Loud knocking woke Abby up. "IT'S THE POLICE OPEN UP!" That scream made Sweet Pea shoot out of bed.
"Stay here." He told her before going out to answer the door with Fang's behind him. "Hello Sheriff, anything I can do for you?" He opened the door.
"I'm going to need you two and anyone else in this house to come to the station for questioning about a stabbing last night." He told him.
"Everyone in the house?" Sweet asks.
"It's there a problem with that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"My girlfriend is in the room. Can I call her out?" He didn't want them to search the house and drag her out.
"Sure." He nods.
"Abby! Put on pants and come outside." He yelled out. Keller's eyes widened when out came Fred's little girl in jean shorts and a large gray shirt that obviously belonged to the male.
"Abby!" Keller question.
"Hi, Sheriff Keller. Do you need more information on the attack at Pops?" She made like she wasn't listening from the room.
He cleared his throat before telling her. "No, I need you to come with me to the station about what happened last night?"
"About spa night?" She tilted her head.
"Spa night with these guys." He looked at the two gang members.
"Not just them, Toni too. We had to bribe them with smoothies but a spa night needs more than two people to be fun." She figured saying it now would help them get a clear story.
"Well, come on." He waves for her to follow him. She got in the back of the police car with Sweet Pea and Fangs. She was taken into an office to be questioned by an officer while Keller took Sweet Pea into the interrogation room.
"So, late-night was a spa night? I have a hard time believing that." The officer questioned.
"You think that flawless skin comes natural, no that's cream and a lot of water." She told him.
"What happened at this spa night?" He put air quotes around spa night.
"Face mask, feet soaking, smoothies, movies, nail painting for Toni and I at least." She looked down at her purple nails.
"At any point did anyone leave the spa night?" He stares at her face to see any lies.
"No, there was no need to." She told him.
"Not even for a smoke break or a phone call?" He asks. She shook her head. "Did you hear about anything? Because Dilton Doiley, a teen from your school, got jumped and stabbed last night. He said it was by a bunch of Serpents." Abby had to keep a straight face at that. Fangs told her about how the teen stabbed himself.
"That's sad to hear but I don't know anything about it." She lied with a straight face.
"Alright, stay here." The officer got up and walked out of the room. He came back in a few moments later. "Your stories match up with the other three you're free to go."
She got up and walked outside with Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea. They started walking back to the Southside. Toni and Fangs were a few feet ahead of them. "I can't believe this shit, your brother stuck a gun in my face, gave me a black eye, and now he tries to get me arrested." Sweet grumbles. Abby rolled her eyes. "What?" He asked.
"Nothing?" She shook her head.
"No, it's not nothing. You rolled your eyes." He pushed the subject.
"Dilton tried to get you arrested, not Archie. And, you guys were fighting, you can't complain about the black eye. What was he supposed to do when you punched him?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"He is the one who started everything." Sweet Pea felt like he could push all the blame on Archie.
"You guys are too much alike." She sighed.
"Excuse me." He screeched.
"Archie and you are throwing gasoline on the fire that is the rivalry between the North and South. But, neither wants to own up to it. You both insist that you're defending yourself. You guys keep tugging me any which way. I had enough of it. Don't bring up Archie to me again." She walks ahead to join Fangs and Toni.
"This most recent incident confirms that the real threat is not the Black Hood, but the Southside and its corruptive forces. Developer and ex-con Hiram Lodge boasts that his SoDale project will revitalize the forsaken neighborhood. But this reporter speculates Hiram Lodge doesn't want to fix our problems, merely profit from them." Abby was reading the article that Alice wrote while Fangs, Sweet Pea, and a few Serpents were looking over the blueprints of the Register.
"Nice article your girlfriend's Mom wrote." She looked up to see her boyfriend was talking to Jughead.
"Yeah, I saw that. Dilton Doiley said he was stabbed when a bunch of you guys jumped him." Jughead believes the misinformed article.
"Idiot stabbed himself. With his own knife." Fangs told him.
Abby crackled like she did the first time she heard it making Jughead throw her an unamused look. "What? He brought a knife when there were supposed to be no weapons, that's instant karma." Jug sighs, shaking his head.
