Chapter 22: Mega-Mall Of Horrors!
*Aria's POV*
It had been a week since the adults got turned into teens and the water had been thoroughly cleaned out. I consulted with Archie that I was worried that there would be a delayed reaction with this and listed off the possibilities like aliens or mutated creatures or even monsters discovering this small town. He told me everything would be fine. I had no idea I was right as within the night a giant mall had soon appeared.
*Morning Aria's POV*
"Archie!~" I whined, as he had stolen another fry from my plate, as I slapped him away. I was meeting Jughead here at Pop's and Archie was stealing my food.
"What?" He asked me innocently. That's when Betty and Veronica showed up.
"Stop stealing my food!" I yelled. It was dead here today since everyone got out of school. When Reggie showed up Archie took a hand full and ran near him.
"Archie!~ Stop it!~" I whined as I began pouting as I stood up. That's when I felt arms wrap around me.
"You look cute when you pout." I heard Jughead say as he lightly kissed my cheek. I eeped from that and turned red.
"Please! For the love of Pops Burgers don't sneak up on me!" I said as I held my hand to where my heart was and tried to calm down from the mild heart attack I almost suffered.
"Sorry. It's cute when you make that sound too." He said as he kissed my cheek again and, again, made me eep. I jump out of his arms and glared at him.
"Your getting to be mischievous." I told him as he just smiled.
"Who? Me?" He replied in a cocky way as I sighed. Before Archie could steal another handful I grabbed him and pushed my body against his to flip him over me and onto his back.
"Oof." He said as I leaned over him and smiled.
"I told you!" I said with a smile as I popped a fry in my mouth. Pops soon came out and saw him on the floor.
"Get your own Arch." I said with a smile as Jughead and I sat next to each other and I began eating more of my fries. I didn't order burgers yet because I wanted to wait for Jughead.
"No burgers?" Jughead asked in shock.
"Waited for you." I said as Pops put a huge tray in front of us.
"You two are the best." Jughead said, referring to me and Pops, as Archie and the gang started talking about the new mall that showed up. We both weren't interested that much but they were and, in the end, we decided to go check it out later. They got there own booth while Jughead and I continued to eat. Jughead had made a cute little speech about the burgers and I joined him. We both made Pops cry out of happiness and soon we finished our food. I was starting to pull out my cash when Jughead stopped me.
"I got it." He said, which shocked me since he rarely ever pays with his own money and for anyone other than himself, as I shook my head.
"No it's okay. I asked you to meet me here and I ordered for us. I got it." I said as he then took the bill and ran straight to Pops. My jaw dropped.
"Jughead Jones I said I would pay!" I yelled at him. I guess not only him paying for the both of us shocked Pops but the others as well because I heard an oof followed by a small thud. I looked over and saw Archie and Reggie on the floor with shocked looks on their faces.
"Jughead!" Reggie said.
"Paying?" Archie said soon after as Jughead showed up next to me.
"I said next time would be my treat. Besides you almost always treat me. It's my turn." He said as the group yelled huh. I sighed and lightly shook my head as I then looked at him with a smile on my face.
"Alright. You win this time." I told him as I stood up. Soon we all hopped in Archie's car, we got Reggie to sit in the front with Archie and I sat on Jughead's lap, and drove off to Mallhala. Everyone seemed Impressed by it except me and Jughead. Don't get me wrong I do like the mall but this one is huge compared to the small one. I usually like small stores and the classic mom and pop places. A huge mall like this wasn't all to swell for me. Jughead seemed to agree with me on that one. We went inside and it looked even bigger in here. All the kids were shopping, eating, talking and walking around. Even parents with kids roaming around here.
"There's got to be every kind of store there is in here." Betty commented while I sighed.
"There's just one problem." Archie said as we all stopped and looked at him.
"I'm broke." Archie added as I sighed again
"Me too. The babysitting business has crawled to a stand still lately" Betty added in.
