The guys, along with some kids, were painting over the graffiti on the El Royal. Archie had yawned for the tenth time. "Late night, Red?" Monroe noticed.
"Algebra Three is kicking my ass this year." He sighs.
"One of you named, Archie?" An older man walks over with Toby.
"Yeah, that's me." He stopped painting to talk to him.
"This kid says you'll vouch for him." He let go of the teen.
"Yeah, that's Toby. He hangs out here, is there a problem?" The guys stopped working to see what was going on.
"Yeah, he was shoplifting in my convenience store." He told them.
"I was reading comic books." He defended himself.
"You were loitering and then you started to put this comic book in your jacket." He held up the comic.
"Look, why don't I go ahead and pay for it." He took his wallet out of his back pocket.
"4.99," He told him the cost. "And I don't want any of your delinquents stepping foot in my shop. It's bad enough we got to walk by this halfway house."
"Don't worry, none of us will step foot in your store again." Sweets took the five from Archie to shove it in the guy's chest while snatching the comic from him.
"Keep the change." Fang's stare told him to get lost.
"Grab a brush," Archie told Toby when the guy was gone. They turn to the wall to go back to work.
"Can we not tell Abby?" He put his hands in his pockets.
"Seriously?" Greg raised an eyebrow.
"She's been so proud of everyone. I don't want to ruin that especially with her birthday coming up." He didn't want her images of him to be ruined.
"Guys, guess what?" Abby came running out of the center. She went on to tell them before anyone could guess. "I talked to Cheryl, who was asking what I wanted for my birthday. She agreed to pay for the supplies for a mural."
"What mural?" Eddie asked.
"The one that will be here." She pointed to the wall they were painting over. "We could make a contest out of it and have everyone vote."
"I think that's a great idea." Draken nods.
"Toby, you got to enter. He's an amazing artist, you know, he's creating his own comic book." She grabbed his arm.
"Yeah, he was showing us the comic book he got as inspiration." Sweet Pea gave him the book he was trying to steal.
She smiles brightly at him. "Soon, it will be a kid buying your comics."
"Maybe stealing it because that's what I did." He felt even worse with her looking up at him with pride.
"Huh?" She tilts her head.
"I got caught trying to steal it. Archie had to bail me out. Now the guy at the convenience store doesn't want any of us shopping there. I'm sorry, I got another strike against us." He hung his head.
"While I'm not happy that you stole, I don't expect you to be perfect. Your frontal lobe has not completely developed yet, so mistakes are inevitable. But, when you get into trouble, I don't want you to hide things from me. I want you to bring it to me so we can work it out together." She grabbed his hand to squeeze it. He pulled her into a hug. "Too tight, Toby." She whizzed.
"Sorry." He held back his tears. He told himself for so long that it was him against the world. He had to look out for himself in this cruel world where only a shitty drug dealer wanted to give him an opportunity. "Thank you."
"I haven't done anything." She laughs. "You should be thanking Archie. He's the one that bailed you out."
"Thanks, Archie." He turned to the other redhead.
"As long as you help us out with the mural, we're good." He smiled.
"Alright, listen up." Archie came out of the office to talk to the kids. Abby was playing goldfish with the younger kid in the stands. "Sheriff Jones gave us a call. Some of Dodger's crew was stealing hubcaps last night. He suspected that it was someone from this center. I gave him my word that it wasn't any of you guys and I hope that's true."
"Anyone running with Dodger's crew is going to end up in juvie or an early grave. And trust us you don't want to go to juvie." Monroe knew that some kids thought juvie was easy. He was one of those kids.
"Look, if even one of you guys gets arrested, this whole place gets shut down. So, the new rule, if you run with Doger's crew then you're not welcome here. That's it. No exceptions. Any questions?" Archie asked.
"Yeah, I have a question. Aren't you guys seniors or juniors? What happens when you graduate and go to college?" Star Vixen, a girl that was in the same grade as Toby, had been wondering what was going to happen to them next year.
The seniors looked at each other, knowing they couldn't promise that they would stay. "That's months away, Star." Archie thought it wasn't something to worry about.
"Yeah, but what happens? You said it yourself, they're trying to shut you down. Why? Because of us. Because no one wants us. At least Dodger cares." She crosses her arms.
Abby stood up. "No one wants you? So what, I'm no one now." She walks down the stands. "You don't have to worry about this place being shut down because I'll always be here."
"Abby…" Archie was going to tell her not to make a promise she couldn't keep.
"I mean it, Archie. I never had an idea of what I wanted to do, but these past months have been the best. Nothing is more gratifying than helping these kids believe in themselves. I look forward to coming here every day. I can't imagine doing anything else." She turned to him.
"I'm with you." Sweets Pea nods his head.
"Me too." Nancy loves working with these kids.
"See, this center is not going anywhere." Archie turns to the kids.
"We're going to teach you what care looks like." Monroe hated that some of these kids felt like the best they could do is Dodger.
