Suspect | Jughead Jones.

4

A day later, Tash entered the student lounge a few minutes after her sister and Betty. She had duxked away from them while Betty had talked about how crazy her mother was, and gone to fill up her water bottle at the water fountain.

"I mean, let's think about it. If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right?" Reggie Mantle spoke, a smirk across his face, "Now let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic Internet troll, too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak, like Jughead?"

Tash followed Reggie's line of vision to the boy she assumed was Jughead. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when she realized it's the boy in the beanie she always sees hunched over a computer. She had previously ruled out that it couldn't be a student to acctually murder a kid, they did not have it in them in a town like Riverdale, maybe if it was a kid in New York she would buy it.

"What was it like, Suicide Squad?" Reggie asked, " When you shot Jason? You didn't do stuff to the body, did you? Like After?"

" It's called necrophilia, Reggie, can you spell it?" The kid, Jughead said, and Tash snorted audibly in laughter. The boy looked at her momentarily.

Reggie stood, tall and proud, " Come here, you little-" he sneered charging towards Jughead.
" Hey shut the hell up, Reggie," Archie interjected, standing between Reggie and Jughead.
"What do you care, Andrews?" Reggie said, sizing Archie up.
" Nothing, just leave him alone."

" Holy crap. Did you and Donnie Darko kill him together?" Reggie asked, and Tash raised her brows, deciding that Archie and Jughead must be friends. Which left her wondering why she had never seen them together. "Was some sort of pervy, blood brother thing?" Reggie said, and Archie cracked, attacking him. Archie was slammed into the vending machine, shattering the glass before the two boys were pulled apart.

Interesting, Tash thought.

•••

Deciding to skip first period, Tash rushed through the heavy front doors of Riverdale high, eyes planting on the red head Archie Andrews, who was walking in a fast pace away from the school.

"Andrews!" Tash called, making the red head turn around. Tash could see a bruise already forming on his face, which she thought was a nice change from his normally perfect one. "I've got to talk to you," she said, and the boy looked at her in confusion. None the less, Tash jogged over to him and motioned for him to walk.

"So," Tash said, as the two walked in what she presumed was the direction of his house, "you and Grundy."

Archie swerved his head in alarm to her face, stopping his movement as she kept on walking without notice. A moment later, he remained frozen in place and she turned around, giving him a 'why did you stop walking?' look.

"Oh," she said, realization dawning on her face, "I won't tell anyone, I just have a few questions," she told him pointedly, as she walked back to him, "seriously, I won't tell anyone as long as you answer."

With a sigh, Archie began to walk alongside her, "how?" He asked simply.
"First day of school, looking for library," Tash drawled, "you know, if you want to date a teacher, you probably shouldn't see the teacher on school grounds, or at least in a classroom with a window."

As Archie debated what she said, Tash carefully chose her first question, "when did it start?"
"First week of summer," he said after hesitating for a moment. Tash raised her eyebrow, "how long has she been teaching here?"
"Since last year," he hesitated again.