Author's Note: And here's chapter 2! Haven't received any death threats from the Choni fans, so that's nice, I guess. Anyway…

Chapter 2: Comforter

Archie and Cheryl sat side by side on the bed, neither of them saying anything for a few minutes.

"Tell me about Jason", Archie said. "It might help if you tell me what you liked the most about him."

Cheryl wiped tears off of her face and stared straight ahead.

"He was the only one in this family that truly loved me", Cheryl said. "He was my best friend, someone I admired. He never had anything bad to say about me. When my parents yelled at me for some reason, Jason was always there to offer some encouragement."

Cheryl looked down at the ground.

"Cheryl, I don't know where to begin", Archie said. "I'm sorry that we didn't get many chances to interact or socialize last year or during middle school. I wished I had said something to you to offer encouragement. You're an incredible girl. You have so much talent. Jason would be proud of you."

"Cheryl, I know I shouldn't have ignored you or overlooked what you were going through. But I truly want what's best for you. If you'll give me a chance, I want to help you."

Cheryl smiled at Archie.

"Thanks, Archie", she said. "But may I ask why you are being so nice to me?"

Archie smiled at Cheryl. "I'm an only child. I've never had any brothers or sisters. Even though I'm best friends with Jughead or Betty, I've never really looked out for them that well either. I want to improve my character and personality. I want to put aside my own selfishness."

"But, Archie", Cheryl said. "You're far from selfish. I've seen that in your attitude and your childhood. I remember in third grade, when I had tripped and gotten my knee injured, you tried to help me. You got band-aids from the nurse's office and tried to heal my wounds."

Archie smiled when he remembered. "I can't believe I forgot. How do you remember that? It was so long ago."

"I didn't have many friends in elementary school", Cheryl said. "Some people were jealous because of the wealth of my family. Others were afraid that I would scream at them. But during the few times we interacted, you were always nice to me. There's no reason to be so modest."

"Thank you, Cheryl", Archie said. "But like I said before, I should have been there for you. Rather than neglect you the way I did back in elementary school, I should have supported you and stuck by you. I should have done stuff like offer you a seat at lunch, invite you or social events, or at the very least talked more to you."

"Archie, don't be so hard on yourself", Cheryl said. "You were never nasty or spiteful towards me. You really should give yourself more credit for your personality."

"But I'll be there for you, Cheryl", Archie said. "Even if no one else is, even if your parents aren't there for you, I'll be willing to help. I'm willing to listen."

Cheryl hugged Archie in response.

"Can you tell me any memories of Jason?", Cheryl asked.

Archie tried to think.

"Truth be told, outside of football, we didn't have that much interaction. But we were at a party during freshman year after we won a game against Baxter High School. I think it was at Chuck Clayton's house. We had some pizza and then we played cards. I lost against Jason, but it was a good game. I honestly have to give credit to Jason for not trying to cheat during the game."

Archie looked down at the ground.

"The last time I ever spoke to Jason was a phone call back in June. I asked him if he thought we could have a chance at getting through the playoffs and going to finals. Jason thought we had a decent chance."

Archie glanced at Cheryl, who was looking at the ground feeling remorseful and frightened. He had never seen her show any signs of fear.

"Cheryl, I know that I could never replace Jason. I could never be an awesome brother as he was to you. This concept of having a sibling that I could depend on is almost completely new to me. But I could use a sister. And I'm sure you could use a brother."

Archie secretly knew that his new feelings for Cheryl were stronger than that, but he knew that now was not a good time to admit it. Cheryl needed time to grieve and someone to talk to. Archie would at least help her with that.

Archie and Cheryl embraced for a few more minutes. Then Archie said, "Cheryl, I've got to head back home. My dad will be worried about me. But take care of yourself, okay?"

Cheryl nodded. As the boy left, Cheryl thought about how wonderful Archie really was, on both the outside and inside. Though the two had hardly spoken to each other previously, Cheryl suddenly thought that maybe she and Archie being more than friends maybe wouldn't be so bad. In fact, it could be beneficial and essential during this terrible time for her. It seemed like the entire world had turned its back on her.

When Archie headed back to his house, he headed upstairs to his bedroom. He was in love with Cheryl. He was crazy about her. He didn't know why he didn't have this passion and pride about her before, but he was surely feeling it now. He may have made some regrettable choices in the past, but there was no question that he would do everything he could to make it up to Cheryl. He had to be there for her. No one else seemed to even want to be near her. He had to at least make some kind of an effort.

