TWENTY FIVE.
❛ MAKE IT RIGHT. ❜

Unfortunately for Lexi, she wasn't able to skip school on Tuesday. Instead, being forced out of the car by Toby yet again as he threatened to have her wear an ankle tag so he could track where she was at all times. Cole had laughed at the face she pulled after hearing the threat leave her brother's mouth, but she couldn't blame him. Toby was her legal guardian and she knew she really needed to get her shit together. It just seemed every time she tried, something pulled her right back again.

Her and Cheryl still hadn't spoken. The redhead had ignored all of Lexi's calls and it only resulted in Lexi getting madder at her for not answering, especially since Jason's autopsy was the day before.

It wasn't long into the school day when she found herself sitting in the lounge room with a group of her peers who shared her free period. Jughead was by the vending machine where Archie was trying to buy a treat. Kevin and Betty sat beside her on the couches by the window whereas Moose, Reggie and Chuck sat in the middle of the room with Veronica sitting on the edge of Chuck's chair. Reggie was speaking to his friends about Jason's newly titled 'murder case' but the room was relatively quiet and his voice had trouble picker a lower volume and so everyone present was forced to listen to Reggie's little monalogue.

"And Sheriff Keller's grilling me, Mantle the Magnificent. 'Cause I'd want Blossom dead," he scoffed in disbelief. "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?"

Betty turned her head to see Kevin's reaction to Reggie's comment. His face was stone cold, his jaw clenched to prevent him from snapping back. She ignored the heads turned towards them to comfort her best friend, "Reggie's just being a blowhard, Kev."

"I don't care what he says," Kevin denied, hoping the idiot would stop talking.

"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, too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak — like Jughead?" Reggie laughed at his own joke, "What was it like, Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason?"

"Shut the fuck up, Reggie." Lexi growled, not being able to help herself from butting in.

It was, after all, her cousin he was bitching about and it didn't help that she was already on edge from everything else going on in her life. But of course, she was the only one present that knew about the family relation. The others in the room just assumed it was because of the mention of Jason that she spoke up, not that she would voluntarily defend Jughead.

Her knuckles had turned white as she held onto the sofa chair for dear life. She knew if she let go, she'd get up and punch him until he couldn't breathe and she didn't need another teenage death floating about in the papers.

"What you gonna do, Lexi?" Chuck smirked, knowing he would get under her skin. "Are you gonna Mable syrup him this time?"

"I'm going fucking beat the living shit out of—" she began, already having lost her self control the moment Chuck smirked at her. She was getting to her feet when Betty reached over and grabbed her wrist to prevent a fight from breaking out.

"You didn't do stuff to the body, did you?" Reggie taunted Jughead, ignoring Lexi as he interrupted her mid sentence. "Like... After?"

"It's called necrophilia, Reggie, can you spell it?" Jughead retorted, rolling his eyes at the jock's pathetic attempt to rile him up. It would take a lot more than a couple of words to actually affect him. He'd spent his entire life getting harsh words handed to him about who his father was and how much of a screw up he'd be if he followed in FP's footsteps.

"Come here, you little—" Reggie bounced up and jumped over the couch to get to Jughead.

But Archie had turned around just in time and pushed Reggie back to put some distance between him and Jughead. "Shut the hell up, Reggie."

"Boys," Veronica warned as she stood up from her chair in protest.

"What do you care, Andrews?" Reggie arched his eyebrow, having expected Archie to side with him over the goth wannabe freak. The tension in the room was too thick to even cut through it with a knife. Everyone had went quiet as they turned their attention towards the three boys.

          "Nothing," Archie insisted. "Just leave him alone."

"Holy crap," Reggie chuckled lowly, "Did you and Donnie Darko kill him together? Was it some sort of pervy, blood brother thing? Did good ol' Lexi help hide the body?"

Archie shoved him again. But this time Reggie retaliated by returning the shove harder and causing Archie to slam back into the vending machine. Lexi moved forward as soon as the glass broke and Reggie threw the redhead on the ground. Just as Reggie delivered a quick punch to Archie's face, Lexi pulled him off just enough to punch him in the eye.

"Lexi!" Veronica scolded as the brunette went in for another punch before Jughead managed to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her away. Reggie stumbled back into the arms of two of the jocks behind him who caught him before he could hit the ground.

"What the fuck, Lexi?" Reggie exclaimed, cupping his hand over his bleeding nose.

"Don't you ever speak about Jason like that!" She yelled back before Jughead managed to get her out the door before Principal Weatherbee could see her, knowing he would be quickly alerted to the fight that broke out in the common room. Once they were outside, Jughead let go of the huffing brunette and her anger started to deflate.

"Fuck," she cursed, sighing as she threw her head back in annoyance. But she was more annoyed at herself than Reggie. Though, she was still pretty pissed at him for not only speaking about Jason like he was nothing more than a disgusting joke, but also for accusing her cousin of murdering someone and doing a vile act afterwards. Not to mention inciting she was involved.

