Riverdale - Beneath The Town (English Version)

Chapter 9: La Grande Illusion

Thicker than blood, more precious thain oil. Riverdale's big business is maple syrup. Since the town's founding, one family has controlled this lucrative syrup trade, the Blossoms. They were a part of the fabric of our daily lives. Rich or poor, old or young, we consumed Blossom Syrup by the bucket. That sickly sweet smell was inescapable. The death of Jason Blossom percipitated a crisis. With the heir apparant gone, who would inherit the family business one day? Certainly not Cheryl. It was a question that brought the wolves to Riverdale. And now the Blossoms were circling the wagons against possible attack from within their own ranks.

In the last few days I had texted Polly a few times and also tried to call her three times, but she had never picked up her phone. Since she had decided to go to Thornhill, I hadn't heard a peep from her and I was worried. Right now, I was talking to Jughead in front of my locker, at whose door I had scored out the S. Parks name tag and replaced it with an S. Fry, and Jug had just asked me something, but my mind was somewhere else. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?", I asked again and he repeated his question, if we wanted to see a movie at the Bijou this weekend. "What is it, Scar?", he then wanted to know and I told him what I was thinking about. "I mean I understand she doesn't want to talk to the Hayles, but... what wrong did I do?" I looked at the ground in frustration and my boyfriend said I hadn't done anything wrong. "We'll figure it out", he confidently said and put a finger under my chin so I looked up at him. "Come here", he then said with a smile and bent down to kiss me. "Just in time! We're celebrating", Veronica greeted Jug and me as we entered the lounge at break and sat down with our friends. Upon my questioning gaze, Kevin told me that Archie was going to be part of a super exclusive music program this summer. "Maybe. If it happens, though, it'd be huge for me", Archie added, and Jughead asked him if he had to audition for it. "Not exactly; Mrs. Blossom said she'd put a good word in for me", he explained and we looked at him in surprise. "Amazing", Kevin said, while Veronica commented „Terrifying", and the two of them looked at each other. "Definitely terrifying", I interfered and agreed with Veronica, while Jug asked what Mrs. Blossom got out of it. "I told her I'd take Cheryl to their family's tree - tapping thing. I talked to Valerie, she's cool with it", Archie, who was going out with Valerie Brown, replied, and Jughead looked doubtfully at his best friend. "Cool with you being a gigolo?", he said unimpressed, but Archie replied that he was doing someone a favor for his music. "I need to make connections outside of Riverdale", he added, and Veronica looked over from him to Jug and me. "That's the way of the world, it's about connections, but... Jughead's right. These kinds of favors come with a price tag", she explained, looking at Archie urgently before turning to my best friend. "Betty? Back me up here", she demanded, and my best friend looked at Archie. "I think that's a great idea", she said and Archie thanked her, while Veronica looked at me seeking help. "What do you think, Scar?", she asked, and I looked from her to Archie. "I think you're right; you and Jug. I can think of about a million things that Mrs. Blossom had as ulterior motives when she offered that", I answered truthfully and then looked at Archie pleading. "But if you do it, could you talk to Polly when you get there?", I turned to him and added that I wanted to be sure she was all right. "Definitely", he agreed with a nod and I thanked him. "And don't worry, Vroni; I can take care of myself", he then said to my friend, who pointed to him with the fork with which she was eating her fruit salad. "Famous last words, Archiekins", she just replied, and Archie looked at her with a half-hearted grin. On the way to biology class, Betty looked somewhat dreamy and smiling out of the windows in the hallway, through which we could see the light snow covering the ground. Even for Riverdale, a snowfall in late September was early and I looked at my best friend with my head tilted crooked. "You're grinning like a Cheshire cat", I remarked with a grin, and Betty looked at me as if caught. "So, what is it?", I wanted to know, and now she was looking at me conspiratorially when she answered me. "I had a... date with Trev Brown yesterday", she told me, and I asked in surprise if she meant Valerie's brother, which she confirmed. "Thus, it went well", I said with a grin and my best friend nodded with a smile and looked down at the floor for a moment. "He's really nice and we've appointed to meet a second time on Friday", she told me and I was happy for her, but then I turned a bit sheepishly to Betty. "You may remember that I also dated Trev once to get some information about Jason", I started and was relieved to see Betty make a dismissivehand gesture. "Yes, I know that. But it wasn't like a real date with you two, so I'm fine with that. And besides, you've got Jughead and you and Trev were never going to work out anyway", she said knowingly and now I digged deeper with a grin, and wanted to know how she knew that. "I know you, Scar. He's just not your type", she replied with a grin, too, and I agreed with a quiet laugh, saying that I was happy for her. Gossiping, we went on to our biology class and she told me about her first date with him yesterday.