Jellybean Jones

Chapter 31: Vine failure

Jellybean POV
I got ready for school with about a minute to spare. Jughead and I were just about to leave. "Jellybean?" He asked as I grabbed my bag. I looked over at him. He pulled me into an embrace. I nuzzled my head into his shoulder. "You tell me if anything's wrong, alright?" He said softly. "Alright." I replied. We let go of each other and after I stroked Pig, we headed out the door, just as we had done so many times.

Jughead POV
I knew that she would be okay. We're all okay in the end, I guess. I just wanted her to know that I'm here for her, even though I had made sure she knew that since that day she was born. I smiled and waved at Jellybean as she walked through the double doors into the middle school. I began to walk to the high school, hoping that today would be better than most.

Betty greeted me happily. "Hi Juggy!" She said. "Hey Betts!" I replied. I kissed her. "How are you?" She asked, her face turning serious. "Pretty good." I answered, then added. "How about you?" She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Alright." She finally answered. I took her hand as we entered the old building. We walked into the Blue & Gold office as we still had some time before class.

"Do you have any ideas of what to do a story on?" Betty asked me hopefully. I thought for a moment, then shook my head. "I don't know." She half smiled. "I don't either, but we need to think of something." She said. "We'll figure something out." I assured her. "We always do." She took my hand once more. "We always do." She seconded. I smiled at her, I loved Betty Cooper and it was no secret.

Jellybean POV
Seth and I walked into homeroom together. I glanced subconsciously at the empty seat beside mine. It was just a reminder, that's all. "You good?" Seth asked, noticing my sudden silence. I nodded and sat down. The first class of the day dragged on. I was relieved when it finally ended. We met up with Rosie. Luckily, our first class of the day was Flex. Rosie and I left Seth, who had work to finish, and went to the room off of the library. We had done that many times.

"How are things with you and Seth?" She asked nonchalanty as we sat down. I shrugged. "Well, actually, we've been texting a lot recently." I confessed. I hadn't mentioned this, as our conversations were pretty, well, deep, I guess. It had started pretty recently too. "Just ask him out!" Rosie said commandingly. I shook my head. "I can't Rose. I just can't." I said. She smiled and laughed. We sat in silence for a few minutes. I bent down to grab a book I wanted to show her from my bag.

"I'm lesbian." She suddenly blurted out. "I thought you were American." I responded, I thought that she wanted me to finish the vine, as we had done that a lot. When I saw her face, however, I knew that this was not about seven second videos. I turned red. "Sorry, oh gosh sorry. I didn't-I thought that-sorry!" I said quickly. I had messed up. My best friend came out to me and I thought she was quoting a vine. I mentally face palmed myself.

It was silent, until Rosie burst out laughing. "Yo-your face! Oh man you look embarrassed!" She exclaimed. I let out a sigh of relief. I quickly hugged her. "That was smooth, by the way." I commented. "Not on your part." She teased, still laughing. "You're the only one who knows and if you tell anyone, well, I wouldn't kill you, but I might not forgive you." She winked subtly. I smiled. "I had no idea." I said, I truly didn't. "Me neither, well, I knew I didn't like like boys." Rosie said. We both started laughing again. I would never look at her differently, I would just know that she was happy to be herself.

Jughead POV
The day wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't bad either. Betty was stressing that we didn't have a story for our paper and I was trying to help her as best as I could. I was relieved when the end bell finally rang. I walked to the middle school to get Jellybean. She came over to me. "Hey." She said smiling. "Hi." I replied. "Is Dad home tonight?" She asked. I shook my head. "No, he works late tonight." I explained. She nodded.

"Good day today?" I asked her. "Yep! I just always, well, it's just he used to sit next to me and I, well, every morning I see the empty seat and it reminds me of what almost happened. Even if it's a great day, that just makes me remember it and I just, I, well, I'm sorry I keep bringing it up, I'll stop. It just seems like I'm being overdramatic about it. It was a good day though!" She said, adding the end bit quickly.

Jellybean looked like she did have a good day, she just had to get that off her chest. I didn't say anything for a minute. We walked through the front door before I spoke. "Oh Jellybean." I began slowly. "What happened does keep being brought up, I know, but it's okay, okay? If you ever want to talk about it, or something's bugging you, just tell me." I said, she wasn't being overdramatic. No, not at all. Somebody almost killed her.

She smiled and nodded. "Okay. Thank you Jug. Thank you for always being here for me." She said. I hugged her. We spent the rest of the day just doing homework and getting things done. We didn't ever get too far apart though. Some days were like this. Where we just can't stand being separated. I liked those days. It was always nice to have someone to be around. That was one of the last things I thought before I went to bed that night. I decided that it was a nice thought to end on.

Jellybean POV
I woke up the next morning reflecting on the day before. The whole thing with the empty seat had been bugging me for a long time now, but I felt a lot better now that Jughead knew. School today was good again. We were all waiting in anticipation for Monday though, as that was the day we found out about the play. The days remaining before then seemed to drag on and when if finally came, I was excited.

There was an announcement over the loud speaker before our lunch hour. Mr. Cassidy had said that anybody interested in being in, or helping out with the play was to come to his room immediately. The three of us got seats in the front row, just like we always did. Rosie didn't want to be in the actual play, but she said she would gladly he stage crew.

"Welcome!" Mr. Cassidy said as the room was finally filled. "Now I'm sure all of you have a lot of questions, but please hold on to them until the end." He said as multiple people raised their hands. He went on to explain the rehearsal dates and when auditions would be as well as a lot of other information. There was so much that Rosie, Seth and I had actually started to take notes.

"Now, here's the most important bit, so you all better be listening." He said. The whole room fell silent. "I've been thinking about this ever since I found out we were going to be putting on a play and that would be what play we will put on." If we were silent before, we were completely inaudible now. "I have spent hours trying to figure this out." Mr. Cassidy was making us wait longer and longer. "So, I think it's time for you guys to know what play I have chosen." He paused here for dramatic effect, but what he said next had us all on the edges of our seats.