Falling Apart

Chapter 17

Christmas. My favorite time of the year. When I was little, birthdays and Christmas (sometimes Thanksgiving) were when we got more food. Because the boys agreed that all of us should still have a picture of what holidays should be like. Even if it wasn't the best food we could get or it was bought for money one of them had stolen somewhere, it was still food.
It's also my least favorite time of the year. It means crying because I don't have a normal family and missing my mom. Missing my brothers. Hating myself for that.
This year, Nick will be here with his girlfriend. I'm excited to meet her.

"Why couldn't the break just start on the 20th?" Ronnie complains to me as we make our way towards our table in the cafeteria.
"V, just let it go. There's no way your mom would let you go to that concert anyways," I chuckle. She sighs and we take our seats. "Hey," I tell them and kiss Sweets' cheek. He grins at me and winks. I giggle quietly and look at Jug. He's smirking while eating his burger. I open my mouth and he gives me a bite of it, after what he gives me a peck on the cheek.
"Hey Baby Coop? Can we see your brother?" Fangs asks.
I smirk and look at him, tilting my head a little. "Why?"
He rolls his eyes with a smile. "You've seen all of our parents." The others nod. Only Veronica and Jug have seen him.
I sigh. "Really? You wanna see him because he's my brother or because he's a popstar?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.
"We're not jerks you know," Toni says.
I take another fry. "Fine."
"Yes! Should I bring my own pen and paper?" Kev asks. We all laugh and I hit his foot under the table. "I'm joking," he says harshly, like he obviously isn't. We laugh more and keep eating.
"So we're going to Pop's after school?" Ronnie asks me, knowing I'm supposed to meet my brother and his girlfriend there.
I roll my eyes and nod. "As you wish."

