SMOKESTACKS
CHAPTER | EIGHT
Throughout the house, bathed in black, all that could be heard was the high-pitched, girlish giggles that slipped beneath the cracks of Elizabeth Cooper's bedroom door.
It had been a week since Jason's body had been found and Savannah was starting to let herself forget about his waterlogged body, the source of her nightmares and sleepless nights.
As Betty Cooper laughed at a YouTube video they had put on her iPad, setting it up against a wall of pillows, Savannah couldn't stop the rumble of laughter that built up within her chest.
Savannah smirked and slapped the iPad face-down onto the bed, it instantly shutting off. She turned to her friend, who looked outraged, and asked swiftly, "So, what's the deal with you and Archie then?"
Betty shuffled uncomfortably and sat up straighter against the headboard. "Ever since he and Veronica kissed, it's been difficult."
"I still can't believe you forgave her,Betty." Savannah rolled her eyes, moving to rest on her stomach to face Betty. "She wanted to be your friend and by the next day, she'd thrown it all in your face. That's not a friend."
"I don't think you can say anything." Betty countered, feeling the need to defend Veronica.
"No." Savannah snapped sharply, "We are not talking about Jason and Polly. I don't even know her, Betty,don't throw that in my face."
Betty bit her lip awkwardly and managed to nod once. "It doesn't matter anyway. Archie doesn't feel the same way. He told me that on the night of the dance."
Savannah pursed her lips in thought, her mind whirling as she remembered the night at Pop's with Jughead, when Archie burst through the doors in a panic. It must have been after he kissed Veronica and went searching for Betty, who took off to save herself the heartbreak.
"Boys choose the wrong girl, Betty." Savannah told her, trying not to think of Polly and Jason. "And when it all blows up in their faces, they'll realise that it was you all along. Trust me, Archie will open his eyes one day."
Betty smiled softly. "I hope so." She then let out a sigh and continued, "But if he and Veronica want to be together and they're happy then I'll just have to live with that. I can't come between them."
"Screw that." Savannah scoffed, her face contorting with disgust for the Lodge girl. "He was your boy first, she swooped in with her pearls and bouquet of yellow flowers for "friendship". Screw that, and screw her."
"Veronica is my friend, Savannah." Betty told her for the hundredth time.
Savannah opened her mouth to say something, when she faltered. Jason had been Polly's girl and she had swooped in with her need for a distraction, torn apart by her father's death.
"How do you feel about the whole Jason thing?" Betty asked her friend.
"I don't know." Savannah told her, feeling that the answer was entirely truthful. "I think from the beginning I wouldn't let myself feel for him, but he was still a person that I connected with on some level."
She thought of her parents and how this situation felt all too familiar. She remembered the nights when she'd cling to her stuffed animals, hidden underneath the comfort of her bed. The place where children believed they were safe, under their covers like the cruel truths of the world couldn't reach them there.
"Are you coming to Pop's?" Betty asked from her vanity.
Savannah hadn't noticed her move. "Who's going?"
"Veronica, for one." Betty said cautiously, ignoring Savannah's groan from the bed. "Kevin and Jughead."
At the sound of his name, Savannah sat up, her legs forming a basket. "Jughead's going? Surprising."
"He's been less of a lone wolf these days," Betty commented as she picked up her pink lipstick, reapplying a light layer. "I'm glad he's spending more time with us again, I don't know why he and Archie fell out to begin with."
Savannah simply shrugged and rolled off the bed to check her appearance behind Betty in the mirror.
"Can I borrow some lipstick?" Savannah asked her friend, moving closer to the vanity and inspecting the variety on the table. They were all pink, except for an unexpected red one. Savannah smirked and held it up, "Never pegged you as a scandalous scarlet kind of girl, Betty."
Betty's eyes widened a fraction at the sight of the lipstick and the reminder of what had happened in the hot tub with Chuck. "Veronica loaned it to me." She said quickly.
