Chapter 12

It was Tuesday evening and Betty and Archie along with Barry and Sheila were at the bowling alley. It had been a rather trying couple of days at school; even the halls of Riverdale High were not immune to the hatred and vitriol that was being spawned by this election campaign. Betty was hoping for an evening of fun, unsullied by politics.

"You know I've never really understood why bowling shoes have to be so ugly," Sheila commented as she put her rentals on.

"Or why we have to wear them," Archie added.

"Well the idea behind bowling shoes is they don't have any tread and they're a soft sole that lets you slide on the wood without scuffing or marking it up," Barry explained.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Archie said as he looked at the bottom of his bowling shoes.

"They still could make them less ugly," Sheila said.

"Yeah but by being so ugly people are less likely to steal them," Betty stated.

"Touché," Sheila conceded. "You wouldn't catch me giving these to my worst enemy to wear."

"Do you even have a worst enemy Sheila?" Barry asked.

"Yes, morning Sheila; she's a monster," Sheila replied.

"Alright who wants to go first?" Archie asked.

"Let's go alphabetically," Barry suggested. "So you, then me, then Betty and then Sheila."

"I was going to say ladies first, but that works," Archie agreed.

"I don't really care," Betty said.

"Me neither," Sheila responded.

"Okay," Archie said.

The others watched as he went up and checked the balls testing their weight before he picked one. He then stood getting ready to throw.

"Man Archie has such a cute butt, you're lucky Betty," Sheila commented.

Betty hadn't been looking there but after Sheila's comment Archie's butt was the only thing Betty could focus on. She didn't even notice when Archie bowled a strike.

"Yes!" Archie exclaimed as he jumped up and raised his arms.

"That was great," Betty said.

"I know, I'm off to a killer start," Archie said.

It was only then that Betty noticed Archie had bowled a strike.

"Oh… yeah! Great, uh throw," Betty congratulated him.

Beside her Sheila could only chuckle knowing full well what had just happened.

Barry went up next and on his first ball he left himself with the dread seven ten split. On his second throw however Barry managed to pick up the spare, the seven pin taking a crazy ricochet to knock over the ten.

"Holy crap that was amazing!" Archie congratulated Barry.

"It's all in the wrist," Barry explained.

Betty however knew better and she leaned over to Barry.

"Use your speed like that again and your next ball ends up in the gutter," Betty warned him in a whisper so Archie couldn't hear.

Betty then stepped up and on her first throw knocked over six pins and on her second throw she was able to pick up the spare herself.

"Nice frame Betty," Archie congratulated her with a high-five.

Sheila was next and she looked really awkward as she selected a ball and even as she lined up. But the Sheila bowled a perfect strike with and amazing curve much to the amazement of Archie, Betty and Barry.

"What, girl can't have a hobby?" Sheila asked as she made her way back to her seat.

"Wait a minute, so that stuff about bowling shoes?" Barry asked.

"Oh they're still ugly as hell," Sheila replied.

She then reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of blue and pink bowling shoes of her own that were a lot more stylish then the rental ones.

"That's why I have these," Sheila said as she began taking the rental shoes off to the put her own on.

"Oh, Sheila is a ringer!" Archie exclaimed. "I hope you didn't make a bet with her Barry."

Barry looked desperately at Betty for help.

"If you made a bet with her that's your problem," Betty stated raising her hands to absolve herself of any part in this.

"Oh he bet me alright," Sheila said. "Barry has to introduce me to his parents this weekend if I win."

"He hasn't already?" Betty asked.

"But what if Barry wins?" Archie inquired.

"No he hasn't," Sheila responded. "And if Barry does somehow manage to win, then he gets to pick the next movie that we see."

"You know this bet really seems kind of unfair for me," Barry said.

"Why are you embarrassed to introduce me to your parents?" Sheila asked glaring at him.

"No!" Barry responded.

"Next game we should play teams," Archie said. "I'm with Sheila."

"Let's finish this one first," Betty said.

They continued bowling. They were each on their final frame, Sheila had managed to bowl eight strikes and one spare with a game that would be the envy of pro bowlers and Archie himself had bowled a respectable game with 5 strike and three spares. Betty and Barry both had lower scores because neither was using the powers to cheat.

As Archie was getting up to start bowling his final frame, Jughead, Dilton, Cheryl and Ginger all arrived to start playing on the lane adjacent to theirs.

