Chapter 10: Needs and Wants

Every single town has one.

The spooky house at the end of the street, that all the kids would avoid.

The haunted house at the very top of the hill.

Our house, Riverdale's house, was Thorn Hill. The Blossom Family's mansion.

It had it's very own graveyard, littered with the dead and buried ancestors and more recent family members of the Blossom family tree.

And trapped inside it's ageing walls like some Gothic heroine, was Cheryl Blossom, still grieving for her beloved brother Jason.

Linked in death, as they were in life.

-X-X-X-

It had been a month since Jason's body had been found at the side of the Sweetwater River. A month since Kevin Keller and Moose Mason had accidentally stumbled upon his waterlogged corpse, skin bloated and eyes white as he remained firmly planted under the water. Cheryl never wanted to believe that her brother was dead, she knew he wasn't dead. He'd ran way, like he always said he would do. Cheryl never thought he would really do it. She just thought he would disappear, with the money he had taken and stashed away somewhere, taking Polly away whilst never being caught dead near their cursed little town ever again.

It was an admirable goal, one that Cheryl wished she could do sometimes. She hated the town. She hated the school. She hated the people. She hated her home. She even hated what had remained of her damned family. The one person she could really put herself to care about was her Nana Rose. She was old and slowly going senile, but she had remained quiet in order to continue her appearance as an ever-present threat towards her son and his wife.

Cheryl hesitated to call her Mother. Cheryl hesitated to call him Father.

They hated her, Cheryl could see it in their eyes. She was nothing to them, useless and pathetic. It was as if they had never heard of the concept of grieving, leaving her to try and find a way of getting out all the rage she had stored inside. Rage for herself, for her own stupidity, rage for letting Jason go off and get himself killed. She didn't even get a chance to find him, to save him from whoever had shot him dead.

The heiress of the Blossom fortune rose from the bed she had been lying on, quickly grabbing at her chest to avoid the imaginary hand of her dead brother she had seen in her dreams. She had fallen asleep in his room once more, again it was just one more of her vain attempts to grieve. Wasted sheets of paper with scribbles and garbled words were forgotten under her legs, the paper warped and folded as she had tossed and turned in her sleep. She had seen him again, her brother but not her brother. No, Jason was gone. All she had seen was his bloated carcass, pale eyes looking through her as he reached forward to grab her, to do what she feared he would.

To drag her into the depths of the Sweetwater with him. It was a twisted trick by her own mind, to taunt her with what she had wanted since he had gone. To be with her twin, together forever.

Deep breaths, Cheryl. Deep breaths, control yourself… She thought to herself. It was just a nightmare, get over yourself…

She turned to her left, sensing the light that spread through the open door frame and into the entrance of Jason's room. The silhouette of her unfeeling mother occupied the frame, a snifter of whiskey present in her hand as she looked at her daughter. "How many more times do I have to tell you, no more sleeping in Jason's bed."

Cheryl curled herself up, like she had reverted to a little nine-year old as she wrapped her hands around her pale knees. "I was working on the eulogy. For Jay-Jay."

"Don't bother, you won't be speaking at his memorial." Penelope Blossom spoke, before downing the brown liquid. Cheryl gave her a cold look. "God knows what you might say. Something to humiliate us. No."

Cheryl had noticed that her mother had picked up one of the stray pieces of paper that she had been writing on until she had fallen asleep. The sheet itself had scribbled out words on the front, and she knew it was a failed attempt at a draft of her eulogy. Jason had meant the most to her out of anyone, more than her parents and now all she had was her grandmother, who was not long for the world anyhow. Penelope glanced over the words, smirking as she crushed the paper in her hands and left the room, leaving Cheryl to contemplate even trying to write anything for her brother at all.

-X-X-X-

"Boy, you coming home early tonight or are you hanging out with your friends again?" Julian had asked, taking a sip of his coffee as he looked at his son.

"No, Dad. I'm gonna be busy helping out some of the lightweight guys at the wrestling team tonight. I might be home a little bit later than usual, if that's alright." Eddie had replied, making himself a smaller cup of coffee. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all, boy, I'm just gonna be helping your auntie out at home. There's a lot of paperwork that needs doing, about your uncle's business."

"Ah." Eddie grumbled. "Okay, you need my signature for anything?"

"If we do, I'll bring it to you when I get back."

