~♛~
gracie's pov:
"hey, do you think i could use jason blossom's death as an excuse to get out of phys-ed?" jughead asked, approaching archie and i at his locker. "sorry, coach, i'm just too depressed and freaked out right now to do pull-ups."
"don't joke about jason blossom." archie said.
"sardonic humour is just our way of relation to the world."
"oh, look. it's the rich kids from the goonies." jug looked at reggie mantle and his posse who were strolling down the hall towards us. "alright, i'm out."
"ditto." i nodded, following my brother.
"watch it, addams family." reggie sneered, barging right into jughead.
"seriously? eat a dick, reggie." i flipped him off, rolling my eyes at his immaturity.
~♛~
during free period, i was sat in the lounge with betty and kevin, talking about last night, when we were once again interrupted by the pa.
"good morning students. this is principal weatherbee speaking. there have been many inquiries about the upcoming pep-rally. so let me state clearly... it is happening as scheduled. now, on a less felicitous note... if you could please give your attention to sheriff keller."
kevin's dad's voice came through the pa: "most of you already know the details, but your classmate jason blossom's body was found late saturday night. now as of the weekend, jason's death is now being treated as a homicide. it is an open and on-going investigation."
"and may i interject?" came another voice. a voice i knew far too well. cheryl blossom's. "neither, i, nor my parents will rest until jason's death is avenged. and this cold-hearted killer is walking the green mile to sit in ol' sparky and fry. i, for one, have my suspicions. hashtag 'riverdale strong'." cheryl finished speaking and the sheriff came back onto the speaker.
"if you know anything that could help us find and apprehend jason's killer, or anything about what happened to him on july 4th... i strongly urge you to come forward immediately. you can speak with me or principal weatherbee. a death like this wounds us all. let's not let jason down."
"seriously? a kid died and we're having a pep-rally? i know you north-siders are all for school spirit but this is just— strange." i frowned, looking at my friends.
~♛~
"we were wondering, cheryl... back in july, you told the po-po that jason frowned." ginger said, turning around to cheryl from her table.
"yet, we've come to find out that jason didn't drown— he was shot. slightly suspicious, no?" tina added.
"are you witches suggesting i had something to do with my brothers murder?" cheryl scoffed.
"we're just curious. what do the police think happened?"
"i'll tell you what i told them. which is that jason did fall into the water. we both did. i made it to the shore, he didn't. maybe he made it to the other side of the river and someone shot him there. who knows?" cheryl was beginning to lose her temper.
"how about we leave cheryl alone, hm?" i furrowed my eyebrows shooing tina and ginger away.
"seats everyone! pair off, gloves on, scalpels up." our biology teacher ordered, hurrying into the classroom with his bag and lab coat as he fixed his glasses from slipping off his nose.
"can i be with gracie?" cheryl asked. i raised my eyebrows at this.
"well, gracie and i were going to be partners." veronica said.
"shut it, veronica. you can go with nancy drew." cheryl smiled passive-aggressively, pointing at betty.
"oh— uh, i was thinking i'd partner with kevin." betty protested, reluctant after what had happened at cheryl's after party between archie and veronica.
"actually, uh, keller's with me." moose said, gesturing for kevin to get up and join him.
"oh, god." kevin gulped, getting up from his seat, where veronica took his place.
"we haven't talked all summer." cheryl pursed her lips.
i know, you were avoiding me.
"i didn't think you'd want to talk to me." i shrugged.
"i didn't say i wanted to speak to you. i just said we haven't talked all summer. i was simply stating a fact, gracelyn jones the third."
"you know i'm not the best at science, but i could take the lead on this one... you know, if it's too weird for you—" i volunteered warily, looking down at the frog and picking up the scalpel.
"weird why? you mean because my brother is being dissected with a blade just like this one?" she asked, snatching the scalpel out of my hand. "possibly at this very moment? don't worry. i'm fine. in fact..." she turned to ginger and tina who were already watching and violently stabbed the blade into its chest, dragging it down to make an incision. "...i'm amazing." she growled. our onlookers gasped in disturbance, shielding their eyes.
