A/N: Pretend that it's Andrez kissing.

This is it! The season 1 finale and Archie and Carmen will finally have their first time in the shower. Unless you guys have a better idea for their first time, let me know in the comments.
________________________________

"The craziest thing is, I have a secret brother out there in the world." Betty admits.
I sat beside Ronnie who sat beside Manuel and Archie sat beside me, the four of us sitting across from Betty who was standing, all of us in the student lounge.
I was wearing this:

As well as a Basic Ruffle Skirt and ankle booties.
My hair was styled into soft waves.
My mom took me to the salon, willingly spending practically all day while I got my hair done.
I'm guessing it was to distract me, but I welcomed it.
Getting to spend time with her has been some of the best times I've had recently.

"It's positively Dickensian. I love a long-lost brother." Veronica jokes and I chuckle before looking at Betty and Manuel, who glares at Veronica.

"How old would your brother be, Liz?" I ask and she shrugs.

"Mid-twenties." She suggests and Veronica gasps.

"Oh my god. A blonde Adonis, no doubt." She admits and Betty and I smile at her.
Betty's phone rings and she pulls it out, turning away.
I adjust myself on the armchair, stretching and being careful not to hit Archie.

"Hey, where are you? Have you gotten my messages?
Oh my god, what?" Betty stops talking, "Wait, Jug—"
She turns to us and I sit up straighter.

"Dónde está?" I ask, leaning forward.

"Southside High." She answers and all our eyes widen.
"He said it's where he belongs and no one wants him here."

"Oh. Wait. Hold up y'all. I need to change out of my Northside outfit and into my Southside outfit. Meet me outside the Southside?"
I rush home and change into this:

I took my time with my hair and makeup and switched my tacónes (heels) to my black converse and high socks.

I traded my skirt for dickies and a black belt,
a white tank top, a red and black lumberjack long-sleeve shirt and I applied light red lipstick to the inside of my lips and the dark red to the outside.
And I finally put big gold hoops on each of my ears.

I was finally ready.

"Yo, Carmen! What's taking you so long, loca?"
Manuel yelled from upstairs.

I finally emerged from my room and walked down the stairs with Jughead, Betty, Veronica and Archie all looking at me with different expressions on their faces:

Betty - Glee, Veronica - Shocked but happy,
Jughead - Shocked and Archie - Turned on (Seeing as he bit his lip)

"Who are you and what happened to my best friend, Carmencita?" Veronica asks.

"Veronica, it's still me chica. I just needed to switch up my outfit and makeup." I tell her.
"Ey, fool! Don't look at me!" I bark at Archie, who was unaffected by my outburst and found it cute and hilarious.

"FP warned me Jughead would cut himself off,
go to the dark side." Archie groans.

"Guys, we cannot let him do that," I argue and we all share a glance before Archie's nodding confidently, a second later Veronica, Manuel and Betty do the same.
We run out of the student lounge, almost sliding into the wall before we ran out of the school entirely.

~~~~

We run into Southside High, straight through the metal detectors, until it went off because of my belt buckle and I was being inspected for any belly rings or nose rings and I was even being told to raise my arms up, which I did while I looked pissed and rolled my eyes.

And after I went through airport security, I was finally able to go through.

"Where would he be?" Veronica asks and I share a look with Betty, Archie and Manuel.

"Cafeteria." The four of us agree before walking in it's direction. I see Jughead sitting with a crowd of Southside Serpent kids, all stone-faced before Jughead says something and they burst out laughing.
We stand behind him, staring for a moment.

"Jug?" Betty says quietly and he turns, his smile falls as he looks at all of us.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asks, looking at us in absolute confusion.

I step up, so that we were face-to-face.

"A better question would be, ey fool! What'chu doin' here?" I demand in anger, crossing my arms.
The bandana and makeup making me look dangerous and menacing.

"Hey, babe. You look hot. Why don't you ditch Red here and go on a date with me?" A boy who had a Serpent neck tattoo asked flirtatiously.

"Hell no! Who do you think I am? A desperate ho?!"
I fire at him.

~~~~

I smile as I watch Betty hug Jughead, crossing my arms. I really wanted this to work for them, they both deserved to be happy as well as my brother and Veronica.

"They're each other's soulmates." I hear Veronica tell Archie and Manuel, who was smart enough to wear a parka over his tank top and lumberjack fleece and I glance over.
"Good for them, don't you think? Archie, what is it?"

My phone pings and I pull it out, seeing it's a text from Cheryl. I open the message.

"Ronnie, Manny..." He trails when I gasp, reading the message. They look over at me.

"Guys, I just got a text from Cheryl." I could feel my hand shaking, looking between them before holding up my phone:

"Thanks for being my friend, I'm going to be with Jason now. Where would Cheryl possibly go to be with Jason?"