"Don't look at me. My allowance has left the building." Reggie said.
"Daddy took away all my credit cards." Veronica added in.
"Went over the limit again?" I asked her.
"Not by much." She said as I rolled my eyes. Not by much meant a lot.
"I'm broke too. I just used most of my money at Pop's" Jughead said as I gaped.
"Jughead. I said I could cover it." I told him. He just shook his head.
"I wanted to though." He said as Archie then looked at me.
"I have some but I'm not going crazy." I said flatly. Man did I need a job. That's when we saw something rise from the floor. It looked like a small pillar but it opened to reveal a man in a booth. I blinked and rubbed my eyes as the man turned to us.
*Strange. I thought his reflection was different. I must be imagining things.* I thought as the man smiled at us.
"I couldn't help but overhear. Allow me to introduce Myself." The pudgy man said as he then spun his name plate around for us to see.
"Calvin Johnny Avarichi. General Manager of Mallhala. So you're the manager?" I read and then asked. I didn't like the looks of this guy. He screamed greed.
"Indeed. And that puts me in the unique position to help you out of your financial predicament." He said while rubbing his thin mustache. Yup. He screamed money grubber and untrustworthy.
"You're going to validate our parking?" Jughead asked as I giggled.
"Jughead the parking was free." I pointed out as I giggled a bit more.
"Oh yeah." He muttered.
"What I offer are these." He said and as he snapped his fingers 6 gold cards soon appeared.
"These are Mallhala gold cards. They're good in any of our stores here. Go ahead take one. They say money can't buy happiness. But these cards sure can." He said as I looked at him funny.
*I'm seriously not liking this at all.* I thought to myself.
"Mister. You've got a deal." Reggie said as he took a card. Suddenly his name appeared on the card.
"Hey! My names already on it." Reggie said as I gawked.
*Yeah I don't like this. We didn't even tell him our names.* I thought.
"As the manager I make it a point to know all of my customers." He said with a wicked smile.
"I don't like this." I muttered next to Jughead.
"Neither do I." Jughead whispered back to me. He soon handed out the cards to them.
"Oh. And let's not forget Aria Andrews." He said as he handed me a card. I skeptically took it.
"So there free? What's the catch. I know in life you can't get something for nothing. So what's the catch?" I questioned him harshly.
"Aria. Don't be so harsh." Archie scolded. I just rolled my eyes.
"No no. She's right. There is a small catch. I just request that when the card reaches it's limit that you pay it back. Simple as that." He said with a smile as I looked at him.
"How do you know we'll pay you back?" Archie asked skeptically.
"The patrons off Mallhala always pay back." He said with another wicked smile. I definitely don't trust him. Not at all.
"Now go. Get what you deserve. Go. Buy." He said as the door closed and the small pillar sunk back into the ground.
"Well I'm not using mine. I don't trust him." I said as Archie rolled his eyes.
"That's just the city in you talking and being cautious." Archie said as I tapped my foot and had my hands on my hips.
"So what? It's done good for me so far." I scolded before Jughead wrapped his arms around me to comfort me.
"It's fine Aria. You don't have to buy anything if you don't want to." Jughead comforted me as I sighed.
"Holy hunka moly!" Reggie suddenly said as we looked to see him gawking at a helmet.
"He wants it." I mumbled as I looked at Jughead.
"Can we just walk around?" I asked him as Archie, Betty and Veronica went to Reggie.
"Sure. It's better than standing around doing nothing." He said as we ditched them and walked around. I saw a couple stores I liked but I refused to go in them.
"Hey Aria. I know we just went past a few stores that you'd like. Why not go in?" He asked me.
"Because I don't want to be tempted into buying anything I won't really need." I told him as we continued. After about 3 hours of walking, sitting, and chatting Archie came up to us.
"Aria you missed it. There's a store that sells different supernatural stuff. Look at this." Archie said as he sat down next to me and showed me a book.
"An ancient street atlas to the lost city of Atlantis? Really?" I questioned him on his find.
