By the time everyone filed into the assembly hall, Madison's caffeine hit was already wearing off, adding to the frustration of being surrounded by the other noisy students. She managed to sink into a seat beside Jughead who was slouched down, almost hidden from sight. Just as he liked it.
"Many of you were lucky enough to know my brother personally," Cheryl Blossom began to speak, slowly and solemnly as she stared down each student from underneath the melodramatic black veil that hovered just over her face.
"You mean unlucky," Jughead muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Madison to hear. Madison snorted quietly, ignoring the glances from the row of freshmen in front of them. They all looked a little too sad for students who had probably never heard of Jason Blossom until today. They had no idea of the kind of family the Blossoms really were. They had no idea of the kind of misery Jason and Cheryl left in their paths. Madison pulled her gaze reluctantly back over to Cheryl, her eyes glazing over briefly as she took in Cheryl's red hair cascading over her shoulders. Suddenly the red tinge made Madison's stomach feel a little queasy, her heart thudding in her chest unexpectedly as she took in a sharp breath.
"You okay?" Jughead whispered, glancing down at Madison's hands which had somehow ended up in two tight fists in her lap.
Madison unclenched them, letting out a breath as she nodded. "Yeah, just trying not to hurl over this sickly sweet ceremony," she replied, swallowing thickly and thanking the stars that Jughead didn't push the issue further, pulling his focus back to Cheryl's speech. Madison wasn't sure what elicited that reaction in her stomach, her mind going fuzzy as if someone had messed with the signal momentarily. Whatever it was, luckily it passed as she refocused on Cheryl's over-dramatic speech.
"Jason wouldn't want us to spend the year mourning. Jason would want us to move on with our lives…" Cheryl continued, her eyes scanning over the crowd. "Which is why I've asked the school board not to cancel the back to school semi-formal. But rather to let us use it as way to heal, collectively."
Madison rolled her eyes as the rest of the students burst into obligatory applause. "I need to go vomit," she said drily, only half under her breath as Jughead let out a breath of laughter beside her.
The rest of the students were starting to get up once the principal gave a small nod to indicate the end of assembly and Madison let out a bored huff, jogging down the steps as Jughead moved smoothly behind her, one hand resting on his laptop bag. "Come on Mads, you can go vomit in Cheryl's face at the dance," he remarked as they weaved their way through the mass of students filing out.
"Gag, no thanks. I don't need to spend any more time with these demons than necessary," Madison shot back over her shoulder as she reached her locker, smirking as Jughead rolled his eyes, already moving past her to head to his first class.
The rest of the day floated by like a blur of motion with Madison barely paying attention to her surroundings. She managed to sit through all of her classes although she only retained five percent of anything the teachers were saying.
By the time Madison got home, she was well overdue for some kind of substance abuse, her brain no longer caring what it was. Luckily she still had a few joints still tucked in her underwear drawer and as soon as it was clear that her father had no interest in checking in with her today, she quickly closed the bedroom door, moving easily through the familiar routine she'd perfected over the last few months, carefully popping the window open and setting up her little nook to smoke comfortably.
Madison frowned as the sound of a sickly sweet pop song blasted from across the corridor from Betty's room. She hadn't even realised Betty was home until the music started blaring at a volume much louder than usual, a hint that Betty was in a good mood for some unknown reason that Madison truely couldn't care less about. Still, the pot floating around in her brain sparked up the possibility of investigating, if purely to make a snide remark to bring her sister down to earth again. Madison waited a beat, listening as she heard a few thuds until finally her curiosity got the better of her, reluctantly putting out her joint before dragging her body out of her bedroom and into Betty's doorway where she found her jaw dropping of its own accord.
"You are so dead," Madison remarked dryly over the music as she waltzed into Betty's room, eyeing up Betty's new fashion choice, a perky blue Cheerleading uniform that practically screamed 'MAKE ME POPULAR' with the white turtleneck style top tucked into her pleated skirt as she bounced around the bedroom. Betty barely even battered an eyelash at Madison's comment though. Instead, she just bopped around Madison, flicking her sister's as she danced past her. The amount of pep in her step was somehow more annoying than usual and Madison rolled her eyes, flopping onto Betty's bed with a huff.
She watched as Betty continued to bounce around the room, flashing a beam towards Madison a few times, seeming not to care that Madison was 'invading her privacy'. It was almost amusing and as Madison watched, her brain already fairly fried from the pot, she had to crack a smile, tilting her head lazily to the music.