"And we didn't jump him, there was a fight, Bulldogs versus Serpents, and you see this? Your boy Andrews gave it to me. Just before his girlfriend shot a gun into the air." He pointed at his black eye. Abby rolled hers.
"What happened?" Jughead looked alarmed that there was a gun involved.
"And of course, Northsiders get off scot-free, and the rest of us are hauled in by the police, including Abby just because she was with us." Sweet pats her head.
"It's payback time." Fangs pat the blueprints.
"What are you guys talking about?" Jughead looked at the papers on the table.
"This." Sweets laid it flat out for him.
"What is that? Is that a pipe bomb?" Jugs gasp, he looked over at Toni and Abby seeing their looks of concern.
"Fogarty's cousin served in the Army. He's gonna build us something." Sweets nod to Fangs.
"We'll do it after hours, but it'll shut the Riverdale register down once and for all." Fangs explained their plan.
Jug looked at Toni who had her head down, so he turned to the next person who could talk some sense into the two guys. "Abby?"
"What? I already got them to move their time to after-hours when no one is in the building. And I already pointed out that they probably have insurance, so they won't be shut down for good." She didn't know why Jughead thought she had a say in the Serpent business.
Jug sighed before asking them. "You think blowing up a building is going to make things better?"
"Can't get any worse" Sweets glares.
"Yeah, Sweet Pea, it can. Let me talk to Archie. Let me figure this out." Jughead tried to think of a better solution.
"Man, that's your answer for everything. Talk and more talk. And we don't even know who you stand with. Us? Or them? You can't be half a Serpent." Sweets walk off with all the other Serpents, leaving Jughead with Toni and Abby.
"Great. So Archie started World War III." Jughead sat down at the table.
"It's not about Archie, Jug. It's about the way the system is set up for the Southside to fail." Abby explained.
"She's right. Northside has been dumping on us for years. Your dad tried to keep the peace, avoid bloodshed. Now that he's gone, idiots like Sweet Pea think there are only one path and one solution…. Violence." Toni wanted to do something too. But, not the bomb. The bomb just proved that they were who the Northsiders said they were.
"Come on, babe. If we don't leave now you're going to be late." Sweet yelled to her from his bike.
"Don't worry, Jug. If they do make the bomb, Toni and I are going to figure a way to make sure it is a dud." She gave Jugs a small smile before running over to Sweets.
"I think this Northsider's lost." Sweet Pea took his shot at the pool table making his ball go in. Abby whined, while she was getting better she wasn't near his level yet.
"I'm not. I'm over being half a Serpent." Jughead looked at Tallboy who was watching their game.
"Wow. You will do anything to protect your Northside buddies." Sweets walked past Jug making sure to bump shoulders with him to grab the cue chalk.
Abby bent down to take her shot. Seeing that Sweets was paying attention to Jughead, Fangs fixed the angling of her pool stick and whispered to her where to aim so she could get her ball in. "My father was a Serpent. He led you. I wanna stand with you guys. Tall Boy was the one who gave me this jacket. It's finally time I start wearing it." He tugs on the collar of the leather jacket.
"So, now you wanna be a Serpent, huh? Let's see if you survive the initiation first." Tall Boy walks over to Jugs.
Sweet chuckled before looking back at the pool table. "How did you make that shot?" He set it up, so she would have to do a trick shot that she never was able to do.
"I told you I'm getting better." She smiled smugly at him.
"Sure." He looked between her and Fangs unconvinced. Jughead went over to Toni, who was sitting by the bar.
"So, what is the first part of the initiation?" She asked.
"Taking care of Hot Dog." Fangs told her.
"What? Does that mean we won't have him anymore?" She looked over at the dog that was laying under the pool table.
"It's only for a little while, babe." Sweets pecked her cheek.
"What is the fourth law?" Tall Boy yells in Jughead's face. Abby was still surprised he could hear him over all the yelling from the rest of the Serpents.
"No Serpent is left for dead," Jughead yelled his answer.
"What is the fifth law?" Tall Boy screamed.
"A serpent never betrays its own," Jughead yelled back with no hesitation.
