"Students, get back in your seat." Mr. Howitzer screams at the freshmen who rush to the window when they see Cheryl being escorted by Sheriff Keller.
"I knew she did it." "She was always a psycho." Where the phrase comes out of the mouths of the students.
Abby, the only one who stayed in her seat, didn't believe it. Cheryl didn't do it, she was mourning her brother. Was it possible to mourn for someone that you killed? "EVERYONE GET BACK IN YOUR SEAT NOW!" Mr. Howitzers' loud commanding voice that he learned from being a drill sergeant, made all the students hurry back to their desk. "I understand that you are young and easily excitable, but my classes don't get out of control, understood?" He made sure to make eye contact with all of them. After he saw all of them nod, he turned back to show them how to find out what was A in the equation.
"Sup, little red." Moose sats down across from her.
"Hey Lumberjack, let's see your essay on the Roman Empire." She asked for his homework for his World History class.
"Here you go," He slides it over to her.
After reading it through, she looks up at Moose. "Moose, there are only facts here." She looks up at him.
"It's a history essay." He reminds her, thinking she must have forgotten.
"I know that. In a History essay, you're supposed to use the facts to prove your point. The question you're answering is how can the Roman Empire be seen in society today and if those influences are good or bad. You have the first part answered, now you just need the second part." She explains more in-depth about her issue with his essay.
"Why is school constantly forcing us to have opinions about things we don't care about?" He groans.
"It's to help expand your mind. This is the easy part. We already did all the research." She chuckled at him pouting. "Roadways?"
"Good." Moose nods.
"Why?" She asks.
"Because it makes traveling faster and easier." He sighs.
"See, that was easy. What about the law system?" She went on.
"That's on the fence because it doesn't work for a lot of people. But, it's the only one we got." He shrugs.
"That's a fine answer too." She told him.
"Really?" He perks up. She nods her head. He flashes her a smile before turning serious. "Can I ask you about Reggie?"
"I don't know if we should talk about that. He is your friend." She didn't want to get into a big argument.
"It's just Reggie really likes you. He's been talking about you for years now. It doesn't seem fair for you to write him off after two dates." He hated seeing his friend down.
She sighs seeing that he wasn't going to let this go. "Do you talk about Midge to your friends about your sexual life?"
"No, but..." He was about to explain the difference between your girlfriend and a girl you're dating.
"That right, because you respect her. Only in respect can there be love. Men, like Reggie and Chuck, are attracted to women, but they don't respect women. It is unfair to me to continue a relationship when there is never going to be love." She gave him a look to let him know that she wasn't going to continue this conversation. "Now, what is your opinion on English coming from Latin?"
Abby slams her fist against Cooper's red door. The door swings open to show her the person she wanted to see. "Abigail Andrews! What are you doing trying to break down my door? I guess that the kind of manners I should expect from someone who's mother runs out on them." The older blonde glares.
She held up the Riverdale Register, that headline was Cheryl Blossom Guilty As Sin! "This is bullshit. As a journalist, you are supposed to report facts not your feelings. A kid is dead, instead of glorifying it like some great justice of god maybe should you should report on it seriously. Because a killer out is there and your kid or someone you love might be next."
"One night with Cheryl Blossom and she has you hypnotized. She tried with my Betty but it didn't work. Thought you were smarter." She shook her head, not listening to a word the teen said.
"Why are you stalking my house?" She glares.
"I have to watch who is coming into this neighborhood and you seem to be letting any riff-raff in. I mean, gang members and a killer. They always say to watch out for the quiet ones." She leaned against her door frame.
"You know what, consider this an unsubscribe to your gossip column." She opens the newspaper before throwing it up in the air so that the papers would fly everywhere. She made her way to Tomoko's house.
Today, Tomoko was outside playing fetch with Mochi in the front yard. "Hey." She came out and closed the fence to keep her dog from getting out.
"Hi, did you see the paper?" Abby knew she did. Tomoko always read the paper in the morning. She said it helps her see different styles of writing.
