╒══════════════════╕
Chapter Sixteen
Jailbreak
╘══════════════════╛

     TORI DIDN'T THINK IT WAS POSSIBLE, BUT SHE OVERSLEPT. She forgot to set her alarm the night before so she slept for another hour and her mother had already left for an early shift so she didn't have a ride to school. She didn't even have time to shower before throwing on a pair of sweatpants and plain t-shirt and she tripped on her bag as she was putting her hair into a ponytail. She groaned as her forehead hit the ground and rubbed the tender spot as she put her shoes on and grabbed her bag and hurried out the door. She tried to run as fast as she could but by the time she got to school, the hallways were empty so she knew that class had already started and she was late.

     When she walked in, everyone was staring at her. She was frozen in her spot when she realized that Principal Weatherbee, Mayor Lodge and sheriff Minetta were there along with the teacher.

     "So glad you could be here, Miss Alvarez," Minetta said as he looked at her with his hands on his hips. "We were just discussing the recent news of Archie Andrews' escape so have a seat."

     "Yeah," Tori replied quietly as she sat down.

     She glanced at Sweet Pea who smiled at her so slightly and she smiled back and Minetta didn't even catch it. She looked ahead as the sheriff stood at the front of the class and continued with his lecture.

     "As I was saying before you decided to join us, Archie Andrews is a murderer but we know he did not escape the prison alone. He had help. Hiding a convict or withholding information from the law is a felony offence. So, whoever had aided and abetted Archie Andrews is just as much of a criminal as he is," Minetta said as he looked at Reggie.

     He just nonchalantly slouched forward as he twiddled his pencil between his fingers. "I was busy all day, sheriff," he said with a sly smirk. "You can check my browser history if you know what I mean."

     Everyone in the class chuckled but Tori just rolled her eyes while she was picking the dead skin off her lips.

     "I don't even know who this Archie person is. And on Mondays, I host a group for teen Farmies. We're still accepting new members," Tori turned around and judging by the smile on the ginger's face, she had to guess that she was the one who just spoke up.

     "Excuse me, who the hell are you?" she questioned.

     "Evelyn Evernever. Nice to meet you," the ginger replied.

     "Yeah, now is not the time to promote your Monday meetings," Tori said as she trolled her eyes and turned around.

     "You seem a little on edge, Miss Alvarez," Minetta said as he stood in front of her desk.

     "I overslept and didn't have a ride so I ran twenty minutes here," Tori said as she shrugged her shoulders. "So what?"

     "So, you're not very good at hiding your agitation. You keep picking your lip like that and it's gonna bleed," Minetta said as he moved closer and Tori moved her hand away from her mouth.

     She kept her hands on top of the desk but clenched them as he towered over her like a predator ready to attack its prey. She wanted nothing more than to punch him in the nose for putting her friends through hell and terrorizing them since Midge's murder. She swallowed thickly while avoiding eye contact but was still anxious and uncomfortable under Minetta's scrutinizing gaze. Even though she didn't have anything to do with Archie's jailbreak, she was about to snap and punch Minetta, yell, anything to get him away from her. She didn't even know he escaped until she arrived and he just wouldn't stop grilling her.

     "Please get out of my face, sheriff," she said as calmly as possible, her heart rate picking up the longer Minetta stood over her.

     "Or you'll do what, Miss Alvarez?" he questioned.

     Her heart started to race while her hands started trembling, the room suddenly felt crowded and it sounded like she was underwater as Minetta's voice faded away. Her head felt like it was filled with air as the room started to spin and suddenly she couldn't breathe. She could still feel his warm breath on her face as she clenched his fists in an effort to try and ground herself.

     "Please get out of my face, sheriff," she repeated but her voice trembled.

     She still felt like she was trapped, even when Minetta went over to Josie and started grilling her about her whereabouts. The next thing Tori remembered was Josie convulsing in her seat and Cheryl running up to her just as she passed out. All the voices whispering over each other wondering if Josie was okay suddenly sounded so deafening and she felt like she was going to burst as the seams if she stayed there any longer. As if her body was on autopilot, she stood up and walked towards the door.

     "Please sit down, Miss Alvarez," Weatherbee said but she kept walking like her legs had a mind of their own.

     "I have to go to the bathroom," she mumbled as she grabbed the doorknob. She felt someone grab her wrist and she immediately pulled away without looking at who it was. "Don't touch me."

