As Archie jogged back down to the field, Betty let out a high-pitched squeal of pure joy, throwing her arms around Veronica in a tight hug.
Aleksander watched them celebrate, offering a polite, congratulatory smile.
Internally, however, he had already run the probabilities.
He had seen the way Archie looked at Veronica in the student lounge and on the bleachers.
Archie was infatuated with the New York socialite, not the girl next door.
Aleksander knew he could easily tell Betty this and save her the impending heartbreak, but his background in psychology dictated otherwise.
If he stopped her now, she would never get closure.
She needed to let it play out naturally.
The next afternoon, Aleksander suited up for Coach Clayton’s football tryouts.
Clayton ran him through a grueling gauntlet of passing, agility, and situational drills, fully expecting the billionaire prodigy to crack under physical pressure.
Instead, Aleksander was flawless.
His throws were perfectly placed lasers, and his ability to read the defensive line before the snap was almost precognitive.
“You’re a natural Quarterback, Morozov,” Coach Clayton said, clapping him hard on the shoulder pads, visibly thrilled.
“You don’t just throw the ball; you see the whole field like a chessboard.
I want you calling the plays.
You’re our new strategist.”
Aleksander accepted the position with a nod.
It fit perfectly.
Quarterback was the field general—the one who controlled the pace and dictated the outcome.
As the weekend arrived, Aleksander split his focus.
In the depths of the Fox Forest bunker, he finalized his tactical loadouts, reviewing Cortana’s latest satellite tracking on The Freelancer and Floriana Campo.
But above ground, he was preparing for a very different kind of operation: a high school dance.
The night of the Back-to-School semi-formal arrived with a damp chill.
Aleksander escorted Veronica, who looked effortlessly stunning in a dark, strapless jacquard dress.
Archie escorted Betty, who had chosen a soft pink fit-and-flare dress with elegant cutout sides.
As the foursome walked into the gymnasium, the festive mood immediately clashed with a deeply morbid aesthetic.
Streamers and twinkling lights were completely overshadowed by giant, hauntingly lit photo-portraits of Jason Blossom hovering over the dance floor.
Veronica took it all in and let out a heavy sigh.
“Well, it’s not exactly the Met Ball.”
“This is a standard small-town high school dance, Veronica,” Aleksander replied smoothly, adjusting the cuffs of his tailored charcoal suit.
“Manage your expectations accordingly.”
Beside them, Betty turned to Archie, who had been strangely quiet since they arrived.
“Hey, when do you have to let Coach Clayton know about football?”
“This weekend,” Archie muttered, distracted.
“Guys, can’t we just liberate ourselves from the tired dichotomy of jock and artist?” Veronica quipped.
“Can’t we, in this post-James Franco world, be all things at once?”
“I’m working on it, Veronica,” Archie replied tightly.
Sensing the tension, Veronica grabbed Aleksander’s arm.
“Work faster.
I’m getting punch.” She leaned in and whispered to Betty.
“You got this.”
As Veronica dragged Aleksander toward the refreshment tables, Archie and Betty moved slightly further into the crowd.
“It’s about following your heart, right?” Betty said softly, stopping to tidy up Archie’s bowtie.
Music or football?”
Archie’s eyes suddenly darted over Betty’s shoulder, spotting Ms.
Grundy chaperoning near the bleachers.
“Betty, will you give me one minute?” Betty gave him a look of pure disbelief.
“I promise, when I get back, I’ll be a much better date, okay?
I have a plan.”
Before Betty could protest, Archie hurried off.
Luckily, Kevin Keller materialized out of the crowd to rescue her.
“Betty, you will not believe who just propositioned me in the bathroom,” Kevin gasped out.
“Give you a hint: His name may be Moose, but I’d describe a certain appendage of his as horse-like.”
Betty’s jaw dropped in shocked confusion.
Meanwhile, near the refreshment table, Aleksander stood casually beside Veronica as she poured two cups of punch—purposefully ignoring Moose and Reggie aggressively spiking the bowl on the other side of the table.
Though he appeared perfectly relaxed, Aleksander’s enhanced hearing tracked Archie as the boy intercepted Ms.
Grundy in a quiet corner.
“Don’t panic, I’m not stalking you,” Archie’s voice filtered through the ambient noise of the gym into Aleksander’s ears.
