Noah wasn't a coward at least he didn't think he was, he wasn't scared of much, except when it came to telling Izzy the truth or more specifically what the truth about Hiram would do to their relationship.
He had to find a way to deal with Hiram Lodge, word had already spread around town that the man was back, all the way to the gossiping ladies at church who had been all too happy to inform his mum about Hiram's return under the guise of concern about Izzy and their family.
After sixteen years of keeping the identity of Izzy's dad a secret (from her at least) it was easy for Pop to think about staying quiet for just one more day, just a single day but at it wasn't meant to be, time was running out, each day any number of people could tell Izzy the truth or Hiram himself could tell Izzy and according to his mum Hiram was already making his move since someone had been in touch about purchasing Mrs. Jetson plot of land next to the diner so if Noah Tate wanted the land he had to act soon.
Noah had no way to prove that the lawyers who approached Mrs. Jetson worked for Hiram but he was willing to bet the diner on it, this was what he was planning, the leverage he wanted before approaching Noah about Izzy
They had argued about it all day Sunday on what to do; uncharacteristically his mum was advocating that he ignore Hiram and was all for ignoring the he-devil and not letting him any where near her great grandchild but it wasn't that easy, he couldn't just tell Izzy to avoid Hiram without her asking why and there was no way Hiram would be avoiding Izzy even though the man had gone sixteen years without being a part of her life.
x.x.x
Mrs. Patricia Jetson hadn't wanted to entertain the idea of selling her land as her and the Tate family go way back to when Carol Tate nee Shaw had moved into Riverdale, as one of the few other minority families in town they just looked out for each other, the Tate's were the only family in town who came to her daughter's Quinceañera while everyone else made their excuses not to be around 'those Mexican-Spanish people' so she felt like she owe her old friend and the Tate family due consideration when selling her plot of land.
Less important than giving Noah first crack at buying the land was the fact that this new buyer was anonymous and wanted to remain so, on the other hand they had offered a lot of money.
Now Patricia was old so she didn't need the money as she would be dead in the next couple of years but the money would set up her kids and grandkids, it was even enough to send all three grandkids to a decent size college without any worries, and so while she didn't want to sell to this anonymous buyer she was considering it.
However as a curtsey to the years of friendship she and her family had shared with the Tate family she had pre-warned her friend about the current situation and was willing to give Noah three months to come up with an counter offer for her land, it didn't have to match the anonymous buyer it just had to be decent.
x.x.x.x
Hearing Kevin's voice Veronica looked up from the music sheet Izzy had brought over in time to see the look of surprise on Betty's, Archie's and Kevin's faces as they approached their usual lunch table to find Izzy sitting there as well. "Afternoon all" she causal greeted hoping they would just sit down and not make an issue of Izzy sitting with them she silently watched as everyone else exchanged pleasantries and got seated while she placed the music sheet into her bag for a later time.
"So what brings you over?" Kevin asked as he took a seat across the table from Veronica and Izzy.
He didn't even think Izzy knew who anyone else was apart from Veronica and even then the girls never spoke outside of any Pussycats rehearsal's or performance so this was an unusual situation to be in.
"I'm catching Veronica up on some of the song changes before tomorrow's rehearsals" Izzy replied back she was starting to feel slightly awkward having them staring at her like that waiting for an explanation as to why she was suddenly there. "Plus everyone else is trying to cram in some last minute studying for maths before next period so I'm by myself at lunch."
"Why aren't you helping them, aren't you in like AP Maths?" Archie wondered, sure Izzy wasn't in the same maths class as Melody, Val and the rest of them but she could help out her friends, she was meant to be really good at maths but here she was blowing off her friends instead of helping them understand something that came easily to her.
"Cause they can do it by themselves." Izzy replied shrugging her shoulders, she wasn't going to admit what a disaster she was at teaching people, the couple of times she tired had nearly lead to Melody not talking to Izzy ever again, she just didn't have the patience for it, to her maths was obvious she didn't know how to explain it and she got frustrated when no one understood it. "Plus Mr. Hardyson is such a pain in the ass he's just going to keep giving test and quizzes until winter break.
