Valentina

It was the ultimate cliffhanger. Clifford Blossom had killed himself. But why?

Life's not an Agatha Christie novel. It's a lot messier. Turns out, maple syrup was a front for his true business. Transporting heroin from Montreal on his trucks. Jason Blossom learned about dear old Dad's drug running, and threatened to expose the truth. Which led to Jason's abduction at the hands of a Southside Serpent named Mustang.

And then to Jason's murder at the hands of his father.

ΨΨΨ

I hide under my covers for the rest of the week. The numbness, the fear, the pain, they're all too much for my to handle. I've been invited to the Jubilee, along with my mother and the rest of our family.

I'm supposed to make a great speech about unity and the disasters that almost destroyed our dear town. I was ready to decline the offer but my brother thought otherwise. With all the tragedies haunting us, we need a bit of fresh air. He believes I have the ability to write a speech that being everyone both faith and joy.

Viktor opens the door to my bedroom and sits by my side. He knows I'm awake. I have been able to sleep for the past few days. Nightmares of Jason's dead body attack every moment of my days, becoming unbearable during the night.

"There's been reports of attacks on the Southside." He starts, holding what sounds like a newspaper in his hands. "People, not just the police, are going after the Serpents. The whole town agrees with Mayor McCoy. Crime is spreading. There's real anger out there, Valentina. We need your speech."

I sigh, throwing the blankets back. It's cold outside the safety and comfort of my bed. I still don't look at my brother. The reminder of he past week's events is something I don't want to face, and I know for sure that Viktor wants to talk about it.

"I also heard something about your friend, Jughead." His hand rests on my shoulder, and I know what he's about to say won't be good. I brace myself for what's coming. "They're saying he has to live on the Southside, with a foster family, and then transfer to Southside High."

"What?" I manage to say in my surprise state.

"Yeah. I heard it after I visited FP Jones this morning." His words surprise me even more.

"Why would you visit FP?"

"So I could ask him about your father."

ΨΨΨ

School. Another dreadful day filled with suspicious glances and annoying whispers. I feel their eyes on me, but that doesn't stop me from strutting down the hallways like my life is completely normal.

Jughead meets me outside our classroom, standing there alone, his arms crossed in front of his chest and a solemn look on his face. He tries to smile when I reach him but it's a fake one.

"Hello." He lowers his head and plants a kiss on the side of my head. My insides melt at the sweet gesture.

A gasp is heard from behind me, and I quickly turn away from the boy to find my best friend staring at me, her mouth wide open.

"Good morning, Cheryl." I smile, unfazed by her reaction.

"Have you gone to your locker today?" She asks, running her hands through her long hair, not looking me in the eyes.

"I haven't. Is everything okay?"

"No." Cheryl grabs my arms and pulls me away from Jughead. "Come with me."

"Guys, hurry." Kevin calls for us, running in front of Cheryl and I. "It's Valentina's locker."

"Come on, it's bad." Cheryl warns me and I bofe Jughead is running after us.

"What's going on?" I ask, still running with my friends towards my locker.

"Come with us." Veronica appears from the corner, followed by Archie and Betty. The girl send Jughead bad I cold glares.

My feet stop walking, my legs almost giving out beneath me. Written in capital letters with some kind of red spray, "YOUR TIME IS RUNNING OUT" is splattered on my locker. I take a deep breath and then my back to it, ignoring the snickers from everyone around us. Jughead stares at the words in rage, his hands curling next to him.

"Hey, no It's nothing, Jughead, it's just a jerk with a can of spray paint."

"I don't think that's spray paint, okay?"

I ignore his tense state and inspect our surroundings, trying to find someone who looks the least bit guilty. No one. I find no one. Most of the students are laughing, enjoying the little show and taking pictures of my locker.

"This has to stop." Jughead whispers, barely audible over the sound of our classmates' laughter. "I'm sorry."

Feeling his hand on my shoulder, I look up. Jughead isn't looking at me or our friends. He's staring at the locker like it's a replica of the devil. The last thing I expect from him is seeing him walking away from us at a fast speed.

Before any of us can act or call his name, Jughead's head disappears in the ocean of heads around my locker.

I just hope he's okay. I now have to clean this mess and make sure I don't let this incident ruin the rest of my day.

Impossible.

ΨΨΨ

During lunch, we learn that Jughead decided to join the "dark side" and start his new life a few weeks earlier: he managed to transfer schools in less than three hours. He's now a student of Southside High, leaving us completely dumbfounded and scared for his future.

