Anna was going down to make breakfast when she felt burnt food in the air, she rushed down the stairs. She was picturing her dad on the floor with his stitches torn open bleeding out with burning bacon on the stove. She was relieved when she saw her brother who had all the burners going in front of the stove. "Move it." She bumps him with her hip to push him out of the way.
"What are you doing, I got this." He insisted.
"This egg says differently." She scraps the burnt eggs into the trash. She flips the sausages and bacon. "What else is burning?" She smelt something else besides the eggs.
"Oh, the toast." Archie grabs the black toast. "Aw," He cried out as the bread burned his hand. He dropped it on the nearest plate.
"Throw it in the trash." She rolled her eyes at her brother thinking that was edible.
"Do we need a fire extinguisher?" Their dad came into the kitchen. Abby put two slices of bread into the toaster.
"What are you doing? I was going to bring you breakfast." Archie scolded him. He was supposed to be on bed rest to give his body time to heal.
"I appreciate it, son. But I've gotta move around sometime." He walks over to the stove to see what his kids were making. Archie tips his head back to pour the energy drink down his throat. "Little early for that, isn't it?" He looks his son over in concern.
"No, I'm good. Dad, the only thing you need to be worrying about is getting better." His cellphone rings. "Crap. I gotta take this. I gotta go. Bye." He hurried out of the kitchen.
"I guess it's the same as people drinking coffee in the morning." Abby shrugs.
Fred looks at the back of the can for the ingredients. "Jesus, I think coffee is better for you." He sneers at all the sugar the drink had.
"Pops gave me a call this morning. He said I didn't have to go in since it was just me and him. So, he can't open for business." Abby told her friends over lunch.
"I can't believe some idiot spray painted Death Diner on it." Trev shook his head.
"It's like since they have no one to blame they're putting it on the place." Tomoko sighs at people's logic.
"There has to be something we can do to save Pops." Abby sighs in frustration.
"Veronica and I think the same things." Betty voices as she walks to the table. The three jump a little, not having noticed her.
"We are happy to help any way we can." Trev beams up at her, making his two friends sigh at his pathetic crush.
"I'll give you guys a call when I come up with something or if you come up with an idea call me." Betty nods before walking off with Veronica.
"Let's brainstorm." Trev smiled at his friend.
"My god man," Tomoko slapped her forehead with her palm.
"We can't let the terrorists win. We need to host an event at Pop's that reminds the town of simpler times. Like, a throwback to when Pops first opened its doors." Betty spoke to the people with her in the Blue and Gold.
"Betty, I like a good milkshake as much as any girl, and Pop's puts Serendipity to shame. But, why is this the hill to die on?" Veronica asks.
"Because Pops is a staple. If you live in Riverdale then you have treasured memories there. It's where you hang out with your friends, have family dinners, it's tradition. It's what generations of people in Riverdale have in common." Abby spoke of the importance that Pops had on the community.
"She's right. Pops is orange freezes with my mom and Polly after ballet. Chicken noodle soup with my dad after ice-skating... Grilled cheeses with Archie on the last day of summer vacation. It's where I met you for the first time, Vee. It's where I met you for the first time, Kevin. Also... Jug. He may lose his dad, but maybe I can save this one place for him... For all of us." Betty looked around the room to see that she got to Kevin and Veronica who were on the fence.
A knock on the door and its opening made their heads turn. An older man came in holding flowers. "Hey. Veronica. May I speak to you?"
"Daddy?" Veronica stood up.
"Daddy?" Everyone in the room echoed, surprised that he was out. Those not close to the girl were also surprised that she still called her father, daddy. Veronica walks with him out of the newspaper room.
"I'm completely for it and ready to write about it." Tomoko brought them back on topic.
"Me too. This is about more than Pops. This is showing that maniac that he doesn't get to make us live in fear. This shows the town that we can move on." Trev nods.
"Pops is the heart of his town, we can't let it die." Abby agrees.
"If the kids are so raring to go, how could I say no?" Kevin sighs.
"You're a year older." Abby reminds him.
"Teens are like dog years, you grow so much in them." He shrugs.
"Whatever, text us, Betty when you get a date and we'll be there." She stood up when the bell rang. Betty nodded that she would as the underclassmen walked out to get to class.