"Yeah tell me about it" Kevin complained, Mr. Hardyson always seemed to ramp up the number of test and pop quizzes he gave just before any type of break. "Before the summer break he gave us three Pop quizzes in one class, I swear I thought my hands would fall off."
Izzy chuckled at the look of disgust on Kevin's face, the Pop quizzes sounded like an actual paradise compared to what he gave the AP classes during hell week.
"Don't complain I'm pretty sure he get some sort of perverse pleasure when we do. You should see some of the test he gives the A.P class, half the questions on last week's test were college level. So how's your dad doing?" Izzy directed at Archie making small talk taking a bite of the chicken salad Pop made her this morning.
"Good."
"I read your interview this morning." Kevin began filling in the silence as it became clear that Archie wasn't willing to say anymore about the subject. "Very moving, Mrs. Cooper was really nice"
"I didn't think she will get started so soon with the interviews let alone print one out already but I have to admit she said some really nice things about you and your dad." Izzy added.
Mrs Cooper used some over-exaggeration in her article but she had managed to remind people that Archie was just a teen whose world was turned upside down due to a maniac shooting what was technically his only parent -in town.
The article had a lot of nice things to say about Fred and Archie plus Mrs Cooper had managed to talk about Andrews Construction and how it had been 'a part of the fabric of fair Riverdale' for years but sadly as a result of the shooting the company had obviously not been taking any booking; it was obvious she included that part so Izzy would agreed to her own interview that sentence might as well have been about the diner.
Izzy wouldn't have been surprised if Fred's calendar was now fully booked for the next couple of week because whether she liked it or not Alice had a way with words and an ability to make people feel sympathetic.
"That is true, the article has shown everyone what an amazing person you are Archie and now I have to spend my time fighting off girls from trying o steal you away." Veronica joked reaching across the table and squeezing his hands.
"Wait, Mrs Cooper talked to you about an interview?" Archie asked staring back at Izzy, ignoring the other comments that had been made, just for Izzy to nod back, her hair gently swinging by her shoulders.
"Yeah Arch, my mum is planning on doing this whole series of article and interviews about the last three weeks. She going all out, talking to business owners, the Mayor, you, Izzy, Midge, Moose, anyone really." Betty said answering for Izzy since she probably had more information than she would about the interviews.
"So are you going to be doing these interviews as well?" Kevin asked leaning over his food as he did so.
He was interested in getting to know Izzy a bit more than being aware that she was Jughead's friend and a Pussycat, plus if Archie's interview managed to talk about his life as a Bulldog and being a singer-song writer then Kevin had no doubt that Mrs. Cooper would find a way to mention Izzy's interest as well, Alice always managed to be kind in her articles whenever she talked about Izzy.
"I still haven't decided yet."Izzy replied honestly, she still wasn't sure if she should say yes but she couldn't help thinking about how empty the diner had been during the weekend and if nothing changed soon they might start operating at a loss, Pop might actually have to fire someone if this kept going on.
"Mrs Cooper told me that I could wait until I read her article about Archie before deciding - and although she said some really nice things- I am still not sure I want to. I mean look at all the attention Archie is getting today." Izzy pointed to the table behind them where a couple of freshmen kept on turning their heads to look over at Archie and going back to whispering again.
If anyone had been paying close attention to Archie -instead of looking to where Izzy was pointing to- they would have seen the flash of hurt that quickly morphed into anger before being smoothed back into a blank nonchalant expression showing no signs of emotional distress.
"I'm sure you can handle it." Veronica reassured. "I mean being a Pussycat and singing on stage all the time must get you loads of attention as well."
