Abby was back to getting calls and texts from Chic. "Wait, you're saying Hal's not your dad?" She is sitting on the window seat looking at him in Polly's window.
"That's what she said." He nods.
"I can't believe that Betty took your DNA to do a test. Did she say who your dad was?" She was curious.
"No, I didn't want to push her to talk about it. This explains why Hal is so hostile towards me and why he forced her to put me up for adoption." His hatred for the man grew.
"He's definitely an ass, that has dropped so low to being the Lodge's lapdog." She growls.
"How are things with you and Archie?" He asks.
"The same. He's so ungrateful. To forget everything my dad did for him because he sees a better future with the Lodges. It's disgusting." He likes seeing the fire in her eyes. It made his blood rush through him in the most delicious way.
"You should teach him a lesson… smother him in his sleep." He whispers, trying to hold back the moan as he pictures it.
She didn't catch the last part because she looked over at her clock. "Shit, I got to go. I'll see you later." She hung up before he could say goodbye and ran downstairs.
"Dad, I know you think a prison is a bad idea for Riverdale, but Mr. and Mrs. Lodge has thought this through." She stopped when she heard Archie talking to her dad.
"A prison would rip the soul of this town, especially the Southside, so I'm not gonna support that plan. Or Hiram and Hermione. I'm severing all ties with Lodge Industries and SoDale. All of it. I'm done." He told him the decision that he made.
"What? Just like that?" Archie couldn't believe he would turn his back on them so quickly.
"Yeah." He nods.
"Will they even let you walk away?" He didn't see the Lodge letting that happen.
"Jesus, Arch. They're not gods. They don't get to decide our fates." Abby walks into the kitchen to grab a bottle of orange juice to drink on the way to school.
"I'm not asking his permission. They will, or they'll have a hell of a fight on their hands." Fred already had his ex-wife coming down. He got up to walk out of the house to head to work.
"You are always shameless Archie, but this is a new level even for you." She glares at her brother as she follows her dad out.
Abby was sitting in the cafeteria with the Serpents, Trev, and Tomoko. They looked over to the other side of the room when they heard Ethel yelling, "For your crimes against the town of Riverdale, for everything that you and your family have done and continue to do, we find you guilty. Your sentence is this." She threw a strawberry milkshake on top of her head.
The Serpents erupted in laughter. "Damn." Abby gasps.
"I can't blame her. The Lodges are getting bigger while the Muggs are suffering. No one is mentioning her dad attempting suicide because they scam him out of his money." Tomoko gave everyone some background information.
"That is not Veronica's fault." Trev felt bad as Betty helped Veronica out.
"No, but she is backing them up. She pretends like she is part of this picture-perfect family when they're building a prison to further profit from people's pain and suffering." Abby rolled her eyes at anyone seeing Veronica as being innocent.
"I can't believe I missed Mantle getting knocked out by a girl." Sweet Pea whines. He was upset that he missed Veronica punching Reggie for taunting her.
"Oh poor baby," Abby pushed him to her chest and pet him. He snuggled into her breasts.
"If I can pull you away from your exhibitionism for a second I would like to invite you to my slumber party." Cheryl cleared her throat.
"That was PDA, but if you like a show I can do that." He slips his hands into the top of Abby's shirt that had a sweetheart neckline and made it look like he was going to pull it down. Cheryl yelled pig at him, while Abby hissed his name. Toni laughed, knowing her friend was being playful. "Come on, you know I would never share you, even visually with someone. At least not volunteer." He let go to run his nose along her neck.
"So, what's your answer?" Cheryl hums.
"I'm not interested." Sweet Pea shook his head.
"I'm not asking you, you vile cockroach." She hissed.
"I'll be there." Abby put a stop to their arguing.
Abby was in a green silk nightie with a matching robe over it. She was brushing Toni's hair while Betty was brushing hers. She thought the hair brushing train was weird, but Cheryl wanted them too. Cheryl got up making all of them stop. "Inner circle, Cousin Betty? I didn't just bring you to Thistle House for a girls' slumber party. The truth is I'm terrified of being alone here. There's a stranger in this house. My uncle Claudius, he's as mad as the sea, and ever since he blew in, I feel like I'm in mortal peril." She stood in front of them, shivering.
