Jughead POV
"Cynthia!" I screamed. The others screamed as well. The minute I saw her drop, I pushed past everyone and ran out onto the ice. If it cracked and I fell in, at least I would be with her. I ran forward. I promised to protect her, and I couldn't do it.
We stumbled forward, pushing ourselves to reach the two girl who had gone under water. Tear were clouding my eyes, but I blinked them back, wanting, needing, to be able to see properly so I could save the girl I loved.
We Archie and I reached the hole, there was nothing but rushing water in sight. Both our bodies were covered in snow as we stared at the rapid movement of Sweetwater River.
"The current has them." I said, running around, sweeping snow off the ice to try and find them.
"Cheryl's here!" Archie shouted. I stood above, watching him punch through the ice. Cynthia was lighter than Cheryl. Veronica and Betty spread out around Archie as he punched the ice, his hands bleeding. I was calling to Cynthia, as if that would help me locate her. I was becoming frantic, digging through snow like I was a rescue dog. I had gone a few metres in front of Archie when I saw the glimpse of a white foot move out of the gap in the snow.
"Thia!" I called, jumping forward a few metres and throwing the snow around until I saw the ice. Tiny wisps of orange we just coming into view and I began to slam my fists onto the ice. I heard Betty call for help but it was no use. When I saw her face, I hit the ice harder. In a moment of pause, I saw her eyes close.
"No! Thia!" I called, hoping she could hear me under the ice. That my voice would make her fight for her life, make her want to stay. I stood up, kicking the ice under me. When water began to seep through the crack I had made, I went back to punching the ice, watching my blood mix with the water as it smacked into the ice. Her body passed where I was making the hole. If she passed where I had made the hole, I would have to start all over again and my knuckles were throbbing. Slamming both fists onto the ice like a crazed ape, it finally gave way, breaking a hole big enough for a body. I grabbed her foot, pulling her against the current and back to me. I ignored her dress rise in the water, dragging her body back so I could get her head above water.
Gently, I laid her body on the freezing snow, like Archie had done with Cheryl moment earlier. I put my ear to her mouth, looking down at her chest to see it if rose and fell, showing breathing. I felt nothing. I saw nothing. The first aid training that we had to do in school finally came in handy as I performed CPR on my girlfriend. Betty was crying. Veronica was crying. I had done it for longer than Archie had to.
"Come on, Thia. Stay with me." I begged, doing chest compressions for the Fifth time. The others thought it was pointless, that she was dead already, but none had the heart to stop me. I put my mouth over hers, pinching her nose and breathing air into her lungs. Just as I was about to breathe again, water came out of her mouth as she spluttered. I turned her on her side, watching her cough up the water on the lake. I lifted her up in my arms as she wrapped hers around my neck.
I carried Cynthia as Archie carried Cheryl.
I took Cynthia to the trailer, wanting to watch over her as Cheryl went with Veronica. Every blanket I owned was wrapped around her, apart from the new duvet on the bed. I had turned the heating up as high as it would go, and pulled her close to me. When we had gotten back, she got changed into my old skinny jeans, one of my shirts and my old hoodie.
"Why did you do it, Thia?" I asked, pulling her wet hair behind her ear as I caressed her face.
"I needed Jason." Tears stared to fall from her eyes, so I wiped them away. It would be my mission to fix this girl and I wouldn't stop until she was fixed.
"Cynthia, look at me," I begged. She turned to look at me with teary eyes. "Don't ever try to do that again. If I had lost you or..." I couldn't finish, my voice catching in my throat and not coming out.
"I'm sorry, J." She whispered. I pulled her towards me, both crying on each other. I needed her. Perhaps I needed her more than she needed me. But in the darkness, that was Riverdale, she was my light. And would be for the rest of my life.
Cynthia Pov
Jughead had dragged me to the Jubilee, saying that he would take me back to the trailer later. I had told him that I would get my mom to transfer me to southside high, vowing that I would do it again if I wasn't with Jughead. I knew that he wouldn't be able to resist it, so agreed, although very reluctantly. He didn't want me to experience the Southside. I had argued that it was a part of him, and if we were going to work, long term, I had to be with him. He offered me a home at the trailer, knowing that I'd never want to live at Thornhill with my mother and the ghost of Jay-jay and now my father.
