jealous - a jeronica fanfic

Chapter Eighteen

I wake up to several missed calls from Cheryl and Toni, and dozens of texts from my parents. I groan, coming back to the real world after last night.

I sit up off of Jughead's chest, pulling the sheets around my body, and heading to the bathroom.

"Where do you think you're going?" I hear a voice say behind me, and I grin as I turn around and see Jughead is awake.

"To shower, I don't wanna look like a rat today," I laugh, and Jughead hops out of bed, not bothering to cover himself up.

Jughead smiles and tugs at the sheet around my body, and I let it fall, "Mind if I join you?"

I giggle and push him away, "You're pushing it, Jones. Why don't you go get us some clothes, so we aren't walking around in our prom clothes, kay?"

He rolls his eyes but nods, throwing on his dress shirt and dress pants, and heading out the door, while I wait for the shower to heat up.

I sigh with pleasure as the water hits my chest, closing my eyes and enjoying the warmth. Last night was everything I could've ever imagined and more- and now I was dreading having to return to the real world, where it wasn't just me and Jughead.

I'd have to call Cheryl and Toni back, reply to my parents texts, and deal with the storm coming overhead- Betty. I'm not gonna lie, I did feel guilty about stealing Betty's boyfriend from her- she had been my best friend for years. But I didn't feel guilty enough to give him up- not again.

Now that I was finally with Jughead, nothing else seemed to matter. And I know that sounds corny, and cheesy or whatever- but it really does feel that way when I'm with him.

I have never been in love like this before- never in my entire life. Now I was just realizing that what I had perceived as love was simply a weak substitute- nothing could compare to the real thing.

I finished showering and wrapped a towel around my body and my hair, before laying on the bed and flicking on the TV. It was on the news, something I found boring mostly, but a certain picture caught my eye- it was Betty.

I turned up the volume, and heard the newscasters telling her story.

"Breaking news: A local teen girl went on a rampage at her prom, after her boyfriend left with another girl. She attacked several of her classmates quite viciously, and two are in critical condition at the moment. She is facing charges from families who's children were attacked, and is currently in custody. Stay tuned for more news on this shocking story," the newscaster finishes, and I feel a pang in my heart with every word she says.

Was this my fault?

I flick on my phone and text my parents back, who seemed to be worried sick. They texted me all night long, and I felt terrible that I hadn't thought about them while I was fooling around with Jughead.

I call Cheryl, who picks up the phone instantly.

"Veronica! Are you okay?" she asks, clearly worried sick.

"I'm fine, Cheryl. What happened last night?"

"Thank god you're okay. Betty went on a rampage last night, and started trying to attack everybody! Thank god Toni and I weren't hurt, but she was punching and kicking and tried to stab one kid's eye out with her heel!" Cheryl exclaims, and my mouth drops open. This feels like a bad dream.

"That's insane Cheryl, I'm so sorry that you had to experience that-"

"It's okay, Veronica, I've seen worse- like my mother with a hangover. But I was so worried about you, Toni was too- Betty swore she was going to ruin you as soon as she found you! The police showed up as soon as she tried to leave, but we didn't know where you were and a lot of us spent the night looking for you. Thank god you're alright- don't freak me out like that ever again!" she says, and I laugh a little, trying to stop the guilt from consuming me.

"This is all my fault, Cheryl.. I can't believe that I was so selfish," I say, feeling like I'm about to vomit.

"Veronica, it's okay, everyone's fine. The news always exaggerates things, don't stress about it. This will all be forgotten by the end of the month, okay?" Cheryl assures me, but it doesn't make me feel any better.

"I'm not so sure Cher..." I hear Jughead come to the door, and I quickly say goodbye to Cheryl and hang up.

He enters the room with two baggy sweatshirts and two pairs of jeans- one for me and one for him.

"Here ya go- it's going to have to be a jeans day for you miss Veronica," he says playfully, before noticing that I have tears in my eyes.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? What happened?" he asks, concerned, sitting down next to me on the bed.

"After we left Betty attacked a whole bunch of people- and she got arrested, Jug. This is all my fault, all those people got hurt because of me," I say, feeling the first of many tears roll down my cheek.

Jughead puts an arm around me, rubbing my shoulder with his hand in an attempt to comfort me.

"None of this is your fault, Veronica. Betty obviously has some pretty serious issues, and just because you may have made her angry doesn't mean you could've predicted this happening!" he tells me, and I feel the guilt somewhat lift off my chest.

I take a deep breath, "Thanks Jug, I just feel so bad for all the kids - all our friends - that were hurt by her. I wish I could do something, to know why she lashed out at everyone."

"Sometimes people let their emotions take over, and that's probably what happened, Veronica. Betty needs help, okay? She's probably got serious anger issues, and there's nothing you or I can do about that."

"I want to go see her, Jughead. She's at the police station- they said so on the news," I say, and Jughead takes a deep breath, and then nods.

"Okay. We'll go see her- I'll call my dad and see if he can pull a few strings as the sheriff to get us in to talk to her, okay?" Jughead says, and I shake my head.

"I want to talk to her alone, Jug. This is between her and I- she was my best friend. Let us work this out by ourselves."

He nods reluctantly, "Okay. Sure, whatever you need."

I sigh as he steps into the bathroom to make the call, and collapse back onto the bed. I had no idea what was going to happen while I talked to Betty, but I was anxious to find out.