HOLMES&WATSON ° BETTY COOPER [DISCONTINUED]

CHAPTER ONE: Stranger Things

MARLA KNEW FOR A FACT that the quaint, little town that was Riverdale was filled with all sorts of strange things. So to have the town suddenly be bone dry of any suspicious activity was weird to her.

Therefore, she was unfortunately stuck with staking out her squeaky-clean neighbors on her roof.

     She had a pair of binoculars around her neck and her trusty Minolta X-300 in her hands, ready to take pictures of something — anything, really — that looked out of the ordinary. Or, out of the ordinary for Riverdale.

     Marla thought she found something interesting when her mother called her down for breakfast. She tried to take some photos but was met with the disappointing clunk sound that meant she was out of film and needed a new roll. "Aw, crud," she grumbled. Her mother called her name again and she responded with, "Coming!"

     She was swift with entering her room through her window and quickly replacing the filled roll with a new one before snapping the back shut, grabbing her backpack, and jogging down the stairs to the kitchen.

     "Morning, Mom," Marla greeted Kathy, her mother. She sat down at the table and took the newspaper that was lying atop of it. BLACK HOOD JAILED, was the very first thing that had her attention that morning. She flipped open the newspaper to read the rest of the article, surprised that it wasn't the cover story.

     "This is crazy," Marla whispered. "What is?" asked Kathy as she set down a plate of eggs, toast, and jam in front of Marla along with a glass of orange juice. "This Black Hood character, Mom," Marla answered. "He's been going around town, killing people and such. Said it was his duty to purge Riverdale of the 'sinners' or whatnot. How he even knows who's done what is unknown to me. And aren't we technically all sinners if he's going by that logic? Shouldn't the whole town be dead by now?"

     "At least be grateful that you're alive, dear. Now eat up or you're gonna be late."

     Marla nodded and took a bite out of her toast as she continued to read the paper.

.｡.:*☆

When Marla got to school later, the conversation at school was split straight down the middle — half Black Hood, half Gryphons & Gargoyles. The latter seemed to be getting more attention as the culprit went by the name of Hal Cooper, who happened to share his last name with one Betty Cooper.

    Marla opened the door to the newspaper room to see Betty pacing back and forth while biting her on her thumbnail.

     "You okay?" Marla asked, setting aside her bag. "I saw the newspaper this morning."

"I'm fine, Mars," Betty answered and Marla secretly beamed; she always liked it when Betty called her that. "In fact, I'm kind of. . .relieved. This whole Black Hood mess is finally over and I can put my focus on something else."

     "Gryphons and Gargoyles?" Marla asked timidly and she could see Betty fighting to roll her eyes as if they've been over this before. And they have. "Oh, come on, Bee. You and I both know that this town is nothing but straight-up weird. Please? Let me be the Veronica Mars to your Nancy Drew."

     Betty scrunched her eyebrows together. "Veronica Mars and Nancy Drew have never even worked together."

     "Then at least let me be the John Watson to your Sherlock Holmes."

     Betty sighed. "Fine. But don't tell Jughead. He'll think I'm a hypocrite."

     "Wasn't Jughead the one practically dying to recruit me?" Marla retorted, Betty grew confused, and Marla went on to explain. "I overheard you guys talking about me last week. Saying that I'd be a good spy, that I wouldn't get caught, and that I'd bring in good evidence."

     "Well, your photography skills are amazing. Especially for someone using a film camera," Betty praised. Marla nodded in thanks. The bell rang, signaling it was time to go to class. The door to the newspaper room opened and Jughead popped his head inside before stepping in. "You alright?" he asked Betty as he pulled her in for a hug. "I'm fine, Jug," Betty responded.

     "Guess I'll be on my way, then," Marla interjected. "See you later, Marla." Betty waved her goodbye before she left.

     Marla's so-called investigation went on for about a week, it wasn't going so well, and she was going to need all the help she could get if she wanted to get to the bottom of this.

NOTE!
i should probably lay down some groundwork before we really get into this:

i've noticed that riverdale revolves around four main characters (including cheryl, kevin, and josie) and their parents — as it should, because the show is about them.

and i was kind of thinking about writing a character who was seeing all this from the outside. marla is kind of like an outsider point of view, the one who sees all of this happening because it seems like those seven characters and their parents only know what's going on in their mentioned-multiple-times small town. so everyone in said small town should be hearing about this.
but they aren't.

so, marla starts up an investigation about what's going on in riverdale, starting with the mysterious arrival of the game gryphons and gargoyles. the investigation goes on for about a week and she inherently gives up because she can't find anything. thus, teaming up with betty to find out everything that's happening.

capisce?