Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
~♛~
gracie's pov:
bettie, archie, veronica and i, all strode into the now decorated gym, out arms all linked.
"well, it's not the met ball..." veronica surveyed the gym.
"well, it's not pop's chock'lit shoppe." i said, and veronica nudged me.
"hey, when do you have to let coach clayton know about football?" betty asked archie.
"this weekend."
veronica unlinked her arm from archie's and mine. "guys, can't we just liberate ourselves from the tired dichotomy of jock-artist? cant we in this post-james franco world, be all things at once?"
sometimes i have no idea what she is saying.
"i've been working on it, veronica." archie chuckled.
"work faster." she smiled. "come on, cee, we're getting a drink." ronnie dragged me away by my hand and winked at betty.
i poured her a cup of punch and sniffed it. "eh. it's been spiked already." i frowned.
veronica rolled her eyes. "ruffians."
"do you miss new york?" i asked.
"it's been less than a week." she shrugged. "but, yes. i do. although, not the people. it seems like you, betty and archie are really close."
"yeah, totally. we've been friends since forever. like second grade." i smiled. "i remember i was picking on archie because he couldn't read, and betty stuck up for him. then we all ended up making finger-paintings together."
veronica chuckled. "is that all it is? just friends?"
"we're not just friends, we're best friends." i corrected, still smiling.
"what about you and cheryl, you guys seem like you have some history."
my breath caught. "can we... not— talk about cheryl right now?"
not after what happened.
veronica nodded, not sure why, but understanding of my reluctance. "did you have a boyfriend in new york?"
"no." she shook her head. "could it ever possibly be something more?" she practically disregarded my questions.
i laughed. "with betty? she's like my sister. and archie's like my brother. and are you asking for them or for yourself?"
"it's not your turn to ask a question yet." ronnie said, not answering me.
"we have rules now?" i chuckled. "i've never felt whatever it is i'm supposed to feel with a boy. and i don't think i ever will." i said. "and like i said, betty's like a sister to me. nothing more, nothing less. plus, she's head over heels for a certain jock named archibald andrews."
"have you felt it, though? with anyone?"
i swallowed. "yeah, once. last year."
with—
"have you?"
"maybe once." veronica whispered.
"you're even more dangerous than you look, aren't you? all broody. wrong side of the tracks."
you have no idea.
"ok, your turn. ask me a question, gracie."
we were interrupted by the screech of a microphone. "good evening, friends. are you all having a good time?" cheryl spoke into the mic. "as honorary chairperson and de facto queen of tonight's semi-formal, it's my pleasure to introduce this evening's main entertainment. to know them is to be obsessed with them. they usually perform their own material, though tonight they're making an exception and debuting the cover of the song my parents claim they listened to the night that jason and i were conceived. this ones for you, jj. i give you josie and the pussycats!"
~♛~
"what are you working on now, jug?" i asked my brother, as i dipped my fries into my strawberry milkshake. we were sat in a booth in pop's, just as i had planned for the night. the red neon lights illuminated the diner, giving it a perfect glow, and camouflaging the darkness on the outside. pop's was one of my favourite places in all of riverdale. although, there wasn't much competition. that and the twighlight drive-in. cheryl blossom was having an after-party, which i opted to skip-- after noticing his michevious smile when she invited the others.
"my new novel," jughead explained, leaning over to steal one of my fries. "about jason blossom and what happened this summer." he spun round the laptop screen to face me so i could have a read of what he had so far.
-
'by morning, everyone would be texting, talking and posting about it. jason blossom's body was found at the edge of sweetwater river. with a bullet wound, right in the middle of his forehead.
we'd all be feeling it. that the world around us had changed. maybe forever. that riverdale wasn't the same town as before. that it was a town of shadows and secrets now. and the feelings that this wasn't the end of the worst to come.
and on monday, the autopsy on jason's body would take place.
i think many of us, maybe the entire town, had been hoping against hope that somehow jason blossom hadn't drowned on july 4th. that we'd come to school on monday morning, and there jason would be. or that we'd see him in a booth at pop's with cheryl, devouring a strawberry milkshake.
but that was before the undeniable, irrevocable fact of his bloated, waterlogged body. and the terrible secrets that could only be revealed by the cold steel blade of a coroner's autopsy scalpel.
