A New Start (Jughead Fanfiction)

Chapter Seventeen

Me and Jughead arrived at Pop's, and he opened the door for me, saying "Ladies first," I roll my eyes. "Since when have I ever been a lady?" I ask him. "I completely agree, don't you Chuck?" Reggie said. "Oh boy, look who we have here. Want another beating Reggie?" I ask, cracking my knuckles. "No, not at all. I have learned my lesson," he raised his hands in surrender, but he was joking. "But you haven't." he grabbed my shirt, I punch him in the nose before he could lift me off the ground. "Don't try anything Chuck you are weaker than he is," I spit and he backed away, looking at me, scared. "Get out of here," I demand, and they leave without hesitation.

Jughead looked at me in awe. "You are amazing," I blush at his words and we sit down. "Your usuals?" Pop asked us, and we nod. "You are getting pretty tough, Hope Thorne. And beautiful. Is there anything you can't do?" He asked me. I laugh. "I can't do a lot of things. Stay active, keep my emotions together for a long time, keeping my room clean for more than three days, yeah." I say. "What about you? You are perfect," I tease, he snorts. "If by perfect you mean asocial, awkward, weird, and outcast-ish then yeah, perfect." I roll my eyes and sit next to him. "I like weird. You are perfect to me, you aren't like everyone, you don't fall into the crowd. I could find you in a crowd because you are weird, but the thing is because you are asocial and weird, I wouldn't find you in a crowd. I would find you in a library, or alone. Because you are Jughead Jones," I take his face in my hands and kiss him. "Hey, keep the PDA to a minimum, I have other customers you know," Pop teased, placing our food down. "There you go," We smile and thank him, and start eating.

While we ate in a comfortable silence, Jughead had his hand on my shoulder, rubbing where the cuts were, soothingly. When I was done eating, I leaned my head against Jug's shoulder. "Let's go to your house, yeah?" he asked after finishing his burger. I nod. "Yeah, let's go." We leave, and walk to my house. I smile at the sky, watching the stars fill the sky, illuminating the darkness that surrounded us. Jughead said he was going to go home, and I nod. I kiss him goodnight. "Goodnight, Jug. See you tomorrow." I say sweetly, pressing our lips together. "Goodnight, beautiful. I will see you at school." I smile. "Tell FP I said hi, okay?" he looked uncomfortable but nodded.

I go inside, and find my parents, Chris, and my biological father. They all sat on the couch, waiting for me. Mom and Chris had a smile on their faces, my two fathers had a look that could kill on their faces. "What is going on?" I ask with a nervous chuckle. This was the first time that my father was here, to my knowledge. "Tell us how your date went, Hope," mom insisted, handing me a mug of tea. I smile nervously and sit down across from the males in the family. "Well, we went to Pop's, and we got our usual orders-"

"What did you order?" Allen, my biological dad, asked. I look at him confused. "What? I wanna know if you are making good choices," he explained, I calmly placed down my mug, my face red from trying to contain my laughter. A laugh escapes my lips, and everyone wondered what happened to me. I was soon doubled over, laughing, and I fell on the floor. Silver came running when he heard the noise, and meowed in confusion when he saw me on the floor. "What are you laughing at?" Chris asked. "Good choices? You watched me become a serpent while your children were home alone! Good one!" He looked hurt, but he understood. "Hope Gale Thorne!" dad said, standing up. I try to straighten myself out as he said my middle name, but I let out a giggle every now and then. "Sorry, I am just still trying to grasp that you actually cared about me." I gave a sigh and stopped laughing. Mom, dad, and Chris looked at each other, and stood up. "We are going to go finish planning dad's funeral. We will give you two some time to talk," Allen paused, and nodded. I just sit with my hands in my lap, staring at them.

I heard the door open and close, and I look up at Allen, who was walking up to me. He sat down next to me, I look at the silver eyes that I inherited. "You know why your mother and I gave you up, right?" I nod slowly. "But you didn't know that we kept tabs on you, that we would go to everything we could to see you, your school play when you were 13, your poem reading when you were 14. We were so proud at how creative you were, and how much of a fighter you were-" I cut him off. "But I'm not a fighter, Allen. I never was." He put a hand on my shoulder. "But you are, Hope. You could have died when you were born but you fought, you kicked and screamed so that way your heart kept going. You fought the urge to hurt yourself and cry yourself to sleep every night because of the serpent kids. You fought to keep your head up when you got to the new school. Just because you don't physically fight others, you are a fighter, you are very strong." I smile at my father, tears glisten in my eyes, making my vision blurry.

"Your mother and I loved you very much, but we didn't want you to end up like us, to end up being a serpent. It can take you to a dark place if you aren't careful, and you already had so much on your plate caused by the serpent kids, I didn't want you to get hurt." This time, the hot tears rolled down my cheeks, I didn't realize he cared so much. "I am so sorry that I hurt you, that I had to hurt my baby girl to keep you safe. But I do care, I do love you my little girl," I hugged my father tight, crying into his shoulder. "I am so sorry," he whispered into my hair. "I am sorry too, dad. I am sorry that I hated you for all those years," I cry.

"You look so much like me, you have the heart of your mother. I couldn't be prouder," I smile sadly at him. "So will you forgive me," I nod. "Of course. Of course dad," he smiled at me, I wipe his tears and I said, "How about we catch up a little bit? I don't know your kids' names yet," I state, and wipe my own tears. "Oh, hah. Their names are James and Kaylie. They are twins, me and your mom found out about them a little after the Thorne's adopted you." I nod. "So I have siblings?" I ask.

"Yeah, kid. You do. Do you want to meet them some time?" He asked, I nod. "I would like that. They look like mom," I point out. "Yeah, I was going to have you meet them when they were born but I thought you would only hate us more." I nod. "I understand, dad. But I am glad I know about them now," he grinned at me. "So... Friends, boyfriend?" I laugh at his hint to keep up conversation. "I have friends now, I am dating someone as well. I just got home from a date when I walked in the door earlier." I inform him. "Do I know this boy?" He asked me. "If you know FP's son then yes, Jughead." I clarify, and he nods. "Good kid, good kid. But if he hurts you-"

"Yeah I know, grandpa told him right before he died," I explain. "I heard about that. That was the night you were attacked by those two twats, right?" I nod. "Yeah, but I taught them not to mess with Hope Thorne!" I exclaimed excitedly, standing up. "You are your father's daughter. Come on, let me see that right hook!" He stood and faced his palm towards me. I laugh and throw my best right hook. "Nice right hook, kiddo! You are a natural! Come on! Left hook, right hook, left, right, left, right! There you go! You got it! Okay, slow down, Hope, calm down," I went from joking to taking all of my anger out on my father's palms, which were starting to bruise. My next punch, dad grabbed my fist and tugged me to him. "Hope, calm down. What is it?" I sigh. "I don't know, dad. I just needed to get it all out, I am sorry," I say, leaning my head against his chest. "I have boxing gloves and a boxing bag if you ever need it, kiddo." He said gently, rubbing my back. "Thanks dad," I say, and we sit back down.