CALAMITY
epsilon.
05.
( eviction )
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"DELILAH I NEED to talk to you it's important!" Two days later at school Veronica rushed in on Delilah who had been reading in the student lounge. Her usual calm composure had changed into one of urgency.
"What's going on?"
"It's Betty," Veronica puffed, getting her breath back. "Last night she and I tricked Chuck into going to the pool and it wasn't supposed to go far but Betty acted so weird she wore this black wig and Chuck could've been hurt an-"
"Woah. Veronica, breathe," Delilah instructed. "Now go through that again - slower this time."
"Betty's plan was to lure Chuck to Ethel's pool and trap him until he apologised for what he'd done. But Betty took it a step too far, her whole personality changed. She called herself Polly. And then... and then she called Chuck, Jason. It was creepy weird. It kinda scared the hell out of me. If I hadn't stopped her I'm pretty sure she would've drowned him," as Veronica spoke, Delilah grew increasingly worried.
"Did you say anything to her?"
"This morning, yeah. She said it was nothing, that I was just hearing things. But I know what I heard. And more importantly, what I saw."
Before Delilah replied, a loud cheer came from the hallway causing the two girls to run out in time to see Chuck Clayton and several of his teammates being escorted off the premises by Principal Weatherbee - a crowd of students watching and taking pictures as they passed. The leader of spectators was a satisfied looking Betty; Ethel standing proudly by her side. Delilah watched Chuck's menacing expression and couldn't help but think that the situation was far from resolved. In fact, Delilah had a feeling they'd made everything ten times worse.
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"The drive-in closing, it's just one more nail in the coffin that is Riverdale." Betty, Veronica, Delilah and Kevin sat in a booth at Pop's and listened as Jughead voiced his dispair at the upcoming closure of the local drive-in. "No, forget Riverdale. In the coffin of the American Dream. As the godfather of indie cinema, Quentin Tarintino likes to say-"
"Please God, no more Quentin Tarintino references!" Kevin interrupted, earning a snigger from Veronica next to him.
"What? I'm pissed!" Jughead protested.
"We couldn't tell," Delilah rolled her eyes as Jughead narrowed his.
"And not just about losing my job," he continued like her sarcastic statement hadn't been said at all. "The Twilight drive-in should mean something to us; people should be trying to save it," he sighed. Delilah noticed he did that a lot lately.
"In this age of Netflix and VOD, do people really want to watch movies in a car?" stated Veronica. The group couldn't deny that she had a point. But still, Delilah had to agree with Jughead. The drive-in was a big part of Riverdale's history and she'd be sad to see it go. She just didn't see how they could do anything to stop it being closed - Jughead was only fighting against the inevitable future. "I mean, who even goes there?"
"People who want to buy crack," Kevin joked. Well it was partly true.
"And cinephiles and car enthusiasts, right Bets?" he turned to Betty. Delilah was slightly offended he didn't value her opinion, but then again she had just been ignored. She didn't know why she expected any more from him.
"Totally," Betty nodded, shaking herself out of her daydream.
"Anyway, it's closing because the town has a ton of money but didn't invest in it, so when an anonymous buyer made Mayor McCoy an offer she couldn't refuse-"
"Anonymous buyer? What do they have to hide? No one cares," Veronica laughed.
"I do!" Jughead and Delilah said in unison. They eyed each other warily before Delilah realised the others were staring at her too.
"What? I used to go there too! It was pretty fun. It would be a shame to have it demolished," she mumbled, shrinking down in her seat. Jughead didn't want her opinion but now he had it. He couldn't quite work out if she was taking the mickey.
"You guys should come to closing night," Delilah assumed Jughead was addressing all of them when he said that. However before anyone had a chance to reply they heard an obnoxious voice from a few booths behind.
"Make sure to put all of that cash in the register, you are a Lodge after all. And Lodges are known for having sticky fingers." The cutting remark could only be from the mouth of one person. They all turned and saw Cheryl smirking at waitress Hermione, who also happened to be Veronica's mother. Veronica leaped out of her seat to her mother's defence but it looked like she had it under control.
"Honey, I got this," she said to her concerned daughter before turning back to Cheryl. "I went to school with your mom. She didn't know the difference between having money and having class either." That wiped the smirk right off Cheryl's face, and Hermione walked away, victorious.
Veronica returned to the table as the door to Pop's opened and in walked an unlikely combination. Archie scanned the diner for an empty booth as his dad stood behind him, along with Miss Grundy, no less.
"I'll be right back," Betty said suddenly, standing up ready to approach the trio.
"No Betty don't!" Jughead reached out as she left her seat but it was in vain.
They all watched as Betty conversed with Archie for a few moments, then saw the both of them leave to continue the conversation outside. Jughead peeked out of the blinds as Veronica grew panicked.
"What's going on out there? Do we know? Is it about me?"
"I have a strong inkling, and no. Also I'd let it go," Jughead replied to her flurry of questions. Veronica stared at him for a few moments - she was sure he knew something that she didn't.
"Yes but you're you, and I'm me," Veronica said "so you do you. I'll be back," and with that she proceeded to leave the diner.
