CHAPTER THIRTEEN
MURDER DINER

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     Riverdale was a messed up town, that much was clear from all the recent events that occurred in the last four months. Needless to say, Riverdale was a mess. It was interesting, but still a mess. Parents shooting their kids and going out of their way to cover it up by hiring a biker gang and threatening a teenage boy's life to coerce a man to confess to a crime he didn't commit. All the information about FP Jones and Clifford Blossom was in the newspapers and Luna read all of it. Just because she lived on the wrong side of the tracks didn't mean she couldn't see what was going on with the Northside and their supposedly perfect lives. After everything that happened, it was clear their lives weren't so perfect after all and were just as messed up as the people who lived on the Southside.

     Even after the news about Clifford Blossom, how he killed Jason and committed suicide right before the police arrived, it was just more bad news from there. A man was shot by a masked gunman at Pop's and Luna's mother became more cautious about her occasional trips for a milkshake when she would discuss music and other things with her friends. It was more bad news after bad news like a line of dominoes. You tip one over and it doesn't take much for the rest to follow. While Luna's mother was sitting at the end of the table with the newspaper in her hand and her reading glasses on, the youngest teenager was sitting at the other end eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

     "Is Pop's a murder diner now?" Rosalie asked as she entered the kitchen for something to eat.

     "He's not dead, Ro," Luna said with a mouthful of cereal.

     "Don't talk with your mouth full," her mother reprimanded her but she simply shrugged her shoulders as she kept eating.

     "He was fatally shot," Rosalie pointed out and the mother lightly shook her head.

     "So far, he's still alive, thank God. And hopefully, he stays alive," she said as she folded the newspaper and put it down on the table.

     "But if he dies, that would make Pop's a murder diner," Rosalie said while pouring herself a cup of orange juice and Luna glared at her.

     "Do you ever listen to yourself and hear the insensitive crap you say?" she questioned.

     "I'm just saying if this man dies, that makes the diner a murder scene," her sister said nonchalantly.

     "Only it wouldn't since he didn't die there and he's still alive. And you talk about it as if there isn't a man fighting for his life right now," Luna said and Rosalie scoffed.

     "You don't even know this guy. Besides, you weren't affected when Jason Blossom died because again, you didn't know him," she pointed out.

     "You don't have to know someone to have empathy. You should try it and maybe you would seem less like a brat," Luna replied.

     "Enough! I'm sick of hearing you two argue now keep it together or so help me I will ground the both of you for a month. Understand?" their mother asked as she looked at them sharply.

     "Yes, Mom," both girls replied as their mother stood up and left the dining table.

     Luna finished the rest of her cereal and cleaned up her bowl and spoon and went back upstairs without even looking at her sister. She could be so insensitive sometimes but she never should've expected anything more or less from her. Luna however did feel bad for the stranger who got shot at the diner and for whatever family he had. The difference between the two sisters was so obvious and their constant bickering always seemed to annoy their mother to the point where she would be rubbing her temples and pinching the bridge of her nose.

     Luna looked outside of her window as she pulled the scrunchie out her hair and let it fall down her shoulders. She looked through her drawers before picking a set of clothes and leaving them folded neatly on top of her bed and left her room to grab a clean towel from the bathroom closet. If she was going to get a chance to shower in the one and only bathroom in a house of three women, she was going to have to hurry inside and make it fast.

     Once she was finished doing what she needed to do in the bathroom, she went back to her room to put on some clothes. Once she was dressed, she combed the tangles and knots out of her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. After the recent news, her mother was most likely hesitant about letting any of her daughters go out alone but Luna could still keep herself occupied while staying inside the house all day. Other than working on her music, there were plenty of other things she did to pass the time and keep herself from getting bored such as reading and listening to music and even sketching.

     Her phone vibrated on the bed and she opened the text message from the group chat. It was basically everyone talking about what happened at Pop's and how their parents were hesitant about letting them go out alone a day after it happened. Luna sighed as she put her phone on the nightstand and pulled the curtains back so the light could get through.

     So much had already happened in Riverdale in just a few short months. A kid was dead at the hands of his own father, said father killed himself to escape the consequences and now a man was fighting for his life after being shot in broad daylight. All of those happened on the Northside but it could easily happen on the Southside and that side of town was already rough as it was.

     Luna decided to go downstairs to the kitchen to get herself a snack so she had something to eat while reading a book she was halfway through and listening to music. Rosalie was still upstairs in her room and their mother was rushing around looking for her keys so she could leave for work, and was cursing in Japanese under her breath.

     "Check the coffee table," Luna said as she grabbed a bag of banana chips from the cupboard.

     "Thank you," her mother said as she found her keys and Luna nodded. "You two behave and don't burn the house down."

     "You got it," Luna replied as her mother left the house and locked the door.

     She grabbed a can of soda to go with her banana chips and went back upstairs to her room so she could settle down and enjoy some time to herself despite all the town's craziness.