Riverdale- a spinoff

Chapter 5: Ruby

Did Malia really kill herself? The officers seemed pretty sure but I couldn't get the last image of Malia out of my head. She was wearing this yellow sweater that made her skin look especially tanned and had on some black jeans, it was simple yet she looked perfect in it. It was so Malia, simple, beautiful, and happy. She was laughing with Reggie in the kitchen and  was drinking cherry coke her favorite drink avoiding any alcohol because perfect Malia didn't need to drink to have a good time. Her wide white smile stretched the length of her face, then when she realized how huge her smile was she covered it with her hand as if she was embarrassed to let anyone see her smiling. But her smile showed through the spaces between her fingers. That didn't seem like someone who was planning to kill herself to me, plus why would she do it at a party. Malia was never one who wanted attention especially if that attention was negative, and dying at a party was just that; negative attention. My dad picked me and Zoe up at the station since her mom was working  and dropped Zoe at her car still parked at Pops. After her mess of long blonde hair stepped out of the car and she offered an uncomfortable thank you, my dad and I drove home in silence. "Can i stay at your house tonight?" I asked him when we were approaching the turnoff to my mom's house. "It's been a stressful day and I don't think I'm up for dealing with my mom's questions." He just nodded. I couldn't touch my dinner that night, instead I went to bed early but couldn't sleep so I just lay awake reliving my memories of Malia. One particular moment kept repeating itself. 

It was the weekend before school started last year. We were heading into our junior year and all four of us were freaking out. Junior year seemed like it would be the best year of our lives, we were older and now towered over the freshman and sophomores. We all sat in Malia's room, which was in transition from what she called her sophomore bedroom to her junior bedroom which meant she was taking all the makeup off her desk and replacing it with books, as well as putting away all her naked baby pictures and putting pictures of the four of us in their place. We were all waiting for our class schedules to be released online so we could all see if we had similar classes. We all laughed and continuously refreshed our emails until finally the small folder reading From: Riverdale High appeared, we all screeched a little and excitedly opened the email. "My first period is AP Us History." Malia quickly shouted out. "Mine too," followed Audrey. "So do I," Zoe chimed in. They all turned to me as my page loaded. I smiled at them before erupting with "And meee!" We all smiled and checked the rest of our schedules finding out me Audrey and I had math together, Zoe and Malia had Spanish, and Zoe and Audrey had english. We spent the entire day held up in Malia's room watching miscellaneous shows and critiquing acting and outfits. We were in the middle of watching Legally Blonde when Malia got a text. We all looked at her and and asked who it was from, but she wouldn't tell us. "Your secret boyfriend?" Audrey joked, but I noticed her cheeks flush a little. Then we attempted to get her phone by jumping on top of her but before we could snatch it away  we were all passed out and laughing. And i vividly remember looking over at Malia  who looked nervous. 

I don't know why this was the memory of Malia I couldn't shake but it was. Something about that day had always stuck with me, was Malia involved in something? But that seemed unlikely Malia was always a cookie cutter, she never deviated from what was expected of her. I can't even remember Malia getting a haircut besides her annual trim at the same salon on main street, she was perfectly predictable. I felt a dull ache in my head from all the thinking I was doing. I slowly turned over to face my clock and managed to make out the lightly illuminated hands and numbers, 4:15 am. If i laid there and thought about Malia for another second I was going to go insane, so I called the only person I thought would pick up, "Do you know what time it is?" his voice was groggy and I felt my breath hitch, "Sorry I just needed to talk to someone. I can't sleep." I heard rustling from his end of the phone. And then I saw it, his bedroom light had turned on and there he was standing shirtless across the small gap between our two houses. I turned my light on and walked to my window before I realized I was wearing an old t-shirt with stains on it and shorts that were hidden by the monstrosity of a shirt I had on. My hair was messy and not in the cute way his was. His red hair hid his left eye and stuck up in all the perfect places, while my low ponytail now resembled a bird nest with a small rat tail peeking out. He opened his window and I followed, shivering immediately after the slightly brittle wind entered my room. "What seems to be the issue today," He said imitating a therapist. His voice was still a little coarse and forced me to envision what waking up to his voice would feel like. When i didn't respond because I was deep in thought he jumped in, "Is it Malia?" This snapped me out of my vision. "You know they're saying she killed herself." I looked down at the overgrown patch of weeds between our houses. "You don't believe that do you." It was more of a statement than a question. I stuttered as I tried to spit the words out, "She seemed so happy," my eyes watered saying this stuff out loud "And I know Malia-" I abruptly paused "I knew Malia, she would never have done something like that especially at something as public and attention grabbing as a party." My words were fast and I barely left a pause in between. I looked up to find him staring at me. "I sound crazy don't I," I felt the red forming in my cheeks. "I don't think you sound crazy." He gave me a melancholy smile, "In fact I think you're the only non-crazy person in this entire town." And with those words I found myself completely in love with the red-haired boy from next door. 

Ruby

Archie