My sisters in track...she a runner she's a track star. I am the one who ran away when it got hard. 🎶🎵🎵🎶🎼
(More like limped away but still. I broke my ankle during cheer then quit bc yeah...go meeeee)

————

Sweet Pea kissed me.

  I didn't fight it, I followed him. As soon as his lips were on mine, I felt distracted. I didn't need to be focused on Jughead or the Blackhood anymore. It was only him, why though? I love Jughead.

  His lips were rougher than Jughead's with more dominance. I'm not going to lie, I liked the feeling of being controlled.

  Something must have clicked in his mind, about what he was doing. Sweet Pea pulls away from me abruptly, "Did we just.."

  I bite my lip, "I think we did." I put my hand on my forehead thinking about the kiss.

  It was nice, almost. The feeling distracted me, but this shouldn't be about me. This will hurt so many people!

Anger begins to build up inside of me. Betty is going to feel awful once again! She has been through a lot, and this would make it worse. As her friend, I'm angry at Pea. He initiated it and continued with it, while in a relationship. But then again it's also my fault.

"You should go." I finally tell him, "You need to leave right now."

He nods, "Yeah, I should. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," and with that he leaves.

I slam the door behind me, clenching my fists. I wasn't mad at the kiss it self, but my emotions and Sweet Pea. Betty is going to be pissed, but we deserve it.

Every kiss I have experienced, up until this moment, has had a purpose. This kiss was bad. Now, everything is going to be screwed up!

————

Something has been stirring in the Lodges house. They are always whispering of a plan, and Veronica is included in it. It's odd and I know it's going to be bad for Riverdale.

Speaking of Veronica, she knew something was wrong after Christmas Eve. She couldn't get it out of me though. I can't tell anybody, it's too risky.

The only positive that has come out of Christmas break was the Blackhood being captured. People walked out and about alone. There wasn't anymore fear of the hooded man. Even at school you could feel people's sense of hope for the innocence of the future Riverdale.

Everything seemed perfect until I walked into the lounge on Monday morning and saw Betty. All my guilt and remorse came crawling back to me. What happened was not okay, and keeping it from her is worse.

  This Monday couldn't get worse until...

  "Students of Riverdale High, this is your principal speaking," Weatherbee announces on the PA system, "E-mails have been sent to your parents, but effective immediately, Southside High School is shut down."

  Everybody in the lounge gasps, I included.

  "And it's students will be transferred to other schools in the district, including this one. I believe the statement we're realizing..."

  "Okay, guys, let's not overreact." Veronica tries to reminds us.

  "I'm sure you have many questions. But, it goes without saying, we are welcoming these students with open minds, hearts, and arms. Thank you, that is all." The PA shuts off and I lay back into the chair I'm sitting on.

  "Wait, what does that mean?" Archie asks.

  "It means," I look at all of my friends, "Jughead's coming back."

  Kevin grabs my hand, "Y/N, are you ready for that?"

  I think about this. It will be bad, but maybe we can make sense of our relationship. We can be friends, "We've been broken up for a while now, it'll be fine, probably. We're fine."

  Kevin shakes his head slightly but doesn't put any more effort into it. Our resident idiot is trying to make sense of it, "But, why is this happening now?"

  "Who know," Ronnie tells him, "It's probably some bizarre Byzantine town ordinance we couldn't possibly understand. And in the meantime, let's receive these exiles as if they were our own flesh and blood. One is Betty's boyfriend, and we all know he's a good guy."

  I nod, but do I really know he's a good guy? He kissed me!

  She walks to the center of the room, "Who's in?" Hmm?"

  Betty immediately stands up, "Obviously me! I can't wait, this is going to be amazing."

  I bite my cheek, "Yeah, just perfect." I tell them with a sarcastic smile.

  The girls wasted no time rounding up things to help welcome the students. They set up a table at the entrance of the school with schedules, locker numbers, and club information.

