Betty's pov
"Betts, it's okay," Jughead whispers, rubbing my back as I sob into his chest. "What's going on, Betts?"
"Juggie... he wants to see her," I say softly.
I watch the realization dawn on his face. "Oh my god," he replies quietly. "It's been almost fourteen years since... why now?"
"I'm not sure," I say. "Can I keep her from him?"
"He was a bad person, Betts. It's what's right," Jughead tells me.
"Does she deserve to at least know about him?" I question.
"I don't think so. I met him once, he was nasty. Best to keep her away from that," Jughead advises. "What does he want with her now, anyways?"
"No clue. He mentioned a girlfriend in the texts," I answer.
"How did he get your phone number?" Jughead asks me.
"I don't know," I sigh. "What do I do if she finds out about him?"
Jughead takes a deep breath. "Tell her the truth," he says.
"She'll hate me more than she already does."
"It'll be worse if you keep lying after he's told her," Jughead tells me.
"He's not her dad, though. Biologically, he is, but he didn't do shit in raising her. No money, no visits, I haven't seen him since that day in the library," I say. "You're her dad."
"She's not gonna think that," Jughead says.
"I know," I reply, sighing.
Juju's pov, a few days later.
Just as I'm about to get ready for bed, I hear someone ring the doorbell.
'Who could that possibly be?' I wonder, and decide to check it out.
I creep down the hall to the entryway.
"How did you find us?" Mom asks whoever is at the door. Her voice is slightly hushed, and there's a touch of fear in it.
"You'd be surprised how far a few dollars can go on certain websites," a man answers. He scoffs. "I can see you're just as much of a slut as you were fourteen years ago."
"It wasn't my idea, fourteen years ago," Mom answers coolly.
This man is freaking me out. I need to know what he looks like. I peek my head around the corner.
"Ah, is this her?" he asks, pointing towards me. I step fully out from behind the wall, nervously tucking a chunk of my hair behind my ear.
"Juju, don't talk to him," Mom tells me without looking my way.
"Why?" I ask, surveying the man. He has dark red hair and brown eyes, a very muscular build, and is the type of guy girls would swoon over in high school for no good reason.
"So it is," he says. "Well, Juju, you wouldn't happen to know about me?"
I shake my head slowly. "Juju, I said don't talk to him," Mom says, looking at me with raised eyebrows.
"I wasn't talking," I reply, annoyed.
Mom looks angrily at me. "You know what I mean," she says. Dad comes walking into the area. He sees the man in the door and flares his nostrils. He walks to mom and puts his arms around her.
"Still with this nerd, are you?" the man asks.
"He's not a nerd. At least he passed the second grade without help," Mom says.
The man in the door looks even angrier. "Your daughter seems to be lacking in certain aspects of family history," he says, "so why don't I explain it? Juju, or whatever your name is, I'm your father."
"No... he's my dad," I say, pointing to Jughead.
The man shakes his head. "No he's not. Get a DNA test, he's not related to you at all," he says.
"But... he's in the pictures of when I was born," I reply.
"That doesn't make him your father," the man replies.
"Mom, is he...?" I ask, looking at her.
She hesitates, looking at Dad. "He's... he's not lying, baby," she says finally.
My heart drops. "W- what? He's... my dad?" I ask, looking between the three adults.
"He is your biological father, yes," Mom says. "But that doesn't make him your dad."
"Yes it does!" I cry. "So you've lied to me my whole life?"
"Juju, this man wanted nothing to do with you! I haven't seen him since I was twenty weeks pregnant with you!" Mom tells me.
"You could've at least told me that dad isn't my dad!" I say. It's now I realize that I'm crying. And that my mom is crying.
"He is your dad, honey! I didn't tell you because I wanted to keep you away from him, he wasn't good for me, and he won't be good for you!" she tells me, trying to hug me.
I squirm away, taking special care to not touch her stomach. "No! I don't want anything to do with you or that stupid baby!" I yell. I dash to my room, shutting and locking my door behind me.
I pick up my phone and do a group call with Preston and Callie. "I need you to meet me at the park. I need to talk about something," I say.
"Right now?" Callie asks.
"Yes, it's really important," I reply, lacing my shoes, tears still falling from my eyes.
"You sound like you're crying. Is everything alright?" Preston asks.
"No, no it's not, please meet me at the park," I say, throwing on a jacket.
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Preston says, and hangs up.
"I'll see you there, alright?" Callie says.
"Alright," I reply and we end the call.
Mom knocks on my door. "Hey, Juju, come on, can we talk?" she says.
"I don't want to!" I call back. Carefully, I pull my backpack on and take a deep breath.
Betty's pov
After a few minutes, she still isn't opening the door.
"Julianne Marie Jones, open this door," I say. She doesn't respond.
"Let's just go in," Jughead says, running his hands through his hair and sighing.
"I woulda done that ages ago," Archie says.
"I'm still not sure why you're here. First of all, it's been fourteen years. Second of all, we didn't even invite you inside the house!" I say, picking the lock with a bobby pin.
"She's my daughter," Archie replies.
"She's my daughter," Jughead says.
I get the door open. "Guys," I say slowly, "she's gone."
"What?" Jughead says, looking away from Archie. His eyes slowly widen in panic as he realizes that Juju is not in the room we saw her go in only a few minutes ago, but the window is wide open.
