Author's Note: Starting from the begging kinda drabble
Juggie Jughead Jones
I was eating my pudding with my fingers because I forgot a spoon and I know mom will be mad at me because I got chocolate on my sleeves and now they were sticky.
The girl with the big eyes had been looking at me all break time and she made me feel funny. She walked around with Archie because he knew her because their houses are next to each other but I didn't know her. They played ball and they ate lunch together but now they were both watching me so I stared back and I show them my teeth to scare them. They don't look scared.
The girl with the big eyes had long blonde hair that she had tied up high with a pink scrunchy, she smiled big like the sun and her eyes were shiny and glittery. Her ball rolled across the ground and hit my shoes but I tried to kick it back, but I missed. She followed her ball all the way to my shoes and she put her hands in the pockets of her dress and looked at me. "Do you always sit here by yourself?"
"No," I lie, picking at my sleeves that were dirty. "Do you?"
"No," she says laughing. "I have my friend Archie, he walks to school with me. Mom says he's been my neighbour since we were babies," she says shrugging her shoulders.
"I know Archie," I say to her and I look at my shoes. I knew him first, I knew him before she did but now he hangs out with her and I sit here eating chocolate pudding by myself.
Archie with the red hair and dirt smudged on his face waves from behind her, her Archie was my Archie, the one I always play with but now I don't. He waves at me and runs over to the girl with the big eyes. "Come on Juggie, wanna play?"
I think about it. Maybe I do want to go and play but I always sit here, I don't want to move. "No," I tell him. I can't go because I always sit here and then that would change if I went to play. I know Archie but I don't know the girl. She was different.
He frowns and taps the girl on the shoulder. "Come on," he whispers but I can hear him. "Let's go, Betty, Juggie looks shy."
Betty shakes her head and turns to look at me with her lips screwed up. "My name is Betty."
I nod at her and keep looking at my sleeves but I can feel her staring at me, she's looking at my hat. "I'm Jughead," I tell her, maybe she'll go away.
She laughs at me and her eyes squint in the sun. "That's a funny name," she tells me. "And you're wearing a funny hat."
I touch my hat. People always think it's funny but I don't think it is. "Not that funny," I say.
"We just call him Juggie at my house," Archie says shrugging.
Betty's face screws up at him. "If you know him why doesn't he come and play?"
"Because," he says taking a big breath. "He might be shy."
She keeps laughing but she touches my hand and pulls me. "Come on, Jughead," she says quickly. "You can't sit over here by yourself."
"Yeah I can," I say trying to let go of her but her hand is tighter around mine. "I don't mind."
"I do mind," she says making her eyes big again. "And Archie and me need a new friend."
Archie throws his ball up in the air and catches it easily before giving me a smile showing all his teeth. "You gonna come and play now?" he asks me.
I pull my hand out of Betty's and pull my hat down on my head. "Ah," I say, I don't really want to play but they were both smiling at me. "I'm not very good."
"Well I am," Archie says. "And it's really easy. Betty will teach you, Betty's a good teacher," Archie tells me.
Archie starts bouncing the ball and Betty turns around again. "You don't have any friends?" she asks me.
I shake my head and my hat feels floppy. "Nah, not really."
"Well," she says putting both her hands on her hips. "Me and Archie are here so now you have friend."
"Got it," I say.
Archie keeps throwing the ball. "I was your friend first, you know," he says to me. "Because our dads are friends."
"I'm really good at ball," Betty says missing the ball.
I laugh at her. "You lied, do you always tell lies?" I ask her because mom doesn't like lies.
"No," she says lying again. I can tell because she turns pink.
The ball hits me on the arm because I miss. Then we all start laughing. Betty smiles at me and I try not to smile back but I couldn't help it because she smiles big and it reminds me of the sun in summer.
Betty was rocking back and forth on her feet with her thumbs in the straps of her bag. "What does Jughead mean?"
I frown and my eyebrows screw up. "What do you mean?"
"My names is Betty and it means Elizabeth," she says licking her lips. "Archie's name means Archibald. What does yours mean?"
I smile at her and my eyes squint but hers do too. "My name means Jughead."
"That can't be your real name, can it?" she asks me.
I feel funny in my tummy when I try not to laugh. I was joking with her and my Dad always jokes so I know it's funny. "My name is just Jughead," I say lifting my shoulders. "It's funny."
She laughs and she laughs loud like booming thunder in the night time. "That is funny," she says laughing again. "More fun than Betty means Elizabeth."
I see my Dad's truck driving up the road and I wait for him at the side, he waves to me and Archie runs past. "See you tomorrow, Juggie!" he shouts.
I wave out to him too and so does Betty. I turn around to Betty and I tell her. "Jughead means Forsythe, I think."
She looks mad and her lips pout out. "You lied to me!"
"See you tomorrow too, Betty," I say waving.
"Will you be here tomorrow with me?" she asks me.
"I'll be here!"
Dad drives the car up next to me and he swings the car open so I can jump in. "Who were you playing with, son?" dad asks me but he waves out to Archie's dad who was next to us.
"Archie and Betty," I tell him. "I like them."
Dad nods at me and clicks the flicker on. "Archie better be good to you or I'll tell Freddie. Betty huh? Alice's girl, probably a Saint like her mother," Dad starts laughing.
I don't think it's a very funny joke so I don't laugh, "Dad," I ask him. "What's a Saint?"
"Everyone else but us, Son," Dad says patting me on the head. "Everyone else but us."
Author's Note: Hope you guys like baby Juggie. More drabbles from the past to come! Keep an eye out.