Hold On || Jughead Jones

No Exit // Part Two

I shook my head in disbelief. It's possible that Hiram's drug testing started when I was at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, and based on my experience, I could only imagine what Betty had gone through. "Unbelievable. Could you imagine a day where Hiram Lodge finally pays for all of his crimes, brought down by a testimony of nuns? They're working side by side. It'd be hard to get them to confess."

"I know," Betty admitted as she thanked Pop for her water before drinking it. "It's proven to be a hard case so far, but I'm hoping maybe one of them might cough something up that we could use to our advantage."

Jughead reached across the table to grab the remainder of my bacon. "Well, if they do, maybe that means Archie could come home. Wherever he is."

Breakfast was soon complete and the three of us agreed to walk to school together. I had missed Betty's presence while she was gone. Our relationship was definitely weakened by everything we had going on, and it made me sad to not be as close to her, but I was going to make sure to change it.

"We need to pull together the Serpents for a meeting," I said as we stepped off the steps of Pop's and headed towards Riverdale High. "I have a feeling that nobody's going to come clean right off the bat but it's worth a shot if we can at least have everyone aware."

"Agreed," Jughead said, "I'll call Dad and see if he has any ideas he can offer about this whole situation. Until then, let's see if we can survive another day of high school."

--

Sure enough, FP was right by Jughead's side as we all gathered around the remains of Sunnyside Trailer Park where the Serpents now resided. My boyfriend was currently seated in a fabric recliner as both his father and I stood at his sides.

"It's come to my attention that one of us has been dealing Fizzle Rocks," Jughead addressed everyone as the noise quieted down. "Slinging dope is not what Serpents do. So from this moment on, we're going clean. There will be no selling or doing drugs. No crime of any kind will be tolerated."

My eyes wandered the hundreds staring back until they landed on Cheryl and Toni, who were looking at each other. I continued my circle until ending on Betty's shoes next to me as Jughead continued, "Anyone that breaks the Serpent code will be exiled. Permanently."

"I think it's pretty ridic that you vanish for a month on some vision quest with your bestie, only to return and lecture us about responsibility," Cheryl interrupted.

Fangs stood up to join in as well, "We've got no money coming in, Jug. I mean how are we supposed to eat, survive?"

Jughead bit his lip in hesitation. He didn't know, it was clear, but he also had to give them an answer. That was his job.

Luckily, FP stepped in to help. "We'll figure it out and get back to you, Fangs. All of you," He said. "In the meantime, in unity, there is strength."

"In unity, there is strength," The group chorused in response.

Cheryl continued to glare at Jughead for a while longer, her eyes briefly flicked to Betty and me before she turned on her heels and left with the rest of the group. With a sigh, Jughead stood from his seat. Betty gave each of us hugs before departing to go back home.

"Well, that could've gone better," My boyfriend huffed with disappointment.

I hummed as I wrapped his arm around mine and leaned into him. "Maybe, but it could've gone a lot worse too."

"Thanks for stepping in," Jug nodded towards FP who returned the motion.

"We need to figure this out, boy. Sooner than later," FP ran a hand through his hair before settling them on his hips. "Why don't the two of you come inside and we can talk about it?"