In The Mourning || Riverdale

04 | Assembly

My fingers latched around my favorite, familiar, denim washed jacket. I yanked on the arm underneath it and urged him to spin slightly away from his locker to face me. "Jug, I need a favor."

Jughead raised his brows at my actions. With his body angled toward me, he continued to grab books and notebooks out of his locker to shove into his black backpack. "Good morning to you, too." He commented, sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes.

His eyes flitted back to my face before they drifted down, growing wider in surprise when he saw what I was wearing and how dressed up I was. "Wow," Jughead shook his head, chuckling. "You really went all out with whole assembly thing."

"My sister woke me up an hour before I set my alarm for to make sure I looked good enough for today," I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. "She even did my hair and makeup because she didn't want to stand beside some sad-looking girl, who didn't know what lipstick was."

The mention of earlier this morning had my nose wrinkling. Cheryl acted like I didn't know a thing about hair or makeup, always acting as if I wouldn't be up to her standards. She gave me no credit. The truth was that I knew as much as she did about those things. I just didn't see the need dressing up to her standards every day. Some days, I really enjoyed wearing black jeans and a denim jacket.

Much like Jughead, I practically lived in my denim jacket, which only annoyed Cheryl more. Jason always thought it was a good look for me. Who the hell cares, right?

"I don't think I've ever seen your hair that big before," Jughead laughed. He grabbed one last notebook before he slammed his locker shut. His right hand reached out to pull down on one of my strawberry blonde curls. The curl straightened out until he released it from his grasp, allowing it to spring back into the curl.

"I think a whole can of hairspray was used," I informed him. The small backpack weighed down on my left shoulder. I grabbed it with my hand, letting the strap fall down from my shoulder and I held it in front of my legs. "Can you hold onto my backpack during the assembly? I'm not wearing this dress or shoes all day."

"You do kind of look like ginger Barbie attending a funeral." Jughead grabbed the backpack out of my hands. His eyes squinted together as he bobbed his head to the side. "That was probably the wrong choice of words, wasn't it?" He asked, knowing how sensitive I was to the subject.

"Kind of, but it's okay." My attention drifted from his face to over his shoulder when I saw Betty round a corner with a black haired girl in tow. I briefly remembered Betty talking about how she had to show a new girl around the school. I patted Jughead's shoulder once. "I will see you after the assembly."

Before I could walk away, Jughead grabbed onto my elbow and forced me to look at his face, noticing how serious his expression suddenly turned. "Are you going to be okay?" He referred to the assembly honoring my brother.

If anyone else had asked me that question, I would have easily lied by forcing a smile on my face, telling them I would be fine. I didn't have to lie, though. This was Jughead asking. Even if I did lie, he would know I was and call me out on it. Jughead knew me better than anyone else. Sometimes, he even knew me better than Jason.

"I don't know," I answered him, truthfully. I jabbed my thumb in the air over my shoulder, gesturing to my blonde friend. "I've got to talk to Betty before I get to the assembly."

His fingers released his hold from my elbow. The two of us weakly smiled at each other before I twisted around, marching down the crowded hallway, following Betty's blonde head through the mess of teenagers. Everyone was stopping by their new lockers before they headed to the gymnasium for the assembly. The exact place I should be headed in this moment.