"Yeah, Mrs. Cooper is kind of a psycho. I'm not even sure you can print a minor's picture in the newspaper like that. Not, that everyone in this small town doesn't know who the Blossoms are." She thought Alice was a good writer, but she wasn't a good journalist. There was a difference.
Soon, Trev joins their group as they walk past his house. "I have to tell you guys something." They turn their eyes to him waiting for him to go on. "The reason I quit the football team is because of the toxic atmosphere."
"I can see that, but you shouldn't let them get in the way of what you want." Tomoko knew there was something he wasn't telling them.
"You don't understand the extremes they go to." He looks down at his feet.
"What are you talking about?" Abby asked.
"They have a playbook to keep score of the women they score with." He worded it the way that Chuck explained it to him.
"They keep score?" Abby could feel her heart speeding in her chest as she realized that her name was probably in that book.
"The scores are based on her looks and how difficult she is to get in bed. A guy can add those points on to his score if he is able to get with her." He explains.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Tomoko couldn't believe how disgusting some teenage boys could be.
"Me too." Abby hopes she was wrong, but she knew in her gut that she was right.
The house was tense after Fred grounded Archie for lying to him about where he was on the fourth of July. It had been a few hours and Archie didn't want to come down for dinner. So, Abby took a plate to his room when their dad went to take a shower.
She walks into his room and puts the plate on his desk. "Can I ask you something?"
"Is it about the fourth of July, because I rather not talk about it right now." He hugs his pillow as he lays down on his bed.
"No, it's not that. I do find it odd that you went there to write songs when you have a good desk here, but I guess you didn't want dad to find out. An odd thing to hide but whatever." She sat at the foot of his bed.
"I didn't think he would approve. Obviously I was right." He mutters.
"You are not grounded because of your music, you're grounded because you lied about it to not only our dad but the police." She rolls her eyes.
"Can you for once act like my sister and not my mom." He glares.
She scolds herself for letting her jealous of her brother get the better of her. She would love for her dad to put some thought into who she could be. He had all these big plans for Archie, but with Abby, he said to do whatever you want. It made her feel like he didn't have any confidence in her. It was ironic how both siblings wish they had the other situation. "I get it, Dad put a lot of pressure on you to take over the business when you clearly have no interest in it."
"You can tell?" He thought he put on a good show.
"The look on your face when dad is not looking but he is talking about it says it all." She laughs. He always looked like he swallowed a lemon.
"I thought you didn't come in here to talk about this." He got up and sat down at his desk.
"I wanted to ask you..." She wanted to ask him about the playbook but she was scared too. What if he knew about it and thought it was no big deal? They've been getting into a lot of arguments lately with her nagging him to do his chores. But, he was her brother, he looked out for her as much as he could while still letting her live her own life. She would describe him as a naive dimwit with a good heart. She didn't want that image of him being shattered. "I lied." She gets up and walks out of the room.
"Hello, Betty. I heard that you're reopening the Blue and Gold. I would like to write an article for it that might pique your guy's interest." Tomoko led a group of girls into the newspaper room, where Veronica and Betty were eating lunch.
"I'm listening." Betty nods.
"Trev confessed to us this morning that he quit the football team because the guys have a playbook where they keep score of the girls they slept with. According to him, most of the team is in on this toxic mess." Tomoko said.
"More like lying on their dicks." Abby growls. The girls behind her nodded their heads. "Ethel, would you mind retelling your story." She turns to the other plus size girl in the school.
"Sure, one-day last year, Chuck and I talked in the library for 10 minutes. I helped him with a Pre-Calc problem, and nothing happened. But the next day, he... He started telling people that I let him do stuff to me. Like, sex stuff. And then he... Or one of his goons, wrote, sloppy seconds on my locker." She kept her eyes on the ground and stumbled over some words.
"Yes, yes, we've all heard your tragic origin story." Cheryl came into the room. She was looking for her missing vixens when she overheard the story.
"I'm so, so sorry, Ethel. That's horrible." Betty came over to rub her back in comfort.
"Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's torture-murder case, but we all have our crosses. In the meantime, River Vixen practice starts in five minutes, sluts, so..." Cheryl got cut off by the other redhead in the group.
