Valentina

The students' room- or as I like to call it, our very own Common Room- is packed with all kinds of people. The jocks and cheerleaders, me included- are sitting on the sofas by the center of the room, while the rest of the students- considered outcasts- stand by the corner, either talking among themselves or sending my group cold glances every now and then.

Should I remind you I am one of the popular kids?

Veronica and Betty brought Kevin to the 'evil side' of the room, and have been engaged in a conversation ever since they came in.

I'm currently sitting next to Reggie, his hand grasping mine, both sitting on top of his leg. I have no idea how this happened but he decided to grab my hand as soon as I sat down.

"And Sheriff Keller's grilling me, Mantle the Magnificent. 'Cause I'd want Blossom dead. When he was, like, the only good quarterback we had." Reggie nods his head in my direction as if he's speaking to me. And only me. "And speaking of offensive tight-ends, I should've sent the cops to you, Moose. Because here's another unsolved mystery. What exactly were you and Kevin doing at the river, huh? Or does being with the sheriff's son give you a free pass? Keller?"

His two girl friends say something to him and he gives a small shrug back at them. His face says it all.

"I don't care what he says." Kevin says louder than his average tone.

"I mean, let's think about it. If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right?" The boy's hand tightens around mine as he speaks. "Now let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic Internet troll, too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak, like Jughead?"

I blink furiously, looking up at Reggie while biting my lower lip not to say anything rude do him. Who is he to accuse Jughead of something like that?

The jocks around us laugh, including Reggie and Cheryl. Archie- who's standing by the vending machine- shares a look with me and I shake my head.

There's nothing we can do once the kings and queens of Riverdale start mocking the outcasts. In this case, we are the royalty, and Jughead is the outcast.

"What was it like, Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason?" Reggie continues, his hand clutching mine. "You didn't do stuff to the body, did you? Like after?"

Jughead's calm facet drops, and anger drops from his pores.

"It's called necrophilia, Reggie, can you spell it?"

I choke on my own spit as I laugh, remembering when I asked Jughead the same think after Cheryl's first speech regarding the semi-formal dance. The memory is vivid behind my eyes and I smile at how smug Jughead looks.

My amusement at Reggie's angry stance and Jughead's smirk is short lived, as Reggie jumps from the couch, releases his hand from mine and lunges at Jughead.

"Come here, you little-"

"Hey shut the hell up, Reggie!" I yell as I follow him, pulling his arm to my chest, trying to prevent him from hurting Jughead.

Reggie doesn't seem to notice it's me who's holding his arm because he sends a blow my way. His fist is millimeters away from my face, I close my eyes as I can't protect my face from the blow.

Someone else grabs my waist and pulls me back in time to avoid Reggie's punch.

"Boys." Veronica stands and warns.

"Archie." I open my eyes and look up at him, as he positions me behind his body and shoves Reggie back.

"Why do you care, Valentina?" Reggie looks at me with fire in his eyes. "Don't tell me you helped him with the body?"

"Leave them alone." Archie answers and looks back at me. "And don't touch Valentina, did you see what you were about to do?"

"Sorry." He realizes what he was about to do and apologizes. But soon turns back to the topic at hand. "Holy crap. Did you and Donnie Darko kill him together? Was it some sort of pervy, blood brother thing?"

Everything happens so fast.

One second Archie and Reggie are staring down at each other, both showing their own mean faces and clenched fists, and the other Archie jumps on Reggie, punches being thrown around.

Reggie ends up knocking the hell out of Archie. Only one single punch from Reggie and Archie is out. I kneel beside him and pull Reggie's body from the redhead's inanimate one.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I yell loudly and slap Reggie's face. "He is your friend, dickhead."

Jughead and Kevin help me out, lifting Archie from the floor and carrying him out of the room. I grab his bag and shoulder it, following the boys close behind. Veronica and Betty don't waste a second and run after us.

"Where are you taking him?" I ask, walking faster that them and intercepting their path. They're going towards the parking lot. We have to take him to the school's nurse.

"We can get him home in a few minutes, he'll be fine." Jughead is the one who answers and I scoff.

"That was not your brightest idea, buddy." I lay my hands up on his chest as I prevent him from walking further down the hall. "We have to get him to the nurse's office. Now."

