It was six in the afternoon, after school.
The door ringed as Veronica lazily answered it.
As expected, all of the Ghoulies arrived. They pushed her aside, and scattered inside the house.
"Where are the snacks?" Penny asked.
"Snacks?" Veronica furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yeah. Where are they?"
"I didn't get any snacks." Veronica replied.
Penny sighed. "That's fine. It's fine! Just, order some pizza."
Veronica glared at Penny as she sat down on the couch. She sighed, having to call the local pizza place and ordering a few boxes of pizza.
Meanwhile, the main Serpents got to Veronica's house to eavesdrop on their meeting.
They followed Jughead while he climbed to the window of Veronica's room, and breaking in.
"Great, now let's raid her room." Sweet Pea looked through the drawer. Immediately, he saw a journal. He grabbed it, and held it up, "see, I already found something!"
Jughead's eyes widened, he instantly took it from Sweet Pea's hands.
"Hey, what the hell?" Sweet Pea snapped.
Jughead inhaled, "let me read it."
Cheryl smirked at the whole scenario.
--
Day 56
I'm writing this early in the morning. The Ghoulies are coming over for their meeting this afternoon, and I'm 100% not ready for it.
But, whatever. Currently, my only friend is Reggie. And it's kinda sad. I mean, he really thinks we're a couple at this point, but whatever. He's the only person I can trust at this moment, and I'm not here for it.
Anyway, I'll write about the lame meeting tomorrow.
Remember my plan? Well, I don't think it'll work anymore. Unless it could work out at the meeting, which will be risky.
I miss Jughead.
--
Jughead's eyes widened as he read that last sentence. He then flipped to the previous page.
--
Day 55
Reggie asked me on a date today. It's going to be at Pop's, obviously. He really doesn't care about me being in the horrible gang 'The Ghoulies'.
I'm really not proud about my decision, I thought I had a plan, but I'm starting to doubt it'll work.
I really miss Jughead. I've never felt so alone. I know he hates me now, though.
--
He flipped to the previous page, then the one before that, and the one before that. All saying how she misses Jughead at the end, and how she hates the Ghoulies, and that she thought she had a plan.
Jughead thought for a moment. Maybe he thought wrong about Veronica joining the Ghoulies.
"Jughead? Hey!" Cheryl snapped her fingers in front of his face.
He looked up at her.
"So, what does it say?" Cheryl asked.
"Uh, nothing." Jughead shut the journal, and put it back in the drawer.
"Seriously? We don't have all day, Jughead."
"I know. But, it wasn't anything important." He lied.
Cheryl sighed, they then continued to raid the room.
Jughead just sat on Veronica's bed, still thinking about her.
Just then, the door bell rang. Veronica answered it, and saw the pizza guy with five boxes of pizza.
"Thank you." Veronica handed him a tip.
She put the boxes on the kitchen dinner table, and Penny immediately walked over.
"Good job, Lodge." She said.
Veronica rolled her eyes as she watched Penny take a slice of pizza. She walked behind her, grabbed a pocket knife, and put it to Penny's neck.
Penny froze. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Veronica inhaled. "Let me out of this stupid gang without anything happening to the Serpents."
"Oh, sweetie. I don't think that'll happen anytime soo-"
Veronica pressed the knife gently to Penny's neck. Penny held her breath.
"What was that?" Veronica asked.
Just then, Penny swiftly grabbed Veronica's arm, took the pocket knife, and pushed her against the table.
"You've made a big mistake, Lodgey." She grinned.
She called Malachai, ordering him to tie Veronica up.
Malachai touched Veronica in many places as he tied her up.
Veronica struggled, trying to escape. Though the rope around her wrists and ankles were too tight. There was also rope around her neck which could be tightened by anyone, which could cause her to suffocate. She was stuck on the chair.
She sighed. Now this is a complete dead end.
"Here's an announcement, Ghoulies." Penny yelled. All of the Ghoulies turned their attention to Penny, who was sat on the kitchen island. "Before I let you eat your pizza, I need to tell you about a dumb girl named Veronica Lodge."
From upstairs in Veronica's room, the Serpents heard Penny's voice from downstairs.
They immediately, quietly ran to the top of the stairs. They were eavesdropping and watching the meeting.
