"I think many of us, maybe the entire town, had been hoping against hope that somehow Jason Blossom hadn't drowned on July 4th. That we'd come to school Monday morning, and there Jason would be.  Or that we'd see him, Cheryl and Alex in a booth at Pop's. But that was before the undeniable, irrevocable fact of his bloated, water-logged body, a corpse with a bullet hole in its forehead, and terrible secrets that could only be revealed by the cold, steel blade of a coroner's autopsy scalpel, or the telltale beating of a guilty heart."

Cheryl is holding onto me as I am between her and Clifford. My body tense at being this close to him. Cheryl asked me to be there to be moral support when they claim Jason's body and because I was like an honorary Blossom, Penelope and Clifford agreed. The coroner lifts up the sheet over Jason's body and I gasp with tears instantly clouding my eyes when I see that it's in fact Jason. Cheryl turns towards her mom and is crying on her shoulder. I feel myself start hyperventilating as the images of Clifford shooting him starts running through my brain again. "Andi?" Cheryl asked turning away from her mom and towards me but I shake my head backing away from them. "I-I can't. I'm sorry. I've got to go." I say before turning around and leaving. I pull my phone out calling Sweet Pea since I rode with the Blossoms.

Sweets
Lexi? What's wrong

Lexi
Can you come get me?
I'm at the coroners office.

Sweets
Yeah, of course.
What's wrong? You
sound like you're crying.

Lexi
I'll explain when you get here.
Just get here please?

Sweets
Of course. I'll be there as
soon as I can.

He hangs up and I sit on the curb waiting on him to get here. I'm not sitting there long until I hear a motorcycle engine nearby and I stand up. He pulls to a stop in front of me and immediately gets off his bike and stands in front of me. "What's wrong?" I hug him and he hugs me back. "Darlin, I can't fix it if you don't tell me what's wrong." Sweets said pulling back. "You couldn't fix it even if you wanted to. The image I just saw is going to be engraved in my brain forever. Cheryl asked me to help identify Jason's body and it was too much." I say and he hugs me again. "Come on, let's go chill at your house. Okay?" Sweets asked and I nod. We get on his bike and he drives to my house. Once we get to my house, we go up to my room. He makes me sit on my bed and he grabs the clothes he leaves here when his parents are fighting and some of my clothes. He hands them to me. "Thank you." I say "You change in here and I'll change in the bathroom, okay?" I nod and he walks out the room. I change quickly and lay on my bed before he walks back in. He lays on my bed beside me opening his arms. "Come here." I move into his arms and he wraps his arms around me. "You want to talk about it?" Sweets asked and I shake my head. "Not really. I just couldn't be there anymore with Jason's body or with Clifford Blossom." I say

-time skip-

After getting dressed, I walk downstairs to the kitchen with Dad and Vegas. "Morning, sweetie. How are you doing?" Dad asked "I'm working on it. Seeing Jason's body when I went with Cheryl and her parents messed with me a little bit but other than that I'm doing okay." I say "Well if you need anything during the day don't hesitate to call." Dad said "I will, Dad." I say and I grab a plate for breakfast when Archie walks in the room. "Morning, Dad, Dria." Archie said "Hey, bud." Dad said "Morning Arch." I say "Where'd you sneak off to last night?" Dad asked and I turn my head to look at Archie smirking. "You, uh, you heard that?" Dad asked "Son, I've been hearing you and your sister sneak out since you were eight years old going to Jughead's tree house." Dad said "That's not fair, Dria sneaks out all the time." Archie said "Do I sneak out? Yes. But I do it better than you and Dad knows I'm either going to Kevs, Betty's, or Jughead's so he doesn't have to worry." I say leaving out the trips to the Whyte Wyrm. "I couldn't sleep. Went for a jog to tire myself out." Archie said "Yeah? Got something on your mind?" Dad asked taking a drink of his coffee. "Just all this stuff with Jason." Archie said "Hmm. No more midnight runs until the police catch whoever it was that shot that poor kid." I flinch a little but not enough that they notice. "I swear to god, this town." Dad said

