1 | There's a Ghost [JUGHEAD JONES]

THIRTY FIVE

word count: 1,026

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE:

↳ FIRST FIGHT

IT WAS THE NEXT DAY AND Ginny Hopkins never felt any freer. Her toxic mother was out of her life and she had Jughead. She roamed the school hallways, waiting for her friends to join her when she saw the odd combo of Veronica and Archie in the distance.

"Ronnie, wait up. Hey, I just wanted to explain why I didn't call you after the party. My mom showed up out of nowhere." Archie told the raven-haired girl.

"It's fine, you don't owe me an explanation." Veronica told him bluntly. Ginny knew what the conversation was about and kept distance between the duo and herself.

"Wait, Veronica, are we seriously not gonna talk about what happened between us?"

"Archie." "We had a moment. A beautiful, but fleeting moment."

"We spent the night." Archie said, and he sounded like any privileged white boy— confused about why he didn't get the girl.

"We crashed, in separate beds." Veronica pointed out, for some reason, Archie wasn't getting it.

"I don't regret anything we said, Veronica, or did." Archie stated as they neared the end of the hall.

"Me neither, but I think you might be boyfriend-worthy."

"I agree. Let's test that theory at the Homecoming Dance." Well that was subtle.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the bandwidth to explore anything with anyone right now." Veronica said back and Ginny wished she had popcorn. Honestly, she tried to stay out of drama but when it was with others it was like a god damn movie. The duo had stopped in the middle of the hallway to talk and Ginny stood to the side by the lockers, still watching awkwardly.

"Well, in that case, what if we just finally get to sing that duet together?" Archie chuckled awkwardly and Ginny felt so bad– how did Archie get so many girls with that awkward flirting? "I kind of told my mom I was performing."

Veronica glanced down at her buzzing phone in her hand before glancing back up at the red headed boy. "Look, Archie, I'm sorry, but for a million reasons, we're going to have to pretend our moment never happened. I'll see you later."

"Yikes," Ginny commented lightly, approaching her redheaded friend. She forgot about the dance coming up, last dance there was she was working. Maybe Ginny could go to this dance with Jughead.

"Don't," Archie told her with narrowed eyes. "Just because you finally have Jug doesn't mean that you get a say so in my love life."

"Ouch," Ginny said quietly, wondering why he was being so harsh.

"Gin," Archie sighed. He still didn't know how to act around his childhood crush. He knew he had to get over his crush, and right now, he didn't think of her that way. She would always have a special part of his heart.

But it was too late, Ginny disappeared into the crowd of students.

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      IT WAS LUNCH TIME WHEN CHERYL BLOSSOM interrupted their quiet time away from the craziness. Betty and Kevin were sitting across from Veronica, whom Ginny was sitting beside. Beside her, was Archie and Jughead sat across from him. Archie, already had apologised to the young brunette about snapping at her, never meaning to be that harsh with his close friend. Ginny Hopkins, of course, accepted his apology.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have an announcement to make. One that tangentially involves you, Betty. I'm bringing Polly to the dance as my date, and we're campaigning as co-queens of Homecoming Court." Cheryl told the table and Ginny just didn't care. She had just taken a quiz in history and she was pretty sure she failed. And to top it off, she was having cramps, signalling her upcoming period.

"Because why?" Betty asked confused. "I was going to ask her to come with me." Right, now that she was single, Betty didn't have anyone to go with. Technically, Ginny still didn't have a date— Jughead never asked her.

"Because, Nightmare Smurfette, by all rights, it should've been Polly and Jason on that stage being crowned. This is the next best thing. So–Don't forget to vote, and I'll see everyone at my coronation!" The redheaded devil chirped, a pink painted smile sent their way before leaving her classmates behind.

"Betty, about the Homecoming Dance, can I play a couple songs? I kind of told my mom that– Whoa, you don't want me to?" Archie noticed everyone's expressions and how no one would make eye contact with him.

"No, no it's not that, Archie, it's just, um–This dance needs to be fun. And your songs, as amazing as they are–"

"They make you look like you're an emo 8th grader all over again." Jughead interjected, shoving food into his mouth so he didn't have to continue.

"In an amazing way." Betty tried to be nice, she didn't want to crush Archie's dreams.

"But no need to fret, Betty. 'Cause Archie asked me to sing with him, and we're thinking about doing some upbeat covers." Veronica interjected with a coy smile.

"We are?" Archie asked the raven-haired girl and Ginny's eyes narrowed at Veronica's change of heart.

"Aren't we?" She asked her friend.

There was a lapse of conversation where everyone just began to eat their food, knowing their lunch hour was coming to an end.

"Why are you mad at me?" Jughead asked loudly and everyone at the table turned to watch. Jughead was never one to make something public but he was one to ask outright if something was wrong. Jughead's blue eyes were pinned on his girl, wondering why she was being so quiet today, especially the minimal contact they've had. Sure, the two hadn't really kissed since his birthday but there was no hugs or hand holding for some reason.

Something was wrong.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked snippily, using her fork to push her mac and cheese around her plastic plate. She wasn't typically a sassy or bitchy girl but her pmsing self was a bitch.

"C'mon Gin, what's wrong?" Jughead sighed, leaning across the lunch table to hold Ginny's hands in his.

Ginny frowned at the nice gesture, too hellbent on being a bitch to her new boyfriend. She tugged her small hands out of his large ones, instantly regretting loosing his warmth.

"You didn't ask me to the dumb dance, that's what's wrong."

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sorry for the hiatus! didn't have any inspiration to write :)
hope you enjoyed having an emotional ginny who wanted to be asked to the dance, aw.

question: is it too early to post the information for the sequel? i'm way too excited omg