We are the Young|| jughead jones

Chapter Six: Ultimatum

Grandma had woken me up at three in the morning for grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches. She had said she was hungry, and was I too? I loved my grandmother, but sometimes she forgot that not everyone else was retired.

"So, do you have any friends?" She asked me after I had taken the first bite of my sandwich.

I shrugged as I swallowed. "I dunno. There's this one kid named Jughead Jones, he's pretty nice to me. Lets me sit with him in class and shows me around."

"I remember the surname Jones," Grandma began to reminisce. "There was a boy in my year called Forsythe Pendleton Jones. Member of the Southside Serpents, he was."

"Southisde Serpents?" I ask.

"They're a gang that lives on the same side of town as us, sweetheart. They don't make much trouble, not unless someone provokes them first." Grandma explained. "Most of them go to school at one in the middle of nowhere."

"Grandma, if we live on the south side, then why do I go to Riverdale High? Why don't I go to that one?"

"Because it's closer, and I feel better knowing you're at the same school both I and your mother went to. Speaking of which, she called me while you were at school."

I freeze. Why did my mom call? If she wanted to talk to me, she could have texted or called me, but maybe she knew I wouldn't pick up.

Throwing my napkin over my sandwich, I stand up and shove my chair in. Taking my plate, I dump what remained of it into the the trash can.

"If she wanted to talk, tell her she can just call me," I grunt. "I'm going to bed."

"Mathilda, dear, she was afraid you wouldn't answer!"

I pivot on my heel. "Mom's the one who sent me here. She's the one who can't bear to look at my face. She's the one who never visited me! If she wants any sort of relationship, tell her she should try a bit harder."

I stomp up the stairs to my room, shut the door, and lock it, ignoring the pleas from my grandma. Grandma doesn't know the full story, but then again, does anyone?

I'm lonely. I shut people out without trying, and I'm wrecking all of my relationships by it. I got angry at my grandma, for god's sake! I know I can't keep doing this, being a door swinging between the rooms of being closed-off or being happy.

I need to make an effort, but I'm getting real tired of me putting in all I have and the universe returning exactly jack.

~*~

I'm wearing suspenders. Goddamn grandpa suspenders to hold my pants up as if they're a bridge. I must look like I have no dignity, and if someone were to ask me if I had none, suffice to say they wouldn't be wrong.

I dropped another pants size, and I'm going to have a hell of a time explaining this to Grandma when I tell her I need to go down to size zero pants. Hopefully, though, nobody will notice at school. With all my layers on top, I look like a person of a standard weight, with only my wrists being a dead giveaway, but I never let anybody see those, anyway.

I pull on my longer sweatshirts, my longer everything, to hide the gap between my thighs, hide the bony parts of my body.

Unfortunately, the falling redhead Cheryl comes up to me before class and asks me "Are you wearing a sweatshirt on top of a sweatshirt?"

I don't answer. I'm too deep in shock. How could anyone, when I've tried my best to make myself invisible here, notice me? Is it the bright blue hair?