party hard, make mistakes, laugh endlessly. do things you're afraid to do. after all, you're only young once. - Unknown
We all sat in the canteen, excluding Jughead who had work to do on the school paper. Archie has told Veronica about my dad and the Blossom situation. Veronica and I agreed we would both look into, after we realised our dad could have killed Jason Blossom.
Speaking of Archie, we haven't spoke to each other since the other day. I could feel him glance at me every few minutes, but I refuse to put myself back in that position. I'm not a bitchy girl, ready to fight another girl over a boy. Even if I was falling in love with the boy.
"Anyway, enough about my drama." Veronica chuckled. "Betty, you were saying something about Jughead's birthday?"
"Yeah." Betty nodded. "Just that Mr.Jones told me Jughead's never had a birthday party." Archie nods along in agreement. "Let's have one for him. Like, a low-key surprise party."
"Uh, no, no." Archie disagrees immediately.
"That's a fantastic idea." Veronica gaps in excitement.
"Jughead doesn't like his birthday." Archie tells them.
"Everybody says that, nobody means it." Kevin reminded him.
"Jughead is a lone wolf." Archie says, still shaking his head at the idea.
"Archie's right." I agree, surprising everyone. "What? He is. Jughead won't like this."
"Okay. Ignoring the negativity.
Betty, you know me, - any excuse to wear a cute party dress." Veronica smiles. "Okay, so I'm thinking a quaint gathering, inner-circle only."
"Oh, my God, don't turn around." Kevin's eyes widen and we all turn.
"Holy-" I begin but Kevin cut me off.
"Chuck. I think his lats got bigger.
Not that I care, because he's evil incarnate." He tries to play it cool, as Chuck walks by us and over to Ethel.
"What's Chuck Clayton doing back?" Archie asks.
"He got suspended, not expelled.
Even though he should have been drawn and quartered for what he did." Veronica scoffs.
"Oh, my God." I mumble, watching Betty rush over to Ethel's table. "What the hell is she thinking?"
"She's obviously not thinking straight." Kevin adds, as we all watch Betty snap at Chuck.
"What was he doing? Accosting her?" Veronica asks Betty immediately, once she was sitting back down.
"No, he was apologising." Betty mumbles, looking down.
"Oh, I'm so sure." Veronica scowls. "Chuck Clayton doesn't have a contrite bone in his muscle-bound body."
"You know what, can we talk about something else? Like Like Jughead's surprise party." Betty changes the subject.
"Look, there's a lot I can't do, a lot I can't control. But I can damn well make sure my boyfriend has the best birthday of his life." Betty tells us.
"I might go visit Ted in New York this weekend." I speak up, watching Archie throw his head back. "I don't want to..."
"Screw it." Archie interrupts me. "I'm with Betty. My dad's away. We can do it at my house. We could all use a good time."
"Now you're talking my language." Veronica smirks. "You're not going to New York, you're staying right here and partying with us."
"It's gonna be epic." Archie smiles at me.
<><><><><>
"What's all this?" Mom asks Veronica and I, as we sat at the table going through many files.
"Dad's files from the basement." I tell her, not looking up.
"Mom, Archie overhead Mr.
Blossom say that he's the one responsible for putting Dad in jail." Veronica began to explain.
"So I did some digging. And found this spreadsheet of monthly payments from Blossom Maple Farms to Lodge Industries until about five months ago, when they stopped."
"When your father was arrested." Mom nods along.
"There's more. The payments, which are significant, by the way, have been happening for 75 years." Veronica shows her another file.
"That's a ton of money." I add.
"What if Clifford implicated Daddy to get out of paying the monthly fee? I wouldn't put it past the wig-wearing monster. We should tell Dad's lawyers." Veronica gives mom a desperate look.
"Well, hold on. If Clifford did orchestrate your father's arrest, people might think that Hiram had something to do with Jason Blossom's murder." Mom reminded us. "Both of you got to let this go."
"You don't think Dad could, in any way, be responsible for Jason's murder, do you?" Veronica asks mom, a worried look on her face.
"No, honey, look, don't make things worse by asking questions that no one else is asking. And please, God, do not bring the Blossoms into this. And that includes Cheryl." Mom kisses both our cheeks, before leaving the room.
"Violet I don't care if this stuff gets dad out of prison or not." I told Veronica. "But I do want to know if he killed Jason Blossom."
"Me too Vi, me too."
<><><><><><>
Veronica and I sat patiently in our dad's lawyers office. When we tried to give the lawyers evidence, they called us in later on that day. Apparently dad has something to say about our snooping.
"Mr.Sowerberry, let me tell you what I think happened. The Blossoms agreed to pay my family a fee in perpetuity. Clifford Blossom tried to end this agreement so he could stop paying my family after all these decades.
And when my father, being my father, refused, it was Clifford who called the police and got him arrested." Veronica finished her story to the lawyer. "That's what we're thinking."
"I can't confirm or deny..." The lawyer begins but I cut him off.
"And the reason this hasn't come out yet is because it might make our Dad look like a murder suspect?" I asked.
"That is our concern, yes." He nods. "Have you changed your mind about making a statement?"
"If anything, we're less inclined." Veronica spoke for us both.
"I told your father that you both were Conflicted about helping him." He handed us both a fancy looking envelope.
"Violet?" Veronica gives me a confused look.
"Just read it Ronnie." I assure, waiting for her to open it first before I opened mine.
