Kevin shifts through the numerous blazers on the rack in the shop as he waits for Thorn. He's only doing it out of boredom. Kevin already has his suit, but he found out that best friend is missing a dress; and Kevin would be damned if he goes to homecoming without Thorn. So, he's forced her to go shopping. Not that they're doing much shopping.

Veronica Lodge has showed up, and Kevin stands aside waiting for Thorn to be finished. Veronica only came into pick up her own dress after alterations, but she's ended up stealing Thorn away from Kevin. Now, Kevin stands, unable to intervene, as he watches his best friend get more and more upset as she talks to the Lodge.

"Veronica, this is a bad idea," insists Thorn, clearly upset by the raven-haired girl's notion.

"Why?" persists Veronica. "I need to know if my dad has anything to do with Jason Blossom's murder. Archie heard Clifford Blossom say he put my dad in jail. Don't you want to know his involvement?"

"Clifford put your dad in jail," Thorn rages, "that's his involvement."

"My dad, if he knows, he won't let it lie easy," Veronica says. "He's hired FP before to his bidding. He could do it again."

"To wreck the drive-in, V," Thorn exclaims in a hushed-shout, "not killing a seventeen-year-old!" Thorn takes a deep breath and lowers her voice. "We should just talk to Jug."

"We can't."

"Then I'll talk to FP," Thorn says firmly, making Veronica's eyes widen in horror.

"You can't," says Veronica.

"He's my friend's dad - our friend's dad," she argues. "Jug will be crushed," Thorn stresses. "FP didn't kill Jason, especially because of grudge your dad has on Clifford Blossom. He wouldn't kill a boy. He wouldn't," she adds fiercely.

"He could for the right price. Everyone's morals change for the right price, Thorn," Veronica tells her nonchalantly.

Thorn lets out a scoff in disbelief. "Is this normal to you?" she asks, "that your dad could pay someone and they'd kill for him? Is that not horrifying to you?"

"Of course--"

"I refuse to believe FP would kill Jason for any amount of money," Thorn cuts off her friend. "He's a good man and he's trying to be a good father."

"This is about fathers - my father," Veronica says.

"Yes, but it's not just your father involved, V," snaps Thorn. "It's Jughead's dad, too," Thorn explains, "and Jug is supposed to be your friend."

"Do honestly believe FP is innocent in all this?" Veronica says plainly.

"Yes!" Thorn says defensively. "I do. I believe he's innocent, and I won't support this - you and Archie breaking into his home. He's stupid for going along with it."

"You don't have to support it," Veronica replies.

"Promise me you won't do this," Thorn pleads. "Promise me you'll call the whole thing off. Think of Jughead, please." Thorn looks deeply into Veronica's eyes. "Promise me."

"I promise."

Veronica fakes a smile and hugs her friend loosely. She then leaves, her dress-bag in hand, leaving Thorn to watch her walk out of the shop. Thorn swears if Archie and Veronica break into FP's trailer, she won't be happy or forgiving.

Kevin walks over, a few dresses hanging loosely on his finger. "What was that?" he asks.

"The disbandment of the Mystery Inc," Thorn replies shortly. She shakes her head of her thoughts and turns to Kevin. She wants to save as much of their day together as possible. Thorn fears she's pushed aside her friendship with him since Veronica came along, like the others, and today is a example of it. Putting on a smile, she looks at the dresses hanging over Kevin's finger. "What are these then?" She asks.

"The dresses I think will show off that insane, little figure of yours," Kevin claims proudly. "Don't judge me, but my personal favourite is the pink."

"Pink?" Thorn laughs. "Pink is Betty's colour," she says. "I took Archie. I'm not taking Pink too."