Eddie had almost forgotten about the entire family dilemma, he had been so caught up with trying to get Archie away from Grundy that he had totally missed out on how busy his father and aunt must have been trying to sort out the mess that Uncle Hiram had made with his business. It had not been Eddie's business, nor Veronica's business even though their own names would be involved at some point in the near future. Even though they were barely able to drive, their names were included on the Lodge Industries' Board of Directors. It was an absolutely terrible idea, but Eddie had been told by his father that it was a method of control. To deadlock any kind of executive decision that the executives might have made, and replace them with people who would agree with what Hiram wanted to do.

It was more of a surprise to both Julian and Edward that their own relative had not been arrested sooner for just generally trying to get around the rules of his own company. How he had managed to get so far without being found out until his surprise arrest was a question that nobody had the answer too.

"Just be careful getting home, okay?" Julian had looked to his son. "With this killer about, I want you home as soon as possible, sono Chiaro?"

"Si. I'll be fine, dad. I'm gonna get gone, see you later!"

It had not been a long drive to the school, instead Eddie had managed to get to the school relatively on time. He had filed in his presence at the reception so he didn't have to go to his home room and instead went straight into the Blue & Gold office. As soon as he had marched towards the office, he had seen Trevor Brown walking out, smiling sweetly to himself as he had left the offices. The younger brother of the Pussycat, Valerie, had been a nice but well-reserved sort type. Him and Eddie got along at least, and if Eddie had anything to say, it would only be good things.

"Hey, Trev. What you up to?" Eddie had asked. "Sports column, I'm guessing?"

"Oh, hey Eddie. And no, I was just confirming something with Betty." Trevor said, completely unaware of the connotations. "Are you going in for the sports, I figured it would be Kevin writing that."

"No, Kevin's the gossip columnist. I'll see you around."

"See ya around, Eddie. Good luck with your wrestling!" Trevor yelled, as he had already walked halfway down the hall, receiving a half-hearted 'thank you' in return.

As soon as Eddie had walked into the office, he could see that Betty, Jughead and Kevin were already inside. The whiteboard usually used for their storyboarding and possible articles had been totally replaced with a massive map of the entire town of Riverdale. Both the North and South Side of the town were included, and pictures of the Blossom Family had been scattered in all four corners of the board, with Jason's in the middle. A sheet of paper listing off possible motives if it was a familial killing, but a large piece of red string was coming from Jason's picture towards two other sheets, written as 'NO MOTIVE?' and 'GANGLAND ACCIDENT?'. Eddie had dropped his satchel on his own desk, looking at the board with raised eyebrows. Jughead looked around the board, a solemn look in his eye as he focused on the board, examining it with keen interest.

Eddie had been the first to speak on his arrival. "Good morning, my murder-obsessed comrades-in-arms. How are we doing on such a fine morning and why was Trevor Brown in the office if I am allowed to inquire?" The aspiring wrestler announced, a posh inflection on his voice making him sound more noble and educated than he really was in actuality.

"What you didn't know?" Kevin looked towards his friend.

"Didn't know what?" Eddie said in response.

"Betty Cooper is going on a date. A date with Trev." Kevin informed, as if he were speaking to the entire school. "Does Mama Cooper know about that?"

A date with Trevor Brown. Well, that is definitely a surprise first thing in the morning. Suppose we didn't mean much then, did we? Eddie's inner thoughts declared. We were just an accident, la la la la la la…

"Wow, that was very… unexpected." Edward added. "First thing in the morning too, didn't expect that at all when I woke up."

Betty had crooked her head with Kevin's comments, even more so when she turned to look at her close friend with his own. Jughead had been quiet, observing the board as if he were waiting for it to physically move. The look she gave to Edward all but shouted 'Please believe me, it's not a date!' but Eddie had remained silent as well when she turned to Kevin. "Please, it's not like I'm on house arrest."

An unbreakable stare from Kevin had managed to get her to reveal the whole truth of the matter. "Okay, she's at a 'Women in Journalism spa-retreat meeting or whatever it was, look it's not a date-date."

Always the realist, Jughead soon jumped in with the duo of boys to tease the blonde some more. "To be real, Betty, you did just call it a date. You literally said 'it's a date'."

"Oh, that's just my cover." Betty had admitted, somewhat unconvincingly. "It's really an intelligence-gathering mission. We should focus on the one thing we have that your dad doesn't have right now, and that's the kids. We might not have known Jason very well but some others might have done! Trev was on the water-polo team with Jason before he died, that's why I am gonna be meeting him later. It's all very important."

