When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

"Just in time. We're celebrating," Veronica told Jughead as he entered the student lounge. He frowned as he glanced at the group, not seeing Amethyst, before noticing her over by the vending machine.

"Archie was telling us how he's going to some super-exclusive music program," Kevin told him.

"Maybe," Archie shrugged. "If it happens, though, it'd be huge for me."

"Are you listening, Amie?" Veronica asked as she looked over her shoulder.

Amethyst held her thumb up from behind her as she gently kicked the non-responsive vending machine.

"Money stealing mother fucker," she mumbled under her breath.

"Do you have to audition for it?" Jughead asked Archie as he walked over towards Amethyst.

"Not exactly." Jughead angled the vending machine at the perfect angle for her chocolate bar to fall down. Amethyst picked it up and grinned at Jughead before he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Mrs Blossom said she'd put a good word in for me."

"Amazing," Kevin said.

"Terrifying," Veronica corrected.

"Uh-huh," Jughead nodded while him and Amethyst sat down on the spare love seat. "What's she getting out of it?"

"Is this about the tree tapping thing they're having?" Amethyst asked Archie, and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to that. Cheryl pretty much told me I had to or else."

"You're going to the Blossom tree-tapping ceremony?" Jughead asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, well, I've got nothing else planned for the next few days," Amethyst shrugged, taking a bite out of her chocolate.

"I told Mrs Blossom that I'd take Cheryl to that. I talked to Valerie and she's cool with it," Archie explained.

"Cool with you being a gigolo?" Jughead asked

Archie frowned. "I'm doing someone a favour for my music. I need to make connections outside of Riverdale."

"That's the way of the world," Veronica agreed. "It's about connections. But Jughead's right."

Amethyst raised her eyebrows up. "Did I hear that correctly?" Jughead playfully nudged her and she grinned back.

"These kinds of flavours come with a price tag," Veronica said, and when Archie gave her an incredulous look, she turned to Betty. "Betty, back me up here."

Betty smiled lightly. "I think it's a great idea."

"Thank you, Bets," Archie smiled.

"Yeah, and while you two are there, would you talk to Polly for me?" She looked towards Amethyst after looking at Archie. "I just wanna make sure she's okay."

Amethyst smiled. "Of course."

"Yeah, definitely," Archie agreed.

"Thank you," Betty smiled.

"And don't worry, Ronnie, I can take care of myself. And I'm pretty sure Amie can as well," Archie told her.

Both Amethyst and Jughead nodded in agreement.

"Famous last words, Archie," Veronica teasingly pointed her fork at him before eating the strawberry on it.

"Buttercup, can I talk to you for a bit?" Jughead asked, nudging her side.

Amethyst nodded and stood up, before turning  around and reaching her hand out for him to take. Jughead grabbed onto her hand and she pulled him up and then the two walked towards a secluded spot in the corner of the room.

Jughead turned around to face amethyst, an uneasy expression resting upon his face. "Now, about the poems....."

"Completely metaphorical, of course," Amethyst said quickly.

Jughead quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, definitely."

"I mean, why would someone confess their love to a random person using poetry?" Amethyst laughed, before realising her mistake. "Unless, y-you did. Because then that's fine--"

"No, no. I didn't, no," Jughead dismissed. "That'd be weird."

"Yeah, weird. Of course. Confessing love through poetry. Weird," Amethyst awkwardly chuckled.

"Exactly. You get it," Jughead said.

"I mean, of course I do," Amethyst smiled.

"The teacher didn't specify what we had to write about," Jughead continued.

"No, she didn't. We just wrote them using the theme of love because that's easy, yeah?" Amethyst asked.

Jughead pointed and nodded at her. "Yeah, exactly."

"I mean, it's not like I spent hours writing it while everyone was asleep. No, that's madness," Amethyst laughed like a maniac and Jughead joined.

"No, and I definitely didn't wake up early to write it because who would do that if it wasn't an actual confession?" He asked.

"Exactly. And it's not like we're already passing English or anything," she said.

"Right, yeah. We didn't have to spend much time on it if it went little towards our grade," Jughead said.

"Yes, yep. You're right. Yeah," Amethyst nodded.

"So, we cool?" Jughead asked.

"Yeah, yeah, we're cool. It was just to make sure?" Amethyst asked.

"Yep, just to make sure," he nodded.

"Okay cool," Amethyst smiled as she began to pat her legs to a random beat.

"Yeah, cool," Jughead nodded.

"What is going on with them?" Kevin asked the group, gesturing over towards the awkwardly standing best friends.

Betty frowned. "I don't even know."

Amethyst jerked her thumb behind her. "So, I gotta go to class."

Jughead's eyes widened. "Oh yeah, me too. What do you have?"

"Maths," she answered.

"Oh, that's right, because I have history," Jughead said.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right. I remember our timetables being like that," Amethyst awkwardly chuckled.

"Yeah, same," Jughead nodded, but then the two stood in silence. "So, I'll see you later?"

"Of course. Yeah, bye," Amethyst waved as she started to back away.

Jughead waved back. "Bye." The two exited the student lounge through different doors, and left a group of their friends sitting on the couches with frowns on their faces.

"Next lesson doesn't start until ten minutes time," Betty said.

Archie raised his eyebrows. "I don't even know what's going on between the two and they're my best friends."

Veronica patted his arm. "It's called love, Archiekins. This is their way of showing their love for each other, however weird and awkward it is."