"Okay, this pity-party stops now." Kevin looks directly at his best friend and decided to be as blunt as possible. "You didn't take Archie. The boy made the first move. He kissed you, and yeah, you kissed back; and then you twisted around his plaid and boring bed sheets for the whole summer," he rambles, "and, yeah, it was behind Betty's back and you both kept your mouths shut because it was breaking girl-code. And was a pretty awful move to make against your friend, but--"

"Pretty awful?" Thorn cuts him off with a dry laugh. "It was awful, Kevin. It was more than awful. It was inhuman of me. I betrayed my best friend."

"No, Betty's not your best friend," says Kevin firmly. "Honestly, Thorn, can you say that Betty has been anything less than disinterested in you since Veronica arrived? She has been oblivious to anything going on with you. Betty has Jughead and is happy, but she can't let you have that happiness with Archie - a boy she's clearly getting over - and she's your best friend?" Kevin laughs. "No, pretty girl," he says. "Betty is not your best friend. I'm," he emphasises, "your best friend."

Thorn smiles, nodding. "You are my best friend."

"Exactly." Kevin nods triumphantly. "Now go for the pink," he says, holding out the dress to her, but when he sees her face fall again, he lowers his hand. "What?" he asks.

"I don't know if I want to go," Thorn admits. "After the party, after what Cheryl said, it's too much to handle. Everyone is going to be staring at me, Kevin, and not in a good way. You know, I hate all school dances anyway," she adds, trying to play it off.

"You love school dances," he says firmly. "The only reason you started to hate them was after Cheryl told everyone you were on loony-pills, when you were on depressants," says Kevin flatly. "Remind me again why you haven't slapped her yet?" says Kevin curiously, thinking over Cheryl's actions towards Thorn over the years.

"Because I'd like to survive high school and go to college without her putting a blood curse on me," Thorn replies.

"Right. Cheryl would do that." Kevin nods. "But before then," he says, "you loved going and you had so many hot guys desperate to ask you out."

"And I always went with you," Thorn says with a smile.

"Me and Archie," reminds Kevin, and her face falls yet again. "Oh, come on, Thorn. Stop moping around after Archie Andrews. He may have the body of a seventy's pornstar and the chiseled face of a Greek god, but he's not the only boy in Riverdale interested in your hot-self."

"I don't want another boy in Riverdale, Kevin," she tells him sadly. "I wanted Archie."

"Then go get him," urges Kevin. "Archie is just waiting for you to let him sweep you up of of your feet and fireman-lift you over his shoulder."

"There's something stopping me, Kev," Thorn says.

"Betty?" asks Kevin.

"No." She shakes her head. "There's something else," she says. "It's like I allow myself to feel, to think I could be with Archie, but something pulls me back. It's like a trick of the mind," Thorn tells him, "an ongoing and insufferable joke."

"Maybe you should talk to someone," suggests Kevin.

Thorn laughs, "I'm not seeing to a therapist, Kevin."

"I'm not talking about a therapist," he says. "I'm talking about someone with the same problem, the same tendencies, to push people away."

Thorn's voice drops, "to not love." She looks at him and asks, "you think I should speak to her?"

Kevin shrugs, "there's no harm in trying," he says simply.

"You clearly don't know my family then," Thorn replies, rolling her eyes, and then sharing a small laugh with her friend. "Okay," she smiles, "let's go for the pink."

Kevin beams. "Yes! Great choice," he says. "I'll look for shoes."

*

"So, what do I owe the pleasure?"

Thorn looks up from her folded hands in her lap to face her sister. She sits opposite Raven, who sits behind her glass desk. Raven's office in the marketing department at the Blossom factory has glass walls surrounding it from all around, making Thorn feel she's in a fishbowl. It's clean, crisply decorated so Raven can overlook her department. It's her pride and joy, the office. Her work is her life, and it has been for years.

"I need to talk to you," says Thorn.

"About you abandoning our mother?" Raven smiles in amusement and says, "you are aware you're taking the one thing she wants from her, right?" Raven adds, "she and Clifford are still trying to figure out how to get you back."

"I don't want to talk about that," Thorn says.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about?" Raven asks.

