jealous - a jeronica fanfic

Chapter Three

I popped the last potato chip from the bag into my mouth, sighing to myself as I did so. It had been a lazy Saturday, and I'd gotten absolutely nothing accomplished- as per usual.

"Veronica! There's people here to see you!" my dad called, and I groaned. I had a hunch it would be Jughead and his buddies- they sometimes liked to come by my house and get me to go out biking with them. I quickly threw on some sweatpants and a shirt I got from cheerleading last year. I quickly brushed my unwashed hair and then walked downstairs, to see that my hunch was correct.

Jughead, Reggie, and Moose stood in the doorway, their eyes all turning to look at me at the same time. Jughead still had his helmet on, it had become his "brand", but the other two were holding there helmets by the straps, so they swung down.

"What do you guys want?" I asked, crossing my arms and tilting my head slightly, trying to seem more put together than I was.

"Wanna go biking with us? Just to the school to hang out for a bit," Jughead asked, taking a step outside.

"Sure," I reply without even really meaning it- I'd much rather go back upstairs to my Gossip Girl marathon, but I might as well. "I'll come out through the garage, so go hang out in the driveway for a second."

I close the door and go to our garage, pressing the button to open the door. A bright stream of sunlight breaks through as the door rises, and I mount my bike and clip on my helmet as I wait for it to fully open. I slowly pedal out of the garage, meeting the boys at the end of my driveway.

They waste no time in getting going, and I follow without a word, standing up on my bike to get more momentum. Despite the fact that I think these boys are better than Archie in some ways, I start to feel nervous. I know I shouldn't, they just asked me to hang out, but it's hard not to be paranoid when they are friends of his. I pull out my phone as we bike down a hill, pressing the button to FaceTime Josie. She tries to call me all the time, so I didn't have any doubts that she would pick up soon, which she did.

We had formed into a single file line, with Jughead at the front, me after him, Reggie behind me, and Moose bringing up the end of the group. I could've easily overtaken Jughead- I'm a very strong cyclist, even though I learned at an older age than most, but I decided against it. Despite Jughead being so opinionated, I knew his ego was one of the only things he had and that it was surprisingly fragile.

We arrived at Riverdale High quickly, since I lived pretty close, and we all stopped on the basketball courts, catching our breath. I remembered Josie on the phone and quickly turned my attention to her, introducing her to the boys who seemed annoyed that I had called her.

Not even five minutes after we had arrived at the school a group of guys about our age showed up. At first I didn't recognize them, but after a moment I realized that it was the Southside Serpents, Riverdale's most notorious gang. The group reeked of marijuana, as would be expected of a gang of their 'standard'.

We drew their attention quickly, not on purpose however. The boys I was with talked big game, but I don't think any of them had the guts to hang out with the serpents. Archie does, I think. These boys are just sheep, Archie's their shepherd.

Well the Serpents seemed like they were all shepherds, with the confidence they wore so casually. They began to walk our way, and I saw one toss a cigarette on the ground, blowing a puff of smoke into the air before he did so.

I rolled my eyes like I was irritated, disguising my discomfort with my usual put together exterior. I felt eyes on me and felt my cheeks grow hot, and I allowed myself another glance at the quickly approaching Serpents.

It didn't look like they were going to come and talk to us, which was good, since none of us could handle them. But they were definitely looking at us- me in particular. I saw the same guy with the cigarette staring at my ass, and a couple others were eyeing me up and down. I turned back to the boys I was with, who were all raising their eyebrows in surprise at each other. I made eye contact with Jughead, who rolled his way over to me.

"Do you smell that?" he asked, keeping his voice low as to not alert the Serpents about our conversation.

"Obviously. I think I could smell them a mile away," I reply, once again covering up my discomfort with mock annoyance and a bitchy attitude.

After about thirty more seconds of uncomfortable staring the Serpents turned the corner, vanishing from our line of sight. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, and turned my full attention back to the group.

"Veronica, those guys were gonna rape you," Jughead commented casually, pedalling up the mini hill to turn the corner and see if they were gone.

"Gee thanks for saying that Jughead, that would be awesome," I reply sarcastically, although internally I was shocked. I knew Jughead and Archie were friends, but I never though that Jughead would say something as crude as that. It seemed a lot like something Archie would say, but this was out of character for Jughead.

And I wasn't planning on sticking around to find out what other things this side of Jughead wanted to do.

"I'm gonna go guys, my dad's gonna get pissed at me soon," I say, and without another word, I pedalled down the hill leading back to my house, my legs moving as fast as they could to get me out of that situation.