"but...but my friends call me Roe"

Who we Believed we Would Become

"What?" I instinctively respond, my mind taking me back to memories of Jason Blossom. I didn't really care about Jason, or any of the Blossoms, but Jason had been like my mortal enemy when I was here. At 10 years old my feud with Jason seemed like the only thing that mattered, but now he was dead and the fued with him. I don't even really remember why I hated him, I just know I did. And I think of that as I hear Jay continue.

"Yeah, he got Polly Cooper pregnant and his father murdered him so that he wouldn't run away with her." Polly Cooper, I think to myself, wow have I been wrong about this town. The Coopers were always the model citizens and Polly a teen mom, I can just picture her mother fuming at the news. "...and then there was an issue with the drug scene and the serpents, also many civilians died because of a high school janitor who was masking himself as the black hood and going around killing the innocent, the town got really riled up about that, the northside really went against the southside blaming them for everything bad that happens around here" I sit back on my bed in awe of everything that has happened. "oh and sis, right now the biggest issue is with a new rich family trying to buy off the Southside. Southside high was shut down and some of the serpents are now at Riverdale High, you'll hear Gus go on about how much of an issue that is, especially since Cheryl seems to be the #1 advocate against the integration."

"Cheryl?, Cheryl Blossom?"

"Yeah, Gus is like her pet, he is so in love with her he doesn't even realize how badly he is being used."

"Huh?" I think to myself, trying to remember 10 year old Cheryl. She was kind of a nobody. Nobody really liked her, we kind of just ignored her existence, but from the sound of it, it seems like things have changed since then. Maybe everything has changed, and I just thought It wouldn't have. Or maybe I hoped it wouldn't have. Maybe I hoped I would come back and life here would be exactly the same, waiting for me to return before moving forward.

"So, have you talked to mom or dad?" he asks changing the topic.

"No."

"Well, I am guessing that you're back because of everything that has been going on, maybe they feel guilty about what they did to you, of what they did to us, to this family." he says, revealing a hint of anger towards them. And I could relate. I am so mad at them, the anger had sort of dissipated over the years and I had learned how to forget them, but being back, being inside the house I haven't been in eight years because they overreacted, just brings all those feelings of anger and disappointment right back.

"I guess" I simply respond, not revealing my true feelings to Jay. He was happy I was back and I wasn't going to ruin the moment for him. I missed him and I was glad, nothing had changed between us. With that he steps out of the room and into his own, and I get up off the bed and walk down stairs . I walk past the kitchen into the laundry room and find what I was looking for. I head back up stairs into my room and just start throwing things into one of the trash bags I was holding, mainly tossing out clothes, but also some other things. I find a picture of some friends and I from the fifth grade and I can't help but smile. My friends, I think for the first time since being here again or more like the first time in the last seven years. And all I can do is wonder what has come of them. I wonder if they grew up to be exactly who we predicted we would be, because God knows I hadn't. I remember once thinking I would be a cheerleader with Betty Cooper and that she would be dating Archie the quarterback, while I would date Jughead for a while, but it wouldn't work between us because of societal pressures and we would break up, but we'd still be friends. I think that for ten year olds, we really knew how life typically turned out for the citizens of Riverdale and how it would impact and affect our future. I guess I would find out tomorrow how this town has really affected them.

I finish cleaning through my room and putting everything from one of my duffels away, only getting half way through the other one. My other belongings probably won't be here until Friday, given I shipped them late last night. I walk the multiple bags of trash downstairs and outside to the garbage bins, completely disconnected from anything within these bags. I toss them away and wipe the invisible dirt off my hands, as I start to walk back up the house, but I am stopped before I make it back inside as a car drives into the driveway. The lights blind me as I stare right into them, until they turn off and my father steps out of the car.

"Montgomery, I see you have made it back safely," he says coldly and without emotion.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I answer equally as detached.

"Good." he simply says as he walks into the house, me following behind him. Once inside he walks into his study and forgets I am even here. Not that I was expecting something different from him. I walk into the kitchen and find Jay and Mark cooking what I can only presume is their dinner, but from all the laughing going on I am guessing it is probably just them heating up something frozen like Jay and I did as kids.

"Whatcha guys, up to?" I ask anyways.

"heating up dinner" Mark answers. He hasn't said much or expressed much about me being back, but we weren't very close to begin with, so I get it.

"Totino's, totino's" Jay sings as he bounces up and down the kitchen, spatulas in his hands imitating drum sticks. I sit down on a stool at the bar and just watch them, amused as to their behavior. Not long after me sitting down, do I hear the front door open and shut, quite loudly. The tapping of heals becomes louder as whoever is home gets closer to the kitchen.

"Oh, Montgomery, your home?" my mother says, surprised of my presence, as if she wasn't expecting me to be here.

"Yeah," I simply mumble.

"Good, everything will be good now." she simply states before stepping out of the kitchen and heading up stairs to her room. She doesn't come back down. The boys and I share the Totino's before I head up stairs and mentally prepare for my first day at Riverdale High tomorrow.