"Yeah… sure..." Eddie drawled, extending the words with a smirk before the school bell rang, alerting them for their first class. "Well, Kevin, ready for gym?"

The sheriff's son ran a hand through his perfectly combed hair once more. "Oh boy, am I ready for gym class? Oh, I'm so ready!"

-X-X-X-

Eddie's first two lessons had gone off relatively without a hitch, although having gym class first thing in the morning was not the most ideal thing he could have asked for. He had five more hours of actual school work and then another two helping out the wrestling team after school. He was already tired out from running laps around the field for an hour, throwing himself into books and then throwing himself and others on the ground just meant more energy being expended than there was being put in. It was even worse when his inner voice had began to mock him, taking the razzing and self-contempt to a whole new level as to how Eddie had been taken for a fool.

Really? Intelligence gathering, pfffff, please! It's a date! You know it, I know it obviously and so does everybody else! You, Edward Lodge, have been taken for a fool by Betty Cooper! Of all people! Ha!

"So, Betty, you are postively radiating Nicola Sparks! Tell me everything about this Trev!" Veronica had almost squealed, which she literally almost did as soon as she heard from Kevin about her 'date' with the water-polo star.

"Oh, there's nothing to tell." Kevin added. "Trev's only one of Betty's sources, there is nothing romantic about that!"

Veronica had almost screamed as she sat down on the bleachers, taking a seat next to Eddie. Kevin had began to natter on about Trev, with Jughead continuing to give one-word responses whilst Betty sat next to Archie as he was flipping through his strategy booklet of plays for the football team. It was no small secret that Archie had now made the Varsity team, and now there was the captaincy competition. Eddie just hoped it wouldn't end like the wrestling one did.

Betty is now sitting next to Archie. So, she is now officially taking Edward Lodge, Trevor Brown and Archie Andrews for a ride on the roller-coaster known as Friend Zone City! All Aboard!

"So, Archie, what's life like in a PG-World?" Veronica asked, taking a few chips out of her plastic bag.

Archie turned to look at Eddie's cousin, which soon led to Betty and Kevin and Jughead and Eddie to look at their cousin, confused by her comment. "PG, Post-Grundy. What, too soon?" She commented, placing the chips delicately into her mouth.

"Coach Clayton said I have a chance of being the Varsity Captain, so I am not thinking about anything else right now." Archie muttered in response.

"What, not even thinking about breathing?" Eddie added in jest.

Jughead gave him a light kick to the side. "He doesn't have to think about breathing to breath, you idiot."

"Argh, so you're back to being boring?" Veronica asked aloud, leading to the three boys giving her a death glare as she continued consuming her chips.

She can be a heartless bitch, sometimes…

Betty, being the kind-hearted and pure girl that she was, placed her hand over Archie's. "Don't you think you might be throwing yourself into football so you don't have to think about Grundy and singing?"

"I'm not throwing myself into anything, Betty." Archie had reaffirmed, both himself and his friends. "I'm trying to get my life back on track."

That break period had been filled with sarcastic and cutting jibes and remarks. Veronica had been absolutely ruthless in commenting on Archie's former relationship with his music tutor, whilst Betty had remained constantly in Archie's corner, trying to convince him to not drop his singing and songwriting. Veronica soon found herself ingrained in gossip with Kevin, nattering and muttering about the date of Betty and Trevor whilst Jughead and Eddie were muttering about the murder-board that was now present in the Blue & Gold office, the most accurate representation of what Sheriff Keller would have had back at the Riverdale Sheriff's office. The group of six were soon interrupted by the elder sister of Trevor, Valerie Brown who had managed to escape from the clutches from the other Pussycats, Josie and Melody.

Valerie had the wildest hair of the group, frizzled and almost-untameable. Yet, she had managed to make it look almost normal with how it was so uncontrollable that it almost looked the very opposite. Her green eyes could pierce the soul of anyone she looked at, and Eddie would attest to such when he had seen them perform. One concert he had managed to get eye-contact with the keyboard player and backing singer, and he had not forgotten that moment either. He couldn't tell what it was about her, but she had such a unique look that it made it impossible for almost anyone to ignore her whether they talked to her or not. The fancy gold nose also didn't help, reflecting light off of whatever source decided to hit it.

