"Cynthia!" That voice caused my head to snap up and meet his desperate gaze. His eyes were pleading and terrified. Even through my tears I could read his expression from there.
"Come to the shore and we'll figure this out together okay?" Veronica c...
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With the added pressure of exercise, I found myself unable to breathe. My vision was going black as I slowed so that I could hope to control it. None of my friends would be here, they were at school. I was alone in a town where my brother's killer was at large.
"Thia!" A voice shouted as I held my chest. They put their hands on my face, making me look at them. The minute my eyes opened, I knew who it was. Jughead Jones. He pushed my forehead to his, breathing deeply, knowing that I would copy him. After a few minutes of standing with him, my breathing was normal, and my shaking had stopped.
"What happened?" He asked, his arms around my waist and mine bunched in his denim jacket.
"If I hadn't helped Jason leave, he wouldn't be dead." I whispered. Jughead tightened his grip on me, not believing that's what I had said.
"This isn't your fault, Thia. I don't care what anyone else thinks, because I know you. You wouldn't have put him in danger." He stated sternly. I knew from looking in his eyes he was right. All we did was move Jason across the river and if we didn't help him, he would have done it anyway or been unhappy at Thornhill. I nodded at him. When my mind cleared I realised how close we were. His arms wrapped around my waist, my hands balling hi jacket and our faces nose-to-nose.
"Why aren't you in school?" I asked him, not moving away from him.
"I'm going to see Dioley about what happened with the gunshot. Do you want to come?" He asked. I nodded, and he pulled away and grabbed my hand.
Jughead saw that I shivered as we were walking. Instantly, and without hesitation, he shrugged off his jacket and put it over my shoulders. I looked over at him as I felt his hands linger on my shoulders, he smiled at me before looking the other way, putting his hands in his pockets. I put on the jacket, whispering a small thank you and kissing his cheek. When he looked over at me, I looked down, blushing. Luckily we had reached Doiley.
"At ease, Doiley." Jughead said as we made our presence known to the teen. "I'm writing an article for the Blue and Gold. Hoping you can help." He said. The boy looked at us, his face blank and almost angry at being interrupted. After he dismissed the line of boys, he walked over to us.
"Cheryl, Archie and Cynthia heard a gunshot July 4th, but they don't know who fired it." Dioley's demeanour changed. He went from being confident to tense and defensive.
"Sheriff Keller already asked me about this. Like I told him, my scouts and I, we didn't hear anything weird." He replied.
"Well, did you see anything weird?" Jughead asked, moving closer to him, emphasising the question. Clearly it wasn't just me who thought that he was hiding something. Jughead could be quite intimidating when he wants to be. Of course, I just found it cute. Doiley crossed his arms, squaring up to Jughead.
"A white-winged crossbill, a long-eared owl, oh, and Cheryl sitting by the river, soaking wet," He sent a glare at Jughead and then glanced at me, "maybe you should ask your privileged girlfriend how she killed her brother?" I saw Jughead lunge forward and Dioley step back, but I grabbed Juggie's arm before he could do anything.
