A warm breeze whipped around my shoulders as I stood on the coastline, observing the rush of waves that the sea had to offer. A few stray birds flew overhead, chirping in delight as they did. California had so much opportunity and spark to it that I couldn't help but feel excited for what was next.
Somewhere down the beach, an instrumental song played a soft tune. I took a deep breath to inhale the salty air, soaking up the sun before life resumed its normal chaos. Everything felt so much lighter, more forgiving than it ever had. Leaving Riverdale was the best decision I had made and there were zero regrets about doing it.
"Savanna, are you listening?" Veronica's voice carried over the rush of air in my ears.
I didn't look at her but nodded, playing as if I'd been listening the entire time. She had arrived not too long ago and began her rant, but I hadn't been paying attention. This scenery was exactly what I'd dreamed of for so long. The palm trees, and soft sand beneath my toes. It was all so perfect.
"Did you prepare your vows?"
"Vows?" I repeated with a small laugh and tried to tame my hair from the wild wind. I missed this sunshine so much. "Why would I have vows?"
"Because... you're getting married?"
I blinked and looked toward her only to realize I hadn't been alone with my sister. Jughead was across from me with a worried expression, his eyes set on mine. I stumbled back a bit and caught sight of the crowd of people in chairs that were facing us. "What..."
"Savanna, you need to wake up."
White lace sleeves covered my arms, connecting to the soft white gown that covered my frame. I looked up again to see Jughead's formal tux. For once, his beanie wasn't on his head, which threw me off even more. This was a wedding. Our wedding.
Suddenly, he moved forward and grabbed my arms. "Savanna, wake up."
"Jug-"
"Wake up!"
I shot up with a sharp gasp and pulled myself out of bed, instantly yanking the covers off to take in the cool air. My chest heaved with each breath in an attempt to calm my racing heart.
"What's wrong?" Jughead's voice was raspy as he reached out to grab my shoulder. I had honestly forgotten he was there, which made this even more embarrassing. Prom was only last night and there was no way we were getting married.
"Sorry," I breathed, "Weird dream."
Jughead let out a soft groan and flopped back into the warm sheets beneath him. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No. Sorry I woke you, go back to sleep." I tried not to sound so short with him but my mind wasn't functioning properly. Us. Getting married.
"Hey." Warm hands tugged on my sleep shirt to pull me back into the pillows. I sighed and slowly followed the request and shifted to lean against the headboard. "Are you okay?"
By the graces above, my phone started ringing against the wooden nightstand. I ignored Jughead's question and reached over to see No Caller ID staring back before answering. "Hello?"
"Sorry to wake you, sweetheart, but it's urgent."
I huffed and shifted my hair to my shoulder. "Who is this? It's three in the morning."
"Witching hour, your favorite," The male on the other line chuckled. "It's your favorite Stonewall Prep student-turned-inmate, Princess. I'm offended you didn't know."
I groaned once the voice clicked into place. "What the hell do you want, Bret?"
"I don't have much time but listen up. I'd rather talk to you than Ponytail. I've come across a bit of privileged information that I think you and Slughead would be very interested in. If you're even speaking to each other, that is."
I rolled my eyes as Jughead repeated the boy's name in surprise back to me. "Spit it out, Wallis. I don't have all night."
"I'm ready to talk in exchange for a favor. Your daddy owns this prison, right? I need you to get me transferred to solitary immediately, and then I'll spill. And trust me, you'll wanna know about this."
I shook my head, knowing this would likely require an explanation to my parents. "Fine. When do visiting hours start?"
"9:00 AM tomorrow. I'll be waiting, Princess. Don't disappoint."
The call ended a second later, leaving me to stare at the black screen in my hand. I groaned loudly and flopped back against the pillows.
"What did he say?" Jughead asked as he propped himself up on his elbow to face me.
I scrolled through my contacts in hopes of finding the name I would need. "That he wants to be transferred to solitary confinement for some private information. Supposedly, we'll really want to know what he has to say."
A quick call to the warden (whose number I had courtesy of when Daddy himself was residing there) and Bret's request was fulfilled. I set my phone back on the nightstand before snuggling back under my covers.
"Are you not going to tell me what your dream was about?"
"Shh," I shushed him and turned to cuddle back into the warmth of his side. "Don't ruin my beauty sleep more than it already has been, Forsythe."
"Oh, great, we're back to the full name."
--
I was grumpy. Full disclosure, I was so grumpy that I'm sure my RBF had people turning in the opposite direction and I don't even want to know how Jughead was putting up with my temper right now. Bret's stupid call, although important, ruined a good hour of my sleep and in turn, pushed me over the edge.
I practically pouted the whole way to the correction center after forcing Jughead to drive (and stop to get me a coffee). I don't know why losing an hour of sleep had so much of an impact, but man, I was not happy right now.