"Hey it's for the article." He told me as I rolled my eyes. Then veronica showed up.
"Well I bought this expensive designer sweater. Luckily it came in the color I look best it. All of them." She stated as she showed us all the different colored sweaters she bought. Then Betty showed up with a backpack.
"I got this earth friendly backpack. It's made of tree bark. When it wears out you feed it to an elephant." She said in a happy tone.
"Betty there are no elephants here except the zoo and I don't think they'll let you feed that to them." I pointed out as she pouted.
"If you're all done throwing your money away can we go home now?" Jughead said as I nodded.
"Yes I agree. It's boring here." I said as I then yawned. I was tired.
"Well I'm not going to let Jughead and Aria ruin my shopping spirit. We're helping the economy. So lets help it some more and come back tomorrow." Veronica said as Archie, Jughead and I rose from our seats.
"No. Helping the economy is helping small shop owners like Pop Tate's." I said as she huffed at me. We were close to the entrance when I thought of something.
"Hey wait! I think we're forgetting someone." I said suddenly. Then we heard weird music and my mind went blank.
"Who are we missing?" Archie asked me. I shook my head.
"I-I don't know. Let me count." I said as I counted Archie, Jughead, Me, Betty and Veronica.
"No. Nevermind. It was just the 5 of us. Weird though." I said as we then left the mall. I ended up sitting up front with Archie instead of Jughead's lap.
*Why was I sitting on his lap when there was enough room for all of us?* I thought as Archie dropped everyone off, Jughead kissing my cheek, and we went inside to sleep. I tossed and turned a bit as I heard weird music in my sleep.
*Two weeks later Aria's POV*
We were sitting and eating lunch. May was almost over. Something felt so off in Riverdale high and I wasn't too sure why. I felt like it had something to do with the mall but I couldn't figure out what.
"Does anyone notice anything weird going on here?" Archie suddenly said as I perked up.
"Archie-kins. Whatever do you mean?" Veronica asked. "Just look around." Archie said and so we did. Everyone had new looks and something shiny to show off. Even BE. She bought an outfit similar to her red one except it was in a royal blue with an ice blue top.
"By weird do you mean that since Mallhala opened 2 weeks ago we have the best dressed students in the county? Or that there's more electronic gear here than NASA." Jughead said as I saw Dilton heading this way with a new robot he bought. He insisted on buying it instead of making one which was foolish.
"No. That I get." Archie said.
"Is it the fact that the school seems like it's not as full of teens as we thought?" I asked out of the blue.
"Yeah. There are a lot of empty seats in the classrooms." Jughead pointed out.
"And there seems to be fewer students in the hallways." Betty also pointed out.
"It all feels weird." I said as Dilton came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I decided to pull away from them to talk to Dilton alone.
"Salutations Aria. Would you like to go to Mallhala with me? They have a new robot I wish to buy." He said as I shook my head.
"No. I'd rather take the time to make one." I told him.
"But with Mallhala there's no need to make one when you can buy one." He told me. I couldn't believe it.
"Dilton. The point of making any type of invention is to, not only feel the satisfaction but to also, claim it as yours and yours alone. You of all people know that." I said. I suddenly heard that strange music again but it only lasted 5 seconds.
"So what? Building them is stupid. I'd rather buy one." He told me as I gawked at that.
"Dilton. You've changed. I miss spending time with you in the lab. Go spend time with your precious Mallhala." I said as I walked away from him.
"That's fine with me." He shouted back as I went over and sat next to Jughead.
"You okay?" Jughead asked me as I shook my head and sighed.
"Dilton would rather buy the inventions then make them. I miss building and creating things with him. All he cares about is Mallhala." I said with a sigh.
"Yeah. These guys want to go back." Jughead muttered as I sighed again.
"It's amazing how we're the only ones not to buy things." I said as he pulled me closer to him.