The sisterly bonding session party was abruptly cut off without warning, and Madison felt a smirk sliding up her lips as she spotted their mother standing at the door, one finger pressed on the stereo as she swiftly turned the music off.
"What is that?" Alice asked curtly, nodding towards Betty's new attire. She didn't even seem to notice Madison's stoned appearance on the bed and Madison vaguely reminded herself to thank Betty for the distraction later on.
"I made the cheerleading squad." Betty sounded a little deflated as she looked at Alice's disapproving expression and Madison rolled her eyes. Betty was such a suck up to their parents, even one hint of disapproval and she caved in.
"Cheryl Blossom's squad? After what Jason did to Polly?" Alice stared at Betty as she moved into the bedroom, her eyes only briefly flickering across to where Madison was flopped across the bed. "No I'm sorry I won't allow it. Take that off right now," she demanded, holding a hand out to indicate towards the uniform, if you could even call a short skirt a uniform.
"See, Mom thinks you look ridiculous too," Madison said with a snicker which Betty wisely ignored.
"No." Betty said firmly, jutting her chin forward slightly towards her mother.
Alice seemed as stunned as Madison at Betty's unexpected defiance. "What did you say to me?"
Betty wasn't finished though. "I do everything for everyone. Everything," she emphasised as she stepped closer to her mother, hands on her hips as if to hold the uniform down on her body. "To be perfect. The perfect daughter, the perfect sister-"
"Correction, you are a terrible sister. You still won't let me steal your new make up brushes," Madison interjected, pursing her lips in mock annoyance. Betty paused in her rant to glare at Madison but she was clearly too riled up at her mother to comment at all.
"Can't I do this one thing for me?" Betty turned back to Alice, gesturing wildly in the air as she pushed past her and moved towards the doorway.
"Where are you going?" Alice asked loudly, a warning in her tone.
Betty flipped her head around, ponytail swaying dangerously as she turned to stare at her mother again. "To buy a dress. Because I'm going to the dance with Archie. And Veronica."
"Hermione Lodge's daughter?" Alice seemed more annoyed at the name of the new girl than anything else and Madison let out a sigh as she let her head drop back onto the mass of pillows, bored with the conversation now.
Betty stood her ground though. "She's actually really nice and trying to be a good person."
"You think so?" You think she's going to be your friend? Girls like Cheryl and Veronica Lodge, they don't like girls like us-"
"-I don't want to hear it Mom," Betty interrupted her mother's rant. "I'm going."
Madison watched with a raised eyebrow as Betty strutted out of the room with an uncharacteristically high level of sass.
"Wow, now you've got three disappointments. Great parenting, Mom," Madison drawled after a beat, sitting up slightly as she watched her mother, Alice's eyes still gazing after Betty.
Alice let out a long suffering sigh as she turned back to Madison, finally giving her a proper disapproving stare as she took in Madison's bloodshot eyes. "Don't get me started, Madison," she said, pinching her nose in frustration. "You're practically reeking of marijuana."
"No, not practically. I definitely am," Madison corrected, swinging her legs back over the bed and hauling her body back up to a standing position.
"Are you trying to get yourself grounded?" Alice asked in exasperation, glaring at Madison, her arms folded tightly across her chest.
Madison swayed for a moment, contemplating the possibility of that suggestion. Her brain had a hundred thoughts floating through, a dozen ways to get herself grounded and another dozen reasons why that was a stupid idea.
Finally she gave a casual shrug as she brushed past her mother and moved through the doorway. "Nope, just making the kind of observation that would make my reporter mother proud," she replied over her shoulder, smirking at her mother before disappearing back into her bedroom and letting the door swing shut before Alice could start on yet another lecture.
While Betty Cooper was off dancing three feet apart from Archie Andrews at the semi-formal and squirming under the pressure of spin-the-bottle, Madison found herself at her old spot by the river with the usual Southside crowd, Serpent jackets all slung off as they relaxed. Madison didn't have her own Serpent jacket having been advised not to complete initiation especially if she was still very much living on the Northside. She was only only Northside there which would have made anyone else feel uncomfortable and a little on edge, but she was close enough to everyone now that any suspicions had long worn off, jacket or not. Instead she was almost hailed with cheers as she unloaded the pile of weed she'd managed to get at a reasonable price from Reggie Mantle on her way over to the river.