"What is the sixth?" Tall Boy asked.
"In unity, there is strength." He screams.
"In unity, there is strength!" Everyone in the bar except Abby repeated.
"You know the laws. Now it's time for the next trial." Tall Boy pointed back at the pool table. Fangs and Sweet Pea moved out of the way pulling Abby with them to reveal the rattlesnake that was sitting on a log with a knife in it. "Retrieve the knife."
"What?" Jughead and Abby asked.
"Get the knife and give it to me." Tall Boy nods to the tank. Jughead opened the lid. Abby hid her face in Sweet Pea's chest. Jughead's loud curse made her look up to see the rattlesnake attached to his hand.
"Don't pull back!" She shouted.
"What?" Jughead stares at her like she was crazy.
"Snake fangs are hooked backward. You pull back and you'll be ripping your flesh." She told him.
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?" He shouted. Abby grabs her ice-cold water bottle and pours a little on the snake's head. It let go and retreated to his tank. Abby put the lid back on. "Here you go." He passed the knife to Tall Boy.
"Impressive you never let go of the knife. That's a high pain tolerance you got there." The older man patted him on the back. Toni took Jughead to get his hand wrapped up.
"Let's get him back under his heat lamp." She turns to Sweets and Fangs. They carried the tank to its stand and turned the light on. "I'm sorry about the water." She apologized to the snake that was curled up in the middle of the light.
"How did you know that?" Fangs asked.
"When I was little I watched a lot of animal documentaries." She stares at the snake.
"So, you were always a nerd." Sweets teased.
"I was about to show you something that would brighten your day." She grabs her backpack.
"That's nothing you can show me in front of everyone." He winks. She handed him the Blue and Gold, the front paper had the headline, Alice Cooper's Serpent Past. There was a mugshot with her wrap sheet under it. "Holy shit." He grabs the paper to read it with Fangs doing the same over his shoulder.
"Betrayed by her own daughter." Fangs smirked.
"What are we doing?" Abby asks Cheryl who stopped in front of the music room.
"I want to see Veronica's New York friend that everyone is buzzing about." She hushed her to hear what was going on in the room.
"You Pussycats are pearls before the swine of Riverdale. You all have to come to the party I'm hosting tonight in your honor. Let's say ten o'clock, my hotel room at the Five Seasons." They heard an unfamiliar voice.
"Did somebody say party?" Cheryl put her arm up and leaned her body against the door frame in a sexy manner. She pushed off the door frame to make her way to the curly-haired cardigan-wearing male. "Hi, there. I'm Riverdale's Resident It Girl, Cheryl Blossom. You must be Veronica's old school chum I keep hearing about." She looked him up and down.
"Nick St. Clair." He shook her hand.
"Now that's a name I can get behind." She said making everyone in the room roll their eyes. "Ten o'clock, you said? We'll be there at eleven." She looks back at Abby, who stayed in the doorway.
"Nick, this is Archie's sister, Abby. Abby, this is my friend from New York, Nick." Veronica got up to introduce them to each other. Abby walks into the room to shake his hand.
"Abby is much more than Archie's sister. She is top of her class, the kindest soul you'll have met, and my best friend. Oh, and she is beautiful but anyone with eyes doesn't need to be told that." Cheryl was offended by her being introduced as just Archie's sister.
"Yes, she is all that too." Veronica nods. Archie got up to leave the room to chase after Betty. "Where's Archie going?" She looked at his back.
"Oh, he probably spotted Betty." Abby knew he was looking for her when they walked to school this morning.
"Oh, come on Nick you have to meet my best friend." She pulled Nick out of the room.
"See you ladies tonight." Nick waved as he was being taken away.
Abby was sitting on the couch between Cheryl and Reggie. "And then, we walk into the Gilded Lily, and there's Gal! Again!" Nick brags about being at some award shows. Honestly, this being the third party story in a row, they were all starting to blend together for Abby.
"Gal?" Archie asked.
"Gadot. Keep up, Archie." Cheryl snapped.
"Archiekins. A refill, s'il vous plait?" Veronica passed him her empty cup. He got up to get her refill and have a break from Nick's obnoxiousness.