"Yeah I know." He said to me. Now it was the end of the school day and we were heading down to Mallhala. I sat in the back with Betty and Jughead as I curled up to him a bit.
"So. You two going to finally buy something at the mall?" Betty asks us.
"Not until I find something I-Hey Archie! Pull over!" Jughead started saying but then cut himself off and now we pulled over. I looked and saw we were at Pop's.
"Pops. Hey long time no see." Jughead said as he got out of the car.
"Hey Pops." I greeted as I joined him. We hadn't been to Pop's in ages because of us being dragged to Mallhala a lot.
"Well hey kids. Where've ya been? Come on, I'll fix you up some burgers." Pops said and boy did that sound good.
"No can do Pops. We're going to Mallhala." Archie said as I sighed.
"Pfft. Mallhala. That darn mall. It's stealing away all the customers from the local stores." He said as I noticed a lot of closed down stores. I just sighed. This was depressing.
"Gee. I'd really like a burger." Jughead said.
"Me too." I added in when we heard that strange music again. It only lasted a few seconds but now I suddenly changed my mind.
"We have to go to Mallhala." Archie suddenly said as I sighed again.
"Sorry Pops." I said as I gave him an apologetic look before Jughead and I got back in the car. Soon we were off. I could tell Pops was hurt by that. We were soon there and I decided to follow Archie and Jughead.
"You sure you don't want to go with the girls?" Archie asked me as I shook my head.
"I'm sure. Being with Jughead helps prevent me from buying things I don't really need." I said as Jughead pulled me closer to his side with his arm around my waist.
"And besides that I don't need Veronica pressuring me on buying clothes again." I said with a sigh. I did need new clothes but I decided to wait a little bit. We went up the escalator and, before we knew it, something caught Archie's eye.
"Oh Wow! A mummy's scarab! Gotta have it!" Archie yelled in excitement and zoomed off to the store. I tugged on Jughead's sleeve and motioned to a spot to sit. He nodded and guided me over to the concrete bench to sit and talk.
"Jughead this seems weird. I'm not sure why but I feel like something is wrong. Like my memory is acting up or something. I feel like I've seen these mannequins around school before." I said as he looked at me funny.
"You think I'm crazy huh?" I asked him.
"I don't think that. Maybe being here too much is making you see things or dream of it." Jughead said as I sighed.
"Perhaps your right." I said as I looked at him with a weak smile. After a few hours Archie and Veronica showed up where we were.
"Yet another shopping conquest. Thank you Mallhala for letting me be all that I can be." Veronica bragged and boasted as I rolled my eyes.
"And I got another mummy's scarab. Now I have three dozen!" Archie bragged. Jughead and I stood up and agreed this was too much.
"More stuff and nonsense." Jughead nearly yelled as he covered his ears and had a look of annoyance.
"I agree. This is too much. You really don't need all this stuff. If I can handle going without then why can't you? I seriously don't trust this place nor these stupid gold cards. I know something is wrong and all you can do is shop shop shop!" I nearly yelled myself. This was too much.
"If you're done can we get out of here?" Jughead said as him and I started to walk away.
"You know you two might actually enjoy these shopping trips a bit more if you actually went shopping instead of sitting around and not buying a thing." Veronica said to us. My blood was boiling and Jughead knew that. He pulled me close to him and spoke before I could.
"You two do enough without our help." Jughead scolded. We didn't even bother looking at them as we waited for them to hurry up.
"Wait. I'm getting the feeling we're forgetting someone again." I suddenly voiced my thought before we heard that strange hypnotic music a few seconds before my mind drew a blank again.
"No. We're all here." Archie said as I looked at him and Veronica before I shrugged.
"I guess I'm tired." I said with a small shrug.
"Archie. Look at that mannequin over at that window." Veronica pointed out as I finally noticed it.
