Flatline ((Jughead Jones)) 3

1

You get a lot of attention on crutches. You get even more attention if you're the newly crowned Serpent Queen on crutches because she was almost brutally murdered by her friends father while her brother goes through a trial for a murder he didn't commit while her sister is off galavanting across the country with her newly found serpent girlfriend and when your other brother is dead, killed by a man who you thought to be your father but turns out he wasn't.

It's the calm before the storm, the summer before your junior year in high school. And how do you spend it? Working some brutal summer job that actually makes you look forward to going back to school? Or maybe you have an internship that doesn't pay much. But that's okay because it's for a good cause. Or maybe you spent it swimming in Sweetwater Swimming hole, you and the best friends you'll ever had and the lover you never thought you'd deserve. Or maybe you spent most of June, JUly, August in a courtroom, supporting our pal Archie Andrews, who was on trial for a murder he didn't commit, despite the DA's closing arguments. Or like me, you spent half the summer in the courtroom and the other half sat in a hospital waiting room, anxious to know the condition of your girlfriend as she went in for a joint reconstruction of her knee.

I felt sorry for Jughead. My loving boyfriend was with me at every appointment he could attend, at every physiotherapy session that I had been given since becoming his queen. The doctors had told me after a scan that my back was healing well, slowly but still well, so by July I wasn't needing the wheelchair full time. However, after the swelling went down in my legs, they discovered my right knee to be almost completely shattered from the attack, meaning I had to have surgery. When I woke up Jug was there waiting for me.

Between my surgeries and my brothers court case, I knew we were putting our dad through hell.

By the end of August I only had crutches and my back only ached after a day of walking. I felt like I was getting back to my old self. Although at the same time, as my life was slowly repairing, Archie's world was crumbling around him. HIs girlfriend's dad hated him so much, he was willing to frame a child for murder.

As we sat in the courtroom, fan's in hand, watching as the blonde haired witch began to speak to the jury, I couldn't help but imagine what I'd have said if I was defending Archie, or how much Mr Lodge was paying her to ensure that Archie never saw us again.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury the evidence and testimony that was presented in this courtroom tell a dark story. That Mr. Andrews has a history of violent behaviour. That he started not on, but two masked vigilante groups. That he assaulted an innocent boy, who was helpless with two broken legs. That he went wilding in the Southside of town, and threatened to shoot a young man in the face. That while partying with his friends in the town of Shadow Lake, Mr Andrews ran into the woods, and shot the victim, Cassidy Bullock, point-blank in the head."

I squeezed Jug's hand tightly as we sat listening to the old hag twist the story of the past few years into a tale of violence and misery. I bit my tongue as she used events that had long been forgotten and events that were perfectly justified to further incriminate my brother. Jug held me closer as she further pulled apart Archie's story of the goings on of that night while I was in Canada. "Who knows the truth of what happened that terrible night in the woods near Shadow Lake? I'll tell you who. That man."

Instead of listening to her accusation, I turned my head to see Hiram Lodge stood tall at the back of the courtroom, his face blank except from the slight smile he seemed to casting the bitch at the front. Everyone who was close to Archie knew exactly who was behind this and who knew the exact goings on of that night. Hiram Lodge.

Next to speak was Mary, Archie's mom, his attorney. She was dressed in a tight fitting dress, her hair pulled back into a professional bun and despite the anxiety she must be feeling she remained calm.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we know for a fact that Archie Andrews constantly puts the needs of others ahead of his own. We know that he helped to solve the murder of Jason blossom. We know that he offered both friends and enemies shelter when they had nowhere else to go. We know that he punched through a river of ice to save the life of his classmate Cheryl Blossom and his sister, unknown to him then, Cynthia Blossom. Well, let me remind you that there were no witnesses to the actual killing. There was no murder weapon. There is no motive."

From everything Jughead and I had learned about serial killers and murderers from investigating the murder of my brother and the Black Hood killings, there is always motive. For the Black Hood, that motive was the thought the the victims were sinning and that he was doing the right thing. For Clifford Blossom, it was to protect his hidden secret. Archie had no motive to kill a guy that I had never heard of.

