Chapter 20: Exodus or Genocide

Archie Andrews sighed heavily as he woke up and got ready for school. He still was in absolute disbelief after the events that had unfolded the previous day. He was shocked by the fact that Kevin Keller had attempted to commit suicide and was now recovering in the hospital. Archie tried not to feel too guilty or hold himself accountable. He only hoped that Jason's killer would be caught. He'd get his, that's for sure.

Archie sat at the dining table, making himself some cereal. Fred then walked in, clearly shaking his head.

"It's pretty disappointing, the news about Kevin", Fred said. "He's a good kid."

"Yeah, it's pretty shocking and unexpected."

"I hope that Tom Keller is doing all right", Fred said. "Things must be anything but tranquil for him at the moment. I can't imagine how he must be feeling. I sympathize and empathize with him."

"Likewise, Dad", Archie said.

"This just shows the trauma that people experience when they stumble upon a dead body", Fred said. "Coping with it isn't easy. People may take drastic measures as coping mechanisms, like Kevin did. I just wish that someone had helped him before what had happened."

"I could have helped him", Archie said. "He was telling me himself about his uncomfortable feelings after he found that body. I should have noticed the red flags."

"It's not your fault, Archie. It's not Kevin's fault, either."

"Well, we're going to make Kevin feel as secure and comfortable as possible when he returns to school", Archie said. "We're going to help him through this. I'm his friend. I'm going to be there for him."

As Archie opened the front door, he was surprised to see Betty standing outside.

"Walk me to school?"

"Sure."

As Archie and Betty both walked to school together, he noticed Betty was feeling slightly unhappy.

"Poor Kevin", Betty said.

"Tell me about it", Archie said. "I feel like I could have done more to help. I feel somewhat responsible."

"You can't blame yourself, Archie."

Just then, Archie's cell phone buzzed with a text.

Archie looked at his phone.

CB: What are we going to do about Kevin?

Archie immediately concocted a reply.

AA: Don't worry about it, I have a plan.

"Who's that?", Betty asked.

"Nobody", Archie quickly said. "I think I know how to make Kevin feel better when he gets back to school…"

When the other students gathered around in the student lounge, Archie stood up and got everyone's attention.

"As you all know, one of our fellow students, is recovering in the hospital right now", Archie said. "Kevin Keller tried to commit suicide and I cannot even fathom what he is feeling right now."

Murmuring broke out among the other students. It was clear that almost everyone seemed to get along with Kevin.

"That is why I need your help", Archie said. "We're going to try to make Kevin feel as comfortable as possible when he returns. A safe and tranquil environment. No one mentions what happened and everyone pitches in to try to make Kevin feel happy. We need to be cautious."

"That's right", Reggie said. "We also need to find the son of a bitch that murdered Jason. Because of that mysterious prick, Jason is dead and Kevin is in the hospital."

Archie could tell Jughead and Betty were looking slightly uncomfortable, and he understood why. They both agreed to help him track down Jason's killer, and he knew that both of them would be simultaneously stressed and frightened. Archie couldn't really blame them. And in all honesty, he felt kind of guilty for pushing them to do this. True, they both voluntarily agreed to do this, but Archie had pushed them to try to hunt down Jason's killer just because of his feelings for Cheryl.

Archie knew he had to be very careful when treading upon dangerous ground. He cared about Cheryl and was clearly in love with her, but he also didn't want to do anything stupid and risk endangering himself and his friends. Archie wanted to prove that he cared about justice and pursuing his goal to avenge Jason, not just to impress his high school girlfriend. That would be an extremely selfish reason to risk his life and the lives of his best friends.

This would give Archie time to do something and focus on a productive task while he tried to work up the courage to tell everyone that he knew that he and Cheryl were together. Maybe he was being nervous for a ludicrous reason, but he didn't feel like it was worth the risk. Especially knowing about Cheryl's history with Betty.

But that would come later. For now, Archie would try to make Kevin as comfortable as possible. Maybe Archie could help Kevin set up an appointment with a phycologist or a therapist to talk to him about his suicidal thoughts and how to cope.