"I can help with that, getting your life on track that is." Valerie began, quickly taking a seat next to Archie. "I know Miss Grundy was tutoring you."

"Understatement of the year." Veronica mumbled, gaining a few odd looks from both Betty and Eddie.

"He's a professor at Carson College, and this time every year he comes out and sources some new students for a short time. He's helped me and Josie before, you wanna meet him?" Valerie had asked, flashing a bright white smile to the red-headed student.

"Yeah, sure, that would be fantastic but, I've got my football to worry about..."

"No, Archie you can!"

Valerie smiled as the blonde pushed Archie to take her offer into account. Valerie took a piece of paper from her leather jacket and crumpled it before pushing it into Archie's jacket pocket. "Call him up quick, his spots fill out fast."

Before anybody else could have said anything from the conversation between the Bulldog and the Pussycat, the group of six were soon confronted by the grieving red widow that was Cheryl Blossom. Instead of wearing a bright crimson red like she usually did every other day, that day she was wearing an entirely black shirt and skirt, a dark burgundy trim around the neckline which amplified Cheryl's fiery red hair. Her skin tone had been pale before, but she looked even more so at that moment, her bright red lipstick contrasting to her porcelain skin.

"Sorry to interrupt you, sad breakfast club. And Eddie." Cheryl announced, biting her lip as she looked at Eddie. "But I am here to formally invite you to Jason's memorial at Thorn Hill, this weekend. To my surprise and chagrin, my mother added you to the guest list, Veronica Lodge. In case you're tempted to steal our silver candlesticks, don't. We will be searching bags." And with that, she had already marched off to her next class.

-X-X-X-

Sheriff Tom Keller had a relatively quiet morning, his early patrol shift being a quick patrol through the entirety of the North Side and a few streets into the South Side before heading back to the safety of the North Side. It was no secret that the Sheriff's Department was underfunded, but it was a small town and Keller was already stretched out on men as it was. The deputies and the new recruits would have to take the rest of the day, because the Blossoms had already requested his presence that morning. They were the ones that were independently funding the Sheriff's Department after all, giving him the budget that he needed to keep the crime to a minimum.

It was because of the Blossoms that their town had not fallen into the pit of depravity that it danced on the edge of, that somehow Riverdale remained somewhat hidden from the world and it's issues. At least, that it was it was until Jason's body had been found at the river's edge.

Penelope Blossom had been kind enough to let Sheriff Keller inside the manor early, walking him through the proceedings of what would be happening in the coming days. Both Penelope and Clifford had decided to invite all of Riverdale's more pressing members of the community, as well as Cheryl and Jason's grieving friends. Keller had no doubt that she would have kept them well away if it was her decision, but the boy hadn't even had a burial yet. Nobody had a chance to say goodbye, and that closure was needed before the Sheriff could get anywhere near solving the case.

That was, if the case could be solved at all.

The last murder case in Riverdale had been twenty years ago, and that was a simple investigation. A simple husband-killed-wife scenario, with plenty of evidence to convict the sick bastard and to see him sent down for life behind bars. That was not the case this time. There was always the possibility of it being an accident, but the autopsy that had been leaked due to the nosing of Alice Cooper had revealed that the body had received freezer-burn, and the gunshot wound in Jason's cranium resembled a wound that would have been closer to the eleventh of July than caused a few days later, not on the fourth of July but on the eleventh instead. That would have meant that Jason was missing for a week-long period where he may have been kidnapped, tortured and then killed.

What Keller did know was that Jason had been held in captivity, whilst Cheryl had told them of the incident at the river. If Jason had drowned, they would have recovered his body in the initial trawling of the river. They didn't, which would have meant that his body was dumped in the river after the trawling.

That meant the killer was hiding his tracks, and wasn't stupid about it either. It was just unfortunate that the river had thrown Jason's body to the edge and into the cold light of day.

"Jason's memorial will be held in here." Penelope spoke, with her husband Clifford following close behind her as the Sheriff analysed the elongated entrance room. "Before he is laid to rest in Thorn Hill's grounds. We have invited everyone on the list."

"I'm gonna need that list." Keller requested.

"And a list of staff of course, for a list of suspects. People with grudges against us, many of them members of Riverdale's found families I am sorry to say." Clifford added coldly. "Someone in this town killed Jason."

"That's our thought too, it makes sense. A lot of evidence and theoretical work had been destroyed at the station, and at my own home too. Whoever wanted Jason dead is hiding this extremely well."

