Warnings: Bullying

Word count: 3396

A/N: My notes are out of date...

Jughead's point of view

Jughead gets up refreshed that morning. He couldn't sleep many hours, but the ones he managed to were serene, the very word Y/N used to describe Sweet Water River the previous night. He has so much to write after what he considers to be his best moment in ages! He lets his fingers work fast and his mind even faster, for he would have to move from one Twilight Zone to another – the drive-in to school – pretty soon.

He walks through the halls of Riverdale High just thinking about the latest lines of his novel, imagining several possible ways in which those pages could unfold. He's wondering what role Y/N will play in that story, looking for her face on everyone else's. Jughead is bitterly disappointed in himself because he never remembered to ask for her phone number. His mind is brought back to the present as he spots Archie standing by Jason's locker, now a memorial site. He really wants to work things out, so he tries to start a conversation with some of his usual sardonic humor, making a joke about Jason. However, it has a bad impact on his friend, and the awkward atmosphere between them continues.

Jughead walks into his Biology classroom with Principal Weatherbee and Sheriff Keller's announcement still fresh in his mind. "Most of you already know the details, but your classmate Jason Blossom's body was found late Saturday night. So as of the weekend, Jason's death is now being treated as a homicide. It is an open and ongoing investigation." He wants answers just as much as they do and will stop but nothing to find them. He sits in the front, overhearing Cheryl's conversation with her minions, confirming that Jason had fallen into the water. She says like it's the most obvious thing, but Jughead doesn't buy it and takes note to share with Y/N later if or when he sees her. Just as he finishes writing his sentence, the teacher walks in. "Seats, everyone. Pair off, gloves on, scalpels up." He says hurriedly, putting something on the blackboard. Walking right behind him is none other than Y/N Y/L/N. Jughead shouts he wants to be paired with Y/N before his brain even processes the thought, before anyone even has a chance to pick their partners. Archie says he wants to pair up with Cheryl, Veronica practically throws herself at Betty, leaving Kevin to work alongside with Moose, the pair who found Jason's body.

The Y/H/C girl seats on the stool next to his, drops her heavy bag on the desk, opens the zipper and takes her notebook out. "Didn't think we had any classes together.", says a kinda nervous, kinda thrilled novelist who can't help noticing she smells like white chocolate and ginger. "Just Biology, I guess. Didn't make the grade for honors.", she explains. "Here I thought pairing up with you would be a guaranteed pass.", he says playfully. "Sorry Jones, that guy with the gradebook doesn't like me." He looks at her questionably. "I refuse to make dissections. Telling him we are in the 21st century and that kind of teaching is old fashioned didn't seat so well with him.", she says rolling her eyes and taking off her jacket, revealing a biology joke on her shirt, a cell taking a selfie written cell-fie under it. "So I'm gonna have to do all the work?" He points at the frog sitting in front of them. She laughs. "I'll do the theory, you do the practice." Jughead starts dissecting their frog and she looks away, earning a reproving look from their teacher.

As Y/N makes notes on frog anatomy in Jughead's book, he observes her. She's so focused on what she's doing that lines form on her forehead, and he thinks they make her look adorable. "We should go to the Pep Rally together.", he blurts out. She looks up from the book and towards him, puzzled. "Everyone will be there. It's the best time for us to narrow down our list of suspects.", he quickly tries to fix what could've sounded like he was in any way interested in school events that involve jocks and cheerleaders running around. "Maybe that sounded like I wanted to take her out and now she thinks it's just for my novel. Well done, Jughead." He scratches his neck nervously at what she'll say. "I'll meet you under the bleachers." She writes something down on a scrap paper she hands to a now happier Jughead. "I got her number."