"Wait, I'm confused. Is this real or are we playing a game?" Toni looked over at the other girls. They looked as confused as her.
"All too real, TT. I feel like they're plotting against me and Nana Rose. Mumsy cultivates esoteric herbs in the conservatory. Tannis root, jimsonweed. I'm afraid to eat for fear of being poisoned." She looks close to tears.
"Cheryl, are you sure you're not imagining things?" Josie asked.
"Well, if she is Josie, then maybe I am too. There's a stranger in my life as well. Chic. With him lurking behind every corner, my house feels…" She thought of her own intruder. Abby rolled her eyes at Betty making this about her.
"Dangerous. Deadly. I sympathize." Cheryl sighes.
Abby got up to hug Cheryl. "We know your mom is psycho and she has plenty of motives to want you gone since you got half while she got a burnt down house. This man showing up now is fishy." She agreed the man gave her bad vibes.
"You always get me." Cheryl hugs her tightly.
In the middle of the night, a loud crash woke the girls up. They ran out to see Nana Rose on the bottom of the stairs. Abby ran back into the bedroom to call an ambulance. Toni held a crying Cheryl. The girls ran down to check on her. "She is breathing." Betty checked her pulse.
"Thank god." Cheryl prayed that it stayed that way.
"The ambulance is coming." Abby ran out to tell them.
Penelope and Claudius didn't come out until the ambulance came to take her to the hospital. "We put her in the bed. She is not capable of putting herself back in the wheelchair." Abby watches the paramedics take the older woman away with Veronica, Betty, and Josie. Cheryl and Toni stood together, away from them.
"What are you saying?" Josie asked.
"That Cheryl isn't crazy and the greedy bastards are going to kill them off to get the money." She said plainly.
"How can you see the danger in them but not Chic?" Betty stares at the side of her face.
"Everyone got darkness in them, Betty. I can't be on guard around everyone. For now, he's not a danger to myself or anyone I love." She watched Betty's shocked face.
"So, you're willing to let others get hurt because of him." She tilts her head.
"Him hurting someone doesn't fall on me, it falls on who brought him here." She scoffs at Betty trying to shift blame.
"If Chic hurts someone, which we don't know that he will, then it falls on no one but himself." Veronica comforted Betty.
The Andrews were in the dining room, eating breakfast. Mary, who came down to help her ex-husband, was looking over the contract. "I wish you'd called me in earlier, Fred before you gave the Lodges 20 percent of Anderson Construction."
"Mr. Lodge said he'll work this out. He'll keep his word." Archie said.
Fred scoffs. "Yeah. Son... Your mother and I have known the Lodges a lot longer than you have."
"Meaning what, Dad?" Archie glares at him for painting them as the bad guys when he wouldn't even listen to the plan.
"Archie!" Molly scolds her son for the first time in years.
"It's okay. I better get to school anyway. I'm helping Veronica with her campaign. Are we still on for lunch, Mom?" He stood up and grabbed his backpack.
"Yes, I'll see you at Pops." She told him.
"What does your plate have feet to take itself to the sink and hands to wash itself?" Abby yelled at his back as he went out the door.
"I got it." Mary grabs his plate. "Are you coming to lunch with us?"
"Nah, you try and talk sense to him if you want. But to me, he is no longer a brother. He's a roommate at best." She got up to clean her own plate. She walks out to go to school.
Mary looked at her husband alarmed by her children's behavior. "When he comes to his senses, she'll forgive him. It's the same as when they were little." Fred assured her.
"There are no toddlers anymore, Fred. They are not being forced to play together. She can cut him out if she wants to." She didn't want her family to be broken more than it already was with her being away.
"It's gonna be fine." He wasn't worried about it at all, which made Mary more anxious.