"Hurry up," I hear Veronica whining through the bathroom door where I'm changing my clothes.
"The boys are taking showers anyways, Ronnie," Toni laughs.
"I agree!" I shout and pull my white sweater over my head, on my light blue broken jeans. I open the door and go back into the changing room. All the girls look at me weirdly, they don't get it, why I never change with them. Veronica smiles at me sadly. Toni doesn't know, but she's a good person and doesn't care either.
"Okay, ready?" Ronnie asks us. We both nod and go out of the locker-room. We walk to our lockers and I pull my coat on after what I sort out my books and stuff I need to take with me.
"See? The guys are outside," Ronnie sighs as we walk out of the school. They're laughing at something. We walk to them and I stand in front of Jug and lean on him with my back. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my hair.
"Ready?" Jug asks quietly.
"Yeah, but let's walk fast, okay?" I ask all of them. They laugh at me and nod, knowing I wanna see my brother already. Jug gives me his hand. I take it with a smile and intertwine our fingers.
"You just got here, your hands are already freezing," he says to me as we all start walking.
"Well you better warm them up later then," I grin and let go of his hand, running a little ahead from all of them. I squat down and scoop some of the snow into my hands. In the night it snowed so much that the streets are full of it and big snow piles. I pat it together in my hands and see everyone grinning at me as I throw it towards them and it lands on Fangs' jacket.
"Oh you're gonna get for that," he shouts and runs towards me. I giggle and run away, scooping up more snow. Everyone starts throwing snowballs at each other, having a snow fight.
When we reach the parking lot at Pop's, we're all wet and laughing at each others red frozen faces. I throw a snowball towards V, but she's next to Sweets and it lands on his face instead. He freezes and so do I. Everyone else bursts out laughing, Toni and Kevin squatting down to get to laugh better, legs getting weak.
Sweets cleans his face with his fingers and starts grinning big, running towards me. I chuckle and run towards the Pop's door. He catches me and picks me up bridal style.
"Put me down!" I laugh as he starts walking away from the diner. "HEEEELP!" I scream and feel so many eyes on me, probably people in Pop's. I see Jug grinning big, coming to us with Kev and Fangs as Ronnie and Toni go inside to get some heat back into their bodies.
"Ready?" Sweets laughs at Kev. He nods with a big smile and grabs my legs.
"Nooo! Help! Jugheaaad!" I scream, realizing that they're gonna throw me in a snow pile. But they already sway me and then throw me inside.
I let out a scream and land into the freezing but soft snow. They're all laughing as I sit up, covered in snow. I start laughing too and stretch my hands out. Jug helps me out of there and I feel him shivering.
"You're freezing, baby," he chuckles and gets some of it out of my hair. I giggle and take his hand not to fall on the ice as usually. We all walk to Pop's and go inside.
"You never shout at me that loudly," I hear Jellybean's voice. I look towards her in a booth with her three friends.
"Yeah well you do and it's 8am usually, try to imagine that," I tell her. She giggles and nods, looking back at the others. I giggle and look around to see Nick. There is a huge bunch of people around one booth, so I guess he's there.
I hear Jug sighing. "Let us through!" he shouts and everyone shuts up to look at us. He smiles at the high school students who are afraid of him. They make us way and I freeze, seeing who's in the booth. Dan and Jake grin at me, sitting in the other side of the booth from Nick and Sarah. Is this a joke? Am I imagining them? My therapist said that won't happen anymore. Why am I seeing them again?
They both stand up. I keep standing on the place and feel tears flowing down my cheeks. Dan widens his arms, smiling sadly. "Can I get a hug?" he asks softly. That's him, Betty. That's his voice.
My legs start moving incredibly rapidly and I get to them with less than a second, even though they're in the other end of the diner. My arms fly around his neck as I jump on him. He picks me up and I wrap my legs around him as well. I squeeze him so hard as he hugs me tightly and I feel his hot tears on my icy neck.
"Hey," he breathes out soon and I feel his lips pressing themselves against my wet cheek.
"You know I've missed you just as much," I hear Jake saying with a pouty voice. I chuckle quietly and pull my head away from Dan. I smile at his teary face and kiss his forehead for a few seconds before pulling Jake towards me and wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Falling," Dan says and I let my legs loose or he's gonna fall too. Jake holds me up now, my legs clinging over the ground. He kisses me all over my face, making me push him away rapidly.
"See? I told you she doesn't do that to only me," Nick says and hits Jake's arm. I giggle quietly and keep hugging him.
"Hey," Nick says to someone and Jug says the same, so they probably hug. I can't see, my eyes are squeezed together.
"You're cold. And wet," Jake says to me, but doesn't let go.
"You don't seem to mind either," I say quietly. He sniggers, but keeps hugging me.
In about five minutes, I wrap my other arm around Dan again, so that I'm hugging both of them at once. "How are you here?" I sniffle.
"No one made us realize we shouldn't come," Jake says.
I frown and pull away from them. They chuckle at my confused face. "That sentence has zero logic in it," I say. They grin and nod. I look at Nick. He seems really happy as well. I hug him, feeling fuller and happier than in so many years now.
"Thanks," I hear Jake saying to someone quietly. Jug. He told them something what made them change their mind and come here for the holidays.
"Why didn't you tell me everyone comes here after school?" Nick whispers to me.
"Isn't it obvious?" I ask him, pulling away from the hug.
"No," he says and kisses my hair. "Take these things off, I don't want you getting sick," he says and touches my cold hands, which make him sigh. I smile and unbutton my coat and then unzip it.
"I'm Sarah," his girlfriend smiles.
"Betty," I say with a small smile and hug her as well. We've talked in face time as well, but this is different.
I take my coat off and look at Jug as all of my friends have still decided to give me a moment to reunite with my brothers before they kill them with questions, so they're all sitting in another -the biggest- booth. He's sitting on the edge and smiling at me. I raise my eyebrows at him. He shakes his head. I make a pouty face, making him chuckle. I wanted to dry his hair by ruffling it and running my fingers through it, but he only ever lets me do that when we're alone. 'Cause then his beanie is off.
"Pop?" I ask, looking at him before sitting down. He looks at me from another booth, Jelly's to be exact. "Can I get a hot chocolate?" He nods with a smile and writes it down. I look at my brothers. Since the booth is full of four grownups, I have no room. I just sit on Jake's lap, not even considering getting a chair. He wraps his arms around me and I feel him kissing my cheek. My head turns to see his face. I slide my fingers over his shaved beard, raising my eyebrows.
"Is that just me or you weren't able to grow that three years ago?" I ask him. They all laugh at me, but he pouts his lips a little, smirking. My phone does a strange voice. I furrow my eyebrows and take it out of my pocket.
"No phones," Dan says and pulls it out of my hands. Everyone else's phone does the same noise. Well, everyone who goes to our school. So basically the whole diner. Dan furrows his eyebrows and hands my phone back to me. I open it quickly, usually when this happens, someone's secret has been outed. I read the message with Cheryl's picture above it.
Cheryl Blossom= has a crush.
Cheryl Blossom= has a crush on Veronica Lodge.
Cheryl Blossom= is gay.
Well done, Cherry Bombshell.
My eyes go wide and I jump up. "Who's Cheryl Blossom?" Jake mumbles to me. He obviously read my phone, but I don't have time to start yelling at him for that. I look around for Cheryl. She's sitting in a booth with widened eyes, staring at her phone.
"Betty," I hear Ronnie's voice. I look at her. She's staring at me with widened eyes and doesn't say anything. I see Cheryl coming closer to me the whole diner quiet.
"You told someone," she breathes out furiously, stopping right in front of me.
"I didn't, Cheryl. I swear to god. Not even Jughead," I say in shock.
She breathes out sharply and her hand flies up to slap me. She slaps me as hard as possible. "You bitch. I trusted you!" she shouts now.
"I swear, Cheryl. I did not tell anyone," I practically shout back at her. All of our phones ding again. I grab my phone rapidly as does everyone else. My brothers are looking so confused, but I see that they know I'm telling the truth.
Veronica Lodge. The rich bitch from New York. A daddy's girl. He's a criminal. In jail.
Parents getting a divorce= devastated.
"Betty," Veronica breathes out.
I look at her, crying now. "V, I would never." She looks broken, but not convinced that it was me and hides her face into her hands to keep crying. Another message comes.
Kevin Keller. Running in Fox Forest to hook up with orphan boys.
My eyes go wide and I look at Kev. He looks at me. "You're unbelievable," he says. This is the first time I've seen him mad before. Another message. I'm scared to look at it.
Toni Topaz. Mom and dad died, living with her grandfather.
I look at Toni, crying. All the Serpents know this too, but of course she thinks I told something. Everyone thinks that at the moment. This was supposed to be held as a secret from the Northsiders.
Fangs Fogarty. Gay.
He look at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Doesn't everyone know that?" He fails to make me feel better. The messages keep coming.
NM (Sweet Pea). Dating Jellybean Jones, his best friend's sister.
I'm the only one who knows this. I saw them kissing and they know I saw it. But it was like a month ago.
Jughead Jones.-
Oh no.
Has cutting marks on his arm.
He looks at me with widened and scared eyes. "Juggie," I sob. He stands up and just as I think he's about to slap me, he pulls me into his arms and holds my head against his chest, his lips against my ear.
"Shh baby, I believe you. Don't cry. Let's get you home," he whispers.