|| 18: D i r t y S u r p r i s e s & S o l i d E v i d e n c e ||

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"Mackenzie! Come on, wake up! Mackenzie! God damn it! Get up!"

In an instant, my eyes snapped open and my body pushed itself up into a sitting position. Confused, I glanced around the room, my eyes trailing from a shirtless Sweet Pea who was crouched by my bed to the dim rays of sunlight that were flickering out from behind the closed curtains.

"W-what's going on?" I demanded as I chanced a quick look at my wristwatch. "Geez. It's not even seven o'clock in the morning!"

"Exactly!" he hissed, his deep, dark eyes wide with worry. "I - I didn't expect her to get back here until later but I was asleep when she texted me and now she's..."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I butted in, flinging my hands in his face. "First of all, who's this mysterious 'she?' And secondly, what the hell are you banging on about?"

"Amber!" he blurted. "You know, my girlfriend."

"Right," I nibbled on my bottom lip. Slowly, I glanced down at Sweet Pea's large shirt that was hanging loosely around my body. "Well? What about her?"

"She's heading here right now!" he groaned as he ran his fingers through his thick, jet-black hair. "She was away for a week for her mum's birthday and now she's decided to pull this on me and come back early. We have to get you the hell outta here!"

I nodded in understanding. As I scrambled around for my clothes, I tried to keep my disappointed tears in check.

What on earth had I been thinking? I had intruded on Sweet Pea's privacy and taken advantage of his generosity! I had let myself think things that were wildly inappropriate and I had opened up a vulnerable side to both of us by crashing at his place.

This wasn't right. None of it was. He had a freaking girlfriend!

As Sweet Pea tried to remake his bed, I tossed his shirt aside and tugged on my clothes that been lying on a heap on the ground. Flinging my curly mop of hair back into a high ponytail and slipping on my shoes, I seized my phone and headed for the door. When my hand landed on the door-handle, though, I quickly turned around and spoke, "Thank you, Sweets, for being so nice to me last night. You saved my ass. I owe you one."

Sweet Pea lifted his head to look at me. Then, he smiled. A big, genuine smile that caused my heart to flutter. "There's no need for debts, Kenz, I was just being there for you. It's what friends are for."

Friends? Right. Of course. We were just friends.

Suddenly, before either of us could say another word, the sharp rip of a motorcycle engine sounded from right outside! Horrified, I stumbled backwards.

It was too late to escape.

Amber was already here!

Cursing under his breath, Sweet Pea swivelled this way and that, searching for a place to hide me.

"Over here!" he hissed as he reached over to grab my hand. Pulling me along behind him, he opened a small, rickety door leading into a cramped, stuffy closet filled with flannel shirts and black jeans. "I'm so sorry but you're gonna have to stay here til she leaves. I'll do my best to ward her off but when the coast is clear, run."

Great. Now I had to squish into a tiny closet! This day was getting better with every passing second.

Trying to stop myself from sneezing at the ginormous amount of dust that was inside the dark, damp space, I pushed myself right to the back of the wardrobe and waited with baited breath.

CREAK.

I could hear the door open and a high-pitched voice call out, "Sweets! Babe! I'm here!"

"Amber!" he exclaimed in response, feigning complete innocence over the current situation. "Damn girl, I've missed you."

"Mm, me too."

For a moment, as a soft silence ensured, I couldn't be sure of what was happening. Then, as my ears caught the faint strains of smooching sounds, I realised what was going on.

They were kissing. Right in front of the closet. And me.

Disgusting.

"Hey babe," Sweet Pea pulled away. "Would you like to go grab a drink or something from the Whyte Wyrm? No one will be up. We can have some alone time. Listen to our favourite song. Annoy the bartender with our amazing dancing."

Amber giggled. "I like the sound of that. C'mon, Sweets, I'll race you there."

Laughing and chattering, the two exited the room, leaving a very shaken and sad me behind in the closet.