Archie decided to call him and ask why he hadn't joined our table during lunch, and the raven-haired boy dropped the news on us like that. Boom. No warning.

While the trio decides what we should do to help Jughead our of that school and back into his old self, my cellphone chimes from my bag. The screen shines with a call from Cheryl.

"Hello, bombshell." I answer with a smile, but the sound on the other side of the phone is creepy enough to wipe it from my face.

"What's wrong?" Betty asks, noticing the look on my face. Now, Archie and Veronica are paying attention to me as well. 

"Thanks for trying." Cheryl's sobs come from her side of the call, and I close my eyes. "I'm going to be with Jason now."

"Oh, my God, Cheryl!" I yell to the phone but she ends the call before I can ask her anything.

"What?"

"Cheryl, she's-" I start crying, getting up from my seat. "I think she wants to kill herself."

I then proceed to tell them about our brief phone call. We all jump to our feet and run towards my car.

"Where would Cheryl go to be with Jason?" Archie asks, reasoning with us and trying to find a solution, as always.

"Sweetwater River." I whisper.

The place holds a lot of negative memories for me. All of them come back to me at once as Archie drives my car towards the forest. I'm in no way capable of safely driving a car. We stop by Jughead's new school after Betty calling him to explain the situation. He was ready to help as well.

"We have to go! Guys, we have to go!" Once the car comes to a halt near the tall trees, I get out as fast as I can, yelling my best friend's name over and over again. "Cheryl? Cheryl, where are you?"

"Cheryl?" Veronica and Betty yell as loud as they can, along with Archie and Jughead. "Cheryl?"

"She's not here." I cry, yanking at my hair.

We reach the side of the river, now a blanket of white ice. Winter has come, indeed. The cold doesn't bother me as I walk towards the fragile surface, scanning the area.

"Over there!" I yell back to my friends, pointing to the middle of the ice. "She's over there!"

All at once, we yell her name to get her attention. I carefully walk towards her after being pulled back by Jughead. I don't care about the thin layer of ice under my boots, all I care about is Cheryl's safety. I can't let anything happen to her. Not after what happened to Jason.

I have to protect my best friend, because u couldn't protect Jason. I owe him that.

"Cheryl! Cheryl, stop! What are you doing?" I ask, advancing towards her. She doesn't move, only smiling sadly at me, her hands tightly pressed against her cold body.

She's only wearing her thin white dress, the same outfit she wore during the Fourth of July. In memory of her brother, I suppose.

"Wait, wait! Wait, Valentina!" Archie yells behind me and I stop walking. "The ice."

In fact, the ice under my is giving out, small cracks forming beneath my body.

"Too much weight, and we'll all go under." I yell back, holding my hands out to stop them from coming any further. "Cheryl! Cheryl, please."

I'm practically begging her to walk back with me, but she doesn't move. Not does she stop smiling so creepily at me, no real emotion behind it besides sadness. 

"Just come to the shore and we'll figure this out together, okay?" I'm halfway there when she lets out a soft giggle.

The ice under her gives out and her body falls on the large hole, diving into he freezing waters. I don't feel my body anymore, I don't hear the strangled yell that leaves my mouth. I only feel the soreness of my throat after I'm done running across the ice, crouching near he hole. Cheryl's body has advanced a few feet further, and I can't reach her from here.

"No!" I start kicking the ice with my boots and when it doesn't even crack under the pressure, I start using my hands to punch it. "Cheryl! Cheryl!"

My friends reach me and Jughead pulls me back from the ice, holding me in his warm embrace. I look down at my trembling hands, traces of blood running down my knuckles.

"Cheryl!" I continue yelling as Jughead caresses my hair.

"The current has her." He says, his voice solemn.

I manage to escape his arms and start searching her once again over the ice.

"Spread out, spread out!" I tell them, so we can cover more ground. She has to be here somewhere.

"She's here! She's here!" Archie kneels on the ice, using his fists to break the wall separating Cheryl from the surface.

"Archie, be careful!"

"Help! Somebody help!" Desperation can be hear from my voice. I yell on top of my lungs until my head starts spinning. I won't stop until my best friend comes back to me, I can't give up on her. "Archie!"

I look down at the boy, whose hands are now bloodied from the many punches he landed on the ice.

"Come on!" He grunts, finally managing to break the ice. His hands grab Cheryl around the shoulders and I help him take her back to a safe spot by our favorite tree.

