*Jughead*

Every town has one. The spooky house that all the kids avoid. Ours was Thornhill, the Blossom family's mansion, with its very own graveyard.
And, trapped within its walls like some Gothic heroine, was Cheryl Blossom. Still grieving for her beloved brother, Jason.
Linked in death even as they were in life.

~~~~

"This is how my dad had his Jason Blossom murder board before it was trashed," Kevin explained, stepping back from the board.

"Any leads on who did that? Or what they were looking for?" I ask,

"Nope. No fingerprints. But they stole a bunch of files, background checks, and all the video and audio tapes of police interviews." Kevin explains before he looks back at the door.
I hear the door open and glance up at Trev Brown walking in. He instantly smiled when he looked beside me, the only reason I could come up with was either Betty or Carmen, both standing on my sides.

"Hey, Carmen." He greets, his cheeks turning pink. She stood, placing her notebook and blue glitter pen down.

"Trev, hi!" She greets happily, smiling and ignoring Manny's constant scowling and mouthing: Remember Archie? And she threw her notebook at him and hitting him right in the face, causing him to fall to the floor and Veronica gasping and helping him to his feet.

"Sorry to interrupt..." He begins but she cuts him off immediately.

"Oh, no! It's totally fine. We're just working on..." She stopped, unsure how to explain what we were doing.

"Our murder board." I cut in. Trev's face looks slightly horrified and Carmen gives me a sharp frown and glare before looking back at Trev.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure we were still on for tomorrow." Trev asks Carmen and she nods.

"Absolutely! It's a date." I frown, looking over at her and notice Kevin's confused frown as well but unsurprisingly Betty looks like she was expecting this.

"Uh, I mean, not, uh, I—Uh..." She's stuttering, fidgeting with her hands.
"I'll just see you there." She finally says, clenching her Summer Nights dress with her hands to keep them from fidgeting more.

"Bye," He says happily before leaving. Carmen turns to face us.

"Going on a date with Trev? Does Mama Cortez know about that?" Kevin asks, looking offended she never told him.

"Oh, blame Bets. I didn't want to. He's such a sweet guy!" Carmen admits sadly before crossing her arms, her hands clinging to her black cardigan.
"It's not even a real date."

"You just called it a date." I remind her, snorting slightly at her awkwardness. "You literally said it's a date, Cam."

"Bets, a little help por favor?" Carmen asks, sounding very defeated.

"It's her cover. Really, it's an intelligence-gathering I'm sending her on. We should focus on the one thing we have access to that your dad doesn't." Betty tells Kevin before looking at all of us.

"The kids at Riverdale High. You know, maybe Trev knows something about Jason he didn't think was important." She explained. I look back at Carmen and she seemed uncomfortable using Brown for information. That's Carmen, willing to do anything for information but still very uncomfortable with some of it. And not capable of hiding it.

~~~~

*Carmen*

"Carmencita," Veronica states, all of us walking on the football stands.
"You're positively radiating Nicholas Sparks.
Tell me everything about this Trev."

"Oh, there's nothing to tell. Just one of Betty's sources that she's using Carmen for, there's nothing romantic in this offing." Kevin mocks.

"God, you're making me feel worse about this!" I groan, taking a few fries from Jughead and munching sadly. Munching sadly sucks.

"Why is everything weird here? Why can't a date just be a date?" Veronica asks, all of us sitting around Archie. I sat next to Veronica while Jughead and Kevin sat behind us, and Betty and Archie sat in front of us.

"Maybe cause Carmen's into guys who are over six feet tall and right now, because of that, her only option is Reggie." Archie jokes, never raising his head from his notes.
I kick him lightly, slightly wishing I was wearing heels instead of flats so it would hurt more and teach him a lesson for messing with me, and he chuckles.

"Watch yourself Andrews. I'll date him just to spite you so that you would want me more." I remind him and sip my drink.

"Mh. What about you, Archie?" How's life in a PG world?" Veronica asks and we all look at her in confusion. "PG. Post-Grundy. What too soon?" She asks, tossing a fry in her mouth.