"As you can see here," Penny walked over to the tied up Veronica. "Girlie here decided to pull the worst move possible. And we're going to make her pay for it. You know, just to teach her a lesson."
"Oh my God, is that Veronica?" Toni asked.
"Yeah, it is." Jughead replied, eyes widened at the scene.
"Why the hell is she tied up?" Cheryl questioned.
"She just had the audacity to put a knife to my neck, the one who welcomed her to our family, and wanted to leave us. Just like that. And she wanted to leave without anything happening to the Serpents." Penny laughed. All of the Ghoulies contributed, laughing with her.
"What a clown." Penny's finger traced the chair that Veronica was sitting in.
"Anyways, I just thought it'd be a good show," Penny's finger then traced the rope around Veronica's neck, "to suffocate her."
The crowd roared.
Toni covered her mouth.
"Holy shit, we need to save her!" Cheryl said.
Even Sweet Pea and Fangs were in shock.
Jughead froze, his breathing was heavy.
"Jughead!" Cheryl tried to snap him out of his thoughts.
Instantly, Jughead ran down the stairs, exposing himself to the Ghoulies.
"Penny!" He called, throwing a knife sharply next to Penny, cutting atleast a strand of her hair. "Let her go."
"Oh! It's nice to see you again, Jonesy." Penny smiled. "Don't exactly know why you're here. I mean, nobody invited you."
"I swear to fucking God, don't hurt her." Jughead said.
The rest of the Serpents joined him. Cheryl held up her bow that she had on.
"You mean hurt her by tightening the rope around her neck, maybe?" Penny suggested, still touching Veronica's neck.
Veronica took a deep breath in, not expecting Jughead and the Serpents to be here, but she was grateful.
Jughead took a step forward, "don't."
"Well, then I suggest you don't come any closer." Penny replied.
"I'm aiming at your eye, Peabody. You wouldn't dare." Cheryl said.
There was a moment of silence, and tension. Suddenly, Penny made the call. "Get them!"
All of the Ghoulies attacked the five Serpents. They were then in war in the living room of Veronica's house.
"Look what you've done, Veronica Lodge." Penny whispered in Veronica's ear.
"You said you wouldn't bother them." Veronica responded.
"Well, they decided to come and disturb our meeting. Also, you said you'd stay and not betray us." Penny replied.
Veronica sighed. She then kicked Penny with her two tied up legs.
"Ow! Shit," Penny took the pocket knife Veronica used and put it to her face. "You're really pulling some risky moves, Lodge."
Cheryl watched as Jughead stopped what he was doing, and ran over to Veronica.
Without Penny knowing, he tackled her, stealing the knife from her hand. Both of his knees were kneeled on her arms, his hand was on her neck as he held the knife in front of her face.
"I said don't hurt her, Penny." Jughead said.
"She's one of us now, remember? I can do whatever I want with her. Plus, why do you care? She left you just so that she could be with us." Penny stated.
Jughead stabbed the floor next to her ear, then pulled it back out.
"I'm going to untie Veronica, and you better leave her alone afterwards. Got it?" Jughead suggested.
Penny grinned. "Too late."
Behind Jughead, there was extreme coughing, and struggling to breathe. He turned around, seeing that Malachai tightened the rope, along with stabbing Veronica in the stomach.
"Veronica!" Jughead yelled, before Penny hit him with a pan from the kitchen across his head. He hit the floor, knocked out.
×××
Jughead woke up, with the light shining from the windows in his eyes. He stood up from Veronica's kitchen, checking his phone.
It was eleven in morning the next day. He looked around, seeing that the whole house was empty, yet looked like a tornado came for a visit. There was blood splattered on the walls, which seemed really disturbing.
His head hurt like hell. Everytime he'd touch the sude of his head, it would cause extreme pain. And his face was bruised and bloody, as well.
Jughead's phone ringed, he picked it up and saw a text from Cheryl and all the other Serpents.
--
Cheryl: are you awake?
Cheryl: we're at the hospital for Veronica
Cheryl: come asap if u wanna know what happened
--
Jughead instantly stood up, and rode his motorcycle to the hospital.
He ran inside, and saw them in the waiting room.