He notices how hard it is for her to keep a gag in as they do the assignment, so he discreetely gives her the note containing Cheryl's conversation, in hopes it will make her mind shift from dead open frogs to dead shot people. "Does anything weird come to your mind whenever you think of that holiday? Besides Cheryl lying.", she asks in a low voice, looking around to make sure no one is eavesdropping. "Well, Archie and I were supposed to go on a road trip during the July 4th weekend. But he bailed last minute. I tried talking to him about it before class, but he was… evasive.", he says reluctantly, with some visible bitterness, looking at his friend behind him, afraid to see a suspect instead of a life-long pal, but then again, he wasn't so sure they were still friends after that. "He was also very defensive this morning when I made a joke about skipping PE because I'm grieving Jason." He knew she wouldn't reprehend him for it, unlike Archie. Even not knowing her long enough, he could tell they had similar ways to see and react to things. She even giggles at the thought of Jughead telling Archie a morbid joke. "Archie seems too nice to do it, but we can't be sure. Maybe talk to him? Since you two have a history. I'll stick with Evil Queen Cheryl." He laughs a little too loud, but he's literally saved by the bell ringing and everyone leaving the classroom as fast as they can.

Jughead was once again wandering through the school halls, messenger bag across his chest carrying his laptop and the school book Y/N made notes on, headphones blasting his favorite song, blocking the world. He passes by the music room and sees something so weird that breaks him away form his daydream. His best friend – at least that's what he would call him until last summer – and the music teacher so close they could only be kissing. His mind going 100 miles per hour, he goes straight to Andrews' house to wait for Archie and follow Y/N's advice to talk to him. Now more than ever he needs to understand what's going on; Besides, regardless of the distance that formed between them, he cares about him – a lot. When he finally shows up, Jughead doesn't like the answers he gets. He tries his best to knock some sense into that bonehead, but has to leave declaring defeat. He'd usually head to Pop's to write and eat his body weight on fries but he is terribly wiped and has so much in his mind he knows he won't be able to make a single coherent sentence. He doesn't even remember about Y/N until she shows up holding his hand, slightly touching her lips on his cheek – in his dreams.

Y/N's point of view

Keeping her focus on studying becomes a lot easier after Biology. She doesn't have any other classes with Jughead, and there aren't too many honor students anyways. School hours fly by and her homework pile gets bigger, but all she wants to work on is the case. She looks for Jughead after her last class, unsuccessfully. She heads to Pop's, the only place left she believes he can be found. To no luck. But she does see Veronica and her mom, the new comers from New York, just after Jason supposedly drowned. They aren't the strongest of suspects but Mr. Lodge being in jail makes it wise sticking around to see what she can find out.

She doesn't hear anything worth mentioning, besides the Archie/Veronica drama. Hermione pretty much just does her job, taking orders and delivering them. After it gets boring, mainly because Jughead was a no-show, Y/N leaves.

Y/N finds out she's home alone for a few days. Her parents always leave town without notice, certain that she can take care of herself. The only hint is her dad's car keys gone. "I just thought that with a murderer on the loose they'd at least let me know." That said, she opens the fridge and finds dinner ready to heat up with a note on it: "Back in a couple of days, love mom and dad." A beautiful smile forms in her face. "There's my note."She goes up to her room to finish the homework she started at Pop's while she was waiting for Jughead. It's an essay for her Spanish classes on the book "Pablo Escobar: My Father". After each sentence, she glances at her phone, occasionally pressing the power button to check if Jug texted her, but her eyes only meet her screen background.

