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Chapter Twenty

Jughead

"We should get dressed," Betty mutters beside me.
"Never." I pull her closer to me. She rests her head on my chest, putting her arm around my waist. I kiss the top of her head and squeeze her when she tries to move.

"We have to get to the court house for Archie," she says.

I breathe heavily trying to remember what normal life was like when we didn't have to go to the damn court house every other day, run our Serpents in tent city, somehow survive Betty's mother and remain Serpent King and Queen. Yeah, this is just the best most normal summer that I have ever head.

"I hate this," I say.

She turns her head to me, lifting herself up so that she can look into my eyes. She puts her hands on my chest as she sticks her lower lip out. She gives me those sad eyes that make me want to hold her forever and never let go.

"Me too," she admits.

"I hate knowing that Archie is going through all of this. He doesn't deserve it. We were all there. We are all sources. But those damn guys testifying that he did it, is just ruining everything," I say.

I put my hand down my face and let my head fall back on the pillow. I take a deep breath, trying to refocus myself.

"We have to get him out of this," Betty mutters.

"We have spent all summer thinking about him. You have been working with his lawyers every second that you aren't with the Serpents. I have been up to my ears in serpent problems. Veronica has been working non-stop at Pops trying to get the speak easy ready. None of us have had a chance to have a normal summer. We have only ever had normal moments during the summer and even those were overshadowed by Ghoulies or thugs or other problems that we didn't see coming."

She sits up and holds her hand out. I take it, intertwining our fingers together. She smiles when she looks down at our hands. I lean closer to her so that I can capture her lips in mine. I take this small moment of happiness and pure joy for granted, as I have taken all of these small moments.

"Things are going to get crazy," she admits after she pulls away.

"And we are going to be together during it all," I promise her. I know she needs to hear it. When things get rough, she gets worried. Rightfully so, the last few times that things got crazy, I retracted into myself and made things bad for her and a lot of other people around me. This time, I am not going to do that. When something is wrong, I am going to go to her instead of push her away. We are going to work on anything that might come up because I need her in my life.

And I know she needs me too.

"I love you," she says.

"I love you too," I say.

"Let's put our clothes on and go support our friend," she says.

I nod. I watch Betty as she slips her bra on and then her underwear, followed by pulling her dress up. I graze my fingers along her back before I pull the zipper up and dress her hair around her shoulders. She turns around, holding my waist in her hands. I want to pull her closer but know that I can't.

Instead, I get dressed and throw my hat back on.

I hold her hand and pull her out the door until we are at my bike. She keeps her hands around my waist tight as we start driving. I don't want to. But I let the open road make me think of nothing but green and grey in front of me. I let it distract me from my best friend going to court, my girlfriend getting us in trouble with the Ghoulies and my other friend's father somehow in charge of it all.

When we make it to the court room, I get off of the bike and hold my hand out to her. She takes it and steps off. Then I hear yelling.

"That's the bitch that was beating on us the other day!" someone shouts.

I turn to the source.

A Ghoulie.

Crap.

I put Betty behind me and step toward him. There are at least ten of them and two of us. They are right by the court house, a little further from the front door than I'd like. I don't want to run but I would like to get in there to support my friend. A few people from the press are on the steps too. I try avoiding it all.

"Get out of our way," I tell him.

"No way! You started this!" he shouts again.

"We can deal with this on serpent time! Right now, I am here for my friend," I demand. He steps closer to us. Betty pushes my arm aside so that she stands beside me now. I want to pull her behind me but know that she won't let me do it with them so close to us. I step closer to his face so that he knows I am not afraid of him. he won't do anything out her in the open around so many people.

"I don't care who you are here for. You better be leaving," he says.

"You're crazy. Move."

"And if I don't?" he asks, shoving my chest. I push my chest against his so he is forced to step backwards a little. I want to fumble him into the ground, beat him until he is nothing and then laugh in his face but decide not to. I can't. not here. This is Archie's day and he is already stressed enough.

"If you don't get out of our way, I will stab you in the throat with my heel after I shave off the first layer of your skin," Betty says.

I try not to look surprised. This girl will always amaze me. he looks irritated and maybe a little scared. He saw her in action the other night. She is serious about anything that she might say to the Ghoulies. When she hates, she finds that darkness that lives inside of her and she lets it out. She lets it ravage whatever is in her way.

"I wouldn't fight her on that one," I say to him, crossing my arms over my chest.

He looks as if he is considering the thought but then shakes his head, as if it's a stupid thought. I wonder how that guy thinks.

"Seriously man, you should see the scratch marks on my back," I say with a smirk. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and pull her closer. "Or the handcuff constrictions on my wrists…don't mess with a serpent queen, Ghoulie, you'll get the venom."

He gives a small laugh but then shrugs and turns to the rest of his gang. He nods his head toward the streets. They all start walking away. We watch until they are far enough away that we can trust it.

"We are definitely going to have to fight them again," I mutter.

"As long as I can get my hands around Penny's throat, I am good with that," Betty responds with a shrug.

We walk into the court room, linked and nervous. I can feel her entire body shaking. I try to keep mine under control. This is like the day that they told us the custody agreement. They said we had to live somewhere else until my parents got it together. Those prolonged moments where I was waiting for the hammer to drop, I was scared, nervous, shaking and holding a very sad baby girl.

Now I am scared, nervous, shaking and holding a very sad women in my arms.

We both see Archie at the same time. He is with his lawyers and Veronica. When Betty sees him, she rushes over and throws her arms around him. he hugs her tightly. It is a familiar hug. The kind of hug that means he is scared that he won't be able to hold her for a long time. I want to tell him to take his hands off of my girlfriend, make a joke, but I can't. I know he needs this. I want it for him.

Finally, he lets go. Betty, rests her hand on his forearm before going back to me. I pat my hand on his back.

"You've got this," I say.

"I don't know, man," Archie says. "It's not looking good."

"We don't know that. Let's not make the decision before they do," I say.

"We'll all be supporting you the whole time, Arch," Betty says.

"Hey, what was that about in the parking lot? We saw some Ghoulies talking to you guys," Veronica says.

"Don't worry about it," Betty says with a shrug.

"It was taken care of," I agree.

"Serpent business?" Archie asks. He doesn't like that we are a part of them, much less their leaders, but he has started to accept it a little bit more. Now that he realizes we aren't being reckless, he respects it a little more.

"Yeah," I admit.

"Guys, let's get in there," Mr. Andrews says.

We all turn to each other. We might be terrified, but we are ready for this all to be over. We have to have Archie back with us and we have to start high school again on Tuesday. This back and forth game of Russian roulette ends here.

I grab Betty's hand. She takes Veronica's and Veronica holds onto Archie. We walk in together, just as we always have and just as we always will.