Jughead called a Swords and Serpents Club meeting. "This isn't a demolition notice. It's a notice of extermination." He was holding a paper that said Hiram was going to tear the school down by the end of the week.
"We've already said our goodbye to Southside, Jughead." Toni let him know they didn't care.
"Today, it's Southside High. Tomorrow, it's the world. Everything that makes the Southside home is gonna disappear. If we roll over now, it's all over." Jughead waves his hands in the air.
When the room stayed silent, Abby spoke up. "It's not just what's being torn down, it's about what is replacing it. A prison, a symbol of what has been happening to your people from the minute the colonizer steps foot on the land."
"It's just a building, guys." Toni sighs.
"No,! Toni, it's the soul of the Southside. They fought and died trying to protect that land. Our parents fought to keep it safe during the riots. Now it's our turn. It's our time. This is our fight. So who's with me? Who's ready to go to war?" Jughead got them pumped up to defend their turf.
Abby was at the front of Southside High, to help the guys chain themself to the front gates. "I always picked chains in our future, just in a more private setting." Sweet Pea winks.
"We are already going to be cold, do we have to be gross-out too?" Jughead scoffs. He turned his head when he heard a bike pedaling towards them. He chuckled when he saw his childhood friend. "Well, well, well. The cavalry's finally here. Guess that means we've got Hiram's attention."
"Are you nuts? Chaining yourself to this place? They're gonna tear it down in two days, dude." He was in disbelief at his stubbornness.
"Not unless Hiram wants the blood of eight young Serpents on his hands. We're not going anywhere. Go and tell your boss we said that." Jughead held his head high.
"Are you staying here too?" He looked at his sister.
"Of course not." Sweet Pea glares at him for implying that he would allow her to be in a dangerous situation. "She's going home." He gave her a look to let her know not to argue with him.
"I will be back in the morning." She kissed him goodbye.
She came the next morning with Betty tagging along. She hands out take-out plates of food and bottles of water. "How did you sleep last night?" She grabs Sweet's mitten-covered hands.
"Fine, I had to cuddle with Fangs to keep warm though." He admits.
"I told you that blanket wasn't going to be enough." She tried to get him to take a thicker blanket but he said that it was too much to fit in his bag. "Did anyone get a picture?" She thought they must have looked cute together.
"No… they better not have." He looked over at the other Serpents. Jughead winks over his shoulders at her, making her perk up. "Delete it." He snaps.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He smiled, turning forward. Betty giggled, happy that he was having some fun in all this.
Sweet Pea went to charge him but Abby pulled him back up his chain. He turned and called her a few colorful curses. "Hey, you're speaking to a lady." FP slapped the back of his head. Sweets pouted as he rubbed his head. "It's time for the ladies to go to school." He looks at them.
"Already?" Betty asked.
"Do we have to?" Abby did her pout that FP used to give into.
"That is not going to work anymore." He chuckled but stopped when she stuck out her bottom lip more and made tears build in the corner of her eyes. "Go to school." He ordered while he looked up in the sky.
"Come on." Betty grabs her arm to drag her away.
Abby was sitting at Veronica's rally with Tomoko taking notes for the school paper. "We live in uncertain times, but here's one thing I'm very certain of... My girl Ronnie here, along with her running mate, Betty Cooper, has my vote to be Riverdale High's next President and Vice President. And of course, we remind everyone, especially the women, to vote and be heard in this election." Josie sang Sufferin till Suffrage from Schoolhouse Rock with Veronica. Archie was playing the guitar.
Ether came in and passed out a paper that looked like it came from a burn book. It was a picture of Veronica with devil horns and a tail drawn on her. It was titled Did you know? Around her were mean names like a liar, backstabber, and evil princess. There was also information like she was a shareholder in her dad's company, she knew about all her dad's evil including buying up the town and turning Southside High into a prison.
"Okay, what's going on?" Veronica stopped singing when she saw everyone's disgusted faces. Ethel gave her a paper. "Where did you get all this information?"