Nick sat down on the chair next to Cheryl. "Forget the teetotaling. Let's move on to something with a little more kick." He opened his jacket to show the colorful tubes he had in his pocket.
"Is that…"' Cheryl stared at the drug.
"Jingle jangle? Why, yes. It is." He brags.
"I hooked him up." Reggie pointed at it.
"Tasters? Who's up first?" He looked around the room.
"Dude, we told you, we're not…" Archie glares.
"Archie, don't take this the wrong way, but you are an epic buzzkill." He said. Reggie's jaw dropped like that was the biggest insult. "Come on, Vee. Like back in the day. Aren't you supposed to be showing me a good time? Per Daddy's orders?" He stood in front of her to hold out the drugs.
"Down, Nicky, I'm just getting going. And now that you mention it, I, in fact, wouldn't mind a little sugar to spice up this party." She grabbed one. Nick laughed and sat down next to her. After seeing the looks of disbelief she was getting, she laughed too. "What? Every other night its burgers and milkshakes. Can't we just cut loose and pretend we're normal, for once?"
"I'm in." Cheryl grabbed one.
"Me, too." Reggie nods.
"Kevin?" Cheryl passed him one, he took it.
"Pussycats, care to partake?" Nick looked over at the ladies who nodded their heads.
"Abby?" Cheryl looked at her.
"If you're going to take it, then I'd rather watch over you sober." Abby didn't like the way this guy kept leering at her friend.
"You're always so sweet to me." She put a hand over her heart.
"Betty?" Veronica asked.
"No, thanks." She shook her head.
"Come on, it'll be fun." She smiled.
"I said no, Vee." Betty snapped.
"Okay, relax, Betty, this is strictly voluntary." You could tell she was put off by Betty's tone but she wasn't going to let it ruin her night.
"Perhaps we should decamp to the bedroom, so as not to corrupt the country mice." Nick wrapped an arm around Veronica and looked over at Archie.
He took the bait. "You know what? I changed my mind. I'm in." Archie drank his shot and sat down next to Veronica.
"Bravo, Archie Andrews! There's that good, strong Riverdale stock I've been jonesing for!" Nick cheered.
Abby laughed as she danced with Cheryl. Because of the drugs in her system, she was throwing her hair around as she wiggled around. Abby was holding on to her hands to keep her steady. "Are you feeling good?" She felt Cheryl's face to make sure she wasn't overheating. She wasn't sure what kind of effects this drug would have on her body.
"I'm feeling great." She cheered as Kevin came over to join them in dancing.
"Excuse me?" Veronica's sharp tone cut through the crowd.
"Yeah. I mean, it's all recycled banter and plunging necklines and throwing shade to distract us all from the fact that nothing is going on underneath…" They turn to see Betty glaring at Veronica. Reggie and Josie disconnect their face to watch the drama.
"Betty, what the hell are you saying?" Archie asked.
"What we're all thinking. That the only reason Veronica hangs out with us is circumstance. She's not our friend. The minute someone from her trashy past shows up, she starts using us for drugs or music or distraction, and why should we be surprised? Like father, like daughter, right?" Betty looked around the room to see everyone's shocked faces.
"You better shut it down, Betty." Veronica glares.
"Or what, Veronica? You'll have your dad put a hit on me? Or maybe you'll do it yourself, because you may have fooled all of them, but not me. Try to reform all you want, but you're a bad person, Veronica. You'll always be a bad person." Betty took a step closer to get in her face.
"Why don't you just go, then, if I'm such a monster?" Veronica was holding back tears. Betty walks out like she could care less if Veronica wasn't her friend anymore.
"Veronica…" Archie rubs her back.
"I'm fine. Obviously, she's not." She turns to her boyfriend who was looking at the door Betty walks out of. "What? You wanna go after her, be my guest. But I'll be damned if I'm chasing Betty down after that... Whatever it was. In fact, Reggie? Turn the music up, will you?" Veronica nods to Reggie who was nearest to the radio. People danced for a few more songs but the mood couldn't be brought back up. Reggie gave the pussycats a ride home. Archie and Abby dropped Cheryl off before going home themselves.
