"What?!" Kevin exclaimed. "You're not going to help with Carrie the Musical?"
"Kev, you know I love putting on the school's productions with you. But with school and work, I need to slack off a little bit in this department."
Kevin sighed.
"But I didn't leave you empty-handed!" Andy smirked mischievously. "I've found a lovely new sidekick for your musical endeavors."
"Who?" Andy leaned over Kevin's shoulder and directed an arm towards the Serpents, pointing out one in particular.
Kevin squinted. "Fangs Fogarty?"
"He was more than happy to help out," Andy smiled, tilting her head at her friend. "I'll be here for a few of the rehearsals but otherwise he is my replacement. Have fun!"
--
"Welcome to Carrie the Musical."
Fangs Fogarty awkwardly pulled a chair into their circle of cast members.
"Okay. Next, introductions," Kev ordered. Andy tuned out as everyone introduced themselves. She was there to help Kevin on the first day since she wasn't scheduled for work.
She could barely pay attention to Kevin as her mind was on her friends' drama. Betty and Jughead were hiding a dark secret. Veronica and Archie were conspiring with the Lodges. Cheryl was ignoring the fact that she spent a week in a conversion camp. Riverdale was taking a toll on its residents.
"I'm Cheryl Blossom, playing the iconic role of Carrie White."
Josie coughed, "Tone deaf."
"Whose playing your mom: Margaret White?" Ethel asked.
"I am," Alice Cooper strolled in, drawing all eyes.
"Mom?" Betty asked, surprised.
"Wait, seriously?" Ethel asked incredulously.
"Settle down. Yes, it's untraditional but to me, there's nothing more amateur than age-inappropriate casting," Kevin explained.
Alice pulled a chair up. "I'm really looking forward to getting to know who this woman is, you know, get under her skin. And of course spend some quality time with my daughter, Elizabeth."
"Uh, sorry." Chuck Clayton came running up the aisle. "I thought rehearsals were in the music room." Andy shot her eyes to the ceiling in annoyance. Chuck Clayton was one of the worst people she'd ever met. She loved to give people the benefit of the doubt, but the things Chuck did to and said about the girls of Riverdale High were despicable.
"No problem. All are welcome here," Kevin said.
The cast began to run lines when Cheryl interrupted, belting out her character's song in order to piss off Josie and Ethel, who were obviously upset with the casting.
Cheryl finished her song and Kevin began to compliment her when, out of nowhere, a dangerously heavy sandbag hit the stage floor with a loud thud, barely missing Cheryl's toes.
Andy grabbed her chair when she jumped. Everyone looked up in the rafters to see where the bag came from, but there was nothing there.
-
Later, Kevin Keller and Jughead Jones found themselves sitting in an empty classroom, filming more footage for the Carrie documentary.
"I have a dark confession to make," Kevin sighed. "After Cheryl's brush with death this morning, I found a letter in my locker from someone alleging to be, and I can't believe I'm about to say this, the Black Hood." He turned the letter towards the camera. "It's a prank! Look at it! Why would the Black Hood, who was shot dead by my dad, be demanding that the role of Carrie be recast?" Kevin said, trying to convince himself.
"Yeah, it does seem pretty small potatoes for the Black Hood," Jughead agreed slowly.
"Yeah. Still, Jug, you can't tell anyone about this. As an official documentarian, you're sworn to secrecy. Also, the show, as they say, must go on . . ."
Kevin couldn't tell Andy until he was sure it was the Black Hood. He didn't want to scare her if it was a sick prank.
But if it truly was the Black Hood . . . everyone deserved a warning.
--
A few days later, Andy helped her father and Archie build sets for the musical. She wasn't speaking much to Archie because of his relationship with the Lodges, but it was becoming exhausting to avoid and ignore him. Oddly enough, it seemed like he was avoiding her. He started leaving earlier and earlier for school, letting her walk by herself. She assumed he was going to Veronica's to walk with her.
