Smokestacks - Jughead Jones [1] ✔

Chapter Eight

SMOKESTACKS

CHAPTER | EIGHT

Throughout the house, bathed in black, all that could be heard was the high-pitched, girlish giggles that slipped beneath the cracks of Elizabeth Cooper's bedroom door.

It had been a week since Jason's body had been found and Savannah was starting to let herself forget about his waterlogged body, the source of her nightmares and sleepless nights.

As Betty Cooper laughed at a YouTube video they had put on her iPad, setting it up against a wall of pillows, Savannah couldn't stop the rumble of laughter that built up within her chest.

Savannah smirked and slapped the iPad face-down onto the bed, it instantly shutting off. She turned to her friend, who looked outraged, and asked swiftly, "So, what's the deal with you and Archie then?"

Betty shuffled uncomfortably and sat up straighter against the headboard. "Ever since he and Veronica kissed, it's been difficult."

"I still can't believe you forgave her, Betty." Savannah rolled her eyes, moving to rest on her stomach to face the blonde. "She wanted to be your friend and by the next day, she'd thrown it all in your face. That's not a friend."

"I don't think you can say anything." Betty countered, feeling the need to defend Veronica.

"No." Savannah snapped sharply, "We are not talking about Jason and Polly. I don't even know her, Betty, don't throw that in my face."

Betty bit her lip awkwardly and managed to nod once. "It doesn't matter anyway. Archie doesn't feel the same way. He told me that on the night of the dance."

Savannah pursed her lips in thought, her mind whirling as she remembered the night at Pop's with Jughead, when Archie burst through the doors in a panic. It must have been after he kissed Veronica and went searching for Betty, who took off to save herself the heartbreak.

"Boys choose the wrong girl, Betty." Savannah told her, trying not to think of Polly and Jason, and how she had been the wrong choice in this equation. Jason should have always been with Polly. "And when it all blows up in their faces, they'll realise that it was you all along. Trust me, Archie will open his eyes one day."

Betty smiled softly. "I hope so." She then let out a sigh and continued, "But if he and Veronica want to be together and they're happy then I'll just have to live with that. I can't come between them."

"Screw that." Savannah scoffed, her face contorting with disgust for the Lodge girl. "He was your boy first, she swooped in with her pearls and bouquet of yellow flowers for "friendship". Screw that, and screw her."

"Veronica is my friend, Savannah." Betty told her for the hundredth time.

Savannah opened her mouth to say something, when she faltered. Jason had been Polly's girl and she had swooped in with her need for a distraction, torn apart by her father's death.

"How do you feel about the whole Jason thing?" Betty asked her friend.

"I don't know." Savannah told her, feeling that the answer was entirely truthful. "I think from the beginning I wouldn't let myself feel for him, but he was still a person that I connected with on some level."

She thought of her parents and how this situation felt all too familiar. She remembered the nights when she'd cling to her stuffed animals, hidden underneath the comfort of her bed. The place where children believed they were safe, under their covers like the cruel truths of the world couldn't reach them there.

"Are you coming to Pop's?" Betty asked from her vanity.

Savannah hadn't noticed her move. "Who's going?"