"You good now or do you still want to rip the head of Reggie?" Jughead asked with his usual sarcastic tone.

Lexi rolled her eyes, "I still want to rip his head off but I'm good. You can go back to your boyfriend's side now."

"Not you too."

"What? Are you and Archibald having relationship problems?" Lexi smirked deviously as she walked towards her next class of the day.

"I'm walking away now." Jughead glared at her as he took the next right at the end of the corridor. "Try not to get into anymore fights today."

"No promises!" She threw back over her shoulder causing him to smile in amusement at her reply.

Betty frowned as Lexi walked up to her just as Archie got lost in a sea of the other jocks. The Pep Rally was just about to begin and Betty had just seen the black eye Archie was sporting thanks to a certain Reggie Mantle.

"Hey, you okay?" Lexi asked, concern written clear as day on her face after seeing the look on her friend's face.

Betty blinked slowly and tried to rid herself of the heartbroken expression. "Yeah, come on. Mayor McCoy is about to give her speech."

Lexi didn't buy her excuse one bit but she had no time to voice her opinion as Principal Weatherbee stood up on the stage and spoke into the microphone over the crowd. "Now to kickoff this pep rally, I'd like to hand it over to our very own Mayor McCoy."

"Thank you, Principal Weatherbee," Sierra McCoy smiled graciously. "It is heartening 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!"

As the song began the Vixens gathered by the base of the stage and carried out their routine. It was Veronica and Betty's first pep rally and they both couldn't fight off the wide grins on their faces as they danced. Cheryl, however, had to force the smile to remain on her face every time it threatened to fall. The job was harder than she had thought it would be, especially as she danced beside her girlfirend who she still hadn't spoken to.

By the end of the song Cheryl had joined Josie on stage and clapped along with the rest of the crowd. "All right, you all ready? Let's make some noise! Put your hands together for the Riverdale Bulldogs!"

As the football team came running out, everyone seemed to miss Cheryl's face pale in horror as she found herself seeing Jason's face on Archie Andrews who had replaced her brother by running out first.

"Cheryl?"

The redhead hadn't even noticed she was crying until someone had said her name. She sniffled, sobs clawing their way out of her chest as she thought about this could be the last time she saw his face. How many more times would she be lucky enough to hallucinate his face? She had already seen him for the last time at Sweetwater River and she didn't know how on earth she was going to go the rest of her life without having him there with her. He was her twin, after all, and there would always be a piece of her missing because he was a piece of her; he was half of herself.

Finding it harder and harder to hold back the more violent sobs that threatened to break free the longer she stood there on the stage, she did the one thing that her mind had been screaming at her since Jason disappeared. She ran.

Lexi took off after her without wasting a second longer as she felt her own heart shatter at the look she'd seen on Cheryl's face. Betty had called her name in shock as the brunette sprinted away from her side across the field in trail after Cheryl.

"Cheryl," Lexi gasped as she tried to regain her breath from running so fast.

Cheryl was sitting with her back to her in the changing rooms but turned her head towards her as soon as she heard her name. Her knees were pulled to her chest in the fatal position as if she was trying desperately to hold herself together. Her eyes which the brunette had already fallen in love with were red and puffy, spilling all her secrets for the world to see she was in terrible agony. But Lexi still thought she looked gorgeous even with her tear stained cheeks and harsh sobbing and sniffling.

The air seemed to knock itself out of Lexi' chest as she felt the immense ache in the circle of her chest as she watched Cheryl sit there with so much pain on her face.

"What is it?" The brunette breathed, frowning as she tried not to cry herself, " what happened?"

"Jason," she mumbled, her heart breaking as the name fell from her lips, "He's gone..."

"I-I know," Lexi winced at her own words as she quickly walked over and sat down beside Cheryl before pulling her into her. The redhead didn't hesitate to rest her head on her chest as she cried, letting Lexi rest her chin on top of her head. "I know he is."

"He was supposed to come back," Cheryl sobbed, "I'm alone. I'm alone."

"L-listen, to me Cheryl fucking Blossom. You are not alone, okay?" The tears fell freely from Lexi's eyes, but she didn't let them stop her. She pulled away from Cheryl who frowned at the action before she felt Lexi's hands on the sides of her face. "I'm always gonna be here for you, every step of the way. We'll get through this together. You are are never gonna get fucking rid of me, alright?"

Cheryl managed a small chuckle, her tears slowly but surely drying out. The look Lexi had in her eyes as she flickered them between Cheryl's could only have been described as pure adoration and full of a silent promise.

Lexi waited until she received a small nod before placing a kiss on Cheryl's cheek. It was only then the brunette found herself internally cursing herself as she mentally added another unsolved issue to her growing list and she knew she was royally fucked because she was completely and utterly in love with Cheryl Majorie Blossom.