"What was it like before she got here? I honestly cannot remember," Kevin grumbled. Delilah looked at Jughead before following Veronica. She knew leaving Betty and Archie alone was a bad idea - now that Betty knew about his relationship along with her tendency to blurt out her opinion of she thought it was for the greater good - and Veronica wasn't exactly the most sensitive person to be dealing with the situation at hand. But when Delilah got into the conversation she realised it was too late.
"You and Miss Grundy?!" Veronica exclaimed. "Oh Archie, what have you done?" Delilah was rather thinking the same thing. All of a sudden a car pulled up in front of the four.
"Betty, get in the car." The demand was all too familiar. Betty crossed her arms and made her way over to her mother's car, glancing wistfully at Archie one last time before climbing into the passenger seat. "That goes for you too Delilah," Alice snapped, leaving Delilah with no choice but to get into the car also. No sooner had she buckled her belt in the back seat did Alice put her foot down and speed off the car park, as if one more second in the vicinity of Archie Andrews and Veronica Lodge would mean certain death.
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"My mom has some serious issues," Betty complained to Delilah an hour later. The two girls were in Delilah's room, Delilah sitting cross legged on the bed as Betty paced, and talking like they used to do when they were young. Delilah found that even simple talks with her closest friend had become invaluable in the past few days she'd been home; time with people you care about is precious, you can't take it for granted. She'd learned that the hard way.
"She's just worried about you," Delilah replied. "She's trying to keep you safe."
"What, by stopping me from seeing my friends? She's just so controlling and manipulative and annoying. I mean - what's so wrong with Archie anyway? Why is she so set against him? I just don't get it," Betty sighed and flopped onto the bed, defeated.
"Well, he is having a passionate love affair with the music teacher," Delilah pointed out. Betty gave her a look.
"Don't call it that," she frowned. "It's more like a creep grooming an innocent boy. Ugh what does he even see in her?" Betty physically shuddered.
"Don't you think it's weird though, that she just turned up out of nowhere? Does Archie even know that much about her?"
"I don't think so..." Betty thought for a moment. Then an idea seemed to strike her. She ran out of the room and came back moments later with her laptop. Opening up the lid she cunningly smiled at a confused Delilah. "I think it's time we did a bit of digging of our own."
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The next morning Delilah and Betty were back in Pop's, this time sat across from a bewildered Archie who was yet to discover why he'd been called to be there so early.
"Ms Grundy showed up a year ago out of thin air," Betty began her case. "There's no record of her. Her Facebook and LinkedIn accounts were all created a year ago. Before that she's a ghost. She doesn't exist. The only Geraldine Grundy I could find was a woman who died seven years ago."
"Where did you find all this?" Archie asked in reply.
"The Deep Web. The dark Internet," Delilah said. "Check it, it's all online. Simple googling." It had taken little over 2 hours to find all the information they had managed to collect together.
"And did you cyber-stalk Miss Grundy before or after you interviewed her for a fake article?" Archie raised his eyebrows. At this news Delilah turned to Betty ready to fire questions of her own. She hadn't been told anything about an article. Betty squirmed under their inquisitive - or in Archie's case, angry - gazes. Betty didn't reply so Archie continued. "Why are you doing this Betty? I'm not in any danger."
"You don't know that," Betty said softly.
"Yeah, I do. I'm with her. I know what we have and you don't!" The tone in Archie's voice made Delilah uncomfortable. She hoped she wasn't about to witness an argument unfold.
"She taught Jason Blossom, did you know that?" Betty argued quickly. Even Delilah would admit that at that point she was clutching at straws.
"She taught a lot of people, your point?" Archie was not convinced.
"My point is you don't know anything about her Archie, doesn't that worry you?"
"Let this go," he said firmly. Apparently it didn't then.
"Archie please-"
"If you're really my friend you'll let this go!"
"Ok," she finally backed down. But something told Delilah she wasn't done just yet.
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Her suspicions were correct when at 11pm that night she found herself creeping towards Grundy's car, following Betty who was determined to prove Archie wrong.
"So much for letting this go," Delilah whispered. "Wait are we really breaking into Grundy's car right now?!" she whisper yelled as Betty began fiddling with the lock. Miraculously the door smoothly opened after Betty completed her neat trick which Delilah didn't even bother to try and remember for future reference. She wasn't exactly planning on breaking into anyone else's car.
"Ok so we're looking for anything that proves Grundy isn't as clean as she says she is," Betty stated before beginning to rummage around in the car. "Bingo," she said after grabbing a tin box from the back. "Bobby pin..." Delilah complied and handed her the hair grip from her tangle of messy blonde curls. Once the box was opened Betty proceeded in her search. Then she stopped. "Oh my god..."
"What?" Delilah snatched the small card out of Betty's hands and saw a driver's license with Miss Grundy's face. Except the name clearly stated that Miss Grundy was in fact...
"Jennifer Gibson? Who the hell is Jennifer Gibson?"
"That's not the only thing." Delilah turned to Betty again and this time her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Because in Betty's hands was a gun. A gun that very clearly belonged to the woman who had assumed a false identity and was inside with Archie right at that very moment.
"Well you wanted proof, and it looks like we got it."