Just then, another thought popped into his mind.

"We could make get-well cards for Kevin", Archie said.

"Sounds like a plan", Jughead said.

"I could buy a bunch of cards from the local card shop here in Riverdale", Veronica said. "I have more than enough money to do so."

"I'll come with you", Cheryl said.

Archie smiled. Maybe this would be a good chance for the two girls to get to know each other and get along.

"We'll make a banner for him", Reggie said. "Something along the lines of 'Get well Kevin'".

"Sounds ideal, Reggie", Archie said.

"The guys on the wrestling team could pitch in", Moose said. "I'm good friends with most of them. They could get involved and help out."

"Perfect", Archie said. "Talk to them and see what they could do. Also, we should try to interact with Kevin at the hospital when we're not too busy."

"That sounds good", Jughead said.

"We'll throw a party for Kevin once he gets out of the hospital", Archie said.

"Sounds ideal to me", Cheryl said.

After school…

Cheryl Blossom headed to the card store with Veronica Lodge. The two girls hadn't interacted much since they first met, and none of their interactions were exactly friendly. Cheryl was sure that Betty had described her in the worst possible way to Veronica. Cheryl could probably understand, since she had treated her pretty terribly. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't capable of changing her ways.

Cheryl and Veronica had more in common than they thought. They both were extremely wealthy because of their backgrounds and the actions of their fathers. Both of the fathers were notorious in the eyes of the public and were culpable of their own respective transgressions.

Cheryl and Veronica were simply looking at the cards, neither saying much to the either. Cheryl figured it would be up to her to break the silence and get a conversation going. Even if the conversation wasn't exactly meaningful or noteworthy, it would be something. Steps to be on better terms. The only question was if either of them would tolerate it.

"Which cards do you think we should get him?", Cheryl asked.

Veronica shrugged. She then pointed to a card on the bottom row.

"Probably that one. It has a picture of two men wrestling. It is Kevin's favorite sport, after all."

Cheryl nodded. She couldn't really disagree with that decision.

"Well, I guess we'll take at least six of those."

Cheryl showed her agreement. Then she said, "You know, Kevin and I were on good terms when we were in elementary school and middle school. He was nice from the handful of times we interacted. I wish this didn't happen to him."

"Do you have any memories with him?", Veronica asked.

Cheryl sighed, trying her best to remember.

"We were on a field trip in seventh grade. We went to this haunted house. Kevin seemed pretty brave when we were in that house and wasn't chicken like the rest of us. He made a funny imitation of one of the ghosts in the haunted house. It was quite humorous."

"That sounds a lot like Kevin", Veronica said. "I've never seen him show many signs of fear during the short time we've known each other. This situation really sucks."

"I couldn't have agreed more."

Well, at least we're making progress, Cheryl thought.

Meanwhile…

Archie Andrews was still trying to crack the case on who could have been responsible for Jason's death. He called Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones and met up with them.

The three of them tried to put together their own clues on what they knew about the case.

"Well, Jason was running away from his parents", Archie said. "That much is clear."

"Obviously", Jughead said.

"Well, they're monsters, as we all know", Betty said.

"We only need to look at the way they've treated Cheryl", Archie said. "A clear example of why almost no one in Riverdale likes them."

"But why did Jason run away, specifically?", Jughead asked. "If he wanted to run away, he would have done so a long time ago. But it's clear that there is another reason, another motivation for why he tried to escape."

"Yeah", Betty said. "I just wish we knew what it was."

"I have an idea to figure it out", Jughead said. "We could try sneaking around Thornhill. There could be clues over there."

"It sounds risky, but it could be helpful", Betty said.

Jughead turned to Archie. "What about you, Archie? It was your idea for us to do our own private investigating."

Archie nodded. There was no backing out of this. He knew he would have to go along with this.

"Let's do it."