-time skip-

I grab my stuff ready to leave when the doorbell rings. Archie answers the door and I see that it's Betty when I stop in the hallway. "Walk me to school?" We leave the house and start walking school. Betty is walking in between Archie and I. "I needed time to process. To separate what my mom wants from what I want... I think I want." Betty said "Which is?" Archie asked "My mom says I should never speak to either of you again. But I... Even though you don't like me like that, I still want us to be friends... Best friends." Betty said "You do?" Archie asked "Yeah." Betty said "I mean, that's great, Betty. Me, too." Archie said "I'd be lying if I said that it didn't hurt." Betty said "And I'm sorry, Betty, I didn't do it to be a... I don't know, I just... I thought it would be better in the long run." Archie said "And it will be. Oh, and neither of you tell my mom that we're friends again." Betty said and I laugh a little knowing we go through this at least once a week.

Archie and I are at our lockers which are right near Jason's. I'm leaning against mine looking down at the shrine that people have made playing with the ring on my necklace. I didn't realize Jug walked up behind us until he spoke. "Hi." Archie and I turn around to face him and I tuck my necklace back in my shirt. "Do you think I can use Jason Blossom's death as an excuse to get out of PE? "Sorry, Coach, I'm just too depressed and freaked-out right now to do pull-ups." Jug said and Archie closed his locker. "Don't joke about Jason Blossom." Archie said "What? Sardonic humor is just my way of relating to the world." Jug scoffs looking over my shoulder. "Look, it's the rich kids from The Goonies." I turn my head and I see Reggie, Chuck, and Moose walking this way. "All right, I'm out." Jug said and he nods at me slightly before walking away. Reggie bumps into him as he's walking away. "Watch it, Wednesday Addams." Reggie said and I scoff rolling my eyes.

I meet up with Betty and Kevin looping my arm through Kev's. "Now that romance is off the table, I'll just say it. Are we 100% sure that Archie's straight? Because no straight man has that body." Kev said and I laugh making them both smile. "Speaking of bodies... Have you recovered from finding Jason's?" Betty asked and I immediately stop smiling. "It was more traumatizing having to explain to my dad what I was doing with Moose at the river. Yet another perk of being the sheriff's son. Dria, how are you after going with the Blossoms?" Kev asked "It freaked me out seeing his body but I'm doing better." I say and we walk into the office and I see yellow flowers. "Oh, my god, those are gorgeous. Are those for Betty, Mrs. Phillips?" Kevin asked "That's why I called her." Mrs. Phillips said and I walk over to the flowers grabbing the card. "Dear, Betty, please forgive me, XOXO, V." I say reading the card and I knew it was from Veronica. "Who the hell is V?" Kevin asked taking the card from my hand. "Veronica." Betty and Veronica who just walked in said in sync.

"The yellow is for friendship. I also had Magnolia cupcakes flown in from New York. Because, as my mom likes to say, "There's no wrong the right cupcake can't fix." Also I... I've booked us for hers-and-hers mani-pedis at Chez Salon. Blowouts, too. I am so, so sorry, Betty. I don't know what happened to me that night. It was such a basic bitch move. It was like I was... possessed by..." Veronica said before Kev cut her off. "Madame Satan?" Kev said and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. "The old Veronica. And I will never, ever do anything like that to you again. I swear on my mother's pearls. Just, can you please give me one more chance?" Veronica asked "Okay." Betty said "What?" Kev and Veronica asked in sync. "Really? Awesome. I'll take it and you won't regret it. And I'll bring these to lunch so we can celebrate!" Veronica said and she smiles before walking out. Kev is still looking at her in shock. "It's the path of least resistance, Kev. A week ago, Veronica and I weren't friends. Next week, we'll nod to each other as we pass in the hallway, but that's it. You know, in two weeks, she won't even remember my name. And in three, she'll have latched onto some other girl to destroy." Betty said and I look at her in shock.

