you make me wonder / jason blossom

one: friday

"Alright guys, go in and warm up!" Cheryl called as all of the cheerleaders bounced out of the locker room. I glanced at Cheryl and she smiled.
"How was making out with my brother?" I asked sarcastically. As Jason had anticipated, Cheryl had tumbled out of the janitor's closet just before first period, giggling. I waited outside, with folded arms and raised eyebrows, meaning we made our way to the gym lockers.
"You don't want to know." She winked, tossing her flaming hair over her shoulder. I rolled my eyes and took off my shirt, exchanging it for my cheer costume. I whipped off my skirt and put cotton shorts underneath my dress and changed into my gray NMD sneakers.
"Zip me up?" Cheryl asked, turning around and pushing her hair out of the way while I fastened the back of her dress. "Look, Jason and I have a plan to leave early from dinner and go to Pop's - you in?"
"Um - absolutely! I smiled, "you think they'll buy whatever excuse you come up with?" It wasn't that I doubted Cheryl at all, I mean, she could easily get out of pretty much anything by so much as batting an eyelid - it was just that our parents had built-in lie detector.
"Trust me," she said smugly, "I have a plan." - when Cheryl Blossom had a plan with a smile like that, it always went one way: destructively successful.
"Oh shit." I widened my eyes.
"Oh shit, indeed."

We left the locker room, bouncing into the gym where the River Vixens awaited, all of them looking sheepish.
"What is it?" I called, approaches by the crowd of girls. I turned to look at Betty Cooper, the latest addition to the team. She was pretty, with blonde hair that was permanently thrown into the neatest ponytail I'd ever seen, and full, pink lips. She leant forward and spoke quietly in my ear.
"Look at the stands." She whispered. I did as I was told and glanced up at the rows of seats encasing the wooden floor. There, piled up at the first three rows sat the football team, smirking in triumph. Jason winked subtly at me, a toothy grin flashing across his face. Tommy sat beside him, slumped back and uninterested in everything except for his girlfriend. I looked at Cheryl and she gave me a small nod before I stepped forward, facing the audience that jostled before me.
"Shouldn't you goons be at practice?" I raised and eyebrow, as  few members of the team hooted annoyingly.
"We thought we deserved a little entertainment." Chuck called, grinning as he adjusted his jacket.
"And you thought you'd find it here, huh, Chucky Doll? Aren't you going to let your captain speak, or did you take on that role yourself?" I folded my arms while Jason sat up straight, seemingly interested at my sudden change in tone. Chuck shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, before Tommy snapped out of his Cheryl-induced daze to lean forward and smack him around the back of the head. Chuck yelped and Jason began to speak.
"Practice got cancelled last-minute because the coach is sick - meaning we have a free period. What better way to spend the next hour than to observe the River Vixen's rehearse for the big game." He explained. I folded my arms and gave a hand gesture with my hand for the others to start warming up.
"What an artistic excuse, Blossom - you're here for the show?" I sauntered over to the team, squaring my shoulders and making solid eye contact with Jason.
"Jason, I wouldn-" Tommy warned.
"Don't worry, Tom, I've known her since she was born." Jason smiled.
"Yet she never ceases to amaze you, J." He exhaled, giving up, "don't say I didn't warn you."
"You never answered my question, Jason - do you want a show?" I challenged. Tommy gave him a look which he ignored.
"Yes." Was the biggest mistake Jason Blossom had ever made.
"Bad move, Blossom, you're in luck - you wanted a show, you got one." I spun around to face the cheer squad, flicking the switch on the jukebox as we got into position. I gave Jason a smug look before SUGA by the Pussycats began to play, as we swung our pompoms in time to the music.

We flipped and we danced, leaping through the air in perfect sync. I watched Jason carefully throughout as he watched with what seemed to be genuine interest up until the final line ended and we took our final stances. Unexpectedly, there was a burst of applause among the audience, every single jock was clapping.
"So?" Cheryl said, grabbing a bottle of water from her gym bag.
"That would look great next week." Tommy smiled.
"JJ?" She looked at her brother.
"Don't ever let me challenge you again, Emilee." He shook his head.
"Agreed," I smirked.