"Yeah it does, but there's a different between 'oh wow, nice singing voice' and what Mrs Cooper wants to do which will be more like 'oh wow look at the poster child for Riverdale and how brave she is for even leaving her house in the morning.'" Izzy had no doubt that if she agreed to the interview that that will be the exact path Mrs. Cooper would be taking, she even said so herself on Saturday about how people responded to Izzy and her 'bravery' after the diner shooting and she would be the magical cure for people to get out of their houses and stop making Riverdale look like a ghost town any time the sun wasn't out.
"Well I'm sure we can find you some empty broom closet to lock people in if they start getting on your nerves" Veronica joked causing Izzy to laugh.
x.x
The rest of the lunch had gone well or so Izzy thought apart from Archie not being in the mood to talk to her, he had no problem in responding back to everyone else but would give Izzy a one word response whenever she tried asking him something or he would reply in little barbs and insults.
It was starting to get awkward so Izzy just stopped trying to engage with him.
"I love that book." Izzy stated pointing to Betty's now discarded reading material "Have you read the series?"
"No, Jug just recommended it to me" Betty replied, honestly Betty couldn't get into it, she was planning on giving it one more chapter before quitting.
"That's good, I hope you aren't reading it in order" Izzy grinned. "We started in with like the eighth book in the series, then I think Pop found the first one for us then Jug found the tenth book or something… just trust me it's more fun to read everything out of order" Izzy said grinning like a Cheshire cat everyone else refuse to read the book out of order like her and Jug did.
"Wait what?" Veronica asked confused trying and failing to understand what was said.
"I found the eight book first so now we basically read it out of order but it still makes sense, they are kinda like stand alone books so you don't actually have to read them in order." Izzy knew she was rambling but she was just so glad that she now had something to talk with Betty about that wasn't going to revolve around Jughead. "Trust me read the book out of order, which one is that?"
"Book one." Betty murmured looking down at the well worn copy Jughead had given her that morning while they shared breakfast at Pop's before he jumped on his bike to go back to the Southside.
"Wait, why don't you just go online and order the series?" Kevin interrupted.
"That can be your Christmas gift to him." Veronica suggested happy that Betty could stop worrying about finding the perfect present for Jughead.
"No, It's part of the fun, it's kinda like a treasure hunt I guess; car boot sales, the old peoples home, someone even left one in the diner we want the complete series but we aren't going to buy it."
"So… you and Jughead read books out of order and spend your weekends watching movies and arguing in the diner." Veronica stated summarising their friendship from her point of view.
"Yeah basically" Izzy shrugged her eyes quickly darting around watching as Cheryl was tearing into some Freshman about FP, Izzy was determined to ignore the commotion she had no idea why Cheryl seemed to be defending FP and she didn't want to know.
"What if it takes you twenty years to find all the books in the series" Kevin pointed out dragging Izzy's attention back to the table and to the topic at hand, that was a major flaw in their plan 'the wait and see' approach could last for years.
"Then I guess in twenty years we will finally have the entire collection, if you are open to suggestion about Christmas present for Jug think along the lines of books or puzzles." Izzy replied stabbing into her salad, Pop never added enough dressing to any of the salad he made her, it was too healthy for her taste.
"It does go along with the whole literary thing Jughead has going on." Veronica mused, it looked like Izzy had just solved the present crisis for Betty.
"Isn't that a bit pointless?" Archie asked snidely jumping back into the conversation. "I mean you got him a Rubik's cube last year"
"Yeah, an unsolved one, it took him three months to fix it again and he got me a ten dollar baking set for my cakes"
"Well I think Betty is looking for something more special than books to give to Jug, it might be okay to get that from you but I am sure he wants something a bit more special from his girlfriend." Archie bit out failing to hide his irritation and shoving the last of sandwich into his mouth before he said anything else.
"Archie" Veronica admonished subtly kicking him under the table hoping he would get that he had crossed a line and needed to apologise.
"What Izzy knows it was a joke, I just meant that Jug will be expecting something more from his girlfriend than his friend." Archie amended feeling everyone eyes on him as the conversation stopped.
"Like I said it's just a suggestion if she wanted." Izzy returned not willing to play along with his pretence of not meaning to offend her.