-time skip-

Weatherbee wanted me to make the announcement about the pep rally so I'm standing beside him, Sheriff Keller and Cheryl in the office. Weatherbee nods to me and I press the intercom button. "Good morning, students. This is your class president, Alex Andrews speaking. There have been many inquires about the upcoming pep rally. So let me state clearly, it is happened, as scheduled. Now, on a less felicitous note, if you could give your attention to Sheriff Keller." I say before leaning back and Keller presses the button. Cheryl grabs my arm since I was standing between her and Keller.

"Most of you already know the details, but your classmate Jason Blossom's body was found late Saturday night. So as of the weekend, Jason's death is now being treated as a homicide. It is an open and ongoing investigation." Keller said before Cheryl reaches around me to press the button to interrupt Keller. "And may I interject, neither I nor my parents will rest until Jason's death is avenged, and his cold-hearted killer is walking the green mile to sit in Old Sparky and fry. I, for one, have my suspicions. Hashtag Riverdale strong." Cheryl said before standing back up straight beside me.

"If you know anything that could help us find and apprehend Jason's killer, or anything about what happened to him on July 4th, I strongly urge you to come forward immediately. You can speak with me or Principal Weatherbee." I feel someone watching us and I turn my head and see Archie standing there. I look at him in confusion. "A death like this wounds us all. Let's not let Jason down." Keller said and as soon as he's done speaking, I walk out of the office and follow Archie. Jughead catches up to me. Archie is at the water fountain splashing water on his face. "Archie." I say and he turns around to look at us. "Weirdest thing. This summer, we were supposed to go on a road trip over July 4th weekend... which you bailed on at the last minute. Is there something you wanna tell me, pal?" Jug asked and I could tell Archie was nervous.

-time skip-

Jughead and I are sitting beside each other in class when I hear Ginger start talking. "We were wondering, Cheryl. Back in July, you and Alex told the po-po that Jason drowned." Ginger said and I turn around before standing up to stand beside Cheryl. "Yet, we come to find out that Jason didn't drown. He was shot. That's slightly suspicious, no?" Tina asked "Are you living mannequins suggesting that we had something to do with Jason's death?" I ask as Cheryl snaps on gloves. "We're just curious. What do the police think happened?" Ginger asked "I'll tell you what we told them, which is that Jason did fall into the water. All three of us did. Cheryl and I made it to the shore. He didn't." I say "Maybe he made it to the other side of the river and someone shot him there. Who knows?" Cheryl asked and the teacher walked in.

"Seats, everyone. Pair off, gloves on, scalpels up." The teacher said "Can I be with  Cheryl?" Archie asked and I look at him confused. "And I want to be with Betty." Veronica said and I go sit down beside of Jughead. "Oh, uh, I was thinking I'd partner with Kevin." Betty said "Actually, uh, Keller's with me. We, like, talked." Moose said and I turn my head to look at Kev. "Oh, god." Kev said and he looks at me. "Have fun." I mouth to him and he glares at me. Everyone moves to where they're supposed to be and Jug and I are reading over the lab report when Tina and Ginger sits down in front of us. I look up and glare at them but I see them looking over my shoulder before jumping. I turn my head and see Cheryl stabbing the frog staring right at Ginger and Tina. I smirk at her when she glances at me.

-time skip-

Veronica, Betty, Kev and I are walking to our lunch table. I'm walking in between Kev and Veronica. "So, what did Moose want?" I ask "Oh, my god. I don't even think he knows. I mean, I am devastatingly handsome in that classic, pre-accident Montgomery Clift kind of way, and sexuality is fluid, but can someone named Moose actually be that fluid?" Kev asked and we all laugh. "Okay, well, I ship it." Veronica said "Well, of course you would. You're a big city girl with loose morals. I just meant that Moose has an official girlfriend, Midge. Anyway, it's terrible to say, but part of me wishes he would just stay in the darn closet." We reach the table that Archie is sitting at and they go awkward. I knew some of what happened at Cheryl's after party but I clearly didn't know everything. "Obviously, I didn't mean literal closet." Kev said and I move to sit beside my brother. "Archie! Any new material you wanna try out on a very forgiving audience?" Archie shakes his head. "Please?" Veronica said motioning to Betty with her eyes.