She just hoped he would come to his senses.
"Afternoon, gentlemen." Andy looked up from her power drill to find Hiram Lodge strolling onto the set. He noticed her at the same time she noticed him. "And lady . . ." He glanced her up and down as if she were a piece of trash on his lawn before moving his eyes to her father. "I just came by to check on the show I'm producing, and lo and behold, Fred Andrews."
"Just donating my free time, Hiram," Fred said politely.
A mischievous smirk appeared on Hiram's face. "Has Archie taken you for a spin yet?"
"Mr. Lodge--" Archie started.
"In the new Firebird I bought him for all the help he's given me and my family in the past few months," Hiram finished smugly.
The looks of betrayal that appeared on Fred and Andy's faces made Archie's heart stop. Archie accepted a car from this guy, knowingly hid it from his family, and refused to care about how shitty it might make his father feel?
"That's, uh, pretty smooth ride," Fred said solemnly.
"Yeah. A young man never forgets his first car," Hiram said, rubbing it in one last time before exiting the room.
Silence fell over the Andrews family as they cleaned up and slowly exited the school. Archie was about to get a damn earful.
"Dad it's just a car!" Archie argued as they walked towards Fred's car.
"Just a car? Did I raise you to be that spoiled?" Fred laughed without humor. "Clearly not because your sister seems to have a clear head. Unless you've got a secret car, too?" he asked his daughter.
Andy shook her head.
"Seriously this doesn't have to be a big deal, Dad," Archie pleaded.
Andy didn't even know what to say at this point. She was ready to never talk to Archie again. He clearly wasn't listening to anything she, Fred, or Mary had to say, so why should she waste her breath?
"It is to me, son. I was planning on us going to the junkyard and picking out an old jalopy for you and Andy to share. We could've fixed it up together, like me and Grandpa Artie did with my first car."
Fred sighed, got into his car, and exited the premises.
--
Although Kevin wasn't positive about the second Black Hood being legitimate, his nerves got the best of him and he thought his friend deserved to know.
"Andy, a while ago I found this letter." Kevin handed it to his friend. "I didn't tell you at first because I didn't want to scare you."
Andy registered the words in a heartbeat, being a frequent and fast reader. "The Black Hood . . ." Andy mumbled. "But . . . he's dead. He has to be dead. He was shot in front of me. Your dad shot him in front of me . . . Someone's pretending to be him. What a sick prank." Andy slammed the letter onto the desk in front of them, staring dead into Jughead's zoomed in camera. "Whoever did this is a jackass. Impersonating a murderer isn't funny."
"So you agree? The sandbag was an accident and the letter was a prank, right?" Kevin asked, looking between Andy and Jughead.
"Seems like it," Jughead said from behind the camera. "I thought you weren't going to tell her."
"What? How long have you had this?" Andy questioned Kevin, waving the letter.
"Just a little while. We knew it would make you upset. Besides, it can't be real," Jughead explained.
"That's what I thought." Kevin took a breath in and Andy tensed her muscles for the next part of his sentence. "But then I found this in my locker. Another letter from the Black Hood." He handed it to Andy, her hands shaking as she took it.
She read aloud, her voice shaking, fear creeping into her speech.
"This is your last warning to replace Cheryl. Next time . . . the sandbag won't miss."
--
Andy just about threw up after reading the second note. The paranoia that had haunted her for weeks after her father's incident was slowly creeping back into her life. She had to remind herself that there was no actual evidence that the letters were legitimate. But, they still had to be cautious when dealing with such threats.
"Cheryl, it's a matter of your safety. I have to recast the role of Carrie," Kevin explained.
Cheryl was not having it. "I will not succumb to thespian terrorism and allow myself to be ousted from this production! After the fires I've walked through, Kevin, the world needs to see me up on that stage. A Dark Phoenix reborn in the spotlight--"
"Well, they'll have to wait, Cheryl." Penelope Blossom strolled down the hall.
