The Only Beanie - Book 4 (Riverdale Season 4/5)

Wicked Little Town - Part 2

***Mention of suicide attempt, heated fight between couples

"Ready?" Betty asked and Aminity nodded. She threw the gummy bear and Aminity caught it in her mouth, making the other girls cheer as they crowded on Betty's bed. "Can we please order pizza from Little Cicero's?" Veronica groaned, looking at the other take out menus. "Guys, it is not a sleepover without greasy pizza, right, Kev?" They all looked at him as he glanced at them and nodded before looking back out the window. "Kev?"

"Sorry, it's just... Working on the variety show made me feel like I was reconnecting with the old, pre-Farm Kevin. Mr. Honey didn't just take that away. He made me feel like I was nothing. Like I didn't matter." He sighed, looking back outside as the girls looked at each other.

"You know something that makes me feel better?"

Aminity sings through this song, participating in all of the fun. She sings "I look back on where I'm from, look at the woman I've become and the strangest things suddenly routine."

They all giggled as they fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Kev," Betty said and they all knew she had an idea from her tone. "What if for the variety show, we all performed songs from Hedwig?"

"Yeah," Veronica said as they sat up. "As a sign of solidarity."

"And, as President of the Student Body and Riverdale's High's LGBTQIA Alliance, I promise you I will sit down with Principal Humbug and make this right."

***

They all stood in the hallway, dressed as Hedwig as Mr. Honey came out of his office.

"Consider this a peaceful protest, Mr. Honey," Kevin told him.

"Though," Reggie put his foot down and glanced at his arms, "I will weaponize these babies if I have to."

"Clearly, you are all... very passionate about what you are feeling. But hotheads lead to unpredictability and anger. Violence." He sighed. "So I'm afraid the most prudent action to take at this moment is to cancel the variety show." The hall erupted into mutters as he walked back into his office and Aminity and Sweet Pea shared a look.

***

"Dad, I don't want to go to therapy. I'm fine."

"You're not fine," he told her angrily. "You tried to kill yourself!"

"What?" They both turned around to see Sweet Pea standing by the front door.

"How... How'd you get in?" Aminity asked quietly.

"The front door was open," he said quickly before getting back on topic. "Aminity, what is he talking about?"

"I..." she tried, but she couldn't get anything out.

"Maybe he can talk some sense into you. I'm going to work," FP said before leaving the two teens in the kitchen.

"You tried to kill yourself?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what was it like?" he demanded, crossing his arms.

"I... I ended up in Sweetwater River, but-"

"There's no buts. Did you walk in?"

"I-"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes," she told him, looking at the ground.

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"Because I thought my brother had died!" she lost it, looking back up at him. "I was feeling alone and I-"

"I was there with you the whole time!"

"But Jughead wasn't! And I'm messed up, Pea! I'm not some normal, sixteen year old girl. I'm the damaged girl from the wrong side of the tracks whose Dad would beat her when he was drunk and-"

"What?" he froze, but she kept going.

"Yeah. He beat me so much that I almost died but I wouldn't tell anyone."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he started getting upset again.

"This is why!"

Aminity - Inside I'm hallowed out. Outside's a paper shroud and all the rest's illusion.

Jughead - That there's a will and soul that we can wrest control from chaos and confusion. Jughead turned away from Betty in the bunker. A collage! He threw a box away, the glass inside shattering. I'm all sewn up. A montage! He kicked over a table. I'm all sewn up.

"I'm not perfect either. I'm a freaking mess!" Sweet Pea yelled.

Sweet Pea - A random pattern with a needle and thread. The overlapping was diseases and spread through a tornado body with a hand grenade head and the legs of two lovers entwined.

Aminity - Oh God I'm all sewn up. A hardened razor cut, scar map across my body. She thought about all of the scars that she had, the ones she thought Sweet Pea had failed to notice when they had sex.

Sweet Pea - And you can trace the lines through misery's designs that map across my body. He thought of his own scars and the ones that he had seen littered across her body the night they made love.

"You weren't thinking, Archie!"

"Give me a break, Veronica! It's been a crappy year!

Archie - A collage! Archie stood from where he had been sitting on his bed with Veronica, kicking his desk. I'm all sewn up. A montage! I'm all sewn up.

Veronica - The automatist's undoing. The whole world starts unscrewing as time collapses and space warps. Veronica stood, pushing past her boyfriend and shoving the items on his desk to the floor.

"How do you think I feel?" Betty demanded of Jughead.

Betty - You see decay and ruin. I tell you, 'No, no, no, no. You make such an exquisite corpse.' Oh, yeah. She took the box of videotapes and threw them on the floor.

Archie, Jughead, and Sweet Pea - Oh God, I'm all sewn up. A hardened razor cut, scar map across my body.

Veronica, Betty, and Aminity - And you trace the lines through misery's designs that map across my body.

All - A collage! I'm all sewn up! A montage! I'm all sewn up! I'm all sewn! I'm all sewn! Veronica, Betty, and Sweet Pea all stormed out on their partners, leaving the remaining three to collapse onto the nearest seat.

Big fight between Aminity and Sweet Pea. Come back next week to see what happens (and read perhaps my personal favorite chapter). Sorry for not posting last week, it was crazy here. Hope you all enjoyed!