"Would you? I'd love to hear it." Betty said "I'm still working on the lyrics, so... okay." Archie starts singing and I watch Betty's reaction to the lyrics. Betty starts looking like she wants to cry when Archie stops. "Betty?" Kev looks at me when Archie speaks. "You okay?" Archie asked "I'm supposed to say, "yes." That's what the nice girl always says, but... no, I'm not. I want to be. I thought I could be. But it's too much, too fast. Archie..." Betty said "Betty." Betty turns around and walks away. "Betty, wait." Archie said grabbing his jacket from between us before taking off after her. "Okay, will someone tell me what the hell happened at Thornhill?" I ask

"As you know Betty told Archie about her feelings for him at the dance." I nod at them because I knew that much. "Well Cheryl decided to play spin the bottle at the after party. Well the bottle landed on Veronica then landed on Archie." Kev said "I wasn't going to go into the closet with him because I knew Betty liked him but then Cheryl said she would go if I didn't. I thought I was doing the best thing for Betty's feelings but when we went in the closet, Betty left." Veronica said "And that's when Archie found Jughead and I at Pops. He was looking for Betty." I say "Has he ever said anything to you about liking her?" Kev asked "No, he's never said anything but then again, Archie and I haven't talked much since July 4th. But she can't force him to like her, no matter how much she wants him to." I say

-time skip-

I'm walking in the hallway when I see Jughead standing outside of Grundys door. "Jug?" I ask quietly and he turns his head and motions me to come over to him. I walk over to him and stand beside him. I look in the window to Grundys classroom and I see my brother and Grundy about to kiss. I gasp quietly and back away from the door. "Dria?" Jug asked quietly walking towards me. "I've got to go. I'll see you later." I say walking away trying to forget about the scene that I just saw. I decide to skip cheer practice because I knew I wouldn't be able to focus on cheer. I really want to go to the Whyte Wyrm and forget about what happened but I know that I need to confront Archie about what I saw and I knew Jug was going to do the same.

-time skip-

I walk in the house early and I knew dad was home but Archie wasn't. I don't want to rat Archie out to Dad but I don't know what to do with that information. "Dad?" I ask walking in the house. "In here!" I walk into his office where I heard his voice. "Hey, Sweetie. I thought you had cheer?" Dad asked "I did but I skipped it. I wanted to talk to you about something." I say "What's up? Is everything okay?" Dad asked and I shut his office door behind me. "Hypothetically if I saw a friend of mine with a teacher and they looked like they were about to kiss. What would you tell me to do?" I ask "Well hypothetically have you talked to that friend about it?" Dad asked and I knew at that moment, he knew it wasn't hypothetical. I decide to drop the hypothetical bullshit. "Not yet. I just saw it a couple hours ago." I say "So you don't know if that's what was happening?" Dad asked "Not for sure but it damn sure looked like it." I say "Well I would talk to them first to see if it's true and if it is then we'll go from there." Dad said "Alright. Thanks Dad." I say

