The trial is over. Archie is convicted of murder. But what will everyone else do? Bughead, Varchie, Archie/Jug friendships, Veronica/Betty friendships and even Veronica/Jug friendships.

Jughead POV.

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Bonus Chapter

"Archie! Archie!" Veronica shouts.

She starts running toward him. I want to grab her wrist but she is already close to him. She turns past all of us and keeps going, calling out his name in fits of sobs. Betty looks to me. I give her sympathy but it is all I can muster without shedding my own tears. I touch her hand, brushing her skin as she walks past me to get to Veronica.

Betty envelopes Veronica in her arms. They hold each other when my dad turns around and looks at me.

"It's over?" I ask, making sure that I am not the only one that heard what just happened.

"It's over," Dad says. "I'm so sorry, son. There's nothing we can do."

This is crazy. Archie is going to a juvenile detention center and the trial is really over. Three months of hard work down the drain. None of us did any work to get that answer. It all came from two words spoken from the red paladin himself.

"I'm guilty," he said. The words echo my head as I hear Veronica sobbing into Betty's shoulder.

"Let me talk to him!" she shouts. "I just want to talk to him! Please! Please! Archie!"

I rush over to the both of the, pushing my way past a few unknowns who came to watch the trial. Betty is holding onto Veronica's arm, trying to pull her back. She is hold her, trying to control our friend. I grab Veronica's other arm and manage to pull her close. I put her arms across her chest and hold her close to me.

"No! No! Archie!" Veronica shouts.

Betty grabs her on the other side and we both end up making her stop moving all together. Finally, her head rests on my chest and she cries so hard I think I have never actually heard a human cry this loud before. It scares me. I look to Betty. She has tears on her face too but I can't cry. Not here. Not yet. They are both looking to me to be the strong one. I have to give them that.

"Archie," Veronica says, crying into my shirt. I hold both girls to my chest. Veronica shakes, holding her arms to her own chest. Betty puts her arms around Veronica too, holding her hands onto my shirt, clutching me as tight as she can.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper to both of them.

Archie looks back at me, one last glance. He doesn't cry. He doesn't even look afraid. He looks right in my eyes.

"Take care of them," he says.

I nod.

"I will."

Betty's eyes cry as she looks to me for what to do next. Once Veronica has settled down and Archie is truly gone, I let go of the girls. They hug for a while. I feel my dads hand on my shoulder.

"Hey," he says. "We need to get back home."

"I can't leave Betty."

"We all need to get back home now, Jug," he says. "Bring them out of the court room at least."

He's right. We can't be in here a second longer. I grab Betty's hand, pulling her close to me and wrap my arm around her shoulder. Veronica lets me put my hand on her waist and lead them both toward the exit. We walk out of the court room together. The three musketeers missing their fourth. Everyone watches. Everyone stares because they will all be looking to how we react, his best friends, the people that cared about him the most.

Once outside, I let them go but Betty never leaves my side. She keeps her arm around me the entire time, never even letting go of my shirt that is clutched in her hand.

"I guess I should get back home too," Veronica says.

"Do you want to stay at my place, V?" Betty asks, wiping underneath of her eyes.

"I'd love to but I think I should be home," she admits.

"Hey," I say, grabbing her wrist before she goes back to that evil man.

"You don't have to stay with him," I remind her.

She nods.

"Thank you, Jughead," she says. "But I have a few things to tell him first."

"Be strong," I tell her.

"We're always here for you, V," Betty says, squeezing her hand.

"Does anyone know what we do after this?" Veronica asks.

I shrug. I have no idea. I still feel lost, like I don't know if anything will ever be the same again.

"We're going to file an appeal," Betty says. "We're going to try everything we can to get him out of there as fast as we can. In the mean time, we can just visit him and try our hardest to go on."

Go on? What will the halls of Riverdale high be without Archie Andrews? What a sad thought. No Archie at games. No Archie at Pops. No Archie for double features. No Archie on pizza nights. No Archie when I can't stay at my own house.

That hurt a lot more than I thought it would.

"I'll talk to you guys soon," Veronica says.

"See you in school," Betty says.

When Veronica is gone and most people are leaving, I grab Betty. I pull her arm to me and wrap my arms around her, burying my face in her hair and keeping her close. She gets my need to be this close because she can feel it too.

"It's okay," she whispers. "He'll be fine."

"He'll be protected," I promise her. "He has the tattoo. That'll get him in with the serpents and keep him safe at least."

"But what about everything else…god, Archie. Why would he admit to that?" she asks, pulling away from me enough to look at me but not enough that she is too far. I keep my arms around her, feeling just as hurt and shaken as she is.

"He was afraid," I say. "He didn't want to put his friends through all of this again. You heard him. He just wanted it to be over."

"It is over now," she says. "But not in the way that we want it to be. Jug, what are we going to do?"

"Come stay with me," I beg of her. This is not a totally selfless offer. I want her to be with me because I don't want to be alone, not just because I want her to feel okay but she can tell that without me having to say it out loud.

"I wish I could," she says. "But my mom is crazy right now."

"Can I come in through the window?" I ask her.

She nods.

I grab her hands and make her open her fists. There are little crescent marks on her palms. I kiss them and then hold them to my chest.

"Take care of yourself while I'm gone," I beg. "I promise to be there soon."

I remember Dilton sitting at my house and it worries me. What the hell was he doing there and how am I supposed to care what on earth happened to him when Archie just got sent to jail?

"I love you," she says.

"I love you too," I tell her, kissing her palms.

Archie, why did you leave me? You know I can't take care of both of them on my own. But I promised him I would so now I just need to figure out how I am going to do it.

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