The Diplobrats

Chapter 3

The next day, Betty woke up to 10 missed calls, all from Jughead. She rubbed her eyes as she unlocked her phone and listened to the voicemail he left. She could barely make out the words he was saying. Between the heavy breathing and the banging (no), Jughead's voice was almost non-existent. There was, however, one word that stood out to Betty like candy in a pile of rice. 'Bret'.  The person that seemed to be haunting Betty since the day they met, which was impressive since they had only met the day before this situation. 

Betty shot out of bed and changed into new clothes (because of course that's whats important. It's like, your boyfriend might be dying right now but GOd forbid someone sees you in your Hello Kitty shorts. Anyway.) and she rushed over to The Pembrooke. She knocked on the door and veronica answered.

"Hey Betty, whats wrong?" Veronica questioned, sincerely.

"Sorry, V, I know its early but I'm worried about Jughead. He left me a voicemail, I think something happened to him. Can you come to Stonewall Prep with me?"

"Oh my god, of course, B. Let's go."

The pair left and made their way to Stonewall Prep.  When they got to the school, they immediately ran to Jughead's dorm. Betty slammed on the door until it opened to reveal Bret, stood in the doorway, a smug smile on his face.

"Where's Jughead?" Betty demanded.

"I have no idea."

"Don't be like that, Bret. Tell me what you did to him."

"Oh, you mean the harmless prank we pulled? Forsyth's fine."

"What do you mean?" Betty asked, her eyes shifted to Veronica who looked just as confused.

"Look, if you really want to know where he is, you can come with me. It's about time we let him out anyway." Bret confessed as he led the girls away to the student lounge of Stonewall Prep, on the other side of the school.

The three of them entered the room. Betty and Veronica glanced around, searching for Jughead before Bret could reveal where he was. There were students sat on a red couch, reading books and typing on laptops, they seemed to be working on assignments which the two girls found odd considering in Riverdale High's student lounge, their wasn't much room for working between the fights and the coups that were being arranged against the staff members.

"It seems the school is just as pretentious as the people attend it." Veronica muttered, earning a glare from Bret who was leaning against a couch, conversing with a group of students.

There was no sign of Jughead but Betty did recognize the individuals that Bret was talking to. They were the same three that she was introduced to last night. Jughead's other classmates.

"I think we ought to release our friend." Bret mentioned to his fellow preppies. They all nodded in response. Bret, Donna, Joan, and Jonathan all walked to where they were keeping Jughead while Betty and Veronica followed behind, whispering to eachother about what the hell was going on and why they were taking so long to get to Jughead. 

"Guys what is taking so long?" Veronica asked the group in front of them. 

The group turned around to look at the two girls.

"Who even are you?" Bret asked the raven-haired girl.

"I could ask you the same thing." Veronica responded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Right," Betty commented as she realized the two had never been introduced. "Veronica this is Donna, Bret, Joan, and Jonathan. Guys this is Veronica. Now can you please show us where my boyfriend is?"

The students carried on walking throughout the school until they reached Mr Chipping's room. They opened the door to reveal a completely normal looking room, everything was average apart from the wooden coffin resting in the middle of the room. Betty's eyes widened as she stepped towards the case, assuming that Jughead was inside it. Her suspicions were confirmed when Bret  unlocked the latch on the wooden box and her boyfriend was lying within the coffin.

Jughead immediately sat up as he felt the air hit him. His breathing became frantic as he adjusted to the new lighting and processed what just happened.

"What the hell?" Jughead exclaimed, standing up and stepping out of the coffin he spent his night in. Betty ran up and hugged him. Jughead stepped back as his girlfriend leaned on him, Still dazed from his experience before finally realizing where he was and who he was with.

"Good morning, Forsyth." Brett smirked. Donna waved behind him, a smug grin appearing on her face. Jughead's blank expression turned into one of rage as he stepped towards his classmates but before he could say anything, their teacher, Mr Chipping, entered the room.

"Oh. Hello, guys." He smiled at the students before seeing the coffin, open in the middle of his classroom. He just sighed. "Again?"

"It's a Stonewall Prep tradition, sir." Bret admitted.

"Im sorry. Can we talk about what is happening?" Betty questioned, still rightfully bemused by the situation.

"Yeah, I think i have a right to know why I was locked in a coffin all night." Jughead added.

Mr Chipping sat on his desk and crossed his arms. "My students have always had creative ways of welcoming new students. This one happens to be particularly popular."

"Right, because there is nothing more welcoming than trying to suffocate a person." Betty remarked.

"Oh calm down, ponytail. He got plenty of air in there. It's just a prank." Bret repeated. 

"Well that makes it better." Veronica uttered. 

Donna rolled her eyes at trio's comments.

"Anything to say, Donna?" Veronica asked stepping towards her.

"You guys are overreacting," she stated, "it's not that big of a deal. Consider it an initiation."