"You're welcome. Now while I have you in here, I want to talk to you." Dad said "Okay." I sit in the chair in front of him. "What's up?" I ask "Now I'm not saying that you and Cheryl were lying but do you know anything else about what happened to Jason?" Dad asked and I flinch. I was hoping he wouldn't ask this question because I know he'd see through any lie I throw at him. I look down before looking back up at him. "Dad, I hold a lot of secrets because of my position in the Serpents. All of them more dangerous than the last. If I tell you this then it would put you and Archie in even more danger then you already are just because of my position." I say leaning forward putting my arms on his desk.  "Did FP kill him?" Dad asked "God, no. If I tell you this then you have to swear to me that you won't tell anyone. I can't have you in danger." I say "Alexandria Jade, tell me." Dad said and I flinch slightly at the use of my full name. "As you know, Jason didn't die by drowning. He also didn't die on July 4th, he died over a week later. Jason needed to skip town without Clifford and Penelope knowing, so he came to me knowing I had contacts on the Southside. FP hooked him up with a weed run where all he had to do was drive a car, drop it off and he could go anywhere he wanted. Well first he had to fake his death, that's why we were on the river. Jason would fake his death and that would be the end of it. I wasn't aware that FP was going to kidnap him and rat him out to Clifford Blossom until it was too late. FP forced me to be at the Wyrm when Clifford was going to interrogate Jason looking for Nana Rose's ring, which he gave to me." I hold up my necklace that the ring was on. "FP held me back as Clifford interrogated Jason, who was tied to a chair. Everything happened to fast. The next thing I know was Clifford Blossom was shooting his own son in the head. All over a ring." Dad looks at me in shock.

"Cheryl doesn't know the full truth. All she knew was that Jason was going to skip town and that's it. I was the only one that knew the entire story. I didn't tell anyone because who would believe me over Clifford Blossom? Not even Mom would be able to get us out of that lawsuit. Not that she would help her daughter that she sees as a fuck up unless her baby boy was involved then she'd help and never let me hear the end of it." I say "You've kept all of this to yourself since July?" Dad asked "You are the first person that knows outside of the ones that were there that day. You can't say anything because Clifford Blossom would for sure come after anyone that knows the truth and I can't risk that." I say "So you're covering for him?" Dad asked "Out of fear that he would do something to you, to Archie, to Cheryl, and anyone else that I care about. He said that if I didn't keep it a secret then he would kill his daughter the exact same way he did his son. I can't risk that Dad, I can't have another Blossoms blood on my hands. Especially the two that I care about." I say

-time skip-

Jughead texted me that he was outside my house waiting on Archie so I walked outside and sat beside him. "This isn't about to go well." Jug said "I know it isn't and it's not going to be because of you." I say and not Archie walks up to the edge of the yard holding a bag of food from Pops. "Jug, Dria. What's up?" Archie asked "What's up is we saw you, Archie. In the music room. With Ms. Grundy." Jug said "Keep your voice down, our dad's inside." Archie said "We're trying to help you, Arch." I say walking towards him and Jug follows.  "I'm trying to be your friend here. Even though we're not anymore." Jug said "How long? You and Grundy?" I ask "Since the summer. I like her." Archie said and I scoff rolling my eyes. "So, I'm guessing she's the reason you've been acting weird since summer?" Jug asked "One of them." Archie said "One of them? There's more?" I ask "We were at Sweetwater River on July 4th. We heard a gunshot. The gunshot." Archie said and I pale knowing he didn't hear the gunshot that killed Jason but not sure what gunshot he meant.

"Dude, you have to tell somebody." Jug said "I can't." Archie takes a step towards Jug and I. "Neither can either of you. If people find out about Grundy..." Archie said and I glare at him because if it was actually "the gunshot" that killed Jason and I didn't know any better then he's more worried about Grundy then finding out about what happened to Jason. "A kid is dead, Archie! My best friend is dead! And you're worried about some... some cougar?" I ask shoving him backwards. "Don't call her that. Okay, she's not like that, she cares about me." Archie said and I scoff laughing. "Stab in the fucking dark. I'm guessing she cares more about herself. She's the one who's telling you not to say anything, right?" He goes quiet. "Look, we saw you guys. She's fucking with you, Arch. And she's fucking with your mind..." I say before Archie cuts me off.

