Another Love~J.J. {1}

~08~

A Touch of Evil

* * *

        The late bell rang loudly as Jughead, Lia, and Archie all got in just in time. The former looked at the latter before breaking off and going to a lab table. Jughead had surprisingly still kept the flower in his ear and Lia decided not to mention it in fear that he'd take it out.

        Seats, everyone. Pair off, gloves on, scalpels up." Mr. O'Brian announced and Lia sighed as she pulled the hospital gloves over her hands.

        "Can I be with Cheryl?" Archie's voice asked. 

        "And I wanna be with Betty." Veronica called and Lia looked at Jughead with her eyebrows raised at which he just chuckled at. 

        "Oh, uh, I was thinking I'd partner with Kevin." Betty said.   

        "Actually, uh, Keller's with me. We, like, talked." Moose told Betty and Lia turned to see Kevin look at Betty with fear. 

        "Oh, God." Was all he said before he walked off after Moose. Lia shook her head with an amusing sigh, grabbing the dissecting knife and grimacing at the dead frog that was placed on her and Jughead's desk. 

        "I hate biology for this reason." Lia muttered.

        "Want me to do it?" Jughead asked, putting his hand out in an offer to take the knife. 

        "Okay, but don't blame me if you're traumatized." Lia agreed, placing the knife in his large hand. 

        "I think i'll be fine." He smiled as the teacher began to instruct what they were going to do. Lia listened intently before Mr. O'Brian told everyone they could begin to dissect their frog. 

        "In fact, I'm amazing." Cheryl's voice said loudly and Lia looked to see her stab the frog. She winced, looking back at Jughead and watching as he slowly dissected the frog. 

        "I'm glad we didn't have lunch before this." 

* * *

        "So, what did Moose want?" Betty asked as she, Kevin, Veronica, and Lia all made their way to lunch. 

        "Oh, my God, I don't even think he knows. I mean, I am devastatingly handsome in that classic, pre-accident Montgomery Clift kind of way, and sexuality is fluid, but can someone named Moose actually be that fluid?" Kevin questioned and Veronica laughed. 

        "Okay, well, I ship it." She stated.

        "Well, of course you would. You're a big city girl with loose morals." Kevin replied, earning a pointing look from both Betty and Lia. I just meant that Moose has an official girlfriend, Midge. Anyway, it's terrible to say, but part of me wishes he would just stay in the darn closet. Obviously, I didn't mean literal closet." 

        Lia shook her head as she sat down at the lunch table Archie was sitting at, Kevin sitting beside her while Veronica went to the other side and Betty sat next to Kevin. 

        "Archie! Any new material you wanna try out on a very forgiving audience?" Veronica asked. 

        "I-

        "Please?" Veronica asked, begging with her eyes. 

        "Would you? I'd love to hear it." Betty smiled and Archie sighed and nodded. 

        "I'm still working on the lyrics, so..." Archie trailed off before he began to strum his guitar. 

        "Come on, turn the radio on. And, honey we'll dance, dance, dance for the rest of the night. I'm not ready to go." Archie sang and everyone clapped, other than Betty who looked at Archie sadly. 

        "Betty? You okay?" Archie asked, making Betty chuckle sadly. 

        "I'm supposed to say, "Yes." That's what the nice girl always says, but..." Betty trailed off, looking close to tears. No, I'm not. I want to be. I thought I could be. But it's too much, too fast." 

        Betty stood up from the table, beginning to walk away and Archie quickly followed after her, trying to get her to not leave. Lia sighed sadly when they were out of ear shot since she couldn't hear their conversation anymore. She began to pick at her lunch, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore from the guilt that welled up in her chest. 

        "Are you okay, Oph?" Kevin asked, snapping Lia out of her thoughts. 

        "No, I mean, my brother is hurting one of my best friends. He already hurt Jug, now he's hurting Betty...I just...I don't know what to do." Lia sighed and she felt someone's hand on her arm and she looked up to see Veronica. 

        "Listen, none of this is your fault. Whatever happened to...Jug, whoever he is, is Archie's fault and what's happening to Betty is again Archie's fault. He's the one that doesn't like her back and trust me when I say she'll be okay. Give her time." Veronica said, making Lia nod. She didn't really want to say anything to Veronica, since she did go into the closet with Archie but either way she couldn't truly be mad at her because Betty had expressed her feelings to Archie at the dance before Cheryl's party.

        "I'm going to go find Jughead, I think i'm gonna skip the rest of the day. Tell Archie and Betty i'll talk to them later." Lia said, standing up and giving Kevin the rest of her food. She smiled at the two sitting down before making her way back into the school.

        She walked through the halls, not really on a super mission to find Jughead but it would be nice if she did. The rose was stick tucked behind her ear, popping out of her red hair brightly and she smiled when she felt the soft petals. She turned a corner, accidentally bumping into someone's hard chest.

        "Fifi?" Jughead's voice asked as Lia stepped backwards, cranning her head up to look at the familiar face.

        "Jug, perfect. I'm gonna skip the rest of the day if you wanna join me. I want some Pop's and I wanna get ready for the Pep Rally." Lia said, hinting at Jughead to join her subtly. He just looked at her with a bit of worry, making her smile. "Want to join me?"

        "Yeah, yeah, of course. Are you okay?" Jughead asked. 

        "Yeah, just not feeling it right now." Lia answered and Jughead nodded, turning and walking in time with Lia. She grabbed his hand, not intertwining their fingers but letting him bring their hands into his pocket. 

        The two walked in comfortable silence, Jughead's music coming through his headphones and Lia could quietly hear it. She smiled to herself, knowing that she had the luxury of truly knowing the real Jughead and him being able to be vulnerable in front of her. Lia was pulled out of her thoughts when Jughead stopped walking, pulling her backwards since she was still trying to walk. 

        "What?" She asked, looking up at Jughead to see he was looking into the music room. Lia peaked up through the window where Jughead wasn't blocking it, seeing Archie and Ms. Grundy having an intimate moment. "Oh, my God."