After that, the day went fairly quickly. After practice, it was double trigonometry. I walked in, taking my usual spot beside the quietly brooding Jughead Jones. During those two droning hours, we generally avoided conversation unless we were exchanging notes.
"Hey," he mumbled, glancing up as I unintentionally thumped my books down on the desk.
"Morning." I smiled, "how are you holding up?" I took a moment to absorb his features. Jughead was undoubtedly handsome, with a mane of tousled curls hidden beneath one of his legendary gray beanies.
"Considering it's double trig, I'm not doing too bad." He stated, "if you don't mind me asking, what's with the sudden interest in me? I thought we agreed that after Alek, we'd-"
"Alek is coming back!" I cut him off and I watched his eyes widen as the professor began writing up equations on the board.
"What!?" He hissed. I nodded, thinking back to my last encounter with my cousin. Aleksandr Parkinson - my uncle's only son. As a family of two, they had been living in Russia for fifteen years.
"He's being released next Wednesday, due to good behavior or something." I clarified. I forgot to mention that upon their return to Riverdale six months ago, Alek was jailed for theft and GBH within three days of arrival. The catch? Alek stole from one of the Southside Serpents and started a fight with them. It resulted in six months imprisonment for my dear cousin.
"But that means-"
"That means he's coming to school here in about two weeks time and I'm guessing that he wants to speak with you." Alek wasn't exactly the sanest person ever - the kid was messed up for reasons I was scared to ask about.
"I have nothing to do with them - you know the kind of relationship I have with my father." He spoke hurriedly, as though he was panicking.
"I think that's the reason why."
Alek was presumed to by psychotic and dangerous, but that didn't stop him from calling me every day without fail from jail to ask how I was. For that, I refused to believe that he was such a horrible person.

After trig was lunch, where I grabbed a turkey sandwich and stepped out to face the bustling cafeteria.
"Emilee!" I heard a familiar voice call out. I smiled to myself and turned to face Jason. As always, he looked like a combination of a vampire and a Greek god.
"Hey, ginger, how are you?" I grinned fiddling with the black leather strap of my backpack. Jason was wearing his usual football jacket over a black shirt with sneakers.
"I'm fine, thanks - listen, change of plan for tonight." He grabbed my hand and lead me over to the corner of the room, leaving his teammates to mill around in search of a table big enough to fit them all on.
"Oh yeah? What kind of change?" I asked, studying Jason's smooth porcelain face that was so while it looked like it hadn't seen the sun for years,
"Well, Tommy and Cheryl are sneaking back to Hawthorne Manor to do God knows what, and it's more than likely that both our parents will stay at the hotel." After every annual dinner party, the adults would go by themselves to the fanciest, most expensive hotel for drinks and lose the ability to drive home - so they'd stay the night in one of the high-class rooms and leave the four of us to our own devices (not that we minded, I mean, we'd known eachother since birth!)
"Okay, so that leaves us two." I clarified.
"Wanna binge watch horror movies?" He smirked.
That was the thing about the relationship between Jason and I. We were best friends that nobody could come between. I won't say that he was like a brother, because he wasn't. I cease to mention I was also madly in love with the readheaded jock that had taken over my social life since I could talk.
"Oh you know me so well." I rolled my eyes and playfully slapped his arm that rested on the wall above my head.
"You know it, babe." He winked.
"Well, I don't know about you but I have a turkey sandwich to eat and your sister is studying for her bio class."
"Eat with me then - would it be classed as copying if I ordered the same thing?" He teased.
"Absolutely," I replied, "but go for it."
"Grab a seat, I'll be there in a sec." he pulled his hand from the wall and sauntered over to the counter while I found a table. I sat down and checked my messages - one from my mom and one from Cheryl.
I opened my mother's text first.
Mom: Are you going to be home before dinner at the Blossom's? x
I rolled my eyes and quickly typed up a reply.
Emilee: Yeah, I'll be back by three x
I sighed and opened the next message - from Cheryl.
Cherry Blossom: Meet me by the courts after lunch - we've got outfits to plan!! xoxo
I smiled to my phone and typed a quick reply before having my phone snatched from my fingers by a certain redheaded boy with a wide set of pearly teeth shown through his undeniable grin.