1 | There's a Ghost [JUGHEAD JONES]

TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY:

↳ TALKING BODY

VIRGINIA WAS HAVING A BLAST WITH Veronica, Josie, Kevin, and Reggie. Virginia knew that she wasn't someone to drink but after a hellish start to the school year, she thought now was okay to start drinking. She knew she wasn't going to become her mother who was an alcoholic Oh god, that would kill her. Virginia was happy dancing her problems away and making new friends.

The introverted girl touched her chapped lips, her eyes flickering up to Reggie who had kissed her on the dance floor. She smiled up at him, her lithe body moving to the rhythm of the song. A laugh escaped her lips as Kevin came up behind her, lifting her arms in the air to twirl her around.

It was pure fun with no thoughts. In that moment, Ginny forgot about everything. FP. . . Jughead. . . Her mother . . .

Josie laughed, as they all collapsed on a couch, exhausted from all the dancing. "Mmm-mmm, girl. You better hydrate. You practically left your body on the dance floor." Josie told Veronica who chugged a water bottle down quickly.

Veronica sighed dramatically. "I wish, Josie. I wish I could leave my body sometimes. Leave Riverdale, leave everything."

"Is any of this helping? Going out, going Black Swan, any of it?" Kevin asked her, leaning forward to hear better. Virginia followed suit, getting closer to listen to the girl complain.

"When my dad got arrested, the police, the lawyers, the judge, the courts, they took everything from us. Our houses, our cars, our club memberships, our yacht, even, I'm not kidding, the clothes off our backs." Veronica sighed. "Anyway, my mom sat me down on the edge of my canopy bed and she told me not to cry. Because there was one thing in this world that no one could ever take from me. Not ever."

Virginia leaned against Reggie, wondering how drunk she was to tolerate the jock. But, he actually was pretty cool. When you stripped away his jock status and friends, he was a really cool person to hang with. And Virginia hoped that this moment would stay like this, she definitely didn't want him to tease her anytime soon.

"Your trust fund?" Reggie asked and Virginia didn't know if he was joking or not.

"My name, Reggie. Which, after telling me no one would ever take it, that is exactly what she did. Like it meant nothing. It was nothing. Like I was nothing."

After awhile, a man approached the group, her credit card in hand. "I'm sorry, Ms. Lodge, but your card's been declined."

"Really? And let me guess, it's been reported stolen." Veronica asked, sarcasm dripping off of her words as she stood up.

"It has, in fact. We're supposed to call the cops." The older man told the young teens.

"Yeah, sure. Call the cops. We'll be happy to tell them how old we are."

"Ya know," Virginia added a smirk in place, she felt more confident when she was drunk. "Your club could be shut down!"

"Or I could call my mom, the mayor." Josie said, a smirk on her face as the man paled.

"This should cover it." Veronica told the man with a smile, handing him a stack of bills.

Josie laughed in disbelief. "Veronica, did your mom cut you off?"

"She did."

"And that's a good thing?" Reggie asked Veronica, and Virginia sighed as she leaned against the tall boy, who smirked down at her.

"Oh, Reggie. This is how we Lodge women roll. We feint, we parry, we approach, we retreat. We're like a cobra and a mongoose dancing. She blinked, which means, I suspect, that Hermione Lodge is ready to negotiate."

"Wow." Kevin breathed as the group of friends relaxed, drinking their thoughts away.

"Truly fascinating," Virginia breathed. "I wish I could be rich and do whatever I want."

The night came to an end for the five teens who stumbled out of the club with a laugh. Kevin and Josie bounced off together while Veronica slipped into an uber, leaving Virginia Hopkins alone with Reggie Mantle.

"Do you need a ride?" Reggie asked her, his tall frame towering over her small figure. She smiled and nodded, stepping closer to the attractive jock. Never in a million years would she do this but she was drunk and lonely. She didn't have Jughead and she let Archie go– she felt as if any attention from a boy would sate the emptiness she felt inside.

"Actually," she let her fingers play with the zipper of his leather jacket. "I'd rather stay with you for the night."

Reggie's eyebrows rose in surprise but a smirk was sent her way quickly.

"After you, m'lady."

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IT WAS THE NEXT DAY WHEN GOSSIP SPREAD across the school campus about Virginia Hopkins arriving at school with Reggie Mantle. In all honesty though, both had arrived to his house way too drunk and after making out for awhile, both fell asleep.

In a way, Ginny was relieved that she didn't have sex with the attractive jock. She had bad memories with sex, Jughead just didn't know about it– no one did.

Virginia had gone to the Blue and Gold office to finalise her articles for the monthly paper to find three people already there.

"Uh, what's up?" Jughead asked the Sherif wearily.

"Jug?" Virginia asked, standing in the doorway, noticing Sherif Keller and Principal Weatherbee in the room with him, staring at the murder board. "W-What's going on?"

"I'm going to need you to come down to the station with me."

"What?" Virginia asked in disbelief, "what's going on–"

"Gin, please." Jughead told her, begging her silently not to cause a scene. He followed the two officers out of the room and Virginia tailed them, tugging on Jughead's sleeve.

"Jug– what's going on?" Virginia repeated, worried for her best friend. She knew that she was still mad at him, but in this moment, he needed her.

"Call my dad." Jugehad told her, noticing Archie and Betty beside them as they walked past. Jughead gently pried the brunette's hand away, pushing her towards Archie, who held her back.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course." Archie told his friend with a nod and Virginia felt tears prickling up.

What was going on?

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I JUST LOVE WRITING THIS STORY I KEEP ON SPAMMING YOU WITH UPDATES WHOOPS