"What are you guys doing here?" Betty asked slightly accusingly.

"Well I felt like having some chilli cheese fries," Jughead replied. "And Ginger said that the bowling alley had the best chilli cheese fries in town. And she's right."

Betty looked at the heaping pile of chilli cheese fries that Jughead was carrying. It certainly did smell good from where she was. However she was pretty sure that Ginger and Cheryl were simply using Jughead's appetite as an excuse to come spy on the double date.

"Hey how about we do teams once we finished this game?" Archie suggested.

"Sounds like a great idea," Cheryl agreed. "Boys versus girls?"

"Nah, how about newcomers against those already here?" Archie responded.

"Oh he wants to play with Betty, how cute," Ginger said.

Betty was pretty sure that Archie wanted Sheila on his team, but she wasn't about to correct Ginger.

"Okay we'll do that," Cheryl agreed.

Archie finished up his final frame getting a spare then a strike. Barry then went a scored a nine. Betty picked up a spare before accidently throwing a gutter ball when he ball didn't curve in time. Sheila then went up and threw three straight strikes to finish her game.

"That's my girl!" Barry congratulated her.

Cheryl, Ginger and Jughead were all in shock. However Dilton didn't seem surprised at all.

"Just two hundred seventy-eight?" Dilton asked Sheila as he looked at the score sheet.

"Well I didn't bring my own ball, I'm using one of the alley's; and that's just a warm up," Sheila replied.

"Wait a second, you knew Sheila was a good bowler?" Cheryl asked.

"Of course, we were in the junior bowling league together for years," Dilton replied.

"Wait a second…" Betty said.

She wandered back towards the entrance where there was a trophy case and several pictures on the wall. She grabbed one and brought it back and showed it to the others.

"How did we miss this?" Betty asked.

She pointed at one particular person in the picture which was a 12 year-old Sheila sitting next to a 12 year-old Dilton.

"That picture is five years old," Sheila complained. "That's when I still had braces."

"To be fair I don't know what Sheila looked like five years ago," Barry said.

"I can't say I really remember either," Archie admitted. "Although I vaguely remember the braces."

"I knew," Jughead piped up. "But Sheila had me sworn to secrecy."

"Can we just start the match?" Sheila asked, a little embarrassed over all the attention that she was getting.

"Yeah, yeah," Barry agreed. "I mean you guys have Dilton and he's got to be pretty good too right?"

"I'm 'pretty good'," Dilton agreed. "Although Sheila has bowled more perfect games than me."

"Well it's what twenty-seven to twenty-one?" Sheila asked.

"Twenty-two," Dilton corrected her.

"Okay so each team has a ringer," Archie said. "This should be a fair match, although Cheryl can't use her strength."

"Come on bowling is about more than strength," Cheryl protested.

"Tell me you can't throw that bowling ball like a baseball and knock all those pins down?" Archie asked.

"Well I haven't tried, but yeah I guess I could," Cheryl admitted.

"Well no doing that," Archie said.

"Alright, but let's make it interesting, losing team buys the snacks for the winners," Cheryl suggested.

"You're on," Archie agreed.

They then started the match. The two teams ended up being rather evenly matched and in the end Archie, Betty, Barry and Sheila won by just twelve pins. Betty and her team were high fiving each other when suddenly…

"What are you doing hanging out with a bunch of nerds Archie?" someone asked.

They all turned to see Reggie Mantle along with Brandon and George two members of the football team. All three of them were wearing Donald Trump merchandise.

"What do you want Reggie?" Archie asked.

"I want to know when you became so lame," Reggie responded.

"If anybody is lame Reggie it's you," Ginger said.

"Shut up you fucking dyke," Reggie responded. "I bet you pee standing up."

At that Cheryl stood up and got in Reggie's face.

"Oh are you going to beat me up?" Reggie asked her. "Yeah if you didn't have those powers you wouldn't even dare think about it."

Betty noticed that Brandon and George both had their phones out and they were recording everything.

"I wouldn't need powers to beat you up," Cheryl replied. "I could have kicked your ass before I got these powers."

Reggie responded by snatching Cheryl's drink away from her and then powering it on her head.

"Yeah, whatcha gonna do about that?" Reggie asked. "You gonna go cry to your little lesbian girlfriend?"

Cheryl went to attack Reggie but Betty quickly interjected. She had to use all of her strength to hold Cheryl back.

