LAST SUMMER [ARCHIE ANDREWS] - DISCONTINUED

ten

"I JUST had the weirdest night ever," Kara sighed, dumping her keys onto the counter. Her mother looked up from the James Patterson novel she was invested in and smiled at her daughter. "What happened?"

"Cheryl, she kept touching my hair and saying weird things," Kara muttered, shivering at the many, many times Cheryl repeated her actions, "She-"

"Cheryl Blossom?" Kim asked, looking at her daughter blankly. Kara stopped her sentence and stared at her mother strangely. "Yeah..." she muttered, cocking her head, "Did you know the Blossoms?"

Her mother shook her head hastily. "No... No, I've just heard about them in the paper," she replied, pointing to the stack of newsprint on the counter, "Their son, Jason. It's a shame what happened." Kara nodded, biting her lip and staring at her. She was avoiding Kara's eyes, but she thought nothing of it, turning to look at the paper. Jason and Cheryl had the same bright red hair, she could see the resemblance.

Her phone suddenly pinged and she looked at the text.

ARCHIE:
u up? need to talk to someone

"I'm just gonna go to bed, Mom," Kara told her mother, running a hand through her strawberry blonde hair. "O-okay," Kim nodded, "Goodnight sweetheart." Kara quickly left the kitchen as her phone started to ring, Archie's face popping up. She stared at the car, debating what to do. Kara sighed.

DECLINE?
YES

-/-

"How's life in the PG world?"

Kara stared at Veronica weirdly. It was the next day at school, and they were sitting by the football field and snacking together. Veronica raised an eyebrow. "Post Grundy?"

"What, too soon?" she added  when Archie glared at her. It was true- Miss Grundy had packed up and left town that morning, all supposedly because of a run-in with Betty's mother and Archie's father. Kara wanted to be relieved, but her emotions were still a mess so she didn't know how to feel.

"Coach Clayton says I have a chance at being varsity captain," Archie said, trying to change the subject. Kara smiled, patting his shoulder. "That's great, Arch." Veronica sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "And your back to being boring..."

Kara chuckled quietly at her friend, just as Betty started to speak. "Are you maybe throwing yourself into football as a way to avoid your feelings?" she asked, her eyebrows creased together.

"I'm not avoiding anything, Betty," the redhead snapped suddenly, shaking his head, "I'm trying to get my life back on track."