CHAPTER SEVEN
STALKING THE SHERIFF
"all i wanna do is to fall in deep"
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Chaos raised all around Harley. After someone had announced that the cops were there, everyone had panicked and starts running everyone, making attempts to escape. Several Ghoulies had already been pulled away by the cops, including Malachai.
Harley tried standing on her toes and peer over the sea of people in search of her friends, but it was no use. Dammit, she thought. Finally when she spotted Kevin, she realized that he was pulling out of there with Cheryl and Reggie. This was the second time within forty eight hours her friends had ditched her while running from the cops. She was seriously reconsidering her choice of friends.
Sweet Pea wasn't sure why he was doing what he was, it was like his long legs had a mind of their own. He found himself taking large strides in the direction of a lost looking brunette, risking getting caught by the cops. Maybe it was because he figured she had saved him from getting arrested, so he might as well return the favor, or maybe he just wanted to help the girl out. Either way, he was now tugging her towards his bike.
"Get on." He ordered, securing his own helmet on his head before handing her one. She hesitatedly accepted it.
"Why are you helping me, for the second time? I've punched you twice." He wasn't quite sure what the answer was himself, so he remained silent. He pointed at the bike, climbing on, impatiently waiting for her to do the same. "You didn't answer my-"
"We don't have time for this. Either you sit your ass down or I'm leaving you here." He cut her off. Harley nodded, quickly climbing ontop of the bike. And just like at the school, he sped out of there, the cops disappearing in the far distance.
For the second time in two days she was seated at the back of a motorcycle, clutching a Serpent around the torso as he sped down the road, trying to escape the cops that had busted them for the illegal drag race. How absolutely dandy.
Harley cursed Archie for having called the cops, realizing that if anyone was dumb enough as to do something like that, it would have to have been him. Was he stupid? How would calling the police on a drag race they had orchestrated fix anything? Sure, the Ghoulies would get off their backs, but for how long? A month? Two? Three maybe? The Andrews boy kept making the wrong decision time and again, and Harley and the others were having enough of it.
Unlike last time, Sweet Pea didn't bring the Byers girl to the Sunny Side trailer park. Her brought her to Pop's. Seeing as he was still unsure where on the Northsider she lived, the heart of a Riverdale was the best shot. He pulled up infront of the Chocklit Shoppe, letting her climb off and hand him the helmet.
Harley took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was going to say. She wasn't one to apologize, but it seemed that a sorry was proper in the situation they were in. "Look, Sweet Pea, I'm sorry I punched you, twice." He looked up at her in surprise, having not expected her to apologize. "Well, actually I'm just sorry about the last time I did. The first time you deserved it. Actually, you kinda did deserve it the second time too now that I think about it-"
"Okay, okay." He said, interrupting her ramble. "Apology accepted, Northsider." His nickname for her tastes sour in his mouth, and sounded harsh in her ears.
"Yeah, uh, thanks, by the way, for saving my ass twice. I feel like I owe you one." She said, suddenly finding her shoes interesting. Harley wasn't usually this awkward, but something about him just made her feel all giddy and nervous.
"Look, a word of advice, that Ghoulie you're hanging with? He's no good. All Ghoulies are bad news. You should stay away from them." He advised her. Never minding the fact that she was a preppy Northsider, she was still too good for any Ghoulie. Hell, everyone was too good for a Ghoulie.
"Oh yeah? And you're not?" She challenged. He narrowed her eyes slightly down at her.
"It's not like I'm going around kissing you." He fired back. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Unless you know something I don't, I've never kissed a Ghoulie. In fact, I've never kissed anyone that's in a gang." Harley retorted, humour evident as she spoke. Had he been watching her and Malachai when they'd spoken?
"I—" he paused, slightly embarrassed that he had been busted for watching her. She probably thinks I'm a creep.
"How about we take a milkshake? I kinda owe you one, so might as well make amends straight away." Harley suggested, saving him from the embarrassment he was feeling.
"You think I want to have a shake with some Northsider chick?" He spat, disgust laced within his words. Harley didn't mind. She shrugged her shoulders, very much unbothered by what was so clearly suppose to be an insult. A while ago she would have taken offense, but right now she simply didn't care. And it felt great.
"Your loss. I'd never turn down a free milkshake." Harley flipped a piece of hair over her shoulder. "Last chance, tiny." She joked. Sweet Pea snorted at the nickname, but made sure to remained as sour in the expression as possible.
"See you around, largie." He joked back, much to her surprise. He started the engine of his bike. Harley gave him a wave, watching him slowly drive out of the parking lot and disappearing down the street.
