beige paint had not exactly helped disinhibit his hangover symptoms. If this was what it usually felt like, especially for him, the night life of anywhere was never going to be part of the scene for him. Looking at himself in the mirror, surrounded by all of his clothes which had been shipped in from across the country upon purchase, made him think of how lucky he was even more. He was dressed in a damn Hugo Boss suit, surrounded by some of the most expensive clothing brands ever known. His shoes, a collection of reds, blues, blacks, and whites and other such colours.

He knew that the girls at school took care in their appearance, and Eddie was not in the mood for difficulty in getting dressed. Peeling off the suit jacket, pants and shirt, he looked around for a simple white tee-shirt and jeans. While his brands were displayed like trophies, the cupboards below and away from the actual pantheon of brands held his more simple clothes. Throwing his suits in the washing basket, he wandered around in his briefs before he grabbed what he needed and agonisingly put them on his person. His Sk8-Hi Pros called out to him, with Eddie easily slipping them on before grabbing his bag and leaving his room.

As he ran down the stairs and to the main hall of the forest home, Eddie fished his phone out of his pocket. A few notifications had popped up, consisting of three alarms that were meant to make sure to wake him up before he ever became late for school. One was from Betty, another from Veronica. The heiress of the Hiram Lodge had sounded rather jubilant on the phone, much more so than Eddie was at that moment. Luckily, he hadn't received a message from either Archie or Jughead about what had happened the night before.

Although he doubted Jughead we be vitriolic enough to send a message over text, Jug was best friends with Archie. The two had been practically inseparable, joined at the hip since they had first met, joined with Betty even. Their friendship group had gone from two to six in recent memory, with Kevin and Veronica joining most recently. Archie did not seem to happy with him after last night, even though all he had done was drop Betty off at home like she had asked. She must have said something to him to persuade him from stop the two from fighting.

Even though I would beat his ass…

Betty: Hey, are you coming in today at all? XX

Ronnie: You suffering from a case of drinking too much? You were always a lightweight, dear cousin… xoxo

Sometimes Eddie wondered if Veronica was self-aware, especially since there was a time when Hermione and Hiram took both Veronica and Edward to their beautiful villa in Cyprus. When Hiram and Hermione had gone out and left Veronica and Edward on their own with a few bottles of wine and Hiram's personal Cristal champagne. Eddie had managed to section himself throughout the night, limiting himself from two to three glasses per hour. While he was in a bad shape afterwards, he was in great health compared to Veronica, who didn't leave the toilet bowl for the rest of the day.

Eddie L: That's rich coming from you, Ronnie. Especially after those seven minutes in a closet with Archie.

It was when he had gotten into his car and placed his bag in the passenger seat that he realised what he had sent in the message to his cousin. Veronica could be nothing if not vindictive, especially when confronted upfront with her very own indiscretions.

Oh, for crying out loud….

-X-

It had been around an hour later when Edward finally reached school, more so because he was procrastinating on his own lateness than actually driving quick enough to get to his lessons. Obviously it was his own fault, but that didn't stop his own teenage male instincts from just drawing out his own lateness for the sake of it. He didn't hate school, more like just mildly disliked it and some of the teachers and students there. Some were jocks and some others were just plain weird, like Dilton Doiley and his boy scouts.

That kid has issues…

Walking through the halls, Eddie had been lucky enough to not encounter Principal Weatherbee or any other teacher when he was making his way through the school. As always, the school took a lot of pride in it's athletics department, more so than it's science department or mathematics department. Although Riverdale High School was also known for it's annual Winter theatre musicals, the town itself had been labelled 'The Town With Pep!' and that also meant a lot of town pep rallies, every citizen of Riverdale itself taking pride in all aspects of the town and school. The Bulldogs and River Vixens combined, were the teams that gained the most notable amount of support. After that it would be the baseball team and the wrestling team too, with the cross-country team coming last.

Nobody cared about cross-country, not in Riverdale anyway.