"Ew." Savannah dropped the lipstick quickly and searched for the most neutral colour that she could find in Betty's selection. She picked up the shade Mocha and popped the lip off.
The sound of that alone made Savannah feel alive, as if she was finally smelling the roses and that she was putting the whole Jason situation behind her.
She didn't even have to force the smile on her face after she placed the lipstick back down on the vanity. Maybe pink was her colour after all.
"The drive-in closing, it's just one more nail in the coffin that is Riverdale." Jughead ranted, his voice fast and rough, fuelled by the fury that his place of work was going to be closed down. "No. Forget Riverdale. In the coffin of the American dream. As the godfather of indie cinema, Quentin Tarantinto, likes to say -"
"Please, God, no more Quentin Tarantino references." Kevin interrupted, his face contorted in what could be described as pain.
"What?" Jughead asked sharply, "I'm pissed."
"Yes, we gathered that, Jughead." Savannah said, staring into her chocolate milkshake as she stirred it with her straw.
"It's not just about losing my job." Jughead continued, much to the dismay of Kevin, who felt rather boxed in as he was sat at the wall side of the booth. "The Twilight Drive-In should mean something to us. People should be trying to save it."
Veronica placed her hand down on the table in front of Jughead, "In this age of Netflix and VOD, do people really want to watch a movie in a car? I mean, who even goes there."
Savannah rolled her eyes at the raven-haired girl.
"People who want to buy crack." Kevin told her, seriously.
Jughead took over, "And cinephiles and car enthusiasts, right, Bets?"
They all looked over at Betty, who was staring at her lap silently, lost in thought. At the sound of her name, Betty blinked and nodded, not sure what she was agreeing to. "Totally."
"Anyway, it's closing because the town owns it but didn't invest in it. So when an anonymous buyer made Mayor McCoy an offer she couldn't refuse -"
"Anonymous buyer?" Veronica repeated in disbelief, "What do they have to hide? No one cares."
"Clearly Jughead does." Savannah interjected, frowning at the girl in distaste. "Do you really have to try and dismiss people's feelings like that?"
Veronica simply looked at the girl and returned to her milkshake. She knew by now that Savannah had a problem with her, however she understood that any attempts to try and build a bridge between them would be futile.
Jughead cleared his throat to try and break the tension. "You guys should come to closing night. I'm thinking America Graffiti. Or is that too obvious?"
"I vote for anything starring Audrey Hepburn. Or Cate Blanchett." Veronica said, turning to Kevin who agreed.
"Or The Talented Mr. Ripley." Kevin nodded happily, turning to Betty suddenly. "Betty, your choices?"
Betty, who hadn't been paying attention once more, blinked as she was startled back into reality.
"Everything okay, B?" Veronica asked Betty, from across the table.
Savannah, however, decided to nudge Jughead, who she was sitting beside. "This is really important to you, isn't it?"
"Yes." Jughead replied with a sigh, "Just wonder what they're going to tear it down and turn it into."
"Whatever it is, maybe you could get a job there." Savannah teased, nudging him once more with her elbow and grinning widely.
The boy made to quip back with some snide remark but faltered at the sight of her bright smile. He could almost see the broken girl behind the facade of happiness, except it wasn't a facade. She was healing – and it had nothing do with Jason Blossom.
"You look good." He decided to tell her instead.
The brunette felt her cheeks heat up and she nodded, "Thanks, Jug." She said softly, turning back to the rest of their friends, who were still focused on Betty.
"How about Rebel Without a Cause."Betty offered, glancing over at Jughead, who met her gaze and offered a humorous grin.
"Be sure to put all that cash in the register." Cheryl's snobbish voice carried through the diner."You are a Lodge after all, and Lodges are known to have sticky fingers."
"Cheryl." Veronica stood up in a rage and marched over to where her mother stood.
Savannah patted at Betty's shoulder to prompt her to slide out of the booth, allowing the brunette to move over to Cheryl's table as well.