  While they did that, Kevin and I stayed in the lounge.

  He was on his phone and I was reading the book Jughead gave me. It was a good book, so I could help but read it.

  Kevin grabbed the book out of my hands, "Kevin! Give it back!" I don't want him to see the note.

  He flips around the book, landing on the note,"What book is this, beloved?" He laughs with a shocked expression, "I thought you and Jughead broke up!"

  I groan, "We are broken up. I just brought this copy today."

  "So it's not like Jughead gave you a book you already have, and you chose the one with the note over the other copy?" He asks with a small smirk.

  I grab it from him, clearly annoyed, "No comment." It's not like that, it's not at all,  right?

————
A/N—I don't remember if FP knows about the break up so if I screwed this up, sorry. Honestly I don't care, it's fine lol

  I haven't been to Pops since Betty and Archie caught Svenson. It's honestly a new streak for me.

  When I walk in, I am usually greeted by the famous Pop, but FP is the one at the counter. "Y/N! Long time no see." He smiles, "I assume your here for Jughead, he's over there." FP points to him which gets Jug's attention.

  "Oh umm Jughead and I actually-"

  The boy runs over to us, "Hey, Y/N. I saved us a seat."

  FP smiles, "Why don't you two take a seat and I'll be there in a bit with your usual orders. Sound good?"

  "Sounds great, dad."

  Jughead ushers me over to the booth with his stuff in it. I sit down on the opposite side of him, "Jughead, what was that?"

  "I haven't told my dad about the break up."

  I shake my head, "It's been a month, how have you not told him yet?" This is stupid, it has been forever. How has FP not been told yet by somebody?

  "There's been things going on with the Serpents and I didn't want to bother him with it. He really likes you like a daughter, I didn't want to screw that up for him too."  He tells me.

  "What things have been going on?" I cross my arms.

  Jughead's voice dips into a whisper, "Drugs."

  "What!" I yell across the diner.

  This attracted many people's attention including FP's. I give them all apologetic looks and shoot Jughead a glance, "What do you mean by drugs?" I whisper.

  "Somebody had me, my dad, and a bunch of Serpents do some drug deals."

  My jaw drops, "You fucking delivered drugs?" I whisper-yell at him.

  He nods sadly, "Don't be mad. I had to, Y/N. It would have been worse to not take Penny's stupid deal. I got Penny out of town so now we aren't dealing with her."

  It pisses me off that he does this stuff with the Serpents, "You aren't doing any more drug deals, okay? It's nonnegotiable."

  He puts his hands up in surrender, "No more, I promise." Jughead returns to his normal tone, "Does Y/N L/N care about me?"

  I roll my eyes, "As friends, yes I do." It's almost like I am reminding myself.

  FP comes over just as we were finishing the conversation, "Here's your milkshakes." He sets them both down on front of us, "Boy, why don't you read that article again now that Y/N's here?"

  "Sure dad." He gets out a crumbled up piece of paper and smooths it out. Jughead begins to read, "Mayor McCoy has deemed Southside High a public health hazard due to toxic fumes from the methamphetamine lab in the basement." He puts it away in his bag, "There's no meth. It was just the jingle-jangle."

  FP chuckles lowly, "So the worm turns and it's back to Riverdale High, huh?"

  "The way that all this went down, something smells fishy," I tell them, "The Lodges have been suspicious lately and we all know Mayor McCoy and them are buddy-buddy."

  The two boys nod, "Damn straight something smells fishy and it's not Pop's fried fish." FP sighs as another customer walks in, "I gotta go."

  He leaves us two awkwardly sitting at the table. I begin to drink my delicious milkshake, giving Jughead the cherry after a couple sips.

  Jughead smiles at me, "I've been meaning to talk to you to clear the air one hundred percent before we get paired up in chemistry or something. I know we've talked, but it still doesn't seem right."