"Sweetwater River." Veronica mutters.

"We need to go, vámonos," I say quickly and they all nod. I walk forward:

"Betty, Jugito!" They turn: "We have to go, now!"

~~~~

"Cheryl!" I shout, the six of us trudging through the snow.

"Cheryl!" Veronica calls out.
We reach the edge of the forest, staring out at the frozen wasteland that is Sweetwater River during winter.

"She's not here." Archie mutters but I scan the land before gasping, pointing out at the snowy ice.

"There she is!" I shout.

"Cheryl!" All of us scream, I see her banging on the snow, her fiery red hair the only thing keeping her from blending in with all the snow.
We run out towards the lake, crying out her name.

"Cheryl, stop! What are you doing?!" Jughead demands.

"Wait, wait!" Archie stops us. "Wait, Jug! The ice."

"He's right. Too much weight and we'll all go under." Jughead agrees.

"Cheryl!" Veronica cries out.

"Cereza, please!" Cheryl stands, turning to face us.
"Just come to the shore and we'll figure this all out together, okay?" I suggest and then all too suddenly, the ice breaks beneath her. "No!" I scream.

"Cheryl!" All of us scream as we ignore the danger,
running full speed on to the ice, through the packed snow. Archie and I lead the way, running ahead of everybody else.
We look at the broken ice Cheryl had fallen through,
seeing Sweetwater River still running rapidly below all the ice and snow.

"The current has her." Jughead admits.
"Spread out, spread out!" He commands and we all split up, dusting snow off the ice.
I stop when I see the fiery red hair that's become such a huge part of my life.

"Archie! She's here!" I shout and he runs over, sliding to my side.

"Carmi move!" He commands, and I stand but I tell him: "Hell no! I ain't letting you get all the glory!"
He protests, but I give him a murderous look.

He slams his fist on to the ice and I stomp.

"Archie, be careful!" Veronica commands.

"Carmen, cuídate mucho!" Manuel commands in Spanish. He continues slamming his fist on to the ice, his blood splattering against it while my feet were getting wet.
"Somebody help!" Veronica begs, while Manuel holds her back to prevent her from falling through as well.

Archie continues to slam his fist against the ice as well as my feet and it shatters, his blood mixing with the water below. I run beside him, helping him drag Cheryl out.
I cradle her against me, listening for her breath.
Nothing. Ay Dios mío.

I lay her down, pinching her nose and opening her mouth before performing CPR.
I pull away, pressing my hands against her chest.
No reaction. I pinch her nose again, lowering my mouth to hers.
I pull away and she chokes, spitting out water.
We all gasp.

"Cheryl!" I gasp, hugging her tightly. Archie moved over, bringing her into his arms before we all move quickly to get her somewhere safe.

~~~~

"Verónica wanted to take you to her house, it's much bigger. Pero, uh, her mom's on edge right now, so hope you enjoy my house, since it's down the street from Archie and Betty's." I apologize, draping a huge panther-printed cobija over Cheryl's shoulders.

She sat in front of the huge fireplace that my tía Marísol is so proud of and built for me, cradling a mug of Abuelita's Hot Chocolate in her lap.

"It's fine. It's actually kinda nice here. Your dog's adorable." She admits, petting my family's two-year-old brown and white English bulldog.

"Yeah, Cariña's pretty sweet... That wasn't meant to be a joke." I admit and Cheryl smiles weakly.
"So, I was thinking, you should come to the Jubilee with us. So you aren't alone?
You can borrow one of my cousin, Paloma's dresses, you actually do have a similar figure so it would work." I offer but Cheryl shakes her head.

"I'll be okay. I'm gonna head back to Thornhill after this, so, thank you but I'll need to pass." She admits and I smile weakly, sitting beside her and bringing my knees to my chest.

"It's fine. I just thought it'd be best if I offered." I admit before looking back at the crackling fire.
"I never expected to be here, you know?"

"Mm?" She asks, looking over.

"I mean, we hated each other at the beginning of the year. Now, look at us." I joke, waving a hand between us and she smiles.

"Look at us." She repeats before looking back at the fire, sipping her chocolate.

"Cheryl, I want you to know you can come to me for anything, okay?" I ask, setting a hand on her bicep.
"I'm here for you, whenever, wherever."

"I appreciate it, Carm-Carm." She assures me, hugging me tightly and I return the embrace.
I heard a high whistle and turn, Manuel wearing a thick jacket and holding my keys to my Camaro.

"Hey, we gotta go if you want to get to the Jubilee on time. Vámonos." He admits.

"Okay." I push myself up. "Call me later chica, okay? As soon as you get home." I request and Cheryl smiles, nodding.

