Archie Andrews was an idiot.

He and the Bulldogs decided it would be a great idea to form a group, which he called the 'Red Circle'. Its intent was to provide protection for the citizens of Riverdale. However in Mariah's eyes, it was a stupid group that would put a target on the backs of everyone involved.

There was a new killer loose in Riverdale. They had shot Archie's dad, killed Ms. Grundy, and almost killed Midge and Moose. Mariah didn't want Archie or anyone else that wasn't the police to involve themselves in the situation. However Archie didn't care. He wanted to keep people safe. But there was nothing he could do against a psycho, who referred to them self as the Black Hood, with a gun who was intent on killing sinners (something the killer had shared in a letter sent to Alice Cooper that she published in her newspaper).

But the redheaded boy wouldn't listen to reason and decided to do something anyway. And that something was the stupid group that he had formed. Mariah didn't know what he was doing until she saw the video. As soon as she saw it she called her boyfriend, her annoyance for the situation growing. The blonde had no intent on supporting his group, which she had made clear to the boy, who for some reason, had been fairly distant. She tried not to think too much about it, figuring it had to do with his dad and Moose. But she would ask him about it later.

Mariah had been going about the school day as though she were on autopilot. Her body went through the motions of the school day but her mind wasn't in any of the actions she was performing.

"You look like a zombie," Cheryl noted as she approached the blonde at her locker. "A hot zombie?" Mariah said. Cheryl looked her up and down. "Do you want me to be honest?" She asked, her face holding mild disgust. "I have a feeling that your honesty will be really mean so no thanks," Mariah replied.

"Good, because I didn't wanna kick you even more while you're down," Cheryl said with a sigh. "Gee, you're so thoughtful," Mariah deadpanned. "Anyway, what have you been up to? Hopefully not staying in your room all day long," the redhead said. "That's exactly what I have been doing as a matter of fact. And I've been enjoying myself," Mariah responded.

A scowl came onto Cheryl's face. "We're going out this weekend and you're gonna have fun and enjoy yourself," she said. Mariah went to protest but Cheryl held up a hand. "No objections. You have no say in the matter." Mariah glared, "You suck."

"You suck harder," Cheryl retorted. "Was that a sexual innuendo?" Mariah asked. "Ew, no. Why do you always have to think so dirty?" Cheryl said. Mariah shrugged, closing her locker door. The two friends walked down the hallway and toward their next class. The blonde spotted Veronica walking as she walked past the brunette.

"Hey, Veronica," she called. Veronica looked up at her, sent her a smile that didn't seem genuine, and continued on her way. "Ouch, what was that about?" Cheryl said. "I don't know. She's been acting weird around me ever since her dad came back," Mariah replied. "Well, Veronica has always had issues," Cheryl commented.

"So, what's up with Archie and this whole army thing?" The redhead asked, changing the subject. Mariah shrugged, "I don't know. He hasn't talked to me too much about it. He actually hasn't been talking to me all that much in general." Cheryl's eyes narrowed, "Explain." Mariah sighed. "We got into an argument a few nights ago. It was, I don't know. He wanted to take things further and I wasn't ready and he tried to push it and then we got into an argument," she explained.

"Dump him," Cheryl said. "What? Why?" Mariah asked. "Because he's trying to pressure you into having sex and that's not okay," she answered. "Keep your voice down," Mariah hissed. "You do not need to be with someone who doesn't want to respect your wishes of not having sex," Cheryl said in a much quieter voice and Mariah sighed.

"It's fine, Cheryl. He apologized and we made up. He's just been, acting weird. But we're fine," Mariah said. Cheryl gave her a disbelieving look. "We're fine, Cheryl," she repeated. "Alright. But if he tries that shit again, you better dump him," Cheryl commands.

"Aye aye, captain," Mariah saluted. "You think I'm joking but I'm serious," Cheryl was saying as the two continued down the hallway.

····

"So, how's your new school?" Mariah asked Jughead who frowned in response. The two were sat in the boy's trailer. After an awkward encounter between Mariah and FP, the two were now in his living room, catching up. They hadn't really been hanging out all that much since he moved schools and Mariah decided to change that.

"It's good, it's good," he muttered. Mariah eyed him, a frown forming on her own face. "You didn't even try to sound convincing, J," she said and he shrugged. "I thought I sounded pretty convincing," he tried to joke.