What a day.
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Despite all of Riverdale receiving the message from the Black Hood informing them that they had a time limit to get their shit togheter or else he'd blast their asses, Harley attended school like any other day.
If she could've, she'd skip school. Not because she was scared that the Black Hood would deem her a sinner. She'd attended an illegal drag race, hit the same guy twice, playfully flirted with a gang member, almost did jingle jangle, saved a Serpent from being arrested, snuck a homeless kid to live under her parents roof without them knowing, ran from the police twice and she'd had sex more times then she could count with several different people. Safe to say, Harley Byers wasn't innocent at all, and she was sure that the Black Hood would deem her a sinner either way. No, the reason she'd like to skip school was because she desperately needed a break.
For the last years she had arrived at school, distracting herself from her at home life. Harley worked hard to achieve her goals, and one of her biggest dreams was attending Yale. So she worked her ass off at school, receiving nothing but straight A's. Her record needed to be free of any flaws. Yale was also the reason she couldn't skip school, why she couldn't slack off. If she did, it could risk her entire future at attending an Ivy League school. She wasn't about to let anything jeopardize it. Nothing and no one was getting between her and Yale, ever.
Harley happily skipped down the street, a certain spring to her feet. Though everyone in the town had waken up to the horrible news from the Black Hood and everyone was feeling at edge, Harley was feeling surprisingly peachy and optimistic. Someone had to be in dark times like this, right?
When the Byers girl arrived at school, however, her spirit was quickly slain by the terribly pessimistic friends of hers. Betty was obviously shaken by the news, along with Veronica, but no one was stressed out like Archie Andrews. His father had already been shot, and the man who did it was now treathening the entire town. The Sheriff was no closer to catching him either, which meant that his father was in great danger.
Ontop of it all, Archie was also stressed out due to the fact that Jughead and himself was barely on speaking terms. After Archie had called the cops and admitted to it, someone had to hold Jughead back from attacking his former friend. And if all this wasn't enough, Archie was desperately trying to gain Hiram Lodge's approval. It was all driving him crazy.
Kevin was, like Harley, trying his best to remain calm. He tried to ignore Cheryl's snarky comments about his father not doing his job correctly, and he figured that the best solution was to simply excuse himself from the conversation althogheter when the Blossom girl started to point fingers.
"Okay, so this seems like a really shitty thing, but let's look at the bright side!" Harley encouraged as they all lounged in the students lounge room, conversing back and forth about the Black Hood.
"What bright side? There is no bright side, Harley, don't you see? We're all sinners in one way or another, and soon enough the Black Hood will be coming after us all!" Betty declared, panick evident in her voice.
"Okay, slow down there, Debbie Downer." Harley joked, an attempt on making a bad situation better. "The bright side is that we have time to make amends. If everyone just keeps their asses in check for the next forty eight hours, we're good."
Reggie threw an arm around her shoulder. "Not that I don't love your optimism, babe, but the chances of the entire town restricting from doing anything bad for two days straight is near impossible."
Veronica nodded her head in agreement. The bell rang, restricting the teens in the room from continuing the conversation. Everyone sighed, but flooded out of there to head to classes. Harley was about to do the same, when a pair of hands tugged her back into the room. She twisted around, offering Betty and Veronica a bored expression. "What now?" Harley was starting to get use to the two either asking for help or dragging her into trouble. It seemed to be a common occurrence.
"We have a theory. Well, I have a theory, Betty just has a wild assumption." Veronica started, earning a jab to the ribs by the Cooper girl. "Ouch!"
"I don't have all day, spit it out." Harley impatiently said.
"Sheriff Keller is having an affair."
"Sheriff Keller is the Black Hood."
"Excuse me but what?" Harley stared wide eyed at Betty. When Veronica said she had made a wild assumption, she had certainly not been kidding.
"I know it's a long shot, but hear me out." Betty said, but Harley spoke before she could continue elaborating on her insane theory.
"No, a long shot is your crush liking you back, or assuming someone has an affair. But theorizing that the Sheriff, and father of your best friend, is a serial killer is not just a long shot. It's a freaking five hundred feet shot in the dark, both eyes closed with your freaking hands tied behind your back." Veronica nodded in agreement.
"I know! He's obviously having an affair." The Lodge girl argued.
"Just listen, Harley. He's sneaking out at odd hours, the sugar man was murdered in his cell, and the only one with free access to it is none other then Sheriff Keller. How else do you explain this murder mystery." Betty rushed out.
