Body Double
* * *
"This story is bigger than we thought. I started asking around, to see if what happened to you happened to anyone else, and if anyone would go on record." Betty said as Lia sat next to her and around six or seven girls.
"I will. 100%." Ethel said and Betty nodded with a smile. "It's five guys on the football team. Chuck and his posse. One day last year, Chuck and I talked in the library for 10 minutes. I helped him with a Pre-Cal problem, and nothing happened. But the next day, he...He started telling people that I let him do stuff to me. Like, sex stuff. And then he...Or one of his goons, wrote, "Sloppy seconds" on my locker."
Lia clenched her jaw, her own terrible memories of her and Chuck running through her head as Ethel told her story. She bit down on the knuckle on her thumb, not realizing she was drawing blood until the metallic taste hit her. She quickly swallowed the blood and whipped it off her thumb, hiding her hand from the other girls as Cheryl burst through the door.
"Yes, yes, we've all heard your tragic origin story." She snapped.
"I'm so, so sorry, Ethel. That's horrible." Betty told Ethel, rubbing her shoulders to comfort her.
"Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's torture-murder case, but we all have our crosses. In the meantime, River Vixen practice starts in five minutes, sluts, so-
"They're ruining our lives, and to them it's just a game." Ethel cut Cheryl off. "They keep score and..."
"Wait, what do you mean, keep score?" Lia questioned, leaning forward.
"Each conquest earns them points. They keep track in some secret playbook." Ethel clarified.
"Okay, we have to talk to Weatherbee." Betty announced.
"I already tried. Weatherbee said that he didn't find anything." Ethel sighed and Lia rubbed her forehead, trying to figure out how they could bring all of these hurting girls to justice.
"Okay, we need undeniable proof." Betty stated.
"Proof of what, Nancy Drew? That boys will be boys? And that playbook reeks of suburban legend." Cheryl spat.
"How would you know, Cheryl?" Veronica asked.
"Because, Frida Shallow, before he died, my brother was co-captain of the football team with Chuck, and Jason never mentioned it, and he never would've allowed it." Cheryl replied, making Lia roll her eyes as she wondered how Cheryl could think that Jason was such a great guy when he was a freaking Blossom.
"Okay, well, I never met your brother, but I'm not lying about what happened to me. And Ethel's not lying. And proof or no proof, book or no book, I am going scorched earth on these privileged, despicable miscreants. You wanna get caught in that backdraft, Cheryl? Call me, or any of these beautiful, young, strong, intelligent women..."slut" one more time." Veronica sneered, daring Cheryl to try her but she just flipped her hair over her shoulder and left the room
* * *
Lia walked between Betty and Veronica while Ethel, Kevin, and some other girls walked behind them. Lia stumbled a bit in her knee high boots that Veronica had gave her. Apparently, she wanted her to look hot while sneaking around and Lia had no other choice than to comply.
Everything was quiet until the booming voice of Cheryl Blossom sounded in front of them.
"Color me impressed." She said, causing everyone to gasp or whisper-shout at Cheryl while she stood with her flashlight going to everyone's faces. "A, B and E with B, V, and Phea. What would your holy roller mother say about this, Betty?"
"What are you doing here, Cheryl?" Betty asked
"And where did you get those thigh-high boots? They're amazing." Kevin added and Lia smacked his arm before looking back to Cheryl.
"Trev told Valerie, who told Josie, who told Ginger, who told Tina, who told me. And I thought I would help out." Cheryl replied, strutting her way over to the crew.
"Help? Or derail our investigation?" Betty questioned.
"Get over yourself, Betty." Cheryl spat.
"Hey guys, get in here." Ethel said, cutting the two girls off before they could continue to argue and everyone made their way to Ethel who held the infamous book in her hands. "Trev was right. They didn't even bother to hide it."