My heels clicked against the polished floor of Daddy's prison as we entered through the front doors and walked up to the front desk. I forced a smile to the man behind the window. "Hi, we're here to see Bret Weston Wallis."
The officer frowned. "I'm sorry, he's no longer here."
"What do you mean? Where is he?" Jughead asked in confusion.
"I'm Savanna Marrows, Hiram's daughter. I made an early morning call to Warden Barnes about Bret's location and all was okay around 4:00 AM," I explained, hoping there was some confusion.
The officer shook his head. "Earlier this morning, he was found dead in his cell with multiple wounds. An ambulance took his body to the morgue."
I hoped my jaw didn't drop as far as it felt like it did. I turned to Jughead, both of us shocked and horrified at the news, yet, there was nothing to say. I looked back at the waiting officer. "Um, okay. Thank you, I guess."
I grabbed Jughead's wrist and started making my exit back to the parking lot, suddenly overcome with rage about the fact that we would never know what Bret had to say. I ripped the passenger door open and sat down with a huff before closing the door.
Jughead took a little more time to place himself in the driver's seat as if he were worried one wrong move would set me off.
"Can you quit walking on eggshells?" I complained as I shoved my sunglasses on my face in hopes it would prevent him from being able to read my expression. "Let's just go. We have a graduation fitting anyway."
Jughead started the car but didn't move. "Savanna, you need to talk to me."
"Don't need to talk about shit," I replied before angrily grabbing my coffee from the cupholder and sucking on the straw. "Not like I cared what he had to say, anyway."
"Look, I know you wanted to bitch him out, but this just changed a lot of things and I need you to calm down so we can figure things out." His fingers were slow and gentle as they pulled the sunglasses from my face, tossing them on the dash for later. "Look at me."
I gave him a split-second glance before looking away as if that would satisfy his request.
"Savanna Lynn."
I gasped at the use of my middle name, especially coming from his mouth. It sent shivers through my body. Never once did he call me that.
"Oh, there you are," Jughead teased with a knowing smile. Asshole. "What the hell is going on with you?"
"I'm just frustrated!" I whined and brought my feet up on the seat like a little kid, pouting. "First, our prom gets ruined by a filmmaker with a vengeance. Then, Bret interrupts our sleep at 3:00 in the morning to make demands to me, of all people. Even better I make a call on his behalf just for him to end up dead, and we're late to try on grad gowns!"
I pushed my face into my knees, realizing how childish I sounded with my complaining. Like I said, grumpy.
"Okay, so you need a snack and a nap ASAP," Jughead joked as he ran his hand across my back. He wasn't far from the truth. "Let's go try on grad stuff and then we can relax, okay?"
I heaved a heavy breath before sitting up and grabbing my sunglasses off the dash to place them back on my face. "Fine. I want a hoodie when we get to school."
Jughead laughed, and I swear my heart was going to burst out of my chest. God, I missed this.
--
The student lounge was crowded with various people, students and adults alike, all trying to organize the graduation gowns. We moved quickly through the line to get sized appropriately for the big day before I caught sight of the one person I could deal with seeing.
"Look who finally decided to show up," Jughead commented as we walked toward where Veronica and Archie were standing awkwardly near the entrance of the room.
I gave the redhead a slightly disgusted look that he was near my sister. "Five feet away at all times, Archibald."
"Vanna." Veronica gave me a pointed look before sighing, "Look-"
"I'm getting the hell out of here." Archie didn't spare any explanation before walking out the doors he had just come through.
I rolled my eyes at his dramatic behavior, instantly clocking the glare on Veronica's face. "Don't look at me like that, why are you being nice to him?"
She threw a hand in my direction. "I could ask you two the same thing, actually. And I know that shirt does not belong to you."
I glanced at Jughead's hoodie that I'd put on when we got into the building. It was taking everything in me to not lose my shit on her, especially since I still hadn't eaten. "Does that change the fact that he cheated on you?"
"How about when Jughead cheated on you?"
"Oh, if we wanna go that route, actually-"
"Okay, enough." Jughead stepped in between the two of us to hopefully prevent the bitch fight that was about to explode in public view. "Come on, let's not do this here."
I shook my head and scoffed before pulling the hood up over my head. "Whatever. Don't come crying to me then, Ronnie. See if I care. Let's go."
Jughead followed me out of the building wordlessly before I climbed into the driver's seat of my car, my backpack getting carelessly thrown into the backseat. The raven-haired boy slipped in the other side of the car and buckled so I could begin our journey toward the morgue where one Dr. Curdle Jr. would be awaiting us. Going through these motions with him wasn't really helping my healing, but it was enough to keep the panic and stress at bay, so I would settle for now.
The last time I had been to this building was to identify Jughead's body, which I didn't get to do. In the moment, it felt like I was getting shoved out of the grieving process that everyone else was welcoming. Now that we were back, I was glad I hadn't been in the room at that point in time. It would've been a scarred memory that I wouldn't forget.