"I will. Good luck," She offers and I smile before grabbing my jacket and nodding at Manuel who opens the door for me and leads me out, shutting it behind us.

~~~~

I adjust my skirt, walking with the Pussycats while sulking. I wore a black collar long sleeve crop top which displayed my cleavage, a silver mini skirt and ankle heels, my hair pulled into a bun, glitter eye shadow dusting my eyes and red lipstick.
We enter the room to see Archie and Veronica kissing, which pissed me off and turned my mouth from a smile to a scowl.

Josie clears her throat and they turn to face us, Veronica smiling broadly when she sees my cat ears. Even though I wanted to wipe the smile from her face. And Archie grinned broadly at my outfit. Most specifically, my crop top.

I run off, still steaming mad and Archie runs after me to the student lounge, the same way he ran after Betty during lunch on the first day of school and grabs me by the waist so that I'm facing him.

"Wait! Carmen, I'm sorry. That was a mistake!" Archie apologizes.

"What! That you kissed Verónica or sorry that you got caught? You know that Manuel likes her and you're just going to ruin his chance with her!"
I yelled, trying not to cry because of the eye makeup.

"Look, Carmi, I messed up okay. I never meant to hurt you or the bro code with Manny. Now, how about I kiss you so that we're even?" Archie admits.

He walked closer to me, gently caressed my face and pulled me towards him for a head-spinning kiss.

When we pulled apart, I was like: "Whoa!"

We both returned to the music room and our cheeks were flushed. Not from blushing, but from the kiss.

"Carmen told me what happened with Cheryl.
I've reconsidered something. About your song." Josie admits and Archie smiles widely.

~~~~

"Welcome, one and all, to Riverdale's 75th anniversary Jubilee celebration!" Mayor McCoy announces and everybody in the audience applauds.

"I couldn't be any more thrilled to announce my daughter Josie and her Pussycats, as they perform alongside our local hero, Archie Andrews, and their new member and one of our other heroes, Carmen Cortez!" More applause as we walk on stage.

"Hi, everyone! We're switching things up tonight.
We are singing a song that my boy, Archie Andrews, wrote. So..." Josie steps back and Archie steps up to the main mic. I stand with Josie, Melody, and Veronica by a mic, Valerie on her keyboard before the song began.

"Every moment we're together is a moment I remember ~" Archie sings before we join in.

"My love my heart ~ I wanna share it with you~ When it seems too hard to bear, I'll be here, I'll be there~ I wanna share it with you~ I wanna share it with you~"
We finish, the crowd applauds. Archie, Veronica and the Pussycats step off the stage as Manuel approaches her with a beautiful bouquet of red roses and she blushes as he kisses her on the cheek.

Betty approaches and I smile at her, leading her to the podium while she mouths that I look great as we stand side by side.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We'd like to thank Mayor McCoy for inviting us to speak on this historic day. Seventy-five years of Riverdale." Betty states happily when I see Jughead enter.
I look at Betty and she smiles. We look back at the crowd.

"But what is Riverdale?" I ask. "It's the people, verdad? You, me, our amigos, our neighbors.
Riverdale is Archie Andrews." I hear a bit of applause.
"Riverdale is Josie McCoy." I look to the side and see Josie smile at me and I return it.

"Manuel Cortez is Riverdale." Betty admits, looking down at him in the audience with Veronica, my brother smiling at us and winking.
"Kevin Keller is Riverdale. Veronica Lodge, she's Riverdale. But you know who else is Riverdale?"
Betty asks, a few in the crowd looking confused by our question.

"FP Jones, who we were so quick to blame for the murder of Jason Blossom. Jughead Jones is Riverdale, the very soul of Riverdale." I admit, looking out at my cousin who still stood beside the door.

"Without him, we may not have ever found out what happened to Jason. And yet how do we thank him? By banishing him." Betty admits.

"Which is what we do when the truth gets too ugly in Riverdale. The truth is that Clifford Blossom was also Riverdale. If we don't face the reality of who and what we are," I begin, Betty, taking over.

"If we keep lying to ourselves and keeping secrets from each other then what happened to Jason could happen again.
Or, God forbid, something even worse.
Riverdale must do better. We must do better."
Betty finishes. Silence, that's all you heard.

Until Jughead began clapping, the entire audience following, applause filling the room as everybody stood. Betty and I share a look, smiling before looking back out at the crowd.

~~~~

*Jughead*

"To Archie Andrews, who saved the cheerleader and the town." Veronica toasts, raising her milkshake as the six of us sat in a booth at Pop's.

"Uh, Archie wasn't the only one who saved her, mi amor." Manuel reminds Veronica, while she snuggled up against him.

"You know what, actually, I think that was Betty's and Carmi's speech." Archie admits and they both smile at him, Betty's sweetly and Carmen's flirty.

"Here, here to Betty Cooper and Carmen Cortez!" Veronica toasts.

"Cheers." Betty announces.

"Cheers." We agree, all of us clinking glasses.

We had many milkshakes that night, and we all felt that as dangerous as the world around us had become, here, at least in this booth, we were safe.

