Chapter 35

Betty was at her locker at the end of school gathering what books she needed to take home to do her homework. It had been two days since she been goaded into challenging Sheila and Betty had to admit she was somewhat curious to see what Sheila could produce. Sheila had been at home hard at work every day after school not hanging out with Betty and the others and she had showed up to school tired having clearly worked well into the night.

"Hey Betty you want me to bring anything?" somebody asked from behind her.

Betty closed her locker and turned around to see Maria Rodriguez and her boyfriend Frankie Valdez, the two had ended up being Home Coming King and Queen.

"Bring anything to what?" Betty asked confused.

"Your Halloween party," Maria said holding out a piece of paper.

Betty snatched it from Maria and looked it over.

"Halloween Party at the Cooper Farm!" it read. "Start time 7:30, BYOB."

"Where did you get this?" Betty asked.

"Jughead was handing them out," Frankie said taking it back from her. "He said it was your idea."

Without a word Betty walked off looking for Jughead. She found him at his locker talking with Raj Patel, an Indian boy who was obsessed with movies and movie-making. Raj was rarely seen without a camera in hand.

"Jughead, a word please," Betty said.

Before Jughead could say one way or another Betty grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him outside and took him around to the far side of the school before she grabbed him by his shirt and pinned him up against the school, his feet dangling well above the ground.

"Um… is this about the party?" Jughead asked nervously.

"No it's about eating the last of my tuna salad the other day," Betty responded sarcastically.

"Okay just so you know it wasn't my idea," Jughead said.

"Who's idea was it?" Betty asked.

"Polly's," Jughead replied.

Betty let go of Jughead and he dropped to the ground, his crown beanie falling off. He quickly bent down and put it back on.

"This was Polly's idea?" Betty inquired.

"Yeah, but she knew you'd be against it so that's why we didn't tell you," Jughead said.

"But you hate these sort of things, why are you in on it?" Betty asked.

"Normally I hate these things," Jughead corrected her. "But you remember the other how I said I always wanted to do that group costume thing the other day? Well this seems like the perfect place to do it."

"Oh dear god," Betty muttered.

"And obviously Sheila is in on it," Jughead added. "But so are your parents."

Betty sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

"I guess I'll just have to make the best of this," Betty said.

"Come on it'll be fun," Jughead said.

"Maybe," Betty agreed somewhat reluctantly. "What about Barry and Dilton."

"They'll both be there," Jughead said. "Barry agreed to help decorate and Dilton said he'd DJ, and participate in the group costume thing."

"Ugh I can't believe Sheila is going through with this," Betty complained as they walked back towards the front of the school.

"You know you're going to end up having to pants the whole football team," Jughead said.

"Does it make me a bad person to want her to fail?" Betty asked.

"Yes, but it also means your human," Jughead said. "Well somewhat in your case."

"Ha, ha, very funny," Betty responded sarcastically.

They made their way out front where Polly was waiting. Rather than get a truck again this time she had gone for the large SUV, getting a Dodge Durango. Part of her reasoning behind it was that Betty was getting more friends and they needed the seats to drive them all around, but she wasn't about to get a van and she had loved the truck so this was the best compromise. Polly was sitting in the vehicle waiting, and as Jughead and Betty made their way to the car Barry and Dilton joined them.

"Hey Betty," Barry greeted her.

Betty just glared at him.

"Uh…" Barry stammered.

"She found out about the party," Jughead said.

"Come on Betty it's just a party," Barry said. "And it'll be fun."

"You don't understand," Betty complained. "All my life I've tried not to stand out and not to be noticed because of what I can do."

"I think I understand just fine," Barry said. "But you can't just hide in the shadows, if anything that'll raise suspicion in and of itself. It certainly did with Veronica."

"I think her hitting me with a car had more to do with it," Betty retorted.

They all reached the car and got in. Betty climbed up in the front while Barry, Jughead and Dilton got in the back.

"Hey guys!" Polly greeted them cheerful.

"We are going to have a talk when we get home, in private," Betty said, a scowl on her face.

"She found out about the party didn't she?" Polly asked as she turned around to face the boys in the back.

"Maybe the invites weren't the best idea," Jughead commented. "We probably should have used e-vites."

"Hindsight is always twenty-twenty," Polly said.