"Which means there is a very real possibility that whoever killed my son will soon be in this room."

As soon as Penelope had uttered those final words, the youngest Blossom child had made her entrance. Dressed in black, Cheryl Blossom had arrived and already began confronting her mother about her idea. Allowing everybody and anybody into the grounds of Thorn Hill whilst well-intentioned, did seem like it was removing the privacy that Cheryl seemed to want for her brother's memorial. Inviting the Lodges and the Coopers especially seemed like they were throwing their wealth in everyone's faces, especially since the Lodges were already out-of-pocket barring Julian and his son. Furthermore, it was common knowledge that the Cooper and Blossom families hated each other with a passion. It was a rivalry which had transcended the concept of time itself, each member of the family having it out for their respective member of the other. Clifford Blossom hated Hal Cooper, Alice hated Penelope, and it seemed that Cheryl hated Betty Cooper with a raging fire in her heart.

"So is that why you invited the Lodges and the Coopers? Because they're suspects? To investigate them? At Jay-Jay's funeral, really? And you think I am manipulative and heartless and making this all about myself."

The look of derision and contempt for their daughter was clear to see, even the Sheriff could see it. It was as if the Blossoms had been deprived of their favoured child and left with the outcast of their family. If it was not clear that Cheryl hated her parents.

It was damn well clear that her parents hated Cheryl.

-X-X-X-

That night had been one of little planning for Betty. Her and Trev would go to Pop's, get some food and drinks and just talk.

That was it, just talk.

Preferably about Jason Blossom and what he knew about him. I'd rather this be as least awkward as possible. I'm not even in the mindset for a date. Why did I say it was a date? God, I'm such an idiot.

Betty had made her way to Pop's at around six in the evening. Once more, she had chosen her preferred colours of pink and white for her clothes and make-up. There was nothing wrong with the basics, and as soon as Trevor had walked through the door she could see that he had gone for the basics too. Black jeans and sneakers, mixed with a white button-up shirt and his Bulldogs letterman jacket. It marked him out as a sports star in their town. She didn't particularly fancy wearing the blue, white and gold for a date. Yes she might have been proud to have finally been made a River Vixen but she wasn't wearing it for the pleasure of the boys around her.

No, she was going as Betty Cooper, not one of the River Vixens.

"I think it's really great what you guys are doing for Jason." Trevor mentioned, speeding through the awkwardness of it all and into the meat of what Betty wanted. "I always thought someone else would want to know what happened."

"You two were on the water-polo team together, were you guys close?" Betty inquired, soon sipping on her milkshake as Trevor shuffled closer so he could whisper over the dull music playing in the background of the diner.

"This is just us talking, right?"

Betty nodded, still sipping at her vanilla milkshake.

"Just because I kinda feel guilty about it. A few weeks before he disappeared, Jason started acting all weird and secretive." Trevor admitted.

Play it cool, just go through the motions like you would with any other interview, Betty…

"Do you know why?" Betty asked, looking concerned as she focused on little specks of colour on the table.

"I thought it was about your sister." Trevor spoke. It was no secret that Jason and Polly had been dating. "I thought it was something to do with them when he changed."

"Changed?" Betty clung to that. Jason never really looked as if he had changed, neither physically nor mentally. He was a chilled-out guy, nothing ever serious plagued him. "Changed how?"

"He stopped talking to me, wouldn't return my calls or anything. Then he started selling off his stuff, anything and I mean anything he could get cash for, like he was ashamed of anything he had. Then I heard rumours that he was selling drugs."

"Drugs? Do you know what he was selling?" Betty needed to dig deeper, she needed to grill Trevor.

"Weed, pills, anything really was what went around." Trevor revealed. "I can't know for sure but it was around that time he started talking to me."

"And all of this started after Jason and Polly started dating?"

Trevor nodded.

Goddamn it, of course Jason would have dragged Polly into this. Why is this even a surprise?

-X-X-X-

The 'date' as Betty's group of friends had taken to calling it had gone well. It was quiet but it was definitely not uneventful. Trevor was sweet, too sweet for anyone in Riverdale and for Betty, he just wasn't her type. Not that she had a type, but she still sometimes thought of what had happened just before Miss Grundy had been kicked out of their town. Her little encounter with Edward Lodge before they were meant to go to the last drive-in show had been so spontaneous that neither of them had even attempted to even try and talk to the other about what had happened that day.

