The Last Blue Rose// Reggie Mantle (1)

Chapter Thirty

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. A narrative quickly emerged. 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.

Clifford killed Mustang to cover his tracks, making it look like he'd overdosed, and tried to implicate a rival businessman, Hiram Lodge, as having masterminded the whole thing. Finally, Mr. Blossom threatened Jughead Jones's life, so that FP would confess to pulling the trigger, even though all he did was clean up the mess.

And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for a group of pesky kids who uncovered the truth. Even as Clifford Blossom, consumed by guilt and shame, took the coward's way out. Jason's murder had revealed some dark roots none of us were too eager to face, especially not Mayor McCoy, who wanted every last vestige of corruption crushed. Like a snake, under a boot heel.

This had all happened in a small town, one where no one had expected it to. Now, with the ultimate evils dead, it looked like maybe things in Riverdale would finally turn around. But it was not all sunny skies and rainbows up ahead for the tiny town. The trouble was far from over.

In fact, it had just begun.

*

Caia was already sitting at the lunch table when Betty and Archie sat down. "Where were you guys?" She questioned.

Archie cleared his voice. "With Mayor McCoy," he replied, immediately digging into his burger.

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows. "Mayor McCoy? What did she want?"

"She wants us to perform at the Jubilee. Archie is supposed to sing with the Pussycats and I'm supposed to speak," she explained.

Kevin smiled. "That's great!"

Betty pursed her lips and shook her head. Kevin gave her a confused look. Archie set his burger down to explain. "Mayor McCoy doesn't want Jughead to perform with us just because his dad's in jail."

Caia's mouth fell open. "That's horrible!" She exclaimed.

Betty nodded. "That's what I thought." She set her arms down on the table. "So, I told her I wouldn't do it. Not unless you're up their with us, Jug."

"I appreciate the righteous indignation, Betty, I do." He didn't sound very excited, but Caia didn't say anything. "But jubilees aren't my thing." Caia understood where Jug was coming from. It was like how she didn't like going to dances.

"Jug how's your dad, are you getting to see him?" Archie questiomed, changing the conversation topic.

"Here's the latest," Jughead began. He looked all around the table like he was telling some kind of secret. "Mayor McCoy wants my dad to name names in exchange for a lesser sentence." Caia raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"What? Who's names?" Betty questioned.

"Serpents," was Jughead's reply. Caia rolled her eyes. She could have guessed as much. "Sheriff Keller thinks they were the ones dealing the drugs that Clifford Blossom brought into the town."

"My dad says more and more drugs are hitting the streets," Kevin added.

Caia chuckled, causing Kevin to give her a look. "You're starting to sound like an infomercial, Kev."

Jughead ignored Caia's statement and continued talking. "My dad says they're not the ones dealing," he informed the group.

"Meanwhile, Mayor McCoy hasn't even said the words Clifford or Blossom in public," Betty added.

"Ain't that the truth," Caia muttered, violently stabbing her jello with a spoon.

Betty continued. "It's all about how the serpents are the problem, the villains. This is outrageous. I'm writing an article about this, and not just for the Blue and Gold, for the Register," Betty explained. "This is a town story."

Caia found it kind of funny how extremely Betty said the last statement. "Woah, Betty, slow your roll. We wouldn't want to skip straight to the article."

Once again, her humor was ignored by everyone at the table. "Okay, as long as the article won't include my dad," Jughead agreed.

"No, it is gonna be about your dad, Jug," Betty informed, slapping her hands on the table. She was heated. "It doesn't matter how many jubilees Mayor McCoy throws. This town's changed. That needs to be acknowledged. Why are people so afraid of the truth?" With the last question, she forked a strawberry and brought it to her mouth.

"Speaking of the truth," Veronica began cautiously, gaining all the eyes at the table. She stood up from her chair as though to make an announcement. "Archie and I wanted to tell you," she paused, searching for the right words.

Finally, Archie came to the rescue. "We've kissed a couple of times," he admitted.

Betty nodded. "It's okay, V," she comforted. Veronica let out a breath and sat back down. "I appreciate you being honest with me, but I'm with Jughead now." Betty smiled and Caia caught a hint of a smile on Jug's face. "If you guys wanna be together, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, B." Veronica thanked.

"Thanks, Betty," Archie followed.

*

Caia had quit the Vixens, but she still knew about the fact that Veronica was now the leader instead of Cheryl. She also knew how it felt to loose someone close to you, so she decided it would be a good idea to make sure that Cheryl was actually doing okay.

She cornered her at lunch the next day, setting her tray down beside Cheryl's. The red head turned to look at Caia with a confused expression on her face. Caia gave her a small smile and sat down.

"Hi," she greeted.

Cheryl's eyebrows knit together in a look of confusion. "Um, hi?" There was a moment of silence as Caia got settled. "No offense, but why are you sitting here? I thought you hated me," Cheryl questioned.

Caia sighed. "I don't hate, anyone Cheryl. But, to answer the first question, I figured you could probably use a friend right now."

Cheryl didn't reply. Instead she just stared at her lap. Finally she looked up. "Alright, Caia, here's the deal. I'm fine, and if you don't think I'm fine, well then, I'm fine." Caia raised her eyebrows skeptically. "So, thanks for the offer, but I don't really need a new friend right now. Thanks anyway." With that, Cheryl stood up and stalked away towards Jughead and Veronica's table. Caia sighed. So much for being a good friend.

She was still sitting alone at the empty table when She noticed a ruckus start to insue just outside the cafeteria doors. She got up and jogged over to see what was going on.

A large group of students had formed around a section of lockers, staring at something on the lockers. Caia pushed her way to the front of the pack. There she saw what had gotten everyone so excited.

A bunch of newspapers had been pasted to the lockers. She now knew one of them was Betty's. Taped to the papers was a crudely made corn cob doll with blonde hair.

Written in what she could only assume to be blood was, go to hell, serpent slut!