Once we got to Thorn Hill, Archie told me not to leave without him. Cheryl immediately started up a game of 7 minutes in heaven. Veronica and Archie ended up in the closet first and I sat with Betty, watching her and seeing little signs of just how uncomfortable she was. Her fists were clenched and I could tell that she just wanted to leave because who knows what was going on behind the closet door. I wanted to leave to leave to, but I couldn't without Archie, who I was starting to get mad at. He was in a closet probably making out with a girl he's known for a week just an hour after a girl he's known for years told him that she wanted to be with him.

Betty couldn't take it anymore and stood up to leave. I called after her, but she just kept going. Now I was alone in the middle of a party and I wished that I had never come to this fucking dance. It was probably only a minute, but it felt like an hour had passed when Archie and Veronica finally exited the closet.

"Where's Betty?" he asked, looking around the room.

"She spiraled and fled. Between us, she's a lot more headstrong than she looks." Cheryl told them.

"You shady bitch." Veronica said, walking into another room. Archie followed her and then I got up and followed him. When I got into the next room, I heard Veronica telling Archie that they shouldn't be tracking Betty down together.

"We messed up." She said. Then she turned to leave and went up to Archie.

"Can we go now?" I whispered to him.

"...Yeah, we can go." He grabbed my arm and we left the Blossom house. I couldn't help but hope as we left, that we would never have to go back. Archie took me straight to Pop's to look for Betty. Of course, we didn't find her there. But we did find Jughead.

"Can we sit, Jughead?" Archie asked him as we approached the table.

"If you want." he said. My immediate reaction was to go sit next to Jughead, but I realized that if i did, Archie would have about a million questions that I did not feel like answering at the moment. He had his own problems to deal with right now.

"What are you working on?" Archie asked him.

"My novel." He answered. I could've told Archie that, Juggie was always working on his novel. "It's about this summer, and Jason Blossom."

"Seventeen years old and how will he be remembered? As captain of the water polo? The Aquaholics?"

"Considering how he died, probably not."

They talked for a few minutes and I stayed silent. Jughead told Archie to just go talk to Betty and I silently agreed with him. Then Archie got up to leave and I spoke for the first time since we entered the diner.

"Arch, can I stay here for a bit?" I asked him. He looked at me, confused.

"Y/N/N, I think we should just go home. I'm not gonna leave you alone to walk home in the dark."

"She's not alone... and I'll walk her home later." Jughead offered.

"...Okay. I'll see you at home then." And with that he left. I stood up and sat in the seat next to Jughead.

"Hi." I said.

"Hey. Did they drag you to the dance?"

"Yep."

"I thought you would've broken someone's arm before you let anyone drag to a crowded school event."

"Yeah, I thought so to. I guess I'm still not exactly fully recovered from the summer."

He doesn't say anything, just looks at me and I can see a little hint of sadness in his eyes.

"Juggie, don't worry about me. I'm getting better, okay?"

He still doesn't say anything, just pulls me closer to him, wrapping an arm around my waist and kissing my cheek. We sit like this and talk for a while until I get a text from Archie.

Arch🏈😛: Dad says u need to come home right now

Me: Is smth wrong?

Arch🏈😛: I tell u when u get here

Arch🏈😛: Don't worry everything's ok

I showed Jug the texts. "That's weird." he said. We left the diner and started to walk towards my house. When we got there, Jughead said goodbye and I walked inside. Archie was sitting at the table with my dad, who looked up when he saw me walk in.

"Y/N/N, did you walk home in the dark by yourself?"

"No, Jughead walked me home."

"Oh."

"Is something wrong?" I asked. Archie looked down at his phone and then back at me. Dad then began to speak again. "Just tell her. It's not like we can keep it from her."

Archie took a deep breath. "Kevin just texted me and said that he found Jason's body in the river, with a bullet in his head."