"What the hell do you know about it, Alexandria? Or about me, even?" Archie asked and I feel everything in me snap. My face goes emotionless staring at him. A look of fear flashed over his face for a second before it disappeared. "Nothing. But I used to know this guy once. Archie Andrews. He was the best brother a girl could have." I say "He wasn't perfect but... he always tried to do the right thing, at least." Jug said finishing my thought. He goes to walk around Archie when he stops him. "Jug. Dria. If either of you tell anyone about this..." Archie said and I step back up to them pushing myself between Archie and Jug. "What? What are you gonna do?" I ask staring Archie down. The door opens and that gives Archie the chance to look away from me like he was dying too. Archie looks back at us when Dad steps onto the porch. "Hey, Jug. Coming in? We got take-out from Pop's." Dad said standing at the top of the stairs. "He was just leaving." Archie said and Jug scoffs quietly before walking around us. "Let me know when you get home, Jug." I say still staring at Archie. "Will do, Dria." Jug said as he walks off.

-time skip-

I'm leaving against the locker beside of Veronica watching Betty who's across from us. Betty turns around and jumps slightly when she sees me looking at her. "You both were right." Veronica turns and looks at Betty then at me. "And what you said about Archie. Sometimes it's hard to admit things to yourself. My mother is crazy. I'm afraid I'll never see my sister again. The boy I like doesn't like me back." Betty said and we walk closer to her. "He may not be crushing on you, but he does love you. And he's legit miserable without you, if it's any consolation." I say "My mom says sometimes a friend is better than a boyfriend. Maybe this is one of those times." Veronica said

-time skip-

Jughead is leaning on the counter beside me in the student lounge when Reggie starts talking. I'm glancing around the room keeping an eye on everything in the room. It's became a habit by now with everything going on. "And Sheriff Keller's grilling me, Mantle the Magnificent." I scoff quietly. That's when I noticed Veronica was talking to Chuck making me tense up. "Cause I'd want Blossom dead. When he was, like, the only good quarterback we had. And speaking of offensive tight-ends, I should've sent the cops to you, Moose. Because here's another unsolved mystery. What exactly were you and Kevin doing at the river, huh? Or does being with the sheriff's son give you a free pass? Keller?" Reggie turns to look at Kev. Kev turns and looks at me and shakes his head knowing I would say something to Reggie. "I mean, let's think about it. If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right? Now let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic Internet troll, to busy writing his manifestos to get laid?" Archie is struggling with the vending machine beside me. I look over at Reggie knowing he was talking about Jug. "Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak, like Jughead?" Jug moved a little closer to me and grabs my arm. I scoff quietly knowing I could get away from him if I needed to. "What was it like, Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason?" I tense in Jugs hold. "You didn't do stuff to the body, did you? Like... after?" Reggie asked and Jug lets go of me knowing how this was about to go.

"It's called necrophilia, Reggie, can you spell it?" Jughead asked and Reggie gets up. "Come here, you little..." Reggie said and I step in front of Jughead. Archie pushes Reggie away from us. "Shut the hell up, Reggie." Archie said "Boys." Veronica said and I slowly reach in my back pocket instinctively for my switchblade. "What do you care, Andrews?" Reggie asked and Jug grabs my arm stopping me from grabbing my switchblade. "No. Don't." Jug said in my ear and I nod pushing it back into my pocket and he lets me go. I step closer to Archie and Reggie and Jug follows me. "Nothing, just leave him alone." Archie said and Reggie looks over at Jug and I back to Archie. "Holy crap. Did you, Donnie Darko kill him together? Was it some sort of pervy, blood brother thing?" Archie shoves Reggie backwards and Reggie stops for a second glancing at me before grabbing Archie and shoving him backwards into the vending machine. Reggie takes Archie to the ground and I move towards Reggie trying to pull him off of Archie, because even if I'm pissed at Archie that doesn't mean Reggie gets full range on beating my brother up.