"Woah, slow down, Daphne." Harley gabbed. "I can't explain it, that's why it's a murder mystery. Keyword being mystery, if you didn't already catch onto that."
"We're following the Sheriff tonight, and we figured you'd want to join seeing as your kind of a part of our. . . clique?" Veronica said, unsure of what to address themselves as. Harley blinked rapidly at them, wailing dramatically gestures with her arms as she spoke.
"Sure, what better idea is there then stalking the Sheriff?" She sarcastically spat. Veronica and Betty stared blankly at her, letting her know that they were dead serious. Her shoulders slumped as she sighed, giving in to them. "Fine,but I'm bringing snacks. Text me when you're picking me up.
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True to their promises, Betty and Veronica pulled up infront of Harley's house. They watched unimpressed as she tried to sneak out of her house by climbing out of her window, resulting in her foot getting caught in it and her rolling over, tumbling from the roof to the grass below. She wheezed for air as it had knocked the breath out of her. Harley quickly scrambled to her feet, rushing over to Betty's car and slipping into the backseat.
"Very sneaky of you." Veronica joked when the brunette buckled herself. Harley shot daggers at her with her eyes.
"Just drive." She grumbled, plucking strands of grass from her hair. Stifling a laugh, Betty pulled out of the Byers driveway and onto the street, heading in the direction of the Keller resident. A few short minutes later, they were parked across the street from where both Kevin and the Sheriff lived. A pro to living in a small town at only took minutes to reach your destination.
Slumped in the back seat, her muscles aching after the impact with the ground, Harley pulled out a bag of chips from her bag. She carefully ripped it open, recalling the time the bag had popped due to the air inside and the pressure she was putting on it, and the entire content spilled down on the sidewalk. She popped a chip into her mob, munching loudly. Veronica and Betty turned around in their seats to stare at her.
With her mouth full of chips, she blinked at them. "What?" Instead of answering, the two girls upfront shared a look and returned to watch the Keller house. Harley rolled her eyes, putting the chips aside to drink from the soda she had brought. A loud fizzing sound erupted in the small space of the car when she screwed the lid off, causing her to cringe. Again, the two girls twisted around in their seats. "What is it?"
"What more do you have in that bag, my gosh." Veronica eyed the packed bag next to Harley. The Byers girl put a hand protectingly over the food, shielding it from Ronnie.
"This is my food. If you want any, you should've brought your own." Harley said, not keen on sharing at all. Veronica snorted at the girl.
"Look!" Betty exclaimed. The two girls followed her eyes, landing on the figure exiting the house to make his way over to the car. Soon enough the car pulled out of the driveway, Betty following closely behind. "He's probably headed to his next murder destination." Betty concluded, making sure not to make it too obvious that she was following him.
"Or maybe he's heading to the woman he's having an affair with apartment." Veronica said. Harley leaned forwards, trying to dip into the conversation.
"Or maybe he's just going for a late night drive." She piped. Receiving bored looks, she took the message and retreated back into the comforts of the backseat. She almost shuddered st the thought that Kevin, the guy she had own since forever, might live with the Black Hood. Sure, she'd never really been close with the boy, but it still made her feel uneasy that one of her friends' dad might be a serial killing pshyco.
The trio pulled up infront of a run down, seedy looking motel. Harley immediately supported Veronica's theory. "Betty, no offense, but this screams affair, not pshyco murderer obsessed with sinners." Harley declared. Veronica proudly nodded.
"Exactly. You don't come to a motel to kill someone, you come to have an affair." Betty shook her head, still not budging from her theory.
They watched the Sheriff pull a bag out of the trunk if his car, to which Betty exclaimed, "look, that's his kill kit right there." Veronica and Harley stared st the Cooper girl in shock.
"His what now?" Veorncia asked.
"His next victim could be in that very room." Betty continued, pointing to the door he was knocking at. What if Betty was right? Would they call the cops? Sheriff Keller was the cops.
"Let's just wait a sec." Harley said, leaning closer to get a better view of what was going on.
Though Betty's theory had seemed unlikely, what happened next was something Harley never would've guessed. Mayor McCoy stepped out of the motel room, embracing the Sheriff and greeting him with a long kiss on the lips.
What the hell?
Harley patted the two girls on the shoulders, leaning back. "Well, guess Ronnie was right after all."
word count; 2870
a/n
i'm feeling like i've got a lot of work down today. i've posted, like, four chapters or something. can't wait to actually finish a book (something that i have yet to do ever btw). i literally already have an idea and a plan for a second book, but that is if i decided to make one seeing as riverdale just goes downhill after season two. stay tuned thooo.
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