"Coach Clayton says I have a shot at being varsity captain. So I'm not thinking about anything else right now." Archie explains.

"You're back to being boring." Veronica decides.

"Are you maybe throwing yourself into football as a way to avoid your feelings?" Betty asks.

"I'm not avoiding anything, Betty. I'm trying to get my life back on track." Archie answers before Valerie takes a seat next to him, much to Carmen's annoyance.

"I can help with that." She admits and Archie turns to face her. "I know Ms. Grundy was tutoring you."

"Yeah. More like sleeping with him." I quietly tell Betty and Veronica who both look amused.

"But there's this amazing songwriter from New York.
Who's an adjunct at Carson College? Incredible mentor.
He does some coaching on the side and I told him about you. You want to meet him?" Valerie offers, smiling.

"Yeah, yeah I'd love to, but football—?" Archie begins before Betty cuts him off.

"No, Archie can and he will." She assures Valerie.

"Call him if you want, but do it soon. His spots fill up fast." She explains, sticking a piece of paper in his shirt pocket.

"Thank you, Val." Archie tells her and she smiles once more before getting up and walking away.

"Hey, now you have zero excuses for avoiding music." Betty tells Archie and he smiles slightly.

"Sorry to interrupt sad Breakfast Club." We all turn to face Cheryl.
"But I'm here to formally invite you to Jason's memorial at Thornhill this weekend." She explains, passing out black envelopes. She passes one to Veronica.
"To my surprise and chagrin, mother added you to the guest-list. In case you're tempted to steal our silver candlesticks, don't. We'll be searching bags."

Cheryl states before storming away. I glance at Veronica, who looked slightly annoyed, and grabbed her hand.

"Try and remember, Vero, she is burying her twin hermano." I remind her and she nods before standing, silently walking away.

~~~~

I sit in Pop's across from Trev, twirling the whip cream on my double chocolate milkshake.

"I think it's great what you guys are doing for Jason." Trey admits.

"You two were on the water polo team together, right? Were you guys close?" I ask.

"This is just us talking, right?" He asks, leaning forward and I nod quickly.
"Just, because, I kind of feel guilty about it.
A few months ago, Jason started acting all, like, weird and secretive."

"Any idea why?" I ask.

"I thought it was about Betty's sister, to be honest.
They'd been dating a few weeks when he changed."
Trev admits.

"Changed in what way?" I ask.

"We stopped hanging out, he wouldn't call me back, and then he started selling off all his stuff."
His voice dropped to a whisper now and I had to lean forward to hear it.
"Anything he could sell for cash he was hawking.
Then I heard he was dealing drugs..." Trev whispers and I frown.

"Any clue on what type of drugs?" I ask.

"Weed, pills, whatever. I don't know for sure, because by then he stopped talking to me." He admits and I lean back, frowning.

"And you're sure this all started after Jason and Polly got together?" I ask and he nods silently.
I purse my lips, staring out the window.
This was not going to sit well with Betty, not at all.

~~~~

"Betty, I'm sorry. That's hardcore." Jughead admits.
The three of us sat in the student lounge, which was empty save for us.

"I asked my dad if I could call Polly. He said she was doing better. But then, when she heard about Jason's death, she had a big setback. He doesn't want to risk another one." Betty explains sadly and I grab her hand, squeezing it lightly and she smiles gratefully.

"Why does a rich kid sell drugs?" Jughead asks.

"He was running away from his parents." I remind him.

"Yeah. Probably." He stood, turning away from us.
"Or drug dealers."

"Oh, my God. Is that possible?" Betty asks.

"It's a theory. Yours is more likely. But why would he have to run away from mommy and daddy?" Jughead asks.

"Because they're monsters," I answer, furrowing my brows.

"Yeah, but why, specifically." He asks, turning to look at us again.

"Well, we can't exactly just ask them." Betty reminds him.

"So we have to ask Jason." He decides and me and Betty frown, staring at him.

"So, are you suggesting a séance or...?" I ask, tilting my head to the side slightly.