For whatever reason his mood seemed to have soured against her and that little comment was something Cheryl would say when she wanted to mess with people's head and make them feel insecure.
"…. so what are you guys thinking of getting parents for Christmas present" Kevin hesitated to ask trying to defuse the situation. "Cause I have no idea what to get my dad, I was thinking maybe some thing he can use at work as well but all I came up with was a thermos… for his coffee I mean" Kevin rumbled on luckily for him it seemed as if Izzy was willing to let that dig against her go as she stopped glaring at Archie and responded.
"Well I booked a cabin for Pop to go fishing, four days away from town, secluded community, lake side view and I have already made sure his friends are meeting him there maybe if your dad likes fishing he could go with them."
"I don't think he can relax away from Riverdale he'll get too wound up that something has happened when he's out of town, he's barley taken any time off since Fred got shot."
"How about a nice bottle of whiskey?" Veronica asked. "Every man needs one"
"No more whiskey he's already a part of a whiskey of the month club, any suggestion, Betty?"
Betty looked around the table, seemed like no one else could see Archie was struggling not even Veronica, it wasn't like him to snap at people there was something more going on. "Well, I - I'm framing my dad's very first article and giving it to him as a Christmas present maybe we can try to find an article of your dad's first arrest or something you can get that framed."
"That's a good idea, would you mind if we start looking today, I know Christmas is a few weeks away but the sooner the better."
"What about you Veronica, are you going to get your dad anything?" Izzy asked willing to ignore Archie until he got over what every crawled up his ass, she didn't care about him enough to get angry, it was one lunch she barely saw him to care about anything he did.
"I wasn't planning on getting him anything, I mean what can you give a man who just got out of prison for embezzling millions of other people's hard earned money." Veronica sneered
Izzy had heard rumours about the Lodges and while she knew that Mr. Lodge had gone to prison even though she knew nothing of the family dynamic she was surprised to hear Veronica being disgusted by her dad, about a third of the stories Veronica had shared in the diner was all about her childhood or how both her parents had been amazing parents.
"But your idea of a present seems rather ingenious, having Pop go out of town means you have the house to yourself." Veronica stated making Izzy grin it was the exact same thing Cheryl had said when had come up with the idea.
"One step ahead of you already, party plans are already in the works for the first night of the no parent weekend" Izzy stated thankfully Joe had already agreed to 'keep an eye out' so Pop shouldn't have any objection to leaving her at home for the weekend.
"Who have you invited to this party?" Kevin asked shamelessly angling for an invitation surprising Izzy and everyone else at the table but to be fair a party was a party you didn't technically have to know the person or even like them to want to go have fun Jason had been the one to teach her that particular lesson.
"You guys are more than welcome to come, feel free to turn up with Jughead." She stated extending the invite; with what's been going on everyone needed a way to let down their hair before they started doing something stupid like turning to Reggie and his 'party flavours', how and why Reggie started selling drugs was no longer her problem.
"But be warned a couple of the football players will be stopping by and some cheerleaders and …. What?!" Izzy finally asked getting irritated at the look Archie was giving her.
"I just always wondered how you and Jug even became friends let alone managed to stay friends. I mean a party you know how much Jughead hates those right?" Archie questioned, everyone in town knew how much Jug hated having to socialise with others especially after his birthday party.
"Yeah I know I heard all about the surprise party you decided to throw him for his birthday that's why I told him about this one in advance. He knows and he's only coming for an hour; says it's my Christmas present this year." Izzy replied back daring Archie to say something else, the only reason she had sat here instead of joining the others in the library to finish off her English essay was because Veronica had asked her to stay.
She was just making nice with everyone because they were Jug's friend as well, it was like Val and Jug they didn't have a lot in common but both were able to spend the day together if they had to because they were her friends.
Across the table Archie couldn't help but scoff at Izzy's statement, Jughead's willingness to go to this party had absolutely nothing to do with being prepared and forewarned.