"Cheryl didn't you go out on a few dates with some football players. Aren't you curious if your name is in the book?" Abby asked. Cheryl froze up for a second before going back to looking like she didn't care.
"They're ruining our lives, and to them, it's just a game. They keep score and... " Ethel was about to cry.
"Wait, what do you mean, keep score?" Veronica asked.
"It's like we said they keep a playbook. Each conquest earns them points." Tomoko put air quotes around conquest.
"Okay, we have to talk to Weatherbee." Betty felt like this was getting out of control.
"We already did, yesterday. He told us this morning he couldn't find anything." Abby felt like she was covered in dirt and sludge from her name being in that book.
"Okay, then we need undeniable proof." Betty looks at Tomoko who wanted the story.
"Proof of what, Nancy Drew? That boys will be boys? That playbook reeks of suburban legend." Cheryl leaned against the door frame.
"How would you know, Cheryl?" Veronica got tired of the girl butting into their business.
"Because, Frida Shallow, before he died, my brother was co-captain of the football team with Chuck, and Jason never mentioned it, and he never would've allowed it." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Look, Trev said he saw it and he's not a liar. Neither is Veronica or Ethel or any of the girls here. I hate to tell you this Cheryl but people can be different around certain people. I learned that this past week. Reggie was opening doors and texting me all these sweet things. Then around his friend, he dogs me out and made up outrageous lies that all we did was have sex when I never have seen his penis. I'm sure he did the same to Ginger." She points to the other girl.
"I did do stuff with him." She admits.
"That doesn't matter, she doesn't deserve to be humiliated and thrown to the side when he gets another girl. Which I'm sorry about by the way." She turns back to Ginger, feeling bad that Reggie treated her like that because she said yes to going out with him.
"You didn't know." She sighs. It was interesting to see the two girls without Cheryl, they were still catty and bitchy but without someone to lead them, they were lost lambs. They remind her of Gretchen Weiner.
"Don't get in my way, Cheryl. Because these disgusting pigs are getting exposed one way or another. Call me, or any of these beautiful, young, strong, intelligent women... slut one more time, and see what happens." Veronica got in her face.
"Whatever, waste your time you're not going to find anything." She storms out of the room, forgetting about the vixens she came to get.
"Now that she is gone, listen, Trev knows where the playbook is. He told us, so we are meeting here, tonight." Tomoko told them.
"Obviously we all can't be here tonight, so we should talk about who's coming. So far it's Tomoko and I. Trev would come but I feel like it should be a female lead. He says the book is easy to find." Abby picked up where her friend left off.
"I'm going." Ethel, Betty, and Veronica put their hands up.
The girls who said they would go and Kevin was dressed all in black. "Football players behaving badly, what else is new? Steubenville, Glen Ridge. The coach's son being the ringleader. I mean, just how depraved is this town?" Veronica in a black dress, pearls, and heels lead the group.
"Color me impressed." Cheryl made everyone jump and turn towards her.
"Cheryl, what the hell are you doing?" Abby put a hand over her speeding heart.
"And where did you get those thigh-high boots? They're amazing." Kevin eyes her boots. The girls shot him a look that said not the time.
"After Tina told you what you were doing, I thought I would come to help out." Cheryl points her flashlight at her boots.
"Help? Or derail our investigation?" Betty didn't believe her.
"Get over yourself, Betty." She shined her light in Betty's face. "I'm here to help out a friend who was there in my time of need." She moves to stand next to Abby.
"Hey guys, get in here. " Ethel calls out from the locker room.
"Thank god, she said something. If I noticed her gone, I would have thought someone killed her." Tomoko sighs.
"Same." Abby agrees.
The group walks inside to look at the book open in Ethel's hands. "Trev was right. They didn't even bother to hide it. It was right in an open locker."
"New girl? Is that what I'm reduced to? Nine points?" Veronica looks at her name.
"It's better than being Big Girl. Seven points five." Ethel points at her name.
"This isn't a sad contest, but at least you guys are your own people, I'm Archie's sister. Eight points." She glares at the books.