“Archie?
Didn’t we have a deal?” Grundy hissed.
“No, Geraldine.
We have a secret.
Multiple secrets, actually.
And maybe we could’ve done something to help Jason that morning, or maybe we couldn’t have.
I won’t tell anyone, anything—but you need to help me.
I want to do an Independent Study with you, as many mornings a week as you can spare.
I swear that’s all it will be.
And I won’t tell anyone about July Fourth, ever.
Deal?”
Aleksander blinked, genuinely surprised.
Fuck, he thought to himself.
Is Archie Andrews actually blackmailing a teacher?
It was clumsy, emotionally driven extortion, but it was surprisingly effective.
“…Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 7:30 AM, before first period,” Grundy conceded tightly.
“I’ll set it up.”
As Grundy strode away, Aleksander guided Veronica out onto the dance floor.
They fell into a smooth, effortless rhythm.
Veronica rested a hand on his shoulder, looking over at Betty standing awkwardly with Kevin.
“I hope everything goes right for her tonight,” Veronica murmured, genuine worry in her eyes.
“It won’t,” Aleksander answered simply.
Veronica pulled back slightly, frowning at him.
“Why would you say that?
And if you knew that, why didn’t you stop her from going with him when we were on the bleachers?”
“Because if I stopped her, she would spend the rest of her high school career pining over an idealized ‘what if’,” Aleksander explained, his voice calm and analytical, guiding her through a turn.
“Archie’s interest lies elsewhere.
But until Betty hears a definitive ‘no’ directly from him, she will stubbornly cling to the hope that he loves her back.
She needs the rejection to finally break the cycle and move forward.
Before Veronica could fully process the cold, undeniable logic of his statement, the gymnasium speakers cut out.
“Good evening, friends.
Are you all having a good time?” Cheryl Blossom’s voice echoed through the room.
She stood on the stage in an extravagant crimson gown, soaking in the applause.
“As honorary chairperson and de-facto queen of tonight’s semi-formal, it is my great pleasure to introduce this evening’s main entertainment.
Tonight, they’re making an exception and debuting a cover of the song my parents claim they were listening to the night Jason and I were conceived.
This one’s for you, Jay-Jay.”
Aleksander and Veronica exchanged a highly disturbed look at the sheer inappropriateness of the introduction.
“I give you Josie and the Pussycats!” Cheryl announced.
As the band started a slow, sultry melody, Archie finally made his way back over to Betty.
“Sorry about that,” Archie said.
“Want to dance?”
“Yeah!” Betty smiled, her anxiety melting away as they started to slow dance.
“Did that go okay?”
“Yeah, yes,” Archie rushed out, a little too energized by his successful blackmail.
“So I’ll study with Ms.
Grundy before school, football practice after school, and work at my dad’s on weekends.
It’s gonna be nuts.”
“So long as you don’t give up your passion…” Betty murmured, leaning into him.
She looked past Archie’s shoulder and saw Veronica although relacutantly and Kevin both mouthing, Do it!
Betty took a deep breath, gathering every ounce of her courage.
“Um.
Now that I’m a River Vixen and you’re gonna be on Varsity Football, I have this fantasy of us as a power-couple.
Or maybe even just as a couple.”
Archie froze.
He pulled back slightly, his expression completely panicked.
“Betty?”
“Is that so impossible to imagine?” she asked, her voice cracking slightly.
Archie looked at Betty, then his eyes darted nervously toward Ms.
Grundy standing off to the side, and then out toward the crowd.
He couldn’t say it.
The song finished, and the two of them separated immediately, the air between them thick with a suffocating, heartbreaking awkwardness.
Off to the side of the stage, Cheryl Blossom watched the tragic implosion with absolute delight.
She turned to her two Vixen minions, her red lips curving into a wicked smile.
“Make sure those two turtledoves come to my afterparty,” Cheryl commanded softly.
“Veronica too.
I’m in the mood for chaos.”
On the dance floor, Aleksander and Veronica watched Betty rapidly blink back tears as the distance between her and Archie suddenly felt like a mile.
Veronica sighed heavily, leaning her head against Aleksander’s shoulder.
“You were right.
This is a disaster.”
“I usually am,” Aleksander replied quietly.
“But the night is far from over.”