Of course Jughead was ready to go and have fun at a frivolous and meaningless house party Izzy threw but when Archie planned a birthday party for Jug using his own house it all blew up in his face causing all types of arguments.
"It still doesn't explain how you are friends with him. I don't want to sound harsh but you are friends with Cheryl, in the Pussycats, you dated Reggie, hang out with the cheerleaders, you have your own car and you talk about getting Pop a ten thousand dollar watch like it's normal, you have nothing in common with Jug." Archie stated marking each point on his hands that led him to his assumption not caring about the looks Veronica or anyone else were giving him.
Izzy stared back at Archie thinking off all the ways she could just rip into Archie but honestly, she had done so well in ignoring all his little barbs during lunch and not throwing her drink in his face and if she ruined it now she would be pissed off at herself.
Taking a very deep breathe "Okay so here's the thing Jughead is my best friend because he's my best friend. I don't have to explain our friendship to you just like you don't have to explain your friendship to me. Now I am not sure what going on with you but the problem is you Archie. You self absorbed judgemental prick." Izzy snapped loosing her composure. "You date Veronica who is a cheerleader, have no problem being friends with Betty another cheerleader but yet you still judge me for being friends with Cheryl"
"Izzy why don't we-" Kevin began only to be glared into silence by Izzy, she hadn't even done anything just took her focus off Archie onto him and Kevin found himself loosing his voice.
"Now I may be many things but being a passive aggressive coward who can't just come out and say what's bothering them isn't one of them. So do you have anything you wanna say Carrot Top or are you going to try for another passive aggressive barb?" Izzy mocked standing up and leaning across the table to glare right back at Andrews.
"Guys why don't we just-" Kevin began only to be cut off by Izzy.
"No, I'm good. I just wanted to know if Carrot Top here had anything else he wanted to say." She replied in a steady voice, laying in bed last night Izzy remembered who she was, she wasn't the type of girl who run scared, switching on lights and locking doors.
She was Isabelle Ameila Tate, Pop's raised her to be brave and independent and to change the world, she had no problem in standing up for herself and she wasn't going to let this strawberry shortcake jock with anger issues from here to the moon and back take pot shots at her just because Jug like him.
How Jug could be friends with someone like him was beyond her, the arrogance of that moronic Carrot top and the fact that she let him get away with it to begin with.
Reaching into her pocket as she stormed out she sent a quick text to Jug stating how he needed to keep his friends away from her since they were all trash, in all fairness she wasn't really including Betty, Veronica or Kevin in that statement but she didn't have time to differentiate between them.
x.x.x.x
Veronica had been worrying about Izzy since Sunday night, seeing her on the verge of a panic attack was unnerving. It's why she invited Izzy to stay for lunch under the pretence of going over the new music sheet just so she could keep an eye on her.
Veronica still hadn't said told anyone about what had happened since it wasn't really her place but maybe she should tell Jughead or at least hint that he should keep an eye on her.
Veronica pulled Archie into a spare classroom as the Betty and Kevin made their way into their respective classes; no one had time to say anything after Izzy had stormed off as the bell had rung for their next lesson but it was obvious they were all taken aback but Archies behaviour; Kevin had began saying something only to stop and grab his rucksack.
As much as Veronica didn't want to admit it Izzy had been right today, all lunch Archie had acted like the textbook definition of passive aggression when it came to Izzy from straight up ignoring to making subtle digs about her.
Some of the comments hadn't even registered with Izzy when she had gotten busy talking to Kevin but most of it was cloaked by the sharp brown eyed girl. "Okay what was that about?" Veronica asked blocking the door so he didn't try to escape, it had been on her to do list to sit down and talk to Archie later this week but his behaviour today was forcing her hands.
Where she couldn't get involved and talk to Izzy about her personal issues she was going to get involved with Archie and find out what was going on with him.
"What was what about?" Archie questioned innocently.
"You, Izzy, that remark about books. Attacking her and Jughead's friendship, this entire lunch. Pick one."