We share a look for a minute, and he sighs in frustration. Guess I won this round. Smiling with satisfaction plastered on my face, I lead them down the hall and knock on the door. The three boys get in while Betty and Veronica pull me by the arms and swirl me around to face them.

"Hey." Betty greets with a sweet smile. "Do you have a minute?"

I open my mouth to reply I don't have much time left until my next class begins but I'm interrupted by the bell. Or- as someone once said- I was saved by the bell.

"Sorry, Betty." I walk backwards after she catches Archie's bag I threw at her. "We'll talk later, okay?"

She lifts her thumbs in the air and flashes me her cute smile. This girl is gorgeous and doesn't even know it.

I meet Cheryl along the way to the classroom and she stops by my side, grabbing my hand and looking me deep in the eyes.

"I need your help, come to my house after classes so we can get ready for the pep rally and talk." She pleads and I don't know what to say.

Ever since Jason's death, Cheryl changed. Yes, she is still one of Riverdale's biggest bitches, but she has been a little distant. We don't have sleepovers at each other's houses anymore, we don't go to Pop's and talk about our lives... It's like I don't matter to her anymore. It's like I'm just another ghost she decided to push aside and never talk to again.

Until this very moment. She came to me, she was the one who took the initiative for us to do something together. And I couldn't be happier.

"Is everything okay?" The joy I felt for having my best friend back evaporates as I examine the look on her face.

"No, everything is horrible." She throws her arms around me and clutches her body against mine, hers vibrating with soft sobs. "I need Jason."

"I know what that feels like." I whisper to her and caress her hair. "You'll be alright soon, we're going to get through this together."

"You promise?"

"I swear." I hug her once again to my chest and smile when she leans back and I find a ghost of a smile on her face. "I'll meet you outside the school after classes, you can drive me here for the pep rally."

"Sure." Her fake smile is back, and I sigh. She is back to her cold self. Colder than usual self, I mean.

"See you later." I wave as I walk backwards, watching her walk away from me on her characteristic feminine way, swaying her hips and turning her head towards every cute boy she finds.

She almost looks like the old Cheryl. Almost.

ΨΨΨ

"May I have a word with you, Valentina?" Betty comes to my side by the end of the last class of the day.

"I really need to get ready for tonight's pep rally."

"I promise it won't take long." She flashes her puppy eyes and I sigh. "You did say we would talk later. And it's later."

I'm a sucker for puppy eyes.

"Fine." I grab my bag and books, following her blonde hair jumping up and down on her ponytail. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." She looks at me from the side of her eye and smiles. "I promise you'll like it."

"Okay, girl, I trust you." I shrug and follow her.

It is only when we are right outside the school's newspaper's office that I look at Betty and almost run away from this place.

"No, Betty." I turn around to leave but she's faster, grabbing my arm and closing the door behind us as she almost throws me inside.

"Yes, Valentina." Betty smiles and looks at something behind my back. "I made it, she's here."

Looking back at whoever she was talking to, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. There stands Kevin, a big smile on his face and a chocolate cupcake in his hands.

"We had to make a small research but we found some interesting things about you, Valentina Rose Adams." Kevin takes small steps towards me, eyeing me carefully. "You are a talented River Vixen- probably even better than Cheryl, but that's not acceptable in her eyes- and chocolate is your favorite thing in the world besides..."

"Writing." Betty finishes as Kevin hands me the cupcake. "Consider this our formal invitation."

"Invitation?" I ask, cupping the delicious treat in my hands and looking around for an explanation.

"We want to you as the newest member of the school's newspaper." Both jump in the air and wave their arms around their heads in a very confusing movement.

"Why?" That's the only thing I ask. It's not like they are wrong, I truly enjoy writing, but this is something I don't share with anyone.

"Well." Betty wraps her arms around my shoulders. "We need your help with something."

"Clearly, I got that as soon as Kevin smiled and handed me the cupcake."

Kevin giggles and I glare at him, eyebrows raised and arms crossed for a bigger impact on my victim- this time, Kevin.

"We know you want to solve Jason Blossom's mystery as bad as we want." Betty pulls me a little closer to her side. "And we know we can do this, but only with your help. Kevin and I are not as skilled in writing as you are. I asked your literature teacher to email me some of your work and it was beautiful."

"Betty!" I slap her hand away from my shoulders. "That was not appropriate."

"I'm sorry, but we really needed that." Kevin says.