I had sat silently in the waiting room of the station while Jughead spoke to his dad, then Jug took me to the jubilee. I hadn't listened to the speech. I was too busy staring at the back of my mom's head. She had no idea that I had tried to kill myself, and if she heard she wouldn't be the concerned parent. She would either send me away or disown me.
I texted Cheryl that I was going to be living with Jughead, and asked her to pass the message on to mom so that she wouldn't force me back to Thornhill. My sister agreed, promising she would as long as I visited. Nothing could stop me. I would be moving in with my boyfriend, going to school with my boyfriend. We had become serious, the real-deal relationship. He was my forever. Starting today.
We had many milkshakes that night, and we all felt that as dangerous as the world around us had become, here, at least, in this booth, we were safe.
I laughed that night. Jughead had pulled me close, helping me forget the events of the day, or at least, for now. We joked around like normal teenagers, in a normal town. Pop made sarcastic comments as he dropped off more milkshakes. The night was bliss, and it had only just begun.
Jug walked me back to my new home, at least until FP got back. I took off my jacket.
"Jug, I'll help you in every way I can to get your dad out. I won't stop until he is here with us." I said, walking into the room, taking my coat off and putting it on the sofa.
"That is why I love you Thia." Jughead said. I turned around. We hadn't, yet, said that to each other. I had texted it and he had shouted it before I fell through the ice. Still, this seemed sincerer. Slowly, I turned around, looking at my boyfriend, shocked. He looked back at me with an unreadable expression.
"I love you, Cynthia Blossom." He admitted. It was as if those words made us vulnerable. Those words made all of this real. It was a step I was more than willing to take and a step that we were more than ready for. This moment had been a long time coming. I walked closer to him, nose to nose.
"Jughead Jones," I said in a teasing tone. My had wrapped around his shoulder, sliding up to his face. "I love you." He, the confident beanie-wearing boy, looked like he was about to cry. His dark hair fell perfectly without his beanie, looking equally messy and sexy. I leant in, pulling him into the most passionate kiss we had, so far. We continue this before he bends down, lifting me up with ease and a giggle from me.
He pushed me onto the kitchen counter, keeping our lips connected. Once, twice, forcing the taste of his mouth onto me, and I loved every second of it. I realized that we could do this forever and I'd never get tired of the feel of his lips on mine. He starts kissing me harder, with a new urgency that I've never known before. He quickly pulls open a few of the buttons of the shirt, opening it, before pulling it over my head.
We are kissing like our lives depend on it. Gently, like I'll hate him if he does something wrong, he slips his tongue inside my mouth, cautious, yet demanding, and it's only when I pull him closer, does he begin to not care. When people describe kissing as melting, I had never truly understood until I wanted to dissolve into him or keep our lips connected forever. I pulled his top off his head, smiling and bringing him closer again. He began to kiss my neck. It was like a dance, our bodies moving together, as the mood intensified.
Knocking on the door broke our kiss. We sat stunned, staring at the closed door. We pulled on our tops quickly, and I sat on the couch near the door while Jug opened the door. I couldn't hear or see who was at the door, but without the sight of a woman storming inside and grabbing me, I knew it wasn't my mom. When he came back in, he was wearing a black jacket. He turned around, showing me his jacket. I knew I couldn't judge the serpents because one guy beat up my brother and housed his murder. Jughead, if he chose to join, wouldn't be like that. So, when he looked at me, scared of what I would think of it, I just jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing him, proving I didn't care, proving he was my lifeline.
In the morning, I was lay in Jug's shirt, on his bare chest. He looked at me when he woke up, he hair tousled, like I knew mine would be. Before I could kiss him, Jughead's phone rang.
"What is it?" I asked, watching his mouth drop, him sitting up and pulling clothes on. "Jug?"
"It's Fred," He said, looking at me straight in the eye, "He was shot at Pop's."
Imagine this instant, frozen in time. People will look back at this exact moment that last bit of Riverdale's innocence finally died. When darkness won. Marked by an act of violence that was anything but random.