"I think I still would have found out," Betty said grumpily.

"You know I don't really see what your problem is with this," Polly said to her sister. "It's just a party. And it's not like I'm not inviting my own friends."

Betty didn't say anything but just looked forward. She knew she was defeated on the issue and figured it was better to just shut up and accept it.

Polly shifted the car into gear and pulled away.

"I've got to make a stop at Pansky's on the way home to pick up stuff for my costume," Polly mentioned.

Pansky's was a costume shop named after the owner. He also had a small jewellery business on the side. Polly pulled into the parking lot and came to a stop. There were quite a few other cars there as well.

"Do you guys want to come in?" Polly asked. "It looks busy so it might be a little while."

"Sure, what do you need to get?" Jughead asked. "We might be able to help you find it."

"Well I'm being Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie," Polly replied. "I'm just looking for something like the bottle she had in the show."

"You might have better luck at an antique dealer," Dilton said.

"It's a fairly popular costume I'm sure they've got something," Polly said.

They all got out and went into the store. It was indeed crowded with people shopping for Halloween costumes. They quickly ended up separated.

Betty ended up finding herself in the less crowded jewellery section. The more expensive stuff was kept in locked display cabinets, but there was some costume jewellery that was out to be looked at more closely.

Betty looked over some of the rings. Most of the insets looked faked our gaudy, but then she came to one that looked as though it were set with a fairly large sapphire. Betty glanced at the price tag and saw it was quite reasonable. She really liked the look of it so Betty decided to buy it.

Betty headed up to the front where she saw that Polly was already waiting in line to pay, Betty lined up behind her sister.

"Oh what are you getting Betty?" Polly asked.

"I found this ring," Betty said holding it up to show her.

"Oh, that's quite pretty," Polly commented. "It almost looks like a real sapphire."

"I know," Betty agreed. "I wonder what it actually is; it's not plastic."

"Maybe some kind of crystal?" Polly suggested.

Betty shrugged.

They paid for their items and after the others joined them went back to the car. They all got in and drove back home to the farm. Betty went up to her room and put the ring in her desk before going to join her friends in the barn. Barry was showing off with his ability to juggle ten things at once, one of which was a chainsaw.

"Knock it off Barry," Betty said as she reached out and snatched the chainsaw effortlessly with just one hand.

Barry caught everything else and set it down on the ground.

"Don't tell me you're going to be the same way at your party," Barry said.

Betty just shrugged as they made their way up to the loft where Dilton and Jughead were.

"So Betty you going to invite anyone to your party? You know a date?" Barry asked.

"No… I don't think I'm ready yet," Betty said as she remembered Jason.

"What about you Barry, you bringing someone?" Jughead asked.

"No," Barry replied as he flopped down onto one of the couches.

"Not interested in any of the girls at school?" Betty asked.

"That's not it," Barry replied. "I guess like you I'm not over my first love."

"Oh this is not something I've heard," Jughead said sitting up from where he was lying on the couch, suddenly interested. "Do tell more."

"I'm definitely intrigued by this," Betty said as she plopped down into one of the chairs and put her feet up on the coffee table.

"There's not much to tell," Barry said. "Her name was Iris, Iris West. I probably liked her more than she liked me, and her brother Daniel hated me."

"Older or younger?" Betty asked.

"Twin," Barry replied.

"Oh wow, that is a parallel," Jughead said. "Twins just like Jason and Cheryl."

"So what happened?" Betty inquired.

"After my… accident, while I was in the coma, Iris broke up with me, she started dating this guy Eddie, he's basically a blonde version of Reggie," Barry said. "She was a different person when I woke up, she wasn't quite as nice and she was sullen. I soon learned that it was because her mother had been killed."

"Oh what happened?" Jughead asked.

"It's a mystery," Barry replied. "She was home one night with Daniel and Iris, while their father Joe was at work, he's a cop. It was fairly late and Iris and Daniel were going to bed and suddenly they heard a cry from the kitchen and when they went downstairs they found their mother dead with a knife in their house."

"That's awful," Betty commented. "Did they catch whoever did it?"

"No, there were two sets of fingerprints on the weapon but they belonged to Iris and Daniel and they were both upstairs when it happened," Barry said.

"Could they have done it?" Jughead asked.