"May I have everyone's attention? I have some tragic news to share. Ms. Grundy, who was a teacher here last semester, was found murdered in her Greendale home last night. I know some of you were students of hers, and that this news will be difficult to process." Principal Weatherbee announced it to the class.
"Oh my god." Tomoko gasps.
Abby stood up and walked up to the man. "Did you tell Archie yet?"
"I'm about to." He told her.
"Can I come? He got close to her during the work-study and I want to be there for him." While she didn't care that the vile woman was dead, she knew her brother would even though he had two girlfriends after her.
"Alright, you can wait outside the classroom if he needs you." He nods. They walked out of the classroom to go down the hall to another. He went inside while she waited outside the door.
A few minutes passed before the door slam opened and her brother ran out. "Archie?" She ran after him. With his football training, he was faster than her. By the time she caught up to him, he was already home pacing in front of their father, telling him the news about Ms. Grundy. Abby drops down on the couch next to her father, panting.
"First, you get shot. Then, Ms. Grundy is murdered. All within a matter of days. Dad, what if some crazy person is going after the people that I care about?" He turns to see his family's tired and concerned expressions. "What? You think I'm nuts?"
"No, son, I think you're scared. Understandably so. Truth is, son, we don't know anything about what happened to Ms. Grundy." Fred tried to get him to see reason.
"She's dead, she was killed. Right across Sweetwater River." He pointed in the river's direction.
"I know. It was a horrible thing." Fred sighs.
"Don't you wanna find out who did this? Who's doing this?" He looked at them in shock that they weren't concerned.
"Look, Archie, we don't even know if the two are connected. It's not like the woman was a saint. I'm sure you weren't the first or the last BOY that she seduced. There probably is a laundry list of people with motives to kill her. Hell, there are three people in this room that the police would argue have one. But, we all have alibis, so we're good." Abby got up to go to her room. She didn't feel like going back to school today.
Abby was at the Whyte Wyrm sitting with Fangs, Toni, and Sweet Pea. She was going over their essays when Jughead and Betty came over to the table. "Hey, Abby. I need a favor." Jug grab a chair to join the table.
"If it's about Cheryl, then I can't help you." She uses her red pen to circle an error on Fangs paper. He pouts at the grammatical error he didn't know he made. "There is no need to pout, there is way less than there was before." He showcased his dimples at getting praise from her.
"Man, you're such a teacher's pet." Sweets scoff.
"You're just mad then I know the difference between affect and effect and you don't." Fangs playful teases like a five-year-old.
"No one care about that." Sweets scoff.
"People including your girlfriend do because she marks it on your paper." He pointed at the red circle on his essay.
"How did you know we were talking about Cheryl?" Betty cut through their banter to ask.
"She called me last night in a rage that you had the audacity to ask her to have mercy on FP. I tried to soften her up, you know I did, I love FP too. But, she held firm, said that anyone that had a hand in covers up the murder might as well have killed Jason themselves." She sighs remembering the phone call.
"I say find a way to blackmail her." Sweet Pea suggested.
"We thought of that already. I don't know how we would do that. Or if I could do that to her? It was her brother that was killed." Jugs sighed, already having this conversation with Betty.
"It's your father facing serious jail time." Sweets said like he needed to be reminded.
"I hate to agree, but I do. FP doesn't deserve to rot in jail when he was being blackmailed." Abby didn't want Cheryl to face any more torture but FP shouldn't be torture either.
"I'll think about it." Jughead sighs, walking out of the bar with Betty following him.
"He's not going to be able to do it." Sweets shook his head.
"No, but the blonde can." Abby looks out the window at Betty getting on the back of Jug's bike.
"You think so?" Toni asks.
"Trust me, Cooper women aren't meant to be trifled with." She went back to correcting the essays.
Abby was in the kitchen with Archie cutting a piece of cake for a midnight snack when Archie ran outside to tackle someone. "Archie?" She grabbed her phone and ran outside.
"Stop! It's me." A voice screams from under Archie's fist. He pulled off the hood to see Reggie. He fell off to the side of him "Are you freakin' insane?" He glares.
"What the hell are you doing here, Reggie?" Archie glares back at him.