"He's trying to goad you," Betty said quietly in Cheryl's ear. "He's got his friends recording it, he wants to make you look bad."

"You know Reggie, Cheryl could press charges against you for assault for what you just did," Barry told Reggie.

"Get lost nerd," Reggie said shoving Barry to the ground.

Suddenly Archie stepped in and dropped Reggie to the ground with a straight right. Brandon and George went to attack Archie but Reggie motioned them back.

"At least I know who's side you're on," Reggie said to Archie.

Brandon and George helped Reggie to his feet. Reggie turned to walk away but then suddenly turned back around and punched Archie in the face. Cheryl quickly grabbed Reggie and pulled him away holding him in the air by his shirt his feet dangling a foot off the ground.

"You and your little goons need to get out of here," Cheryl said.

She dropped Reggie to the ground and he landed on his feet with a bit of a stumbled.

"Come on let's get out of here," Reggie said to Brandon and George.

"Are you alright Archie?" Betty asked checking on him.

"Yeah, Reggie punches like a gir… or um, child?" Archie said as he looked at Cheryl.

"Nice save," Cheryl said.

"Yeah if he hit like you I'd probably be dead," Archie joked. "But what was Reggie even doing here."

"I think it's pretty obvious," Ginger said. "He was trying to start something so those goons could record it and make Cheryl look bad."

"They might be able to use that bit at the end where you grabbed Reggie," Sheila mentioned to Cheryl.

"Oh god I hope not," Cheryl moaned. "Especially after Betty held me back earlier."

"Yeah, how did you manage to do that?" Archie asked Betty.

"Um, I knew Cheryl wouldn't hurt me," Betty lied.

"Yeah, if I killed Betty I'd have to move back in with my parents," Cheryl joked.

"You know we should come back here on Thursday when that stupid Trump rally is going on," Archie suggested. "I mean there's no school that day so why not?"

"Won't the place be closed?" Barry asked.

"Yeah but my friend Trevor works here and he can get us in, as long as we don't steal any food or anything," Archie replied.

"Well that takes away from the fun," Jughead complained.

"I can't," Betty said. "Bobbi wants me to cover the Trump rally for the school newspaper."

"Ugh you're actually going to that hate fest?" Ginger asked.

"Not willingly," Betty replied.

"Let's stop talking about such a depressing subject, and start another game. We can do boys versus girls this time," Barry suggested.

They then went about bowling another game.

It was Thursday and Betty was at the Trump rally, as much as she didn't want to be there. Barry had come with Betty just in case. The rally was being held at Pickens Park and as was to be expected the crowd was made up largely of white people and there was also about a two to one male to female ratio.

There was an anti-Trump rally taking place down at the beach just six blocks away. Ginger and Cheryl had taken up a position in between the two rallies just in case a riot broke, as had been the case at several Trump rallies already. As Betty looked around she saw people wearing T-shirts that said All Lives Matter, Makes America Great Again and the newest Make America Safe Again. There was a palpable bigoted energy in the air.

The rally started and several people that Betty didn't really know came up and spoke. However the next person up Betty did know, it was Reggie Mantle's father Richard, or Ricky as he preferred to go by. Ricky was the owner of the Riverdale Gazette, the town newspaper which had taken an extremely pro-Trump stance in the past year.

Ricky said a few things to sort of pump up Donald Trump and then he introduced the man himself and Donald Trump came out on stage to thunderous applause from the audience. Betty had to admit she was kind of shocked. It was the sort of cheering that one would expect for a rock star or a pro athlete, not a politician. But then again Trump himself was a reality TV star with his show the Apprentice.

"Thank you! Thank you, I have to say it is good to be here," Donald said as he waved his hands around, which Betty noted looked on the small side.

"It has been a very difficult past five days, ever since Muslim terrorist tried to kill my running mate Mike Pence," Donald continued.

"I can't believe he's saying that," Barry said to Betty. "The NTSB just yesterday ruled out any sabotage or explosives in their investigation."

"But Muslim terrorist are just one of the problems that our country is face," Donald stated. "With the help of Crooked Hillary, companies are sending our jobs overseas to China and Mexico. Other countries are laughing at us. But there is one other threat that hits very close to home for you people of Riverdale; and that is the rise of these vigilantes and people with powers."

That brought a cheer from the audience.

