delicate [Jughead x Veronica]

hiram lodge

Veronica

My family drama was just that - drama, and I really, really didn't want Archie caught in the middle of it. My father and my mother were of a different kind to what those in Riverdale were used to, and although I loved them dearly, their ways of dealing with things were slightly unusual. For example, when they told me they were building a prison in space of the now torn-down Southside High, this action didn't surprise me at all, but the rest of the town were outraged.

And now my father was trying to get Archie on side, which really wasn't that difficult of a task. I loved my Archiekins, but he was in some ways like a little puppy dog, so desperate to please and incredibly naive. My father was a persuasive man, but with Archie it took little effort at all.

My father believed that if Archie were to join forces with my family, the rest of the town would be more sympathetic and stop the protests against him and his actions. The main force of those protests? Jughead.

Jughead despised my father and his actions with a passion, something which he'd kept no secret from Archie and I. Just the other day at school, he was ranting about my father buying Pop's, and wouldn't let me explain that he was doing it to help Pop out, who had been in a tough financial situation. He had stormed out then, Betty following behind like a lost dog looking for it's owner. I had no idea how he had reacted to the news of my father wanting to build the prison, as we hadn't seen each other all weekend. I was sure Betty would side with him.

Betty and Archie were similar in that regard - fiercely loyal to their own and wanting to do right by right, no matter how they perceived it. Jughead and I were more alike than we first knew - sometimes I just wish we were on the same team.

"How do you think he's taken it?" I murmured to Archie, who was behind me helping me put on my pearl necklace on. It was Monday morning, and Archie had came over before school to walk with me.

"Not good, by Betty's accounts," he replied, smiling slightly at me in the mirror. I felt a pang of jealousy. 

"You've spoken to Betty?" I asked, trying to pretend like I didn't care.

"Briefly. I bumped into her on my way home from here last night. She was on her way back from Jughead's... she said he's pissed."

"I don't even understand why he's so bothered," I grumbled, smoothing my dress over before turning around to face Archie. "So what if my father is building a prison? It makes sense for something to get built there, instead of it sitting barren. It's not like my father had anything to do with it being torn down," I added, although I wasn't quite sure of that last sentence. 

"You know Jughead, Ronnie," he grinned, wrapping his arms around my waist. "He's full of pride, and he thinks your father has got some vendetta against the Serpents. Which of course, he hasn't."

"He hasn't," I said automatically, although again, I wasn't sure if I believed what I was saying.

We headed into school and luckily, Jughead didn't show up for homeroom. "He slept in," Betty explained to Archie and I. "He'll be here for first period."

And when he walked into first period, 5 minutes late, I could tell he was pissed. He looked mad, like a full-of-angst teenager who'd been told by their parents they couldn't do what they wanted to do, his brow furrowed and his fists slightly clenched. He didn't even look in my direction as he sat down, and I felt worry flutter around my stomach.