Deadline ((Jughead Jones)) 4

15

I didn't move. I don't think I could if I tried. All I could do was stare at Wrym's tank. The light was reflecting off the water and Wrym was in his hide, his head sticking out and looking right back at me. It was like he knew.

It was now, more than ever, that I wished I had dad. He would have dragged me downstairs to watch a movie just to take my mind off it; stayed home from work just to make sure I ate something; said a few random words that just made sense and made everything better. He wouldn't just put a band-aid over the wound, he'd sew it up and bandage it and check it every day to make sure I was healing. He'd have Jughead over every day just to try and fix everything. Instead I just stared at Wrym's tank.

"Queenie, you good?" FP asked me, coming into my room. He looked awkward, nervous, like he wasn't quite sure how to deal with me and how to fix everything. I nodded at him, wondering what had compelled him to come into the room. Was it his own worry? The Serpent Younglings? Maybe it was Jughead. Whatever it was, he sat on the end of my bed, playing with his Sheriff hat as a distraction from whatever conversation was going to happen.

"Look, when I was sitting downstairs, I could just see Fred watching me, telling me to come and help you. I know I'm not him, but I'm here for you." For the first time in a few days, I sat up, tears in my eyes. And then I hugged him. He held me the same way he would hold JB, that same protective hold that just tried to make things a little better.
"Everytime I think I'm over it, everything comes back. I just want it, him, to go away, leave me alone." I cried, and at this, FP, pulled me back and made me look at him. His face held seriousness.
"You are stronger than him, Queenie. Don't let him ruin your future. Yes, you might have bumps in the road but you will always get through it, we're all here to help you." I smiled at him. It was like my dad was helping FP, helping him help me. Ever since it had happened I had always felt like I was taking steps forward only to be knocked back, but that wasn't how I needed to look at it. Every fall I took, made me walk forward that much quicker, falling a little less often everytime and soon enough I'd be running. Just as dad said, I needed to tread water before I could swim, and I finally felt like I was swimming.
"Thanks, FP."
"Come on, kid, I'll drop you at school," He said, and left my room.

By the time I felt like I was getting over everything, I had made up with Jughead. I wasn't really angry and he knew as much, it was Betty that was hurt and he took her to Pop's as an apology and got the Yale recruiter to watch her at the Quiz Show. Jughead was fiercely loyal to his friends. And just as we had made up, he announced his duel with Bret, the rounds being fencing, fighting and chess. I told Jug to send me a photo of Bret's face after the brawl because I knew it wouldn't be the pretty boy good look that he was going for.

When I came downstairs on Tuesday, I saw Betty and Jughead sitting on the sofa, watching a video of Donna. She was talking to the camera, holding a skull.
"Hey Jug, hey Betty, what's that?" I asked, Jughead smiling at me as I entered and pulling me to sit on his lap. The words that Donna was saying were identical to the words she told me when she admitted to the affair. It was the same act, even down to when she shed a tear and got emotional.

"It's Donna, on a tape I stole from Bret's room," Betty replied. Donna was in some type of basement with candles surrounding her. I listened to her words and I knew exactly what she was going to say.
"This is exactly what Donna told me about Mr Chipping," I told the group and they both looked at me in shock. We all turned to look back at the screen watching the girl on the screen, waiting with baited breath for her next words.
"I'd never seen Mr. Kotter so mad." This time when she said her speech, it sounded believable, she sounded upset, it sounded real.

Jughead asked who Mr Kotter was and was met without an answer. Betty said she had researched into it and found no one. Mr. Kotter didn't exist, like Donna had rehearsed what she had said to me using a fake name to make it believable. Suddenly, her who;le act didn't seem as believable.
"All this time we've been thinking Bret is the evil mastermind behind Stonewall. But I think we all need to be more worried about Donna." Betty announced and I agreed. If she could rehearse a speech she seemed to know she would give, then who knows what other strings she is pulling. Maybe all the Stonewall Preppy group was controlled by her, Bret being the front man so he could take the title of the mastermind, while Donna went undetected.

"Why were you searching Bret's room?" I asked Betty, needing to be slightly more aware of the background to getting this video. Betty looked at Jughead, as if asking him to explain it to me and I turned around in my seated position to look at the man underneath me. J took a deep breath before moving to reply.
"Betty spoke to Moose. He said that Bret illegally filmed a sex tape of him and a girl, inside the dorm room." Flashing in my mind was suddenly every time Jughead and I had done something in that room. I wondered if Bret had done anything like that to us, or if he was waiting for the right time to use it to his advantage and exploit us both.
"Does he have one of us?" I asked, and Jughead held his breath slightly.
"I hope not."