Moose is trying to keep Jughead off of Reggie so I go to the other side trying to pull him off.  Reggie pushes me backwards making me fall on the ground and I see him knock Archie out which makes me see red. I jump up and towards them again and Reggie looks at me when he sees me coming towards them. "Dria, I don't want to hurt you." Reggie said holding his hands up. "Too bad because I seriously want to hurt you." I punch him hard enough to knock him out. He falls to the ground beside Archie. Everyone in the room looks at me in shock. "What?" I ask "How?" Veronica asked "Self defense lessons." I say lying to them. Then again I guess saying self defense lessons is basically the same as Serpent training.

-time skip-

Archie has ice over his eye when Dad walks in the kitchen. I'm sitting on the counter beside him. "Ooh. I hate to ask this, but did you get that in a fight with Jughead and Dria?" Dad asked "Nah. No, it was with Reggie." Archie goes to the freezer and hands me an ice pack for my hand since it was bruised from punching Reggie. It doesn't hurt but because he doesn't know about my involvement with the Serpents and my tolerance of pain, I put the ice pack on my hand. "It's a long story. Jughead and I, we were disagreeing about a girl. Dria got in the middle of it." Archie said "Hmm." Dad said "Because there's this girl." Archie said "There's usually is." Dad said and he looks at me amused. I shrug smiling at him, Dad could easily put the pieces together with my question yesterday if Archie says the right things.

"But it's not about me and Jughead, it's about me and this girl. I think we should do something. And it's the right thing, Dad. But the girl says that if we do or if I do this thing, it'll ruin what we have. That doesn't make any sense, does it?" Archie asked "You know, this is the most honest talk we've had in a while. And I'm glad that you want to do the right thing. I can see that. Even under the shiner. Archie, if you know it's the right thing to do, even though it's tough, even though it might... it might cost you. You gotta do it." Dad turns and looks at me. "Now what happened to you?" Dad asked motioning to my hand that the ice pack is on. "Yeah what did happen? You never told me what happened." Archie said "I tried to pull Reggie off of Archie but Reggie pushed me backwards making me fall. Once he knocked you out, I got up and punched him knocking him out. He looks worse than you do." I say smirking at them.

-time skip-

It's time for the football pep rally. Weatherbee, Clayton and McCoy are on the stage that the cheerleaders are standing in front of. "Now to kickoff this pep rally, I'd like to hand it over to our very own Mayor McCoy." Weatherbee said "Thank you, Principal Weatherbee. It is parenting to see so many of you here, even in weather like this. But a lack of heart and school spirit has never been the Riverdale way. Tonight's pep rally isn't like any other we've had in the past. And we shouldn't pretend that it is. Which is why I would like to dedicate this evening to the memory of one of our brightest. Jason Blossom. We're with him tonight. Now please, join me in welcoming to the field our very own River Vixens, and their special guest stars, my daughter, Josie and her Pussycats!" Mayor McCoy said as they leave the stage and the girls go onto the stage. As Josie starts singing, the cheerleaders start dancing to the song. Cheryl and I go onto the stage with Josie as she finishes the song. Josie hugs both Cheryl and I into a group hug smiling as we do. Clayton comes back onto the stage. "All right, you all ready? Let's make some noise! Put your hands together for the Riverdale Bulldogs!" Clayton said and I cheer and clap as the boys run through the banner. Archie is in front of the rest of the boys and I feel myself slowly stop clapping when I see him wearing Jason's jersey. Everything starts coming back to me from the river to seeing him get shot to seeing his dead body in the morgue. I turn and run down the steps before I have a whole freak out even worse than I am now in front of the whole town of Riverdale. Cheryl must've been thinking the same thing because she runs down behind me and we run off towards the locker rooms.

I reach the locker room first and sit on the benches as the tears are rolling down my cheeks and Cheryl runs in after me and she sits down beside of me and immediately clings to me as we're both crying. "Cheryl? Alex?" Cheryl wipes her face sitting up.  "Cheryl, Alex, what is it? What happened?" Veronica asked sitting beside of Cheryl. "Jason. He's gone..." Cheryl said and she starts crying again holding my hand. "I know. I know he is." Veronica said "No, you don't. You don't understand. He was supposed to come back." The tears start flowing again when it actually hits me. "We're alone." I say "We're alone." Cheryl said repeating what I said. "You two are not alone. It's okay." Veronica said and Cheryl turns hugging Veronica. Veronica looks at me and extends her arms and I hug them back.

