Panic Room || Jughead Jones

The Preppy Murders // Part Two

I shrugged and sat down on the couch where I could still see him. "I don't know. Do you think we need to worry about Donna?"

"Do you want to worry about her?"

I pursed my lips and left my silence as an answer in itself. I didn't give a shit what happened to the Stonewall kids, but I also didn't think they deserved to be murdered.

Taking a momentary pause, I decided to switch the topic. "Did you talk to Jellybean last night?"

"Jellybean? No, why?"

"I think she's pretty torn up about you leaving," I said as I plucked at the fuzz on my leggings. "She was here when I came home last night."

Jughead's eyes widened. "Here as in your apartment?"

"Yes, here as in my apartment. She took your spare key."

He mumbled a curse under his breath. "Shit. Sorry, I'll give that back to you."

I waved it off, knowing the place wouldn't be mine much longer anyway. It felt odd to be in here now anyway since everything had been moved out. "It's not important. I just think you and your dad need to talk to her. She probably misses your mom and thinks everything will fall apart. Congrats on the program by the way."

"Thanks," Jughead replied before rubbing his hands across his face. I knew he didn't want to disappoint anyone, and disappointing Jellybean of all people would be heavy on him. She meant a lot to him, even if it didn't seem like that on the outside.

His phone rang, putting a pause in our conversation. I stood up to head into my room, giving him some sort of privacy but also forcing myself to grab the nearly full cardboard box that had been sitting against the wall for some time.

The fabric of my shirt brushed the fresh tattoo ink under my skin, reminding me of its presence. I spent some time with Cheryl and Toni yesterday, which consisted of getting the Serpent tattoo on my side covered with another piece of artwork. I told her I didn't care what it was, so long as it did its job in hiding the faded green art beneath it.

Covering the tattoo was bittersweet, but seeing how the group had practically dissolved and I was no longer involved, I wanted a chance to move on. Toni let Cheryl take creative ability, hence where I ended up with a series of butterflies on my side. One somewhat larger one covered the snake tattoo beneath with a few smaller ones fluttering around it, to which Cheryl said, every flower needs its butterflies.

My hands grabbed the hefty box and heaved it up further before I started walking out into the living room. Jughead was frustrated in his conversation with whoever was on the other end of the phone. I did my best to tune out the conversation, no longer feeling like it was my place to listen as I set the box down next to him. The hoodie I had worn of his the other day was laid on top, followed by the countless amount of items that I had collected over our relationship.

I took a deep breath and moved away into the kitchen to grab a drink from the fridge. There wasn't much time left until graduation; in fact, the countdown had hit single digits at this point and I was beginning to get nervous. Saying goodbye to something that I held close and loved would be difficult. Moving away from it all would be even worse.

"That was Betty. She found another tape," Jughead interrupted my thinking session causing me to look over at him. He held his phone up. "So our theory of David as the Auteur is a bust."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "What was on the tape?" I asked, curious as to if it was another horrifying depiction of someone's death.

"That's the catch. They went in the house."