Chapter 12: Dead to me

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Dakota didn't go with Jughead to Betty's because she didn't want to be there when she starts to suck each other's faces off.

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Dakota looked confused as Ethel read her poem. She wondered if she was talking about what Chuck did to her. Dakota doesn't know what to say to Reggie about that. She doesn't remember getting drunk and asking him did he put her name next to his, in the playbook.

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Veronica sat down next to Ethel
"Hey, Ethel. I just wanted to tell you how moved I was by your poem. It felt like you were tapping into something pretty dark, but also pretty real. And I don't want to overstep....But is everything all right, Ethel?"

Dakota sat in the other side of Ethel,on the arm rest
"Yeah you sounded like you were about to break up there"

Ethel closed her book
"Things at home aren't great. My mom and dad are fighting, but they won't tell me about what. It's like this really bad thing is happening, and there's nothing that I can do to stop it."

Dakota shook her head knowing what she means.

Veronica tried to explain what she meant
"Like you're trapped in a slow-motion car crash. Yeah, I know the feeling. Listen, Ethel. It sounds like you need some cheering up. Which happens to be a Veronica Lodge speciality. So.... if your free tomorrow, come over for lunch and pampering."

Veronica looked up seeing Kevin and Dakota

"Kevin will be there. And Dakota."

Dakota looked up with chips stuffed in her mouth. She looked like a chipmunk who just saw their life flash before their eyes
"Yeah, come on, it'll be fun. Just please say yes."

"All right, sure."

"Yeah?"
"Yeah"
"Great. I'll see you tomorrow."

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Dakota and Kevin caught up to Veronica
"So what was that about?"

"Ethel's poem was a cry for help if I ever heard one, the likes of which I vowed never to ignore, not after..."

Kevin looked at Dakota then Veronica
"Uh-oh. Do we need to sit down?"

"Okay, So, last year at Spence, my best friend Katy and I kind terrorized this girl, Paige. One time, we made her drink gutter water. "

"Ew! Why?"

Dakota looked at Kevin the Veronica
"Yeah. And why didn't you get caught?"

"Because she was there. Because she was a misfit. And we were class- A brutal bitches. Anyway, by December, Paige couldn't take it anymore...."

Dakota eyes widen
"You caused a girl to kill herself?"
"Oh , my god did you drive her to suicide?"

"What? No. But she did transfer schools. And went into therapy."

"So now?"

"If I can make Ethel Muggs' life a little better, even for one afternoon, I'm going to do it."

"Okay but why did you say I would go?"

"Cause your fun. And it's funny when you watch a movie and you complain. You look like it physically hurts you."

Dakota throw her arms is the air
"Because the person can just get up instead of crawling on the floor, making it easier for the crazy psycho killer to kill them!"

*********

"Just in time, we're celebrating."

"Archie was just telling us how he's going to some super-exclusive music program this summer."

Dakota Jones (ʀɪᴠᴇʀᴅᴀʟᴇ)Where stories live. Discover now