"Mother?"
"Even in a town as twisted as Riverdale, students require parental approval to partake in certain extracurricular activities. As I reminded Principal Weatherbee when I told him you didn't have my approval to do the musical and never will," Penelope said smugly.
"So what? You just feast on broken dreams now? Is that it?"
"Playing a murderous telekinetic teen who kills her mother? Please! This matricidal revenge fantasy . . . never gonna happen. That's final."
--
"Due to some unforeseen circumstances," Fangs put his hand on Kevin's shoulder to comfort him as he spoke but Kev pushed off. "Cheryl will no longer be playing the role of Carrie White."
"What, why?" Toni asked, concerned.
"Let's just say that Penelope Blossom isn't much of a stage mom. I think Cheryl's by the gym bleachers," Kevin whispered to Toni as she ran off to find her girlfriend. "In the meantime, Cheryl's understudy will assume the role."
"Understudy?" Ethel asked. Andy knew she'd been dying for the role.
"I appointed one after the sandbag incident. I asked Andy first, for obvious reasons: the similar hair and talent. But she refused because apparently, she's too busy to be the lead in my musical," Kevin said in a salty tone. "But I'm more than pleased to announce our new Carrie, Midge Klump!"
--
Archie pulled Andy and their father into the garage on the morning of the show.
"Don't you have a show to get ready for?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, I do, but this couldn't wait. I gave back the Firebird, Dad. And I sold some of my music stuff so I could buy this off of Junkyard Steve. It needs a lot of work, guys, but I'm up for it if you are."
Finally, Andy thought, smiling a bit. Maybe this was the start of a new Archie Andrews. One that has an actual brain.
"You better get goin' Arch, I don't want you to be late," Fred said, his voice breaking.
--
Andy had asked Sweet Pea to come to the musical with her for a fun date and to support their friends. He picked her up on his motorcycle and they grabbed their tickets with their other friends in the audience.
Sweet Pea wasn't exactly a 'musical' kind of guy, but he was excited to see what Toni and Fangs had worked on.
They were tucked between Kevin and Jughead. Sweet Pea spent most of the play's beginning eating snacks quietly and asking Andy to explain what was going on.
She could hear the people behind him complaining about his height. As he was about to tell them off, Andy put her arm on his, pulling him back into her chest so he was leaning against her. His head was fit into her neck. It was frigid in the theater and he was like a blanket.
This continued until Alice Cooper's performance.
Alice began her song and Sweet Pea glared at the stage, as he still had something against her.
"Alright, Carrietta. It's time to come out of your closet," Alice said. The setting revealed Midge Klump, slumped over, covered in blood.
"Uh, Kevin, did you re-block the scene? Why isn't she on her knees singing?" Cheryl asked.
"I . . . " Kevin stuttered.
"I don't think that's part of the show."
"Oh my, God!"
Sweet Pea jolted up.
"Somebody should help her. For God's sake, help her!" Cheryl screeched.
Alice turned and upon finding Midge, she let out a blood-curdling scream.
Andy stood up quickly, taking in the horrific scene before her of Midge Klump's dead body. She screamed and threw a hand over her mouth, the noise blending in with the other shouts from the audience.
Her breathing got faster and faster. Her heart beat: quicker and quicker. As she stared at the gory image in front of her, she started seeing black dots. Stars.
"Andy?" Sweet Pea asked. In her ears, it sounded like he was underwater. He turned her around so she was facing the audience and he could see the body behind her.
"I . . . " She tried to form words but all of a sudden her mouth had lost all feeling. Her hands went next, the numbness spreading through her arms.
"Andy, you're . . . pale." Sweet Pea held her shoulders in his hands, looking into her eyes. "Can you hear me? Andy?"
And then she blacked out.
—
(Thanks for being patient with me guys. You're all awesome. Loving the comments from new readers!! You guys are so hilarious and sweet!! Also I did not proofread I'm sorry.)