"Does it matter? It's the truth, isn't it?" She smiled wickedly.
"I don't understand. I told you that we were making amends, that your dad would get a job offer." Veronica got off stage. Her reaction made it clear to everyone that the paper was telling facts.
"You mean, your half-hearted bribe? Yeah. Too little, too late." Ethel scoffs. Betty got up and ran out of the room.
"B, wait!" She chases after her friend who felt betrayed. She defends her time and time again to everyone who slanders her. Now she realizes she was the fool.
"Hey Ethel, would you like to have a word with us." Abby got up with Tomoko following her.
"Abby?" She looks at her friend confused.
"What? Weatherbee can't say no to us this time. This time, we have every right to write about this. It happens on school grounds. It affects the school body. Worse comes to worst we go back to your blog and we get people on that instead. Aren't tired of being restricted." She was tired of jumping through so many hoops to write a meaningless article that no one was interested in reading.
"Would you have time to speak to us, Ethel?" Tomoko was tired too.
"Gladly," Ethel smiled.
Sweet Pea and Abby were cuddling under a blanket. "I know it's for a good cause but I thought I was going to lose a foot out there." He sighs, getting her warmth.
"Oh, my poor social justice worker." She coos.
"Hey, don't mock." He pinches her love handle.
"Hey, don't abuse my fat." She smacked his chest.
"I can't help it, it's so tempting." He squeezed her hips.
"Sweet Pea." She scolds.
"Sweet Pea, it's time to go back." Fangs knock on the door.
He groaned, burying himself further in the comforter. "I'll see you in the morning." She kissed his forehead.
"Save our school! Save our school!" A crowd was in front of Southside High chanting. Word got out about what the boys were doing and it inspired people to come together. Abby was with them since Sweet Pea didn't want her on the front lines.
"Hey!" Abby yelled when she was pushed aside by her brother who was leading the wrestling team with a bolt cutter over his shoulder. She ran to stand in front of Sweet Pea.
"I don't want you over here." He whispers.
"I'm not going to let Archie ruin your guy's hard work." Sweet Pea curses the chain that stops him from pushing her behind him.
FP moves to stand between Archie and Jughead. "Cops may let you by, Red, but you come in here acting like a big man and I will knock you down."
"Dad, don't! They'll throw you in jail. Don't give them an excuse." Jughead wasn't going to give them what they wanted. FP reluctantly moved to the side.
"I'm sorry, Jughead." Archie didn't want to do this, but he believed he had to.
"Me too….I'm not gonna fight you, Archie. Look around. It may have taken a couple of days, but now people know what Hiram's doing, what's happening here. This fight is not gonna go away. We're not gonna go away. So go on, cut us down. I want them to see you do it." He put his hands up. Archie cut the chains off of his best friend.
"Move aside." Moose stood in front of Abby.
"I can't believe this." She hissed as she moved aside. She saw the wrestler that was cutting Fang's chain was shaking under his glare. "Hey, watch it. You nick his skin. I will have that bolt cutter sticking out of your head."
Sweet Pea whose hands were now free, covering her mouth. "Nothing to see here." He told the officers whose heads turned when they heard the threat. "Don't threaten people when cops can hear you?" He guides her away from the school with the rest of the Serpents.
Abby helped her mom make a celebration breakfast. They were eating it when Archie came down. "What's going on?"
"Your pal Hiram Lodge called. He's letting your dad out of his contract." Mary smiled.
"Well, I never doubted your mom for a second. I knew she'd do it." He knew she was capable of great things.
"Wow. That's... That's great." Archie smiled.
"Yeah, and another thing, son, your father and I have been talking, and... I'm gonna stick around for a while, help your dad with some more unfinished business. That contract was the last thing holding him back." Abby never thought she would be happy to hear that but she was. Having her mom around was good for them. She was helping her dad get things done.
"From what?" Archie thought maybe he was expanding the company.
"I'm gonna run for Mayor. Against the Lodges, come what may." He smugly drank his coffee. Abby looked at her brother with the same smug look.