Then Archie realized that Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones could not find out about this. Betty and Jughead were never friends with Cheryl, and if they found out about what he was doing…he didn't want to think about the backlash.

Archie decided he would only tell them when enough time had passed. It didn't seem necessary to tell any of them now. They didn't need to know right away.

So, almost every day that summer, Archie would stop by the Blossom household to spend time with Cheryl and talk to her. A few of those times, Clifford and Penelope would invite Archie for meals. He only came for Cheryl's sake, although he was very polite.

Archie didn't tell Fred anything about the meals he had at the Blossom household. He was pretty sure Fred would not be pleased with that. Archie also had to be careful not to accidentally run into Betty and Jughead during his trips to Thornhill. It was proving to be harder than he thought.

Finally, the first day of school arrived. Archie was preparing himself for football season and for his classes. He knew it was going to different without Jason. He wondered what would happen at school. Would they make a tribute for him?

"Hey, Archie", Fred said. "Are you ready for school?"

"Yeah, Dad."

"You know, Archie, I remembered you expressed interest in working for me at Andrew's Construction. You might have your chance."

"Dad, I would love to, make no mistake. I'll do the best I can, although I have football and I have plans to practice music", Archie said.

"Don't worry, Archie, I'm sure you will be fine. Whatever you want, it's your choice."

Archie nodded and hugged his father.

"I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, son."

Archie headed to the school and eventually found himself in the school gymnasium with the other tenth graders. As Cheryl passed by Archie, she winked at him. Archie smiled at her. He had to be careful to not risk being seen, of course.

Betty waved to Archie, and Archie smiled at her. Archie looked over at Reggie Mantle. Reggie was staring straight ahead, seemingly at Geraldine Grundy, who was the young music teacher. Archie thought this looked suspicious.

The principal, Waldo Weatherbee, announced into the podium, "We are filled with heavy hearts to inform you about the tragic loss of one of our students, Jason Blossom. He would have started his sophomore year today. Cheryl Blossom, Jason's sister, would like to say a few words."

Archie beamed as he saw Cheryl walk to the podium.

You can do it, Cheryl, Archie thought.

"Hello, fellow students of Riverdale High. I am filled with remorse and sorrow over my dear brother. But I'm sure Jason would have wanted the Pep Rally to occur in any case. Let's do it for Jason!"

The crowd cheered and clapped. Archie applauded respectfully. He wondered who the new quarterback would be, now that Jason was gone. He did not expect this situation to occur.

As the students filed out of the gymnasium, Archie passed by Cheryl.

"You did great", Archie said.

"Thank you, Archie", Cheryl said. But Archie was already gone.

Archie's first class was English. He paid attention, but he had some awful feelings inside of him, like something terrible was about to happen. He did his best to dismiss those feelings.

Later, Archie was heading to his next class, Biology. As he was heading there, he noticed out of the corner of his eye two people in the music room. As he tiptoed to get a better look, he saw that Reggie and Miss Grundy were talking and laughing. Archie looked disgusted when he saw that Miss Grundy was putting her hand way too close to Reggie's ass. Archie walked away, hoping he could forget about he had just seen.

In Biology, Archie decided to work with Cheryl.

"Do the police have any leads?", Archie asked Cheryl.

"None, sadly", Cheryl said as she dissected one of the frogs in anger. "When I find the person who did this…"

"Cheryl, you'll be fine", Archie said as he offered a comforting hand on Cheryl's shoulder.

Cheryl smiled and the two of them resumed working.

When classes ended that day, Archie received a text from Betty.

Meet me after football practice at Pop's, the text said.

Archie then replied in his own text to her, Sure, Betty.

As Archie was heading towards the football field, he saw Reggie on the field playing catch with Chuck Clayton and Moose Mason.

"Hey, Reggie", Archie said.

"Archie", Reggie replied in response.

"Reggie, I don't mean to sound like a snoop, but I saw you with Miss Grundy in the music room."

Reggie glared at him.

"Whatever you saw, Andrews, is none of your business", Reggie said.

"But Reggie…"

"Drop it, Andrews", Reggie said.

Archie then decided to stop talking and focus on playing catch.

Later Coach Clayton had them doing scrimmage drills. Archie managed to make at least three successful plays when he was playing as the quarterback. Although Archie thought he would have made a better wide receiver.

After practice, Coach Clayton then gave Archie a jersey.