"I don't know what you are talking about, she was the one insulting me, calling me Carrot Top, now I really have to get to gym before I end up doing extra laps for being late."
"No you aren't going anywhere till we sort this out. I have been patient with you but you have been moody, sulky and snarky all weekend long and now you just attack an innocent girl for a simple suggestion."
"I didn't attack anyone Ronnie. It was a conversation she said something I said something and she took offence to it and then attacked and mocked me."
"You made a dig at her, I'm not condoning her behaviour but you have been pushing her button since the moment you sat down." Veronica responded.
What happened wasn't Izzy getting the wrong end of the stick Archie was being intentionally offensive and the fact that he was trying to pass it off as an overreaction on Izzy's part was more worrying than his passive aggressive stance.
"Really? I said while Jug may like books from Izzy he probably expect something more from his girlfriend. She took offence to that because she wanted to. It's a normal statement there was nothing to be offended about."
Veronica wasn't sure what to say. Archie was literally revising what had just happened, it was what he said but it definitely wasn't how he said it.
"... Archie it's more than that and you know it" Veronica responded choosing her words carefully. "You just seem to be getting angrier by the day…. And if you don't find out the reason why you are getting so angry you will eventually snap at me or Betty or someone you really care about."
"I am not angry Ronnie but I am sorry I haven't been the happy go lucky person that you want but my dad got shot, we have medical bills piling up at home and the same guy is out there shooting teenagers so excuse me for not being extra polite to someone I barely know." Archie snapped. "Someone you don't even know either, one bad lunch doesn't mean I have a problem with her and one afternoon at Pops doesn't make her your friend."
"I have no problem with Izzy but I am starting to have one with my boyfriend and the way he has been acting."
"Look I will admit that I was a bit short with her but I just..." Archie sighed clutching onto Veronica's hands trying to calm the situation down he was already loosing people to Izzy he wasn't about to fight with Veronica because of her as well.
"I just wanted to spend lunch with you our friends relaxing I didn't expect her to be there and I... I guess I felt like she ruined my plans to talk to you guys but yeah she didn't deserve that. I didn't know how to ask her to leave without sounding like a jerk so I thought if I made her want to leave…. Look it's stupid I know, I'll find her and apologise"
Veronica wasn't sure if she should ask but if she didn't it will eat her up. "Are you sure that's all it is?"
"Yeah Ronnie I just wanted to talk with you guys and I went about it the wrong way." he replied pulling her in for a quick kiss
"Okay. How about we skip class go to Pops for some shakes and you can tell me whatever you like" Veronica offered, if inviting Izzy to lunch had ruined Archie's plan of talking and unburdening himself the least she could do was offer him the opportunity to do so now.
Archie had a better proposal than going to Pop's and talking about his issues "Or we could go to the Pembrooke. I'm sure your parents will be exploring town."
"Okay sure. I'll text Smithers to come pick us up so we can play hooky in style" Veronica agreed letting Archie pull her in for kiss "But…. I am going to have to come back later for rehearsals with the Pussycats until then why don't we see how many rooms in the Pembrooke we can have fun in before my parents get home" Veronica proposed pulling down the blinds for the door and turning the lock so no one would see her and Archie making out, Smithers will call when he got to the school.
Writier's note:
So what do you guys think, a lot to unpack there. there is another dialogue heavy chapter before the story moves on but it does give you some info and insight into what people are thinking. Whose with GG about ignoring the he devils of this world they are going t do what they want to do or are you with Pop in that something needs to be done about Hiram but what?
What about Kevin and his need to deescalate the situation or Betty and her not really doing or saying anything.
What did you think of the lunch
From now on Archie's new name is Carrot Top, I don't even know why i wrote it but i love it. This chapter is over 5,000 words long so i had to cut it but next chapter you will see or kinda understand what Archie's problem is; it has nothing to do with Izzy, kinda, is more to do with ...
you'll find out, so what do you guys think.
Comments, reviews and PM are all appreciated.