"No. Dead man tell no tales, but their bedrooms, their houses." Jughead reminds us and our eyes widen. Searching a dead boy's bedroom during his own memorial? Oh god.

~~~~

*Carmen*

I walk with the Vixens to the gym, talking with them and Veronica, at least until I see Archie and Veronica gives me a hug and mouths Good luck!
He was sitting on a bench cradling his hand to his chest, looking pretty beat up. I break away from the group while they leave to the gym and sit across from him.
He passes over his hand and I wrap the bindings around it.

"Isn't this your playing hand?" I ask and he nods silently. I chuckle, shaking my head.
"Archie, this hand is your instrument.
You need to take better care of it.
And, you know, stop punishing yourself while you're at it pobrecito."

"I'm not." He quickly argues and I look up at him.

"You sure?" I respond.

"I got slammed because I didn't know the play.
And I didn't know the play because, like an idiot, instead of memorizing my plays I was up late last night.
Working on my songs with Valerie." He explains and I look up. "God, I'm such an idiot."

"Valerie, huh?" I ask and he looks at me, furrowing his brows. "No, I endorse this."

"You jealous, Carmie?" He laughs.

"Please. I had my Seven Minutes in Heaven with Archie Andrews." I remind him, finally finishing in wrapping the bindings and chanting the famous Mexican song, "Sana, Sana, Colita de Rana.

Sana, Sana, Colita de Rana
Si no sanas hoy
Sanarás mañana
Sana, Sana, Colita de Rana
Si no sanas hoy
Sanarás mañana

"Okay, ya. good as new." I kiss his wrist lightly before lowering it.
"But try and take better care of it.
That hand is going to be worth millions one day."
I tell him before grabbing my bag and walking away.
I glance back at him and smile before walking towards the gym while he quickly grabbed his phone and sent a text message to Manuel, asking him what Sana, Sana meant and he got a reply telling him that it meant Frog tail
If you don't heal today
You will heal tomorrow

And Archie immediately replied back with a few
😲😲😲

As if to say he finally understood what Carmen was doing.

~~~~

*Hermione*

I scrub Pop's stove when I hear the front bell ring.
I place the scrub down and walk to the front, but no one was there.

"Hello?" I call out, peeling off my red plastic gloves.
When I get no response, I step out from behind the counter and see a box on the ground. I frown slightly, approaching it and kneeling in front of it.
I open it and shriek when I see what's inside, stumbling away from it.
I gasp for breath before stepping forward to look at it once more. The serpent inside hissed at me, remaining in the box and giving its message clearly.
The Southside Serpents were growing impatient.

~~~~

*Veronica*

I lay on Cheryl's bed with her, the two of us flipping through hers and Jason's scrapbook.

"I hope this isn't weird, but Jason was crazy handsome." I admit.

"The handsomest. Something tells me he would've liked you." Cheryl admits.

"Why did you invite me tonight? Why not Tina or Ginger? Aren't they your besties?" I ask.

"And yet, that night at the pep rally, after I had my panic attack, it was your bestie who helped me. Not them." She reminds me. I smile, Carmen was nice.
Sometimes a little too nice for her own good but I've seen her throw down with a quarterback, so I doubted she was too innocent.

"Cheryl. You're allowed to say goodbye to your brother. But why does it have to be—" I begin to ask.

"In front of people?" She asks and I nod.

"Yeah." I agree.

"Everything with Jason's been so... Public. Everyone has an opinion, has been gossiping. Saying he got what he deserved or that he didn't. I just... I want everyone to know I'm... I'm sorry. And that Jason deserved a better family than what he got." She sighs quietly.

"Then do it. I'll help you, like Carmen helped you. And let Penelope and Clifford Blossom do their worst." I encourage.

"Oh, they will. They'll kill me." She states and I frown at her choice of words. She smiles weakly, looking back at her brother's photo.
___________________________________

A/N: And that's going to conclude Chapter five part 1. Part 2 should be out whenever I have time. We're halfway through Season 1 and the Andrez hookup will happen. Hope you guys enjoyed this. 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