Two Evils // Sweet Pea

Chapter Ten

When the Lodge family originally hauled their asses from the Concrete Jungle of NYC to small town of Riverdale, Kat never imagined she'd be thrown into not one, but two murder mysteries. First, the head of a Founding Family murdered their son in cold blood. And the most recent horror, the Black Hood.
The school janitor turned out to be a serial killer — a messed up fool with a God Complex and guilty conscience attacking the 'sinners' of Riverdale. But after a fatal encounter with the Golden Boy and Nancy Drew, the town was putting him away with the Christmas decorations. Now, it was business as usual in Riverdale — though the Lodge twins were yet to experience that.

The family and Archie sit over dinner, discussing the imminent arrival of the southside students following the closing down of Southside High. Katherine Sofiá Lodge had fought her corner hard, but evidently lost — the Southside school would shut, and in a few days, weeks, or months, Lodge Industries would buy the land. In return, Lodge Industries would donate a sizeable amount to Major McCoy's re-election campaign.

Katherine dreaded the thought of being in close proximity to not only Jughead, but a number of Serpents. As demanded, Jughead — and the rest of the Serpents — had stayed far away from Kat, and she had avoided him where possible. Having to face the harsh reality of the Serpents shook her to her core. She'd heard plenty of stories about the dark deeds committed by the Serpents; FP and the Serpents role in Jason Blossom's death and cover-up was still fresh in everyone's minds, but to see the Serpents in action first hand — that was something else. In the weeks following, Kat had relived the incident in her nightmares almost nightly, sometimes she was the one on Jughead's position, others she was Penny looking up at Toni and Sweet Pea as Jughead sliced into her skin. Inevitably, Kat had learned the hard way just who the Southside Serpents were.
Of course, she never told anyone what happened in that run-down warehouse, or the abandoned dirt road, she owed them that much, but she didn't want to face them every single day. She fought with herself over the decision to tell Betty, but eventually, she decided not to. If Betty wanted to pursue a Serpent, that was her prerogative.

"I've put together a welcoming committee for tomorrow's arrivals," Veronica's bright voice warmed the room. She holds tightly only Archie's arm, "And I was hoping you'll stand by my side, Arch."
"Yeah, sure," Archie looks uneasy, obviously put off by the presence of Hiram, "Mr and Mrs Lodge, what do you you think about Southside High closing?" Veronica shoots him a look, "It's so close to the SoDale project, isn't that bad for business?"
"Drugs, gangs and violence," Hiram explains, taking a sip from his expensive brandy, "That's bad for business, Archie."
"So, investors like the St. Clair's are fine with it?" Archie comments, a little too inquisitive, causing Hiram to raise his eyebrows.
"Archie," Veronica jumps in, "The St Clair's aren't investors anymore. Not after what Nick did to Cheryl." A half-truth, Veronica shoots a supportive look at Kat.
Not taking the hint, Archie continues, "What ever happened to that guy? Did he ever get charged?"
"We severed all ties with the St Clair's," Hermione speaks up, politely, if somewhat irritated, "I don't think we even called after the accident."
"Accident?" Archie begins to irritate Kat.
"Nick had an accident driving, in Vail," Hiram's voice is flat, his face - stone, "Or was it the slopes? You know, I'm not sure."
Hiram locks eyes with Archie, as if daring him to ask another question.
"Is he..?" Archie attempts, "Is he okay?"
"Well, from all reports he's recovered enough to be back at Greenwich Prep, was it?" Hermione takes over, equally as fed up.
"And may we never hear from him again." Kat finally speaks up, attempting to end the unwanted conversation.
From across the table, her father raises a glass in solidarity; "Here, here."
Archie sits awkwardly, still in the dark about the Nick situation. It wasn't that Kat specifically didn't want Archie to know, it was more a matter of keeping it between the families affected. As much as Arch imposed, he wasn't family, therefore he wasn't entitled to the information.