  "I know, I feel the same." I purse my lips, "Jughead I want you to know that you aren't dragging me down. You've never dragged me down or your father."

  He nods with a sigh.

  "I don't want to be forced friends. Can we just go back to the way it was before when I still lived with my dad?" I sip on my milkshake, "Ya know, just in case we get paired up in chemistry."

  The corners of his lips slightly move up, "Sounds amazing." He eats my cherry, "So, air cleared?"

  "Air cleared, I'm honestly happy your gonna be back at Riverdale High." I confirm, "Now tell me what your working on?"

  "Huh?"

  I scoff jokingly, "You are always working on something, Jones. What's going on now?"

  "Oh hard question." He makes a tsk noise, "Well I connected Betty with my social worker to help her find the Long Lost Cooper Sibling. It probably only the beginning, but I'm sure you've heard all about it already."

  I am at a lost for words. Betty is trying to find her brother, that's crazy. What's crazier is that she never even asked me. "No, I haven't. Tell me everything!"

  "Gosh your starting to sound like Veronica...tell me everything!" He says in his best Veronica voice.

  "I'm living with her after all." I laugh, "Now, as Ronnie also says, spill the tea!"

  He tells me the whole story, "Betty knows Polly had the twin, but in a plot twist of events, Polly seemed to forget to tell Alice about having them. Betty knows Alice feels awful about this so she thought it could make her happier to have her son back."

  I sit in shock, Polly had the twins, "Wow."

  "Wow is right."

  It'a crazy. The Polly I know wouldn't leave Alice out at all. I know Alice and Hal have tried to stop her from having them, but Alice has been supportive otherwise. Betty has told me about the messages Alice has sent to her. They were nice, and exactly what Polly needed.

  "Why is Polly doing that? Alice wanted to help..." I exclaim.

  His shoulders shrug, "I know, she said it was better for her and that the farm said it was for the better."

  I shake my head, "Stupid farm. At least tell me they didn't talk her into naming them stupid names!"

  "Oh they did. Juniper and Dagwood."

  "Polly really has lost her mind if she named her kids after wood and berries." I take a drink of my milkshake, "Damn, life sucks."

  He sighs, "Tell me about it."

————

  The Serpents. A group of tough misfits who have seem to find them in another situation where they don't quite fit it.

  The Scooby Gang has put together the welcoming committee in hopes to smooth things over. Opposers, Cheryl and Reggie, have tried to stop us but that didn't happen.

  The gang walks in the next earning rude glares from many students in the halls. Jughead is in front, acting as their leader. He catches my eyes and strolls over to our table.

  Sweet Pea and I find each other's stare. I sigh then turn away abruptly. I don't need this right now, especially with Betty by my side.

  "Friends." Veronica welcomes, "On behalf of the students and faculty here at Riverdale High, welcome to your new school! To ease this transition, I've set up a registration desk where you can get schedules, locker assignments, and a list of sports and extracurriculars."

  "Now, I know this sucks, but honestly the extracurriculars are the only good part about this school." I slide a sheet of paper to them showing the options, "We encourage everyone to join clubs."

  Veronica smiles at them, "And we would love for you to drink deeply from the cup that is fair Riverdale!"

  "Stand down, Eva Peron!" Cheryl yells form the stairs.

  I turn to see her and Reggie walking towards us with the Vixens following close behind.

  "There's the school spirit I do fondly remember." Jughead says.

  Veronica heads towards them, "Cheryl. I one invited Fascist Barbie to the party."

  "Wrong, Veronica, no one invited Southside scum to our school. Listen up, Ragamuffins! I will not allow Riverdale High's above average GPA to suffer because of classrooms that are overcrowded with underachievers. So do us all a favor, and find another school."

  Toni stomps to my side, "Why don't you come over here and say that to my face."

  "Happily, Queen of the Buskers!" They walk towards each other, but I step in the middle.

  I put my hands on my hips, "Okay, everyone, can we just put our Northside-Southside differences away and start over?"

