HEAD ABOVE WATER , sweet pea ²

001. Better Than Ever

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Chapter One
Better Than Ever
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     SUMMER BREAK COULD GO EITHER OF TWO WAYS FOR SOME PEOPLE. Some could say that the break gave them the time they needed to spend with family and friends and to carve good memories into their lives that would make them happy whenever they think back at them. Others would say that this was the time they had a summer job or an internship that made them wish that summer was over so they could go back to school. Or the friends and family of Archie Andrews would be spending those three, long, agonizing months defending him in a case that was built against him and trying to prove that he was an innocent boy.

     School was about to start very soon and people were still unsure of whether or not Archie was going to be able to go back to school with them, especially his friends and his girlfriend. Tori was sure that someone set him up just like Cheryl set up MF when Midge Klump was murdered but she had no way to prove it. There was no murder weapon and the one person that he claimed to have killed Cassidy Bullock was dead, leaving her at a dead end. She suspected that Hiram Lodge was behind Archie's arrest and first degree murder charge but a smart man like him knew how to cover his tracks and erase all traces of his presence and throw those he influenced right under the bus.

     Those thoughts never left Tori's mind, although she tried to push them away as she carried a full package of plastic water bottles and offered one to everyone on the remains of Sunnyside Trailer Park. The Serpents were hoping to still be able to salvage what was left and add onto it to make it better and Tori was willing to help, despite the tension between her and Sweet Pea that lasted for months without being taken care of. Some of the Serpents were still skeptical about her being on the same side as them which confused her since they were so willing to let Cheryl in after how she treated them. But she decided to brush that aside and try to stay patient even though it was getting harder for her to actually stay patient.

     When the package was done and everyone had a water bottle to cool them down in the unbearable heat, she pulled out her phone and sent a text to Toni. It didn't take long for Toni to respond and start planning what they were going to wear to Cheryl's pool party that was being held at Thornhill on Labour Day weekend and Tori smiled at the ideas Toni had come up with while hoping that they would see each other again very soon.

     A truck pulled up into the trailer park and Tori was just as confused as everybody else. Nobody recognized the vehicle and people were even more shocked to see MF stepping out of the truck with two other people. Just seeing her was enough to make her mind run around in circles with a million questions like where she went, why she left and what she was up to. If anything, she was just glad to see that she was still alive and that she was looking better than the last time she saw her, which was when she was in the hospital with cuts and bruises and hooked up with an oxygen tube. Tori was the first to walk up to MF and pulled her into a hug, hoping that all of it was real and not some vivid dream her mind came up with to play tricks on her.

     "What did I miss?" MF asked when Tori let go and stepped back.

     "Well for one, Archie is on trial for a murder he didn't commit," she said.

     "Heard about that."

     "Discount Regina George is throwing a pool party this weekend."

     "Give me the address and I'll crash that shit."

     Tori laughed but another thought came to her mind about something that happened while MF was away. "I don't know if anyone told you, but Cheryl has a spot with the Serpents. They even gave her a custom-made red Serpent jacket," she said.

     "Jughead told me about that. Speaking of Jug, do you know where I can find him? I need to talk to him," MF said.

     "He's right over there with Fangs and Sweet Pea," Tori said while pointing to one of the few standing trailers left. "And by the way, he still hates me."

     "Fangs?" MF questioned.

     Tori could see the look of confusion on her face when she said the boy's name and wondered why she was confused at all. "Fangs is alive. Nobody told you?"

     "It must've slipped Jughead's mind."

     "You're not the only one. I didn't know about it until the day Cheryl got her jacket."

     "And don't worry about it. I'll talk to Peabrain right after I talk business with Jug."

     "Peabrain sounds pretty accurate at this point."

     MF chuckled at Tori's comment and the dark haired girl looked at her feet while biting her lip nervously. MF said she was going to talk to Sweet Pea but what if that only made things worse and he ended up hating her even more?

     "Before I go, I want to introduce you to someone," MF said.

     Tori scoffed. "Which one? There's two," she said and MF grinned at the two other people tagging along.

     "Babe! Come over here," MF said and Tori's eyes widened when a boy with tanned skin and dark hair stood right next to MF.

     "Babe?" she asked.

     "Tori, this is Noah. My boyfriend," MF said and Tori took a moment to process her words. "Noah, this is Tori. That friend I told you about."

     "Nice to finally meet you," Noah said with a charming smile.

     "So you two are . . . together?" Tori asked while pointing at the two people in front of her.

     "Almost three months," MF said.

     "Three months?" she asked. MF smiled sheepishly while Tori took the silence as a moment to process everything she was just learning. "Go talk to Jughead and you can tell me all about it."

     MF nodded and kissed Noah before walking away and Tori's shoulders dropped. Although she was happy for MF that she found someone, she couldn't help but wish that it was like that for her and Sweet Pea. She wished that things could've been different between them and that they didn't have to spend the whole summer avoiding each other.

     With nothing much else to do, Tori decided to just go home. The walking gave her time to think about everything that happened this summer like Archie's trial and MF coming back to Riverdale after being gone for the whole summer. Even though she was hesitant about going to Cheryl's pool party the following weekend, she knew that Toni was going to be there and now she knew for a fact that MF was going to be there as well so at least she would have someone to talk to while she was there.

     She also wondered how things were going to go now that MF was back. What were the Serpents going to say? Would they be happy that she was back after falling off the radar for three months? What was Archie going to say when he saw her again? MF's sudden departure affected everyone, Tori included. Right when they were becoming friends and putting everything behind them, MF was gone and no one knew where she went or why she suddenly skipped town and when she came back with a new boyfriend, she was even more surprised but those were questions she was going to have to save for another day.