Underneath ¤ Jughead Jones [2]

one

CHAPTER ONE AKA THE DREADFUL BEGINNING

The silence of the hospital didn't stop the sympathetic stares from falling on Archie's bloody clothes to Lauren's. Her hand was clasped tightly in Archie's in order to calm him and his irregular breathing, it pained her to see him like this, in a state of shock and worry, it almost made her feel like the old Archie existed. Lauren was not gonna leave Archie's side, she wanted to be there for him like he tried to be when her own father died.

The truth was only Lauren would know what it felt like and only they could understand each other's pain.

Archie's leg bounced up and down in impatience, his eyes blinking rapidly whilst squeezing Lauren's hands tightly, she had already called Veronica, Jughead and Betty about the situation, they claimed they were on their way.

Archie's bloody clothes were only a reminder of what had happened and despite not having enough energy to go and change it didn't stop them from becoming sick of the smell.

Archie suddenly stood up, his hand slipping put of Lauren's making her look up with a frown, copying his actions before the boy began to pace in nervousness. Lauren grabbed his arm, stopping him from moving again.

"Arch? I promise everything will be okay, Fred is the strongest out of all of us, he's not gonna leave us, okay?" Lauren told him softly, trying to stop her heart from beating too fast.

"What if he isn't? Then I failed him, Lauren." Archie croaked, looking away from the girl with shameful eyes.

"You saved him Archie, you saved me too. You might as well be a hero." Lauren replied, giving him a smile. "You always said you wanted to be Superman from all of us."

Archie managed to crack a smile, a breathy laugh escaping his lips as Lauren pulled him into another hug, wrapping her arms around his bigger frame. Within a few seconds three more people had wrapped their arms around the boy, him taking a breathe as sadness fell over him again.

Slowly the five dispersed to the seating area, Lauren noticed Veronica's expression, giving her a tight hand squeeze as her and Jughead took a seat together.

"Arch, what happened?"

"I came out of the bathroom and there was this man, thief... He was wearing this hood with a gun at Pop Tate, and then he pointed it at my dad and he fired." Archie explained with a pained expression.

"Oh my god, Archie." Veronica mumbled sadly.

"And then he..." Archie started once again losing his words making Jughead and Lauren frown and glance each other briefly.

"And then he what?" Veronica pushed with a question.

Archie glanced at her. "Then he bolted, then I was holding my dad, Pop Tate called an ambulance and it didn't come so I drove here and I don't know maybe I should have waited, maybe I made it worse..."