Guilt. Innocence. Good. Evil. Life. Death. As the shadows around Riverdale deepened, the lines that separated these polar opposites blurred and distorted.

Cheryl had a mask that's matched the sketch of Jason Blossom's killer, but why?

"Ever since Jason died, I've been receiving all this texts and phone calls from Jason's phone." Cheryl starts by explaining most of by the audience already knows. "It's always in his voice, Jason's voice, then changes into something else." 

"How is that possible?" Keller questions, the idea of someone speaking in a dead kid's voice is perplexing to him.

"I don't know, it's not like the creep ever explains it." Cheryl shrugs, unknowingly. "It's always about how he killed him, and that I'll never get him back. Even then, I tried looking for him at Sweetwater River."

"Why there?" 

"Because that's where Jason and I were supposed to go, when we had this bizarre plan to fake his own death." Cheryl reveals, catching the sheriff's and principal's completely attention. "Then, at the river, I heard a gunshot, and I got this call from Jason saying that he already left town. That's.....  when I think the killer first called me." 

"And the mask, where did it come from?"

"Came in delivery to our house, no address, name or anything. Just more taunting messages." Cheryl regretfully shares.

"And after weeks of this... stalker harassing you, you only now decide to come fourth with this?" Keller questions, sitting on the desk with a suspicious look.  

"How do you tell the police your dead brother is calling you a day after his body is discovered!?" Cheryl exclaims, surprised that this of all things is what the sheriff choses to say. "I was upset, my brother was murdered!" 

"So upset, that you sang and danced at a pep rally yesterday." Keller mentions, not exactly mournful behavior. And that was a day after the body is discovered, so the fake death excuse doesn't work here. 

Suddenly, the office door bursts open, Penelope and Clifford Blossom come in, and they do not look happy. "What the hell is going on here?" Mr. Blossom glares at the scene.

"Mommy-"

"Don't say another word, Cheryl." Penelope silences her. "Get up." Before any discussion can be made,  they pull Cheryl out of the office and down the hallway where everyone watches. "Why, didn't you call us?"

"Cause she's a liar Penelope." Clifford is the one who answers. 

"When we get home, you're telling us everything." Penelope declares as the three exit the school. Y/N watches them leave with a smirk.

Looks like he's got the Blossoms nervous. 

__________________________________

Archie glances inside the music room before heading to the principal's office, part of him feels bad for Geraldine, but he has to do this. 

"I think I know something that can help with the Blossom investigation." Archie states to the sheriff and principal. "People are saying Cheryl heard a gunshot?"

"That's what she's claiming, yes." Keller confirms, and Archie swallows, knowing there's no turning back.

"I heard it too." Archie reveals, and the two adult figures share a glance. "I was there, that morning. I-I didn't say anything because at first, like some people, I thought Jason could still be alive. But then, when the autopsy came out and said he died later...."

Keller at first doesn't ask anything. That gunshot could've meant anything, Jason aside, why didn't he report it. "What were you doing down at the river so early on July Fourth?" 

"I-I was, working on some songs." Archie lies, keeping Grundy out of the story. "I uh, write songs." 

"You see who fired the shot?" 

"No sir."

"Were you alone?" 

"No sir." Archie says, keeping his head still.

"Who were you with?" 

Archie keeps his eye on the sheriff.

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

"Let's make it a Fourth of July you'll never forget." Grundy encourages as the two close in on each other. But before they can kiss, a loud bang whistles the air. 

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][[][][][][][]

"My dog. Vegas."

_____________________________________

Student Lounge:

"So, are you a suspect now?" Veronica asks Kevin, since the police are now questioning every student on the board. 

"My dad says we all are." Kevin tells everyone, pointing at himself. "Including me."

"Not me girl." Veronica excludes herself out of the suspect pile, though Y/N gives a knowing expression to himself. "I don't know these people."

"Maybe, but almost everyone at this school certainly does." Y/N mentions, waving his camcorder all over. "And this investigation is definitely something to make a documentary about. 

"And what? You're gonna record us all day and night?" Kevin amusingly asks and Y/N gives him a mischievous smile.

"Gonna need plenty of footage, won't I?" Y/N shrugs, pointing the camera at him. "Speaking of, do you have any comments about our mystery murderer?" 

"Nope." Kevin denies before looking away, much to Y/N's disappointment. "Actually, that gives me an idea, should we maybe re-binge Making a Murderer on Netflix?"