Since Dad would not be expecting me back home for at least a couple hours, I decided to make use of the early morning sunshine by taking a walk. Bypassing the trailer park, I took an alternative route from the road through the forest. After last night, I wasn't very keen on running into any more Ghoulies or the Riverdale murderer if he or she was, by any chance, camping out in the area.

In a matter of minutes, I was trudging past the worn metallic sign bearing the red-coated name: N o r t h s i d e.

My feet, aimlessly and wanderingly, took me straight down the cobblestoned street leading to the Coopers' cottage. A small smile wound its way around my mouth when I thought of the blonde, cheery Betty.

Before I had come to Riverdale, I didn't have any friends. The girls that I knew really disliked me and considered me to be a social outcast, an outsider and a loser. To be fair, I was. I didn't try when it came to people. Most of the time, I couldn't be bothered but what they didn't know was that underneath my stoic demeanour, was a lost, scared and insecure child knocking at the stony walls trapping her within the darkness.

SMASH.

The sound of a ceramic plate hitting the tiles of a kitchen floor jolted me from my stupor. Startled, I whirled around in the direction of the noise only to be confronted by a most shocking sight.

I was standing directly in front of a small, modest-looking home with a white-picket fence and bright red mailbox. The house was a creamy colour, leading up to a pale, ebony rooftop that arched over the double-decker porch winding its way along the boarded walls.

But it wasn't the house I was looking at.

Just to the right side of the front door was a window, a window that was only partially covered in a thin, lacy tangle of see-through curtains. It opened straight up into the kitchenette where a woman, who looked to be in her late-thirties, was leaning up against the marble counter top. Her thick-rimmed glasses had been pushed back on her head and her bun was coming loose as wisps of dark-blonde hair cascaded down her back and shoulders.

Her arms were wrapped tightly around the neck of a ginger-haired boy, who couldn't have been past the age of eighteen. He was nuzzling at her neck and whispering strings of dirty words into her ear. As he pulled back to survey her flushed face, I was left, horrified and breathless at what, or rather, who I saw.

Archie.

Archie Andrews was making out with some random lady who looked old enough to be his own mother!

What the hell was going on around here?

Ducking my head, I continued walking, resisting the urge to sprint the rest of the way to the Coopers. What I had just experienced, in the length of fifteen minutes, had rocked me to my core. I needed a shoulder to cry on. And that shoulder was going to be Betty's.

Gathering a handful of gravel from the Coopers' driveway, I threw the tiny rocks up at Betty's bedroom window, watching as they bounced and leaped down the roof rafters.

It took me a couple go's, but I finally managed to awaken my friend who looked disgruntled and surprised to say the least.

"What are you doing here, Kenz?" she whisper-shouted as she stuck her head out the partially opened window. "It's not even seven in the morning!"

"It's important!" I called back. "Can you get out of the house? We need to talk."

Five minutes later and Betty and I were walking down the road towards Pops. The blonde remained silent as I related the last day's events to her. As we settled ourselves down in a booth with chocolate milkshakes and syrupy pancakes, Betty interrupted my rant by placing her hand over mine.

"Kenz, just breathe," she consoled me. "You're alright, now, you're safe."

I nodded, lowering my eyes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Betty. I - I woke you up at such an unearthly hour and here I am spewing garbage like a maniac."

"Hey!" Betty reproved gently. "You almost got kidnapped by the Ghoulies, were forced to hide in a closet to escape being caught by Sweet Pea's girlfriend and you caught Archie kissing Miss Grundy. That's a heck of a lot to go through in just one night..."

"Miss Grundy?" I raised my eyebrows quizzically.

"Oh yeah, she's the music teacher at Riverdale High," Betty returned with a shrug. "When you described her house, I knew exactly who you were talking about." Shaking her head, she let out a lengthy sigh, "I can't believe Archie, out of all people, would do something like this! It's reckless and stupid and if he gets caught...well, someone could go to jail."

