Misfits (Jughead Jones)

Chapter 29

Jason was going to be a father.

The words had been running through Blake's head since Alice dropped her off back at home. Everything began to make sense. His reason for running away; why he wanted to fake his death; all of it. The Cooper's and Blossom's had always hated each other. It was like real life Romeo and Juliet but only Romeo had died.

The knock on her window brought her out of her thoughts. She got up from her bed and opened the window for Jughead.

"Hey there, Juliet. Nurse off duty." He smiled as he clambered into the room. "How'd the mission go."

"Polly's pregnant with Jason's baby." Blake murmured.

Jughead's eyes widened as he pulled her into a hug. "Betty?"

"I don't know." Blake said as she sat on her bed. "Alice found out where we were and brought us home. We didn't really get the chance to talk."

"We should go check on her after her parents leave for work." Jughead suggested as he paced across the room.

Blake nodded and laid back on her bed. It wasn't long until Jughead flopped down next to her. "Well, I think we narrowed down the suspects." Blake muttered as she took his hand.

"We'll find who did this." Jughead promised as he pulled her onto his chest and placed a feather light kiss to her lips.

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"They're crazy." Betty stressed as Blake and Jughead stood in her room. "My parents are crazy."

"They're parents. They're all crazy." Jughead said and Blake sent him a pointed look.

"No, but what if... What if Polly is, too?" Betty worried as she paced across the floor. "The way she was talking to me, the way she looked at me. And now, all I can think is, "Maybe I'm crazy like they are.""

"Hey. We're all crazy." Blake said as she caught Betty's shoulders to stop her pacing.

"We're not our parents, Betty. We're not our families." Jughead added. Blake glanced at him and saw the hurricane brewing behind his ocean blue eyes. He'd told her he was back home with his dad but she wasn't sure he was telling the truth.

"The car." Betty suddenly exclaimed taking a few steps back from Blake. Both of them shot the blonde a confused look and she elaborated. "Polly talked about a car Jason had stashed for them down Route 40 near some sign. If we can find it, we can confirm Polly's story."

"One way or another." Jughead uttered.

"I need to know." Betty pleaded with the pair.

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It was already dark when the three of them found themselves walking up Route 40 in search for the car. It was starting to rain slightly causing both Jughead's and Blake's dark hair to stick to their faces. Betty's hair was pulled back into its usual pristine pony tail. Archie was going to kill them later as they had chosen to miss the variety show to go hunting. They all shared a look as they came across the broken-down sign Polly had mentioned. Betty smiled as they glanced around for the car.

"There." Jughead pointed before running to the tarp covered car.

They raced over and pulled the tarp off the back of the car. Jughead grabbed his torch as they quickly opened the boot to observe all of the stuff. There were various cases and other travel things but Blake's eyes were drawn to the letterman jacket. She hesitantly pulled it back to show the nametag. Jason.

Blake felt Jughead's hand on her arm as Betty let out a sigh of relief.

"What are those?" Jughead muttered as he picked up a block of green wrapped in Clingfilm. "Drugs." He suddenly realised.

"Wait! Jughead, put it down! This is evidence. This is all evidence." Betty reminded them.

"Crap. This whole car is a crime scene." Blake said as Jughead threw down the drugs. Jughead pulled out his phone and quickly took some photos.

"Okay. We need to get Sheriff Keller and then we need to get Polly." Betty said as they shut the boot and left.

None of them noticed the figure watching them from the nearby shrubbery.

"Sheriff Keller." The three of them called as they ran into the school.

"I got your text. What is it?" Keller asked as he walked up to the three teenagers.

"Look, it's Jason's jacket." Blake said as she showed him the photo on Jughead's phone.

"Where'd you get that?" Keller questioned.

"In the trunk of a car with a bunch of his other stuff." Betty clarified. "Jason was running away with Polly."

"Where's the car?" Keller queried.

Jughead motioned for the sheriff to follow as they ran out of the school. Blake vaguely heard Archie's voice drifting through the speaker system.

"Here's the thing about fear. It's always there. Fear of the unknown, fear of facing it alone. Fear that those closest to you are the monsters."

As Keller and Jughead arrived at the location of the car he realised it was too late. Even in the pouring rain, the car was burning. Someone was watching and didn't want them to find out the truth.

"Fear that as soon as you slay one, there's another monster waiting to take its place. Fear that there's one more boogeyman waiting at the end of the dark hall."

Blake and Betty ran down the halls of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. They had avoided the desk and headed straight for Polly's room. Betty threw open the door and the pair froze. The room looked as though it had been raided. But the worst thing, the window was smashed and there was traces of blood around the edges of the shattered glass.

"Polly?" Betty muttered even though it was clear the room was empty. They walked over to the window and looked out.

"She was out there. Alone, bereft, unmoored Where was she going? And what would she do next?"