Within a few minutes the group was all lounging around the small clearing of trees, Madison sitting comfortably with one of the few female Serpents, Toni Topaz, lying with her head in Madison's lap. It was a comfortable atmosphere, everyone passing a few bottles of vodka and gin around, the conversation mostly surrounding the dullness of school life once more as they all complained about the loads of homework were none of them were actually planning on completing.
"So where's your preppy sister tonight, Mads?" Sweet Pea asked from across the small circle, his dark hair hanging in his eyes as he looked over at her with a cheeky grin. Sweet Pea was one of the more boisterous Serpents, especially tonight since he was still waiting for the vodka to sink into his bloodstream, his eyes wide and alert.
"Why? You eyeing off my sister, Sweet Pea?" Madison asked with a snort as she reached across Joaquin to grab the bottle of vodka from his other side. "You'd make a great pair," she joked, taking a swig of the vodka and inwardly cheering as she held back any instinct to wince at the taste.
Toni let out a crackle from down in Madison's lap, eyes crinkling with glee at Madison's comment. "My god, imagine that. Sweet Pea wooing Pretty Little Perfect," she giggled. "Your mother would drop dead."
"Nah, if she survived my sister Polly's Blossom scandal, she can survive anything," Madison replied. "Even a scoundrel like Sweet Pea." She didn't mention her own scandal, the missing memories and the blood soaked shirt forever ruined, now buried at the bottom of her closet, the disappointment and horror in her mother's eyes that fateful day. If Alice Cooper could go through that and still send Madison off to school each day, there really was nothing she couldn't do.
"Hey, I am every mother's dream," Sweet Pea declared, raising a fist in defiance as he narrowed his eyes at the two girls.
"Yeah, every mother's wet dream," Joaquin joked quietly, snorting at his own comment as he took the vodka back from Madison. He didn't take a drink though, clearly only taking it away from her to help her slow down. He was annoyingly responsible that way sometimes but Madison refrained from commenting, too busy giggling at his joke.
"Anyway Coops, didn't you say Betty was at that dumb dance tonight?" Toni asked, shifting to sit up, her legs slinging themselves over Madison's lap. She was always so affectionate and tactile after a few swigs of vodka, not that Madison minded in the slightest, but it was always amusing to see how long it took Toni's drunk self to throw herself onto the blonde girl.
Madison snatched the vodka back from Joaquin, taking a deliberate swig as she nodded towards Toni. "See!" she declared, wiping her mouth as a few drops spilled down her chin, a sign that she was already getting a little sloppy. "Toni listens to me!"
"What dance is this? Another pretentious Southside tradition?" Fangs Fogarty asked from his spot beside Joaquin. He'd been fairly quiet tonight, content just sitting and listening to the group bantering as he swigged from his bottle of gin. He was a newer addition to the group, having only officially joined the Serpents at the beginning of the summer but he fit right in, his disdain for the Northside only adding to his Serpent brownie points.
"Yeah, the semi-formal," Madison replied, her tone making it quite clear of her disdain for the entire event.
"Semi formal? What even is that?" Fangs asked, his brow furrowed as he leaned forward to look at Madison.
"It's a chance for Northsiders to sneak booze into school grounds to feel like they're hardcore and breaking the rules, duh. And apparently tonight it's a chance for everyone to remember the beloved and adored Jason Blossom," Madison said, rolling her eyes and holding back a snort as Toni faked vomiting beside her.
"Got it. So why aren't you there? You love breaking rules!" Sweet Pea said, winking at Madison as he tipped his drink to her.
"Because unlike my lame sister, I'd actually rather drink real vodka. None of that watered-down spiked punch nonsense," Madison declared, grinning as she lifted the bottle of vodka in her hand back up to Sweet Pea.
"God, this town is so lame," Fangs remarked, leaning his head backwards with a long suffering sigh as he toyed with the joint in his hand, apparently too bored to even take a drag on it right now as his eyes momentarily drifted closed.
"Tell me about it. You're so lucky you got out during the summer," Sweet Pea remarked, passing the joint back to Madison with a smirk.
Madison took the joint back silently, taking a deep drag as her mind flickered back to her father's warning. "I don't know…I missed the whole Blossom saga. Feels like interesting things only happen when I leave," she shot back finally, pulling a grin onto her lips as she winked back at Sweet Pea.