"What the hell are we doing right now?" Edward whispered, quiet enough so only Betty could hear.

"I don't know but I like it." Betty purred. "I really like it."

It was a moment she couldn't or didn't want to force out of her mind, even if she tried. The pair of them always had some sort of unspoken thing between the two of them, as if the two knew they were attracted to each other in some way yet didn't or wouldn't attempt to do anything on aforementioned attraction. It led to the pair of them finding feelings or creating crushes on others around them, with Betty having some grand vision for her and Archie whilst for Eddie it was a newfound part of himself that yearned for constant female companionship, whether it was the company of his friend Betty, his cousin Veronica or any girl he particularly took a fancy in, which was either Tomoko, Cheryl or Josie.

How the pair of Eddie and Betty had managed to put these emotions aside and find each other once more like they had done in the past was a mystery to the both of them. Betty could have sworn she saw a hint of jealousy in Eddie's glinting eyes of when he had heard she was going out on a date with Trevor. Her ribbed her for it as a joke, but deep down she knew that he had taken it somewhat seriously.

They were a millimetre away from kissing after all, if anything they might as well have been kissing then and there!

As Betty had walked home from the diner, she had soon began to walk up to her garage with her father inside, working on an old vintage car he had found at the scrapyard a few years prior. When journalism had him restless and weary, he would walk into the garage next to his house and begin to tinker with the engine, the cold air and freezing steel frame allowed his nerves to calm and sometimes Betty would join him in his dabbling in car engineering. She soon approached her father, leaning against the front of the car.

"Hey!" Her father greeted, warmly. "Perfect timing, why don't you pick up that wrench for me and start helping with some of these bolts for me."

Betty took the nearby wrench and looked into the engine, wrapping the wrench around a rogue bolt and turning it inwards before looking at her father. "Dad, every time I ask Mom about Polly, she just shuts me down. Can we please talk about it, about her? What happened, what did Jason do that was so bad?"

"Jason and Polly had a fight." Hal began, turning away before he leant on the front of the car. "Now I don't know what it was about but afterwards Polly was devastated. I came from work one day and I heard the water running from upstairs. I knocked on the door, asked Polly if everything was alright. She didn't say anything. I kicked the door down and..."

Hal had stopped, and Betty noted that her father couldn't even look her in the eye when he was telling her his version of the story. Betty had been away, an internship she had been awarded on behalf of her mother's connections had seen her out-of-state for the summer. She never knew until late August about her sister, as to why she wasn't home any more, as to why both her mother and father now hated her ex-boyfriend.

"Polly had been trying to hurt herself, Betty. That's why we had to send her away." Hal admitted. "To stop her from trying to take her own life."

Her father had not deigned to tell her any more, and he told Betty she could not call Polly or contact her in anyway. As soon as she had heard of Jason's death she had a massive setback according to the therapy centre, turning her almost catatonic for an entire month. It was something that Betty had never wanted to hear in her darkest dreams or even think about at all. Her sister meant everything to her, just like anyone in her family did. She would have been torn apart like she currently was if it was her father or mother in therapy, even if they went about life in their own unique way.

The Cooper way.

Her father had soon closed the car bonnet, and began to turn off the lights. Betty stayed in the garage, turning the lights back on as soon as Hal had left and continued tinkering with the car that remained rusting in the Cooper's pristine garage. It was a 1965 Ford Shelby Cobra, a legendary car if she said so herself. It was a unique beast, something utterly different to the bright blue Ford Focus RS that Eddie drove around in. The rust had been persistent, refusing to be scrubbed off wherever it was found until Betty had put in enough elbow grease that she had satisfied herself with until she realised that she was going to be up all night if she wanted to get anything substantial done with the car. She knew she needed help.

She ran through the house and upstairs to her room, stripping off from her pink and white sweater and jeans into her blue and black shirt and overalls before she took her phone charger down into the garage once more. Taking her phone and swiping through contacts, she soon began to ring Eddie.

"Edward Lodge speaking, how can my magnificent ass be of service?" He had answered, seemingly sounded energised.

"It's Betty, needing a friend in a moment of crisis. Are you able to come to my place for a few hours?"

There was a silence, soon followed by: "Dad! Can I go to Betty's for a few hours?!"

Betty could just about make out the mutterings which were more like screaming in the Lodge forest manor before Eddie calmly responded. "How many hours exactly?"

