Secrets • Jughead Jones [1]

|I'm Not Guilty|

Sheriff Keller and Principal Weatherbee stare disbelievingly at the board full of evidence of the Jason Blossom's death in the Blue and Gold Office. Suddenly, Jughead walks in, "Hey."

A guilty and shocked face formed on Jughead's face and Sheriff Keller replies with, "Hey."

"Uh, what's up?" Jughead says, his voice shaky.

"I'm gonna need you to come down to the station with me."

Jughead took a deep breath as he was escorted through the school halls. Betty and Archie where at the lockers and saw Jughead he quickly said, "Call my dad."

As they almost reached the exit a voice echoed through the hallway, "Jughead?!"

Aria quickly ran up to Jughead while Sheriff Keller tried to keep her back.

"What are you doing?!" Aria asked Sheriff Keller with a raised voice.

"Aria it's ok, don't worry about me." Jughead managed to say as he was shoved through the door.

"Juggy..." Aria muttered as Betty came up and explained what Jughead had said.

~•~

"Forensics came back on the car, despite the fire, well, we were able to pull a pair of prints off the truck. Yours and Aria's . Which is, of course, no surprise. Although Betty's fingerprints weren't there. But what did surprise me was this. Your prints were on file from an incident that happened 6 years ago, where you spent some time at the Riverdale Juvenile Delinquent Center for, uh, attempting to burn down Riverdale Elementary School."

"I was playing with matches. And that's a pretty tenuous connection for a Sheriff." Jughead intervened.

"Well Principal Weatherbee also allowed me to have a look at your school records. You have a long and rough history, Mr. Jones. Bullied a lot." Sheriff Keller backtracked.

"Yeah, my name is Jughead."

"By the football team, in particular. I can only assume that would have included Jason Blossom. So how about this? Tell me your whereabouts on the week of July 4th."

"This is crazy. You think, I-"

"Jughead, a kid like you, raised on the wrong side of the tracks by a deadbeat dad, bullied by kids like Jason Blossom. I mean, who wouldn't want to lash out at that?"

Jughead's eyes glistened with tears, "I'm not talking to you anymore. I want a lawyer."

~•~

"I didn't do it Aria. You have to believe me." Jughead spoke to Aria, still in the interrogation room.

"Of course, I believe you. I was with you and I know you would never do anything like that." Aria wrapped her hands round his and held tight.

"Well, this Paradise Lost Kids went to death row because they wore black and listened to Metallica. I don't wanna be a scapegoat."

"And I'm not gonna let that happen. All the evidence against you is circumstantial. We're gonna get you out of here."

"Is my dad here yet?" Jughead sniffed.

"Archie's here with his dad. They're talking to the Sheriff. No one knows where you dad is."

~•~

As Jughead, Betty, Archie, Archie's dad and Aria walked out FP shouted, "Jughead! Sorry, I came as soon as I got your messages. My phone, the freaking battery. I forgot to plug it in last night. What the hell happened?"

"Nothing. It's fine now.mr. Andrews took care of it." Jughead replied.

"What jacked up crap did they accuse you of in here, huh? This bastards tying to throw you in jail like they did your old man? Well, screw that! I will rip Keller a new one for trying to pull that on you-"

As FP came barging through, Mr. Andrews rapidly pushed him back, "FP settle down!"

"Hey! Hey! He's my son. He's my son, Fred! You'd do the same for your boy." FP shoved Fred back and walked past Jughead.

"Dad. Don't make things worse. Please." Jughead grabbed FP's jacket.

"Yeah, all right then. You uh, you coming home with me?"

"He can stay with us, Mr. Jones. We already offered." Archie said.

"Is that what you want?" FP checked.

Jughead shook his head as FP began again, "maybe that's for the best. If you don't mind, Fred."

"Whatever you want FP. It's between the two of you."

"I'll, I'll go with you dad." Jughead stuttered.

Aria sighed and let go of Jughead's hand, he smiled apologetic,y and walked to FP.

"Son, listen to me. I'm gonna do what you want and get my act together. I'm gonna get your mom and Jellybean home so we're all under the same roof. I promise. But I just need a little time to do that. Not a lot. Not long. A month , two at the most. Hey, then we'll be back on track. All right, you uh. You believe that don't you?"

"Yeah. I believe you dad." Jughead muttered.

They hugged for a moment as FP chuckled and walked off. Aria went to Jughead and placed a hand on his cheek. Jughead then wrapped his arm strongly around her and they walked off together.

~•~

'Hope. A word so close to "home" and as tricky. As mush as we wanted Jason's killer caught and out of town, our home, to feel safe again with every day that passed, our hopes dimmed more and more. There's that old clichéd saying: "It's darkest before the dawn" but sometimes there's just darkness.

~•~