Haunting ||Archie Andrews||

flashback// sign of the times

flashback// sign of the times

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Jason is walking through the woods towards his spot. He usually went there after arguments with his parents. It helped him clear his mind. Being out there, alone, where no one can tell you what to do, what to say and how to act. It was liberating to him.

Suddenly, a strangled sob reaches ears and the redhead boy stops. Upon hearing another one, he starts walking at a faster pace than before. It was coming from his favorite spot. When he makes it to the clearing in the woods, his eyes search the area to find the source of the sobs. His eyes rest onto the shaking back of a girl hunched in the middle of the clearing. He lifts his leg in order to move forward and accidentally makes contact with the crunchy leaves on the ground. There's a gasp from the girl, who probably heard the sounds. He watches as the girl whips around and looks at him. He had seen her somewhere before. If he was correct, this was the freshman girl on his sisters cheer squad.

Seeing the red, teary eyes of the girl he walks forward, only to startle her a little. She jolts up and moves back a little. He halts.

"Are you okay?" He questions carefully.

The girl nods, wiping her eyes and giving him a quick smile, "fine."

"Are you sure?" He raises both of his hands in a surrender position and starts to walk forward slowly. Content with the fact that the girl wasn't scared of him anymore, he let his hands fall and walked at a normal pace until he was in front of her before saying, "Because it's okay if you're not."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure," the girl says strongly before breaking down slightly, "Okay maybe not completely."

He smiles and motions to a rock behind her, "Here. Sit down. I usually come here when I'm upset too."

She sits before looking up at him, her eyes still red from crying, "And you're upset right now?"

"Not as much as you," he says, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Fair enough," he nods, taking a seat on another rock near by, "Whatever it is, you'll be alright," he waits for her to reply but when she doesn't, he introduces himself, "I'm-"

"Jason Blossom," she says quickly, blushing a little, "I know."

Jason laughs, "Blossom. Please don't remind me."

"I'm Hayley," the girl says, "Hayley Cohen."

Jason sits up hastily upon hearing her last name and apologizes, "I'm-"

"Sorry?" She guesses, "Who isn't?"

"Everyone you haven't told," Jason replies sassily, a bit fed up of her interrupting.

"Were you there?" She questions, "At the-"

"Yeah," this time he is the one interrupting her, but he knew she wouldn't mind. It was probably too hard for her to say anyway. He then looks around slightly, not knowing whether he should ask the question that was on the tip of his tongue. He decided that he had nothing to lose.

"Why are you upset?"

"You know why," the girl gives him an incredulous look and he slightly face palms at how stupid his question must've sounded.

"No. I mean," he begins, "You knew it was coming, so how have you not come to terms with it?"

Hayley shrugs, not really knowing how to answer the question. Can anyone come to terms with such a thing?

"You should," he says, "It was for the best. At least now your sister is happy and safe. You shouldn't blame her or yourself. With her condition, I doubt she even knew what she was doing, and if she did, it's good, isn't it? She was done, and she wanted out. That's what she got. She got out. But if you're still upset, it's okay. Hell, it's normal. No one is going to judge you."

She sniffles slightly and stares at the Blossom boy she had known only through stories.

"So why are you upset?" She asks, changing the subject.

He looks down at the ground, the images of the argument he had with his father only minutes ago running through his head, before looking back up at Hayley and laughing cynically, "All the Blossoms are batshit crazy."

"You don't seem crazy," Hayley tries to comfort him.

"You don't know that."

It's silent after that. Jason's comment almost seemed like a promise. It was his way of saying: The Blossoms are dangerous. I am dangerous.

After a few minutes, Hayley clears her throat awkwardly and stands up.

"I should get going."

Jason follows pursuit, "Alright Hayley Cohen. You can come back anytime by the way. You're always welcome here- especially when you're not feeling okay."

"Thanks," the girls says and turns towards the direction of her home.

"Hayley," he stops her, causing her to turn around, "It's the sign of the times."

The corner of her lips turn upwards ever so slightly and she repeats what he said, "It's the sign of the times."

-----

Here's how Jason and Hayley met.

I think this chapter is really cute tbh.

But anyway, no ones really correctly guessed Hayley's secret. I wrote this chapter to kind of remind everyone she's got a sister because in the upcoming chapters, she'll be mentioned. No she's not going to be a part of the story, mostly because of her "condition". Her condition will also set a path for Hayley.

As you can notice, Hayley has started to lose control of her emotions (her yelling at Archie is one of them. I mean, he told her he cheated on her and she was like 'k' but this time, he didn't even cheat and she blew up on him. So something's up). We will get to discover a bit of her dark side more. She seems a bit too perfect.

Hope you guys enjoyed the flashback chapter!!! Episode four(?) chapter part 2 will be up soon!