"Or maybe Slasher?" Y/N then adds, agreeing to the idea and everyone chuckles. "Or maybe even MTV Scream, not including that other piece of shit season." 

"Sorry, can't. Gotta stay late to work on the paper." Betty tells him while popping a snack in mouth.

"You still do that BuzzFeed's half-brother thing your parents call newspapers?" Y/N questions with a distasteful look. "Something tells me you could do a lot better." 

"I'm thinking about it." Betty says, though doesn't clarify further beyond that, and Y/N shrugs. 

"Count me out too." Veronica asserts with a suggestive tone. "I've got a date tonight." 

"You do?" Archie questions.

"And it's not me?" Y/N adds on, playfully offended. Archie states at him with a blankless expression. 

"Which Riverdale hottie made the cut?" Kevin queries, and Veronica gestures over to the supposed lucky man. 

"Hey filo, I'll swing by the Pembroke to pick you up at eight?" Chuck Clayton double checks their scheduled time. 

"I'll be waiting." Veronica replies with a simple smile and Chuck leaves along with Reggie and Moose, who glance at each other impressed. The group all turn back to Veronica with different reactions. 

"Chuck Clayton?" Betty asks as if to confirm what she's hearing correctly.

"You're going on a date with Chuck?" Kevin exclaims excitedly.

"Chuck?" Y/N questions, honestly disappointed.

Archie just sighs and shakes his head. 

Veronica just smiles at them and they all glance at each other. "He's kind of a player." Betty mentions, advising against it.

"Who cares? He's the hottest of hot." Kevin argues, clearly not seeing any 'romance' in the entire thing. "And he's the varsity football coach's son. In Riverdale, that's like dating a Kennedy." 

"Sure, go on a date with mister Kieran Wilcox." Y/N acidly mumbles out loud.

"What could go wrong?"

__________________________________

Blue and Gold Room:

Y/N and Jughead both collectively come to the Blue and Gold, curtesy of an invitation from Betty Cooper. "If print journalism is dead...." Jughead glances at Y/N. "What are we doing here?" 

"The Blue and Gold isn't dead Juggy, it's just..." She swipes off an entire stack of dust from the old computer. "Dormant, but waking up."

"Yeah, and Michael Myers is the one who killed Jason Blossom." Y/N snarkily comments, taking a look around the place while Jughead pulls out an old magnifying glass. 

"Look, Jughead, You're writing a novel right?" Betty asks curiously. "About Jason Blossom's murder?" 

"I am." Jughead admits, pointing glass at the blond. "Riverdale's own, in cold blood."

"And, Y/N, You're serious about the documentary, aren't you?" Betty asks next. 

"Well, it's the best I'm ever gonna get in terms of studying for my practice." Y/N shrugs, glancing down at the camcorder. 

"Well, I'm hoping you two can help be a part of the Blue and Gold." Betty offers, gesturing around the entire room.

"I... just don't think the school paper's the right fit for my voice." Jughead hesitantly mutters. 

"And what does my expertise come into all this?" Y/N questions. "I'm my own Roman Bridger, not Nancy Loomis." 

Betty groans, this is gonna be a lot harder than she thought. "Guys, Jason's death changed Riverdale. People don't want to admit that, but it's true, we all feel it." She tells them, though Y/N suspects it might also have something to with the call last night. "Nothing this bad was ever supposed to happen here but it did, I want to know why." 

"Well gee, when you put it that way..." Y/N chuckles, this might finally the involvement he was looking for. "Sure, you can count on me, Betty."

"Thank you, Y/N." Betty gives a grateful smile then turns to Jughead, who still seems decisive. 

"Will I get complete freedom?" Jughead questions, people have always called him out for being too 'gloomy and emo.' 

"I'll help, and edit, and suggest." Betty stutteringly says, and Jughead raises a brow. "B-But, it's your story, it's your voice." 

"Hmm, doesn't sound like complete freedom." Jughead complaints. "But... I'm in." He agrees as well, and Betty gleefully puts her fists together. 

"Okay, great!" She happily exclaims. "In that case I have your first assignment. There was one person who was at the river on July Fourth that no one's talking about-"

"Dilton Doiley and his scouts." Jughead names, one step ahead of her. Betty nods.

"Exactly." She confirms, then she turns to Y/N. "Y/N, the killer, whoever they are, had to have a reason to kill Riverdale's most popular."

