Matches ♕ Bughead

♕ | Chapter Eight

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Chapter Eight: mystery teacher

♕betty♕

BRIGHT AND EARLY  the next morning, Cheryl and I agreed to meet up at the school to dispose of the evidence. We had Jughead send the picture of the book to Veronica so she could have a look at it, fuelling the rage of fire within her so she could put up a fight with principle Weatherbee to ensure all the girls that had been shamed got justice. It was only fair that we let Veronica serve the justice seeing as she was one of the names scribbled down in the book.

"Got it?" I ask Cheryl as she approaches me in the back of the field.

She nods, pulling the stupid, worthless and disgusting book from her bag, dropping it into the tin trash can placed before us. We both stand and watch as I pour a bottle of flammable liquid into the can before Cheryl throws in a match.

I watch the match fall into the can as if it's in slow motion, images of my sister Polly flashing through my mind. I miss her, and I worry about her everyday. She's just another mystery in this town. Another mystery I have to solve. Despite my mother's request to stay away from Polly, I am determined to visit her in the future.

"Whoever killed Jason hurt him, and maybe Jason hurt people too." Cheryl says quietly as we stare at the blazing fire in front of us. "If he hurt Polly, I'm sorry." She says sincerely, taking me off guard. Cheryl Blossom never apologizes, like never.

"Thank you." I say, wincing as my voice cracks.

Cheryl bites her bottom lip, her eyes shining with tears, much like mine are. I'm too tired to cry however, too tired of it all. "And you can come back to the River Vixons." She adds. "I know I said if anyone messed up that night of our performance I would make their school year pure hell, but yours is already like hell." She says. I guess that's the most compassion Cheryl has for me. I'll take it though, because it's something I want to do for me. "If you want to come back."

"Of course." I smile, turning to her. "Thank you, Cheryl." I say tightly, before retuning my gaze back to the fire.

We just stand there for several minutes, soaking in the heat from the fire until the first bell of the day calls us inside.

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First period has never gone by so slow. I quite literally watched with wired and burning tired eyes the hand as it ticked down to the final seconds. By the time the bell rang, I was already up and out of the door. I didn't bother showing up to second period, as it was only English. All we ever do in that class is watch movies and write reports on them, and I can guarantee I've seen each and every movie in the curriculum at least twice. Plus, if I take double the amount of my ADHD pills I can focus so hard that I'll finish the entire report in one night. I'll loose sleep yes, but apparently in school that's a hard but mandatory sacrifice for success.