Jughead knew that Betty meant well when she came to "rescue him". He knew that they were on eggshells with one another since his horrible disaster of a birthday party, and he knew he shouldn't have blamed her for what Veronica and Archie did.
But he did. He couldn't handle the thought of being her project. Jughead trusted her when she said she loved him. He believed her, he really did. But…
Oh God, he thought every time she called, or texted. He didn't know what to do. He started at Southside High, and he liked his foster family. He still visited FP when he could, and he still wrote his novel. But now, he had friends. Actual friends, besides Archie and Betty. And it was such a strange feeling.
So how was he supposed to deal with Betty. Ride it out? Or end it now?
'One more time, I'll try one more time', Jughead thought. He decided to meet with Betty, Veronica and Archie at Pop's. Archie said it was alright, even after what happened to Frank. So, it was safe for the four, and comfortable. It was common ground.
Jughead got there after the rest of them, he'd been talking to a Serpent and was running late. The little bell over the door jingled and Betty's head turned to meet Jughead's, as did the couple across from her. Betty's gaze lowered to the leather Serpent jacket, and she stiffened.
Jughead sighed, and slowly walked towards the three, sitting in their usual booth. He slid down and next to Betty, keeping a large space between them causing a look from Veronica. He knew that she knew, because Betty would've told her, and that meant that Archie knew too. So, the booth was tense enough that you could cut the air with a knife. Jughead was tempted to try it.
They ordered, and they ate, in a soft silence broken only by the occasional piece of small talk. 'The weather of all things', Jughead snickered to himself earning a glimpse from the other three.
Betty cleared her throat finally, and glanced at Jughead before her eyes flicked to Archie.
"How's your dad doing Arch'?" she asked in her soft tone. Archie glanced up and saw Betty's wide blue eyes looking at him, and his own brown ones skipped to Jughead before he answered in a similar voice.
"He's okay. They don't have any leads yet on who did it, but they're looking. Some people have sent flowers and cards. Sheriff Keller said something about the West side but we have no idea what he's talking about."
As Archie finished speaking, the bells over the door to Pop's jingled softly and broke the silence in the restaurant as a figure seemed to cringe awkwardly away from the sound, their head tilting back to look up, making the hood slip off the dark green slouch hat, sitting on the persons head. Three figures followed the first, one the same height, one shorter and the other much taller.
The first figure, the one with the slouch hat on shuffled out of the way and quietly spoke to Pop, before he led the four people to a booth directly next to Jughead, Betty, Archie and Veronica's.
The four friends tried to see if they recognized the new figures and the tall one slid their hood off, revealing a boy. He had a long, crooked nose, pale hazel eyes and small scar along the side of his heart shaped face, near his left ear. He looked older than the four friends, and he shook his curly dark hair out, getting rid of the snow that was sitting in it, causing a small giggle to come from the shortest figure, and a shriek from the one who was the same height as the hat person.
"Thooo-ooorn" whined the smallest figure, pulling off gloves and a hat with a very, fluffy pom-pom on the end. This was a young girl, she looked about Jellybean's age, mused Jughead. She had tight, short, corkscrew curls, also dark and the same pale hazel eyes as the boy but with the still round chubbiness of childhood.
The third person, the one not wearing the green hat, pulled down their hood and unzipped their jacket before fluffing out their long hair.
"Really Thorn? Are you part dog now?" sighed a girl who looked the same age as Jughead, Archie, Betty and Veronica. She had the trademark dark brown hair- hers was long, seeming to stop just below her clavicles- as the other two, but with caramel highlights mixed into her curls. Her eyes were a dark brown and they seemed to go between that, and the same hazel as the small girl next to her and the boy, Thorn's, also set into a round, heart shaped face. The final figure, the one who had cringed at the jingle of the door, snickered softly while examining the menu in front of them.
"I thought we knew that Cal. You were the one who let 'little miss' over there, beg to take him off the leash." This was another girl, and the boy rolled his eyes before barking at hat girl sitting next to him. She looked up and stuck her tongue out at the boy. Her face made Jughead's heart stutter for a moment before resuming the steady thump-thump it usually held. Jughead rolled his eyes at himself, 'what in the world Jughead?', he thought as he examined the final girl.
She had all the same features as the other three. Curly dark hair, cut to just under her chin. A rounder face, with dark brown eyes that looked as if they could see right through you, dancing with mischief, as they seemed to change colors. Dark brown, to the same pale hazel as the others, to green, to a dark, almost purple color, and back again.
Jughead knew he was staring and he was only able to look away when she met his eyes and raised a single eyebrow in his direction. Jughead flushed a light pink and returned his focus to his own booth, in which the other three we softly conversing about the newcomers.
"I've never seen them before." Betty whispered to Veronica, who had her investigative look on her face.
"So? Maybe they just moved here. Why do we care?" asked Jughead sharply, glancing at Betty and Veronica. "Not everything is a huge mystery that you two need to solve."
Betty fell quiet and Veronica gave him her 'ice queen' look but remained silent. Archie just looked exasperated and confused. Several minutes passed, and the table of four newcomers stayed relatively quiet.
Pop finally walked over to them with several to-go bags and they stood up to leave. The boy, Thorn got up first and grabbed the bags of food and waited for the girls to get out of the booth as well. The girl with the longest hair stood, and ushered the little one in front of her, whispering for her to catch up to the boy and help him before she followed.
The last girl, with the hat finally slid out of the booth and stood. She glanced at the table where Jughead sat, looking to Archie before she glanced at the other three figures waiting for her. They seemed to be waiting for her to say something, and she took a deep breath before she spoke.
"You're Archie, right?" she asked quietly. Arch' nodded, slightly dumbstruck that she knew his name. "Oh, okay good. Uhm... that makes me feel slightly less awkward." She laughed nervously, playing with her own fingers before blurting out; "We, I, uhm… We're really sorry about Frank." The girl turned red and cleared her throat before walking away, towards the three waiting for her.
The girl whom she had called 'Cal' earlier, snickered and gestured frantically at the girl who'd spoken, while Jughead took in their retreating figures. Hat girl had on an old leather jacket, with a wolf on the back, howling at the moon.