She hasn't seen Jughead all morning. He wasn't at Pop's when she passed by before class, he wasn't in the halls or in any classrooms when she got to school, and they didn't have Biology that day. Y/N thinks she's getting paranoid. "I mean, we only spoke twice so far! That doesn't make us friends. He doesn't owe me anything." While she's lost in those thoughts, walking into the student lounge, a lively conversation is taking place there. Archie, Veronica, Betty, Kevin, and many other northsiders are just listening. Reggie is talking about Sheriff Keller giving him a hard time over Jason's death, but when he sees that bright girl coming in, it's inevitable not to provoke her, not to let his urge to defeat her turn him into an unpleasant caveman. "Maybe Y/N did it?" Everyone laughs. "Bare with me." He ajusts himself on his seat to face her. "She did tutor him. Maybe she fell for him and he didn't crush her back. Obviously, who would?" He looks at her with disgust, making her sigh in anger. "Maybe she snapped and shot him." Some of the guys on the football team were actually falling for his theory. Y/N needs only a few seconds to think of an appropriate answer. "You have a theory strongly based on maybes, don't you? If you had focused on certainties, maybeyou could have reached to a plausible conclusion – that Jason's death is much more than a love crime. But how would you, if your neurons are already wasted on football moves?" She looks away from an enraged Reggie and sees Jughead standing by the vending machine, confused. She stares at him, hoping to get some backup, but she's only met with more doubts in his eyes.

Reggie's teammates tease him about her comment, forcing him to try to defeat her. He has another stupid idea. "If a kid at Riverdale killed Jason, it's not gonna be a jock, right?" He trows his football over to Moose, who was laughing the most. "Now let's be honest. Isn't it always some spooky, scrawny, pathetic Internet troll, too busy writing his manifestos to get laid? Some smug, moody, serial killer fanboy freak, like… Jughead?" He turns to him and everyone laughs again. "Why is picking on us so funny for them? Just because we don't fit in their distorted standards." But he does't stop there. "What was it like, Suicide Squad?", he asks and Jughead just shrugs. "When you shot Jason, you didn't do stuff to the body, did you? Like… After?" The whole football team is backing him up. "It's called necrophilia, Reggie, can you spell it?" Juggie wittly answers. She chuckles at his reply before Reggie skillfully jumps over the couch towards him. Fortunately, Archie stops him. "What do you care, Andrews?" Reggie asks demandingly. "Nothing, just leave him alone." Arch is trying to minimize the damage for both him and Jug, but he can't find the words. "Holy crap. Did you and Donnie Darko kill him together? Was it some sort of pervy, blood brother thing?" Hearing that, the red-haired boy loses his temper and jumps at the caveman. Everything turns to chaos, ending with Reggie punching Archie in his eye.

Jughead's point of view

Y/N takes Jughead out of the student lounge before Reggie does anything else. He tries to escape as soon as they get to the hallway, but she grabs his wrist, making him stop and turn to her. "My parents aren't home, we can hang in there till the Pep Rally.", she says in a way he can't deny. "Don't you have any more classes today?", he asks, implying he didn't want her help. "I'll skip." He's taken aback by her determination to help him. He doesn't think she has ever skipped class before.

The walk to her house is dead silent, unlike the previous one. Neither dares to break the silence. Jughead, a prolific writer, is oddly unable to find the words. When they arrive, she hands him a soda can and opens one for herself, pointing him towards the tall stools around the kitchen island. "You tutored Jason?", he finally asks. It isn't the bullying that hurts. He sits down and takes a sip from his soda. "Yeah, last year.", she says softly, not meeting his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" He knows he can't demand anything from her, but he's hurt by finding out from someone else – Reggie of all people. "Didn't think it was relevant." He knows she's right. "Would've been nice to have a heads up." He runs his hand on the strains of hair sticking out of his beanie. "We weren't exactly friendly to each other. I just helped him with his Chemistry assignments a few times. Like I said, irrelevant." They both sip their sodas. They both think that Jason's chemical problems might matter after all, but they don't know how to explain it, so they move on. "I'm sorry, I'm just pissed at Reggie." He looks down at the dark, cold marble table hoping he hasn't ruined the start of something good. "I know." She reaches for his hand and they maintain eye contact for a while. When they stop touching, all he needs is feeling her soft touch again, but he just freezes.