*It seems familiar. But that couldn't be. This is the first time I've seen this mannequin displayed. I think.* I thought to myself as I looked at it. It was a female with blonde hair in a ponytail, blue eyes, and wearing a white top with a sweater, skirt, and pumps in red. It looked so familiar. Archie followed Veronica over to it and in a blink of an eye she ran in the store. Archie came over to us.
"She said she'll be right back." Archie said as Jughead and I sighed.
"She better hurry." I said as I grew annoyed. Ten minutes passed by and I was losing patients. I wanted to go home.
"Man how long is this going to take?" Archie asked as he became impatient.
"Yeah. How long?" Jughead asked before we then heard that weird music again.
"Archie? What are we waiting for?" Jughead suddenly asked. I was wondering that too.
"You know. We're waiting for." He stopped as he then shook his head. That music was annoying.
"Aria? I thought you wanted to go in?" Archie asked as I snapped out of my daze.
"No. I don't recall wanting to go into that store." I said as I grew confused.
"Let's go then." Archie said as we walked away. I felt like something was off but didn't know what exactly.
*End of May Aria's POV*
It was now 3 weeks since Mallhala opened as Archie, Jughead and I roamed the school.
"I had the nicest dream last night." Archie started off talking to us as we headed to class.
"I dreamed I went to a normal high school. You know one that actually had some students in it. Like Aria's old school." Archie said as I sighed.
"Again with this." I said as he continued.
"It was nice. There were more students than teachers. And there were these two gorgeous girls, one a blonde and another a raven haired girl, and they both loved me and I got to date both of them." Archie said.
"Sounds like my dream. Except Jughead had a rival who was smart and always invented things. He'd let me help. And there were 6 guys in music class who fawned over me. But I told them I wanted to be friends and they were okay with that." I said as Jughead pulled me over to him and kissed my cheek.
"What? I'm not enough for you?" He asked me teasingly as I blushed.
"N-no. You are." I said as he smiled at me.
"This is probably why my parents sent me here. Because there's no other kids to interact with." I said as I got slightly upset about that. My dream consisted of many friends and two boyfriends.
"Say Arch. Why do you suppose they built all these classrooms and lockers if there aren't any kids to use them except us?" Jughead suddenly asked.
"It's because. Because. Because." He started saying but his words were getting soft as we heard that music again for just a few seconds.
"How would I know? Say! There's someplace I want to go to after school." Archie said as Jughead and I sighed.
"Mallhala?" I asked as Archie had the biggest dopiest grin on his face. We both sighed and agreed to go. Jughead and I never bought anything though. Once school was over we went to Mallhala and Archie immediately went to his favorite store while Jughead and I lingered very very very far behind.
"Jughead I don't like this. I still feel off here." I told him as he held me close.
"It's alright I'm here." He said as we went up the escalator and headed to the store my cousin went into.
"I'm here to protect you. And so is. So is." He started before we heard that hypnotic music again before it stopped.
"Jughead? Why are we in front of this store?" I questioned him.
"I'm not sure." He mumbled before we saw a mannequin with orange hair and freckles in a wizard outfit.
"Ah! That's that's!" I shrieked and started to say before that hypnotic music played again.
"The ugliest hat you've ever seen right?" Jughead asked when the music stopped. I shook my head and looked at the mannequin again.
"Yeah. It is." I mumbled before we were both grabbed. We looked over and saw Mr. Avarichi was the one who grabbed us.
"Jughead Jones and Aria Andrews. Come with me." He said as I looked at him warily. I seriously didn't trust him at all. Needless to say we followed him as he stood between us and wrapped and arm around our shoulders. I didn't know why but I hated it when someone I didn't like did that. But he was the only one I didn't like who's done that. Right?
"You know, out of all my customers, your the only two I've failed to reach. In all your trips neither of you have bought a single thing." He said to us.
"There's just nothing that I want." Jughead said.
"Same here. I just don't want anything that comes at a heavy expense." I said as I directed that toward him. He looked at me a little funny. I think he knew I didn't trust him and his gold cards one bit. He then smiled and looked at the both of us.