"Three, but maybe more."

There was a quick scuffling sound from the mic, before Eddie's voice soon sounded more compact. "I'll be there in five minutes."

Needless to say, Eddie had gotten to the Cooper household in under five minutes, with Betty just about holding the garage door open for the taller boy so he could sneak inside. He soon slid behind the car door when Betty's father opened the door to the garage. "Betty, what are you doing?" Hal asked.

"Oh, I'm just gonna try and get some of this rust off the car before the weekend starts." Betty said. "Is that alright?"

"Sure, just try not to work yourself to death, kiddo."

"Thanks, dad."

As soon as Hal had closed the door and left the near vicinity, Eddie had soon jumped from the floor and looked at the car. His eyes had widened in shock, the fact that the Coopers had such a classic car that was rusting away in their garage was almost criminal if the father-daughter pair hadn't been trying to restore it. Eddie had looked at the blonde that had been covering for him, admiring her in the paint-stained overalls with her sleeves rolled up and her ponytail tied high. Eddie's face had remained in shock, mouthing words towards the girl in garage who continued to give him odd looks with each passing second.

"We can speak you know?" Betty finally said. "It's soundproof."

"Oh."

Betty smiled at her friend's look of amazement, as he circled the car over and over again before he ripped his hoodie off. He looked at the blonde girl dead in the eyes before he spoke. "Pinch me, and do it hard."

"What, why?" Betty asked.

"I need to be sure I'm not dreaming. I can't believe you didn't tell me you had a Cobra in your garage that still looks like it could be on the road with enough work. You know how much I love cars, right? I thought you'd tell me about this!" Eddie almost exclaimed, giggling like a child that had just woken up for Christmas morning.

"It's been a passion project for me and my dad, but we just haven't had the time to do anything with it." Betty revealed to the car-enthusiast. "I figured that if you weren't doing anything, we could get some of this rust off the car tonight?"

"I mean sure! Where's the sanding machine?"

As soon as Eddie had been given an apron by his blonde compatriot, the two had quickly gotten to work on the Cobra. With two sanding machines, the couple had began to slowly sand off the peeling paint and rust that had managed to stick itself to the classic sports car. The fact it had been rusted for so long but still looked salvageable was a miracle, and as the two continued filing off the rust they took regular breaks so they could actually talk about what they had been doing since school had finished. As they had talked, Eddie had scampered over to the fridge at the opposite end of the garage, pulling out two cans of Sprite Cranberry and handing one to Betty. The refreshment made it easier to relax as they talked, just going over how some teachers had taken a heavy dislike to Eddie being a constant talker in class, or how Betty had once more achieved grades that were consistently the best in the entire class.

Then it had come down to their morning discussions, more specifically how the date with Trevor Brown had gone for Betty and if she had discovered anything whilst she was at Pop's with Trevor doing whatever she called 'intelligence gathering'.

"So, Elizabeth Cooper, how much intelligence did you gather at Pop's with Trev?" Eddie teased, before taking a long sip of his Sprite.

"I found out that Jason was selling drugs."

The reveal of the blunt and honest truth caused Eddie to end up spurting out a hint of Sprite on his apron, as well as having him furiously rubbing at his nose as the fizz ran up his nostrils. It had been painful yet hilariously humiliating. Having snorted Sprite Cranberry, Eddie then looked to his companion and watched as she burst out laughing at his misfortune. If there was one thing that Eddie had realised about Betty, it was that her laugh was almost infectious, more so when it was the pair of them laughing at his own pain.

Eddie quickly placed the can at his side, and soon looked at the blonde girl as she did the same. "Are you serious?" He inquired.

"Deadly serious. Apparently he was trying to sell anything he could take make any money." Betty confirmed to her friend. "It's suspicious. At least that was my first thought, now I'm just wondering why."

"Maybe he was running away." Eddie muttered.

"Why would he do that though?" Betty continued. "What reason would he have to run away?"

"The wealthiest and most powerful of parents tend to be control freaks, business CEOs even more so." Eddie began. "So Clifford and Penelope Blossom are powerful, wealthy and they run their own company. They are basically psychopaths with how they've handled this. Not that I know how they handle grief, but, think about it. If they are so controlling, what if Jason finally had enough and ran? What if they killed him for running?"

"That's crazy, but how could his own parents kill him?" Betty asked. "It'd be, it'd be a horrifying ordeal just to even consider doing something like that. What if it was just some accident?"

