Betty convinced me to go to the police. I mean, we were looking for the killer so when we figured it out we would have to go there, but it gave me bad nerves. We sat in the parking lot, hearts beating out of our chests. We could have easily been murdered if we were found out. At this point I had no doubt that family was more than capable. Betty opened her door and went to get out when she looked at me quizzically for remaining glued to my seat.
"I'm stupid, Betty. It's all a red herring."
"What do you mean? The Blossoms have ties to organized crime. This just proves that they probably paid off the Scorpions so they could murder my great grandpa and are apparently still in it deep."
"I understand that Betty, and they're guilty as sin. I'm pretty sure they're using their lucrative maple syrup business more or less as a cover. Maybe it's always been that way. Maybe Cooper disagreed the same way as Hermione Lodge did, and that's why they took him out. It seems more plausible, right? But that only proves that murder. We didn't find gasoline or matches or anything. It would keep them busy for a while, but it's not enough to get me off the hook."
She got back into the car. "Drive." She gave me instructions and we came upon the Register's office. It was closed for the day, but Betty happened to have a spare key. We snuck in, locking the door behind us and keeping the lights off. It was a bit nicer than our office at the Blue and Gold, which made sense since this was a business and not just a school spirit activity.
Betty sat down at a typewriter and I read over her shoulder. It was like reading a crime novel, except for the chilling knowledge that this account was real. It was an exposé on the North side and how the double dichotomy of rich/poor and good/evil weren't as faithful as we were lead to believe. She started with Chuck and went on to talk about her locker and how I was assumed to be a criminal not once but twice. She even threw in a few words about the assumptions about the Southside Serpents which segued into her next piece about a secret gang called the Scorpions, at least somewhat ran by none other than Clifford Blossom. She spoke about the weapons and drugs we had found. She probably could have talked about the bad dealings of Mr Lodge as well, but I understood that she wanted to protect her friend Veronica.
"Betty, this is the best thing I've ever read, but it scares me a bit. It's too speculative, and it puts you at far too much risk. I don't want you becoming any more of a target. Part of loving someone is wanting to keep them safe, Betts, and all I want to do is keep you safe." She smiled up at me.
"And I want to keep you safe too, Jug. You have to let me do this, it's my choice. The word will get out eventually anyways so it's high time the truth was exposed."
"Fine, but at least make the source anonymous. They don't have to know it was us." She nodded up at me in slow agreement.
Betty turned on the machine and instructed me on what to do. She practically grew up in this room and had a good understanding on how it all worked. We lost count of how many copies we made but it was starting to get dark by the time we left. Against my better judgement, we decided to deliver them around town for everyone to read for free. I suspected Betty's parents would probably be livid since ink and paper were fairly pricey, even if it was newspaper quality.
Now we just had to wait for the aftermath.
It came over the horizon the following day, like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The towns people with their pitch forks, trying to shoot the messenger. Nobody wanted their way of life to be disturbed and nobody wanted to admit the biggest town problems didn't exactly come from the Southside community.
Slowly we all came out of our trailers, ready to face the town that forced us out to the edge. You could see Archie, Kevin, and Veronica trying to hold everyone back, but to no avail. It was as inevitable as the sun rising. The tension had grown and something had to give. It was the way of the world, like a piece of fiction. We were the greasers, the gang, and they were the jocks and the rich kids. By numbers, they appeared to have the upper hand, but we had experience and we carried knives. It looked from the outside like we were all going to charge, but a lot of the North side chickened out. Chuck wrestled me to the ground, pounding my face in and screaming obscenities about ruining his life. I just smiled. I felt like in the end I kind of won either way. Archie came and threw him off me before he did any permanent damage. He had a few scuff marks from his own tussles and I saw Ronnie sucker punch another girl who tried to pull her hair. Somehow our town angel was left untouched, horrified at the violence surrounding her.
"Stop! I did not write my piece to start a war. We must be more honest with ourselves. Must we really lower ourselves to cheap stereotypes and dichotomies?! Jughead was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Does that make him a criminal? No, but you were all going to string him up for it. We are all complicated and multifaceted. I was thrown from the Garden of Eden because I said I had gang members in my family. It was true, but I also have Hal and Alice as parents who have an otherwise spotless reputation and own the local newspaper! I am neither one, nor the other. I am both. Can't we all be a mixture of both?"
People stopped. They looked pensive, like they were considering her motion. I started to clap but then a roar erupted out from the North side.
"No! And you can hang, too! You're tainted, you filthy snake whore. Why should we listen to a damn thing you say?" Low and behold it was Chuck, fighting his way out of Archie's lockhold. "You can't stop this Elizabeth, it was fated in the starts that the North end of town would finally conquer what was left of the Southside. We will squash you like a snake underneath a boot. This is just your pathetic final stand."
"No! I stand in solidarity with the south!" Ronnie went and stood in the middle.
"Ronnie, get back here," Hermione Lodge hissed. Her charity had its limits.
"No Mom, I'm finally doing the right thing. Not everyone in the rich part of town is good. It's time they see that."
"Me too. I stand with the south, too." Archie held Veronica's hand with his free one.
"I stand with the south." Out stepped Hal. He looked over at Alice and she stepped up to hold his hand.
"Me too. Sorry dad." Kevin stood square against the north, next to Joaquin.
After that, more and more people came out of the woodwork. Dilton Doiley. Trevor and Valerie Brown. Moose Mason. Josie McCoy. Even Cheryl Blossom.
"My Nana Rose mysteriously died this morning. She may have been old, but she was doing fine until she had her breakfast tea. If this means standing against my parents, then I too stand in solidarity with the south." She stood next to Veronica.
"Cheryl so help me God if you don't take that back you will be disinherited from the family fortune." Penelope Blossom's voice seethed. Her husband stood stoic behind her. "All of these accusations are ridiculous. We are leaving."
A sigh came from the crowd. "I'm sorry Penelope, but I'm afraid I can't let you do that. As ridiculous as I feel these accusations are, I'm going to have to investigate them. Chuck Clayton, you'll have to come to the station as well." Finally Sheriff Keller was doing the right thing.
Chuck kicked the police car, but then Clifford took off running. Penelope looked on horrified, as she grabbed Cheryl's arm and headed to her car.
"Now I maybe am just getting this from watching so many crime films and reading mystery novels, but usually the ones who run are guilty. Am I finally off the suspects list now?" I asked, and Betty elbowed me in the side for my less than graceful way of phrasing.
Finally our story came to an epic conclusion. Clifford Blossom was eventually caught and sent to jail. Betty was right about going to the police since there was ample proof of the murder, he just never felt he'd be investigated for it. Now Riverdale itself wasn't going to change over night by any means but people were opening up. It was a start, a conversation.
The six of us took off to Pop's, clanking milkshake glasses. We celebrated there and then ended the night with a round of bowling. Archie kept getting a strike and I did fairly well myself but Betty came in first and Veronica could barely avoid a gutter ball once every three turns. For once we were just friends out acting like teenagers without all the drama and social stigma, oh and don't forget the danger. A night like that could change the world, and in some ways it did.
Would I still be bullied in school? Would I still have to balance my responsibilities of a kind of Serpent, novelist, journalist, student, and cook? Yes and yes, but I also had to deal with being the luckiest raven haired boy alive. I came out of this and survived with my best girl at my side. We were going to make it, I could tell.