Escaping the halls and onto the yard, Eddie took a small while to look around to see where everyone was, eventually scoping out Veronica, Archie, Kevin and Betty by the treeline. After the night before, Eddie was surprised the blonde teenager and the redhead boy had managed to be anywhere near each other considering how much one had hurt the other. However, it seemed that the two had patched things up and were sitting together with Kevin and Veronica. However, all was not as it seemed because as soon as Eddie had made his way over to the trio, Betty had made her escape, hands covering her face, not seeing Eddie reach for her to stop her from running away. As soon as she had escaped into the safety of the school, Eddie slammed his hands into the table, glaring holes in both Archie and Veronica as he did.

"What have you done this time?" Eddie had began. "Because after last night, if you can't see what you've already done to her…."

"What we've already done to her, we haven't done anything!" Archie exclaimed. "Besides, you didn't make anything better last night!"

Eddie looked straight at the red-headed boy, almost growling and throwing himself at the boy across the table. The more he thought about it, the more he thought about hard it would be to break the guitar over his head and if it would make him see any kind of sense. He doubted it would if he couldn't even see that Betty loved him to bits. Perhaps his growing abdominal muscles had made him go blind to his own actions. "She was sad. She asked me to take her home. I did that, while you two were busy Frenching each other in a closet!"

"I saw you kiss her, you asshole!" Archie shot back, and Eddie simply replied with dumbfounded "What?"

Archie had a smug grin on his face, before he gently placed his acoustic guitar on the table in front of him, standing up to face Eddie toe-to-toe. The two were roughly the same height, and in the same weight class too due to outstanding circumstances of their sports being on at the same time, healthy weights were required for both sports teams. There was a look fire in Archie's eyes, as opposed to Eddie's having that cold and frozen look. Veronica and Kevin were both looking at their warring friends, with Veronica giving a somewhat half-hearted death glare at her cousin. The two athletes remained staring dead at each other, soon gaining the attention of the rest of the yard too, with both Reggie and Cheryl's friendship groups having their phones at the ready to film any possible violence. Drama and rumours spread fast at Riverdale High, and the only thing that spread faster than that was videos of the students trying to kick the ever-loving snot out of each other for some perceived sarcastic snipe or jealous jibe aimed at their opponent. Eddie looked around and with some of his colleagues, their phones were at the ready.

"Whatever you think you saw, if you actually think I kissed Betty last night, you are sorely mistaken, Archie." Eddie muttered, so quiet as so that only Archie could hear him. "I would not do that to you, and I would not force myself on Betty like some kind of psycho."

"I'm not lying, Eddie." Archie growled. "Just because me and Veronica were in the closet for seven minutes does not allow you to jump on to Betty as soon as she as she asks you to do something for her."

"Archie, get this into your head for Christ's sake, I did not kiss Betty. She kissed-"

"Eddie, stop-"

"Ronnie, don't you dare take his side when I haven't explained what happened."

"We went looking for her, and you." Veronica began. "We couldn't find you, so I went home and Archie saw you kissing Betty at her front door. You don't have to be ashamed of what happened, it's totally normal."

Eddie's mouth was agape. "Ashamed? Really? I don't have to be ashamed of anything, because I didn't do anything wrong! She kissed me on the cheek, and I would have said that ages ago if you had actually let me explain what had happened instead of getting in my damn grill, you idiots!"

As he spoke, Ethel soon came up to the table and looked at the group, who were in silent stasis as Eddie and Archie remained fixed on each other. Ethel gave the wrestler a tap on the shoulder, accidentally receiving part of the violent glare that had been saved up mainly for Archie. "Wha- oh, sorry Ethel. What's up?" Eddie asked, giving a half-smile to the smaller girl below him.

"Uh, hey… It's Betty, she's crying in the homeroom. Can one of you guys go and see her?" The usually-quiet girl asked.

Eddie looked at Kevin, nodding at him. "Keller, come on. We can let Veronica and Archie sort themselves, and their stories out, on their own. I don't wanna cause a scene."

