"Greetings, Heather Family," Kevin yelled from the stage. They were sitting in front of it. Abby didn't know how Fangs talked her and Sweet Pea into this. She was surprised by how into this Sweet Pea was getting. He had been making her rehearse with him at home. The rest of the gang made up the stage crew. "Now before we start today, there's been a slight change to our creative team. You all know Evelyn Evernever has been helping me produce the musical. But I've also asked Evelyn to step up and be my co-director."
She got on stage with him. "Yay! So Fun."
"What? Kevin, no, you always direct the musical alone." Betty protests.
"Which has been incredibly stressful, Betty. Especially after last year's events." Kevin wanted to share the load with someone.
"Can we just not talk about Midge, please?" Fang had his arm hanging off the back of Abby's seat.
"Let's get on with this, some of us have a family to get to," Abby spoke up.
"Or a business." Veronica raises her hand.
"How about we do a rundown of everybody's parts, catch Evelyn up to speed?" Kevin points at the main character. "Abby."
"I'm playing Veronica Sawyer. The outcast turns Heather, then back to an outcast." Abby explained her part.
"Hi, I'm Sweet Pea, and I'm playing J.D. Veronica Sawyer's bad boy love interest." He grabbed his girlfriend's hand.
"Reggie Mantle aka jock Ram Sweeney. I'm gonna bro it up with my pal Arch here, just two single straight dudes doing theater." He hooks his arm around Archie's neck to mess up his hair.
"Sounds like the start of a porn." Abby teased.
"Yeah, I watched it last night." Fangs snickers.
"I'm Josie, I'll be the vocal coach." She wanted to take a step back and do some backstage work. It's why Abby ended up with a bigger part.
"Given how much dancing there is in Heathers, Evelyn and I thought we should bring in a choreographer, so give a big Heathers hello to Riverdale's resident fly girl, Toni Topaz," Kevin announced. Fangs, Sweet Pea, and Abby whistle as she walks on stage.
"Does anyone have a chainsaw because what the…" She was going to scream when Kevin cut her off.
"Cheryl, Toni is the choreographer meaning she has the authority here. If you can't respect that then there is the door." Kevin was getting his revenge for Cheryl demanding what play to put on and what part she wanted. This was supposed to be his thing but for the second year in a row, she took that privilege from him, but still expected him to do all the work.
"There are a lot of girls who are happy to play your part." Evelyn thought of a few farmies that could fit the bill. Cheryl sat down with anger boiling inside her.
Evelyn was having them do meditation exercises. They were laying on a rug with their eyes closed. She was walking around them as she spoke. "Everything in your life matters. There are universal truths within each of your personal experiences. A you inside of me, a me inside of you. In rehearsal, we are going to explore our trauma and experience and exercise them through our art."
Abby opened her eyes when she heard clapping. "Alright, Cheryl, Veronica, Betty it's time for Candy Shop. Set and costumes are ready, so go get changed." Kevin entered the room.
They got up to take their seats in the auditorium. "Did you guys feel what Evelyn was saying?" Fangs asked.
"It's weird hippie shit." Sweets shrugged. Everything she said went in one ear and out the other. Kevin wakes him up from his cat nap.
"It didn't sound too bad to me. I don't know about everyone knowing my trauma." She looks around at the few people she wouldn't want to share with.
"What parts did you like?" Fangs wonders.
"The you inside of me, me inside of you. I think that is true. We can all find something in common with each other." She found that from her time with the Gargoyles. "Did you like it?"
"I like everything about it." He found himself agreeing with everything Evelyn said.
"So this number is about the Heathers' undeniable power. Each of you can get anything you want at any time. So unleash that force." Kevin was setting the scene for them.
"We'll start with some simple steps." Toni got up to take over.
"Yeah, we got it, thanks." Cheryl didn't even look at her.
"Toni has a fantastic routine." He picked her for a reason. She auditioned and earned it. Unlike Cheryl, who demanded the role. Honestly as talented as Cheryl was, if he never had to direct her again, he would be excited about next year's play.
"Maybe, but the Heathers and I have already worked out our choreography." She swung her croquet mallet. From Veronica and Betty's faces, it was easy to tell that they were going force along in her act of rebellion.
"Come on, Cheryl. I'm trying to be professional here, can you not?" She was tired of Cheryl trying to push her out of everything. She wasn't going to disappear because they broke up.
"Are we going to have a problem?" She got in Toni's face. The music started and they had a dance battle. It ends with a lot of stepping in front of each other and shoving on Cheryl's part.
