Matt intends to find out

Since Tanya was staying home for the day, Matt and Karen hitched rides from Amy's mom who was off to spend money anyway. He hated missing the bus and his interactions with Ophelia and Wendy, but he wanted to be at school when Matt arrived.

The most likely situation was that Jordan was a pure asshole and that there was nothing Matt could do to stop him from going insane but that was a defeatist attitude. If Tanya was right that Jordan was sensitive to others, there had to be something behind the asshole exterior. Of course, pure psychopaths can be sensitive to others if they think it's in their self-interest so maybe that was what Jordan was hiding.

Matt waited in the parking lot until Jordan pulled up in his Porshe 911. Matt tried to think what that car sold for... and came up with more than his parents made in a couple of years. And someone had given it to an eighteen year-old kid who would probably wreck it? He suspected he'd never be rich enough to think that way.

"Hey Jordan," he said when the jock exited his car.

"Oh, Matt. What's up? If you're worried, you don't have to be. I've got a lot of chicks just waiting to sign up for the Cherry-smash."

"That's great, Jordan," Matt lied. Actually, it would be great because if Jordan got interested in another girl, he might relax about Tanya. Unfortunately, while Matt might not be the world's most sensitive guy, he didn't need to be to pick up on the fact that Jordan didn't have a clue where he was going to find girls for his competition. If he'd stooped to asking Lisa, not that she wasn't cute as shit but she definitely wasn't a cheerleader type, he'd already struck out with most of the girls he knew. "I've got the money from the football stream you guys did. Can you share it out with the guys."

"Hell yeah. You know, I thought you were a punk at first but you're all right. I appreciate you respecting my role with the team."

Wow. Jordan was thanking him? He really must be depressed.

"Yeah, well, you are the leader."

"Hell yeah I am."

"The thing is," Matt said, "the more I thought about it, the more I realized we really do need to add a dynamic with the show. Your idea of having Reggie compete with Archie is definitely consistent with the comics, if not so much the Riverdale show. But there are other ways we could add the dynamic."

"Like what?"

"Well, let's say you have a secret. Maybe you're an alcoholic or your father abuses you like Reggie in the TV show. Or maybe you secretly hate football but have to play it or maybe..."

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm just saying, it could be an interesting dynamic to work out what issue you have. Of course, it might be in the context of streaming sex... we can't forget that. But if we play it right, it doesn't have to be just about the sex."

"I guess I'm not tracking."

"I'm just sort of brainstorming here, Jordan. You inspired me to look at ways we could make the show better... not just by adding more girls or whatever, but by adding an interpersonal dimension that goes beyond sex. Maybe it's friendship. Maybe it's rivalry. Maybe it's a secret that you want to have uncovered but that you're also afraid to have see the light of day. All I know is that you're a complicated guy so there's a lot going on with you."

"Yeah, sure. I play football and fuck girls. That's really complicated, right?"

"Look, we all want the same thing, right. We want to get out of high school with some success. We want to get into a decent college and get on with our lives. We want friendships and love. But it's high school which means it's crap. Everything is harder here because we're not on our own, because we have to follow stupid rules, and because the whole structure is set up around enforcing conformity and social punishment for anyone who steps outside the zone. Well, what we're doing with our streaming service is a way of letting any of us be who we want to be... with plausible deniability because of the masks."

"We all know you're Archie."

"Can you prove it? It's just a guy with a Zorro mask."

"Yeah? Well, my problems can't be dealt with that easily."

Matt nodded. Jordan might not know it but he'd just confessed to having problems... which was a huge first step. "Just so you know, I'm here for you whenever you want to work on those problems because believe me, I've dealt with some pretty huge problems myself."

"Maybe."