Kevin quickly packed up all of his stuff, took a final bite out of his sandwich and stood up. He mouth a quick 'I'll call' to Veronica before almost being dragged away from the couple by Eddie. As they walked away out of the yard and into the school building, Eddie attempted to ignore the various looks of smugness and from the others like Reggie and Cheryl. Reggie had turned away as soon as Eddie had caught him in sight, earning a smidgen of his ire. Cheryl caught his glare as well, but instead she refused to back down and submit. Eddie knew that the remaining Blossom child was grieving, but sometimes it was as if nothing had happened to Cheryl anyway. She was the popular girl in school, always had been and always would be until she left and probably had children of her own. Obviously Eddie had been one of the more popular boys, even gaining a bit of respect when him and Chuck fought, but Veronica had made her presence and mission clear. She was the popular girl in New York, and she wanted to be that in Riverdale. Of course, that meant getting a boy toy to do some of her dirty work like Cheryl had, with Reggie and or Chuck.

She just so happened to also manipulate the kindest girl in the school, and then turn her against her for kissing the only crush she had ever had in her life. Sometimes Eddie did indeed curse his cousin, especially at that point in time. She had been the rich bitch in New York, and whilst she was apparently trying to turn over a new leaf for the sake of what had happened, it seemed she was failing in that regard so far. Eddie knew Archie might not have been academically gifted, but he at least gave Archie the benefit of common sense.

Eddie even thought of himself as a middle-of-the-road kind of person, that tried not to get involved but he didn't. Not any more. He had done nothing to anger Archie but do what Betty asked, and almost immediately Archie assumed the worst. Hmm, so much for BFFs…

As Eddie and Kevin made their way through the halls of the school, it didn't take long until they got to the homeroom. There Betty was, crying on the couch as the sole inhabitant of the room. Kevin sat at her left while Eddie took the seat on her right. Eddie remained silent and Kevin placed his hands on her shoulder. Kevin said precious little other than stopping her sobbing and turning it into small sniffles and muffled sobs. Eddie had very little experience with crying, more so with other people's cries than his own. He had cried himself to sleep before. His own father had been the harsh hand in bringing him, as well as the gentle and caring side which Eddie would have had if he knew his mother. Having only really come to terms with not having a mother a few years ago, Eddie had kept himself to himself when the topic was brought up.

He realised that while he had no mother, he wasn't special in that case. Archie's parents had recently divorced, Jughead never said anything about his home life, Veronica had her mom but no dad and Betty seemed to be the only person that had a regular family.

The trio sat down in the homeroom for the rest of the lunch. Kevin was very kind and considerate with his best friend, whilst Eddie remained quiet as he comforted her. The blonde was heartbroken, clearly, and Archie did not see himself in the wrong at all but instead saw Eddie as the sole reason for him to be antagonistic. Eddie had surprised himself when he didn't launch himself at Archie, even if his guitar looked so enticing to smack the red-headed boy over the head with. Eddie had done nothing wrong, but obviously Eddie and Archie would not be seeing eye to eye for a while.

Why are you just sitting here? Eddie had asked himself, sectioning himself off in his head whilst Kevin and Betty conversed. You're not offering any kind of sympathy, what if Archie was right? Are you just trying to get with Betty because she's vulnerable? That's a very dirty move there, Eddie. Would our dear father agree with what you're doing?

No, but I am not trying to get with Betty or anyone at the moment. Betty's lovesick, Josie's too busy, Cheryl is just…. Cheryl is Cheryl. Romance is not on the table at the moment, Inner Eddie.

As Eddie tried to push his inner voice back to silence, he soon received a tap on the shoulder from Betty. The blonde looked at him, confused before Eddie looked at her. "Hmmm?"

"You okay? You kinda blanked on me for a second there." Betty said. "I asked if anything happened between you and Archie, Kevin said something about you two almost fighting on the yard. He sounded quite… well, excited."

