chapter fourteen:
black and white

(this is a long chapter! :) )
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"thank you for having me" veronica told the blossoms as they dined in their grand home.

mariposa ate slowly. she was still processing the information she learned from betty. jason might've been dealing drugs, and it went completely under everyone's radar. even hers. she remembered when jason started selling all his stuff, he even sold some of his football merchandise to christian. she thought at the time it was a little suspicious but he told her he was just getting rid of what he didn't need anymore. she never heard the rumour he was dealing drugs though. she figured he probably just kept her away from all of that, to cover up what he had been doing. if that was the case, he did a pretty good job.

"cheryl invited you. i have no idea why you're here. at least mariposa makes a little bit of sense," mrs blossom said, grimacing at the raven haired girl.

"me either. i thought there'd be other girls," veronica said, giving cheryl the side eye.

posie also thought there'd be some other vixens here. you could imagine how surprised she was to find out her and veronica were the only ones.

mr blossom cleared his throat and offered more ham to his mother, and then veronica and mariposa.

"no thank you," posie smiled.

veronica turned him down as well, "i'm good. it's delicious though,"

posie had barely finished the first piece she gave her. she didn't like being here at thornhill, she could feel jason everywhere. and with the new information she had, it was even worse. she slid her peas around her plate as clifford explained the maple business to veronica. she remembered getting the same spiel the first time jason invited her over for dinner.

"perhaps you should ask your father about it sometime," mr blossom proposed, taking a sip of his wine, "how is he by the way?"

veronica grimaced, "he's okay,"

penelope rolled her eyes slyly, "there are worse things than prison,"

cheryl whispered under her breath, "like this dinner party,"

"what did you say?" penelope raised her voice, startling posie from her thoughts.

mrs blossom had always seemed like the wicked witch of the west to posie. the woman never tried to like her, which is why posie always had to sneak into their house if she wanted to come over. but jason had a soft spot for his mom, and that was something posie had always respected.

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"i hope this isn't weird but, jason was crazy handsome," veronica smiled at posie and cheryl.

posie nodded, "yeah the handsomest," she said, imagining every detail of his face and thinking about running her thumbs along his cheeks.

"something tells me he would've liked you," cheryl added.

"why did you invite me tonight?" veronica asked, "why not ginger or tina? or any of the other vixens?"

cheryl slowly closed the photo album and looked down at her lap. "when i fled the pep rally crying, you came to help me. not them"

posie smiled at veronica. she had to find a way to thank her. not only was she there for betty, but she was also there for cheryl too. cheryl was right, jason would've liked veronica.

"mariposa, i have something for you," cheryl said, crossing her room to slip the photo album back on to her bookshelf and take another one out.

as cheryl made her way back to the two girls, posie studied the book in her hand and recognized it immediately.

her mouth fell agape, "there's no way,"

cheryl set the little scrapbook in mariposa's lap and smiled at the girl, "i found it in jason's room, i figured you would want it back,"

"the butterfly, the barbie, and the blossom? what is this?" veronica giggled, reading the cover of the album.

it was a little photo book, with a light blue cover. the title was written in glittery letter stickers and the rest of it was decorated in puffy paint and posie's old lisa frank stickers from when she was a kid.

"you know betty's sister right?" posie asked and veronica nodded. "well her and i spent an entire day on this and gave it to jason as sort of a gag gift. it's a little girly for his taste, i'm glad he kept it though,"

she flipped it open to the first page, which held a picture of polly, posie and jason sitting next to each other on the bleachers. the girls were in their vixen uniforms and jason was dressed for football. it was taken after one of the games. surrounding it was the little notes they would write to each other before the games. similar to the ones posie found in the locker room when she was cleaning out his locker with sia.

"so you're the butterfly obviously, which makes polly the barbie? why?" cheryl asked, lightly stroking her thumb over her brothers part of the picture.

"because look at polly, shes a living barbie," posie giggled.

"what about you pos! you look beautiful as a blonde! that's your natural colour?" veronica exclaimed.

posie smiled and nodded before turning the page again. the next one was just of polly and posie in pops. they were sitting next to each other in a booth, with polly leaning her head on her best friend's shoulder. it was clear that jason took the picture. on the other side was polly and posie making silly faces on front of a mirror. you could see the redhead boy behind them in the reflection. above the picture was a knock knock joke written by polly. she always used to posie those stupid jokes when they were little. posie missed those times.

the next page hit posie like a ton of bricks. it was a little collage of her and jason. one that polly insisted she craft and put in the book despite posie's protests. her eyes lingered over her favourite picture. it was one of her and jason sitting in the windowsill in his bedroom, her back against his chest. she remembered that day. the three of them spent all day napping and watching movies on his bedroom floor, then played a stupid never have i ever game in the window and that's when polly took that picture. she longed for simpler times.

"you guys looked like you were really in love," veronica whispered, rubbing posie's shoulder gently.

cheryl agreed, "JJ was crazy about you posie, he would always tell me,"

that made posie's mind wander back to what betty learned from trev. if he really was crazy about her, then why didn't she know about his plan to run away? or about him dealing drugs? did he not trust her? or was he not as in love with her as everyone- including her- had thought. but then again, she'd known about AJ for months before eric sent her away and she never told him. clearly their relationship wasn't as picture perfect as everyone thought.

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posie ran the comb through her hair one more time. she looked down at her outfit and felt grim. there she was in all black, such a dark and lonely colour. it was a colour she wore quite a lot actually, her signature boots included. but today it felt different. today she was burying her boyfriend, the father of her baby, her soulmate. she thought about never wearing black again.

AJ was with christian, he had stayed with the baby overnight. posie finally let her older brothers bring her daughter to meet her mom. after reading the letter, she decided that she wanted her baby to grow up with a grandmother, just as long as posie didn't have to see her yet.