~♛~
i walked into pop's and the bell rang above me. veronica turned to look at me from where she was stood at the counter with her mom. i was kind of on-edge with her aswell— after all, she betrayed betty, and betty was my best friend. so i just gave her a polite nod. "hi."
"hi." she nodded back, swallowing.
"and who might this be?" hermione asked her, noticing the tension.
"i'm picking up and order for jones?"
"jones? as in—" hermione began.
my eyes turned to panic. she knew my father.
"see you at home, mom?" veronica thankfully interrupted. "gracie? escort me?"
i nodded, thanking hermione and taking the hot bag of food.
-
"is, uh, is betty still mad at me?" veronica asked.
"why didn't you ask her yourself in bio?"
"she wouldn't talk to me."
"well, i guess your answer is yes, then." i said frostily.
"are— are you mad at me?"
i shrugged. "i don't own you. you can kiss who you want. i'm just there for betty. you really hurt her. and i know i don't seem like the comforting, emotionally attached friend; but i know when my friends are hurting. and i care. and betty's hurting. she needs a friend that's not gonna stab her in the back the minute she's not looking."
veronica sighed. "looks like i'm back to being the shallow, toxic, rich bitch who ruins everything in her path. which is unfortunate, because even though i only just met betty, it felt like we were meant to be best friends. like— like it was our destiny. and us... it feels like we're destined to be—"
she was interrupted by my phone buzzing. "it's jughead." i said, reading his message. my eyes widened. "hey, ronnie— i gotta go, get home safe—" i apologised, hurrying off.
~♛~
"jug? gracie? what's up?" archie asked, confused as to why we were sitting in his front porch.
"what's up is i saw you, archie." jughead frowned, standing up from the steps. he had told me all about archie and his— secret relationship. "in the music room. with ms grundy."
"sh. keep your voices down— my dad is inside." archie whispered sharply.
"we're trying to help you, dude." i frowned. "how long... have you and grundy?..."
"since the summer." archie sighed. "i like her."
"oh my god—" jughead scoffed. "so i guess she's the reason you've been acting weird all summer?"
"one of them."
"one of them?" i rolled my eyes. "there's more?"
"we were at sweetwater river on july 4th. we heard a gunshot— the gunshot."
jughead looked at me in disbelief then back at archie. "dude, you have to tell somebody—"
"—i cant." the andrews boy interrupted. "and neither can you guys. if people find out about grundy—"
"a kid is dead, archie! a kid was murdered. and you're worried about some— some cougar!"
"and if people did find out— she'd get exactly what she deserves." i crossed my arms.
"don't call her that okay? and don't say that. you don't know her— she's not like that. she cares about me."
"you sound like a complete idiot right now." i scoffed.
"stab in the dark, arch, i'm guessing she cares more about herself. she's the one telling you not to say anything. right?" archie stayed quiet and jughead nodded. "exactly. look— i saw you guys. she's messing with you, man. and she's messing with your mind..."
"what the hell do you guys know about it? you don't know shit!" archie yelled.
"nothing." i shrugged. "we don't know much about your relationship. but we used to know this guy once. his name was archie andrews. he wasn't perfect, but he always wanted to do the right thing. and that's what i liked about him. why i wanted to be his friend. he led me away from the wrong paths. the paths jug and i's ancestors took. but i guess that guy is gone now." i sighed. "let's go, jug."
we began to walk away, but archie grabbed my brother by his sleeve. "if you tell anyone about this—" he threatened through gritted teeth.
"what?" jughead scoffed incredulously. "what are you gonna do?"
i pointed my finger into the red-head's chest, pushing him away. "some best friend you are, archie andrews. fuck you."
the front door swung open, and a warm orange light lit up the darkness of elm street. archie's dad stood in the middle of the doorway, his hands in his pockets. "hey, grace. hey, jug." he smiled. "do you want to come in? we've got pasta on the stove—"
"no— no thank you, mr andrews." jughead dismissed. "we've already eaten."
"and frankly, i've lost my appetite." i looked archie up and down in disgust, kissing my teeth and heading off into the night.
~♛~