"I don't like him," Abby told her brother when they were in the house.
"I don't like Nick, either. But he's here for a week and then he's gone." Archie couldn't wait for him to be gone.
"He better not do anything permanent to Cheryl or I'll do something permanent to him." She said before walking up the stairs.
"I don't like Sweet Pea, either." He said, making her freeze on the step she was on. "He's a thug. Who thinks he can solve everything with violence?"
"And you don't?" She walks back down the stairs to be right in front of him. "You are the one that was riding around with a crowbar in the backseat. You are the one that had a gun in your backpack looking for the Black Hood."
"They attacked us. They hurt me, Reggie, Dilton, and the rest of the bulldogs. He sucker-punched me and kicked me in the ribs." He yelled.
"And you gave him a black eye. You know what… I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to defend you to him and defend him to you. You guys were both in the wrong. Supposedly you guys agree to this rumble to put it all behind you. But, you guys keep using it against each other. I'm sick of it." She ran up the stairs, ignoring his yells of excuses.
Abby was with Cheryl at the SoDale event. The redheads were in stunning red dresses. "Oh, Nick's here." She smiled at the curly-haired teen walking in with his parents.
"I don't see what you like about him." Abby glares.
"Don't be jelly. I'll always make time for you." She bops Abby on the nose. People gasping made them look over at the entrance, figuring someone important must have come in. They gasped when they saw Alice Cooper's red snakeskin pattern romper that had a deep V cut in the front that went down to her navel. She had on a gold snake necklace that matched her gold belt. She took the drink from her husband's hand as she walked by him.
"Oh my god, can you believe she dressed like that?" Cheryl turns away like the sight causes her pain.
"She looks good." Abby couldn't deny that.
"But, still dress your age." Cheryl scoffed. "Oh, Nick and I have made eye contact. I'm going in." She walks over to meet him in the middle of the room. Abby kept an eye on them, not trusting the male.
A fork hitting a wine glass in front of a mic made Abby look at the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen. A new story begins in Riverdale tonight. A story about reinvention and aspiration. This building will be the first chapter of that story. Luxury apartments, shopping, and even a golf course. The Southside as we know it will be gone, replaced with a new Eden. So, let us raise our glasses to a brighter tomorrow. Today, let's celebrate with a little music." Hiram announced his project and the music. The Pussycats feature Veronica sang, Out Tonight from the musical Rent.
At one point in the performance, Veronica and Josie share a look of concern. Abby scanned the crowd and cursed when she saw Cheryl and Nick were missing. She pushed her way out of the tent and called an uber when she didn't see them.
"Where are they?" Josie grabbed her arm to stop her from pacing, something she didn't even realize she was doing.
"I didn't see them. I called an Uber, you know that rat took her to the hotel." She growls.
"Screw that, let's go." Veronica led them over to the black ranger rover and made the driver speed to the hotel. They ran up as fast they could to Nick's room. Veronica took a maid's key off the cart to open the door.
They barge into his bedroom to see him over a pass-out, Cheryl. "Get off of her!" Veronica pulled him off her to punch him in the face. Melody held him as Veronica, Valary, and Abby took turns punching him. Josie checked on Cheryl. Melody threw him to the ground as the girls stomped on him until he stopped moving. They carried Cheryl back to Veronica's room.
They watch over her until she wakes up. Josie and Abby were rubbing her back when Archie came in full of rage after he had been informed by Veronica. A while later, Betty came to check on her too. "If you hadn't come when you did…" Cheryl looked at the girls in the room.
"Where the hell is he?" Archie growled.
"You can put your cape away, Archie. The Pussycats already saved me. I should have listened to you. You kept telling me that you didn't like him." Cheryl looked over at Abby.
"Hey! Don't go blaming yourself." She hugs her.
"I feel so sick about this. Nick's a monster. And there's no way he hasn't done this before. Probably right under my nose." Veronica looked down at her feet.
"It's not your fault, Veronica." Betty surprised everyone.
"I wanna press charges. I want Nick to pay. To suffer. To burn in hell." Cheryl sobs.
"You should and he will." Abby hugged her tighter. Josie and Veronica joined that hug.