     She hurried out of the classroom and looked for a place where she could be alone and calm down before she spiraled even further. She found the first girls' restroom and checked all the stalls to make sure she was completely alone before leaning over the sink with her hands gripping the counter. She turned on the tap and soaked her face with cold water and tried to get her breathing back to a regular and steady pace. Once she turned the tap off, she dried her face with a paper towel and sighed at the person staring back at her in the mirror. She took out the hair tie that was keeping her hair in a ponytail and ran her fingers through it and put it into a side braid. She couldn't do much about the sweatpants or t-shirt so she was just going to have to get through the day as she was.

     When she heard the bell ring, she wanted to curse herself for spending the rest of class in the bathroom and she left her bag in class. She gathered up the courage to leave the bathroom and go back to the classroom to grab her bag and head to her next class with no problem. But instead of having to go all the way to the classroom, she saw Sweet Pea walking over to her carrying her bag with him. She nervously bit her lip as he handed her bag to her and he took her around the corner away from everybody else.

     "Can I ask how you're feeling right now?" he asked gently and kept his hands in his pockets in case she wasn't ready for physical touch yet.

     Tori sighed quietly as she looked at his dog tags. "I want to say I'm okay but that would just be a lie. Honestly, I felt trapped in there and I suddenly couldn't breathe. I felt like I was drowning and there was no one to pull me up. Like there was nothing I could do and everyone just watched me drown," Tori rambled on and swallowed the lump in her throat as she quickly grounded herself.

     "I'm so sorry. I should've told him to back off the second he got too close," Sweet Pea said as he leaned against the wall and Tori shook her head.

     "He probably would've arrested you. It's just frustrating that he grilled me for something I had nothing to do with. I didn't even know Archie escaped until I got here. To be completely honest, I haven't been keeping up with the news lately so I had no idea what happened," she sighed as she looked around and then looked at Sweet Pea. "What happened in there? The last thing I remember before I left was that Minetta started grilling Josie and she started shaking."

     "She, uh, she had a seizure and was taken to the hospital. When you were leaving, Minetta tried to get you to stay but you pulled away and told him not to touch you. Do you remember anything else?" Sweet Pea asked and Tori shrugged.

     "I think I blanked out until I got to the bathroom," she sighed and Sweet Pea took one of his hands out of his pockets.

     "Is this okay?" he asked gently as his fingers lightly brushed against hers.

     She smiled faintly at his nervousness and consideration and nodded just a little bit but he saw it. "Yes, it's okay," she replied as she took his hand and held onto it.

     When Minetta left, Tori was more than relieved but she still felt like someone was watching her. The feeling had her looking around and Sweet Pea was starting to notice and squeezed her hand to grab her attention. When she looked at him, he could see that something was bothering her. She tried to inhale deeply and exhale slowly to calm herself down but the feeling wouldn't go away.

     "What's wrong?" he asked.

     Tori sighed and nervously bit her lip. "I feel like someone is watching me," she said, trying to resist the urge to look over her shoulder. "It's bugging me and it won't go away."

     "It's probably Evelyn," Sweet Pea said and Tori's head quickly turned to look at him.

     "What?" she questioned.

     "That girl you kind of had a little quarrel with before that asshole grilled you to the edge of a panic attack," Sweet Pea replied.

     "Please, don't remind me of Minetta. He had me frying like an egg in there and I was ready to punch him in the nose, kick him in the knee, scream like a maniac, anything that would get him away from me," she groaned as she pulled her sleeves over her hands.

     "Man, it would've been very exciting to watch you break his nose but it wouldn't be as exciting to watch you get dragged away in handcuffs for assaulting the sheriff," Sweet Pea said and Tori laughed.

     "Worth it. He's been terrorizing us ever since Keller stepped down. Especially you guys," she sighed.

     Sweet Pea chuckled and Tori smiled and noticed Marissa and Noah walking over to them. "Hey, guys! Peabrain, we got a little business to take care of," Marissa said and the tall Serpent nodded.

     "I'll call you later, okay?" Sweet Pea said as he let go of Tori's hand.

     "Yeah. See you around," the dark haired girl smiled as the two of them walked away, leaving Tori and Noah standing alone in the hallway. "Where's Aiden?"

     "Uh, he just left math and he's on his way here," Noah replied while shrugging her shoulders and Tori nodded as an idea came to her head. Before she could mention anything to Noah, she noticed a flash of red behind him. "Crap, Thunderbitch is right behind you, let's just meet Aiden outside."

     "Going somewhere?" Tori rolled her eyes at the redhead's annoying high-pitched voice that made it clear she was on a mission to taunt them.

     "God, it must be so stressful coming up with new ways to get on people's nerves. I mean, I think you're starting to get a few grey hairs," Tori said and smiled when Cheryl instinctively checked her hair for strands of grey.