  "You don't speak for anybody here, L/N. You were one of them! And need I remind you, these greaser snakes showed up at your door to kick Archie's ass."

  Sweet Pea pushes through Jughead and Toni, "Happy to finish what was started."

  Betty immediately grabs her boyfriend's hand and tries to hold him back. I hold Reggie back. "I am so over the toxic masculinity in this hallway right now!" Ronnie tells the boys.

  "All right. That's enough pomp and circumstance." Weatherbee calls out, "Everyone, let's get to class. Now."

And with that, we all left the booth. We didn't even get to finish welcoming them, screw Reggie and Cheryl.

Most of us had free periods or decided to skip. We found our selves sitting in the lounge with a very distinct line draw between us.

I'm not kidding, one of the Bulldogs made a line on the ground with spray paint. The rest of the Northside kids refused to cross it and made the Serpents stay on 'their side.'

Veronica, Josie, Kevin, and I were the only people to cross the line during first period. I stood behind Jughead, trying to imagine that Sweet Pea wasn't there.

"I don't think most of us have met. I know a couple of you," Ronnie smiles at Sweet Pea and Toni, "but no one else. Veronica Lodge." She smiles warmly at them.

Jughead takes a break eating his chips to look at the Serpents, "Of the Part Avenue Lodges." He raises his eyebrows smiling.

"And I'm Josie McCoy. Formerly of the Pussycats...now just Josie." She frowns but tries to keep up her fake smile.

Kevin waves, "I'm Kevin."

The three Northsiders turn to me as if they wanted me to introduce myself. I furrow my eyebrows, "Well I guess I have to participate too. You all know me but I'm Y/N. Former Serpent and just dearest of friend to this guy." I pat Jughead's shoulder.

I then notice Kevin eyeing Fangs, maybe a future crush. He points at him, "What's your name?"

"Fogarty. Or you can call me Fangs." He takes a bite of his licorice, "Your last name's Keller, right?"

He nods, "How did you know that?"

"Joaquin and I used to hang out." Okay, maybe not a future crush, "He talked about you all the time."

They both nod at each other, until Weatherbee bursts into the room, "You guys!" He practically screams at the Serpents, "Come with me!"

The whole lounge follows him out into the hallway, and around the corner to the crest. It has green snake on it, and over it, stand three Bulldogs.

"Which of you defaced our school seal with this graffiti?" Weatherbee demands to know.

Reggie crosses his arms in fake disappointment, "This is what they do, Principal Weatherbee. They tag their turf!"

"My god, Reggie, could you be anymore transparent?" I ask him, "That spray paint looks familiar, maybe the line in the lounge?"

Our principal ignores my idea, "Effective immediately, no gang behavior of any kind with be tolerated at my school. As of this moment, no more Serpent jackets."

"What?" "No!" "Are you kidding me?!" Many of the Serpents yell out, including me.

"No more Serpent jackets! All tattoos are gonna be covered. Possession of any gang paraphernalia whatsoever will lead to immediate suspension. Are we clear?" Weatherbee shakes his head in anger, "That's all." He storms back into his office probably trying to find someone to clean it.

————

  Archie pulls me into the garage urgently. He sits me down on the couch and stands back a couple of feet.

  "What's going on?" I ask.

  He collects his thoughts taking a deep breathe, "Whatever I say right now, you have to promise this stays between us."

  "Yes, of course, Arch." I lay back on the couch confused. Is this about Southside High because if it is, I'm leaving.

  The couch dips beside me, "I'm helping the FBI."

  I start to laugh at his foolish game, "Very funny, but April Fools day isn't for another several months, Archibald."

  "I'm serious. They are investigating Veronica's dad and I think they are going to go to you next."

  His worried expression makes me suddenly believe him, "For real?"

  "Yes, for real. The agent mentioned you. He said you were the perfect person to help the FBI. Nobody would suspect you, but I don't want you to help them."

