LAST SUMMER [ARCHIE ANDREWS] - DISCONTINUED

seventeen

"VERONICA'S ALREADY ANGRY that I'm not going to this tea thing she's having," Kara muttered into the phone. Archie replied, "Tell me about it... Jughead won't even look at me, he thinks Cheryl's some sort of she-demon."

Kara put him on speaker and tossed the phone onto her bed in the Blossom household, eyeing the closet of clothes Cheryl had given her (mainly ones that she didn't want anymore). "I'm starting to agree," she grumbled.

"You know, Cheryl really only wants one of us there," Archie said, "You could still go with Ronnie and I could go to this tree-tapping thing." Kara sighed. "Arch..."

"No, really," he stopped her, and she could hear the smile in his voice, "I'm the only one getting anything from it-"

"You don't get it, Arch," she interrupted. "These people are my blood- my family. I should be there," she said decidedly, "I have to be there."

Archie paused for a beat. "Do you have anything red to wear?" Kara frowned, gesturing towards her closet. "Practically everything in here," she grumbled, but asked, "Why?"

"Because I'm wearing red, and I want us to match," Archie told her, his tone implying that he assumed it was obvious. Kara laughed, shaking her head. "Yes, Archie, I will wear something red so we can match-"

"Ready to go, KK?" Cheryl popped her head into the door, before she opened it all the way, revealing her short black dress with a thick red shawl covering it. Kara scowled with her back turned at the nickname- it was far too close to JJ. Cheryl impatiently tapped a black leather boot on the floor.

"Give me a minute," Kara said, pulling out a similar Scarlett dress. She gave Cheryl a small smile. "I just have to get dressed." Cheryl nodded, rocking on her heels. "Dress warm- it's snowing like crazy out there," she told her, "You too, Archiekins. Wouldn't want that pretty little face to freeze off." Cheryl gave a wink to Kara and sauntered out of the room. Kara shook her head, scoffing in unbelief.

"She's crazy. She's actually crazy."

-/-

"When Jason died, I thought I'd tapped my last tree," Cheryl said sadly as they walked through the forest to where a crowd gathered around a large maple tree. Snow crunched under their boots and more fell, the white of the snow contrasting against the red of their hair. Turns out, nearly all of the Blossom's hair was red. In fact, Kara didn't know the last time she'd seen so many redheads in one place.

She shivered in her place beside Archie as Cheryl continued on. "Now don't be nervous," Cheryl chimed, bumping Archie's hip, "All you have to do is hold the bucket steady, and I'll handle the rest. Kara, you just stand and look gorgeous."