❝ SEASON ONE, EPISODE THREE ❞
👭Body Double👭

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Isabella was on a mission as she walked through the corridors, her heart was racing and she was beyond angry at what Chuck Clayton shared about Veronica and despite the warning, Isabella firmly believed that no one deserved this. "Larkin, looking hot," Reggie Mantle's voice caused the girl to stop, she turned her head to him. "Reggie, your compliments mean nothing to me as do you, so stop wasting everyone's oxygen," Isabella snapped at him before continuing on her way.

Isabella turned another corner finally spotting Veronica with Betty and Kevin, the raven-haired teenager was looking down at a phone. "What the hell is a sticky maple?" Veronica asked Betty and Kevin as she glared down at the phone. "It's kind of what it sounds like. It's a Riverdale thing," Kevin spoke causing Isabella to scoff gaining the trio's attention. "No, it's a slut-shaming thing and I swear, I'm gonna end this shit," Isabella seethed while Betty shook her head. "You can't risk getting in trouble, remember?" Betty reminded her.

"I can. And I'm neither a slut, nor am I going to be shamed by someone named ─ excuse me ─ Chuck Clayton," Veronica sneered as she looked up at Betty, Isabella and Kevin. "Does he really think he can get away with this? Does he not know who I am?" Veronica asked rhetorically and Isabella had to agree, Veronica was resourceful and if she wanted revenge, she'd get it. "I will cut the brakes on his souped-up Phallic Symbol," Veronica threatened.

"Or we can go to Principal Weatherbee," Betty voiced but Isabella knew they wouldn't be successful without evidence. "About the coach's son? Who is captain of the football team, and Riverdale High's resident golden boy?" Veronica asked while shaking her head. "She has a point, Betts. Without any evidence, it'll be her word against his and I think we all know who would win," Isabella explained as she crossed her arms, she was seething about this.

"And─ Or I can expose him in the pages of the Blue and Gold. Yeah, I can do that!" Betty exclaimed as she rested her hand on Kevin's shoulder, she knew better than to touch Isabella when she was angry. "No. Spoken like a true good girl who always follows the rules," Veronica spoke before shoving Kevin's phone into his chest, the force of anger from Veronica sent Kevin into the lockers before she started to storm away.

"Well, I don't follow rules. I make them. And when necessary, I break them," Veronica spoke as she stormed down the corridor with Isabella and Betty flanking her sides. "You wanna help me get revenge on Chuck, Betty, awesome. But you better be willing to go full dark, no stars," Veronica expressed to Betty who was quiet through the speech. "What do you say, in or out?" Veronica asked before Betty sighed, she spared a warning glance at Isabella before disappearing down the hall with Veronica.

"I bet you regret that little arrest now..." Kevin said as he stood next to Isabella, the girl rolled her eyes before pulling her jumper sleeves down to cover her hands. "Hold on, I practically designed your closet and that is not something you own," Kevin voiced as he stepped closer, studying the jumper for a moment before realising, "Oh my God, you're wearing Jughead Jones' jumper?!" Isabella shushed him with an eye roll. "He left it at my place after we were working on the biology project," Isabella told him.

"Wait! You were alone in a room with him and now you're wearing his jumper... Please don't give me the "He's my best friend and we're this close with no feelings" speech because I might actually slap you," Kevin warned her as they walked down the corridor. "There are no feelings, Kevin Keller. He is my best friend and I saw the jumper and decided to match it with my jeans," Isabella explained to him before smiling up at him, the boy deadpanned before sighing in defeat knowing he wouldn't get the answer he wanted.

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"And in that moment of hesitation, you're dead. All of you are dead," Dilton informed his scouts as a now calm Isabella and professional Jughead approached them. "At ease, Doiley," Jughead spoke gaining the scout leader's attention. "We're writing an article for the Blue and Gold. Hoping you can help," Isabella explained as she crossed her arms. "Dismissed. But stay close," Dilton instructed his scouts, Isabella focused part of her attention on the scouts while listening to Jughead question the scout leader.

"Cheryl and Archie both say they heard a gun the morning of July fourth, but they don't know who fired," Jughead says hoping for something from this interview. "Sherriff Keller already asked me about this. And like I told him, my Scouts and I, we didn't hear anything weird," Dilton explained as Isabella locked eyes with one of the scouts, his expression screamed guilt which meant Dilton was definitely lying about something.

"Well, did you see anything weird?" Jughead asked as Isabella focused her full attention on Dilton instead, she had a target in mind for intimidation. "A white-winged crossbill. A long-eared owl. Oh. And Cheryl, sitting by the river, soaking wet," Dilton taunted as he stepped closer to the two, his stance made him look defensive in Isabella's eyes; she knew he was trying to protect himself which definitely meant that something was off.

The two excused themselves from Dilton, both had enough of the arrogant teenager. "That was a bust then," Jughead spoke with a sigh. "Actually, there was a scout behind him that held a face of guilt. Plus, every lesson I've done in self-defence screamed out to me as Dilton closed in on himself with his stance, he wasn't just trying to intimidate you," Isabella expressed as Jughead smiled in realisation, "He was trying to keep control of the situation. Take the power."

"Exactly. And now we just need to corner the scout, make him squawk and we'll have ourselves the answers we need," Isabella told Jughead as they slowed their pace. "We make a pretty good team," Jughead told her before noticing the jumper, his heart rate picked up as he looked her over, the brunette girl was too distracted watching the environment. Jughead knew that Isabella Larkin was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen but seeing her in his clothes, became his new favourite sight.

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Isabella stood in the Blue and Gold office with Betty and a group of girls, it turned out that there was more to the story and Isabella had to fight the urge to just go and knock Chuck out. So what if she had to spend a night in a cell for it? It would be worth it for her and she knew her father would have her back through it, but Betty wanted to expose them instead knowing it would force Principal Weatherbee's hand. Veronica walked into the room like a woman on a mission, her pace slowed as she looked around at the faces.