"And how am I supposed to help? I'm not a cop, and I surely don't know what happened to Jason." I advert my eyes to the ground and sigh. "So I can't help you."

"The excerpt I read from your teacher was absolutely brilliant." Betty paces in front of me. "You created a beautifully realistic universe, with a killer, a victim and a town of innocent people thriving to find the murdered. Yet, they didn't know the killer was among them, lurking in the shadows as everyone tried to search in the light."

Betty stops in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulders. This time I don't push her away. I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding and look at her.

"And that's exactly what we need. Your imagination. With it, we can figure out possible scenarios and killers. You can do this. I trust you, I believe in you." Betty shakes my shoulders. "And Jason can finally rest in peace after we find the killer."

I ponder on my options. I can shake my head, eat the cupcake and get the hell out of here. Or I can stay and avenge my best friend in the best way possible: finding whoever killed him in such a terrible way.

I can either be a coward and stay away, or be the hero I always wanted to be. I can finally do something productive and make my parents proud. I can finally look back and be amazed by everything I've accomplished.

And maybe- just maybe- make Viktor proud.

"Okay." I whisper, my eyes closed as terrifying images flash behind my eyes. "I'm in."

They cheer and dance around me, arms hugging me to their bodies as I keep my eyes closed. I know I'll cry if I open them, I have to compose myself and go to Cheryl.

"Guys?" I ask, this time completely calm. "I have to go now."

"Oh, it's alright." Betty smiles and hands me a small bag. "Everything you'll need is in there: a copy of this room's key, some pens and notebooks and your own Blue and Gold card."

I smile, noticing how happy they both look.

"Bye." I wave and leave the two smiling kids behind.

Finding Cheryl is easy, mainly because she is the only redhead- besides Archie- and the parking lot is only adorned by my car and hers.

"Shall we go?" I ask Cheryl as she links our arms.

"Actually- I have to talk to you now."

"Oh." I stop walking and eye her suspiciously.

There's no one around us. The "meeting" with Betty and Kevin took almost one hour, meaning everyone is already gone, leaving me and Cheryl alone in the parking lot.

"Girl..." I begin but she shushes me and looks down to her feet.

"Jason..." Cheryl starts and I feel a tug on my heart. "He didn't die-"

"Cheryl, please stop." I cover my ears with my hands and cringe. "He is dead."

"He is, I know that." She sniffs. "But he didn't die on the Fourth of July like everyone thinks he did."

"What?"

"I helped him. He wanted to leave this town and I helped him. We had a plan, he was supposed to contact me after a few hours but he never did. And then you found his body and I knew something happened to him..."

"You forged his death? You helped Jason forge his own death?"

"Yes." Cheryl says, defeated.

My heart breaks.

"I'm sorry, Cheryl." A sob escapes my mouth and I quickly cover it, walking backwards towards my car.

The tears don't stop flowing down my face as I drive home. No one greets me as I enter the dark house, not even my mother who stands by the kitchen with a glass of wine in front of her.

I lock myself in my room and look at me bed, the uniform I'm supposed to wear for the pep rally neatly folded on top of the silky sheets.

Grabbing the one thing I know can make me feel better right now, I leave the serenity of my bedroom and walk down the corridor, stopping in front of a familiar door.

I haven't been here in weeks.

Careful not to alert my mom to what I'm about to do, I open the door as slowly as I can, looking at the stairs before entering and closing the door.

It hasn't changed one bit, my mother leaving every single spot as clean as always, nothing out of place. Just like he left then.

Knowing I can only be at peace in his room, I lay on his bed and close my eyes. I can't stay here forever, the pep rally is in a few hours and I have to get ready.

But his scent still lingers on the pillow, and I can feel him next to be as I burry my head on his pillow. Oh, how I miss him.

"Vik..." I whisper, sobbing silently. "Why did you leave me?"

ΨΨΨ

The marching band plays as the River Vixens stroll by, every single girl wearing the matching blue and gold uniforms. I stand back to admire the view, all my friends and classmates gathered at the football field to honor Jason's memory, along with some of the most importante people of Riverdale- the Blossoms and Adams included.

I still haven't talked to anyone- besides my parents- about finding his body. It's not like I have a lot of people I trust with the information but it would be good to relieve the pain I'm feeling.

