I swung open the door to Pops, bracing myself for the Serpent interrogation I was about to recieve. Literally as soon as I stepped in, I felt at least 10 pairs of eyes on me, watching my every move. I saw Toni, Cheryl, Sweetpea, and Fangs at a booth, looking at me with their eyebrows raised as if saying, "Start explaining."

The other customers at Pops seemed very alarmed that a Serpent meeting was taking place in their beloved Northside restaurant. Whatever. They could spend 30 minutes out of their lives in the presence of *Gasp!* Southsiders. I didn't see an empty table near the Serpents, so I just stood somewhat in the middle of the mass.

"Alright!" I said, signaling that the meeting was going to start, even though every eye was already on me. "I know you guys have been upset because you want to know what the hell's going on right?" Where should I even start? Even the Northsiders were looking at me. Or, they were walking out. "Well, you guys know that Hiram Lodge has been playing Monopoly with this town, buying property in secret. You know about the Black Hood, and how it turned out to be Hal Cooper, Betty's dad."

"Just one more reason why we shouldn't trust her..." Someone murmured. Why did they hate Betty so much? She had done nothing to them.

"Hey." I told them. "Betty's done more for us than you guys realize. Cut it out. Anyway," I continued. "Veronica bought the Whyte Wyrm, then proceeded to trade it with her dad for the very place we're in." I motioned to around us. A collective amount of groans echoed around the room. "I know, I'm not happy about it either but it's the way it is. And we have to deal with it. Now, Archie Andrews was just arrested for the murder of Shadowlake resident Cassidy Bullick. We met him when we were staying at Veronica's vacation house. He broke in, and Archie ran after him. Now, I'm not going to say that I know exactly what happened, because I don't. But I like to believe that my friend isn't capable of murder."

"Did he seem upset?" Fangs asked.

"Well, yeah. We all were-"

"But did he seem especially upset?"

I wasn't going to lie, Archie did seem a bit too angry that night. "Yes. He threatened to kill him, but I didn't hear any sort of gun shot or scream. He came back without a speck of blood on him. He didn't kill him." I was starting to get impatient, even though I understood their doubt. "Now here's the thing: Mr. Lodge was spotted at the gymnasium at the time Archie got arrested." I shook my finger at no one in particular. "Now what does that lead you to believe?"

"That the damn Northsiders are ruining this town. Again." Sweetpea answered gruffly.

"Yeah, they believe that we're the source of every problem, yet they don't look at the facts." Toni joined in. "Who was the Black Hood? Hal Cooper, a Northsider. Who's buying all of the land of Riverdale, slowly tearing us all apart? Hiram Lodge, a Northsider." Shouts of agreement rose.

"Who killed Jason Blossom?" Cheryl said. "Clifford Blossom, my dad. A Northsider." Cheryl's eyes were fiery and passionate, filled with hate at the mention of her father. Toni stretched her arm behind Cheryl, holding onto her.

"Exactly." I said, regaining control of the conversation. "Hiram Lodge is behind this, I know it. One of his henchman probably killed Cassidy, and then he blamed it on Archie so that he wouldn't tell the authorities, who probably wouldn't even do anything, since they're probably corrupt anyway."

"Well, where are we going to stay now that the Whyte Wyrm is gone? We can't stay at the Andrews household anymore, there's too many of us and that family's already breaking down." Toni asked.

"Yeah, we don't need all that Andrews drama." Said a serpent I didn't know the name of. I decided to ignore him because his statement was really ignorant considering Mr. Andrews had let us stay there when everything was falling apart.

"That's a great question, Toni. And I have an answer. Veronica is building an underground cabaret here at Pops. Northside and Southside alike, but the space will be huge. We could easily branch off and make our own little space. Until then, let's stay at the place where my dad retired and I was crowned." I'd say half the serpents were skeptical, and the other half looked on board with this plan. "It's the best I can do right now."

We finished the meeting by talking about minor things, issues that hadn't been resolved, etc etc. By the time we were done, the only Northsider left (Besides Cheryl, but she was a serpent now) was Pop Tate himself. That shows how real this Riverdale civil-war really was.

"Alright, that's a wrap. Thanks for being patient with me guys, I know times are difficult right now, but we have to fight back!" I told them. They shook their heads in agreement and there was a chorus of "Yeah!"s. I clapped them on the back as they left, then sat down at an empty booth and ordered a strawberry milkshake and a burger. I took my laptop out of my bag and started typing, getting lost in my newest novel...