I shake her and press on her chest, using my hands to cover her nose and send some fresh air down her lungs. I don't imagine anyone but myself doing this for her. I need to save her, just like she saved me from myself.

Cheryl coughs after a few tries and I sob violently against her body.

"Cheryl." I whisper her name under my breath, tears falling down my face and blurring my vision. "Don't do this to me."

Her small hand covers mine on her face, and I let Archie carry her to the car. Veronica wants to take her to her house, so we can look after her and give her something warm to drink and new clothes.

I stare at Cheryl the entire drive to Veronica's place. My hands stay glued to hers and I don't dare take my eyes off of her, like she's going to disappear if I dare to blink.

Archie carries her upstairs, and Veronica helps her around the house, finding towels and new clothes. After a warm shower, I hold Cheryl against my chest, the two of us sitting in front of the fireplace.

"Cheryl! Hey." Veronica kneels beside us, a mug of got chocolate in her hands. "Hot chocolate? With a little splash of peppermint liqueur."

"Thank you." Cheryl takes it in her hands and welcomes the warmth it provides.

"No problem." Veronica smiles, adjusting the covers around her. "Are you warm enough?"

Cheryl nods and rests her head on my shoulder, slowly sipping the hot chocolate. Hermione Lodge enters her home, stopping to talk to her daughter. They sometimes look back at us, resuming their hushed conversation.

"How are you feeling?" I ask Cheryl, my hand running up and down her hair. "And I want an honest answer, not the canned sugary you're offering everybody else."

"You have a speech to make." She dodges the question and nudges me with her shoulder. "You should be getting ready for it."

I stare at her sad eyes. If only she knew how close to dying she had been. And how close to losing my best friend I had been. I have no idea what I would do without her.

"I know the pain of being doubted by everyone around you, Cheryl." I whisper to her, tears forming behind my eyes. "It ravages the soul. But you're strong. I believe in you and I'm sure you will overcome this."

She smiles at me, both of us letting the tears run freely down our faces. There's no need to hide our pain. But we know we can do those together.

"Together forever?" Cheryl holds her pinky towards me and I wrap mine around hers.

"Always."

ΨΨΨ

Archie sings, Mayor McCoy and Principal Weatherbee give their sweet little speeches and then it's time for me to show the world how the recent events didn't bother me. I'm expected to deliver a heart-warming speech, filled with fairytale like stories and joy.

They're in for a surprise.

The dress my mother brought for this occasion is tight. That's the only word besides "uncomfortable" that I can find to describe it. It wraps around my body like silk, but the fact it accentuates every curve of my body doesn't particularly appeal to me.

My friends come backstage to give me one final hug. They all stare at me with pride. They know how awful these past few weeks have been. And they know how important this is to me.

I invited my father to attend the Jubilee. I also invited his daughter -my half-sister- in hopes to start getting to know them. My mother is supposed to be here as well, but I'm not sure if she decided to come or not.

At least the best people are already here.

I stand near the back of the stage, ready to give my speech. I just learned that Betty declined the offer, and that's why our Mayor decided to ask me for help.

What an eventful evening.

She calls me to the stage and I walk towards the small podium places in the middle of the stage. A microphone is glued to the little stand, my papers scattered all around it. I wrote some notes to guide myself.

The applauses come to an end and I'm faced with the silent crowd. The eyes of Riverdale's citizens are fixated upon me, a dreadful feeling floating around my stomach.

"Good evening, ladies and gentleman. I'd like to thank Mayor McCoy for inviting me to speak on this historic day. Seventy-five years of Riverdale, huh?" I say with a smile, and a few of my friends smile back in support. Cheryl sits in the front row, her brilliant smile brightening my day. "But what is Riverdale? It's the people, right? You, me, our friends, our neighbors."

I stare down at my notes, picking them up and tearing them apart in front of the audience. A small gasp is heard from the back and I shrug.

"I had an entire speech planned. I was going to talk about the need to stay strong and together, as a community and as a well-functioning town. I was also going to share with you some meaningless facts about our town." I let my eyes roam around the room. When they lock with a pair of familiar blue eyes, a smile makes it's way to my mouth and I know I'm ready to give these people the best speech they've ever heard. "Riverdale is Archie Andrews."

I'm met with applauses and cheers from the audience and a smile from Archie himself.

"Betty Cooper is Riverdale." I smile at her. "Kevin Keller is Riverdale. Veronica Lodge, she's Riverdale. But you know who else is Riverdale?"