After finishing their drinks, they silently agree to leave everything about that small-brained Reggie behind. Jughead's attention was instantly directed to the living-room shelves the second he got in, so now he has to ask about those shiny DVD covers, his eyes shining even more. "Is this the complete Tarantino filmography?", he points at them. "Me and my dad are obsessed.", she tells him with an excited smile. "What do your parents do?", he asks, trying to understand why they have such a collection. He picks up some of the DVDs to take a closer look. "My mom is a writer. Nothing big published yet, just some magazine articles.". He finds that even more interesting than Quentin's "From Dusk Till Dawn" in his hands. "Dad's a retired surgeon.", she continues, as his focus is back on the shelves, now checking the book bindings. "Retired?", he asks, wondering about his age. "He's not old. He had an accident and his hand got crushed. He can't operate anymore. So now he just consults for other doctors.", she explains. Worried that she may ask about his parents, Juggie quickly finds something else to talk about. "Can I borrow this?", he shows her the book cover. "Metamorphosis? You've never read it?", she asks amazed. "About time, huh?", he's embarassed and they both laugh. "Please take it. Kafka is a must. It's a crime you haven't read it." Damn, he loves the way she deals with words, saying things with multiple meanings. He feels stupid for hiding from her all day over a dream he was afraid could come true. Only now he realizes he actually wants it to happen.

He feels good, like he hasn't for a long time. It's great to be relaxed, not having to watch his back or keep second-guessing someone's sentences. He can just get to know that fascinating girl. In this spirit, Jason's murder doesn't even come up for the rest of the afternoon, as if it didn't happen at all. However, those few hours eventually remind him that he had a life, a dysfunctional but satisfactory one, before the case. As nice as being with Y/N is, he misses his friend, more than he cared to admit, to himself and to Archie.

They are standing next to the bleachers. The field in front of them is full of Vixens and Dogs. Everything is decorated in blue and gold, the school's colors. Jughead can hear Y/N's voice but he can't make out the words, not because the crowd is making an incredibly loud noise or he's ignoring her, but due to the fact that his attention is solely on Archie, speaking to Miss Grundy. His friend finally approaches. "See you at Pop's later?", she asks, making sure to give them room to talk. Jug just nods, anxious to know what he has to say: Weatherbee will know he heard a gunshot on July 4th. Juggie is immensely relieved and proud, glad to realize they're heading the right way, back to their unique friendship.

Y/N Point of view

She watches everyone from afar, used to doing that since she learned being invisible comes with advantages. But no one is acting guilty or uneasy. "Is it just me or cheerleading is revolting?", she asks out loud, knowing nobody will listen to her. She's ready to leave for Pop's, rolling her eyes at the girls with their high pony tails swaying their hips happily to the song as if a kid, the brother of their leader, hadn't died. Something changes her mind, though. Cheryl running away from the stage, crying her heavy make up out. Y/N follows the red-haired girl as fast as she can, barely keeping up. She stops at the dressing room door and almost walks in. Cheryl is drowned in tears and Veronica's voice is trying to comfort her. "He was supposed to come back.", Cheryl sobs. Y/N hears footsteps coming to their direction and quickly gets out, for she's already a social pariah without being caught sneaking up on Riverdale's elite. But not forgetting to make a mental note to tell Jughead later.

Arriving at the diner, she looks around but doesn't spot Juggie anywhere. She asks at the counter if they've seen him, but no one has. She places her order and proceeds to his usual booth to wait. Every time the shopkeepers bell rings, she looks up at the door, excited to tell him what she heard. A few hours later, when she is finishing her third milkshake, the bell finally signals Jughead entering. Y/N can't help a grin, but he looks to the other side of the diner. Archie walks in right after him. They both stand at the door for a second before making their way to the table Betty and Veronica are sharing. Her grin slowly fades, giving way to an exasperated expression. Jughead doesn't even notice she's there until she gets up to leave. She sees him moving as if he will get up and walk after her, but she's so fast at disappearing it's impossible to check whether he really does it. "He got his friends back, he doesn't need me anymore." That's the only thing in her mind.