"Until now." He said as he brought us both to a buffet. Now I'm not a glutton but man did this food look good. And I never really ate much at my parents house so yeah. I was drooling a little bit. I peeked over at Jughead and saw him licking his lips and drooling. He was talking about all the different foreign foods as Jughead then handed him his card and started filling his plate up. I loved how Jughead got with food but I was skeptical.
"Well? Will you join your boyfriend?" He asked me as Jughead waved me over to a food station. I sighed and gave him my card.
"If Jughead wants this and enjoys it then I won't fight." I said as he took my card and I filled up my plate as well. We both sat down and I looked at him. He saw the worried look on my face.
"Are you alright?" He asked me as I shrugged.
"Eh. Food makes you happy. I'm willing to use my card with you to be happy." I said as I faintly smiled at him. He got ready to eat before.
"Jughead. Aria." We heard a sad voice as we looked and saw Pops at the entrance slowly walking towards us.
"Pops?" I questioned. I didn't like that he was sad.
"Pops? What are you doing here?" Jughead asked.
"I brought you two something." He said as he came over to us and looked at both of us with a weak smile. I tilted my head in curiosity. He then held up two paper bags and handed them to us while talking.
"There the last two hamburgers I'll ever make. It's only right that you two should have them." He said as we took the burgers out of the bags and looked at them before looking at him.
"What?" I questioned in shock. The last ones he'll ever make?
"Thanks to this darn mall I've lost all my customers. The chocolate shoppe's going out of business." He said as he looked down in sadness. I stood next to Jughead, both of us holding a burger from him, as we both tried not to cry.
"But-but. You can't. The Chocolate Shoppe's my favorite place. Our favorite place." I said as a couple tears fell from my eyes. This was probably the saddest I've felt in so long.
"Pops that's terrible." Jughead said as we both wiped the tears fro our faces. That's when Mr. Avarichi grabbed Pops shoulders.
"That's progress old bean." Mr. Avarichi said before he turned him around and started to lead him out of the place.
"Now run along." He told Pops.
"Hey! Leave him alone." Jughead yelled.
"Yeah. He did nothing wrong." I yelled at him as well.
"It's okay. I have to go. The other store owners are throwing me a going out of business party. Mark my words, Thanks to Mallhala, It won't be the last." Pops said as he started to walk away. I looked at the burger and then went to Mr. Avarichi and took my card back from him.
"I'm not doing business here." I stated as he gawked at me. I had also grabbed Jughead's without him noticing because I had a feeling he felt the same way I did.
"What a shame. Your missing out." He said as he went over to Jughead. He lifted Jughead's chin and looked at him.
"Don't let that sob story ruin your appetite. Maybe if you eat your girlfriend will change her mind. After all you're both growing teens. Look! Fast food from the four corners of the earth." He said as that weird music began to play again. I looked at the yummy food and went over to Jughead as Mr. Avarichi was telling him to buy, eat and buy some more. I wanted to taste the food in front of me and Jughead but then looked at the burger I held.
*I-I. I can't!* I thought as I handed Jughead his card.
"I can't! Pops burgers are the best. No fancy food nor other food places will ever change that." I said loud enough for them to hear as I bit into Pop's burger. Oh man was this good. Jughead saw this and pushed the food away from him as he then grabbed his burger.
"She's right. See this burger? This is all thats right in the world." He started his speech as I paused half way through my burger to hear him speak.
"It's smothered in ketchup and served with a pickle. Except Aria's. She hates pickles." He said as he picked up the burger.
"True that." I said as Jughead took a bite before continuing.
"Everytime we both take a bite of this burger. *Munch Munch* We're both reminded of the blessings, *Munch Munch* Friendship, *Munch Munch* Our relationship, *Munch Munch Munch* Small town values, *Munch* And for me onion slices." He said as he took one final bite of his burger as I followed suit.
"We don't want none of your fancy shmancy food." He said as I stood next to him as we both held our cards in front of him.