"You want me to find connections to the Blossom family." Y/N guesses, knowing what she's thinking. "I'll see what I can come up with."

With that the two leave, and Y/N smirks happily. It's not much, but he's now partially involved in the investigation.

_________________________________

The Next Day:

Y/N, Betty, Kevin, and Veronica, all meet at hallway, curious on how a certain night went. "How'd it go with Chuck?" Kevin asks her, eager to get all the juicy details.

"Chuck has muscles for days, but his conversation is not the stuff of Oscar Wilde or even Diablo Cody." Veronica tells them, over all 5/10, and Kevin and Y/N chuckle. 

"Hey Veronica, how was the sticky maple you had last night?" Cheryl's girls asks her with typical cheeky expressions. 

"The what?"

"The Sticky Maple Chuck gave you, how was it?" The other girl asks again, and Y/N glances at Veronica. She didn't actually....? 

"We had a brownie sundae if that's what you hyenas mean?" Veronica mentions, very confused, and Y/N gives her an awkward look. 

"Uh, Actually Sticky Maple means that you broke horror movie rule number one." Y/N explains to her, realizing the two never actually slept. 

"And what is that exactly?" Veronica asks, clearly not knowing what that means either. Kevin then gets a notification from his phone, a post from Chuck Clayton. 

"Oh. My. God." Kevin exclaims, and Betty looks over, eyes going wide. The two also being aware of what Sticky Maple stands for.

"What." Veronica asks, now getting a bad feeling. She snatches the phone from Kevin's hands and sees the selfie her and Chuck too, only with Veronica's face covered in maple syrup, and the comments accuse Veronica of.... yeah. "What the hell is a Sticky Maple?"

"It's kinda what it sounds like." Kevin explains without horror references as three guys eye Veronica while walking past. "It's a Riverdale thing."

"No Kevin, it's a slut shaming thing." Veronica corrects, considering the comments people are leaving on the post. "And I am neither a slut, nor am I gonna be shamed by someone named, excuse me, Chuck Clayton."

"I hear you, anyone named Chucky is bad news." Y/N nods, referencing a red-haired killer doll. 

"Does he really think he can get away with this?" Veronica asks, her eyes flash with anger and resentment. "Does he not know who I am? I will cut the breaks on his souped-up phallic symbol." 

"O-Or we can go to the Principal Weatherbee." Betty suggests, clearly not wanting anything physical to happen. On the other hand, Y/N detects drama to record.

"About the coach's son? Who's captain of the football team and Riverdale's high resident Golden boy?" Veronica mentions, listing all of the reasons he'll look the other way. 

"And, or me and Y/N can expose him in the pages of the Blue and Gold." Betty brings up her newly opened club. "Yeah, we can do that." 

"Spoken like a true good girl who always follows the rules." Veronica acidly remarks, shoving the phone back into Kevin's chest and he slams into the lockers. "Well, I don't follow rules, I make them. And when necessary, I break them." 

She stomps over to the lockers, and Betty and Y/N follows, the latter turning on his camcorder. "Oh, this is Y/N L/N with the new Blue and Gold, Chuck has posted a claim of Sticky Maple on Veronica, but she is not having it." 

"We're following her now to confront the Coach's son, find out what happens here!"

__________________________________

Men's Locker Room:

Without hesitation, Veronica bursts in the locker room, moving whatever dude out of her way as Betty and Y/N follow. 

They accidently bump into Archie, who's towel almost falls off, causing Betty to cover her eyes. and Y/N realizing he has to keep his camera upward. "Veronica, Y/N, Betty? What are you all doing here?" 

"Don't worry about it." Veronica brushes past him, moving forward but Archie doesn't feel so comfortable.

"What, Wh-" 

"I mean it Andrews, hit the showers and stay out of my way." Veronica enforces, shoving past him to the big dog, Chuck Clayton. 

Veronica that fakes a cough to get Chuck's attention. "Oh, B and V, they barge right on, ladies." He says, rubbing his hands and licking his lips. That successfully weirded out the three of them. At the point, every Jock circles around the three, watching the scene unfold.

"This, is disgusting." Veronica criticizes, showcasing the phone he made. Y/N moves to camcorder to face each person as they talk. "Take it down."

"Oh, woah, woah. Why you so wound up?" Chuck mockingly asks her. "It's a badge of honor and, you're not exactly virgin territory after your closet date with Andrews."