Pausing for suspense, I locate Jughead once again and stare at him. I really hope he's ready for my next worlds because I truly believe them to be true.

"FP Jones, who we were so quick to blame for Jason's murder." People start whispering but I don't give them time to start talking. "Jughead Jones is Riverdale, the very soul of Riverdale. Without him, we may not have ever found out what happened to Jason. And yet how do we thank him? By banishing him. Which is what we do when the truth gets too ugly in Riverdale. Truth being that Clifford Blossom was also Riverdale."

This time, a group of people actually starts crying. The elite of Riverdale -my family and a couple of other influential people- shed tears for their fallen friend and the disgrace the events that occurred brought upon their businesses. My brother is now standing, staring at me with pride.

"Riverdale's at a crossroads. If we don't face the reality of who and what we are, if we keep lying to ourselves and keeping secrets from each other, then what happened to Jason could happen again." I continue, facing each and every face sitting in front of me. "Or, God forbid, something even worse. Riverdale must do better. We must do better."

I take a deep breath and stare forward, focusing on a spot near Jughead's body. He is the first one to start clapping, slowly walking to the stage. Following him, the rest of the room erupts in cheers, people coming to hug and congratulate me.

That's when I see him. At the back of the room, a man wearing a hood over his face hold a gun in his hand. The gun -don't ask me the caliber or whatever- is pointing towards me. That's when the truth finally hits me.

I wasn't meant to live past this day. But it doesn't matter. I've done enough for this town already. I left a legacy today, something to be told in the next years whenever someone mentions the name "Valentina Adams".

The hooded man shoots the gun. I don't feel the bullet, but I know it hit me right in the chest. I'm losing blood faster than the running river's waters. Screams echo around me as my body falls to the ground. The only thing I see is the gun being lowered, the man running away from the scene.

"Oh, no." Is the light sound that escapes my parted lips as I fall.

I'm quickly surrounded by my friends, including my brother. My eyes fly everywhere as I try to memorize every detail of this scene.

"No, Giggles, no." Viktor holds me in his arms and cries out. "Don't do this to me, please."

"I'm sorry." I whisper, gripping my brother's hand. "I-"

Viktor shushes me, slowly rocking our bodies back and forward. He lets my friends touch me and say some words. A person in the background yells for an ambulance but it's too late.

I can feel it. It's too late. It doesn't hurt anymore.

It's too late.

"Goodbye." I whisper to my brother, a figure appearing behind his frame.

"Never say goodbye, because staying goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting." Jughead says and I giggle a little, coughing right after. A warm liquid falls from the side of my mouth, and my friends' eyes widen in terror. A new wave of tears hits them, and they all circle me with their arms around each other.

"We love you, Valentina." Archie says, followed by sweet words from Veronica and Betty.

I don't hear them. My attention drifts to my best friend and the man I love with my entire soul. Their eyes are the saddest, along with my brother's. The three are the ones closest to me, their hands tightly wrapped around mine.

"I love you." I manage to whisper back to each and every one of them.

Cheryl ignores Viktor's warning and throws herself at me. She doesn't care about the blood ruining her perfect dress. She holds me in her arms, a perfect angel staring down at me with tearful eyes.

"Hold on, Valentina. The ambulance is coming." She says, hope lacing her words.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"I'm your best friend, don't I matter?" She whispers, lightly tracing my face with her fingertips. "Please don't leave me."

Her voice fades. The sounds around me fade and my vision starts to blur. I smile.

As my eyes close, I realize something. I lied. I am afraid of dying. Not because of what death truly represents -the end of a life, an endless goodbye- but because I never got to meet my father. That's the only thing I regret, I've lived a happy life until this moment.

I had friends who cared for me, a mother and a brother who loved me in their own twisted way, and a boy -oh, what an amazing boy- that showed me what love means.

For that, I am extremely grateful. That's why, as I feel my mind slowly drifting away from my body, I leave with a smile on my face.

Because I lived. And I lived a good life.

ΨΨΨ

I'm so so sorry for this! But I've had this idea in my head for MONTHS now. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I'm sad tho, knowing I killed one of my characters ToT. I had to do it.
So, it's finally over. The official end is coming in the next chapter, and I want to want everyone that I do not plan on writing a second book, mainly because Valentina is dead.
But, I can reconsider my decision if you want. All you have to do is comment if you want a sequel or not. I'll find a way to turn this around in my favor. (;
Thank you so much for your time, I love every single one of you for reading this piece of crap!
See you soon!