"New girl? Is that what I'm reduced to? Nine points?" Veronica asked as Ethel opened it. Lia's mouth went dry as she scanned the pages, her eyes running over her own name. Everyone's voice muffled around her as she brought her finger to her name:
Chuck-Lia Andrews-11 points-Amazing in bed, easily manipulated, +1 points for her catching feelings
"Lia, i'm so sorry." Betty's voice said but it was still muffled as the haunting memories of last June broke through the surface.
* * *
"Hey, Ophie." Chuck called, drawing Lia's attention from Betty to him. Chuck motioned with his finger for her to come over so, she said a quick goodbye to Betty before making her way over to her boyfriend.
"What's up?" Lia asked as she joined Chuck on the couch, him pulling her onto his lap.
"Nothing. I just missed you, baby." Chuck whispered into her ear before kissing it. Lia wiggled uncomfortably in his lap, making Chuck inhale a sharp breath before moving her off of him and onto the couch. "I'm gonna go refill your cup, i'll be back."
The two kissed, Lia watching as Chuck walked away before leaning back onto the couch with a sigh. She was happy, she had been dating Chuck for a few months now, ever since the new year started to be exact. Lia never thought she'd be with a football player, let alone the coach's son, Chuck Clayton. She told herself she wouldn't get to attached, but after just a week of dating she knew she was hooked.
"Here you go, babe." Chuck's voice said, drawing her out of her thoughts as he handed her back the red solo cup she had.
"Thank you." Lia smiled, taking a big sip of the drink and not noticing Chuck's vicious smirk.
As time went on, Lia found herself slowly growing tired. Her vision going fuzzy as she sloppily put down her cup onto the table in front of her. She leaned on Chuck's shoulder, his arm snaking around her waist before he hoisted her up. She heard him say something faintly but she couldn't make it out and before she knew it she was being laid onto a bed, her clothes being pulled away from her.
"S-Stop." Lia slurred, not being strong enough to push Chuck off of her. "Pleas-se, stop..."
* * *
"Lia?" Veronica asked. Lia looked up, not noticing she had just been standing in the hallway, tears running down her face. "Oh, Lia..."
"I'm fine, I'm okay." Lia quickly said, whipping her face and stepping away from Veronica who tried to hug her.
"No, you're not. What's going on, obviously something happened with Chuck-
"I said I'm fine." Lia cut Veronica off sternly, holding her ground as she pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts before clicking Jughead's name, hovering over the call button. "Listen, V, i'm all for helping you. I'm willing to do whatever you need but right now I just need to go home and chill out. I appreciate your concern but, i'll be okay."
"Are you sure, Phea? I mean, you seem pretty upset and I don't want to involve you in more things if it's going to hurt you." Veronica replied, rubbing her hand up and down Lia's arm.
"Don't worry. I want to help." Lia replied before pressing the call button on her phone finally, bringing it up to her ear as she walked away from the group. "Jug, how fast can you get to my house?"
* * *
Lia paced her bedroom, the light sage green walls merging with the photos that lined her walls. After she got off the phone with Jughead she bolted home, not even caring that her feet were killing her as she did so. Luckily, her dad and brother didn't question or even seem to wake up when Lia got home, slamming her bedroom door shut as she did so.
Lia continued to pace her room before the familiar tapping of her window sounded, she whipped her head over, seeing Jughead and his beanie peaking through. She ran over, unlocking the window and pulling it up as she had done so many times before, letting Jughead climb inside. Since, Lia's bedroom over looked the garage, her bedroom had always been easy to sneak into. All you needed to do was use the latter on the back of the garage to get onto the roof and then use then bring the latter to her window and climb up it. It was dangerous, but Jughead was the only person that snuck in and he had become an expert.
"Fifi, are you alright?" Jughead immediately asked. Lia didn't answer, instead she wrapped her arms around Jughead's waist and sobbed into his chest. Jughead stayed quiet, wrapping his arms around her and moving the two of them to her bed so that Lia could cry into him and that's just what she did.
For the rest of the night, Jughead comforted Lia, whispering soothing words into her ear as they laid down in her bed, not letting go of each other. Soon, the two fell asleep, not caring that they were still wearing shoes or that Lia hadn't even taken off her makeup.