𝓳𝓪𝓶𝓪𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓾 || JUGHEAD JONES ¹

• seven •

~JUGHEAD'S POV~

"I tried to save him but I was tied down. I couldn't do anything to save him. I saw the gun and closed my eyes, knowing he would die." Rose's words were echoing in my head as I walked into Blue and Gold office. Rose was sitting on the table, talking with Betty. She was looking good, laughing as she told Betty a story. But when you break through the barrier, you could see how she really looked.

Broken and exhausted.

She was laughing but I knew she was grieving.

"Hi, Betty. Blossom." I said as I bowed in front of them. Rose laughed and Betty smiled.

"Well, I should get going. Cheryl and I... need to talk about something." Rose said as she took her bag from the ground walked towards the door. "See you guys later."

It looks like she was going to tell Cheryl about Jason's death. It was going to be hard for her.

"I gotta go." I said and rushed to catch up with Rose.

"But you just ca-" said Betty but I didn't stay in the room long enough to hear the rest.

🌹

~ROSE'S POV~

I saw Cheryl sitting on the table by the three. I looked at Jughead. He smiled and locked his fingers into mines.

Cheryl stared at us in confusion. "What is he doing here?" she asked in disgust.

"I missed you too, Cheryl." Jug said with a fake smile. Cheryl looked at me for an explanation.

"I want him to be here. And, he knows what I'm going to say." I said. Cheryl nodded. We sat down and I told her about our brother's death.

When I finished, there was uncomfortable silence, nobody knew what to say.

"Well, Sheriff Keller already said it was a homicide. If you didn't see who it was, it is not a precious information." she said and smiled. Don't fake it Cheryl, even though they said it you still had hopes. I did too, it was meaningless, and completely stupid but still, hoping made things better.

I grabbed Jug's arm before he could made a sarcastic comment about Cheryl's response. My phone buzzed and I looked to see a text from Veronica.

Veronica:
Meet us at the school.
Seen 17:47

You:
Omw
Seen 17:47

"I gotta go. Meet me tonight at Pop's?" I told Jug.

"Sure thing, Blossom." he walked away as I walked into the school building and I saw Kevin.

"Hey, Kev," I said, walking over to him. He turned, then saw me behind him."Oh, hi Alice," He said, smiling.

"Have you seen Veronica?" I asked him, resting my hand loosely on my bag that was hanging from my shoulder.

"Oh, yeah, she and Betty are in the history room with a few other girls... Turns out Veronica isn't the only girl this has happened to," Kevin told her. A couple of days ago something happened between Veronica and Chuck Clayton. I never liked him honestly and I would expect him to lie about getting laid. "I was just headed there now."

So, we went inside Riverdale High. It wasn't long before we reached their intended destination, and soon saw Betty and Veronica, along with a few other girls that I vaguely recognized.

"Hey, Rose." Veronica said.
"Hey Ronnie," I replied, walking into the room alongside Kevin. "So, what's going on?"

"There's a playbook," said Ethel Muggs, "It's like... some sort of game for them... They keep score... each conquest earns them points..."Ethel shook her head lightly, like she couldn't continue.

"Chuck and his posse," Betty continued, "They do this all the time."

"No. No. Jason would never let them." I said but no one seemed to care about my objection.

"We should go to Weatherbee," Veronica advised.

"I already tried," Ethel told them sadly, "Weatherbee said he didn't find anything."

"Okay, then we need proof," Betty reasoned, "We need evidence he can't deny."

"Proof of what, Nancy Drew?" Cheryl gibed, notifying everyone of her presence. "That boys will be boys?"

"And," Cheryl continued, "that playbook reeks of suburban legend."It was true, a playbook with a point system seemed a bit like something you'd see in a cliched teen movie.

"How would you know, Cheryl?" Veronica asked, irritated.

"Because, Frida Shallow," Cheryl began to retort as she rolled her eyes, "before he died, our brother was co-captain of the football team, and Jason never mentioned it, and he never would've allowed it."

"Okay, well, I never met your brother," Veronica said.

"Jason would never let this happen." I said again but this time louder. "You might not know him but we knew him better than he knew himself. He would NEVER do it." I said, almost screaming when I said never. Cheryl nodded her head.

"I'm not lying about what happened to me, and Ethel's not lying. And proof or no proof, book or no book, I am going scorched earth on these privileged, despicable miscreants. You wanna get caught in that backdraft, Cheryl? Call me, or any of these lovely, smart, young women 'slut'."Tensions were high as Veronica got closer to Cheryl.

"Okay! Everybody calm down," I said, making my way in between the two girls. "Veronica, I believe you." I said and turned to Ethel and the other girls. "And what happened to you is sickening. But dinner forget that you're also talking about our brother, you might not know him but we do. He was a better person than Cheryl and me."

The girls nodded. I turned to Cheryl and continued talking. "JJ would never let that happen, I am assuming they did it behind his back. I'm sure he didn't know."

Cheryl's face softened and she focused her on
The ground. "We'll help you and prove that JJ didn't know what was going on, right Cheryl?" I said and she nodded in agreement. Betty and Veronica smiled.

"So what's the plan?" asked Cheryl.