( word count : 1,380  )

CHAPTER FOURTY-TWO:

↳ THE JACKET

    RIGHT WHEN JUGHEAD WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE, Mrs. Cooper walked into the Blue and Gold office, interrupting Jughead from saying goodbye to Ginny on the phone. The beanie loving boy gripped his phone as he readied himself for Alice Coopers news.

"The police found another dead body. A Southside Serpent and Sheriff Clueless is convinced that he was working with your father. He allegedly committed suicide by overdose, and there was a bag of money on-site that links him to Hiram Lodge. Everything is tied up into a nice little bow. Too tidy, if you ask me."

"As fascinating as this is, I gotta go." Jughead told the two blondes, glancing at his phone. He knew that solving this mystery was important– but Ginny was his top priority. Before he could finish saying goodbye, Betty's phone rang.

Betty picked the phone up that rang beside him, listening to what he had to say. Betty sighed, looking at Jughead who was itching to leave to see Ginny. "Kevin? Oh, okay. We'll meet you there."

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     BEFORE JUGHEAD AND BETTY WERE TO meet up with Kevin, Jughead forced Alice Blossom to drop him off at Archie's house. He hopped out of the car, knowing that Betty would be waiting for him soon.

"Ginny?" Jughead called out as he entered the house with his spare key. He shoved his key into his pocket, shutting the door behind him as he moved further into the house.

Suddenly, a blurred figure jumped at him and startled Jughead, but he relaxed as the brunette hair and sobbing indicated who held onto him. Minutes had passed as Jughead held onto Ginny Hopkins, rubbing her back softly, waiting for her to calm down.

Slowly, hiccups began to occur in between her sobs and Jughead maneuvering her towards the couch in the living room. Jughead sat down, pulling Ginny onto his lap so she could cuddle into the crevice of his neck.

"What happened, Gin?" Jughead asked softly, running his fingers through her dark hair. Moments went by and Jughead let her take her time before she could speak.

"I-I," Ginny began softly but took her time in retelling the events that Jughead had missed out on. And Jughead sat there as she told him, stroking her hair and being there for the girl he loved.

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     JUGHEAD BEGRUNDGINGLY LEFT GINNY at Archie's, knowing that he would return in an hour to take her home. Betty had picked up Kevin in the meantime and came back for Jughead, taking them when the sun set to the location Joaquin revealed.

"Whatever it is we're looking for, Joaquin didn't know if it would help your dad, or make things worse." Kevin caught the two up on what happened.

"Um, guess we're going to find out." Betty stated. "And why did he wait so long to tell us?"

"FP called him from jail. Told him to forget about their plan, some contingency plan. He said it was too dangerous."

"Deja vu." Jughead said as he took in the sign from his previous adventure with Betty. "Hey, right here."

Jughead pulled a backpack out from the bushes and opened it up to find Jason Blossom's varsity jacket.

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      JUGHEAD WAS GLAD THAT GINNY WAS STILL at Archie's when Kevin, Betty, and he arrived with Jason Blossom's varsity jacket. They congregated in the garage, Ginny on the chair, huddled in a blanket as she watched her friends discuss why Jason Blossom's jacket was their saving grace.

"This is meant to help FP?" Archie asked in disbelief as Betty pulled the item in question up to display.

"I don't know. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me." Kevin gestured towards the jacket as they looked down upon it.

"Yeah, this just confirms that my dad torched Jason's getaway car."

"And that his confession was true." Kevin sighed, turning to Betty. Ginny frowned at the jacket as she remembered her altercation with FP over that jacket. A light touch on her neck brought her out of her thoughts and she smiled as Jughead traced small designs into the back of her back.

"Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous? What could that mean?"

"I can ask my father. He would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the Serpents to kill Jason." Veronica announced, shutting the door behind her as she entered the garage. Ah, V, always one for a flair of dramatics. Veronica, however, lowered her voice as she turned to look at Jughead with a look of pity. "Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead. I'm sorry."

Ginny felt awful for Jughead, grabbing at his hands that rested on her back to give her boyfriend some sort of comfort.

"No. No! No, I'm not giving up yet." Betty declared, turning to Archie as she yanked the jacket off of the chair. "Put this on."

"What?" Archie asked in disbelief, he wanted to make sure he heard what he thought he heard.

"Put it on." Betty urged, holding the jacket out to the redhead.

"Betty, this is weird."

"Yeah," Ginny whispered to Jug, as she stood up from her position to watch. "Putting on a dead guys jacket is definitely weird."

"There's a hole in the pocket."

"Okay, now we're just grasping at straws," Kevin said exasperated as they watched the blonde search the jacket.. 

"Okay, no. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I have a hole in my jacket pocket, I always lose my chapstick in the lining." Betty stated. And Ginny knew what she meant, having secondhand clothing did mean holes– and Ginny rarely would agree with Betty on something.

Veronica piped up but didn't seem interested in what Betty was doing, "Or my Montblanc?"

Ginny frowned, what the hell was a Montblanc? She shook her head in disbelief– rich people.

"What the hell?" Veronica exhaled as Betty pulled out a thumb drive from the pocket of the jacket.

Kevin scoffed in disbelief, "Nancy Drew strikes again."

"Where's your computer Arch?" Ginny asked, moving away from Jughead. She was ready to see what was hidden on the drive. 

Archie wordlessly found his computer and placed it on the coffee table where everyone gathered around, sitting on the couch to view. Ginny sat beside Betty, begrudgingly but Jughead sat behind her, perched on the back of the couch with Archie. The only thing on the drive was one video file and Betty clicked on it. 

Everyone watched with bated breath as the video played, showing Jason Blossom tied up in a strange room, with Mustang. Ginny was frightened as she watched, wondering if what she was seeing was real– maybe FP Jones did have something to do with Jason Blossom's death.

They all watched as Mustang mocked the redheaded teen and then, Clifford Blossom, walked into the small room. 

"Oh, my God." Veronica spat out in shock as they all leaned in forward in disbelief– Jason's father? Clifford reached forward, taking something from Jason's pocket before he turned and shot his own son. 

The visceral feelings of the surrounding teens escalated from shock to horror as they watched the murder occur on the screen. Each boy covered their mouths in shock while the girls let out tears. Ginny was traumatized as she watched a second death happen. First Mustang's dead body and now Jason Blossom.

Betty shut the computer in a daze, getting up from her position with her phone in her hand. 

Jughead decided to speak up as he held Ginny in his embrace, wondering what the hell the blonde was about to do. "Betty–"

Betty, however, didn't reply so Archie looked up. "Betty, who are you calling?" 

"Betty are you calling the cops?" Ginny stumbled over her words, still in shock from the video. Her hands were trembling and tears were streaming down her face. She turned from her position away from the computer and Betty and launched herself into Jughead, burrowing her face in his neck. She wanted to get away from this awful mess they found themselves in. 

"You have to get out of that house." Betty talked on the phone, her back to the group. "Listen to me."

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we're ssoooooooo close to the finish of s1!!!!

honestly this episode where cheryl walked down the stairs had me sHOOK.