"hey, you ready?" veronica asked, poking her head into the bathroom.

"yeah, i'm gonna head down actually," posie told her, walking out of the bathroom and down the hallway towards the stairs.

after the funeral, she would have to slip away to jason's room with betty and jughead. ever since the drug thing, posie demanded betty include her in whatever investigation they were doing. even if that meant putting the benjamin search on hold, which luca was all over.

she crossed the foyer into the room where the memorial was being held. she headed over to where betty and her friends were sitting. she refused to look anywhere near the coffin.

"hey pos," betty said softly as the girl sat next to her, "you okay?"

posie nodded. she had to be strong from now on. AJ deserved it.

veronica joined them shortly, taking a seat near the front. "days like these really put things in perspective huh? at least we're alive"

posie nodded and smiled at the girl. she continued to stay quiet as everyone settled in their seats. she looked everywhere but the casket. despite the whole drug dealing thing, she still loved him, and it was going to be hard letting him go.

"oh my god," she heard veronica, who was looking at the end of the aisle.

posie turned to see cheryl, clad in white, stalking towards the casket.

posie sighed and punched the bridge of her nose. this was going to be a long day.

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after cheryl's speech, posie practically sped walk towards the back staircase that led upstairs. she gave betty and jughead the instructions on how to get there, and she was on her way to meet them.

she was stopped in the foyer by none other than fred andrews.

"hey mariposa, i'm really sorry for you loss," he said.

she nodded politely, "hi mr andrews, thank you so much,"

the state's at each other awkwardly for a second before he cleared his throat.

"so your i heard you were looking for work and i was wondering if you would like to be hermione's assistant doing bookkeeping for me?" he asked her.

posie's jaw dropped, "you're offering me a job?" she said hopefully.

she'd been searching for a job for awhile now, which was hard considering she was not only committed to the vixens and the track team, but now she had a baby to look after.

"yeah, if you want it. your mom says you're pretty good at crunching numbers, and i'm sure we can schedule it around your track," he smiled at her.

she grinned and shook fred's hand, "yes i would love to!" she exclaimed.

hermione and fred said their goodbyes to her and she continued her trek towards betty and jughead.

"what took you so long?" betty whisper yelled once she made it to their meeting spot.

"i was talking to someone. now let's go, we need be quick!" she told her, sprinting up the stairs with the pair at her heels.

she led them through the twisted halls of the blossom house, running her hand along the walls. she rarely got to come in to the house through the front entrance, only when penelope and clifford weren't home. she was lucky she even remembered the way to his room that wasn't his window.

"okay, this is it," she said, reaching his door and quietly turning the knob to open it.

the trio each went to separate areas to look. posie almost felt guilty invading his privacy, but she kept telling herself this was to find out what happened to him.

"hello?" a voice croaked from behind the door.

posie jumped in surprise and walked backwards towards his bed where betty and jughead were.

she breathed a sigh of relived when she realized it was only nana rose, the only blossom that actually like her.

"we were just leaving!" betty rambled, fidgeting with her hands.

"oh it's you two! so nice to see you again!" nana rose exclaimed, "come closer so i can get a good look at you," she gestured towards betty and mariposa.

"the horror, the horror!" jughead whispered to them.

the two girls walked slowly towards the woman, and betty clutched posie's hand fearfully.

"come closer polly," the woman said to betty, "oh i thought i'd never see you two again, especially mariposa. jason said you disappeared,"

"it's so nice to see you again nana rose," posie smiled. she remembered the first time they met. she sat next to the woman for hours, hanging on to every word in all of her stories. out of all of jason's family members, she was the one posie trusted.

"yes," betty said, "i'm sorry it has to be under such terrible circumstances," she continued was nana rose took posies hands in hers and examined them.

betty and posie shared a look.

"well of course you're not wearing it."

posie's face contorted and she looked between the younger girl and the woman. "wearing what?" she asked quietly.

"the ring mariposa!" she said like it was obvious.

mariposa immediately felt like she'd ate a pound of rocks. her jaw dropped. she could see betty out of her peripheral vision, looking directly at her with wide eyes.

"don't tell penelope i gave it to you, or she'll come for you and snip it off your finger!" nana exclaimed, gripping posie's hands tighter.

posie nodded rapidly, "i won't i promise"

the only problem was that she didn't know what ring they were talking about. jason had bought her jewelry in the past, things like necklaces and bracelets. but never did he give her a ring, especially not an heirloom.

nana rose shook her head, "such a shame. your wedding was the last thing i was living for. i lost a grandson, but you, you lost your best friend," she told both girls before zeroing in on posie, "and the love of your young life,"

she couldn't take it anymore. she sprouted up and pushed the door open, speed walking as fast as she could to just get out of that house.

wedding? she didn't know anything about a wedding. jason must've gotten the heirloom from his grandma, which meant he was planning on proposing.

at sixteen?!, posie thought, shocked by it all.

mariposa thought it about as she left the blossom house, followed by betty and jughead who were calling after her. maybe jason was planning to ask her to run away too. maybe she disappeared before he got the chance to ask. she didn't know what to think anymore. first he's writing her name in the playbook and dealing behind her back, and the next second he's wanting to marry her.

maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought.

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UM WOW THIS IS LIKE 2300 WORDS.

i usually only do about 1000 per chapter, but i figured that the funeral would kind of be a turning point for posie since more things are being uncovered about jason.

as a little explanation, posie is going to helping betty and jughead with their investigation for while and won't be looking for her dad. i just wanted to make that clear since it's a really important detail and i barely mentioned it this chapter.

anyway, things are heating up, and i hope you all enjoyed!!

(ps. thank you for over 3000 views and 80 votes!! grateful for all of you!)