"Thomas," states Thorn, and her elder sister stops. "I want to talk to you about Thomas Dawlish."

Raven's blue eyes meet with his sister, and they instantly well up. "Why?" she asks. "Why are you asking about him? It's been years. Five years, in fact." A tear escapes her right eye and Raven wipes it away with a single stroke, her conditioned the same as Thorn herself. "Why would you want to talk about a stupid high school romance of mine?" she asks, laughing dryly. "Why would you come to talk about that? We," Raven says firmly, "don't talk about that kind of stuff."

"I need your help, to understand," Thorn says. "And I know we've never gotten on, or even liked each other. You've hated since the moment I was born and I don't know why, but--"

"You're dad's favourite," Raven says abruptly. "He made you daddy's little girl, his Thornbud, from the moment you came into the world. I wasn't even in the picture. He adored Axel - yes - but he was his first boy. It's understandable. But you," she points at her, "you were something else. No one could explain the hold you had on dad. Sure, he loved me," says Raven, weighing it out. "He loved me just as much, but he never understood me. He always said I was too precious to play all rough-house like you and Axel, and, truth be told, I didn't want to play games like that. I never did. You adored him though, from the moment you opened your eyes," she says in awe almost. "I'd never seen anything like it. You worshiped him, and he did with you."

"You're mom's favourite," replies Thorn sadly, "at least dad pays attention to you and cares for you. Mom hates me."

"Are you kidding?" Raven scoffs, "you are aware of everything she did for you. The training; Clifford's coaching; the competitions; the endless amount of funds spent on you being this champion. She did it all for you."

"And she broke me," says Thorn honestly. "That isn't love, Raven. She pushed me and pushed me until I snapped. I was completely destroyed - humiliated - and beat down; and my own mother let it happen." She cries, "she had no clue what she did when she got Clifford to train me - everything she set into motion because of it."

Raven ignores her sister's tears and says, "she was you training to be a champion. You should be grateful."

"She broke me."

"Only the breakable ones can be broken, Thorn," replies Raven harshly. "You aren't that. You aren't breakable."

"I tried to kill myself."

Raven halts for a moment. She opens her mouth several times, it feeling dry, but no words come out. She nods, and then Raven speaks dryly, "you're stronger than you think. You tried, but you didn't."

"I just told you I tried to kill myself, Raven," Thorn weeps. "She - they pushed to me that, and you can't say anything more?"

"You're here, Thorn," Raven says strongly. "You're not dead. You're here, and you are a Blossom. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get back in the pool."

Thorn's chest tightens. "Why are so cruel?"

"Because I don't have your natural gift, Thorn," snaps Raven, hands flat on the glass desk. "You think all this is from being gifted?" She motions to her office and says, "This, what I have, I had to work for. The moment you showed naturally ability for everything, without even trying, is the moment I started hating you; because you took the other parent's attention too. You had dad, but you had to have mom too. She poured her attention into your swimming and I had to work twice as hard for her to notice me after that."

"I just wanted to swim, Raven," Thorn says, defeated. "I wanted to swim. I never wanted to be a winner."

"And that's the difference between us," Raven says firmly. "I always wanted to win and you never did. You never got how our family worked. You never got any of it," Raven claims. "And then you and your charms got to Clifford somehow, just like you did with dad. I was so much better than you at this, at the business. I made myself better, but he still chose you. They always choose you," she stresses firmly, "you don't even try and they pick you."

"Pick me?" Thorn exclaims, "He wanted me to marry Jason! There wasn't a choice in this, Raven! Clifford pushed me into the business, up front with Jason, because he wanted me to marry him!" She sighs, her shoulders deflating. "He wanted a trainable wife, and he was already training me," she says. "I was training to be Jason's bride."

"I know what he was doing," Raven confesses. She sits back in her chair. "I'm the clever one in this family. I work in marketing, Thorn. I know sales pitch when I see one. You were so dense not to work it out until last year. I knew the moment Clifford first made you wear that red dress to match Jason's suit that Christmas," she says.

