Riverdale : Our Town - Season 1 (English version)

Chapter 4 (Archie) - "Building character"

We all have shadow inside, which is more or less visible depending on the person. This is what makes human beings imperfect. With what happened this summer, I fear that my darkest defects would reemerge one day or another, bringing their lot of problems, and I dread to hurt the others because of the choices I will take at this moment...

Thus, probably to keep a good conscience, I came to Jason Blossom's tribute ceremony, which takes place today in the high school gymnasium. I sit on the bleachers with Moose and Reggie, and other guys from the football team. Cheryl, Jason's sister, is facing us behind her reading desk, ready to pronounce her speech. For one minute, Riverdale High is dived into a deep silence, so stuffy that I can hardly breathe : all my thoughts are turned towards Jason's death.

Everyone was shocked to learn the news : the heir of the Blossom, one of the most powerful families of Riverdale, has drowned in Sweetwater river on Independence Day. But the circumstances of his death have not been verified : everything relies on the testimony of his twin sister. Although I wasn't particularly familiar with Jason and I find the Blossom pretentious, I know that nobody deserves such a fate, and even less a 17-year-old teenager...

Finally, the modulated voice of Cheryl Blossom pulls me out of my thoughts, recalls me that it's the 1st day of school, that I am at Riverdale High, and not at Sweetwater river, on July, the 4th.

"Thank you for this minute of silence.", she declares to the audience. "Many of you had the chance to be close to my brother. Know that you were all in Jason's heart. I loved my brother. He was and will stay my soulmate forever.", she says, in a melancholic tone. "I speak with the confidence of a twin sister who loved him.", she adds, while her words reach me right in my chest, and I sigh, the soul full of regrets.

I wait impatiently for the end of her speech, the moment when I will be able to flee the sad gaze of Cheryl, because it begins to become too much to handle for me...

"Jason wouldn't want us to cry.", she speaks again. "Jason would want to enjoy our lives. That's why I asked Principal Weatherbee to renounce the report of Riverdale's homecoming.", she announces, with her well-known artificial smile.

Her words are followed by a storm of applauds and approbation screams. I have to say that the Blossom twins have always been the most influential and popular people of Riverdale High.

Cheryl continues to talk above the noises of the crowd, but I don't listen anymore. I've just saw a bun formed by a lighting of brown hair, situated in the 1st row, among the line of teachers. I stare at her a few seconds, and then, as if she felt my look behind her back, Miss Grundy turns around. Her piercing green eyes scan me through her glasses in an insistent look. And at this moment, all the truth appears in her gaze, the truth that only us know. The memories of this summer spring up in my mind, like flashes, all more powerful than the others.

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I remember perfectly the day our story began. That afternoon, while I was finishing working on my dad's construction and tiredness was taking me, I heard her scream my name. She had come to me. Her call surprised me, as I looked up and saw her car stop.

"Miss Grundy. Hey !", I said, passing my head through the opened window of the car.

It was weird to see the music teacher out of high school and scholar context. During her classes, she used to wear a bun and her glasses, which gave her a strict style. But not that day... on that day, she seemed transformed : she had let her hair down, and she wore red heart sunglasses and a light dress, which made her look younger.

"Archie. What are you doing outside by this heat ?", she asked.

I can't tell if it was her words or her eyes that destabilised me, but I thought a little in order to find a pertinent answer.

"I'm... building character ?"

She addressed me a shining smile, revealing her perfectly white teeth, and bit her inferior lip.

"Do you want a ride ?", she offered.

And I accepted. I accepted even if the proposal could seem inappropriate from a teacher to her student... everybody would say it is illegal, and yet I got in her car. And we both know the rest of the story...

What happened that night will forever stay anchored in my memory : her breath on my skin, her hands stroking my hair, her naked body against mine, our passionate kisses in her car... Geraldine Grundy and me making out under the pouring rain, as if our lives were depending on it, as if we were living the apocalypse together, as if each kiss would be the last of our existence...