✔︎ The Gang Leaders | Bughead

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞: 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬

Betty's POV

Here I am, standing in-between Jones' legs, cleaning his cuts.

"A snake fucking bit me," he sighs in disbelief.

"Aww, darling, you'll be alright."

"Mmm."

"Jug," he looks up at me, surprised.

"You called me something other than 'Jones' or 'Jughead'." He smirks.

I roll my eyes. "Anyway, the next part, the gauntlet..." I sigh.

"Look, I'm not trying to pressure you into to telling me anything, but..."

I look into his eyes. "The gauntlet... is basically you walk in a line while a bunch of teen Serpents punch you."

He looks at me shocked. "What kind of sadistic initiation is this?!"

"No, Jug, listen! You have to do it!"

"Betty... are you that naïve?"

"I-"

"The reason i can't even take a playful slap is because my dad used to hit me everyday."

I look up at him. "What?" I breathe.

"Everyday after school, he would be drunk off his ass... he would take everything out on me."

Tears start to brim his eyes.

"He would blame me for my mom and sister leaving. He would blame me for everything he fucked up..." he looks away hurt.

"I eventually couldn't take it... so I joined a gang. They were my family."

"Jug, I'm your family now. The Serpents-"

"I know. But... why do I have to do it?"

"I made everyone do it," I murmur. "I- It's to prove that you'll die for us... cause we will for you. I can't just make everyone do it, and not you..."

"You're right. It's not fair."

"Listen, let me go get some bandages for your bite then you should head home and get a good nights rest."

"Okay..."

•••

The next day

I woke up to a the sound of a text message. I reach over to the ground to pick my phone up. I see the text is from Jug.

Jones:
Hey I was wondering if you would like to meet me at Pop's for breakfast

Me:
Yeah I would love to

Jones:
Good. I was hoping we could talk about the gauntlet

Me:
You mean how you don't wanna get punched in the gut?

Jones:
I'm gonna fucking shoot myself