Chapter Seven

Jughead

I hate court. I hate trials too. They are all so intimidating. People we don't know deciding the fate of a case they know nothing about because let's face it, there is one living person in the entire world that knows whether Archie did it or not. And that is Archie. But that trial doesn't care about that. Just like the old saying. The sword doesn't care about innocence; it just cuts. That will be true for Archie.

Betty notices my inability to sit still or allow myself to breathe without gasping. She grabs my hand in the second half of the trial. I squeeze her fingers constantly, never quite able to grasp the fact that I am walking out of here unscathed.

"Jughead?" I hear her whisper beside me. I turn to her.

"Calm down," she mouths without sound.

I nod.

"We call Archie Andrews to the stand," the blonde female says as she stands from her chair. As Archie enters and is sworn to tell nothing but the truth, he sits forward in his seat by the judge. Being cross examined is terrifying. I know. I can remember it.

"Jughead Jones, how did you get that bruise?" the mean man in the dark suit asks me. he has already asked me about that bruise. I told him I don't have a bruise. But they brought up a picture of one on that big screen. That bruise was from a long time ago. How did they even get a picture of it?

"I told you, I don't remember."

"That's alright," he says, as if that is going to soothe me enough to calm me down. But they are not getting rid of this anger.

"You mentioned that your father is angry when he is drunk?" he asks. "How often does he get drunk?"

"I don't know. I don't remember."

"Objection!"

"Mr. Andrews, why were you at the lake house that morning?" she asks. I swallow hard and loosen my grip on Betty's fingers. I realize that I was squeezing her way too tight. I rest my hand gently on hers. She looks concerned with wide eyes and a scared expression. I shake my head at her and then turn back to Archie. He is looking at us, not at the woman in front of him. I look to my right, following his eyes and then realize that he is looking right at Veronica. It almost makes me smile.

"I was there to enjoy a weekend away," he says.

"Who were you with?"

"Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper," he says.

"And where did you stay?"

"The lake house," he says, looking confused.

"The room. Who stayed with you in the room you were in?"

"Judge. Objection. That is not a relevant question," his mother says, standing up. The judge looks to her with boredom and then back to the prosecution. Archie is staring at him but he looks to the lawyer.

"You can answer," the judge says simply.

"Veronica Lodge," he says.

"And the other two? Were they in the same room together?"

"Objection! That's not relevant!"

"What about your sister? She seemed awfully upset when we arrived to your house. Does Jellybean cry a lot?"

"I guess so. She's little. She cries because she's young," I admit, shrugging and then looking to my dad. But he won't meet my eyes. He has his eyes on the desk in front of him. His hands are shaking like they always do. It scares me. Am I saying something wrong? Did I do something wrong?

"Does your mom cry a lot?" she asks.

"Only when they fight."

"When who fights, Jughead?"

"My parents."

"What do they fight about?

I try to remember but I never really know. I can't understand what they are saying. I can only understand the pain in their voices. I grab Jellybean and bring her to the back room. When we still hear it, I tell her stories so that she can go to sleep. Then I listen to them until it stops. Finally, when it's all over I can fall asleep too.

"I don't know. I don't understand it."

"That's alright, Jughead," she says. "We just want to make sure that you are safe in that house. We saw that bruise and thought that maybe something had happened. Do you remember anyone ever hitting you before?"

"A kid at school," I say with a nod.

"What kid?"

"Jason."

"Why did Jason hit you?" she asks.

"Because I made fun of his sister."

"We're off track, your Honor," someone else says.

"Mr. Andrews. Could you tell me what exactly you did that morning?" she asks. "Walk me through it from the beginning."

"I woke up around six. Veronica was still sleeping so I got my shoes and left the room quietly. There was no one else in the house so I assumed that Betty and Jug were still asleep. I grabbed the axe and went out to the trees to chop firewood. I did that until I got a text that asked me to come meet Mr. Lodge's transportation guy."

I almost laugh. He is still a teenager with a teens' vocabulary. He is trying his best but he is angry that his entire thing happened at all. It doesn't make sense. Why would anyone think that he killed Cassidy? I don't understand it.

"You spoke to him and then what?" she asks.

"Veronica saw us and we had a disagreement about whether I should have told her that he stuck around to watch us or not," he admits. He looks right at Veronica. She gives him a small, encouraging expression.

"Veronica then left to go out with Betty and you stayed back with Jughead. The rest of the day was unremarkable, would you agree?"

"I suppose so."

"Let's talk about that night. What were Jughead and Betty disagreeing with you about?" she asks.

"Mr. Lodge bought the register. Betty's dad owns it. They thought that it was because he was trying to silence the free press. They were arguing with us about it."

"Did it ever get physical?" she asks. He looks confused. I sit forward in my chair, resting my elbows on my knees. I can feel Betty's calming hand on my back. I want to thank her but know that I can't talk.

"No. Of course not."

"You had never gotten physical in a negative way with any of the three other members in that household?"

The judge sits forward. "Be more specific," he says.

"Have you ever in your life gotten in a physical altercation with either Jughead, Betty or Veronica."

"No," he says, almost offended. He is trying hard not to be.

"Not even just something small? I mean, you crushed on the girl that he is now dating. Is that not reason to fight with him?"

"Jughead and I have wrestled around but never fought each other," he says again.

She nods.

"So you could be violent with another person that you are close to?" she asks.

"No!"

"But is this not you on this video where you cut Jughead from his shackles as he attempts to peacefully protest the demolishing of his very own school?"

"Yes, that was me," he says. "But we weren't physical."

"Really?" she asks, stepping forward and then turns to the screen. The video begins and we all watch thirty seconds of Archie cutting me from my chains and then shoving me out through the crowd.

"You wouldn't call that pushing your best friend out into the crowd after you just cut him from peacefully protesting?" she clarifies.

"I shoved him. I wasn't—"

"Did you push him?"

Archie turns to his mother then to me. I find fear in his eyes but there is nothing I can do. He hurt me that day. He was supposed to be my best friend and he decided to take me from the one thing that I had then he pushed me for good measure.

"Answer the question."

"I don't understand," I say again, feeling like I might get upset at any second. I am begging my chest to stay stable and my eyes to stay without water. But the fear is not making either task easy.

"Do you feel tired, Jughead?"

"Yes."

"Your teachers say that you are tired a lot. Is there some reason you can't get enough sleep at home?" she asks.

"No. I sleep."

"Your friend Betty says that you fall asleep in class a lot. You and her are close friends?"

"Yes."

"Would she lie?"

"No."

"Why do you fall asleep in class?"

"I get tired."

I feel tears fall on my cheeks as she asks the next question. I look to my mom, begging for her to stop this but she does nothing. She looks down at her hands, as if ignoring me completely. It scares me but I continue.

"Yes, I pushed Jughead…my best friend," he says. "And I shouldn't have. But Mr. Lodge wanted me to do it and I wanted to please him. I didn't understand Jug's cause and I did the wrong thing. For that, I'm sorry, Jug."

I nod toward him since I can't talk but he is looking right at me. I don't know why he did that. But it scares me. I hadn't even thought about it for a while. I was over that a long time ago. He did make a stupid decision but everyone does.

The judge taps his mallet and everyone looks to him.

"We are going to take a thirty-minute recess."

I turn to Betty, resting my head on her shoulder as I try not to squeeze hard enough to break her fingers in my hand.