  I frown, "Why? He's apart of the good guys."

  "He's a sketchy guy, and if Hiram catches you, your in trouble. What if he kicks you out? Your social worker would make you move again!" Archie tells me.

  "Okay, okay, yeah that makes sense. I've got no where else to legally live if Hiram forces me out." I shake my head, "Well, is that all?"

  Archie looks taken back, "Your not angry? Your cool about all this?"

  I roll my eyes, "No obviously not, but you probably were sworn to secrecy. Also I've got places to be and I've already lived with a criminal. This is nothing new for me."

  "God, whatever then." Archie stands up with me, "I'm going somewhere tomorrow. Cover for me?"

  "Fine." I groan.

  He smiles, "Thank you! You won't regret your decision at all, I swear."

  "Mmm I'm sure I won't."

————

  I sit in the student lounge reading my book from Jughead. It's a good book but I always find myself at the note. I read it over and over... 'To my beloved'...It makes me smile every time I see it, and I hate that.

  Things at Riverdale High have been less hatable lately. Everything seemed to calm down a bit with the Serpents, until Jughead strolled in Friday morning.

  He wore his Serpent jacket.

  When he enters the lounge and I see him, I put down my book. It takes me a second to react, but I'm eventually out of my seat, and at Jughead's side.

  "Jughead Jones you better not be trying to getting suspended." I try to pull the jacket off but he resists me.

  "No," he shakes his head, "I don't care if I get suspended. I am a Serpent and I will wear this with pride."

  I scoff, trying to find any other way to convince him to take it off.

  Reggie catches wind of his outfit and immediately walks up to us, "Take it off."

He ignores the Bulldog.

  "I said, take it off, Rat Boy!" Reggie yells at him.

  Jughead walks towards him, "I don't think you know what this jacket means. Because you have no sense of honor. Or history, or loyalty!"

  His blood was boiling, "That's it!" Reggie lunges at Jughead and begins to fight him.

  The Bulldogs back him up while the Serpents are behind Jughead. It's a bad fight, and I can't break it up. I might be able to push around Reggie, but I'm not going to push around 8 of them.

  I groan after one of the Bulldogs tries to kick Fangs but his foot hits me. His foot made contact with my shin, making it bleed.

  I managed to kick him back, and maybe punch him once or twice, but just in time for Weatherbee to show up. "Boys and
Y/N! Stop this madness right now!" All of us stop in our tracks, turning to the authority figure. "My office now!"

  We get off each other with no comments. Weatherbee points to the office, ushering us into the small room, making us sit down. "You will all have a week's detention for fighting."

  I groan, I wasn't even fighting! I only was kicking and punching a guy for kicking me!

  ...Okay, maybe I was fighting back.

  "But," Weatherbee frowns at Jughead, "I made myself clear, Mr. Jones. Take off that jacket, right now, or you're suspended."

  I poke Jughead and whisper, "Please, Jughead just—!"

  "Then I guess I'm suspended." He smiles and walks out of the office, but I follow him.

  "What the fuck! Why can't you just take it off? I know what it means to you, but you got suspended! Suspended, Jughead! You have not been the good guy lately."

  He turns around angrily, "Why do you care so much about this?"

  I cross my arms, "I care because your my friend and your getting into some dark shit! You've never been like this, why now?"

  There is no answer from him, he knows I'm right. The drug deals, suspension, and rudeness aren't him. I'm sick and tired of this, but what do I even do? We barely talk anymore.

  I frown, "I've gotta go. After all, I have detention now because of someone." I leave the hallway and go up the bathrooms in anger.

  The anger has been building up inside me for a long time. It's all because of Jughead!

No, it's all because of the Serpents. Sweet Pea, Jughead, and everybody else have made me so mad lately.

  I should be on Reggie and Cheryl's side right now, but why do I find myself crawling back to them every time?

————
Yay...another chapter woo