"Honey, I got this." Veronica's mom told her, holding a finger up to her daughter. "Cheryl, I went to school with your mother. She didn't know the difference between having money and having class either."
Savannah glared after the woman as she moved away from the table, and turned to Veronica. "Does your mother always try to put down teenage girls?"
"What is your problem?" Veronica finally snapped, "I don't understand what I did to make you so rude to me."
"Oh really, you don't?" Savannah laughed humourlessly, "So, you didn't try to be Betty's friend and then stab her in the back. Flowers and cupcakes don't solve problems,Veronica."
"I apologised!" Veronica almost cried, sensing Betty's presence beside her.
"Savannah." Betty shook her head at her friend. "This doesn't involve you."
"No." Savannah smiled softly with a nod."You're right, it doesn't involve me. Doesn't mean her mother has any right to attack a grieving teenager."
She shot one final glare at Veronica and grabbed Cheryl's hand, pulling her out of the diner along with her. The redhead let out a squeak of protest as she was dragged behind the building, her eyes wide and uncertain.
"Why do you have to be such a bitch all the time, Cheryl?" Savannah finally exploded, sighing with exasperation. "That was uncalled for."
"Why did you stick up for me? We're not even friends." Cheryl said quietly, unsure of what else she could say.
"I don't have to be your friend to speak up for you." The brunette told her quickly, "You're in mourning, everyone should respect that. Even if you are being unnecessarily rude."
Cheryl watched as Savannah stormed away from the diner, very much intending to walk home, despite the fact that she'd driven herself and Betty there in Kyle's beat-up truck. Was she really about to abandon her friend?
"Savannah!" She heard a male voice call after her. She recognised it as Jughead immediately. "Savannah,wait."
"What do you want, Jughead?" She asked,continuing on walking along the parking lot, the rocks crunching satisfyingly under her feet.
"Just, stop." He grabbed hold of her forearm, forcing her to stand still and turn around to face him.
"I'm not going to apologise." She told him firmly.
"I'm not asking you to." Jughead held up his hands in surrender, "If anything, I agree with you."
"You don't like Veronica either?"
"I couldn't care for Veronica, I'm just worried about you and Betty." Jughead disregarded the topic of the raven-haired beauty. "She let go of the fact that you screwed over her sister, Savannah, the least you could do is try to be civil with Veronica."
"Maybe." Savannah agreed, folding her arms tightly across her chest. "But that girl infuriates me, acting like she's above everyone else and getting on at Cheryl for doing the same. They're so similar."
"How can you be okay with Cheryl and hate Veronica?"
"Cheryl doesn't deny that she's a bitch."Savannah told him honestly. "Cheryl lost her brother, okay? He wasn't even just her brother, he was her best friend, her soul mate. I know if I lost Piper or my brother, I'd be in pieces. She deserves little slack."
Jughead didn't say anything as he turned to see the red head in the diner. She'd quickly returned to her friends, or minions as she called them, trying to act like nothing had ever happened.
"She gets constantly hated on and Veronica is loved." Savannah snapped, her hands balling into fists,squeezing her thumbs tightly. "Every single thing that comes out of Veronica's mouth is like a cliché, empowering speeches, appearing to be the voice of the greater good. It makes me sick."
"She did get Justice for Ethel."He mentioned, bringing up the whole score book that Jason's football team had. "After the book."
Savannah's eyes darkened. "Jason was not a bad person." She told him firmly, "I will not tolerate anyone who says that he was because maybe he made a few mistakes, but he still cared about people. He didn't just play with Polly, he did love her, he just didn't know how to handle that."
"Might wanna tell Betty that." Shrugged, the two of them looking at the blonde who was sitting in the booth, staring out of the window at them.
Savannah's eyes met Betty's and she let out a sigh at the smile that she offered her. The brunette wanted to return it, she wanted that signal to make sure that everything was okay between them, but it was too difficult.
And so instead, she turned away from Betty, away from Jughead and continued her way down the rocky drive.