"Polly's in this book..." Betty looks at her sister who was nine points and noted down for being a shy reserved girl.
"Next to Jason's name." Cheryl stares down in horror. Betty had to walk away.
"I'm so sorry, Betty," Veronica said.
"This isn't... Jason would never..." She didn't want to believe it.
"It's right there, Cheryl! God. Your brother hurt my sister. This is what guys like Jason and Chuck think about women. We're objects for them to abuse. And when they're done with us, they shame us into silence. They have zero remorse for the lives they destroy." She turns around to yell at her.
"Maybe I don't know Jason." She turns off her flashlight and walks away from the group.
Abby follows after her. "You know Jason, your brother. But, people wear different hats. This is Jason, the bro." She pulls her into a hug. Because of Cheryl's attitude, many people forget that she's hurting too.
"I'll take a picture. We'll show it to Weatherbee. It'll be the perfect cover for your expose, Tomoko." Veronica took a picture with her phone.
"Yeah, but… all of a sudden a story doesn't feel like enough." Tomoko looks down at the playbook.
"I agree, like you said Veronica, we should go full dark, no stars. I have a plan." Betty came back over to the group.
"I don't know about what Betty and Veronica are doing?" Tomoko sighs, looking over the top of her laptop at her friends. Betty and Veronica plan to set Chuck up tonight. They were going to get him on video saying he never did anything with Veronica.
"I hope nothing goes wrong." Abby was on her laptop, putting the photo through a few filters to see which made the playbook the clearest.
"I agree, I would hate it if Chuck caught on. People who think they are invincible are dangerous." Trev sighs. When he first met the guy, Chuck pretended like he wanted to be his mentor, then he was trying to talk him into helping him get into Tomoko's pants.
"That is why this article is important. This is bigger than me getting a spot on the paper. This about drawing a line in the sand to show them that women are not toys for them to play with. That our feeling is more important than their egos." Tomoko looks down at the google doc she had open. "This has to be the best thing I've ever written."
"It will be. Let's think of headlines. I'm thinking of Rape Culture at Riverdale High." Trev suggested.
"The Objectivation of Women." Abby gave a title.
"Thanks for the options, but I have one already, The Book of Shame." Tomoko turns her laptop around to show them the title. "I just emailed it to Betty."
Tomoko, Betty, and Abby were at the school early, making sure to get a school newspaper in every locker and on the principal's desk. They were putting some on a shelf by the bulletin board for anyone who wanted. "Good job, Tomoko." Veronica came over.
"Thanks, Betty had a lot of helpful tips." She was thankful that the blonde let her write it.
"It was one transition sentence, Tomoko. Veronica is right, you did an amazing job." She smiles at the younger girl.
"Congrats, on getting Chuck to clear your name." Abby nods to Veronica.
"Thank, I need to talk to Betty alone if that's alright." She looks at the underclassman.
"Sure, see you guys later." They nod and walk away.
After a few minutes Tomoko, Veronica, and Betty were called to the office. Hermoine Lodge was able to negotiate a lesser sentence for them. They would get a week of detention. The football players were called in when their parents arrived.
It was bittersweet for Abby as she watched Chuck and his goons get escorted out of the school because they were suspended and cut from the team. While she was happy for the other girls getting their justice, she couldn't help but be upset that Reggie wasn't with them.
Abby waited in front of the school for Fangs. She was shocked to see another familiar motorcycle pull up in front of her. "Sweet Pea?" She tilted her head.
"Fangs can't make it today, he got Serpent business." He stared at her waiting for her to get on the back of his bike.
"Can we go to Sunnyside, today? I don't feel like being around people." She had to speak loudly over the engine.
It was Sweet Pea's turn to be shocked, she was always so excited to go to the Whyte Worm and see the bikers from her childhood. "Alright," He nods. He wasn't completely comfortable with her seeing his house where all the furniture was leftover from the previous owners but seeing her sad eyes he gave in.