"Okay, that is beyond irrelevant, Chuck. You're not allowed to go around humiliating girls for any reason under any circumstance." Betty strongly states. "Jerk." 

"Look I get you're not a closet kinda girl, but hey, if you want to ride the Chuck Wagon, that can be arranged." Chuck offers out of nowhere. And all the jocks chuckle and grin around them.

"Ugh, lets keep this simple so that your preppy, murderer half-brain can grasp it." Veronica takes a menacing step towards Chuck. "Take. This. The hell. Down."

"Yeah, that high tone, bitch attitude, may have worked on the babies you dated in New York. But you're in Bulldog territory." Chuck tells her in a serious tone, not fazed by her demeanor at all, and all the males except Archie and Y/N bark at her. "But please, fight back. You only make it harder on yourself." 

Then he walks away, clearly deciding not to take the post down. Y/N turns the camera to himself. "Well, you heard it first, Chuck denies and downgrades our girls. What happens next? Find out next time." He says before turning it off. "As if I had an audience...."

The three then leave, clearly, they're gonna need to take a different approach. 

______________________________________

The situation is worse than they thought. Betty and Y/N knew Chuck was a player, but he's successfully taken every step so far, that Patrick Bateman would be proud of him. Betty calls Veronica back to the Blue and Gold. 

When she makes it, she finds Y/N and Betty along with half a dozen other girls, including a couple cheerleaders. "The story's bigger than we thought we thought." Betty states. "We started asking around to see if what happened to you happened to anyone else, if anyone would go on record." 

"I will." One of the girls, Ethel Muggs, nods. "One hundred percent."

"It's five guys on the football team." Betty tells Veronica, and the raven-haired girl distastefully rolls her eyes. "Chuck, and his posse. Ethel was just about to tell us." Everyone turns to her, and Y/N turns on his camera.

"One day last year, Chuck and I talked in the library for... ten minutes. I helped with a precount problem and nothing happened." Ethel starts, shaking a little, but keeping herself together. "But the next day, he.... he started telling people that I'd... let him do stuff to me. Like, sex stuff. And then, he or one of his goons wrote sloppy seconds on my locker." 

"The fact that they lie about sexual harassment like it's a flex is just sad." Y/N comments, shaking his head. 

"Yes, yes, we've all heard your tragic origin story." Cheryl suddenly chimes in, appearing without notice. Y/N decides to forget mention that he's still filming. 

Betty ignores her, instead putting a comforting arm around Ethel. "I'm so, so sorry Ethel, that's horrible-"

"Not as horrible as being a suspect in your own brother's torture, murder case. But we all have our crosses." Cheryl sassily remarks. "In the meantime, River Vixen practice starts in five minutes sluts so-"

"They're ruining our lives, and to them, it's just a game." Ethel blurts out, obviously very crossed with the whole thing. "They keep score, and-"

"Wait, what do you mean, keep score?" Veronica asks, score as in... the girls?

"Each 'conquest' earns them points, they keep track of it in some secret playbook." Ethel testifies, and Veronica scoffs. They can't go any lower, can they? 

"Okay, we have to talk to Weatherbee." Betty tells them, now having the confirmation, but Ethel shakes her head.

"I already tried, Weatherbee said he didn't find anything." 

"Yeah, or he's sucking up to the big dogs." Y/N remarks. "Unless the jocks are actually smarter than they look and move it every day or something." 

"Okay, then we need undeniable proof." Betty corrects the objective, and Y/N nods.

"Like this little, 'playbook.' " Y/N spells it out. "Nothing else can make it more obvious." 

"Proof of what, Nancy Drew? That boys will be boys?" Cheryl questions uninterested and the others can't tell if she's failing to see the picture or just not paying attention. "And that playbook reeks of suburban legend."

"How would you know, Cheryl?" Veronica challenges her. 

"Because Frida Shallow, before he died, my brother was co-captain of the football and Jason never mentioned it." Cheryl claims. "And he never would've allowed it." 

"Okay, well, I never met your brother, but I'm not lying about what happened to me, and Ethel's not lying." Veronica passionately states. "And proof, or no proof, book or no book, I am going scorched earth on these privileged, despicable miscreants. You wanna get caught in that backdraft Cheryl? Call me, or any of these beautiful, young, strong, intelligent, women 'sluts' one more time...." 

Y/N grins, looks like he'll his goals have changed for the time being, but he's not complaining. 