"Autopsy-" Eddie began.

"Tears that possibility to shreds, because his body was hidden." Betty finished. "So it was definitely murder, and most likely pre-meditated murder too."

Eddie sighed as Betty was talking herself through all of the evidence, looking at the bland body colour of the Cobra without paint. He ran his hand across the body of the vehicle, caressing the cold steel like it was a piece of treasure that should have remained hidden away for the rest of time. To him, the car was a thing of beauty. To her, a project that needed to be completed before it was overdue. Eventually, Eddie sighed and looked at the blonde as she sat down against the cream brick wall of her garage. She had worn herself out on the case, on the car and just talking about it made her seem to lose that life, that excitement that was usually in her eye. It saddened Eddie to see her like that, to see her lose that vigour and vitality that made Betty Cooper just that.

Betty Cooper.

"Hey, come on, let's talk about something else." Eddie spoke. "About how your mom abhors me for some strange reason?"

Betty giggled. "She doesn't abhor you, you idiot. She just intensely dislikes you for some reason. Besides, how would talking about that sound any better than talking about Jason?"

Eddie grinned, a sly, wry little grin like he had become the Cheshire Cat. "You grin like that when you have a really bad idea."

"Can't be any worse than anything I've done before." Eddie murmured, before dropping to his knees in front of Betty.

"You think getting into fights and making it a regular occurrence is a good idea, I have a feeling you could come up with some terrible ideas." Betty acknowledged. "Go on then, what's this grand idea?"

Eddie took out his phone and put on a song, and waved for her to shuffle towards him in front of the car. The phone began to play a simple guitar sound, a riff which continued until a very-British voice began to sing slowly until the drums finally joined. Betty smiled as Eddie's head began to bob along to the music, soon watching as he climbed to his feet and offered a hand to her. Betty took it, and with little effort the larger boy picked her up off the floor. As the two stood up, Betty could briefly pick up Eddie singing along the words. "That twinkling vixen, with sparkling eyes, their hypnosis goes unnoticed when she's walking by..."

Betty felt Eddie gently place his hands upon her waist, and soon she wrapped her own hands around his neck as the two slowly shifted from side to side as the music continued. It was an odd song, one that sounded like a love song mixed in with poetry and garage rock.

"And now I'm stuck still wondering, how it's supposed to be." Eddie whispered, just enough for her to shiver as he quietly whispered along to the words. The last time they had been this close had been the drive-in night.

"What are you doing, Eddie?" Betty swooned, as she felt Eddie look down on her. "You're just so..."

"Smooth and amazing, I know."

"I was about to say humble too, but that's out the window." Betty giggled as she looked up to the tall raven-haired boy.

The two stayed their as the music stopped and the next song began. Eddie's phone rested on the bonnet of the Cobra, and soon Betty looked towards the phone where she could soon see the song 'Cornerstone' by the Arctic Monkeys. The guitar and drums were so simple that of course it would appeal to Eddie's simple likings. The two swayed from side to side, occasionally firing off into some little twist or spin that felt as if it had come right out of a Disney film where the prince and princess finally danced at the end.

Eddie finally spoke, no musical inflections in his voice. "Why did you want me here tonight, Betty?"

Betty smiled as she looked up at the boy who held her in his arms. "Unfinished business, obviously."

"Really?" Eddie asked. "Just unfinished business? That's all?"

"I..." She felt Eddie's fingers lift her chin so he could see into her eyes. "I needed you."

As soon as she had uttered the words, the pair moved closer together. Like the previous night they were together, their lips brushed lightly together but this time they were not interrupted. Her heart was beating so fast Betty felt as if she couldn't catch a single breath, and she could feel his breath just run over lips gently. He noticed her eyes begin to flutter, before finally closing as their lips met. Soon his hands were no longer on her hips but had lightly glanced her neck as he pulled her in close. Edward was operating on auto-pilot, he knew she hadn't kissed a boy before, it was a secret she had told him and the rest of that group. He wanted her to remember this. He expected her to taste of strawberries or something else sweet but the aftertaste of cranberry remained on the tip of her lips.

He wasn't demanding her for anything, all he needed was her.

She didn't want anything else from him, all she needed was him.

-X-X-X-

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all of you! Have a wonderful 2019, folks! I'll leave you with this as an early New Year's present!

-A Happy Old Boy-