"At the end of the day, all the prosecution has is cloudy testimony from unreliable people. Now, it is my solemn duty, as a mother, to protect my son. But as an attorney, it's my duty to adhere to the facts, to the evidence. There is nothing here that proves that Archie Andrews is anything less than an innocent boy. Thankyou."

If I was a jury member, then that statement would have swayed me. I knew in my heart that the only way we would lose this would be if the Hiram had already got to the Jury. All he needed was 7 people. If he managed to blackmail 7 jury members then Archie would be gone, his future destroyed. As the jury left, I watched each and every one of them, some even looked back to Hiram before leaving. I just hoped that they had enough of a backbone to stand up to the true reaper that was hanging over Riverdale.

We all left the courtroom and I saw Archie slip away from the group while everyone else continued to discuss the case and what they thought would be the outcome. I slowly moved after Archie and when he got to the stairs and went up, I stood watching him. He sat looking out, not really paying attention to anything around him. In that moment, I watched him just sit there, and I tried to picture what I'd have done if I was in his situation.

"Cyn, have you seen Archie?" Veronica asked, movie towards me with Jughead and Betty close by. I pointed upstairs and the two girls began to jog up them. I looked towards them with determination. Stairs and crutches don't mix well, that was what I had learnt from having to use them. It wasn't that I couldn't go up them, it was that when I got to the top I didn't feel safe, I felt like at any minute I could fall backwards and be lying back in the hospital bed.

"Need some help, baby?" I heard a voice whisper from behind me, his hands holding my waist. The denim shorts I was wearing highlighting my figure as well as the strapless top I had on, only made Jug's breath on the side of my face feel warmer.
"I'm perfectly capable." I replied, moving to place my crutches on the first step and lifting myself up. I had gone up one step, just about to make the next movement when the same arms wrapped around me and lifted me up, carrying me quickly up the rest of the stairs.
"I had it handled, J." I smiled, looking at the beanie clad guy carrying me.
"I know, Princess, but I thought this was a better way for you to travel." Shaking my head, I pecked his cheek before he set me down on the other side of Archie, Jughead taking a seat on the step in front of me.

"How you holding up?" Jug asked him. I didn't express how I thought that was a stupid question. Jug was only trying to help and I couldn't blame him for trying. All summer this trial is all anyone has spoken about and all anyone asked Archie about. I felt bad for him. It was the same for me after I returned to school after the attack: how are you, are you okay, did you see him, what was he like? All the questions were the same and eventually you just use the same responses for everyone. So I knew Archie had answered this question a thousand time with the answer he gave us, yeah good.

Veronica then asked what he was thinking of. I had wondered the same thing and I knew it wasn't his freedom or the chance of walking out free.
"No, I... There was this place, we've never been before, Ronnie, but Betty and Jug, even Thia, remember Sweetwater Swimming Hole?" He asked us and a smile spread across my face. I could remember the water and if I closed my eyes I could feel the heat slowly enter my body from the sun above us.
"We went every summer." Betty said, smiling, remembering every summer they went and the occasional summers that the Blossom family holiday finished early and I could join them.
"I was just thinking about that place." Jug told, smiling at me.
"We had so much fun." I added.

Once Jughead had explained to Betty that we had stopped going when we got covered in leeches. It had been an especially hot summer and I was the first one to get bitten by a leech, then spent the rest of the time sat on a rock watching them splash each other until there legs got covered in leeches as well. I couldn't remember laughing more.
"Hopefully you can take me, Archie." Veronica said to him, tears clouding her eyes as she looked to her boyfriend that was sure to lose this trial.
"Hopefully." He replied, pressing his forehead to hers. Just looking at the young couple I thought the same, hoping that Archie could take his girlfriend, that we could all go and experience the Swimming Hole that we had grown up with. We would go back after years, seeing if it was the same as we remember.