"That's probably why he's been keeping it a secret," I pointed out. Settling back, I studied Betty's features carefully. "Alright, sup, girl? Spew it. I know you want to say something. I can see it in your eyes."

Betty bit down on her lip and swallowed as she glanced around furtively. Leaning forward and placing both elbows on the table, she spoke softly, "Kenz, I want to show you something. When you see it, you have to pretend that it's funny and laugh. You can't act surprised or scared. You have to be completely calm, alright?"

My eyes widened in astonishment. "What the hell, Betty?" I hissed. "Now, you're scaring me."

Betty just motioned for me to be quiet while her hand fumbled around in her leather sachet. Slowly, she pulled out a few photographs and gave them to me.

Trying my best to crack a smile, I glanced through the pictures, piercing thoughts of disbelief and horror eating away at my mind.

A small knife. The blade was sprinkled with blood. A paint-brush. The polished handle had a large, red stain on the under-side. A plastic bag. In it were the pictures taken from the recent crime scene at the trailer park along with a slip of paper containing the words, 'S o l i d E v i d e n c e'.

"Betty, were did you find all this?" I queried nervously.

"Sheriff Keller's office," she replied in a low tone.

"What?" my eyebrows flew upwards in shock. "Betty! You shouldn't have done that! You could've been caught! How did you even get in there?"

"You're forgetting that Kevin's my best friend," Betty snatched the photos off me and tucked them away and out of sight. "I pretended that I'd left something in there and he let me in with a key. The drawer that these were hidden in was tightly secured but my secret talent involves bobby-pins and locks."

I shook my head in shock. "T-this could mean anything, Betty. I think you're forgetting that Sheriff Keller is a freaking cop! This - er - is probably just stuff from one of his cases."

"Really?" Betty cocked her head to one side. "I know you don't believe that. There were pictures of the vandalism in the same drawer as a blood-stained knife! He could've used that to get the pigs' blood! And the brush? How do you explain that?"

I was opening my mouth to rebuff her, to tell her that it wasn't true, that Sheriff Keller didn't even know me, that he couldn't possibly have any reason for chasing me away when I saw him.

Jughead. With his bags. Standing at the ticket office.

"What the hell is he doing?" I gasped as I stood up from my seat.

Confused, Betty turned to look in the direction I was pointing. "It looks like he's trying to catch the train..." her voice trailed off.

"Oh, I know that! But why? He can't just leave!"

Leaping into action, I stormed out of Pops and rushed over to the ticket-holding office situated just parallel to the diner.

"Jughead!" I exclaimed as I approached him. "What do you think you're doing? Where are you going?"

Stiffening, my brother turned to face me, his eyes narrowed, his features sharp and his voice bitterly cold, "It's none of your business. I can do what I want."

"Jug!" Betty cried as she arrived on the scene. "Please, don't leave! What's going on? What happened? Is it your dad? Please, Juggie, you can tell me." Grabbing his elbow, Betty urged him to look at her.

Slowly, Jughead's green-blue eyes shifted to her face. Swallowing, he spoke in a near-whisper, "I can't stand being here anymore, Betty. It's...it's eating me away from the inside. Every time I see them...together. I can't bear it."

"What are you talking about, Jug?" Betty frowned.

Jughead sighed. "It's - it's bad, Betty, really, really bad. I - I..."

"You what?" she prompted gently.

"I think I know what happened...to Jason Blossom."





Gif: Mackenzie when she sees Archie and Miss Grundy.

*PLEASE REMEMBER to give this chapter a vote if you enjoyed and I'd love to hear any feedback from my readers; so pepper me with questions. If you're confused, I'll try and clarify it for you. If you want more information on a certain point, I'll do my best not to give you spoilers. If you just wanna chat 'bout random stuff, then I'm in*

Q: If you were in Mackenzie's shoes, would you have believed that Sheriff Keller was the culprit when Betty showed you the photos?

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