Loner and a Writer |Jughead Jones|

Semi-formal |chapter 9|

The week flew by really fast and it was already the Back-to-School dance. I got ready by curling my hair, doing some make up, dark blue heels, and putting on my dress. It was a two piece. The bottom part was just a short bark navy blue shirt that just was brought up a little above my knees and the top was also a bark navy blue top sleeve that had a mesh look to it, with laced patterns all around my chest and a bit down the sleeves. As we briefly discussed, I met Jughead at Pops 5 o'clock sharp. When I entered the dinner I could already see him sitting at the counter with a finished milk shake in his hand.

He wasn't supper dressed up like most guys wear for a back to school dance. He was wearing black suit pants, a white collared shirt, a black tie pinned to his shirt, and his classic beanie. "You don't go anywhere without that beanie do you, Jones?" I chuckled. "That is correct Evans," he said. He put out his hand. "Shall we?" "We shall," I responded. From Pops Jughead and I walked to the school. It wasn't a long walk or anything. But we couldn't really get a rides from our families. They were too busy. When we walking into the auditorium, the place was filled with streamers, balloons, and pictures of Jason.

"Cheryl wasn't kidding when she said this was going to be a memorial for Jason," I said, admiring all the decorations. "Hey do you want to do get some punch? Question some jocks?" Jughead said, already pulling me to the punch table. As Jughead started from one side of the table, I started from the other. I noticed that one of the jocks, I saw on my phone, was at the table talking to some girls. I had to get his attention. So I slid over to where he wa and 'accidentally' bumped into each other.

"Oh I'm so sorry," I apologized. The jock turned around and we made eye contact. "Your Chuck Clayton," I pointed out. He chuckled. "Yea that's me," he smiles. I tried to put on the most fakest smile I could. "So Clayton, I heard your the captain of the football team," I commented. "Yeah I am," he said, looking at me up and down. "Your a pretty little thing arn't you?" He came closer to me, only leaving a few inches of space. "You were the co-captain with Jason right? Did anyone say anything about that?" I tried not to stair directly at his eyes.

"How about you do something for me and I'll answer you question," he whispered in my ear. I looked over behind him out of desperation and found Jughead was talking to one of the Vixens with a death glare. I tried to play along with his sick game. "If you give me my answer, than we can go to the locker rooms where it is private," I told him. He stood straight up with a huge smirk. "A lot of people didn't want Jason to be Captain. It seemed like his parents didn't even want him in the team because it was taking up too much of himself time." I gestured to the general direction of the locker room, and Chuck left thinking I wouldn't meet him there. Naturally I walked over to Jughead instead.

"Get anything Evans?" He asked, in a angry tone, watching Chuck walk off. Before I could answer him, I pulled him to the dance floor where everyone else would be, hoping that no one would notice what we were going. "Chuck told me that the Blossom's didn't want him on the team. Let alone Captain," I explained. He chuckled but not about what I said. "What's so funny?" "It's the fact that you needed to pull me into dance to talk about it," he said. I shyly looked away. Why did I pull him into a dance? Did I want to dance with him?

"So, what did you find out?" I asked. "One of the Vixens said that Cheryl and Jason were acting really weird the days leading up to July fourth," he said. "Cheryl is hosting a party after this, I think you should go." "Wait why me? Won't you come?" I asked, looking back at him. "She's mostly inviting the Vixens and the Bulldogs. I would be weird if I was there," he explained. "But that means you can explore the house. Find out some secrets." When the band was playing,  everyone stopped dancing and gave a applauze.

"So what else were you talking about with Chuck?" Jughead asked, kind of considered. "He thought I was going to prostitute myself for information," I explained, not looking at him. From the corner of my eye I could tell that Jughead was disgusted. "What do you think he's going to do at school on Monday?" I asked, starting to think of what kind of hole I dug myself into. Jughead put his hand on my shoulder and turned my face to him. "Nothing is going to happen, okay? I'll make sure of it," he reassured me.

In the moment, he pulled me into a hug of reassurement. It wasn't like a normal hug, like my parents had given me as a child. Those were pity hugs. But this one was different. I could tell he wasn't much of a hugger because he was all tense and didn't know when to let go. But I didn't mind. When I let go of his embrace, his tan cheeks turned to a pink peach color. My cheeks started to turn red and I'd also looked away. When the dance had ended, Jughead and I walked out to the  front of the school. He said his dad was going to pick him up and that he would meet me at Pops to tell him what happened at Cheryl's after party.
But instead of being greeted with one car, it was two. My dad was laughing with another man who looked about the same age as him. "Dad!?" Jughead and I said in unison. I looked at him and he looked right back at me.

"Hey kiddo," my dad said. "Hey Jug," the other man said. I walked over to my dad and asked him if I could go to Cheryl's after party. He agreed and I looked over at Jughead who had a million questions roaming around. "So did you guys just meet?" Jughead asked our dads. "No no, we were high school best friends," Jugheads dad said, putting a hand on my dad's shoulder. "This man and his crazy ass girlfriend were a part of our group before they left town. Mary technically still is." I was taken back by the man's last statement. I've never heard of another person talking about my mother for who she truly was.