"This story is bigger than we thought," Betty told Veronica straight away. "I started asking around to see if what happened to you, happened to anyone else, and if anyone would go on record," Betty explained before Ethel Muggs spoke up, "I will. One hundred percent." Isabella smiled kindly at the brave girl. "Okay," Veronica said as she looked around at them. "It's five guys on the football team. Chuck and his posse. Ethel was just about to tell us," Betty informed Veronica.

"One day last year, Chuck and I talked in the library for ten minutes. I helped him with a Pre-Cal problem, and nothing happened. But the next day, he... He started telling people that I let him do stuff to me. Like, sex stuff. And then he... Or one of his goons, wrote, "Sloppy seconds" on my locker--" Ethel was cut off by Cheryl stepping into the room, "Yes, yes, we've all heard your tragic origin story." Betty assured Ethel while Isabella shook her head at Cheryl.

"Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's torture-murder case, but we all have our crosses," Cheryl told Betty with an eye roll. Wrong Blossom, Isabella thought to herself with a huff before picking up her phone to see a message from Jughead asking her to meet him at Pops in twenty minutes. "In the meantime, River Vixen practise starts in five minutes, sluts, so..." Cheryl continued causing Isabella to clench her fist.

"They're ruining our lives, and to them, it's just a game. They keep score and..." Ethel was cut off by Isabella as she stepped forward, "Wait. What do you mean they keep score? That's evidence." Isabella looked up at Betty and then Veronica, hinting that the playbook was what they needed. "Each conquest earns them points. They keep track in some secret playbook," Ethel answered as Veronica sighed angrily. "Okay, we have to talk to Weatherbee," Betty stated. "I already tried. Weatherbee said that he didn't find anything," Ethel said.

"Undeniable proof. That's what you need," Isabella stated more sternly than before. "Proof of what, Nancy Drew? That boys will be boys?" Cheryl asked causing Isabella to scoff, turning her deadly gaze toward the redhead. "That old saying needs to burn out. There is no boys will be boys. There is respect towards humans then there is disrespect and gender is not the concern, it's the generations of drilled speeches and metaphors. It's not an excuse for their actions," Isabella seethed out harshly.

"Look, that playbook reeks of suburban legend," Cheryl added after a moment of silence, Isabella's harsh tone had caused all of the girls to falter. "How would you know, Cheryl?" Veronica asked Cheryl with an uninterested expression. "Because, Frida Shallow, before he died, my brother was co-caption of the football team with Chuck, and Jason never mentioned it, and he never would've allowed it," Cheryl explained but Isabella doubted it.

"Okay, well, I never met you brother, but I'm not lying about what happened to me. And Ethel's not lying. And proof or no proof, book or no book, I am going scorched earth on these privileged, despicable miscreants," Veronica expressed as she looked straight at Cheryl. "You wanna get caught in that backdraft, Cheryl? Call me, or any of these beautiful, young, strong, intelligent women "slut" one more time," Veronica warned causing Cheryl to swallow slowly.

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"Sorry for being late," Isabella told Jughead as she approached Pops, she was out of breath from running and she was glad that her car would be there tomorrow. "It's all good. What held you back?" Jughead asked as they walked into Pops. "Betty and Veronica are on a warpath to destroy Chuck and his posse, and they just might have the ammo they need now," Isabella explained before pointing towards a booth, "That's the scout that eyed us."

The duo waited for the father to excuse himself before Jughead climbed over the seat into a squatted position, he reached over the table to pluck the cherry from the top of the scout's sundae. Isabella swallowed carefully as she watched the boy consume the cherry, twirling the stem in between his fingers as he had to her the first day they had a proper conversation. Her heart rate picked up as butterflies filled her stomach for the first noticable time around Jughead Jones.

"What the hell, man?" The scout asked as Isabella leaned against the booth chair with her arms crossed. "I saw the way you looked at me. During grizzly training, you're hiding something," Isabella explained to the boy with a stern expression. "It's scoutmaster Doiley. He's lying," The kid cracked instantly. "About what?" Jughead asked as he helped himself to the sundae. "The gun. It was him. He was teaching us how to shoot targets," The kid explained.

"Dilton Doiley shot the gun on July fourth?" Isabella asked to clarify if she heard him right. "He's a hardcore survivalist. He says if we don't protect ourselves, no one will," The kid told them before the duo said their farewells, returning his now half-consumed sundae. Jughead pulled Isabella along with him toward their booth, the two sat down and took a moment to process the information they had just learned. "This just got a little more concerning," Isabella muttered.

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Isabella sat on the bed next to her mother, her fingers slowly running through the dying locks, more and more strands began to fall out with each passing day. "Tell me about your day," Annelise spoke softly, she turned her head to her daughter. "It was a fairly boring day but I had dinner at Pops again with Jug," Isabella told Annalise who smiled widely. "I like that you hang out with that boy. FP Jones was a good friend ─ is a good friend ─ to us. I have no doubt that his boy is a good friend too," Annelise said as she closed her eyes.

"Get some sleep, mama," Isabella mumbled before kissing her mother's forehead, she got up and pulled the blankets over the older woman. Isabella turned the television off followed by the lights before she made her way into her room, she let out a slow shaky breath before dropping onto her bed. She had no energy to move, wriggling herself like a worm into the bed, she wrapped the blankets over herself and let exhaustion consume her.

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Rosemary Speaks

And it begins... ;P

Also, I'm writing with a sprained wrist and thumb, so I'm slower at the moment...

Reupload May '24 ─ Currently using my phone to edit and update lmao

See you in the next chapter!