Jellybean Jones

Chapter 27: Criss Cross Applesauce

Jellybean POV
Jughead had stayed home from school the next two days. I had constantly reminded him that he didn't have to, until I realized that this must be extremely hard on him too. Today was Wednesday. I felt alright, well, physically at least. I got up, got dressed and sat down at my desk. I'm not sure if it's because I'm still a tad bit concussed, but that seemed to rhyme.

I grabbed my notebook and a pen that I had lying around. I knew what I wanted to write. It's a strange feeling I began to know that somebody wanted to kill you. It's an even stranger feeling to know that somebody actually tried to kill you. I had decided to just write how I felt about my situation. It's also pretty damn weird that the two boys who tried to ruin your life are freaking cousins.

I meant for it to be all poetic and nice, but then I got 'triggered' I guess. If we're using slang terms. I sighed and shook my head at myself. I was in a music mood, but I wasn't feeling like Pink Floyd. Yes, I absolutely love the iconic band, but I felt like My Chemical Romance at the moment. I decided to listen to the album Danger Days: The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys. I loved it. It was a concept album, which makes it even better.

I didn't really know what to do with myself, so I just sat on my bed. I probably looked pretty weird, just sitting there while trying really hard not to start singing because I love music. Like a lot. Like a lot a lot. I'll stop now. In that moment, I forgot about the strangling, I forgot about the two boys who almost ruined me and I forgot about somebody wanting to kill me. Make that two somebodies. It was nice to feel normal for a little while there, but I knew that wouldn't last.

Jughead POV
It was the first official day of winter break. I was sleeping hard, until my phone rang at ten o'clock. I answered it tiredly. "Hello?" I asked, still waking up. It was Betty. "Hey Jug. I didn't wake you up, did I?" She asked. "Uh, you did, but that's fine." I said, it was fine yes, but I would like to be asleep. "I was just wondering why you weren't at school, is everything alright?" She questioned worriedly.

What was I supposed to say? "Yeah everything's uh, everything's fine now I guess. Something just happened." I explained, Jellybean didn't want anyone and I mean anyone know. I wouldn't have told her anything. "Oh." Betty said, not convinced. "Well, I guess I'll let you go then." She said. "Bye." I said quickly. "Bye." I ended the call. She knew something was wrong. Betty always knew.

I decided to just get up, even though I could definitely get back to sleep. I got dressed and ran my hair through my hair. I put on my beanie. Instead of doing something productive, I decided to just sit down at my desk and reflect on the past few days. Everything was alright now, but I think we were all still shocked. I mean, how can we not be considering what happened? I feel as though I can start to understand what Archie went through when Fred got shot. Nobody deserved to go through that. Nobody at all.

Jellybean POV
I was still sitting there, criss cross applesauce, on my bed. I'm not too sure I know what else to call it. Cross legged maybe? That's just what they called it in Grade School. Moving on. I was still listening to music. I listen to music very loudly by the way. So loudly I cannot hear anything else, I like it like that. It feels secluded.

So, of course, I was surprised to feel a tap on my shoulder. I jumped, nearly falling off my bed in the process. It was just Jughead. I paused my music and pulled out my earbuds. "You listen to music loudly then?" He asked, after he stopped trying to hide a laugh. I nodded. "What are you listening to, Pink Floyd?" He asked. I shook my head. "That isn't the only band I like!"
I said defiantly. Jughead took my phone to look at the song I had been listening to.

"Jet-Star And The Kobra Kid/Traffic Report?" He asked, tossing my phone back on my bed. "What? Doctor Death Defying is a part of the album too you know!" I explained. You probably don't get that, Jughead certainly doesn't. Continuing. "How are you doing?" He asked seriously. I shrugged. "Not too sure. On one hand, I feel like everything's okay and in the other, I can't bring myself to get over the fact that-well, you know." I said quietly. Jughead gave me a sad smile.

The next five days went by pretty much the same. Except for Christmas shopping, which had seemed to come quicker than we thought. Today was Christmas Eve. I hadn't had a real Christmas in a long time. We had all made an agreement to get each other one present. Mostly because we were all pretty hard to buy for. Trust me, I would know. I think Dad's definitely the hardest though. And also because we had never made a huge deal out of the holiday.

It was pretty early, it must've been eight. Okay that's not early, but it's winter break, give me a break. See what I did there? Sorry. I had already expertly wrapped all two of my gifts. Well, as good as a thirteen year old can, I guess. Which in my opinion is pretty gosh darn good. I had gotten Jughead a copy of the book 451 Fahrenheit. He had talked about it before, he had read it in school and in his words, not mine, his teacher got arrested for drug dealing and then got murdered before they could finish it.

He had also said about how much he liked it. It took me much longer to think of a gift for Dad. I had ended up finding a great one though. We had also decided to just get each other small things. All of this had really distracted me from what had happened and I was rather happy about that. I think we all needed a distraction and this seemed to be the perfect one.

Jughead POV
All of my Christmas preparations were complete. I never made a huge deal over the holiday, but this was the first one we would spend where our whole family was happy. I mean, as happy as we could be after what had happened, but we all tried to forget about that. Unfortunately, Jellybean's eye was not back to normal yet though.

I decided to get up, even though it was earlier than I usually would. I knocked on Jellybean's door. She opened it with a small smile on her face. "Quick question!" She said. "What's the best Christmas song ever?" I wondered what this was about, besides the fact that it's Christmas Eve. "Easy. That's obviously Last Christmas by George Micheal." I answered. "Thank you!" She exclaimed. "Rosie says it's Jingle Bells!" She looked appalled, it was pretty adorable. "Yeah well, Rosie's wrong." I said, smiling.

"It's the best Christmas song ever and there is no denying that." She said firmly. I laughed. "You're pretty uh, committed to that, eh?" I asked smirking. "I just like being right." She said. We laughed. "Is it just me, or is the lighting really weird right now?" She asked. "Huh, yeah it is." I agreed. I opened her window.

Snow was falling heavily. She smiled, she always had a thing for snow. "Remember that time you were really little and you tried to bury yourself in snow and then you got stuck?" I said laughing. "I thought we agreed never to bring that up!" Jellybean was laughing too. That had been a good day. I was glad this whole murder attempt was pretty much behind us and we could enjoy Christmas. As a family.