"Crime is out of control and we've got people trying to take it into their own hands, and people with powers causing damage to our property," Donald said. "Well when I am president that is going to end!"

"You know what's scary, is that while he's overstating the problem he's not entirely incorrect," Betty said to Barry.

Barry nodded in agreement.

"Now you've already heard about my wall. It's going to be the best wall, it's going to be great. The Chinese will have to rename their wall because of how great my wall will be, it's true. Well I am here to tell you that I am going not only am I going to build that wall but I'm going to enact a law. It is going to be a great law. The best, it's true." Donald stated. "This law will make it illegal to be a vigilante or have super powers. And I'm going to create a new agency to enforce it. They will be made up of the best people, they will have the best weapons and they will make America Safe Again!"

The crowd roared its approval.

"And to help me implement this, I've brought in a new running mate; somebody who knows a thing or two about this sort of thing; Hermione Lodge!" Donald announced.

The crowd cheered as Hermione Lodge came out onto stage but in the audience Betty and Barry were dumbstruck. They watched as she shook hands and hugged Donald before taking the podium.

"Thank you Riverdale for that warm welcome," Hermione said. "I am honoured that Donald has chosen me to be his new running mate after the unfortunate event that beset Governor Pence. Now I may not have the same political experience but if there is one thing I know from being married to Hiram Lodge it is about people with powers and how to stop them."

"That doesn't even make sense," Barry said confused.

"Together Donald and I are going to make all of you safe, and we will make America great again!" Hermione declared.

The crowd roared with approval.

"This is just mindless rhetoric," Betty complained.

"Be sure to put that in your article," Barry said.

"You know I will," Betty said. "I mean there is no way that…"

Betty stopped mid-sentence as she and Jughead both looked up on the stage. A strange grey swirling portal had appeared and a man that looked to be Hispanic emerged from it dressed in body armor and carrying an assault rifle before the portal vanished. Before anyone could react he had the gun pointed at Hermione.

"We have to do something," Barry said.

Betty nodded and it a split second the two had changed to their costumes and were running towards the stage. However just as they reached the stage a second portal suddenly opened in front of them and they vanished into it.

Ginger and Cheryl had been waiting nearby when they had heard the panicked screams. They had been flying towards the park when they saw Betty and Barry vanish into the portal.

"Where did they go?" Ginger asked.

"I don't know!" Cheryl replied panicked as she looked around.

On the stage security fired at the mysterious man. They hit him in his armour but he was able to get away by creating another portal.

"Shit, now what?" Ginger asked.

Cheryl looked down at the chaos going on below on the stage. She noticed that Hermione Lodge seemed to be remarkably calm despite her near death experience.

"Let's keep an eye on her," Cheryl said pointing at Hermione. "Something isn't right here."

Hermione Lodge was being led away from the stage to her awaiting limousine. She got in and sat down.

"Hello," a male voice said.

Hermione looked up to see a young dark haired man sitting in her limousine.

"Who are you?" Hermione demanded.

"Reggie Mantle," he introduced himself.

"The son of Ricky the owner of the Gazette?" Hermione asked.

"The one in the same," Reggie replied.

"So what are you doing in my limousine?" Hermione inquired.

"I have some information that you might find useful," Reggie answered.

"What sort of information?" Hermione asked.

"I know who this new hero the Green Lantern is," Reggie replied. "And I can help you discredit her."

Hermione was quiet and considered Reggie for a moment.

"You're clearly a very resourceful young man," Hermione said. "I mean you did manage to get into my limousine. I think I might have a position for you working for me."

"That's exactly what I was hoping for," Reggie said with a smile.

Betty and Barry emerged from the portal and came to a rest in a grassy area. As they looked out they saw large city before them.

"Is… is this New York?" Betty asked.

"I think so, that looks like the Empire State Building, and the Chrysler building but… are those the Twin Towers? Did we go back in time?" Barry exclaimed.

"I don't think so," Betty replied.

"Why do you say that?" Barry asked.

"Because that's not the Statue of Liberty behind us," Betty responded as she pointed.

Barry turned around to look and saw that it wasn't the Statue of Liberty, but the statue of some other woman and it was a lot more sexualized than the Statue of Liberty with large breasts and was scantily clad.

"Then where the hell are we?" Barry asked rather confused.

Who is this mysterious Hispanic man and where did he send Betty and Barry? And will they be able to get home? Read on to find out! Please Review!