"What happened at the school?" She questioned. "Nothing happened, I'm just still figuring things out. With the Serpents. Trying to keep them out of trouble and also keep them from killing Archie," he answered and Mariah rolled her eyes. "Did you see his video?" Jughead asked. "Of course I saw the stupid video," she replied.

"Apparently Weatherbee suspended the entire football team. Because of the video," Jughead commented. "He did? Well, it serves them right," Mariah said. "How did I know this and you didn't? I don't even go to Riverdale High anymore," Jughead said. "Because I don't care about what happens in school nor do I care about what goes on with the football team. Even if my boyfriend is on it," she responded.

"What's going on between you two? I thought you guys would've made up by now," he said. "We did, I guess. He apologized and I thought it was fine but he's being weird. I wanted to give him a little space because of everything going on. But then this whole Red Circle thing... Should I be worried?" Mariah said.

"You know Archie. Always doing stupid shit and acting like a fool. I'll talk to him, see what's going on in that big head of his," Jughead said. Mariah nodded her head and looked at him. "So, the Black Hood. I have an inkling that you're getting involved in that whole mystery," she changed the subject.

"Well, your inkling would be correct. You read about the cipher that he sent out in the paper?" Jughead said. "My mom mentioned it, yeah," Mariah confirmed. "Well, I have been trying to crack it. With some help of course," Jughead said. Mariah shook her head in mild amusement. "You and Betty, always sleuthing around."

Jughead cleared his throat. "Actually, I was working on it with Toni," he corrected. "And Toni is?" She asked. "A new friend. She's a Serpent," he answered. "She, huh?" Jughead shook his head, "It's not like that." Mariah raised an eyebrow, "Not like what?"

"Like what you're thinking," he said. "I'm not thinking anything," she responded. His eyes narrowed at her. "Anyway, Betty, Toni, Kevin, and I are gonna try and crack the cipher together tonight. You wanna join?" He said. Mariah pursed her lips. "Sure. I'd like to meet this new friend of yours," she said. He gave her a look. "Well if you're gonna be hanging out with new people I think that I should know who they are. We can all be friends," she said.

"Something tells me that they probably wouldn't like that," Jughead pointed out. Mariah only shrugged.

····

When the blonde found herself back in Jughead's trailer, Toni, Betty, and Kevin were already there. Jughead let her into the trailer and she walked in. "Hey, Kev," she greeted, noticing him first. Kevin stood from his seated position and gave her a brief hug. "Thank God you're here, I sense that things are gonna get real awkward, real fast," he mumbled to her before pulling away from the hug.

"I hope it doesn't," she whispered back before turning to the other blonde with a smile. "What's up chica?" She greeted. "You're in a particularly good mood," Betty noted with a smile. "I'm just excited, I've never been a detective before," she replied. The clearing of a throat drew Mariah's attention to the source.

Stood next to the couch was a pretty girl with long, curly hair that had pink streaks running through it. She was petite and had on a black beanie. Mariah smiled kindly. "You must be Toni," she said. "Uh, yeah," Toni replied. The blonde walked over to her and held out a hand. "I'm Mariah Coleman. It's nice to meet you," she said. Toni looked down at her hand before reluctantly taking it and giving it a shake.

"Ah, so you're the wanna be magician," she said. Mariah's eyebrows furrowed and she released the girl's hand. "What?" She questioned. "Jughead told me about the time that you seemingly disappeared into thin air. Like a magician," Toni explained. Mariah turned to Jughead with a smug smile. "You told her I was a magician?"

"No. I told her that you tried to trick me into thinking you were a magician by slipping away when I wasn't looking. You're not slick," he said with an eye roll and Mariah laughed before turning back to Toni. "He just doesn't know how to admit he's wrong," she joked. "You know, I've noticed that about him," Toni replied. Both girls turned to look at him.

"I don't think I want you two becoming friends," Jughead said. "Too late, I like her," Toni said. Mariah turned to her. "Thanks. Cute hair by the way," she said. "Thanks, I dyed it myself," Toni was saying. "You think you could dye my hair?" Mariah asked. "I mean, if you want-"

"Are we gonna get started on cracking this code or are you two just gonna keep talking about hair treatments?" Jughead questioned in annoyance. "Fine, geez. You don't have to be a dick about it," Mariah muttered and Jughead release an aggravated sigh. The five sat down in the living room and began getting to work.

Mariah quickly realized that she didn't know what she was doing. They were all trying to find a meaning to the symbols that the Black Hood had written. Mariah had no clue what any of them could mean and was beginning to feel useless. Another sigh left her lips as she turned the page of the book she had been looking through.

