Helpline ((Jughead Jones)) 2

17

In Riverdale, everyone wears a mask, not just the Black Hood. But every so often the mask slips and our true selves are laid bare for all the world to see. So, we scramble to put it back on, like a kid in a cheap Halloween costume, but it's too late. People have already seen what's underneath... and it's terrifying.

I was stood with Toni by her locker, Sweet Pea, Fangs and the other Serpents weren't too far away. Jug had gone to speak to Mr Phillips so he could review the latest edition of the Red and Black. I was stood in Sweet Pea's old Serpent jacket he had in his locker, after I begged to have one. They agreed I could have an old one until I became the offical Lady Serpent i had been named.

"What about you, T? Anyone catching your eye?" I asked her. She was always happy to listen to me rave about J: about how he made me pancakes on Sunday mornings for breakfast; how he brought home Pop's' 'to-die-for' burgers so we wouldn't have to cook something; how he kissed me in the hallway because a Ghoulie was looking at me lustfully. Throughout all this, she didn't have anyone, and I wanted her to find someone to treat her like Jughead treated me.

"Not really." She said, putting away her books and checking her hair in the small mirror she had in there. Toni was never one for caring how she looked, but, like any girl, she liked to make sure she looked presentable.

"What's your type of guy, or girl?" I pressed further. I wanted to play matchmaker to the girl that helped me through transitioning into the Southside girl I had become.

"I don't know, someone like you, I guess, smart, confident, beautiful. And if it wasn't obvious, I prefer girls." Cheryl immediately popped into my mind. If the two were to meet, I felt like something beautiful would blossom, maybe not at first, but eventually it would.

"Well T, you'd be the first girl I came after if I wasn't with Jug." I laughed, her laughs echoing off mine. With that, we grabbed our bags and began to walk towards our next lesson.

Just as we rounded the corner, Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy and policemen and their dogs all walked through the main hallway of Southside High. Behind them policemen were raiding lockers and arresting kids. Toni saw them, grabbed my hand and began to run in the other direction.

"Cynthia!" I heard the voice of my frantic boyfriend call from down the hall. He tried to run towards me, but was pulled back by Archie, who had apparently come to get Jug out.

"You can't help her from behind bars." I heard Archie say, dragging Jughead out of the doors and away from the oncoming men. Toni and I were making a B-line for those doors and for them.

I took another stride, then felt Toni get ripped from me. The feeling of her letting go and hearing hr shouts for me to go had me frozen. Within seconds a policeman had grabbed me and was forcing my hands behind my back. Desperate, and in pain as the man placed the metal around my wrists, I looked back at Jug who was watching with teary eyes as his girlfriend was arrested for no reason. The moment the handcuffs were on fully, my breathing began to increase. From going weeks without a single panic attack, all it took was no Jughead and a pair of handcuffs to throw me back into my usual state.

Sat in a cell. Time became obsolete as I sat in a cell, hearing occasional footsteps and trying to regulate my breathing. The police of Riverdale were convinced that this was me trying to get out of going to jail, and despite Toni and Pea begging them to call Jughead to calm me down, no one would budge. I didn't know how long I had sat in the cell, but when I eventually fell asleep after hours of unregulated breathing, I finally got peace. Because the moment I woke up, the walls seemed closer together and my panic rose higher than the previous day. Yesterday they had offered me a phone call but I was shaking too bad that I knew it would be pointless as I wouldn't be able to hold the phone, let alone dial a number.