One by one, hot tears warm my cold cheeks, and I let them be. There's no one here to impress. At least not now. My parents are sitting by the Blossoms on the bleachers, exchanging smiles and kind words. How they are so happy and carefree right now is still something I can't quite understand.

"Valentina?"

I turn around. There stands Jughead in his emo glory, staring down at me with a deep frown on his face.

"What?" I quickly run my fingers under my eyes to erase the trace of he tears I've been releasing for the past minutes.

"It's time, you know?" He motions to the cheerleaders standing by the front of the stage, only my spot unoccupied.

"Oh..." I whisper and smile through the tears threatening to fall from my eyes.

"Come here." Jughead opens his eyes and I don't think twice before falling in the warmth of his embrace. "What's wrong?"

"Besides the overwhelming fear that anyone I love may be taken away from me forever?" I lay my head on his chest and breathe in his sexy scent. "Jason didn't die on the Fourth of July."

He looks down at me with worried eyes, but behind that sweet worry I can see the calculative eyes of "Jughead the writer/mystery solver".

"Before you get into any conclusions, it's not that bad, believe me." I look back at the stage, where Mayor McCoy is getting ready to announce her daughter's band. "I promise I'll tell you later, alright?"

He opens his mouth to argue but gives up and nods his head, rolling his eyes at me and not letting go of my body, his arms and warmth still wrapped around me like a blanket.

"You still have the same phone number, right?" I nod at his question and he smiles. "Get your butt out there and do your thing."

I playfully punch his arm as I grab my pompons from the ground and jog until I'm right next to Veronica, so we can start our routine as Josie and her Pussycats sing one of their songs.

We dance our hearts out, nothing else matters but showing everybody how great we are at cheerleading and how well Cheryl Blossom is doing under the light and eyes of every citizen of Riverdale. How Valentina Rose Adams is still recovering from her best friend's lost that hits home. Hard. How everyone is examining our every movement, not out of pure enjoyment but to criticize us tomorrow.

When the song ends and Josie belts out the final note, it's time for out last move. I lean on Veronica and Betty's shoulders as they spin me around for a few seconds. After stopping in front of Josie, I jump over her shoulders and land like a ballerina near her, bowing at the cheering crowd.

"All right, you all ready? Let's make some noise!" Cheryl yells in the microphone.

It is now my turn to announce the football team's entrance. I look at the boys and smile, laughing at Brett's attempt to impress me, showing me his big guns.

"Put your hands together for the Riverdale Bulldogs!" I clap my hands as the microphone is taken from me.

Archie's is the one who stands forward first. Time seems to slow down as he jogs in front of us and the crowd of excited and hormonal girls, who are sweating at the sight of the boys' bodies.

He looks a lot like Jason.

Shaking my head to erase said thought, I find a certain boy on the left of the bleachers, eyeing me with a small smile in his beautiful face.

As my eyes lock with Jughead's, a gasp comes from behind me and I look back in time to see my best friend running away from everyone- towards the nearest school building. I let my pompons fall to the stage and follow her.

She doesn't stop running, and she's faster than me. I lose her as soon as she enters the building. There aren't many places she can go to in here. There are a couple bathrooms, the football team's locker room and the gym itself. 

"Cheryl?" I call her name and hear her crying on the nearest bathroom. "Cheryl, what is it? What happened?"

"Jason." She whispers, sobbing softly. "He's gone."

"I know. I know he is." I pat her back as I kneel in front of her.

"No, you don't. You don't understand." A pang of guilt and pain hits my chest. Yes, I know, yes, I understand. "He was supposed to come back."

"He's gone, Cheryl." I feel my own eyes sting with unshed tears. "But I'm not."

"I'm alone. I'm alone." She whispers.

I let her cry, knowing all too well how painful this is for her. She suddenly looks up at me with her large eyes as if she is waiting for my answer.

"You're not alone. I'm here."

I wrap my arms around her waist and she does the same with her arms around my shoulders. Her sobs are high and heartbreaking near my ear, and I have to bite my own tongue to prevent me from crying my eyes out with her.

A small cough is heard from the door and we both look up. Veronica is there, a small smile sent our way.

"I saw you running away, so I decided to see what was wrong." She sits in the bench next to my best friend, and I don't change my position. "How are you, Cheryl?"

"How do you think I am?" Her arms are still around me. "Jason was my soulmate... I can't live without him."