{-}

The ice cold water sank and rose with a rhythm that mirrored my heartbeat... I finished off a chapter and closed my laptop. I sipped my milkshake before hearing my phone buzz. I fished it out of my bag and checked to see who was calling. I saw a girl with a blonde ponytail, attempting to cover her face with her hands for the photo, laughing. Keyword attempting (You could still see her green eyes through the spaces of her fingers). I smiled. I remembered taking this photo of Betty, back when we first started dating. She hated the picture, so obviously, I set it as my profile photo for her contact and now it shows up every time she calls. I answered the call.

"Hey, Betts, everything ok?" I asked her, taking a bite of my burger.

"Jug, something happened." Her voice was hushed into a whisper. She sounded so scared, so frightened. I immediately stood up, starting to clear my plates and pack everything back into my bag.

"What do you mean? Are you ok? I'm coming over." I stepped outside and realized I didn't have any method of transportation since Veronica dropped me off. I would have to walk. Or run, should I say.

"NO, Jug you can't do that!" She raised her voice slightly, sounding more frantic. She took a deep breath. "Somebody broke in."

"What?!" I started running towards Betty's house. "Betty, there's no way in hell you can persuade me to not come over. Who broke in? Are you hiding? Did you get out?"

"I don't know who broke in. Ronnie and I heard someone banging on the door, causally at first, but then more and more violent. My mom fell asleep in her room, so I ran in and told her that someone was at the door. Suddenly we heard the door collapse, and he was inside. We didn't want to try and escape through one of the doors since he was down there, so right now we're in my room. The door is locked and we barricaded it with a dresser and a nightstand. He hasn't come upstairs yet. Ronnie and my mom are hiding in the closet, and I'm trying to get a window open but it's not cooperating! Wait, it's starting to open. Hold on." She put the phone down, and suddenly I heard a loud noise from Betty's line and heard someone in the background sware.

I really didn't know what to make of the situation, so I kept on running, not knowing what I was going to do once I got there. "What was that noise, Betty?" There was no response. I felt my heart drop. "Betty? Answer me! What's going on?" The call ended. She had hung up. Fear crawled through my entire body. I kept running, not stopping for anything. I decided not to call again in case her ringer was on and the intruder heard. I was on her street now. I was so close. I saw her house in the distance. My phone made a dinging noise. One new text from Betty.

I opened the window halfway, but it slammed back down. He heard. He's banging on the door. I'm still trying to get the window open. V and mom are helping.

I'm here. I'm going to make a distraction so he'll go to another room. Then I'll find a ladder or something so that you can get down once you open the window. It's going to be ok. Stay calm. I texted back. I ran into the house and heard the banging. I sucked in a breath. I decided to slam the basement door so that he would come down. Maybe I could lock him inside. I remembered that there was another door down there and ran down the stairs to lock and barricade it. But when I was halfway through the steps, my blood chilled. There was already someone down there. He was tied up in a chair, similar to how Chic once was. But this man wasn't Chic. In fact, I didn't recognize him at all. He appeared to be unconscious. I paused, then remembered Betty and the other upstairs and ran to the other basement exit, locking it and putting some miscellaneous furniture in front of it. I took another glance at the body, not sure if he was dead or not, and ran back upstairs, slamming the basement door. I heard the banging from upstairs stop, and then ran out the front entrance, trying to find a ladder. I had about a minute before he went downstairs and realized no one was there.

I went into the garage and easily found a ladder there. I ran to Betty's window and propped the ladder up. Even though the intruder was currently on his way to the basement, Betty, Ronnie, and Mrs. Cooper couldn't get down without removing the barricades from the door which would make noise. I heard footsteps coming from the basement and ran back inside, shutting the door and locking it. He realized what happened and started banging on the door. I went back outside to the ladder, climbing up it. I remembered the first time I did this, climbing up to her bedside window, back when we were all so innocent and naive.

I started climbing, eager to see her. She might be a little freaked out, but I didn't care. I knocked thrice on the window, seeing her turn around, a confused smile on her face. She jogged over, opening it for me.

"Hey there, Juliet." I looked around. "Nurse off duty?"

She smiled as bright as the sun, no- brighter and motioned for me to come in. I scanned the room. It was so... Betty.

She started ranting about how her whole family was crazy, and what if she was crazy too? I wanted to give her the world. I wanted to be able to make all her problems disappear.

"Hey," I told her. "We're all crazy." She laughed silently. I looked at her, taking in her beauty.