Sweet Pea took Abby on a date so that the kids at the center could make her gifts. Nancy bought a bunch of craft kits. "Archie, does this look right?" Eddie was using a kit to make a bath bomb.
"Sorry, I know nothing about this kind of stuff." He knew music and sports, not crafts.
"Andrews, a word." Sheriff Jones came into the center.
"Sure, what's up, Mr. Jones?" He walks over to him.
"Some of the local business owners have lodged a few complaints against your center. Littering, vandalism, public urination." He listed.
"Due respect, Mr. Jones, that's B.S. I'm here every morning and I lock up every night. These kids are not doing any of that. We make sure they get home safely." He didn't think they would come back to vandalize the place.
"Listen, when I rolled with the Serpents, we dealt with the same crap. Wherever we set up complaints followed. No one wants a gang around." He knew that they weren't a gang but that was how the public was viewing them.
"The problem isn't the kids, it's the thugs that show up after we lock up. They're gnarly. But, this place is supposed to make the neighborhood better." Archie couldn't see why the people couldn't get that.
"Well, show 'em that. Do what the Serpents used to do. Invite some of the yokels over for a get-to-know-you clambake. People are less likely to call the cops if they've had a conversation with you. Alright?" He gave him the folder.
"Thank you. I'll do that." He took the folder. He plans to invite all the people who filed a complaint.
"I'm starting to think a pop-tart pillow is stupid." Star was sewing a pillow together.
"Why? It's one of her favorite snacks. She burns her tongue on it a lot." Toby watches her do it multiple times.
"She waits two seconds and burns her mouth on the strawberry lava." Malcolm laughs.
"Shit." Fangs curses. Glitter went all over the picture frame he was decorating.
"It's fine. Shine is good." Tessie tried to make him feel better.
"I'm glad that we got to do this. I can't remember the last time we've been out by ourselves." Abby ate some of the pasta.
"What are you talking about? Remember the moment in the bathroom two days ago when you had study hall and I ditch science." He winks.
"A quickie is not a date." She scoffs.
"We got different definitions of what a date is." He snickers. A moment of silence passed as he thought of what she said. "I guess we got caught up with life lately. We got to school, Tessie, the serpents, and the community center. Are you feeling neglected? Because I can find balance."
"No, that's not what I was saying. This is not your fault. If anything it's mine. I spend all my free time at the center…. I'm sorry I ruined this." She felt bad that he looked worried.
"You didn't ruin anything. Jeez, we have been so busy that we didn't realize we were neglecting our relationship. I'm happy it was brought to my attention because I have to keep in fine form. I have a lot of competition for your heart. Any of your minions would be happy to replace me including Nancy and probably Fangs." He teased trying to bring the mood back up. He was only half joking. He knew that they respect their boundaries and would never try to steal her. He felt like if they were to break up, one of them would try to step up to the plate.
"Stop it!" She shakes her head, laughing. "You like to say that I have so many suitors like you don't have any. Don't be fake humble. You see all the stares you get everywhere you go."
"Yes, but I don't have an army of people ready to defend my honor. I'm sure Greg already knows where he would bury my body if I broke your heart." He was the most threatened by him. He seems to have a sixth sense of what Abby needed.
"He probably does." She agreed. "You know it's funny, everyone dreams of getting into a relationship and building a life together. Then you do it and it seems like life takes over everything."
"God, we sound old. We're still in high school. We shouldn't have this problem for like another decade." He rubs his temples.
"That is Riverdale. It makes everyone have to grow up fast." She used the straw to stir the iced tea.
"We can still have moments of childhood." He waves the waiter over to get the bill.
"What are you doing?" She tilts her head.
"You'll see." He smiled.
"Where are we going?" She walks with Sweet Pea through the woods.
"You'll see, we're almost there." He was leading her by the hand. They walk through two boulders to a small clearing with a big tree in the middle.
"What is this?" She looked around, it was pretty but she didn't know why he was excited to show her this.
"Look up." He pushed her chin up. There was a small tree house there. "Toni's grandpa helped us build that when we were kids. I forgot about it until you were talking about having to grow up. This is where we go when we want to forget about everything. We didn't want to deal with chores, not having parents, or being poor. We came here and we could pretend to be knights or lost boys."
"I begged to go into Archie's tree house but he never let me." She almost fell when he nudged her towards the tree.
"Let's go up." He put his foot on the piece of wood that was nailed to the tree.
"What? How do we know if it can handle our weight or that the wood is not rotten?" She thought it was a far fall.
"Kids don't think about things like that." He continued to climb up.
"I'm serious. Has that thing ever had to hold up two adults?" She watched in horror as he climbed into the tree house.
"The wood is fine." He yelled down to her. "I'm not coming down until you come up." She thought about waiting him out. "Come on, I got the food." He had put it in his backpack.