Veronica doesn't answer; she hasn't known Cheryl for as long as I have so she doesn't know how to react to her unexpected confessions. I- on the other hand- am an expert when it comes to soothing her troubled mind.

"You're not alone, baby." I whisper, running my fingers through her hair in a motherly way. "I am here, and so is Veronica, and Betty, and all our friends."

"All our friends..." Cheryl shorts. "I can see I don't have loyal friends- besides you of course. No one came to help me but you."

"That's what best friends are for, Cherry." I use her childhood nickname- a nickname Viktor and I gave her when we were kids. "Don't forget that."

She smiles at me, yet I can see a ray of hope behind her sad eyes. Her ringtone interrupts our moment and I giggle at the sound. 'Evil like me'- from that Disney movie Cheryl loves- starts playing on her phone and I know exactly who is calling her.

"I have to go home, my mom is calling me." Cheryl takes her phone from her pocket and sighs, checking the screen.

"That's one heck of a ringtone." Veronica comments and I laugh, happiness filling every inch of my soul.

"Hashtag Evil Mom." I clap my hands at my own words. "We better go, girls."

The three of us walk back to the field, not partially empty. My parents and the Blossoms are still sitting on the same spots, smiling and shaking hands with some other socially talented people of Riverdale.

"Are you ready to go, Valentina?" My dad asks when I pause by their side.

"Yes." I nod and turn to the Blossoms, shaking their hands with a smile on my face. "Hello, how are you?"

"Valentina, we saw you up there, you were amazing." Mr. Blossom claps his hands in joy and I let out a giggle.

"Thank you, Mr. Blossom."

"We better go, Valentina is probably tired from all the exercise she has been doing." Mom grabs my hand and guides me to our car, our very own personal driver entering the driver's seat.

Jughead stands by the side with Archie, and when his eyes meet mine, I mouth 'call me' and put my hand on my ear to mimic a phone. He nods and I advert my eyes back to the car.

The trip home is short and completely silent. Neither one of us interrupts the silence, all of us lost in thought. The truth is, I wanted someone special to be there tonight, but I know it will never happen.

As soon as the car stops in front of our front door, I say goodbye to my parents and take a shower, not waiting a second before clutching my phone in my hands and waiting for his call.

Minutes turn to hours. Mom and dad walked past my door to their own bedroom an hour ago. It's past midnight and no sign of Jughead. Tired of waiting for something I know is not coming, I set my phone down on the bedside table and lay on my bed, wearing only my underwear and a white shirt for bed.

It takes a while for my eyes to close and sleep to take me away from this painful world. But when it does, I fall asleep with tears falling down my face.

Jughead didn't call me. And now I have to live with the fact Jason Blossom forged his own death and didn't even tell me. His best friend. I have this information for myself, I can't vent and talk to anyone. My parents would definitely tell the Blossoms and I don't think Cheryl would want that.

So I keep it to myself, my once frozen heart turning back to ice, because the one who was warming it up doesn't even care.

ΨΨΨ

The chief enters our classroom first thing in the morning, Principal Weatherbee right be his side. Out of the blue, Cheryl stands from her spot next to me and sticks her arms out like she wants to be handcuffed.

"You're here for me, aren't you? Because of the autopsy?" She says, guilt laced with her every word.

"We don't need to do this in front of your classmates, Cheryl." Principal Weatherbee clears his throat, clearly uncomfortable.

"It's all right, Principal Weatherbee. They'll find out soon enough." She walks in front of me and I grab her hand before she can go away.

"Now, that won't be necessary."

"Wait, Cheryl, find out what?" I ask, my throat so dry I'm afraid I'll need twenty glasses of water.

"That I'm guilty." The words leave her mouth.

I gasp, Cheryl's hand no longer in mine. She looks at me with sad eyes. Why?

Because I cry like nobody is watching.

ΨΨΨ

As shocking as those three words were, they were nothing compared to the secrets that Jason's body had given up during its autopsy. That Jason didn't die on July 4th, as we believed, but over a week later.

ΨΨΨ

Here is another chapter! Hope you liked this and the subtle change of plot.... It's going to be exciting, believe me.
So, if you liked this, don't forget to show your support by commenting and voting.
As you can see, I dedicate every chapter to a reader. If you want a chapter dedicated to you, all you have to do is comment and vote. :)
This chapter is dedicated to rafaelcecio. I'll see you guys next time!

Rita