Just Friends ▻ Jughead Jones

8

Victoria was lying down in her bed, overthinking what she had just been accused of by her friends. There was a knock on her opened door, causing her to look up to see that it was her older sister, "You okay, bud?" Alex asked her curiously as she made her way in the bedroom and took a seat beside Victoria on her bed.

"Ever been accused of something you didn't even do because of the group of people you hang with?" Victoria questioned and Alex couldn't help but laugh at her younger sister.

"I'm a River Vixen turned Southside Serpent, Tori. What do you think?" Alex replied with a smile. Her eyes softened when she saw the sad look Victoria had on her face, "What happened? People giving you shit for being a Southsider? Tell me names and I'll gladly kick some Northside ass."

Victoria shook her head, "It's the complete opposite actually," She told Alex, "The football players at my school, they have a secret playbook where they keep points for all the girls they get with. I knew about it all, but kept my mouth shut about it because I'm not a snitch. Come to find out, they gave me my own page and added the people I went on dates with into the book. Fifteen people, some of them I only spoke to once, not even a whole conversation. My friend, Betty, and the new girl, Veronica, both went on an investigation to find the book. They succeeded and were furious when they saw my name. They found Jughead and Archie under my name, too. I tried to explain to them, but they wouldn't listen. They just ran off before I could." Victoria explained to her.

Alex nodded her head before she turned to the door, "You can come in now, Betty." She spoke up and Victoria frowned in confusion.

"Wait, what?" Victoria asked her confused.

Just then, Betty entered with a sympathetic look on her face, "I'm sorry, Tori. I should have let you explain," Betty apologized to her friend, "I found Jason's name on there and under his name listed my sister's name. You were one of Jason's best friends, I figured maybe you were both in on it together, seeing as Archie and Jughead were under your name."

Victoria sighed deeply, shaking her head, "I would never take part in that playbook willingly, Betty. Ever."

"Friends?" Betty smiled at the blonde, who nodded.

"Friends." Victoria agreed and Betty pulled Victoria into a hug, "Uh, I don't do hugs, Bets. You should know this."

"Oh, shut up and hug her." Alex scoffed, patting her sister on the back before she left the bedroom.

________

At the Taste of Riverdale Event at the Town Hall, Victoria walked up to the balcony part to find Jughead watching all the scenes occur from afar, "Hey," She spoke up and Jughead instantly turned his head to look at her.

"Hey, Tori." He smiled brightly at his friend, "Whatcha doing here?"

Victoria shrugged her shoulders in response, "I got bored at home by myself with Alex. It's her day off tonight and she was spending it all grilling me about if there were any cute guys I was into at school."

"And is there?" Jughead questioned curiously and Victoria laughed, walking over to Jughead, kneeling beside him.

"There is one," She answered vaguely, a small smile appearing on her face.

Jughead raised a brow at her, "And who might this lucky guy be?" Jughead asked the blonde, feeling as if he had to know. Tori stayed quiet, causing Jughead to sigh, "Oh, come on, Tor, I'm your best friend, you can tell me."

"But what if you know this person?" She replied before looking around all of the people who were at the event, "And what if this person was here right now?"

Jughead's eyes scanned the room and they instantly locked on Archie, "It's Archie, isn't it? You have a crush on Archie. I knew it!"

Victoria laughed, "Sure, I'll let you think that." She told him, even though she knew that it most definitely wasn't Archie. The real person was actually right in front of her.

Down on the ground floor, Mayor McCoy stood on the stage with a glass of champagne in her hand, "Welcome all to the first annual Taste of Riverdale. As a lead up to our seventh fifth Jubilee, this event proves that Riverdale truly is that...when a tragedy knocks us down, we get right back up." Mayor McCoy spoke to the crowd and soon enough, everyone began to clap, "Bon Appetit."

"So what did Betty and Veronica want to talk with you last night?" Jughead asked her and Victoria stayed quiet, "If you don't want to tell me, it's fine whatever."

"The football players have a playbook where they keep score of the girls that mess around with," She admitted to him abruptly, "I had no knowledge of it, but they added me anyway. Betty and Veronica found it and saw my name with numerous guys listed under it, including you and Archie. I had no clue, Jug, but I still feel like crap about it all." 

Jughead's eyes softened when he heard her words. To brighten the mood, he turned his frown into a mischievous smile as he stared and Victoria, "So how many points are Archie and I worth?" He asked jokingly.

Victoria scoffed once hearing his question, rolling her eyes, "You're seven point five and Archie's nine because he's a football player." She informed him just before Josie and the Pussycats began to sing.

From the corner of her eye, Jughead noticed Archie sneaking over to the duo. He nudged Victoria in the shoulder, gaining her attention, "Are you sure it was worth sneaking out for some locally sourced Munster?" Jughead questioned the redhead.

"I helped write that song, Man," Archie replied and Victoria couldn't help but smile proudly.

"Not bad, Andrews." Victoria complimented.

"I'd love to stay, guys, but I gotta shake down an evil adventure scout," Jughead told them before getting up, "See ya."

________

The morning, Victoria stood in the crowded hallway with Betty, Veronica, Cheryl, and Ethel, watching as Chuck and some of the other Bulldogs walked down the hallway after getting busted with the playbook.

Betty had made it so Victoria didn't get caught, ripping out the page in the playbook and deleting the photo she had of it on her phone before writing the article.

AN: I honestly just want to get to the end of season 1 in this book already, I'm only on episode three. I have so many ideas of Tori in the end of season one, but like none for these earlier episodes. I want to have Tori and Jughead start acting not as friends, but as something soon but idk when.