"What?" She asked, a smile playing at her lips.

I kissed her. She was surprised at first, but then melted into it. I forgot about all my problems with my dad, my mom, Jellybean, Jason Blossom's murder, the Southside Serpents. All I could focus on was the beautiful ray of sunshine in front of me. I broke away first, and her face morphed into one of shock.

"The car!" She exclaimed.

I smirked playfully. "Wow. That's what your thinking about in the middle of our moment?"

Oh, how times had changed.

Betty was struggling with the window. I tried helping, but it really wasn't much use since I was outside. Finally, after about 5 more minutes of pure panic, fearing that whoever broke in knocked down the door to the basement, Betty got the window open.

"Betty!" I helped her down, then helped Veronica and Mrs. Cooper. Then I shut the window and went back down the ladder. "Betty, oh my god." I cupped my hands around her face. "I thought I lost you." She kissed me, and I felt as if I held the whole world in the palm of my hands. I just wanted to stay like this forever. But alas, there was still a dangerous intruder in the basement. I broke away, saying, "The basement!"

Betty smiled, gently imitating me when she said in response, "Wow. That's what your thinking about in the middle of our moment?" I laughed, releasing all the worries away.

"I locked him in the basement. He's still there." I looked at the front door. I sighed. "I don't want you to come in, Betty. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Jughead, he broke into my house. Me, Ronnie, my mom. We should all see who it is." Betty said.

"I agree with that statement." Veronica piped up. Betty's mom still was in shock but firmly nodded her head.

"Fine." I concluded. I knew I wasn't changing her mind. "Just... stay close. Be careful. And call the police!" Betty pulled out her phone, made a quick phone call, and we crept back into the house, hearing not only banging, but kicking. I jumped back, then stepped forward.

"Hey! You barbarian!" I spun around to see Veronica standing with her mouth forming those words. Sirens went off in my head, and the noises stopped. I saw Betty's mom, who had a heavy lamp in her hands, and Betty, with a metal rod. I wasn't going to ask where she got it from. I pulled out my pocket knife, and cautiously opened the door. What we saw shocked us.

"Hey guys. Did you miss me?" White-blonde hair, icy blue eyes, and a thin-shaped face stood in front of us.

"Chic." Betty's mom breathed.

It turned out he had a weapon of his own, and swung the gun, aiming for the top of Betty's head. I quickly blocked him, pinning him to the ground. "What the hell are you doing here?" I growled.

"Chic?" Betty asked, taken aback. "I thought... I thought..."

He sneered. "You thought what? That when you sent dear old dad after me, I was murdered? Think again."

"Oh my god." We heard Veronica gasp. She pointed her finger towards the basement. "What is that?" Oh right. I forgot about the body.

Betty's eyes got wide. "Oh yeah." Chic said to her. "Meet your long-lost brother." He smiled coldly.

"Is..." Betty stuttered. "Is he dead?"

"He will be soon."

"I thought you said he died from a drug overdose." Mrs. Cooper said. She was crying, taking steps down the stairs to her dying son.

"Just another lie of Chic Whatever-your-last-name-is," Betty stared at him. I still had him pinned on the ground. Mrs. Cooper was holding onto Charles, crying.

Just in time, the police came. I heard the blaring alarms. 5 police officers barreled into the house, talking into their Walkie-Talkies. "Call the paramedics!" They yelled when they saw Charles. Before I knew what was happening, one of them was on me.

"What are you doing?" Betty shoved him off of me. Another one handcuffed me. "Stop it!" She shrieked.

"Forsyth Pendleton Jones III, you are under arrest for the beating of Chic," He didn't know his last name, so he just said Chic. "And the attempted murder of Charles Smith."

Betty and Veronica looked at me with fearful eyes. "Get your hands off me!" I told them. "I didn't do anything." Did they seriously think that I was the one responsible for this? Chic was pinned to the ground because he tried to attack my girlfriend!

"Get off him!" Betty exclaimed. "Chic broke in, he- he tried to kill Charles, Jughead did nothing! What are you doing?" The policeman glared at Betty.

I finally decided that fighting the policeman would not help my case. "It's fine, Betty. I'm going to be fine. There's no evidence against me." The police arrested Archie, and now me? They were slowly getting us all. There was no Hiram in sight; I didn't think he was behind this. I should have let go of Chic when the police arrived. I walked right into that one. But they couldn't put me in jail. They must know that I'm innocent,

right?