~~~~

*Carmen*

"You did amazing tonight." Mom tells me as we walk up the stairs to her new apartment, my brother trailing behind.

"You think so?" I ask and she nods.

"You and that Cooper girl, you work well together."
She admits and I smile.

"Yeah, Betty's my sister to the end." I admit and she chuckles.

"Alice and I were like that once." She admits and I glance over.

"What happened?" I ask and she sighs.

"We uh, we hit a wall is all." She shrugs and I go to ask when she slows. "The hell...?" She demands quietly and I follow her gaze to see a group of Serpents and Sureños outside her door.

"Madre de Díos." I whisper when they turn, seeing us as we approach. My mom stands in front of me as we met them halfway.

"Jimena Cortez?" One asks.

"That's me." She answers, hands shoved in her jacket pockets.

"That yours and Javi's daughter and FP's niece?"
The same asks she sighs.

"Son of a—Yes, she is." She answers and they hold out an old jacket, which was combined with a Serpent and a pit bull. She furrows her brows.

"How'd you get that?" She takes it and I see it's a Serpent and a Sureños jacket.

"Gift from Javi." He answers and I stand beside my mom now. The Serpents and The Sureños look between us both.

"FP took care of us, we're gonna take care of you two." My eyes widen.

"If a Serpent is killed or imprisoned, their family will be taken care of." I remember, looking between mom and them.

"You remember the laws." The Serpent guesses nodding but my mom looks between us.

"What does he mean you remember? Why would he know that?" She demands and I blink before I realize.
She thought Mariana had just told me the laws, she didn't know other Serpents knew me.

"Because I completed the trials when I was fourteen." I admit and she says nothing as she stares at me, her brows furrowed and her fingers digging into the leather of her jacket.

~~~~

*Archie*

I enter Pop's, smiling when I see Carmen at my dad's booth, taking the menus from him before she smiled flirtatiously at me and blowing me a kiss, returning behind the counter.

"Hey, Casanova, I, uh, ordered your usual." Dad assures me.

"Thanks, dad. I'm just gonna go wash my hands." I admit and he nods before I walk to the bathroom.
I wash my hands, looking up at the mirror.
Then I heard the shouting.

"Who's in charge here?! Where's the safe?! A man's voice responds.

"There is no safe!" Pops cries out.

"Let him go, pendejo!" Carmen demands, attempting to mask her fear by being tough.

"You got a safe. Show me where it is! Where's the safe, old man?!" The voice demands.

"There ain't no safe!" Pops shouts.

"Show me where the safe is!" I walk out, hiding behind the screen glass. I see Carmen on the ground, a dark welt growing beside her eye, getting her phone out and calling her gang for reinforcements.
On the counter was a man, holding a gun to Pop's head. It all went silent.
I look at my dad but he shakes his head before rising.
The masked man releases Pop Tate, pointing the gun at my dad before the doors burst open and Mr. Cortez, the Sureños and the Serpents all go in and start giving orders to get Pop to safety and wail on the masked man.

"Give me your wallet!" He demands. One of the members of the Sureños didn't like that.

I ignore all right thoughts, running out to my dad.
The gunshot rang out, Carmen's scream following while the robber was thrown outside and they continued to wail on him.

"Papi, adonde vas?" Carmen asks her father in Spanish.

"Nada! Stay here con Archie!" Javier yelled out.

Carmen joins me on the floor with my dad, while he continues to bleed out.

Meanwhile, Veronica is at home while she's wearing Manuel's black tank top and her panties.

"So, how was your night?" Hermione Lodge asks while Veronica pours herself some Mimosa and some fancy breakfast.

"Great! Manniekins is so sweet." Veronica says, while Manuel felt the same way while he laid in bed shirtless, his abs perfectly on display and smiling.

Then he got a text from Veronica, inviting him over for breakfast and for Hermione to meet him.

He accepts and he showers and gets dressed and drives to the Pembrooke where he's greeted by Smithers, who tells him that Veronica and Hermione are waiting for him.

~~~~

*Jughead*

Imagine this instant, frozen in time. People will look back at this as the exact moment that last bit of Riverdale's innocence finally died. When the darkness won.
Marked by an act of violence, that was anything but random.

____________________________________

A/N: I'm finally done with this episode.

I'm sorry that I'm prolonging the steamy scene. But it will come.