Jellybean Jones

Chapter 16: The Confession

Jughead POV
I got home at about 8:45. Dad was sitting on the couch reading the paper. "Hey Jug." He said quietly. "Hey Dad," I replied. "did Jellybean already go to bed?" I asked, usually she's still be up. "No, I uh, had to pick her up from school at about noon. She's got a fever of about 102." He answered. That's the thing with my little sister. Anything emotionally draining seemed to make her physically sick.

"That sucks with all the stuff happening right now." I responded. "And it just sucks in general." Dad nodded. "I'd say you could go see her, but she's not well." He told me. "Okay, do you think it's a twenty four hour thing or worse?" I asked curiously. "I'm not sure, hopefully not the latter, but who knows." And with that, I headed off to my room.

Jellybean POV
I woke up at about 8:50. My forehead was burning but I was freezing cold. I was very thirsty. I grabbed a hoodie and pulled it over my head. Slowly, I crossed my room and opened my door. As I swung it open, Jughead was walking to his room. "Hey." He said softly. I looked at him. "You alright?" He asked. "No, I'm freezing." I answered quietly.

He put his hand on my forehead. "You're burning up." He remarked. "What are you doing up anyways?" He questioned. "Getting water." I whispered. "Go back to bed, I'll get it for you." Jughead told me. I climbed back into bed, pulling the blanket tightly around me. I shut my eyes, hoping I would be able to fall back to sleep. My mind was fuzzy again and everything seemed just a tad out of place.

A few moments later, Dad came in with a glass of water. "Here you go." He said quietly. "Jughead went to bed." He explained when I looked at him curiously. I sat up slowly and sipped on the water. Dad took my temperature. "101.6, a little bit better." He said. "You should take that hoodie off." He added. I knew I should, but I felt cold. "Please no." I said groggily, but before I knew it he had already pulled it off.

He also took my blanket. I was freezing, nothing felt real, but before I knew it I had fallen asleep. The last words I heard were my Dad's. "Hopefully you'll feel better in the morning." I was tired of being sick and it hadn't even been twenty four hours. Sometimes, I roll my eyes at myself.

Jughead POV
I had went back to bed for one reason and one reason only, the divorce had finally hit me. Yeah, I had thought about it plenty before, but I've been so distracted lately that I didn't let it sink in. I had looked at Jellybean and I don't know, I just got sad. Dad had told me he would deal with her. I wanted to help, but didn't seem to be emotionally fit to at the moment.

A few stray tears had slipped down my cheeks. I knew this whole thing had made me incredibly sad, but it just seemed more real than it had before. I didn't like it. I don't think there has ever been one person that has liked a divorce. I had been laying on my bed for what must of been three hours, I had never fallen asleep. It wasn't until I heard whimpering from the room beside mine that I decided to get up.

It was well after midnight when I walked into Jellybean's room. Dad was up and trying to comfort her, she was stirring in her sleep. "Hey, Jug, could you grab a cold cloth?" He asked me. I did what I was told as quickly as I could. "She won't wake up, I'm just trying to calm her down." He explained, putting the cloth on her forehead. "So I'm going to go ahead and say this is more than a twenty four hour thing." He added. I smiled nervously.

Jellybean had seemed to calm down. "She used to be able to sleep anything off though." I said, remembering the time she had the flu and napped through it. Dad nodded. "Hopefully she does, I think I'll still keep her home from school tomorrow though." He added. I nodded in agreement. "I'm going to head back to bed." I said, starting to walk out of the room. "Just let me know if you need anything Dad."

"Goodnight Jug." He said. "Night Dad." I was glad to be distracted from the divorce for a while, but I was still kind of devastated. However, I was still worried about Jellybean. I knew she'd be alright, she always was, but there's always been a part of me that has been terrified of loosing my baby sister. I knew it was irrational, but for a while there, I thought I had. I hadn't realized how tired I was and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

Jellybean POV
I hadn't been awake, but I hadn't been asleep either. Everything had felt strange and a little bit scary. I hadn't realized it at the time, but I guess I had been whimpering. Or at least, that's what Dad had said when I woke the next morning. I was much better, but still not one hundred percent. Dad had told me he wanted me to stay home. I had agreed, it would be nice to have a break.

Jughead knocked on my door after I had gotten changed into leggings and another Pink Floyd shirt. I put my hair up in a messy bun and answered the door. "I'm heading off to school, are you feeling better?" He asked. "Yeah, have a good day Jug." I answered. He hugged me and whispered. "Dad really wants to talk to you alone, okay?" I hugged him back. "Okay." I knew he wanted me to make effort to talk to Dad and with that, he left for school.

I headed for the living room. "Sorry I kept you up so late last night." I apologized as I saw Dad. "Don't apologize, Jellybean. I'm just glad you're feeling better." He said, we sat down on the couch. "Could we talk? I just really want to make sure you're alright after, well, everything, I guess." His voice was slightly hesitant, as if he were nervous to ask me that question.

"I'd love to Dad. I'd really, really love to." I replied. He smiled and nodded, looking slightly taken aback. "Well firstly, I was kind of hoping to talk about that boy." He suggested. I bit my lip and nodded nervously. That boy was constantly giving me anxiety, was he just going to randomly show up and hurt me again? "Well I'm sure Jughead told you the gist of it?" I asked hopefully.

"He said he tried to match what you said word for word." I nodded. "Okay, well um," I couldn't help myself from saying it, I had to get it off my chest. "He's just like Jackson! But with what Jackson's been doing he just keeps reminding me of Ryan and it's scaring me Dad, I'm scared!" My voice was shaky, but I knew it would be better if Dad knew. Already, I felt much safer. Because I knew Dad was going to ask what Jackson did and I also knew I was going to have to tell him.