We are the Young|| jughead jones

Chapter Twelve: Hot Tub Time Machine

Veronica slips a note onto my desk in the middle of English. I look up from my notebook and cross one leg over the other, laying it on my lower leg, and I unfold it. 

Meet me after school. Front of the building

It's three thirty, and there's no sign of Veronica. Sighing, I sit down on the concrete steps and rest my chin in my hands. Grandma would want me home soon, but I guess I could use the excuse that I was with some friends. She'd believe it, at least. 

"Sorry, I was a bit tied up with Betty," Veronica tells me with a smile. "So, tonight we're going to Ethel Muggs' house because she has a swimming pool." 

"Are we doing anything or is this just hanging out? Because I don't own a swimsuit," I start making excuses right away, because that's the type of person I am. 

"Well, you don't have to if you don't want to. It's more to get Chuck to admit that he told lies." Veronica's gaze shifts from my eyes to my hands. "Wait, are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine," I brush off, pulling my sleeves over my hands, covering them from the sharp autumn wind. 

"Your fingernails are blue!" She exclaims. "Do you need to go to the doctor?" 

Ah, yes. Blue fingernails. Another sign that my body is shutting down, along with the constant ache deep within my bones and the lethargy that is only staved off by the caffeine pills I take along with my regular medicine. Time to make another excuse.

"It's just a side affect of this autoimmune disease I have," I tell her. "Really, it's nothing. As you were saying?" 

"Oh, yes. We're just going to get Chuck to admit what he did was wrong. I'd really like to be friends with you, Mathilda. The new girls should stick together, you know." 

"You don't think I'm a freak?" I narrow my eyes. Why do people want to be friends with me? Years ago, nobody would speak to me even if I tried!

"You're a good person," Veronica zips up her jacket as she says this to me. "You're nice, you just act detached sometimes. You have boundaries, and I can respect that. Besides, you're one of the few people that hasn't brought up my father." 

"That's because I have no idea what happened," I admit. "I'm kind of out of the loop. Don't talk to many people except Jughead." 

I decide to give her the slightest smile. "Thanks, Veronica.  There is one thing we have to do, though, before." 

"What?" 

"We need to tell my grandma I'll be out tonight." 

~*~

Grandma is bustling around the kitchen when I get home, Veronica walking with me. She starts yelling and yammering away the moment I open the door.

"Mathilda! A package came from you! It was addressed to you from a boy named Leo? Is he one of your little friends from Atlanta?" She turns around from the counter and gives Veronica a large smile, exposeing her pearly-white veneers. "Why, Veronica Lodge! Are you friends with Mathilda?" 

Seemingly unfazed by my grandmother's on-spot recognition of her, Veronica extends her hand, which Grandma shakes. "Yes, I hope so," She replies. "Mrs.. Dan, is that right?"

Grandma shakes her head. "Oh no, dear. Call me Nettie." 

"Well, Nettie, I was wondering if you'd give us permission to hang out for the night." She is playing my grandma like a damn fiddle. With her magical smile and her polite tone of voice, she is bending Grandma to her will.