"That was three years ago - I was thirteen!" Thorn rages.

"You were so perfect in your little role," Raven says, dryly mocking her sister. "Even I almost bought the match he was forcing on the both of you," she comments.

"You knew and you said nothing?" Thorn asks quietly.

"It isn't my place to judge. It's what Clifford wanted. Being a Blossom is what mom wants, and it matter who she sacrificed on the way to get it."

Thorn swallows the lump in her throat. "Did she know?" she asks. "Did she know what he was training me for?"

"No," Raven shakes her head, "she think he just wanted to have you part of the company - equal partners with Jason. Clifford would break the news," she quotes, "that you and Jason fell helplessly in love while working closely to each other. Clifford would whisper in mom's ear how you'd become a Blossom by name and you'd have Blossom babies by blood, and, therefore, mom would be a Blossom. It's all she wanted." Raven adds sadly, "and only you could give her that."

"I could have said no," Thorn interjects, "stop Clifford's match."

"How?" Raven asks, amused. She smiles almost teasingly at her younger sister's face. "You thought you could escape?" She sees Thorn look down. "Oh, you pathetic piece of trash," she says, "you did. Did you think Clifford would let that happen? That's why you're here, isn't it?" she concludes. Raven sits forward in her chair, entertained finally. "Why you're asking about my high school love. You fell for the Andrews' boy."

"There's reason why we can't be together," Thorn says. "Betty, the family business, me," she lists. She looks at her sister helplessly. "I can't seem to push passed this feeling of being pulled back. I almost feel like it's forbidden. Something's holding me back from being with him."

"And you don't know what it is," Raven notes, and Thorn nods.

"You decided not to go with Thomas when he wanted to leave Riverdale," Thorn says. "You ended things with him."

"Let me give you some advice, Thorn." Raven settles herself in her chair. "In life, there is no room for weakness, and Thomas was surely that for me. I won't let myself be weak because the moment I do, that's when people break. Don't be an idiot, Thorn. That Archie-kid isn't worth ruining yourself over."

"But what if I want to be loved?" she asks softly.

"You really are naive," Raven comments. "Thorn, if you still haven't realised that it isn't possible for people like us, then you have to grow up. Love isn't an option for us," Raven tells her sadly. "We aren't equipped for love. That's why you won't let yourself fall any further for Andrews. It's our family. We can't love. Inside, you know it's true."

Thorn says quietly, "I don't want it to be."

"But it is." Raven sees a broken Thorn across from her, and she's reminded of the girl she once saw staring back at her in the mirror. She remembers drowning in her choices and how the only way she stopped was by caging her waters in a damn, building a wall so high that nothing could penetrate it. A skill she mastered years ago, thanks to her mother. She says, "you've got to look out for yourself in this world because no one else will.Do yourself a favour. Thorn, and don't..." Raven pauses, "don't have feelings, okay? That'll protect you. It's only thing that will protect you." She shrugs, "it's the only way."

"A girl grows up in a strict, old-money family where there's no room for weakness and any straying from tradition is punished. The girl has two options. Be like her family and conform in fear of being a disappointment, or be an outcast, disowned as the black-sheep of the family and, furthermore, a stain on the family name.
Her parents split at a crucial age of her development and her power-obsessed mother gets custody. So, she grows up with no 'real' love around her. Day by day, she is shaped into the perfect side-show, believing that showing emotions is a weakness and that her self-worth is shown by the place of a trophy.
At some point, she meets someone and they spend the summer of their sixteenth year together. He teaches her that she can love and be loved in return. But in fear of that, in following her family's ways, she retreats back. She pushes him away, and the girl takes her perfectly normal, healthy feelings and buries them. She accepts love isn't an option for her. She accepts her family's name, and that her feelings are weak. Why? Because she craves the love she was never given as a child, from them. A truly impossible task.
Thorn Sanders is a Blossom, and the Blossoms are not made to love." - Jughead.