"Delivering you….." He looks over at Abby standing in the doorway. "The things you asked me to do, clearly you don't need them. You've lost it, Andrews."
"You're the one here wearing this hood." He held up the black hood that Reggie had on.
"It's called a prank, I didn't expect you to attack me. What if I had been the guy? Eh? You would have just tackled him?" He collects his breath.
"Yeah. Damn right." Archie nods eagerly.
"He has a gun, Andrews. He's shot, people. Only a dumbass lunatic brings a baseball bat to a gunfight." Reggie shook his head in disbelief.
"Don't even think about getting a gun, Archie Andrews." Abby glares at her brother when she sees the look of astound at Reggie's words. "Reggie, why don't you come inside and have a piece of cake." She figured that the least she could do for the teen since her brother attacked him.
"Would your boyfriend be okay with that?" His words of concern for how it would affect her relationship didn't match his action as he stood up to walk ahead of them into the house. Abby rolled her eyes, following the guy inside. Archie got up to make sure that Reggie behaved himself.
Alice Cooper came over the next morning to let them know what she found out about Ms. Grundy's murder. "There was no sign of forced entry, which probably means she knew her killer. The police don't know if any of her personal belongings were taken."
"How, uh... How did Ms. Grundy die?" Archie asked.
"The autopsy showed that she was strangled. With something, the killer grabbed on hand. A cello bow, of all things. There was a struggle. She fought back. But, Archie, this was a crime of passion, in another town with a completely different murder weapon. The likelihood of these two crimes being connected seems slim." Alice told them the report she got from the coroner.
"Son…" Fred called out to the boy who wasn't showing any signs of relief.
"This is good news, Archie. This means that's it not personal." Abby didn't see why he wasn't relieved by the news. She knew she was.
"If I say what I'm thinking, you're just gonna think I'm crazy. Probably Mrs. Cooper's right. Probably they're not connected." Archie couldn't shake the feeling that they were connected.
"I'll walk you to the door, Mrs. Cooper." Abby stood up to walk with the older woman. "Thank you for this." She stepped outside with her.
"I'm sorry it didn't help him." She looks back towards the shut door that had a troubled soul behind it.
"I don't know if there's anything anyone can do. He wants to take personal responsibility for some reason. He feels like that will somehow give him control over the situation." She could only guess what was going on in his head.
"Well, try to give him on a tight leash, we already have one loose cannon." As usually after throwing a hard verbal gab, she made her exit.
"Just when you think she has some humanity." Abby sighs, going back inside.
Abby, Trev, and Tomoko were outside of Pops helping Kevin and the Vixens scrub the graffiti off of Pops. "Hey, has Betty called?" Kevin asked Veronica who put herself in charge since Cheryl wasn't there.
"Not yet. Let's pray Cheryl comes through for them." Veronica sighs. Abby didn't even want to know how Betty got Cheryl to testify for FP.
They work hard all day to clean up the place and make it look brand new. The only break they had was a round of milkshakes when Betty and Jughead came with the news of FP getting out early.
Abby came out of the backroom with the retro uniform on and black roller skates. When she saw the empty restaurant, she pulled out her cellphone to call Sweet Pea. "Hey, I'm surprised you could call me, I thought you were busy."
"No one's here. I guess this place is going to turn into a bar or something." She looks down at the counter. Soon the display case would be full of liquor bottles instead of pies.
"I suppose that would be bad for Whyte Wyrm. I should round up some people and go there." He offers.
"Thanks that mean a lot." She smiled, after an exchange of I'll you later, they hung up the phone.
An hour later, there were a few people there. The door opens to reveal the gang in leather coming in. "Thanks for coming." Abby rolled over to them on her blades.
"Damn, it's really dead in here." Sweet Pea looks around the empty diner that was normally crowded at this time of night.
"Betty said it'll be crowded soon, so you should be happy you came when you did. You want to sit in my section?" She asked.
"No, I want to sit in the section of a nice waitress." Fangs teased.
"Oh, then you can sit outside by the dumpster." She stuck her tongue out at him. He stuck his tongue out and blew air, so it would make that funny noise and spit fly out. "Fangs." She screeches and wipes the spit off her cheek.