"I got to say you're better than me, Toni because if Sweet Pea shoved me like that I would have pushed him off the stage." Abby walks over to Toni and the Pretty Poison after the song. Peaches steps in between them.
"It's fine, Peaches." Toni knew she was with the Serpents again. It was hard for the others to believe when she had a lot of her Gargoyles with her. "So, was the plan always to break apart the Gargoyles and get the Serpents' numbers back up?"
"That would be confidential information that we don't share with outsiders," Greg spoke up from next to Abby. He would never admit it but he was enjoying watching the rehearsals.
Toni flinches at being considered an outsider to the Serpents. "You know the Serpents are a misogynist group." Peach looks at Nancy, who was standing on the other side of Abby.
"Funny, because Glady's a leader of her chapter and Abby has been made programming chair." Nancy scoffs at their way to recruit.
"What?" Toni looks at Abby.
"It just means I'm in charge of the extracurricular things like charity events and parties." She wasn't involved with the interworking of the gang.
"Don't downplay your part. You keep the gang looking good for the community. You are reminding them that our main job is to service them." Greg wasn't going to let her dim herself to make Toni feel better.
"Hi, Everyone." They turn to see Evelyn standing on the director's desk. "I know casting parties are after opening night but the farm will be hosting a little get-together tonight at the former Sisters of Quiet Mercy and I know it may seem a little weird or method but come in costume." The cast was buzzing with excitement at the idea of a party.
Abby decides to go in her fourth outfit. She was wearing a black lace crop top with a gray cardigan over it, a blue ruffle skirt, and black boots. Evelyn started the party off by singing Big Fun. She found herself pumping her fist in the air and jumping around with everyone else. "I can't believe I'm getting into this." She scooped some punch into her cup.
"Is that unbelievable?" She jumped when she heard Evelyn. She looked around, to see Fangs and Sweets who she thought were by her, still dancing around. "I've never thought I would thrive being the main character."
"The way I see it, you're a lot of people's main characters. You're Sweet Peas, Fangs, Gregs, and the list goes on. You're much more important than you think you are." She held up a plate of brownies. "Here have one, I can't make enough for the whole party, so I'm just made for the main cast."
"Thanks." She took the brownie, never one to turn down sweets. Evelyn smiles as she watches her bite into the brownie.
"This is good." Abby hummed at the fudge.
"Thanks, it was made with ingredients from the farm." She smiled.
Abby was looking for the bathroom having too much to drink. This place was a maze with how many hallways and corners there were. She opened a door and prayed it had a toilet, but what she saw made her forget about the need to pee. She stared at Ben Button sitting on the window sill. "Why don't you want me to be part of you? I died for you and you can't open your heart to me." He sobs.
"You are a part of me. I think about you every day." She walks towards him. "You have to know I wanted to save you. I wished I saw the signs sooner."
"You don't get it. We could be great together. You just have to let me fly." He let himself fall backward out the window.
She screamed as she ran to try and catch him but like before she didn't reach him in time. "NO." It wasn't until her fist hit the glass did she realize it wasn't open. A chill went down her spine when she realized it was all in her head. She took a deep breath to look around the room. She realized it was Tessie's old room when she saw the drawing of a bunny. It was something she doodles all the time. She sat down on the bed and hugged the pillow tight as she sobbed.
They were sitting in a circle on stage. Everyone was hungover but Evelyn. "Last night was big fun but now it's time to dig deep. So, who can share something they had never told anyone before? Big or small." When no one answered she went on. "So, does anyone have a burden that the rest of us can help shoulder?" Betty was letting out big sighes.
"I'm being haunted by Midge's ghost. I've been thinking about her all the time since rehearsals started and I just…I feel so guilty." Kevin confessed.
"I've been seeing her too." Fangs joined. "Not her ghost but in nightmares."
"I don't think it's her ghost. It's probably your subconscious working against you, especially if you saw her last night. I saw Ben last night, it must have been the spiked punch. I think about all the people that have been sacrificed to the Gargoyle Goddess but Ben haunts me the most. I keep replaying his death in my head. His bright blue eyes and smile as he spoke about being one with me before throwing himself out the window." She was shivering and holding back tears. Sweet Pea pulled her onto his lap to rub her back.
"Beautiful." Evelyn jumped up. "Through revealing the truth these three people found an unexpected connection. They'll be able to help each other through it. Who wants to go next?"
Fangs went again when no one spoke. "I know it was supposed to be a summer fling but I had real feelings for Josie, so to see her being cozy with Archie at the party just sucked."
Josie let out a big sigh. "Arch, are you and Josie dating?" Betty asked.
