Just Friends ▻ Jughead Jones

18

That day, after getting off the bus, Jughead, Betty, and Victoria stood in front of the place called The Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

It looked creepy in Victoria's opinion and she would have much rathered not tag along but she had to admit, it was better than spending another afternoon hanging out with her teammates, who annoyed her more than anything lately. The three teenagers looked closely at the place in front of them, Betty felt nervous most of all.

"Hey," Jughead spoke up, "Don't judge a home for troubled youth by its facade, right?" Jughead told Betty, trying to lighten up the mood.

Victoria watched as Betty took a deep breath, tightening her pony before the three of them entered the horrid place.

Once entering, the teenage trio walked up to the front desk, "Hi," Betty greeted the lady, "My name is Elizabeth Cooper. I'm here to see my sister, Polly."

"May I see some identification?" The old lady asked and Betty quickly took out her student identification card and handed it to her. The lady looked down, eying the card before sliding over a clipboard, "Sign in here, please."

She then looked over at both Victoria and Jughead, "They'll have to wait."

After Betty walked off with the lady, Jughead and Victoria took a seat in the waiting area. Victoria sighed as she sat down, taking a quick glance at Jughead, who was staring directly at her, "What?" She asked him confused.

"Nothing, it's nothing," Jughead told her and Victoria raised a brow at him, clearly not believing her, "It's just that...we made up and all, but we've barely said five words to each other since then. You became one of the co-captains of the football team and I had to hear it from Archie. You've been telling me for years how much you wanted to become that and yet, I had to hear it from someone else. What's wrong with us lately, Tor? I wanna know so I can fix it. Because I need things to be like they were before. And I can't but feel that it's my fault this is all happening."

Victoria sighed, "Look, I'm sorry, it's just..you spend your time with Betty and I spend my time with Bulldogs, it's not your fault. It's neither of ours." She lied to him, not wanting to tell him that it was all on her because she let her feelings for him drive herself away.

"Well then, how about we start spending more time together?" He suggested with a smile, "How does a movie at the Bijou tomorrow night sound?" He asked her.

Victoria smiled as she nodded her head, "Sure. How about that movie 'IT'? I've been dying to see it."

"Sounds great." Jughead agreed with her.

Just then, the click of high heels was heard and both teens turned their heads to see Alice Cooper straight for them. She had an angry look on her face and Victoria could tell this wasn't going to end well, "You and you, come with me now!" She demanded and both Jughead and Victoria quickly obeyed, not in the mood to face Alice Cooper's wrath at that moment.

The two of them followed Alice throughout the whole until they stopped at an office. The guards let Alice entered and soon after, she came back out with Betty by her side.

Alice had Betty by the hand while Victoria and Jughead followed close behind, a guard walking alongside them. Just then, Polly turned the corner and Victoria's eyes went straight to her pregnancy bump. Polly soon noticed them and her eyes locked on her mother, who was beyond shocked to see her daughter, "Mom?" Polly muttered quietly.

"Polly," Alice said quietly as Polly began to walk toward her.

"Jason's dead and you didn't tell me and you kept me in here!" Polly screamed at her mother as she grabbed her by the arms.

"Baby, it's for your own good," Alice told her daughter with a sad look on her face.

Two guards saw what was going on and quickly walked over to Polly, pulling her away from her mother, "Ugh, you always say that and it's not true!" As the guards pulled her away, Polly tried to go towards her sister, "No, Betty!" She shouted.

Both Victoria and Jughead tried to step forward to help, but the guard pushed them back. Victoria could have fought back, but she didn't want to get herself arrested for assaulting someone.

Betty quickly stepped forward, pulling her sister into a hug, "I'm going to get you out of here, I promise." Betty whispered to her sister before both of Polly's arms were grabbed as she began to be taken away.

"No!" Polly screamed.

__________

The next day, Victoria texted Betty, asking for help with physics homework. She was basically failing that class and she needed to pass that class to stay on the football team. Of course, Betty said yes and asked her friend come by as soon as she could.

So here she was, knocking on the Cooper resident's front door. Alice Cooper soon opened the door, her smile turning into a small frown within seconds, "Victoria. What brings you here?" She asked the younger blonde.

"Betty offered to help me with some homework." She answered, "May I come in?"

Alice hesitantly nodded before pointing to the stairs, "She's upstairs in her room." She informed her and Victoria walked over to the stairs, making her way up.

When she got to Betty's bedroom door, she heard two voices in Betty's room. One was, of course, Betty, while the other was Jughead Jones himself.

The door was opened only a crack, but Victoria could still see in. Jughead sighed, placing a hand on Betty's shoulder. They inches away from her, "Hey, we're all crazy," Jughead assured her, "We're not our parents, Betty. We're not our families. Also..."

"What?" Betty asked him concerned.

Just then, Jughead cupped Betty's face with his hands before he kissed her passionately.

As they pulled away from each other, Betty suddenly came to a realization about something, "The car!" She whispered.

Jughead laughed, "Wow. That's what you're thinking in the middle of our moment."

"No! Polly talked about a car Jason had stashed for them down route forty, near some sign. If we can find it, we can confirm Polly's story." Betty informed Jughead.

"Yeah, one way or another." Jughead replied.

"I need to know, Juggie."

Victoria took it upon her to open the door to show that she was there, "So, Betty, how do you expect on showing me how to do this homework all before the variety show?" Victoria spoke up, gaining the attention of both Jughead and Betty, "Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No, no," Betty shook her head, "We actually found something."

"How would you like to skip that dumb variety show and go find Jason's car?" Jughead asked her, smiling.