Archie noticed the jersey had the number nine, which had been Jason's number.

"Coach Clayton, this is Jason's jersey", Archie said.

"You can have it", Coach Clayton. "After all the hard work you put in, you deserve it. And you know being on varsity means more away games."

"Yes, Coach", Archie said, seeming obedient and compliant. But in his mind, he felt puzzled. What would Cheryl think about Archie using her late brother's jersey number?

Maybe she won't mind, Archie thought.

"You should feel honored", Reggie said to him. "I wanted that jersey."

Archie didn't respond to him. He showered and got changed. He headed to Pop's, where Betty Cooper was waiting for him with a dark-haired girl.

"Hello, Archie", Betty said. "This is Veronica Lodge. She and her mother moved to Riverdale from New York."

"Nice to meet you, Veronica", Archie said as he offered to shake her hand.

"So, how is everything going?", Archie asked Betty.

"Everything is fine. How have you been this summer? I've noticed we didn't have that much interaction."

"I've been busy with practicing football and writing music. I've had a lot to think about", Archie said. He was smart enough not to say anything about Cheryl.

"This fast food restaurant looks amazing", Veronica said.

"Their food is pretty good", Archie said.

He then checked his watch.

"Look, Betty. It was great speaking to you again. I have to get going", Archie said as he headed to Thornhill.

"See you!", Betty said.

Archie ran as fast as he could to the Blossom estate. He had to make sure that no one recognized him on the way over there. Archie noticed Kevin Keller laughing with Moose Mason and Midge Klump at one of the street corners, so he had to take another route to Thornhill. He had no interest currently in engaging in long conversations.

Archie knocked on the door. Penelope answered.

"Is Cheryl home?", Archie asked.

"She's upstairs in her bedroom", Penelope said.

Archie walked upstairs to Cheryl's room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nana Rose looking at him. He decided not to give that much thought.

"Cheryl?", he asked.

"Come in", Cheryl said.

Archie walked in and hugged Cheryl tightly. Cheryl hugged him back, clearly feeling relaxed and ecstatic.

"How are you feeling?", Archie asked.

"Wonderful", Cheryl said. "Even though Jason's gone, I have someone I can talk to and pour out my heart to. Someone I can trust and depend on."

Archie nodded. He only hoped Cheryl wouldn't ask about football.

"How is football?", she asked.

Crap!, Archie thought. She's going to find out about me getting Jason's number. Oh well, might as well tell the truth.

"Well, I'm on the varsity team. In the starting lineup", he explained.

"That's great", she said.

"There's something I need to tell you. Please don't be upset", Archie said.

"Just tell me, Archie", Cheryl said. "Whatever it is, it can't be that bad."

Archie took a deep breath.

"Cheryl, when Coach Clayton was giving me a varsity jersey…see, that was the problem. He gave me Jason's jersey. And Jason's number."

Cheryl's expression suddenly turned serious.

"You're not going to wear it, are you?", she asked.

"Cheryl, you know I care about you", Archie said. "I want to be committed to making you happy, more committed than I had ever been before. I'll talk to Coach Clayton. Maybe Jason's number could be retired or something."

Cheryl smiled at Archie.

"That's what I like about you. So thoughtful and caring. Putting the needs of others before your own."

"There's another thing I need to talk to you about", Archie said. "It might seem bold and risky. But after seeing what happened with Jason, it shows me that time isn't guaranteed for everyone. Anything could happen at any time. But Cheryl, I want to do this."

Archie took a deep breath, knowing that what he said next could change everything forever.

"Cheryl, will you be my girlfriend?", he asked.

It took approximately a minute for Cheryl to respond.

"Yes", she said. She then hugged Archie.

That night…

Kevin Keller, Moose Mason, and Midge Klump were walking by Sweetwater River, laughing and joking.

"So, Kevin, are there any guys you are interested in?", Moose asked. Moose and Midge both knew that Kevin was gay.

"Not really", Kevin said. "There aren't many options."

"Well, you just might find someone in these woods", Midge said. "There are so many possibilities…"

Midge then looked at the water with a horrified expression.

"Midge, what's wrong?", Moose asked.

"It's what's in the water", Midge said. "It's Jason's body! We need to call your dad, Kevin! He'll know what to do."

Kevin seemed shocked by seeing Jason's corpse floating in the water. Suddenly his issues with being gay didn't seem to be vital at that moment.

"I think I'm going to be sick", Kevin moaned with both horror and disbelief.