Whether or not he finds the book, he's gonna kill Chuck Clayton and any other involved in this book.

___________________________

Night:

One of the ex-footballers, Trev Brown, has told Betty of where he thinks Chuck's playbook might be. With the locker's usually cramped during the day, and no doubt they wouldn't be invited there anymore, they're now sneaking back in the school at night. 

First issue, how to get back in the school.

"Let me handle this." Y/N confidently kneels next to the front doors takes out a hairpin, where he got it, no one knows. Surprisingly after a few seconds, there's a click and he cockily opens the door. "Ladies?" 

"I'm also here, you know." Kevin chimes in, pointing at himself. 

"Yeah, the gay guy." Y/N mockingly shoots himself in the head as if he's dumb for forgetting. "How can anybody forget you and how gay you are?"

"Ha, ha." Kevin remarks, walking inside whilst glaring at him. He then invitingly gestures everyone else inside, including Betty, Veronica, and Ethel. 

"Thank you." Veronica playfully nods her head, and Y/N smiles, proud of his work. Surprised no one asked him on his lockpicking tricks like people usually do. 

Then they head down the halls, using the power of memory to reach the men's locker room. "Football players behaving badly, what else is new?" Veronica remarks. "Steubenville, Glenridge, the coach's son being the ringleader? I mean, just how depraved is this town?"

"Color me impressed." A girl's voice startles the entire group, and they jump around to see Cheryl standing in that usual queen bee stance. "A B and D, with B and V." She too is dressed appropriately for the occasion, pointing her flashlight at them. "What would your holy roller mother say about this Betty?" 

"How do you even make that kind of attire...?" Y/N stares at Cheryl's outfit, somehow impressed that she even combined dark red and black. "Look so... so..."

"Dazzling?" Cheryl finishes his sentence, and judging by Y/N's face, she got it right. "It's called style, you should study it more." 

"What are you doing here Cheryl?" Betty asks hey, students don't usually come here since that's literally trespassing. 

"And where did you get those thigh-high boots, they're amazing..." Kevin gawks at her outfit, clearly agreeing with Y/N that she still looks like model. 

"Trev told Valerie, who told Josie, who told ginger, who told tina, who told me." Cheryl explains, surprisingly listing all the people in order. "And I thought I would help out."

"Help, or derail our investigation?" Billy prods and gets a flash in the face for her words. 

"Get over yourself Betty." 

"Hey guys, get in here." Ethel beckons them over, apparently already finding what they were looking for. The kids shine their flashlight down on the pages, it's indeed the playbook. "Trev was right. They didn't even bother to hide it."

They find a bunch of footballer's names of here, even Moose. They eventually find the page centered around Chuck and look at the entire list of girls. " 'New girl' is that what I'm reduced to?" Veronica asks to herself, offended. "Nine points?" 

"Better than 'Big girl' " Ethel quips, staring at her own name. "Seven point five." They look deeper into it and find something else juicy about this book.

"Polly's in this book." Betty points out, and they glance at the name it's given too, Jason Blossom. 

"Jason was a part of the book." Y/N says out loud. "He actually played this game, Reggie, even Moose played this at some point." 

"This isn't..." Cheryl stutters in disbelief. "Jason would never-"

"It's right there Cheryl." Betty gestures back to the book, getting her to snap back into reality. "This is what guys like Jason and Chuck think about women, we're... objects for them to abuse. And when they're done with us, they shame us into silence. They have zero remorse for the lives they destroy." 

Half of the people thought Jason seemed like a dick, but they didn't expect him be involved in something like this. Now Y/N wished he didn't grant Jason the mercy of a swift shot to the head. He should've skinned him alive before tossing him into the river.

"Maybe I don't know Jason...." Cheryl gloomily wonders, walking away from the heinous book as Veronica pulls out her phone. 

"I'll take a picture, show it to Weatherbee." Veronica says, the light showing ever word on the page perfectly, so no one can deny it. "It'll be perfect cover for your expose Betty."

"Yeah, but... no, these girls deserve justice, don't you think Cheryl?" Betty queries, looks like she's changing plans. Y/N and Kevin glance at each other as Betty looks Cheryl and Veronica, dead in the eye. "You want vengeance? You want to go full dark, no stars Veronica? I'm with you." 

The shadows loom over her, as if the group is now seeing a different side of the good girl they usually see.

"I have a plan."