"Yeah but you got to go party in Greendale! I hear the parties are crazy wild over there, like a whole new level. What was it like?" Fangs asked, raising his eyebrows in curiosity at her as the rest of the group leaned in, all focus suddenly on Madison.
Madison inhaled slowly, inwardly cursing Fangs and his string of questions, pulling focus onto the one part of her summer she had no interest in revisiting. "Ah yeah…It was definitely wild," she said vaguely, doing her best to keep her mind from the truth, the gigantic blank space in her memories, the empty void that threatened to send her into a breakdown at any minute. "I barely remember half of it," she said finally. At least that sounded vaguely correct given her partying reputation and it wasn't a complete lie either.
"Ugh, I'm so jealous," Toni sighed, bumping her head back onto the tree trunk with a look of annoyance as she ran a hand through her long pink-dyed hair which looked like it needed re-dying soon. "I bet the vodka tastes better in Greendale too. None of this cheap shit we're stuck with."
"Oh yeah, I didn't even know what I was on half the time. There was so much going on there. Wild times," Madison nodded her head convincingly, desperate for anything that would change the subject but her mind was trapped now, stuck on the blank memories as she took a long helps swing of vodka just to stop herself from talking any further.
Before anyone could push for any more details that Madison couldn't provide, there was a sudden rustling in the dark, and the entire group came to a hushed halt, all staring in anxious anticipation. Madison slowly lowered the vodka bottle as she spotted Fangs and Sweet Pea both putting their joints down by their sides, almost out of sight just in case they were about to get busted
"Madison! Oh my god Madison Cooper, thank god." Kevin Keller suddenly burst through the bushes, his eyes widening as he spotted Madison amongst the group. He was definitely not who anyone was expecting and Madison stared back, momentarily stunned before she fully processed his presence.
"Kevin…" Madison drew out the name, raising an eyebrow up at him and slowly taking in the frantic wide-eyed expression sitting on his pale face. "Are you mistaking me for someone who actually likes you? My dumb sister perhaps?"
"What? No, I just…" Kevin trailed off, glancing behind himself briefly to wherever he'd come from as he caught his breath, suddenly distracted.
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Toni remarked, immediately giggling at the concept and nudging Madison who was too busy trying to focus in on Kevin's face, her vision vaguely blurred as the vodka sunk into her body, slowing down her concentration levels.
Kevin seemed unimpressed by Toni's wit, barely even glancing around at the other Serpents sitting around. His gaze was solely on Madison, probably the only familiar face to him. "Madison, do you have your phone on you?"
"Why? Need to report a crime to your daddy?" Sweet Pea remarked, his eyes narrowed and distrustful as he pushed himself up to stand, folding his arms across his chest and probably trying to look intimidating even though his stoned manner half ruined the look as he swayed slightly.
Kevin threw a vaguely withering glare towards Sweet Pea before turning back to Madison. "Maddy, do you have your phone or not?"
"Why?" Madison asked suspiciously, reaching into the pockets of her shorts to tug out her cellphone, toying with it slowly as she watched Kevin's eyes.
"Because I lost my phone at the dance and I just found a body in the river. Jason Blossom." Kevin's words cut through the air like a knife through ice, sharp and jarring.
Madison stared back at him, the world coming to an unexpected halt as she took in his words. She slowly stared around at the rest of the Serpent group, her eyes briefly taking in the way Joaquin was staring back at her, something like terror in his eyes, like he knew something she didn't.
"Yeah sure, here you go," she said finally, tossing Kevin the phone and trying to maintain an air of stoned nonchalance as she ignored the gnawing feeling of fear bubbling inside her stomach, a flash of red momentarily blurring her vision.
"Mads, you okay?" Joaquin asked Madison quietly as he leaned closer to her, one hand hovering lightly on her back.
"Yeah, I'm great," Madison said confidently, sticking her thumb up at him as she glanced back up at Kevin, his words replaying in her mind, the name floating into her line of vision. Jason Blossom. In the river. Dead.
And then she threw up.
A/N: Thank you for reading this fun little chapter and so sorry for the delay! Life has a bad habit of getting in the way but I'm still definitely excited about sharing this story so thanks for sticking with me! Please let me know any/all your thoughts on this little chapter and feel free to throw in any of your theories so far! Reviews definitely motivate me and make my day :) Thanks again for reading and thank you to RHatch89, UniqueLightxLove, spiralheads, Beacon-hills, allybz and MissFlowerGirl13 for all leaving such lovely reviews on the last chapter!