"They could have," Barry said. "But there was no motive and there was no reason not to believe their story. And then there was the strange fact that they both blamed me."

"They blamed you? But weren't you in a coma at the time?" Betty asked.

"Yes, I don't think I could have had a better alibi," Barry said. "It's part of the reason why I wasn't too upset to leave Central City."

"That's so weird," Jughead commented.

"Well forget them," Barry said with a shrug. "So what do you guys think we should do for decorations?"

Betty let out a sigh as Barry and Jughead talked about the party.

Veronica Lodge double checked the address on her phone. She was standing in front of a two story semi-detached home in Central City. After confirming that she had the right address Veronica walked up the short walkway and onto the small covered porch before ringing the doorbell. A few moments later the door opened a teenage boy with short brown hair answered.

"Hi," he greeted Veronica, however his tone was anything but welcoming.

"Are you Daniel West?" Veronica asked.

"Who are you?" the boy retorted.

Before Veronica could respond a girl with similar coloured hair tied back into a loose ponytail who was probably the same age appeared behind the boy.

"Oh my god Daniel, don't you recognize her? That's Veronica Lodge!" the girl exclaimed.

Daniel however didn't seemed impressed.

"What do you want?" he asked Veronica.

"I was hoping I could talk to you," Veronica replied. "May I come in?"

Daniel didn't get a chance to respond before the girl, likely his sister given how similar they looked, pulled him aside to let Veronica in. Veronica smiled as she entered the house.

"And I take it that you're Iris," Veronica said.

The girl nodded slightly as a shocked expression crossed her face.

"How do you know us?" Daniel asked suspiciously.

"Well let's sit down and discuss things," Veronica said.

Iris led the way to the living room. Veronica took a seat on the chair while Iris and Daniel sat down on the couch.

"So I understand that you two know a boy named Barry Allen," Veronica said.

"Yeah my sister dated the loser briefly," Daniel said his voice full of spite.

Veronica glanced over at Iris who has a rather angry expression on her face.

"I take it you don't like him much," Veronica observed.

"Barry Allen killed our mother," Iris said, venom in her tone and a deadly expression on her face.

"It's my understanding that he was in a coma at the time so perhaps you could explain," Veronica said.

"You don't believe us, just like the police didn't believe us," Daniel said.

Veronica had read over the police report concerning their mother's death which included the police's interview with the West twins, that was why Veronica had even come here in the first place.

"All I know is what I've read," Veronica said. "But I would like to hear just what you two saw that night."

"Well we were both upstairs," Iris said. "I was in the bathroom and Daniel was in his room, it was late like eleven or so. Our dad was at work, he's a cop so he works all hours."

"I was just about to climb into bed when I heard our mom scream from down in the kitchen," Daniel picked up the story. "I ran out of my room and down the stairs with Iris right behind me. As we ran into the kitchen I thought I saw a yellow flash or something."

"A yellow flash?" Veronica asked.

"I don't know it was just this blur, it was only there for a split second, not even a second like half a second and then it was gone." Daniel replied.

"Anyway," Iris continued. "We enter the kitchen and we see our mom lying on the floor the knife in her chest and blood is everywhere. There's this guy dressed in a red suit kneeling over her. Daniel yelled hey or something at him and he looked up and it was Barry Allen."

"You're sure?" Veronica inquired.

Both of the West twins nodded.

"It was definitely him," Iris said. "He looked a little bit older, I mean he had a bit of facial hair but otherwise it looked exactly like him."

"He looked up at us, his face was shocked and then suddenly he just vanished in his red blur." Daniel said.

Veronica sat back and considered for a moment. She could easily tell why the police didn't believe their story, but after what she had seen in Riverdale Veronica thought that it was certainly plausible.

"Well the police might not believe you, but I do," Veronica said.

"Well that's great but what good does that do us?" Daniel asked.

"I'm guessing the two of you would like to get revenge on Barry Allen," Veronica replied.

"He killed our mother and go away with it, of course we do," Iris stated unequivocally.

"Well I think I know how Barry might have done it," Veronica said. "And if I'm right with your help you can get that revenge."

Did Barry really kill Iris and Daniel's mother? And if he did why? Or was it someone else... perhaps that yellow blur? Only one way to find out. Please review!