ghosts // riverdale

[9]

For a single night, the town of Riverdale would forget its sinful nature. We would forget about the most recent body discovered near Sweetwater River, no visible marks to tell the story behind his death. We would forget about Fred Andrews, still recovering from his gunshot wound from only a few weeks earlier. We would forget about the explosion of crime, gripping the town tightly as news of drug overdoses and murders began to sweep the headlines. For a single night, the town of Riverdale was going to forget by tossing money at problems that we had all created.

Tonight was special. It was the 54th Annual Community Fundraiser, an event always thrown by a team of volunteers who are eager to earn some extra marks for their college applications. Betty Cooper was the head of the team this year and she had made sure that everything was perfect. Every sandwich was perfectly carved, every light was perfectly twinkling and every donor was perfectly persuaded to donate money to local charities or events, and lots of it. This year one of the people who would be receiving a part of the money earned tonight was none other than Fred Andrews. His medical bills had his family drowning in debt and the town had agreed to pull together to help pull them out of it, well, at least as much as possible.

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"It looks beautiful, B," Veronica coos as she touches the twinkling lights above her head with her fingertips gently. "Thank you," Betty smiles as she gives a playful shrug of her shoulders, "we hung thousands of lights. I mean, thousands...." Veronica nods as she smiles towards Betty, scanning her eyes around the dimly lit room. Bright blue tablecloths are adorned with fake snow and gleaming silverware as small white trees wrapped with twinkling lights stand in the center of each table.

"And we've received some generous donations for our auction tonight too," Betty smiles as she approaches the table of prizes to auction away. "Ah yeah?" Veronica grins, "Anything good?" Betty nods and raises an eyebrow as she lifts up a small white card. "Here we have a $100 gift card to Pop's Diner," she beams. "Think of all the strawberry milkshakes you could buy with that bad boy," Veronica grins as Betty places the small white card back down onto the table.

"Here we have a years subscription of The Register delivered directly to your door daily," Betty laughs, "courtesy of my crazy parents." Veronica laughs with her as her brown eyes scan the full table. "Did my parents donate anything?" Veronica asks as she tugs at the necklace swaddled around her thin neck. "Um," Betty murmurs as she scans the table herself, "here." She pulls a small dusty pink handbag into the air and dangles it in front of Veronica as Veronica's eyes widen.

"Ooh," Veronica grins as she places her palms across the smooth surface of the small handbag, "a Fendi leather peekaboo mini. Classic Hermione Lodge." Betty smiles before placing the small handbag onto the crowded table. "And those are just a few things that have been donated," Betty grins as she beams with pride. Everything was coming together perfectly.

"Hey B," Veronica interrupts her thoughts as she playfully pulls at her friend, "have you spoken with your parents about Brooke?" Betty's smile fades quickly as she lets out a loud sigh. "Kind of," Betty shrugs with a furrowing of her eyebrows, "they just told me a quick backstory and then said that if Brooke wanted a relationship with any of us that they would be open to it but they're not going to be the one to initiate it."

"And what about you?" Veronica inquires as she crosses her arms against her chest, keeping her eyes on Betty's perfectly highlighted cheekbones. "I don't know," Betty sighs as she fiddles with her fingers, "I don't know what I want with Brooke right now. What I do know though is that tonight is going to be perfect. All four of us together, laughing, dancing," she grins as she looks towards Veronica. Veronica tries to smile but she can feel it seeming forced.