"Investigation into the disappearance of Jason Blossom is ongoing, police are searching far and wide, anyone with any information is urged to come forward" the reporter on the local news on the television stated. "Mom can you turn that off please?" I said before taking a sip from my juice. "Oh honey, I know Jason was a friend of yours, that boy was always so good" Mom replied stroking my hair. "Jason was not a friend of mine… hell even Cheryl isn't a friend of mine" I said rolling my eyes. "Well Cheryl is now, you need to look after her, take her under your wing, invite her around for dinner this week, bake her some cookies, do anything April to make sure she feels like she has our support" Mom explained. "Wow Mandy, making friends with the blossoms? Want me to invite the serpents over whilst I'm at it?" I laughed. "Very funny" she replied chucking a pancake on my plate. "Speaking of which, where were you the 4th of July?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "The library" "The library? In the middle of summer? When there's no school?" she questioned. Well what was I going to tell her? Sorry I was at Sweetwater River the day of Jason's disappearance having sex with her friend Fred Andrews son.
So the story everyone was going by was that Cheryl and her twin brother Jason Blossom were taking an early morning boat ride down the river. Cheryl dropped a glove in the water and Jason reached down to grab it, as he did the boat capsized and the two of them panicked. Whilst Cheryl got to safety at the river's edge, Jason was nowhere to be found. It was only when Dilton Doiley and his expedition team showed up that they found Cheryl cold, alone, wet and screaming Jason's name. This was the story that Cheryl was telling everyone, but I wasn't convinced, I know what I heard and it was a gunshot and if Jason isn't dead then we can be sure that someone else is.
"Right, lunch, money for dinner, anything else" My Mom Mandy asked handing me a bunch of items, "No Mom, go save some lives" I smiled at her. My Mom was a nurse at the local hospital and quite often returned at ridiculous times, so therefore I was basically alone most nights. "Alright, have a wonderful first day at school sweetie, say hi to Betty for me, Oh and Archie" she said winking at me. I rolled my eyes, picked up my school bag and headed out the door. I knew this first day was going to be extremely awkward, I hadn't seen Archie since the 4th, and I wasn't planning to, but Betty was his best friend and it was pretty much inevitable. I walked to Betty's house and hung around outside. She lived on Elm Street right next to Archie's house, in fact from both their bedroom windows you basically could see each other, which made it awfully hard to see Archie at his house over Summer without Betty knowing. "April" I heard a voice say from behind me, I turned around to find Archie holding a bunch of books and looking like he was about to cry.
"I'm just waiting for Betty" I said trying not to make direct eye contact, "Oh.." he replied, "I thought you were here to see me" he joked awkwardly. I smiled a little, and looked in the opposite direction again. "Listen, can we talk about everything? I know you're scared, I'm scared too but we're going to get through this we just need to be there for each other" he said trying to hold my hand. I pulled away, "Jason drowned, there's really nothing to talk about" "What about what we heard?" "We heard fireworks Archie, it was the 4th of July" I snapped. I felt so bad doing this to Archie but I was scared, I knew the minute I could even let myself believe that something else was going on, the minute I could let myself believe it was gunshot, I knew that my hometown the town I loved Riverdale was no longer safe. "Well can we talk about us?" he asked. "I'm scared, Archie…" I started. "APRIL" I heard a female voice scream coming from the house. "Betty" I yelled back running up to her and squeezing her as hard as I could. "April, dont think youre going to get away with not saying hello to me" Alice said holding the door open, "Mrs Cooper" I said giving her a double kiss on either cheek. "How's your Mom honey?" she asked, putting her hand on my shoulder. "She's well, she's working long hours, money's tight at the moment" I said staring at my thumbs. "Well at least you're not a Blossom" she smirked at me. "Mom" Betty shouted glaring at her. "Sorry honey, you and your Mom are more than welcome around for dinner any night, Betty could use more nice friends like you" she said flicking Betty's blonde ponytail. "Alright Mom, thanks, can I go now?" she said moving away from her.
As Betty, Archie and I walked to schools emotions were on an all time high, the fact that all I could think about was holding Archie's hand, and acting like a couple. Betty had had the biggest crush on Archie since elementary school, she always wanted something to happen but often got friendzoned, Archie and Betty were definitely not on the same page and everything just got awkward everytime Betty even tried to confess her feelings. The fact that Archie and I had sneak around just to be together felt bad, I felt like the worst friend ever, but it just happened, and I never had the guts or the heart to tell Betty. "So Archie, those songs we talked about last night at Pop's am I going to hear them today?" Betty giggled staring intently into his eyes, "Maybe" he replied smiling at her. "Pop's?" I asked confused. "Yeah, Archie and I caught up last night, he told me he is chasing his passion for music this year and football, he wants to get into varsity football" she explained grabbing my hand. "Interesting" I said looking at the ground. "Then a new girl you me and Kev are supposed to be giving a tour to, showed up at Pop's, she's stunning" Betty explained. "Who is she?" I asked "Her name is Veronica Lodge" she answered, "Veronica Lodge? As in Hiram Lodge's daughter, wow she's got balls" I said as we approached school.