     "Funny," Cheryl replied as she rolled her eyes. "I just saw both your lovers walking out of here hand-in-hand and thought you should know."

     "Yeah, we know. Now buzz off like the annoying little wasp you are," Tori replied as she and Noah started to walk away.

     "It wouldn't surprise me if they were off to have a little fun, if you know what I mean," Cheryl said with that annoying little smirk on her face.

     "Are you kidding me?" Noah questioned as he turned around.

     "Come on, Noah. Let's just go," Tori said.

     "No! Is it that hard for you to believe that Marissa can be in a committed relationship with someone who actually loves her?" Noah questioned, glaring at the redhead.

     "Wait, you love her?" Tori asked with a hint of a smile on her face.

     "I can see why you're not friends anymore," Noah said. "Go find someone else to terrorize."

     Both Tori and Noah left the school just as Aiden showed up and smiled at them. "So, where are we going?" he asked.

     "Have you guys been down to the quarry yet?" Tori questioned and both boys shook their heads.

     Tori smiled as they walked over to the truck and she gave Noah the directions to the quarry. When they got there, the three of them got out and Aiden looked like a kid in a candy store as he marveled at the view.

     "This place is awesome!" he said and Tori smiled.

     "You guys can just come here and eat, swim, whatever you wanna do," she said while shrugging her shoulder. "Sky is the limit!"

     For about an hour, Aiden and Noah are in the water while Tori was sitting on the ground with her phone open and text messages between her and Sweet Pea on the screen. She didn't even realize she was smiling until Noah shook his head, water flying out of his hair and onto Tori's skin.

     "Ah, what the hell, Noah?!" she yelled but she was still smiling as he sat down.

     "Judging by your lovesick smile, I'm guessing you were texting Sweet Pea," he said with a smile of his own.

     "Shut up! You said you loved Marissa," Tori replied and Noah laughed while Aiden was still enjoying the water.

     "That wasn't how I pictured saying it out loud for the first time, but that girl was really getting on my nerves," Noah replied.

     Tori nodded in understanding. "I can tell Cheryl got under your skin back there. If I'm being honest with you, she tried something similar with me when school started. Remember when I suddenly got up and left?" she questioned and Noah nodded.

     "Yeah. I wondered what happened but I didn't wanna push since you were still pretty cautious around me," he replied.

     "Not the point, but yeah. I was in the bathroom to take a breather and Cheryl showed up with a plan to get in my head. She went on about how I was the second choice and how both Reggie and Sweet Pea would always choose Marissa over me whenever they 'needed it.' I knew they had a thing going on way before I started dating Sweet Pea and yeah it did hurt a little bit but it's all in the past now," Tori said while shrugging her shoulders.

     "Based on that one interaction with her in the hallway, it doesn't surprise me that she pulled a stunt like that," Noah said.

     "And for a split second, I believed her. She's always had a nasty habit of exploiting people's insecurities including mine, even while we were friends. Like the time I started hanging out with the Serpents when they transferred to Riverdale High, she shut me out thinking that I would stop hanging out with them and go crawling back to her. She was my only friend before the transfer and she knew shutting me out would hit close to home and she used it against me," Tori said and rolled her eyes at the memory.

     It was silent for a moment with the exception of Aiden walking out of the water to join them on the dry ground. Noah cleared his throat and nudged Tori's arm so she would look at him. "You know, you were one of the people Marissa always brought up whenever she'd talk about Riverdale," he said and Aiden laughed.

     "Oh, yeah! She talked about you so much it was crazy," he chimed in and Tori chuckled.

     "Not sure if that conversation was interesting since we weren't really friends until a few days before she left," she replied while shrugging her shoulders.

     "You, Archie, Jughead and Eden. She talked about you guys a lot," Noah said.

     "I didn't really talk to Jughead, Archie or Eden but I knew they were all close," Tori sighed.

     "She really does love you, you know? You're one of her best friends," Noah said and Tori laughed.

     "We talked for two days," she replied.

     "Maybe before she left. But now, it's obvious," Noah said while Tori sighed as she remembered the few days they talked right before Marissa left Riverdale.

     "It's just funny to me how nothing about how we became friends was ideal and yet she was a way better friend to me in two days than Cheryl ever was to me in two years," she said.

     "Do you know why?" Noah asked.

     Tori shrugged her shoulders as she looked at him. "I never asked," she answered.

     "She told me you saw her for who she was and not what others told you," Noah replied.

     "Yeah, our friendship is weird but I'm pretty sure you already gathered that much," Tori laughed and the boys laughed as well.

     It was nice to have someone to hang out with so she wasn't alone and at the same time, there was no one to bother them. Not Cheryl, not Minetta, or anyone.