❝ i won't let this
pull me overboard. ❞
･.｡.:*･ nearly a year had passed and it was
nothing but hell through and through. and
even after all of that, it was still hell and there
seemed to be no way out and no way to keep
her...
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╒══════════════════╕ Chapter Five Second and Last ╘══════════════════╛
THE COURT MADE THEIR DECISION. After the trial, Archie was immediately sent to the Leopold and Loeb Juvenile Detention Center for a two-year sentence after pleading guilty for Cassidy Bullock's murder. The devastation on the faces of his friends and family was more than enough to see how capable Hiram Lodge was of making other people's lives fall apart right before their eyes. She had already known for herself what he could do to other families but to see it happen to other people was even worse. And when the first day of school arrived shortly after Archie's sentence, it really started to sink in that an innocent boy was going to be in jail for two years instead of going to school with his friends.
"Archie isn't guilty," Tori said as she walked with MF towards the school.
"I know," MF said. "But Hiram Lodge has his ways."
Tori could still remember the look on MF's face when the judge made his decision. She could see that she was very close to crying and who could blame her? A friend she had known for years was set up for a crime he didn't commit but he was still sentenced. Noah had to hold her back when Archie was taken away and immediately sent to the detention center. When he held her close to him with her face buried in his chest, she had to look away to keep herself from letting go. She didn't know the ginger boy as well as his friends and family did but she did know that he didn't deserve what he got.
"I know I'm not the only one thinking this but I think he tipped off the prosecution lawyer to offer that deal to Archie, knowing he would take it," Tori said while stuffing her hands into the pockets of her dark blue track pants.
"Glad to know we're on the same page," MF sighed. "It's gonna be so weird walking into school while he's stuck in that awful place for something he didn't do."
"Hiram Lodge may be smart but if he can be outsmarted, Archie might have a chance at getting out."
"I wish. That man is too smart for this world. Just when you think you might be one step ahead of him, he's already ten steps ahead of everybody else."
Tori sighed, knowing that MF was right. If someone were to outsmart the infamous Hiram Lodge, they would have to be really sophisticated. She knew about his plans to build a prison on the Southside and that was why Southside High got shut down with the excuse of finding a drug lab on the premises, why the eviction notices were sent out to those who lived in Sunnyside Trailer Park and why he wanted to buy the Whyte Wyrm. Even with MF gone for the summer and Archie on trial, she was able to get caught up on Hiram's plans for the Southside, yet she still wasn't sure what he had in store for Riverdale.
