Lifeline ((Jughead Jones)) 1

23

I skipped the family breakfast that morning, sleeping in before dragging myself to school. I was terrified that things would change between Jughead and I. People were crowding around us as they said how sorry they were. Any time that someone tried to touch me I would push them off forcefully. The only person that I wanted hugging me at this moment was Jughead. When things started to silence in the canteen, I knew that Jughead had entered. When I turned to face him, his eyes were puffy from crying, his expression blank. FP had confessed, and it was Jughead who would suffer the consequences.

Instead of stopping to face me, he faced Cheryl who was sat opposite me. She stood up, staring straight at him and I stood up next to Jughead, trying to talk sense into Cheryl. Jug silenced me.

"I'm sorry, Cheryl. And you Thia." Cheryl stepped closer to him, tears in her eyes as I tried to stop her. In her hysteric state, she slapped Jughead, starting to push him around. He did nothing, just stood there taking it. I Pulled Cheryl's arms off him, stepping in front of me boyfriend. Archie grabbed Cheryl to restrain her as I held Jughead's face in my hands. Jug tore his head from my grip, looking away. Weatherbee took Jughead away, ignoring my protesting. Archie pulled me into a hug, sensing I needed one while Betty went to comfort Cheryl.

It was a quiet night at Thornhill, after an evening worrying over Jughead. That was broken by loud banging on the large door. Groaning in annoyance, I rolled out of bed and was met in the hall by Cheryl who had gotten up with me to find out who was trying to smash the doors of Thornhill. I was in my red chemise with black lace detail and my short silk dressing gown. We stood at the stairs, half way where the two-grand stair-cases met. Polly was standing there in her night things also. Mom met dad at the door, who then opened it, revealing the coopers.

"Don't call the cops. We're not staying. Polly?" Mrs Cooper barged into the room, searching for her daughter. Dad asked what's going on, while Alice and her husband walked into Thornhill. Polly walked down the steps to meet them, I held Cheryl's arm in comfort.

"Sorry to disrupt the witching hour at Thornhill." Cried Mrs Cooper as I saw Betty enter the house as well. She looked over at us and I looked at her tiredly. It was the first night I had been sleeping peacefully, despite the drama going on with Jug, and they had ruined it. They asked if Polly was ok, and she moved up a step when they walked nearer. They announced that they were taking Polly home.

"She chose to live here, remember? With a mentally stable family." Mom said. The minute Mrs Cooper argued back, I scoffed and walked up to my room, just wanting some peace. I heard the door slam and I knew that Betty had left, and with Polly. Cheryl went to her room and texted me what went on, saying that our parents were accused of Killing Jason and that they did it to hide incest. This was all getting too twisted and too elaborate. I fell asleep, at peace with the tortures of being a Blossom.

I stuck with Cheryl all day and when she went to confront our mother, I waited outside the room. She was asking why Jay-Jay argued with dad the day before he left. The original story was that Jason couldn't stomach the family business and on the night of homecoming, Cheryl said daddy told her that he should have made her his successor from the start. It was a story that neither of us believed and Cheryl was determined to find out the truth. I was just stood outside the door waiting to be told the conversation.

It gave me time to think. Jughead hadn't spoken to me since school, even though I had texted him, called him. The group hadn't spoken to me yet, telling me they needed my help. Usually, they called up Jughead and told him to come over and I tagged along. If I wasn't with Jughead, then I wasn't part of the group; I was seen as just another Blossom. The door slammed open and Cheryl was being dragged out by her mother. Cheryl told me to stay where I was, and so I did, not moving.

I hadn't spoken to anyone until I got a call from Jughead. I was sat on my king-sized bed, looking at photos of Jay-Jay when my phone rang.

"Come to Archie's garage now!" Then the phone was cut off. The tone of his voice was frantic. I immediately got up and out of bed, putting on a tight black skirt and a long sleeved black top. I tied my hair up with a red bandana and applied lipstick before running down to Archie's house in the first pair of heeled boot that I could find.

When I entered, Veronica and Betty were sat on the couch, Kevin And Archie sat around them. On a small coffee table was a computer, Betty holding a memory stick. They all turned to face me and Jughead made his way over to me. A blur of blue caught my eye and I saw Jason's letterman jacket.

"Why do you have that?" I asked, looking around everyone with wide-eyes. Jughead put his arm around my back and led me towards the computer. Jughead sat me down, pulling me away from the jacket and sat with me on the back of the sofa. Betty put the memory stick into the computer.

"Whatever we found, we thought you'd want to see." Archie explained. He said that FP had the jacket and had told them that it was dangerous. This USB stick is what he meant. Jughead wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight to his chest as we saw the image of my brother tied to a chair pops up on screen. Jughead squeezed my waist as I looked at Jay- Jay. He was tied up and in obvious pain. Tears welled in my eyes as I saw my older brother, the oldest triplet, in that state and I could feel his fear from months before.

A serpent was prodding at him, saying things that we couldn't hear. The serpent walked out, and a man walked in after. Daddy.

crying. <7'xU