Mystique || Sweet Pea [3]

19

Chapter 19 || The Ides of March

On Monday morning, I drove the kids to school in the truck, dropping them off early for some club they joined. I gave them both a travel mug of hot chocolate before sending them off, waving like an idiot as they walked into the school. After I got home, I climbed out of the truck and onto the back of Sweet Pea's bike, and we headed to school together.

School was uneventful, as usual. I had a few tests to take, but I was confident that I'd studied enough to pass them. I'd spoken to Veronica at school, and she agreed to let me pick up a shift at Pop's after school after I told her I needed a sense of normalcy. After the last period at school, I headed home and traded my regular clothes for my Pop's uniform.

Sweet Pea drove me to work in the truck, deciding that he was going to pick up JB and Eddie and take them to the movies. I rushed into work and started on my shift. It went by fairly quickly, and I'd finally started to feel Riverdale shifting back to its pre-murder state.

"Hey, Kit-Kat." Reggie sounded, walking into Pop's. "Sweet Pea sent me to pick you up. He's locked in a heated game of Monopoly with Eddie and JB."

"Of course he is." I laughed. "Let's go before one of them flips a table."

Reggie drove me back home safely, and I invited him in to help him with a chemistry assignment he'd been struggling with. As we settled at the dining room table to work on the assignment, Sweet Pea, JB, and Eddie joined us with their own homework, and we all helped each other figure out confusing assignments.

Once the homework was put away, and another board game was brought to the table, I decided to start making dinner. As I cooked and watched the group play Clue, I couldn't help but take a step back and appreciate just how normal this Monday was. It was a nice change of pace, and I had high hopes that the rest of this week would be great.

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Tuesday morning started off the same as Monday; I took JB and Eddie to school, I let Bullet out the back door, and I headed off to school with Sweet Pea. School was filled with lectures and note taking, which wasn't anything I couldn't handle. After school, Sweet Pea and I went to pick JB and Eddie and take them with us to the sheriff's station.

I started training JB and Eddie on how to file reports after they'd been written, while Sweet Pea got to work filing and updating the criminal records. I turned a small radio we had in the filing room on, filling the room with soft rock. We worked while dancing and singing along to the radio, laughing at each other as we went. It was nice, and it was a memory that was much more pleasant than the ones I'd been making recently.

When we finished up our work for the day, Sweets and I took JB and Eddie to Pop's for food and milkshakes. While we were there, I asked everybody how their day was. Again, I sat back and took in the moment; sitting in a booth at Pop's with my boyfriend making faces at my little sister, and Eddie trying not to let his milkshake shoot out of his nose as he tried not to laugh. I smiled genuinely, feeling the ever-present tense feeling in my shoulders finally relax.

As night fell over a quiet Riverdale, Sweet Pea and I settled onto the couch to watch some bad reality tv. A few episodes into Real Housewives of Montana, Eddie and JB joined us on the couches, followed swiftly by Bullet laying across the kids. It was horrible, but the comments one or all of us let slip made it worth watching.

"Who even lives in Montana?" Eddie muttered. And just like that, the basement was filled with laughter.

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Wednesday morning was strange. Sweet Pea woke up well before me; he made breakfast for the house and made sure JB and Eddie left on time to walk to school before he woke me up. For the first time in a while, I was able to sleep in just a little longer before getting ready for school. It was nice, and it was most definitely something I could get used to.