"My darling daughter,
A few months ago, before my arrest. I caught word of a fire in one of the well known houses down the road.
After looking into the case, I learnt that three men burned alive that night. But the fire was caused by a forgotten cigarette.
I decided to question a few witnesses and also a few of your friends.
From there I discovered, one of the men involved was my darling daughter's boyfriend.
If you do not testify on my behalf, I'm not afraid to send all the evidence against you and your friends, to the police. Maybe I won't be so lonely in this cell anymore.
Think carefully about your next move, Violet. The rest of your life, and your dear friends, will be decided by it.
Love, daddy.
"What does your's say?" Veronica interrupted me from my thoughts.
"I'll talk to you later about it." I assure, trying to hide the few tears that fell from my eyes. "We have somewhere to be Mr. Sowerberry. Thank you for your time."
I didn't give him a chance to reply, as I rushed to stand up and grab Veronica's arm. She also had a frightened look on her face and I was afraid to ask what was in her letter. It was obviously a threat but I doubt it wasn't anything like mine.
"I'm not up for a party Ronnie." I mumble, leaning against the wall outside.
"We have to put all this behind for Jughead and Betty." Veronica reminded me. "Come on, we have to get to Archie's house."
"At least it's just our inner circle."
<><><><><>
"Surprise!" Ronnie and I jump at the sight of our friends in confusion.
"Do either of us look like Jughead to you?" Veronica asks in disguise.
"Oh. Betty just texted me. They're almost here." Kevin told us, as Veronica and I walk over to him and Joaquín. "You've met Joaquin, right V?"
"I haven't had the pleasure." Veronica shakes his hand, before walking away with Kevin.
"Hey Jo." I half smile, giving him a quick hug.
"Hey Violet." Archie greets, also hugging.
"Have you been drinking already?" I ask him, wrinkling my nose at the smell of him.
"Guys, they're really coming this time. Everybody hide." Ethel yells, just as Archie opened his mouth.
"Ugh, I'm so over this." Veronica groans, going over to the alcohol cabinet.
"Surprise!" Everyone laughs as Betty and Jughead finally arrive.
"This is why we left the double feature." Jughead nods his head in realisation.
"Happy birthday Jug." I try to smile but I really wasn't in a good mood. "I had nothing to do with this."
"Um, has anyone seen Betty?" Jughead asks after all the birthday wishes.
"Happy birthday to you." We all turn to a singing Betty, who held a lighting birthday cake. "Happy birthday to you Happy birthday dear Jughead Happy birthday to you."
"That was haunting, Betty." Jughead whispers but I heard.
I couldn't hold back the tears anymore at the sight of all of my friends. I didn't say anything, as I rushed into the kitchen with a hand over my mouth.
"Violet?" I heard Archie mumble from behind me, as I stood by the sink letting my tears fall. "The stuff with your dad?"
"It's just the tip of the iceberg." I sniffled, turning to face him. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay." He assures. "You want a drink?"
"Isn't it the bad girl with a dodgy past who's supposed to corrupt the sweet small-town boy?" I joked and we both chuckled.
"My dad's visiting my mom.
They're about to finalize the divorce." Archie tells me, leaning on the counter beside me.
"God, Archie, if my mom had anything to do with that." I whispered in fear.
"No. This was them." He denies.
"My mom wanted to leave Riverdale, my dad wanted to stay.
I had to choose, and I chose my dad." He looks deep in thought. "Forget it. It's nothing compared to what you're going through."
"He threatened me, Archie." I admit, tears spilling out again. "He found out about the fire a year ago. He has evidence against my friends and I, that he will give to the police if I don't make a statement on his behalf."
"Vi..." Archie mumbles, pulling me into his strong arms.
"And maybe he's lying or maybe he isn't. And maybe he killed Jason Blossom, and..." I stopped talking and instead just sobbed into Archie's chest.
"Oh, sorry." Archie and I sprung apart at the sight of an awkward looking Jughead and Betty.
"Just coming to get ice cream, so Is everything okay?" Betty checks.
"Yeah, no, I'm just not in a party mood like I usually am." I assure, wiping away my tears and giving Archie a small smile.
"That makes two of us." Jughead mumbles, but Betty heard it.
"Whoa. Wait. You're not actually upset that I threw you a party, are you?" She furrows her eyebrows.
"It is nice, Betty. I appreciate it.
It's just I would be happier if it was just the four of us in a booth at Pop's." Jughead explains.
"Yeah. But we always do that.
I wanted to do something special." Betty remind him.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Jughead quotes someone.
"Why is everything so doom and gloom with you, Jug?" Betty snaps, losing her cool. "Why can't it just be normal for once?"
"I'm not normal, I'm not wired to be normal." Jughead scoffs at the sound of the doorbell. "How many more people did you invite to this thing?"
"No one. Inner-circle only." Betty tells him, as we all rush to the door.
I stare in shock as half of Riverdale High stands behind Chuck and Cheryl. She had her usual smirk on her face and Chuck just looked like he was up to no good.
"Did you really think you could have a party without inviting moi?" Cheryl taunts.
"Or me?" Chuck adds.
"Archie, where do you want the kegs?" Mouse asks, struggling to hold it any longer.
"Screw it!" Archie tells after a few minutes of thought. "One in the kitchen, one in the backyard."
Everyone began to cheer and rush into the house. Where as Veronica, Cheryl, Betty, Chuck and I stared each other down. The two of them were up to something and knowing the both of them, this night is going to take a turn for the worst.