Meanwhile…

Polly Cooper had adjusted quite fine at the Pembrooke. It wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was quite luxurious, and it wasn't anywhere her parents would think to check out. She only hoped she could keep the secret of her pregnancy from her parents at least a little while longer. She knew her parents would not take this news well, especially Hal Cooper.

Polly wondered what had happened to Jason. He said he would meet with her, but he never arrived. She was forced into the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, clearly given no choice in that scenario. It was like being in a literal prison.

Polly was sure that Jason was fine, wherever he was. She definitely looked forward to seeing him again.

Meanwhile…

Veronica Lodge had spent some time with Reggie Mantle after buying cards with Cheryl. Reggie was clearly someone with pleasant attributes and a person she definitely would want to associate herself with. Reggie wasn't perfect, and sometimes made some dumb mistakes, but he seemed to be a genuinely good person deep down at heart.

Veronica and Reggie had held hands a few times but they never kissed aside from that one moment in that closet. Veronica wasn't ready for a serious relationship, especially after what she had experienced with Chuck. She knew she had to be careful.

After Reggie and Veronica had said goodbye to each other, the latter headed back to the Pembrooke. She figured she would talk to Polly a little bit and try to get to know her a little bit more.

Veronica had just arrived back to the Pembrooke when she discovered a nasty surprise.

She noticed a document that her mother had left on the living room table, for some reason. A pretty stupid thing to do when you're trying to hide something. She clearly saw that her mother had forged her signature on the construction contract for Fred.

That dumb bitch! Veronica thought. Did she seriously think I wouldn't find out?

Veronica couldn't believe her own mother would do this. Then again, this shouldn't have been a surprise, this was clearly influenced by her greedy husband.

Well, two can play at this game. I'm a Lodge, after all.

Veronica knew right away what she would do.

Meanwhile…

Archie, Betty, and Jughead headed to Thornhill. Archie knew that Cheryl probably wouldn't mind if they came to Thornhill, but he was hoping that Clifford and Penelope wouldn't find them. He knew those two would not approve of this.

The three of them headed upstairs to Jason's room. They looked around, not really finding anything that would give any clues on what Jason was planning to do before his death.

Just then, someone coughed. Betty turned to see who it was. It was Jason's grandmother, Nana Rose.

"I'm sorry", Betty said. "We'll go, we didn't mean to bother you."

"No, it's not a bother at all…Polly."

Jughead shot a look at Archie. He shook his head. It would be best not to correct Nana Rose. Cheryl's grandmother seemed to be more innocent than Clifford and Penelope, but Archie wasn't going to risk crossing her and get himself and his friends into trouble.

"It's been a while since I last saw you", Nana Rose said. "How's the baby?"

Archie looked at Jughead and Betty, clearly shocked.

"Polly's pregnant?", he whispered.

"Yeah", Jughead said. "Polly didn't want a lot of people knowing about it."

"Oh man", Archie said. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't sure how Cheryl would react. Archie knew that now was absolutely not the right time to tell her.

Betty broke the silence a few awkward minutes later.

"Well, it was great seeing you, Nana Rose. We've got to get going."

Betty, Jughead, and Archie left Jason's room and left Thornhill. Archie's mind was whirling with the new information he had just received. This was not something he had expected. As if things weren't strange enough.

"Well, we have a reason for why Jason wanted to run away", Jughead said. "But that still doesn't answer our questions."

Archie nodded, clearly feeling some disappointment.

"Maybe we should go see Kevin at the hospital."

Archie, Betty, and Jughead all walked over to the hospital. They asked to see Kevin and went over to his room. Kevin was lying down on the bed, watching television. He didn't seem to be very upset. Archie could tell there was a hint of a smile on Kevin's face.

"Hey, buddy", Archie said, walking up to Kevin.

"Archie, what's up?", Kevin asked.

"Nothing much. We were doing investigating, trying to find clues about who could have killed Jason", Archie said.

"Sounds pretty dangerous", Kevin said. "I can't really complain or argue with your plan, though. I have no room to be querulous."

"Don't worry, Kevin", Archie said. "I will find out who did this. And when I do, he'll regret his actions."