"And this is what we think of your mall!" I shouted as we ripped the cards up in front of him. Man that felt good. Soon we heard booming sounds as we saw the speakers had blown up. I looked at Mr. Avarichi and gasped. He turned green.
"No!~" He screamed as he suddenly started turning into green goo and screaming in agony.
"Oh my glob!" I screeched as I clung onto Jughead. Yeah I still haven't gotten completely over the Tapioca glob thing so globs kinda freaked me out a bit. Not as much but seeing as this was once a person was going to scar me for life.
"Look what you've done!" He said as he really melted to a glob puddle.
"Our friends. They've all been turned to dummies! By you!" Jughead realized and pointed the blame on him.
"If you weren't a pile of goo I'd kick your sorry excuse of a butt for turning my cousin, other boyfriend, and friends into mannequins for your shops!" I screamed. I was fuming now.
"Your defiances have broken the spell. The town will soon remember it's missing teens." He said as now a puddle was formed and it was steaming.
"What? What are you?" Jughead asked in shock.
"The most selfish shopoholic that ever lived. When I had no money left I sold my soul for more, more, more! Always more! Now I'm bound to this mall and forced to corrupt the innocents or force to pay the ultimate bill. Myself!" He said as I actually felt bad for him.
"I feel kinda bad for you but this is what you get for your greed so you deserve it." I told him while I put my hands on my hips and lowered myself a bit to look at him better.
"Well your not going to use my pals to settle your debt." Jughead said. Then we gasped as the smoke and sludge suddenly turned into a green creature, like a dinosaur, with sharp claws and long sharp teeth.
"The reflection I saw! It wasn't my imagination!" I said out loud as I was trying not to panic. He looked scary and dangerous alright? Oi. He started coming right for us.
"Oh no? Like an overdue bill I won't go away!" He snarled as we backed up to the table. Jughead grabbed one tray and I grabbed the other as we then smashed them in his face and made a run for it.
"You go to Archie. I'll get Betty and Ronnie." I said to him.
"Right." He agreed as we split up. I was at the store where I saw both of them and I looked for their cards. I had a hunch it had something to do with them. I found Betty's and ripped it up.
"Aria! My hero!" Betty said, after returning to normal, as she grabbed Veronica's card and ripped it up. She too was returned to normal.
"You rescued me. Wish you were Archie though so we could kiss." She said as I rolled my eyes. Then we heard something. I grabbed them and hid them with me in the clothing rack. I saw Mr. Avarichi looking for me and Jughead.
"Shoot. You two stay here. When I lure him away start ripping up everyone else's cards." I told them. Before they can protest I ran out and was now behind the green monster.
"Hey Avarichi! Over here!" I said as he turned and saw me.
"Nya nya! Can't catch me!" I yelled as I made a run for it.
"I'll have you yet you stubborn teen!" He yelled as he soon chased me. He was faster than I thought.
*I have to get him to chase me somewhere for me to trap him.* I thought as I tried to think of where to go. I ran into a store just as he was about to grab me. I jumped by a random clothing rack and managed to get him stuck. I ran out and bumped into Jughead.
"Jughead!" I yelped as I hugged him.
"You okay?" He asked me.
"He's behind me." I said as we looked around the corner and see himself get unstuck.
"Help the others out. I'll distract him. And no arguing." He told me as I nodded yes and did what he asked me to do. I ripped up a few cards and told them to go to the exit. I soon found Dilton and ripped his card up.
"Aria!" He said as he hugged me.
"Later. We need to go." I said as we headed for the exit. I saw Avarichi and Jughead and I hid in a bush. Once I saw Avarichi grab Jughead's ankle I ran out and jumped on his back.
"Let go of one of my boyfriends you green creep!" I yelled as he let go of Jughead and struggled to get me off. I barely flipped over him and made him flip over me to the ground as I bolted out the door. When he got up and went to get us the doors closed and sealed him in the mall.
