Aberration ≫ Jarchie

S E V E N T E E N

A/n: Serious question, is this book going too slow for you guys? Most of these chapters are fillers and I just don't want you to get bored with it. I'm totally fine with doing a time skip to where I need to go to get the storyline started. Just please let me know.

Eight Years Old ❣︎ July

"Well, home sweet... home." Mrs. Jones smiles optimistically while squeezing Jughead's hand. Mr. Jones, now preferring to be called FP, opens the rusty trailer with rough tug, causing dirt and debris to fly off the rusty trailer and swirl into the arid air. Jughead sighs before taking a few short steps after his dad and peering into the tight, dark, space.

"I uh, used to own this thing years ago." FP explains before gesturing for the rest of his family to file into what is barely a living room. Jelly Bean starts to sneeze quietly at the dusty air, symbolizing their new home as a relic. It's dusty, dirty, old, and it's not their home.

Jughead hates it.

The rest of the trailer doesn't get better, there only being two bedrooms, one bathroom, half of a whole kitchen, and a small living room/ dining room where the family will most likely be spending all of their time.

"I know it's not much, but it's all we have." FP mumbles guiltily, watching the disgusted expression on his son's face.

Maybe if I wasn't such a screw up this wouldn't have happened.

Maybe if I didn't keep promising him things I can't keep, he wouldn't be so disappointed in me.

The raven haired boy nods understandably and makes his way to the room him and Jelly Bean will be sharing.

At least they aren't homeless.

The raven haired boy is fully aware of their situation right now, and he knows that when he gets older he'll have to start working so they can afford more necessities and wants. He wants to spoil Jelly Bean when he gets older.

Right now though, the biggest concern in his mind is the 4th of July picnic that Riverdale throws every year. This is the first year Mrs. Jones is letting the young boy go, usually not safe or comfortable with going to the picnics due to FP's reputation with the Serpents. This year, she is deeming Jughead old enough to go by himself.

Jughead will finally get to share this experience with Archie, who has always told him stories about how pretty the fireworks look up close, which Jughead has only seen tiny glimpses of from afar. He will get to eat hotdogs, his favorite food of all time, and Archie promised he'd bring his guitar and teach the darker hue something.

With this in mind, being moved out into a dumpy trailer can't affect his mood.

Within a few hours, and lots of worried reassurances, Jughead is sent off to the picnic at Riverdale's one and only park. The raven haired boy has always liked this park a lot, because it's somehow always well kept. It's a blooming garden of cadmiums and ochres in the middle of a town stuck in grey scale.

A smile begins to grace his face as he steps through the park gates, watching everyone smiling and laughing and running around. His smile soon turns into a frown though as he sees everyone here with their families.

His family is never really together anymore.

Soon enough, Jughead is able to spot a mess of scarlet red hair, and quickly runs over to him, grateful that he didn't have to wander much longer.

"Juggy! Thank goodness, thought you got lost!" Archie says sincerely with a pout, making the darker hue laugh because Archie is always so worried about him.

"No I'm fine, there was just a lot of people to get through." Jughead explains, causing a goofy smile to pop up on Archie's face as he nods along to what he is saying.

"Hey Betty." Jughead smiles politely at the lemon hue who is sitting an awkwardly far distance apart from the red head.

Betty's eyes immediately fill with relief before she waves happily and sits on the other side of Jughead, wrapping her arm around his.

"Hey Jughead." She giggles while eyeing Archie with a warning look.

Archie just rolls his eyes and continues talking to his best friend about anything and everything really. What he really wants to tell him though, is his failed attempt at a proposal. If the red head is being honest here, yes it did hurt, because he did like her. But now, only a few months later, Archie can't even fathom why he did.

Is Betty pretty?

Absolutely, not as beautiful as Jughead though.

Is she funny?

Of course, but she can't make me laugh as much as Jughead does.

Is she smart?

She could battle with Jughead any day, but of course she'd lose.

It's not too weird to compare a crush to your best friend, is it?

Sometimes being dejected by someone snaps you back to reality.

Maybe he didn't like her as much as he thought he did, maybe it was just a crush.

Maybe he didn't know how to deal with those feelings and just tried to embrace them to distract him from other things.

Or someone else.

Bottom line, Archie doesn't feel the same way about Betty anymore, and he thinks it's ridiculous that they're being so awkward with each other and purposely avoiding one another.

He wish he could just scream. "I don't like you any more and I wish I never would have proposed, could we go back to being friends please?"

But he can't, and he won't, because he's a nice person.

"I'm going to get something to drink, do you want anything?" Jughead's voice rings through the red head's ears, snapping him back into reality and towards his friends piercing, ever changing, greenish blue eyes.

"N-no." Archie answers back, blushing slightly at his thoughts, and the way he temporarily got lost in the sea of colors that are his eyes.

"I'm gonna get you something anyways." Jughead giggles before getting up quickly and walking away towards the area where the food is.

Archie smiles at that, and watches Jughead walk towards the area to make sure he got there safely.

He wouldn't know what to do if anything ever happened to him.

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Sorry for the long hiatus which wasn't even that long. Only a week.

But I guess when you update almost 3 times a week, updating 0 times feels like a long time.

Honestly I've just had a lot of finals to take this week and I had creative writers block from absorbing all of that "non-fiction" mumble jumble I needed to write my two global essays.

Mine was 8 pages long each in a 2 hour time frame for both so I guess all that hard work paid off.

Anyways, about the question at the beginning, I need to know because I don't want y'all to lose interest. So please answerrrr.

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