She got on the back of the bike and he took off. She held on tight until they got to the trailer park. She got off the bike and followed him to a single-wide trailer. He let her in after he opened the door. She looked around and was surprised by how clean it was. Everything in there was outdated and faded but it was nice. It reminded her when she went to her grandparent's house. She took a seat on the faded plaid couch and looked over to see Sweet Pea standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry, you are uncomfortable with me being here. We can go somewhere else." She stood up.
"I'm not uncomfortable. Sit back down." He closed the door and took a seat on the couch.
She sat back down. "How are you doing with Macbeth?"
"I don't see why Shakespear is seen as a great writer. It all seems very soap opera to me." He scoffs.
"He was the first, so I'm sure it was seen as being creative at the time." She shrugs.
"What up with him having all these questions about the witches? Are they real? What are their intentions? It's like if you don't trust them then ignore them. Don't tell your wife if you don't want to do it." He grumbles.
"But, then there wouldn't be a story." She laughs at his frustration.
"That sounds great to me." He snorts.
"As far as not trusting them, it's like Banquo says they speak in half-truths. At the time, fortune-telling and prophecy were seen as dangerous because things can be spoken into existence. Henry VI made it illegal for people to make predictions about his death." She explains with that excitement in her eyes that made Sweet Pea feel unwanted things.
"You're so a nerd." He shook his head laughing.
"That's why I'm a tutor." She smiled.
"I guess that's true in a sense. If Macbeth didn't run into the witches, he and his wife would have been happy with his promotion to Thane of Cawdor. He would have never thought about killing the king to become king himself." He got what she was hinting at. It was a story of its time, warning about the dangers of seeing into the future.
She noticed that Fangs and Sweet Pea didn't need a tutor. They figure things out quickly with small pushes in the right direction. She was positive that they would figure it out on their own if she wasn't here. After a talk with Fangs when he dropped her off, she found out she was right. Toni signs them up so that they would be forced to do their school work.
"So, what's got you so down today that you didn't want to be by people?" He asked.
"Same reason, I pushed the tutoring a day back." She pulls out the Blue and Gold and gives it to him.
"The Book of Shame." He read the title out loud before reading the article to himself. "Reggie, so that's the asshole name." He sneers when he sees she was written as eight points next to his name.
"Yeah, not that it matters but I didn't do anything with him. Like I said it was two dates and neither of them went well." She sighs.
"Did he gets punished?" He asked.
"No, everyone else got cut and suspended, but not him. His parents brought their lawyer who talked about suing the school and handwriting evidence. So he got off. I'm happy for the other girls but it is so infuriating. He shouldn't be untouchable just because he's rich." She bounced her legs as she felt the anger boiling inside of her.
"The world sucks." He felt the same anger as her.
"I feel like I brought it on myself." The thought that this was her karma pops in her head.
"Don't tell me you were one of those girls who thought the asshole would change for them." He rolls his eyes.
"No, I went out with him for the wrong reasons." She looks down at her notes.
"Why were you going out with him to be popular?" He narrows his eyes.
"Can you stop assuming the worst about me?" She glares.
"Explain yourself and I wouldn't have to guess." He would never admit it but when she got angry she reminded him of a fluffy pomeranian. It made him want to cuddle her.
"My mom left a couple of years ago to live her dream life in Chicago as a lawyer. So, I stepped up at the house. Recently, I became fed up with feeling older than I am, so I went out with him because I wanted to feel like a normal teen. I wanted to go to school dances and to the movies with a date. Even though it scares me, I wanted to be loved." She sighs before going on. "Reggie was the only guy interested. I feel bad, because I know if I had other options I probably would have gone out with them instead. I didn't feel anything for him but I went out with him anyway. I was using him, so maybe I don't have a right to feel upset about him using me also."
Sweet Pea grabbed her chin to make her look at him. "It doesn't matter your intentions, because this guy was going to hurt you even if you were madly in love with him. You're not the only name next to the pricks." He let go and sat back. She stares at him as he goes on. "But, you shouldn't force yourself to try and have feelings for someone. It doesn't work like that. You don't get to choose those types of things. When it happens it'll happen whether you like it or not." He knew he was speaking from experiences as he stared into her eyes. He never wanted to feel anything for a Northsider. Yet, here he was wanting to give her everything she wanted.