1 | There's a Ghost [JUGHEAD JONES]

FOURTY FOUR

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CHAPTER FOURTY-FOUR:

SOUTH SIDE HIGH

JUGHEAD WAS UPSET OVER BETTY'S locker and Ginny had no idea how to calm him down. She knew that he was blaming himself over the vandalism but in all honestly, Ginny thought it was Betty's fault for insisting on writing the article. Or maybe it was the fact Ginny just didn't like Betty all that much.

"As long as you're writing articles about me and my dad, trouble's just gonna keep coming at you from all sides." Jughead said in frustration to Betty. Jughead and Betty were walking in the snow after school as he took her home. Her place was on the way to Pop's Diner where Ginny was working.

"It was just one jerk," Betty breathed out as Jughead's frown deepened. "It's not just one jerk. It's Mayor McCoy. It's Sheriff Keller. It's Weatherbee, it's Social Services, it's the entire multiverse telling me that I don't belong here, - so why don't I just do everyone a favour–"

"Hey, hey," Betty stopped him from walking and sighed. "You belong here just as much as everyone else. This is your home. You know that, right?" Betty told Jughead who desperately needed some sort of validation.

"Yeah. Yes," Jughead whispered and they continued their walk.

Jughead Jones was glad Betty was okay with being friends– because he definitely needed that talk. 

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JUGHEAD SIGHED AS HE SAT at Pop's, milkshake in hand. He was waiting for Ginny's shift to end but his thoughts were consuming him. Tomorrow, would be his first day at Southside High.

"Stop sighing," Jughead looked up to see Ginny giving him a sad smile as she sat down in the booth beside him. Her shift was finally over and she hated how glum he looked.

"I can't," Jughead told her bitterly, grabbing her hand within his. "I start a new school tomorrow and I'm not prepared at all. I'll miss you all."

"Jug," Ginny sighed, loving the way their hands fit perfectly. "I told you this before– I'll transfer there too."

"Gin, don't." Jughead told her with a pointed stare. "Your academic future depends on it."

"No it doesn't," Ginny sighed, thinking to the time she met with Weatherbee to talk about her future. "I'm not even sure if I'm going to college Jug. And it's not like I'm close to Betty, Kevin, or Veronica. My only friends are you and Archie."

"Stay there for Archie's sake then," Jughead told her and he rolled his eyes as she grabbed his shake and chugged it down with a happy sigh.

Ginny pushed away the now empty glass and smiled at her boyfriend. She was happy. "I'll do that, Jug." She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek, adoring how noble Jughead was. Here he was, terrified to start a new school and he wouldn't let her go with him.

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     GINNY LOUNGED ON THE COUCH beside Archie and Veronica as Betty told them about her new long lost brother. She felt weird being at school without Jughead and was having serious withdrawals as she watched her new friends converse. She realised that she should get closer to the two girls. Sure, Veronica helped Ginny before the dance but she never had a real friend that was a girl. And she knew the two girls were trying to keep their distance after Ginny publicly announced she was raped.