"I mean…" Josie looked back at him when he was about to answer.
"Did you know this?" Reggie asked Veronica.
"What… No, I had no idea." She tried to keep the hurt look off her face.
"The fact that your ex is with someone new has nothing to do with you being all-in with me all of a sudden." Reggie wasn't buying it.
"Veronica? Anything to share?" Evelyn asked.
"I just found out that my parents are separating. My family is unconventional, to say the least, but I always thought no matter what they'd stay together." Veronica confessed. Betty got up to comfort her.
"And that is what we in the theater call a breakthrough." Evelyn smiled. Betty glares at the girl for getting joy from others' pain. She swore she was beaming with excitement when Abby almost cried describing Ben's death.
"How come you didn't tell me you were being haunted? Why wouldn't you get me last night after that? When you came back from the bathroom, I couldn't even tell that anything was wrong." Sweet Pea thought of her wide smile as she pulled him to dance with her.
"Because you're worried about me enough." She felt like she was ruining his life. She had a lot of baggage. She wondered why he stuck around.
"You know why you're a good actress because you do it all the time with your dad, Archie, Jughead, Fangs, everyone but I don't want the Notherside Angel that is the perfect daughter, sister, or friend. I want you, the snarky girl with a dark sense of humor. The girl who nerds out about literature, movies, and tv shows. I want the girl who hangs out with me at 3 am, not the act she puts on for everyone at 3 pm. I want you raw and uncut but you don't seem to get that." He was tired of her hiding all the ugly parts of herself from him. He laid everything out on the table and he needed the same from her.
"I'm sorry, I'll try. But, it's not the way I was programmed. It's not the way I was raised. I was taught you don't say things that are going to upset people. You handle your business while helping others. I have never been told before to let someone shoulder any of my pain or problems. I was taught to be strong." She broke as tears came down her face. "I'm doing everything he told me to but I feel weaker than ever."
Sweet Pea hugged her. "They made you cry, but that will end tonight. You are the only thing that's right about this broken world. Go on and cry, but when the morning comes we'll burn it down, and then we'll build the world again… Our love is God." He would help her rebuild her mindset to understand that she wasn't alone.
She couldn't believe he was singing a song from the play to her and it was fitting their situation. "Are you okay?" She said her line.
"I was alone. I was in a frozen lake. But then you melted me awake. See, now I'm crying too. You're not alone." It was her that taught him he could be more than a Serpent. He could be a layered individual and that didn't make him any less loyal to those he loved.
"You're not alone." She sang to him.
"And when the morning comes." He let her go to cup her face.
"When the morning comes." She echos him.
"We'll burn away that tear, and raise our city here…" He was going to make Riverdale a place that they could be proud of.
"We're what killed the dinosaurs. We're the asteroid that's overdue. The dinosaurs choked on the dust. They died because God said they must. The new world needed room for me and you." They sang together, sounding the best they ever had.
"I worship you. I'd trade my life for yours. They all will disappear. We'll plant our garden here." He kissed her. Ending the song there, before they got to the part where their characters killed Reggie and Archie's characters.
Abby and Sweet were on stage to rehearse. "This is the emotional climax of the musical." Kevin hands them their music sheets. "Seventeen captures the longing all the characters feel for what they've lost, their teen innocence." He went off stage. The pianist starts to play.
She pushed Sweet Pea away from her. "Fine! We're damaged, really damaged but that does not make us wise. We're not special. We're not different. We don't choose who lives or dies." She went into character as Veronica begged her boyfriend to not go down the wrong path. "Let's be normal, see bad movies, sneak a beer and watch TV. We'll bake brownies or go bowling. Don't you want a life with me? Can't we be seventeen? That's all I want to do. If you could let me in, I could be good with you. People hurt us." She grabbed Sweet's hands. The song reminds her of when she first met him. He was determined to hold on to a grudge against people who wrong him and his people. It reminds her of their current situation of craziness all around them. She wished they could be normal teens that lived in a small town. Their biggest problem would be coming up with things to do.
"Or they vanish." Sweet Pea thought of all the Serpents that walked away when times got hard.
"And you're right, it blows but we let go…" She had told him that so many times about different things.
"Take a deep breath." It was his next line but he saw her going someplace in her head. His character was keeping his distance but he wanted to hug her.
"Then go buy some summer clothes. We'll go camping." She smiles as she remembers Sweet Pea telling Tessie that tents village was one big camping trip. At this point in the song, Veronica thought she was getting through to JD.
"Play some poker." He thought of teaching her how to play.