After my breakdown in the locker room I go back out to the field as Veronica is packing her stuff. Betty walks over to us. "Hey." Betty said "Hey." Ronnie and I say in sync. "I saw you two and Cheryl. Not many girls minus Dria would've done what you did." Betty said "Full disclosure. I've had my share of emotional breakdowns." Veronica said "If you're both not doing anything, do you both wanna get a milkshake at Pop's?" Betty asked "Are you sure?" Veronica asked "Yeah." Betty said and Veronica laughed. "Betty, I'd love that." Veronica said and they look at me. "Oh hell yeah. Count me in. After that whole breakdown, I need a strawberry milkshake and some cheese fries." I say smiling and they laugh.

We get to pops and order our milkshakes and my food. The waiter doesn't wait no time to bring them out. "Here you go. One double chocolate, one old-fashioned vanilla, one strawberry and an order of cheese fries." The waiter said "Thank you." The three of us say in sync. "Betty, Dria... Can we make a vow?" Veronica asked "Sure." Betty and I said in sync. "That no matter what, no boy will ever come between us again. Deal?" Veronica asked "Deal." Betty and I say in sync and we knock out milkshakes together. I hear the bells ringing and look up and see my brother and Jughead standing there. I smile knowing they made up. "Do you guys want to join us?" Betty asked "Yes, but only if you're treating." Jug said and we laugh. "Juggy, I do that anyways." I say and he rolls his eyes at me before walking towards us. "Veronica Lodge." Ronnie said "Jughead Jones, the third." Jughead said and he jumps over the back of the seat and sits between Ronnie and I. He steals one of my fries smirking at me before he eats it. I hit his hand when he tried to go back for another one. "My food." I say glaring at him and he smiles at me making me roll my eyes. "Jughead Jones, the third." Veronica said and we laugh.

"To someone on the outside, peering in, it would've looked like there were five people in that booth. But I was there, and I can tell you. Really, there were only four. A blonde girl, a raven-haired girl, a red-headed girl who holds a lot of secrets, and the luckiest red-headed boy in the universe. For one shining moment, we were just kids. Those bright neon lights of Pop's keeping the darkness at bay. Giving way, as all nights must, to a morning of reckonings."

-time skip-

Cheryl, Veronica and I are sitting together at a lab table. "We're reviewing new systems of human biology starting with..." The teacher is cut off by Keller and Weatherbee walking in the room. Cheryl and I look at each other and I squeeze her hand when she reaches down for it. We both stand up from our table, with me on the end. "You're here for us, aren't you? Because of the autopsy?" Cheryl asked "We don't need to do this in front of your classmates, Cheryl, Alexandria." Weatherbee said "It's all right, Principal Weatherbee." We hold out our hands for them to cuff us. "They'll find out soon enough." I say "Now, that won't be necessary." Keller said "Wait, Cheryl, Dria, find out what?" Ronnie asked "That we're guilty." Cheryl and I say in sync. Cheryl and I are walked to the office between Weatherbee and Keller. Keller has ahold of my arm and Weatherbee has ahold of Cheryls. Cheryl and I hold hands as we walk down the hallway between the two. Archie walks up the hallway to us and I look at him as they walk us into the office. I knew he would call Dad if they hadn't done it already.

"As shocking as those three words were, they were nothing compared to the secrets that Jason's body had given up during its autopsy. That Jason didn't die on July 4th, as we believed, but over a week later."

AN
Hope y'all like this chapter. Sorry its been awhile since I updated, school recently started back. I'm not sure if I like the fact she told Fred about what actually happened yet or not so let me know if y'all do.