"Oh, there you are." Cheryl stood up.
"Sorry, I just woke up from being hit in the head with a pan." Jughead rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what happened last night while I was out?"
"Well, I shot Malachai in the leg with my bow. Toni was quick to untie Veronica's neck, so she didn't suffocate. But she still had that stab wound in her stomach. Then the police came, because one of the neighbors reported us. All of the Ghoulies fled, we hid, and they found Veronica in pain. So they brought her to the hospital, and now here we are." Cheryl explained.
"And they didn't bring me to the hospital?" Jughead inquired.
"Yeah, I don't know. They just didn't see you, I guess."
Jughead furrowed his eyebrows.
"We've been here since four in the morning. Veronica's fine, she just needs the surgery. In which she's going through right now." Toni said. "She'll be done any moment now."
Jughead sat down, and they all waited twenty minutes. Until the nurse walked over to them.
"Her surgery is done. She's awake, and you're able to come talk to her." She said.
They speed walked to Veronica's room. She was on the hospital bed, she looked like an exhausted mess.
"Oh thank heavens, you're alive!" Cheryl went and hugged her, along with Toni.
Veronica smiled. "I'm glad I'm alive, I guess."
They let go, as Jughead walked over to Veronica.
Cheryl smirked as she pulled Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs out the room.
"Thanks for helping me." Veronica thanked. "But, I could've handled it on my own."
Jughead chuckled. "Yeah right."
"I'm not kidding, I could have! By the way, why were you even at my house?" Veronica asked.
"I was doing what any other gang would do, eavesdrop on their rival's meeting." Jughead answered.
"And, how did you know that there was going to be a meeting?" Veronica inquired.
"I heard you telling your boyfriend that you were going to have a meeting at your house." Jughead bluntly answered. Though he knew that she didn't exactly like Reggie back.
"My boyfriend? You mean Reggie? The guy that I went on a completely platonic date with? Yeah, right." Veronica responded. "Why would care, anyways? Why don't you go pay attention to your own girlfriend?"
"I have a girlfriend?"
"Really? Betty. Didn't you guys get back together?" Veronica inquired.
"No?" Jughead furrowed his eyebrows. "Betty's still with Archie, for your information."
"Oh," Veronica said. "But still, why'd you save me? Don't you hate me, or something?"
Jughead took a deep breath, deep in thought. "I mean, I thought I hated you before I knew the truth."
"The truth?"
"Yeah. That you didn't voluntarily join the Serpents. That you didn't voluntarily break up with me." He squinted his eyes once he said break up with me.
Veronica didn't respond.
"I'm sorry." Jughead apologized. "For thinking that you literally decided to give up on me, on everyone, for the Ghoulies."
Veronica looked at him. "You know I wouldn't do that to you. They threatened to do such bad things to you and the Serpents, I just had to. I also had to do it for Archie's freedom."
"Veronica, trust me. We could protect you, we could protect Archie, we could handle the Ghoulies. You don't have to sacrifice youself by being in their gang. If only you'd tell me everything, and if I didn't have have to literally read your diary."
Veronica sighed, "I'm sorry. I should've told you everything. I've just been so caught up with all the threats, and the blackmail, and my father obviously being apart of all this. And now you hate me, but I guess that's what happens."
"I don't hate you, Ronnie. I lo-"
Jughead stopped himself. He sighed, "I love you, and I will never stop loving you, Veronica. I was just so stupid, and so angry at the Ghoulies. If only I paid attention to the full story this wouldn't have happened."
"And I just hope that you feel the same way, even after how stupid I've acted, and how shitty I've treated you. All because of my anger." He added.
Veronica looked down, then back to Jughead. She could see and feel the sorrow in his eyes. She took a deep breath, "I could never hate you, Jug. And I could never say that I don't love you back. I've missed you so much. That's why I didn't want to be with Reggie, because I couldn't stop thinking about you."
Jughead smiled, as he bent over, and kissed Veronica on the lips. Veronica was quick to kiss back, as tears run down her cheek.
--
wc: 2309
it was so hard yet so easy to write this chapter
it was quick to type bc I knew exactly what was going to be written
but then in all the mushy parts I kept dying
but yeah
ok.
btw its 230am on a Monday morning n I'm doing great