"These symbols look so familiar to me.
It's like I've seen them before and it's driving me crazy I can't figure out where," Betty said. "Maybe if you loosened your ponytail," Toni replied. Mariah's mouth dropped open in shock before closing. She clamped a hand over her mouth to suppress a laugh. Kevin looked from Toni to Betty whilst Jughead sat up slightly. Betty looked up at Toni, her eyebrows raising.

"What? That was a joke, guys," Toni said upon noticing the looks on everyone's faces. "Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach," Kevin defended. "Kev it's fine. And at this point, I'm willing to try anything," Betty said as she took the hair tie out of her hair. "It's about time you took out that ponytail," Mariah muttered. Betty looked over at her in shock. "Betty, I love you. But the whole ponytail thing is getting old," Mariah said with a soft shrug.

"Don't listen to her Betty, she doesn't know what she's talking about. You rock that ponytail," Kevin said. "I never said she didn't," Mariah said, her voice raising. "You practically did," Kevin replied, his voice raising as well. Jughead cut the two off before they could continue their banter. "Okay. Per Mrs. Paroo's books, I'm looking for common letter associations like T-H, A-N, I-N-G," he informed the group.

"I'm looking for doubles. Double L and four letter words like kill," Toni added. "That's morbid," Kevin said. "You think that's morbid? Really, Kev?" Mariah questioned and he shot her a look. "We don't know if this thing's even in English. Guys, I mean, this could be an anagram," Jughead continued on. "Like, literally on the top of my brain," Betty muttered. "All right. Let's go back to the basics. What do we know about this guy? Who is he?" Jughead said.

"He's a white male, in his 40s. Like almost every serial killer ever," Toni answered. "No, I mean like why? Why is he killing people? Or at least, why now?" Jughead clarified. Mariah shrugged, nobody knows that but the Black Hood himself. "We know the Hood's obsessed with cleansing the town of sinners and hypocrites, right? And he seems to be attacking anyone with ties to the Northside," Betty began.

"Here we go with the fake news again. You Northsiders and your privilege. All you do is demonize the Southside so of course you think the Black Hood's from there," Toni spoke up. Mariah's eyebrows raised. This sure took a turn. "It's not demonizing, Toni. It's stating facts," Betty said. "That's hardly facts, Betty. I mean, for all we know, the Black Hood could just be getting started on the Northside. He might be heading to the Southside soon," Mariah said.

"The fact of the matter is, there's way more drugs and gangs and-" Toni cut Betty off. "The drugs you mean which were sold primarily to Northside crackheads? And what about the Northside Neo-Nazis? The Red Circle? The Red Psychos, you mean. Hell, Betty, I'm surprised you haven't just come out and said it yet," she said.

"Said what?" Betty asked. "That you think the Black Hood's a Serpent. We all know how much you hate us," Toni said. Mariah's mouth formed an 'o' as she looked between Betty and Toni. "Okay, Toni, that's not true," Jughead said. "I don't hate the Serpents," the blonde stated. "Oh, yeah? Then why is it that your boyfriend here lies about the fact that he sits with us at lunch?" Toni questioned.

Mariah's eyes turned to Jughead, as did Betty's and Kevin's. "I'm gonna go," Kevin said. Mariah was already on her feet. "Yup, me too," she agreed. "Yeah, you know what? I'm gonna get outta here, too," Toni added. "Okay, I can, uh, walk you home," Kevin said. Mariah snickered before rolling her eyes and heading for the door. "Or you can walk me home," the boy reiterated.

"I can drive you home, Kev," Mariah said. "Okay, good. Because I do not want to walk home with a killer on the loose," Kevin muttered. "Bye guys," he told the remaining two. "Yeah, see you later," Mariah said. The three exited Jughead's trailer and walked in silence for a bit. "I'm heading this way," Toni said, pointing her thumb in the opposite direction of Mariah's car.

The blonde nodded. "Okay, well good night. See you around?" She said. Toni nodded, "Yeah, maybe." And with that, they went their separate ways. Mariah led Kevin over to her car. "Do you really think the Black Hood could be a Serpent?" He asked.

Mariah sighed, "Honestly, Kevin, I have no idea."

°°°°

I meant to publish this chapter on Friday but time got away from me as I was really busy. But here it is. Happy Mother's Day to any mother who might be reading this!