Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?
Will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul?

Amethyst and Jughead spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies at the drive in. Amethyst felt a whole lot better and Jughead even let her keep the beanie on, but she had changed into a pair of track pants and one of Jughead's jumpers. Jughead then went on to tell her that he caught Archie and Ms Grundy together, in which Amethyst rolled her eyes, saying "he chooses a cougar over Betty." And proceeded to bash him out about it.

Knowing that Archie had footy training on that night, Jughead and Amethyst walked to his house and waited on his porch for him to come home.

Archie came down the street and frowned when he saw the two of them sitting on the steps.

"Are you alright, Amie?" Archie asked.

"Perfect, actually," Amethyst replied.

"Then what's up?" Archie asked.

"What's up is I saw you, Archie." Jughead stood up and Amethyst followed. "In the music room with Miss Grundy."

Archie walked towards them. "Keep your voice down. My dad's inside," he hushed.

"We're trying to help you, dude," Jughead said. "I'm trying to be your friend here, even though we're not anymore."

"How long have you and Grundy been at it?" Amethyst asked.

"Since this summer," Archie said.

Amethyst lightly smacked Jughead's arm. "Told you he ditched us because of a girl — I mean woman."

"I like her," Archie said.

"Hope you like prison too, pal," Amethyst sarcastically smiled.

"So, I'm guessing she's the reason you've been acting weird since summer?" Jughead asked.

"One of them."

"One of them?" Jughead and Amethyst asked. "There's more?"

"We were at Sweetwater River on July 4th," Archie said. "We heard a gunshot. The gunshot."

Amethyst let out a low whistle. "You're dead."

"You have to tell somebody—" Jughead said.

"I can't." Archie stepped closer to the duo. "Neither can you. If people find out about Grundy--"

"A kid is dead, Archie!" Jughead said. "And you're worried about some....some cougar!"

"Don't call her that, okay? She's not like that. She cares about me," Archie said.

"Stab in the dark, I'm guessing she cares more about herself," Jughead said. "She's the one who's telling you not to say anything, right?" Archie didn't reply.

"You're naive, Archibald," Amethyst said. "She's been feeding you these lies to save her own ass from prison."

"I saw you guys," Jughead said. "She's messing with you, man. And she's messing with your mind."

"How the hell would you know about it, Jughead? Amethyst? Or about me, even?" Archie said.

"Nothing," Jughead said. "But I used to know this guy once. Archie Andrews. He wasn't perfect but he would always try to do the right thing, at least."

Jughead went to walk away when Archie grabbed onto his arm. "If you guys tell anyone about this..."

"What?" Jughead asked. "What are you gonna do?"

The front door of Archie's home opened.

"Hey, Amie. Jug. You two coming in? We got takeout from Pop's," Fred Andrews called out.

"They were just leaving," Archie replied.

"We won't tell anyone. Do you want to know why?" Amethyst asked. "Because we're good friends."

Amethyst grabbed Jughead's hand and the two left.

•

Jughead and Amethyst were leaning against the bench in the student lounge the next morning, the two of them both having a free class as well as Veronica, Kevin, Betty, Archie and half of the jocks.

"...Sheriff Keller's grilling me," Reggie said. "Mantle the Magnificent. Because I'd want Blossom dead when he was, like, the only good quarterback we had."

"He's really pissing me off," Amethyst mumbled as she readjusted the beanie on her head. Betty and Archie were surprised to see Jughead walk into the school with his brunette locks on show for everyone. Majority of the school gave him weird looks, but Jughead usually didn't mind. However, he did a bit because he felt naked.

"Speaking of offensive tight ends, I should've sent the cops to you, Moose. Because here's another unsolved mystery. What exactly were you and Kevin doing at the river? Or does being with the Sheriff's son give you a free pass, Keller?" Reggie asked.

"Reggie's just being a blowhard, Kev," Betty told him.

"I don't care what he says," Kevin said.

"Can I have my beanie back now?" Jughead wined as he reached out to snatch the beanie. "I feel too exposed."

Amethyst slapped his hand away. "Nope, because you were the one to give it to me in the first place."

"I mean, let's think about it. If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right?" Reggie asked. "No, let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic internet troll too busy writing manifestos to get laid?" Jughead and Amethyst watched as the vending machine wouldn't let Archie put his money in.

"Some smug, moody, serial-killer-fanboy or girl freak. Like Jughead," Reggie turned to look at Jughead. "What was it like, Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason? Oh wait, usually it's the bitch who gets all serial killer like on her time-of-the-month, right? What was it like shooting Jason, Amethyst? You and him never liked each other in the first place. Were you jealous that he didn't want you? You didn't do stuff to the body, did you? Like, after?"

Amethyst clapped her hands together. "Oh yes, Reggie, because I want Vulvar Myiasis."

"I don't know what you two are in to," Reggie said. "Who knows, maybe you two took turns doing stuff to his body."

"It's called necrophilia, Reggie. Can you spell it?" Jughead asked.

Reggie jumped over the couch and Amethyst and Jughead stepped forward. "Come here, you little—"

Archie grabbed onto Reggie to stop him from hitting them. "Hey, shut the hell up, Reggie," Archie said.

Everyone on the couches stood up. "Guys," Veronica warned.

"What do you care, Andrews?" Reggie asked.

"Nothing. Just leave them alone," Archie said.

"Holy crap!" Reggie laughed. "Did you and Bonnie and Clyde kill him together? Was it some sort of sick threesome thing?" Reggie stepped closer to Archie to intimidate him.

Archie shoved Reggie back, and Jughead and Amethyst's jaws dropped. Reggie shoved Archie into the vending machine, causing the glass to shatter. Jughead and Amethyst shot forward to try and pull Reggie off of Archie when Reggie began to punch him on the floor, but they were pulled back by some jocks who were a lot stronger than they were.

The two of them watched helplessly as Archie was knocked out.

•

- when there are punch ups at school, I'm always the one who secretly chants whilst standing at the back -