"Okay. Fine." She climbed up, forcing herself not to look down. Sweet Pea helped her climb through the hole to get into the tree house. She looks at the toys that were in the corner. She picked up a dusty Barbie. She smiled while holding it up to him.
"Our ninja turtles need bitches." He jokes.
"The view is kind of haunting." She looks down the windows. There was fog covering the wood tonight.
"On nights like this, we used to pretend that monsters were heading to the trailer park and we had to beat them before they could." He told her.
"As a kid, I would have cried to go home." She grabbed a take-out plate.
"I thought you were going to." He teased.
"I thought about it." She laughed.
Archie, Monroe, Abby, Reggie, and Cheryl were standing in the community center in front of the neighborhood and the press. "Most of you know me by now, but my name is Archie Andrews. I run this place with Monroe Moore and my sister, Abigail. And, we invited you here today to set the record straight on a few things. Starting with the few bogus complaints that have been made, this community center is not going anywhere. My sister plans to dedicate her life to it and we are going to help her as much as possible. Starting today, we will be expanding our hours to 11 pm and we'll be open on Sundays. So, to my neighbors, I say, instead of working against us, why don't you come in and help out? Sponsor our baseball team. Donate your time. These kids need people to show them that they care. Which is why we're starting a big brother, big sister program. The Riverdale High Bulldog and Vixens have already volunteered, so why don't you? And if you still want to shut us down then go ahead and try. My mom is a very good lawyer. Or you can try the cops and I'll call my best friend dad's the sheriff of Riverdale. Otherwise, my friendly advice to you is to get out of our way."
Abby steps in front of her brother. "I'll give you a tour of the place. First, we can go to the study/craft room. There you'll see the kids' progress reports. They have stellar grades. You can see their crafts and paintings." She leads them into the room. Alice had her cameraman take a shot of the art while she looked at the report cards. "These kids are smart, talented, and the fact that they are coming here means they want better for themselves than to be on the streets. I would hate for them to lose their safe haven because adults who should be protecting them want to leave them defenseless to save their skin." She looks at the man who owns the convenience store down the road.
His eyes twitched in annoyance that he was being pressured to sacrifice himself for some kids he didn't know. "We're supposed to believe you guys are doing this out of the kindness of your heart. You aren't doing the same thing as Dodger. You are teaching them to fight."
"We're teaching them boxing. It is a sport. A discipline. Who knows for one of them it could be a career. It's like Archie says, if you think we're doing anything bad then come on down and check it out. While everyone is welcome to volunteer, there is a form to fill out and a background check. No one will not be left alone with any of the kids until that happens. And even then, I'm not sure." She was apprehensive about letting the kids leave with a stranger. It created opportunities for predators. "None of you can say that you're happy with how our town is. While some of us are fine with doing what we have to survive even if it's at the expense of others. There are those of us who want to make a change. The way we are doing that is putting our time into the future with these kids. My generation is going to do what we can but we have to prepare the next generation because I'm afraid we're not going to be able to do it all. As the older generation, I'm asking you to help us fix the mess that generations before you made instead of living in the status quo." Alice smiled, proudly at the little girl she watched grow up, looking into the camera to speak directly to the people that were trying to hold her back.
"I can't believe you want to spend your birthday doing this." Greg was sweating as they helped paint the mural that Toby ended up designing.
"This is the best." She was kneeling as she put the finishing touches on the wave. She got up and took a step back. "So, you think we're finished." She asked the artist.
"Yeah." He stares at awes. "It's so surreal to see my work in such a big format."
"This will just be the first of many." Abby took out her phone to take a picture.
"Dinner is ready." Fangs came out to tell them the food is ready. "We're having spaghetti."
"Is that your favorite?" Eddie asked Abby as they walked inside.
"It's my favorite of what Fangs makes." She was surprised when she went in. "What? How did you guys get all this past me?" They threw her a Stranger Things party. There was Will's tunnel map all over the walls and the floor. A pin the mouth on the Demogorgon game. They had an ice cream cart with Archie dressed in a Scoops Ahoy uniform.
"You didn't think we would paint all day and eat dinner for your birthday, did you?" Sweet wasn't going to let her birthday slide by that easily.
"Oh, my god." Her jaw dropped at seeing him in the outfit that Steve wore in season two when he first teams up with Dustin, yellow gloves and all. "Did you use Farrah Fawcett hair spray?" She looked at his 80s-style hair.
"If I could have found it I would have." He leaned down to give her a peck.
"I'm smiling so much it's beginning to hurt." She rubs her cheeks.
"We didn't even get to the presents yet." Kraken points at the table that was overflowing with it.
"Present? I told you no presents." She scolds.
"You also said no party and look how happy you are." Nancy pinch her cheek.
"Hey, they already hurt." She pushes her hand away.
"Happy Birthday, Mommy." Tessie came over also dressed in a Scoops Ahoy outfit.
"Oh, my god." She gushes, picking her up to spin her around. "This is the best birthday ever." She smiles at all the new people in her life. She had never felt so loved before.