"Great, you lost her," Archie says. "Great parenting, idiot."
"If you hadn't showed up-," Jughead starts.
"Guys, stop fighting! Right now, we need to focus on getting Juju back," I tell them.
"Mama, what's going on?" Everett asks, rubbing his eyes, his voice hoarse.
"Oh, you have another," Archie says, "how wonderful" he finished sarcastically. Jughead rolls his eyes.
"Oh, Rhett, it's fine," I say, telling him to come to me.
He eyes Archie wearily. "Who are you?" he asks.
Archie scoffs and doesn't reply.
"Rhett, go get Gray, we need to look for your sisterm" I tell him. He runs to his brother's room.
"That's not another kid, is it?" Archie asks.
"No, it's the fish," I reply. "Yes, it's another kid!"
"S-L-U-T," he spells.
"We're married," Jughead tells Archie. "If you wanna go by the Bible or whatever, sex is fine if you're making kids."
"Slut," he repeats.
"You sound like a sixteen year old boy," I tell him. Everett returns with Grayson.
"Get on some jackets and your shoes, we're going somewhere," I tell them.
Juju's pov
I set out at a run down the street. I only have so long until they come into my room and realize I'm not there.
The wind cuts harshly across my face, making my eyes sting and drying my tears. I run to the park six blocks away, to the usual meeting place of Callie, Preston and I. Callie is already there, sitting on the picnic bench in leggings and a sweatshirt.
"Juju, what's going on?" she asks. "Why did you need to meet? Is everything alright?"
I sit on the bench, leaning back against the table, tears pouring out of my eyes. My breathing becomes fast, sharp, and uncontrollable.
"Hey- hey," Callie says softly, sitting next to me. "You'll get through this, just breathe," she tells me.
"I... can't," I choke between breaths. I feel alone, even with Callie right beside me, and like everything is about to go wrong.
"You can, deep breaths, in and out," she says delicately, stroking my arm.
"Juju, Callie, what's up?" I hear Preston call from a few feet away.
"She- she's having trouble catching her breath, she hasn't told me," Callie answers nervously.
Preston sets down the bag he brought with him and sits on my other side.
"Concentrate on your breathing," he says, "don't think of anything else, just concentrate on a normal breathing pattern," he instructs. He counts me through it until I calm down. "Okay, do you want to talk about it?" he asks.
I nod. "My dad isn't my dad," I say.
"What?" Callie questions.
"This other guy just came to our house, and he was talking to my mom, he obviously used to know her, he called her a slut, and then said I didn't know family history, and then told me that he's my dad and when I asked if he was lying she said no," I explain frantically.
"Oh my god," Preston says. "What happened?"
I shrug. "I don't know. I ran to my room and called you all before leaving through my window," I say.
"What," Callie asks in disbelief.
"Your parents don't know you're here?" Preston asks.
"Not really," I say, grimacing.
Callie lets out a breath. "Ohhh, Juju, that's not good," she says. "They could be really worried," she adds.
"I don't really care. It's their punishment for not telling me the truth," I say defiantly.
"That's not really how it works, Jules," Preston tells me.
"It's not your job to punish them," Callie agrees.
I huff. "You guys don't understand," I say quietly.
"I know," Callie says, moving closer to me. "We don't understand, and we never will. But, we're giving our view on the matter. We're not saying that what your parents did was right, but we're also not saying how you handled the situation was right" she explains, glancing at Preston, who nods in agreement.
I sigh, leaning my head on my hands. "I just don't know what to do," I say.
"We'll help you through whatever," Preston says, reaching his hand out. He hesitates for a second before setting it gently on my shoulder. I smile at him, and he returns it with a messy grin.
We sit together in silence for a few moments before there's a faint yell that breaks the calm quiet.
"Juju? Juju! Julianne!" is called over and over in the dark night.
The noise grows stronger with each passing second. My stomach turns over, and I want to duck under the table and hide like I would do when I was little.
"They're coming," Preston says, looking at me. He and Callie are seated on either side of me.
"I know," I reply. I take Callie's hand in my left, then glance quickly at Preston before taking his hand in my right. "You guys are the best friends I could ever ask for," I say.
"So are you," Preston says.
Callie smiles and nods. "For sure," she agrees.
"Juju! Oh, Julie, you can't do that!" I hear my mom call as she runs up to me.
I feel a twinge of guilt as I look at her. She's wearing the tank top and shorts that have recently become her pajamas, and has a pair of flip flops on as shoes. Her eyes are red, and she looks freezing. Everyone else is behind her. My dad, the man with the red hair, Grayson, Everett, even Callie's parents and Preston's mom and stepdad are there.
"Juju, what were you thinking?" Dad asks me.
I shrug a little, looking at Mom instead of him. "Sorry," I say softly.
"Look, Jules, I know this is a lot to take in, but you can't just run away like that. It's dark out, and we don't know where you are or what could happen to you," Mom says. When I don't reply for a few seconds, she continues. "Let's go back home, and we can talk about all of this."
"Can Callie and Preston come?" I ask delicately.
"Preston can go," Preston's mom says, examining her nail polish.
"So can Callie," Callie's mom adds sweetly.
"Alright. Let's get home now, everyone," she says.
I bite on my lip and stand up, grabbing the backpack I packed. I grab the extra sweatshirt I put in there out of it and hand it silently to my mom. She gives me a small smile before putting it on.