"No! Come back kids! I'll give you things you want!" He screeched as I looked at him.
"We don't want any." I said as I backed up a bit. The mall started crumbling.
"Run for it!" I yelled as we ran out of the way and watched the mall collapse into the ground and disappear from sight.
"See Archie? I told you that Meteor had a delay effect of bringing something to this town thanks to it's disturbance." I said with a cheeky grin.
"Yeah yeah. You were right." He said as I smiled brighter at that.
"I guess Mr. Avarichi's the manger of a mall underground." Jughead pointed out.
"Way way underground." I added in ad we all lightly laughed.
"Yeah. And if we don't get greedy maybe he'll stay there." Archie pointed out.
"Who's up for Pops?" I questioned as we all agreed. Now a lot of teens were at Pop's and he couldn't be happier. Jughead and I sat at one booth while Archie, Reggie, Veronica and Betty sat at another.
"Wow Pops. Looks like you're back in business." Archie commented when Pops gave them a plate of burgers.
"Business is booming thanks to the return of you kids." He said with a smile as he brought over a plate piled high with burgers on it for me and Jughead.
"Especially with the return of my 2 best customers." He added as Jughead and I dug in.
"Thanks Pops. If you hadn't given me and Jughead a burger then we would've suffered the same fate." I said as I finished one burger and started a second one.
"Well I felt you two deserved it!" He said as we smiled at him.
"Don't worry about the bill guys. We got it." Archie said as the three others agreed. I smiled and kept eating.
"Aria?" I heard as I looked over at Dilton.
"May I please join you?" He asked as I smiled.
"Of course." I said as Jughead eyed him warily.
"I wanted to apologize for how I was acting. You were right. Building is more satisfying then buying." He said as he started eating his burger. I smiled at him.
"It wasn't your fault. Avarichi's spell brought greed out to a lot of the teens here." I said as I ate another burger.
"But why weren't you affected?" Dilton asked me.
"I grew up having very little remember? My parents didn't give me an allowance or bought me many things. I had to earn them with small odd jobs in the city. I've learned you can't get something for nothing. Everything has a price. When I came here things changed. I made friends, get an allowance and sometimes get treats. I've just learned to appreciate what I have instead of wanting more." I said as I started my 7th burger.
"Understandable." Dilton said to me.
"Yeah. I've learned money cant buy happiness but it can get me Pops amazing burgers. *Munch munch munch* And those are one of the things that make me happy." Jughead said as I giggled at that.
"Jughead helped me not to buy anything I didn't need. If not for him then I might've bought something I needed and ended up a victim as well." I said with a small smile. We ate and chatted a bit more before Archie said it was time to go. I kissed Dilton and Jughead on the cheek and said goodbye to them as Archie an I Headed home. School was almost over and I was determined to get a summer job and not goof around a lot. When we got home we decided to work on the article.
"It's hard to believe it was Pop's burgers that ended our reckless shopping spree. ~Archie. Not really. For Jughead and myself it made a lot of sense. ~Aria. It also reminded us all that a little shopping is fine as long as you don't get carried away. After all you can't buy the things that are most important in life. ~Archie. Yes food, clothes, a house and a car are important but he means other things like the loyalty and friendships you find. ~Aria. ….In a little town called Riverdale. ~Archie and Aria." We finished typing the article as I stretched and yawned.
"I'm going to bed." I told Archie.
"Alright. Goodnight." He said as he hugged me. I hugged him back and said goodnight as I went to my room to try and rest. Tomorrow I was going to look for a job for the summer. Even if it was odd jobs here and there. Maybe when the babysitting business booms again Betty will let me help her out. I wanted a car and from the moment I got here and saved up a good part of my allowance I had $600 saved up. If I did odd jobs and continued with my allowance then maybe I can ask Uncle Fred to help me pay for half of it if I get a classic like Archie had. Maybe. I'll talk to him about it soon. For now I just curled under my sheet and fell asleep to the warm Friday night.