Eddie sighed. "It was just a mini-pissing contest. That's all."

"Kev didn't say that."

"I think Kevin might have been distracted by all of the abs and testosterone to realise what was happening, Betty." Kevin replied. "Honestly, it was nothing."

Eddie did this, he did it a lot. He did not like being confronted by other people about conflict that was not their business. Yet, the more he thought about what had happened, he realised that Betty was a part of the conflict between him and Archie. Eddie himself worried, he worried if he wasn't seeing either Archie's or Betty's perspectives in what was happening. Archie was lying, but he didn't see anything that had happened between the two. Eddie never kissed Betty, he never would and he doubted that Betty would ever want to kiss him. She was too perfect, too much of a good thing and Eddie was too much of a recluse, a hideaway, too violent to be loved by anyone else who never would really understand him. It was just a part of the Lodge Family Tree, some just happened to be snide and sneaky. Others were blunt and aggressive, and it just so happened that Eddie shared the bluntness and aggression of his father, who had rather toned himself down in his growing age.

"If Archie said something about you, I won't mention it to anyone. I promise." Betty whispered, and Eddie soon looked around to see if anyone else was in the homeroom. Kevin had left a few minutes before, hence why Eddie had been so smarmy about his comments before.

It was just a joke anyway.

"After you went inside last night, I saw Archie before I got in my car. He saw me and apparently he saw us together, talking. According to him, it looked like I was kissing you. I tried to tell him it was you who kissed me on the cheek but it got really heated. It might have turned into a fight if we weren't careful. I think people had their phones ready and everything."

Betty sighed, wrapping her arms around Eddie's right upper arm and resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Eddie."

"It's nothing you should worry about Betty, just, try not to be so hard on Veronica." Eddie returned, his head falling to lie on Betty's. "She's trying to change, she really is. She really likes you, she wants to be friends with you. I'll try and talk to her later, and see what's happening."

"Archie's always been a little bit temperamental, ever since we were little kids." Betty mentioned, smiling a little bit as she said his name.

"I know, kinda like me."

Betty giggled again. "You and Jughead weren't that bad compared to him. We've really grown up, well, slightly."

Then it was Eddie's turn to laugh when Betty said. "You're saying that to the person who likes throwing people on the ground for fun."

Eddie received a small slap on the wrist. "It's called talent, and you're not stupid either, Eddie."

-X-

The Riverdale Coroner's Office had never been much of a homely place, no morgue or coroner's office would be. It was always cold, freezing and grey. The coroner that resided in Riverdale was an odd person himself and Alice Cooper knew this. If anything, as an investigative journalist she used it to her advantage. Doctor Curdle was a crooked man, and a crooked man would do anything for a few crumpled up dollars.

Besides, Alice had a job to do. She had a family to look after and feed, and if breaking the rules was the best way to get a hold of a valuable story for a few more people in town to buy the Riverdale Register or go to their website, then she would break the rules a thousand times over.

The crooked coroner welcomed the journalist inside the autopsy room, and if she were anyone else, Alice would have retched and vomited at the sight of the bloated, waterlogged body of Jason Blossom. Hints of the young boy were visible from under the plastic cover that covered his body. From what Alice could see, the young boy's skin had used to be a pale white, now a mottled grey, veins poking out faintly from under the skin. His fingers and feet had swelled up, but one could never mistake the hints of bright red hair, the signature genetic trait of the Blossom Family. She hated them, abhorred the dead boy in front of her, lying on the cold metal table. He had ruined her darling daughter, forced her to imprison Polly in the group home just out of town.

He had deserved everything that had happened to him, and it was only fair that while he ruined his daughter, somebody ruined him and hopefully forced his family to feel the same as she did sending her daughter away.

She had a tape recorder on her person, recording every word that the coroner had uttered after he had lifted the plastic cover from the body to reveal the rotting carcass of Jason Blossom.

The hole in his head said all it had needed to.