Come Hell or High Water

Chapter 6

6 months pregnant

Betty and Jughead have had a lot of stuff to deal with over the past 3 months especially with Penelope Blossom's trial being pushed back constantly. Jughead and Betty also moved into the Andrews after Archie and his mum agreed to sell it to them which F.P helped them pay for, so they had a home for their little family. Jughead got a job at Andrews Construction with Archie at the weekends and an evening job at Pop's. Archie moved into the Pembrook with Veronica and Mary went back to Chicago. Kevin is finally becoming his normal self again.

Jughead and Betty are up and getting dressed when they hear a knock on their front door. Jughead runs downstairs after finishing putting his shirt on and sees Sweet Pea stood with Toni and Cheryl. "We figured the Jones family wanted some company to school." Sweet Pea says. "Very funny Sweet Pea. The kids and I come as a package deal right now." Betty says. Jughead starts laughing and grabs their bags so they can head to school.

When they all arrive at school they head to their lockers and get everything they need for their first lessons. They all head their separate ways to the classrooms they need. Betty heads to Math with Archie and Sweet Pea which is one of the few classes those 3 shares. After sitting and paying no attention they head to their next period which for Betty was study hall as she currently can't partake in P.E. Jughead also has study hall because his dad wrote a note to allow him to be with Betty in case of an emergency.

At lunch time Betty, Jughead, Archie, Veronica and Kevin are talking and eating their lunch when F.P and a couple of deputies walk in and head for their table. "Sheriff Jones, how can we help?" Veronica asks. "I need to speak with all of you except Kevin. Sorry Kevin. It's regarding Penelope Blossom." F.P says. "No problem, I need to talk to my history teacher about an assignment." Kevin says. Kevin then grabs his stuff and makes his way out of the door. "We can go to the blue and gold office and talk." Betty says. F.P nods and they all make their way to the office. They all enter and Jughead makes sure the door is closed behind them. "What's going on, Dad?" Jughead asks. "Penelope is still maintaining that she is innocent, and you kids made it up to get attention because you are all close." F.P says. "That's utter bullshit! Toni and Cheryl saved us as Penelope's gargoyle minions chased us through the woods. Also, Nana Rose warned Cheryl and Toni of what she was doing." Archie fumes. "We're going to talk to Cheryl, Toni and Nana Rose after school, but we are actually here to warn you that Penelope made a mysterious phone call so just be careful." F.P says. "We will be, don't worry." Betty says. F.P nods and then leaves with the deputies. Then the bell rings for their next class so Jughead, Betty, Archie and Veronica split up to their individual lessons.

After school Betty heads back to the Jones' house whilst Archie and Veronica head back to the Pembrook and Jughead heads to Pop's for his shift. When the time comes for Jughead to arrive home Betty keeps looking at the clock getting increasingly more worried. By the time F.P arrives home at 1am Jughead is 3 hours late home. F.P calls Pop's and Pop tells him that Jughead never arrived for his shift and when he tried to call to see where he was his phone went to voicemail.

F.P knows as the sheriff he can't start a department search party until Jughead has been missing for 24 hours. However, as Jughead's father he wants to get out there and find his son before Betty really freaks out and puts stress on herself and the babies. Betty calls Archie who picks up after several agonizing moments. "Arch, have you and Veronica seen Jug? He never showed up for his shift at Pop's and he's not answering his phone." Betty rushes out before Archie can speak. "Woah, Betty first off take a breath you don't want to stress the babies out. Second, we haven't seen Jug since school. Sorry." Archie says. "I'm just worried what if this has something to do with that phone call Penelope Blossom made." Betty says. "What did F.P say?" Archie asks. "He said as sheriff he can't intervene until Jughead has been missing for 24 hours. However, he is currently on the phone to some of the serpents and I think they are going to search for him." Betty answers. "Okay, tell F.P I'm on my way to the house with Veronica and I will help search for Jughead as he's not only my best friend but my king too." Archie says. "Okay Arch, you two be safe." Betty says before she hangs up. F.P comes back into the room after finishing his phone call. "Sweet Pea and the serpents are on their way to look for Jug." F.P says. "Archie is on his way to help them look. He is bringing Veronica with him." Betty says. F.P nods and continues pacing the room.

Archie and Veronica arrive at the same time as Sweet Pea and the serpents and head inside to find Betty sat nervously looking at her phone every 30 seconds. F.P pacing back and forth while glancing at both doors hoping Jughead might walk through the door. Jellybean is upstairs in bed. "Okay, where do we start?" Sweet Pea asks. "Pickens Park, Sweet Water River or anywhere he could possibly go." Betty stresses. "I'm going to stay here with Betty and Mr. Jones. Keep your phones on. Update us with anything. We need as many clues as we can gather right now." Veronica says. "Ronnie is right. We should stick together and check every spot we know Jughead would go to." Archie says. The serpents all exchange looks of determination and head out to Pickens Park to begin their search for Jughead.

After checking Pickens Park and Fox Forest but finding nothing the serpents head to sweet water river to find Jughead or anything that may tell them where he has gone. Near the edge of Sweet Water Rive Archie spots something on the ground and bends down to see what it is. Upon further inspection of the item he discovers that it is Jughead's beanie. Archie shakily pulls out his phone and dials F. P's number. "Mr. Jones, we found something by Sweet Water River you may want to get down here." Archie says. "What is it?" F.P asks. "Jughead's beanie." Archie answers simply. "I'm on my way." F.P states before hanging up the phone. Archie slides down to the ground leaning against a tree. "Where are you, Jug?" Archie asks no one in particular.