"Only I got to slobber on her." Sweets punch Fangs in the shoulder. "Lead the way." He nods to her. She sat them at her tables. With all the people he brought, they filled up three tables.
"A lot of people said they would come later," Toni reassured her.
"Thanks, guys, this place does mean a lot to me." She smiled at all of them for coming. She knew that most did it as a favor to Sweets, but she was still grateful for it.
"If it means something to you, it means something to us." Fangs smiled.
"How about a round of milkshakes?" She took down everyone's orders. She went to put the order in when she was pulled back by her apron string.
"I would like a kiss of appreciation." Sweet Pea pushed his lips out. She laughs and gives him what he wanted as the Serpents around them cheered.
She put her hands on his shoulders to push him away. "Alright, this is a family restaurant." She shook her head at his cocky smile.
Josie with Melody and Cheryl came into Pops and marched over to Betty. Abby rolled over to look at Cheryl in question. She mouthed that she was okay to Abby. "Why the hell did you broadcast all over social media that the Pussycats would be doing a free concert here tonight?" Josie asked. Cheryl hopped on the counter while Melody looked amused behind her.
"I knew that if I asked you, you would have said…" Betty reasoned.
"No!" Josie shouted, making a few looks over at her. "If my mom even hears that I set foot in this place…"
"Josie, you care about this place, I know you do. I see you here all the time." Betty said.
"You're here a couple of times a week." Abby has seen her a lot while she was working.
Josie took a deep breath when she saw their hopeful faces. "Betty, Anna, even if I wanted to help, I'm down a cat. Valerie has a norovirus…"
"I don't mind stepping in. After all, if you can be a River Vixen, Josie, I can be a Pussycat." Cheryl offers. Josie gave her a look that said the two things were very different.
"I've heard her sing, she's good." Cheryl drags Abby to a few karaoke rooms.
"As long as it's a cover, I'm sure I'll know the lyrics," Cheryl reassured her.
"I mean, you do love your cheese fries, Josie…" Melody wanted to help but knew she had to be subtle in overriding Josie.
"Fine. Fine." She gave in, getting cheers from everyone around her. Josie cracked a smile, before turning serious. "Come on, if we're doing this it has to be perfect." She led Melody and Cheryl outside.
Betty looks over at Abby. "Go with them, I'll make sure everything is ready in here for the rush." She nodded her head to the door. Betty mutters a thank you as she walks out to help set up the rooftop concert.
Soon, Abby was singing along to the Milkshakes cover as she passed out her orders. She grabbed a table to stop rolling when she saw her brother sitting there. "Everything okay?" She asked him. He hadn't been in here since the shooting.
"I'm not sure." He looks around the place not knowing how to feel.
"I know it's hard, Archie." She sat down across from him.
"Do you, because you're acting as if nothing happened?" He turned his tired accusing eyes on her.
"What am I supposed to do, Archie? Am I supposed to go on some cross country manhunt? Something terrible happened, but I'm not going to put my life on the line trying to chase it." She sighs.
"Then maybe you don't love dad as much as me?" He glares.
"Okay… you haven't slept in days and are running on energy drinks and god knows what kind of drugs from Reggie, so I'm gonna let that slide." She got out of the booth. "But, don't you ever doubt my love because I don't show it the same way you do." She rolled away. She saw Tall Boy and a few others came into the diner. She went over to them. "My booths are filled, but I can't put you in Jugs." She offers.
"Sounds good." He nods. She put them in a booth.
Pops came out from the kitchen to show his gratitude to the people who saved his diner. "I gotta put her on the spot. It's thanks to this young lady here that Pop's gets to stay open tonight, tomorrow... As long as you folks keep coming." He pointed at Betty. The crowd cheers and applauds. "Thanks, also, to the Lodge family for a donation they just made that gives us a little cushion to weather any storm that might come up." He pointed to the couple. The crowd cheers some more for that.
Abby sat down next to Sweet Pea with her dinner and milkshake. "Looks like someone's daddy is very generous." Toni hummed.
"Who knows what to think about that?" Sweets nod along.
"Let's just hope it's him trying to get Veronica back on his good side." Abby hoped it was only that deep.
"You're so cute, babe." He kissed her cheek as he stole a fry.