"And we'll eat some chili fries. Maybe prom night." She slowly walks over to him.
"Maybe dancing." They began to circle each other.
"Don't stop looking into my eyes." She held his gaze.
"Your eyes." He didn't want to do that anyways.
"Can't we be seventeen? Is that so hard to do? If you could let me in, I could be good with you. Let us be seventeen if we've still got the right." They sang together as they did the waltz across the stage.
"So, what's it gonna be? I wanna be with you." Abby sang.
"I wanna be with you." Sweet answers.
"Yeah, we're damaged." She always knew she was.
"Badly damaged." He has been made aware of that his whole life.
"But your love's too good to lose." They sang to each other. Everyone in the audience could feel every word they were singing to each other was true.
"Hold me tighter." She clings to him.
"Even closer." He wrapped his arm around her waist so they were doing a classic slow dance.
"I'll stay if I'm what you choose." She grabs his jacket.
"Can we be seventeen?" He asks.
"If I am what you choose." She repeats.
"If we've still got the right." He wondered if happy endings were possible in this town.
"'Cause, you're the one I choose." She would never regret being with him.
"You're the one I choose." For him there weren't any other options, never entertaining the girls that threw themselves at him.
"You're the one I choose." They kissed. Their tongues dance together as they cling to each other.
"Cut. Guys." Kevin broke them up.
"Amazing. Those were raw emotions that moved everyone." Evelyn looked around the room to see that they were in a daze. Fangs clapped and everyone else followed. Abby blushed as she remembered they weren't alone.
It was opening night and people were buzzing in excitement. They were signing each other's programs. "Seriously, Abby you should consider broadway." Kevin signed her program.
"Stop it." She didn't think she was that good.
"I mean it. You sing everything with such emotions." He only heard Josie be able to connect with every song before.
"I just put myself in the character's shoes." She sat still as Nancy did her makeup.
"You do have high empathy levels." She thought about why she was able to feel for people who were demonized by the community like drug users and gang members.
"We are on in ten." Kevin looks at his watch. He went around to make sure everyone was ready.
They were doing the last number. Kevin wanted it to be a big group song. Abby argues that would make the song pointless. It was supposed to be about Veronica repairing the problems that she started. It was about fixing her relationship with Martha, so they kept it close to the original. Abby walks through the stage that had a backdrop of a school hallway "Listen up, folks, war is over. A brand new sheriff's come to town. We are done with acting evil. We will lay our weapons down. We're all damaged. We're all frightened. We're all freaks but that's alright. We'll endure it. We'll survive it. Martha, are you free tonight?" She turned to Toni who was playing Martha. Veronica's childhood friend that she ditches to be a Heather.
"What?" She looked surprised.
"Um, my date for the pep rally kind of blew...me off. So, I was wondering, if you weren't doing anything tonight, maybe we could pop some Jiffy Pop and rent a video, something with a happy ending." She walks over to Toni.
"Are there any happy endings?" Toni wanted hers more than anything.
"I can't promise no more Heathers. High school may not ever end. Still, I miss you, I'd be honored if you'd let me be your friend." Abby grabbed her hands as Veronica begged for her friend back.
"My friend," Toni smiled.
They harmonized together. "We can be seventeen. We can learn how to chill. If no one loves me now, someday somebody will. We can be seventeen, time to make things right. One day we'll change the world." They did the tango across the stage.
All the female characters danced around them, singing along. "But let's kick back tonight. Let's go be seventeen. Take off our clothes and dance. Act like we're all still kids cause this could be our final chance! Always be seventeen. Celebrate you and I. Maybe we won't grow old."
The males sang in a lower tone under them. "And you know, You know, You know… We can be beautiful. You know, You know, You know… Because this could be our final… You know, You know, You know… We can be beautiful. You know, You know, You know…"
"And maybe then we'll never die. We'll make it beautiful. We'll make it beautiful…" They lined up to take their final bow as the song ended.
The audience was silent for a second then a man in all white stood up to clap. "I know my father would like it." Evelyn smiled.
Abby looked at the suspected cult leader. He looked handsome enough to charm people into doing terrible things. If he was his daughter's teacher then she could see why he was gaining a following. Evelyn did have a way of making you think everything was about you. If Abby didn't know about them draining Alice Coopers of all her money, she would believe them. She gripped Sweet's hand tightly as other people in all white stood to clap. Some she knew like Principal Weatherbee. They were clapping in unison making it eerier.
"It doesn't look like we can be seventeen." Sweet Pea felt sick to his stomach like almost everyone on stage.