"Do you always get bodies from Hiram's prison?" Jughead asked as Dr. Curdle Jr. brought us back into his creepy workspace. No matter how many times we interacted with this man, he still did not sit right with me.
"Indeed, I do," He answered, leaving me to question how many people died while imprisoned there. "But Mr. Weston Wallis is a curious case."
I tugged at the neckline of my hoodie, suddenly feeling like I was choking in the heat of the room. "How so?"
"There are multiple stab wounds to his abdomen, but that's not all."
There was a brief pause as he pulled the sheet back to reveal the extent of Bret's wounds. I choked and turned away instantly, the sight taking away any sense of appetite I had. Jughead seemed to handle it much better and continued to question the fact that Bret's eyes had been gouged out.
I continued to let them discuss things, deciding it would be easier if I didn't turn back around to face the corpse on the table, even if the sheet had been replaced. I hated Bret, but the sight of being able to identify and know someone who was dismembered like that was sickening.
"Okay, that was fucked up," I said once we were back in the safety of my car, away from all the horrendous nightmare-inducing sights. "I'm never gonna get that image out of my head. Do you think it's connected? The sign in Blue Velvet that said 'God is watching' and then his eyes getting cut out?"
"Well, we know that Bret and David crossed paths. Bret was selling him illegal tapes, and who knows what else. He was trying to tell us something, reveal a secret. Maybe he had privileged info that David was the Auteur and David suspected that Bret was going to rat him out," Jughead theorized.
"Yeah, but how would he have been able to kill Bret in prison?"
Jughead shrugged. "I mean, come on. You've seen it. With the right connections and the right amount of money, you could easily put a hit on someone in jail with a single phone call. He was probably just trying to tie up loose ends before he left town."
I bit my lip as I stopped at a red light. "I mean, maybe? This all just seems a little weird... a little too predictable."
I tried not to pry too deep into the investigation, knowing I would be up and out of here in less than two weeks. If things weren't wrapped up in a bow by then, this would be left to those who decided to stick with it, and I was not one of those people.
After dropping Jughead off at his house, I made my way back to my apartment in hopes of getting some food and a nap so I could wear off this mood. One can only imagine my surprise when I walked through the door to find one, Jellybean Jones, playing with my dog in the kitchen.
I froze in my spot. "Jellybean, how'd you get in here?"
The girl perked up from her spot on the floor with Mocha's ball in hand. "Savanna, hey! I took Jughead's spare key."
I stood, stunned, for a second before accepting her excuse. "Uh, okay. What's up?" I tossed my bag to the floor and kicked off my shoes before walking past her to grab something to eat. Food had become scarce in the apartment when I thought about all of it going to waste if it wasn't eaten in a short amount of time.
"Look, um, I don't know if Jughead told you, but he got into the University of Iowa's creative writing program," She explained before tossing the ball for Mocha to chase.
"Oh," I hummed and took a bite of yogurt. "He didn't tell me, but that's awesome. I'm sure your dad is super excited."
Her entire expression changed as she shook her head. "Do you not get it? He's leaving."
I licked my lips and set the yogurt aside, realizing she seemed pretty angry. "JB, why are you mad at Jughead for going to college?"
"I already told you, it's not about college. It's about you two and why you aren't back together. You clearly love him, you spent the whole weekend with him, including senior prom. What's the problem with just forgiving him?"
I tilted my head slightly as I tried to think of how to even answer her question. "Look, what your brother and my friends did really messed with my head, okay? I love your brother. You know that, I know that, he knows that, hell, I'm pretty sure everyone knows that. Could you imagine if your dad lied and faked his death?"
"That's different," She grunted and looked at the ground.
I sighed, "Jellybean, I am doing my best to sort through as much as I can before graduation, but we won't be dating any time soon. And even if we were, I'd still be going to California and he'll be going to Iowa. Jughead isn't staying here."
She practically flew off the floor to stand in front of me. "Why not just stay here? You can still do songwriting, Jughead can do online school. You'll be here with your family."
"Well, Veronica's leaving too, so that's one less family member. I can't really do songwriting over 3,000 miles away from my record label. Plus, your brother's program is only allowed for in-person classes, so he has to go," I explained.
She crossed her arms, seemingly unconvinced at the words I was saying. "Fine. Whatever."
I opened my mouth to ask what she was so upset about but she was already storming her way out of my apartment without another word. There's no way she was this invested in us and how it could possibly relate to her parents' relationship. No offense to Jughead, but I'm not a drug dealer and liar like his mom, so that's the first thing.
Whatever was going on with her wasn't normal. I'd seen siblings be upset over moving, leaving for college, whatever be it. There was something in the anger Jellybean exerted that told me differently. Whether she was actually concerned about Jughead leaving or not, I just hoped she wouldn't act out to make her dreams into a reality.
--