For his part, Kevin didn't seem blind to any of Nick's many flaws during the various times Jughead raised them with him. But he also didn't seem to be particularly worried about them, or at least, not enough to break up with Nick.
"I know Nick can be a callous bastard," he admitted to Jughead as he pulled out of the school parking lot. For all Mr. and Mrs. Keller's poor judgement, they had provided Kevin with a sleek Prius for him to use to chauffeur his sisters around town.
At the moment, Kevin was giving Jughead a ride home. Afterward, Kevin was going to the print shop to pick up the banners for the student government fundraiser.
A beat of silence passed between them as Kevin's words hung in the air.
"This is the part where you add something to the end of that sentence," Jughead advised. "Like, 'I know Nick can be a callous bastard at times, but he's a big help with running my household since my parents don't.' Or 'He makes a kickass roast chicken, so I don't have to worry about cooking dinner when I get home from my millions of sports teams and clubs.' "
Kevin did not say anything.
Jughead held up his hands. "Kev, I'm not trying to judge, but why date the guy if you can't find a single redeeming quality about him? I mean . . ." Jughead's mouth went dry, and he tried to ignore the pounding of his heart as he chose his next words carefully. "There's got to be someone out there better than Nick." Right here , he added silently.
"It's, um, it's . . ." Kevin swallowed.
Another silence stretched between them as Kevin searched for a response.
"It's complicated," he managed at last.
"That's a copout," Jughead said flatly.
A muscle in Kevin's jaw twitched and anger flashed in his eyes, but his tone wasn't anything but level and controlled when he replied. "Fine, then. Here's your answer, Nick is an escape for me. Every day of my life, I act like the All-American for people at school. I'm a top athlete, national honor society member, junior class president, and a nice guy in general. For my sisters, I'm almost always the sole caretaker, the person who acts like their mother, father, and big brother. I have to be their role model and support system since my parents aren't. And as for my lovely parents," fury seeped into his voice, bringing Jughead's eyebrows to shoot up, "I have to pretend that I don't mind that they expect me to act like an au pair instead of high school student. But Nick doesn't have any expectations for me. He doesn't care what I act like as long as I put out."
For a moment, Jughead simply absorbed the information. "So it's really about your parents, then?" he then asked, watching Kevin closely. As unconventional as his situation was with his parents, Kevin was never one to complain, but just simply accepted their parental duties as his. Perhaps Veronica had been right with her theory about Kevin's rebellion, after all.
Kevin chuckled, but there was an edge of desperation to it. "It's about a lot of things." He pulled the Prius to a halt in front Jughead's house. "Your stop." He tried valiantly to offer Jughead a smile, but only succeeded in looking ill and worn.
Jughead shouldered his backpack, his hand on the door, hesitating and unsure what to say. "You know I'm still your friend through whatever, right?" He asked finally. "No matter what type of scumbag you're dating."
A corner of Kevin's mouth tugged upward. "Thanks, Jug."
"Anytime." Jughead offered what he hoped was an encouraging smile before exiting the car and waving to Kevin as he drove away.
Life at school continued, along with Nick's persistence in angering everyone he came into contact with. Rumors of about Nick swirled throughout the school; it seemed like his life was a non-stop barrage of fights, thefts, and romantic rendezvous.
"Like he lives in an action movie, or something," Chuck said sourly to Dilton and Jughead as they arrived at their usual lunch table. "That kid would chicken out of fighting a middle schooler. He wrecked one of my paintings in art class—it was a landscape piece and he dumped purple acrylic paint all over it. Then when I challenged him to a boxing match during gym, he claimed he couldn't risk it because of too many sports concussions. As if someone as untalented as him would ever get any actual play time to get concussed."
"All talk and no substance seems about right for Nick," Dilton remarked as they were joined by Midge, Moose, Betty, Veronica, and Archie.
"I saw him and the Andersons going into Principal Weatherbee's office when I went there to drop off some permission slips," Moose volunteered. "None of them looked too happy."
"I just came from there," Shrill said, sitting down at the table. "Nick is being expelled for 'numerous instances of fraudulent academic work.' Cheating, I guess."
"Is he?" A victorious grin swept over Betty's face.
Shrill nodded. "Yeah. I'd never seen the Bee so serious before. It didn't seem like it was an easy decision for him to make."
"Yes!" Betty and Dilton exclaimed, exchanging high-fives.
Archie glanced back and forth between them. "Am I missing something here?"
A memory flashed through Jughead's mind. "Was this what you two and Reggie were talking about that one time at the library?"
"Was what?" Reggie asked, arriving at the table.
"Nick St. Clair has been expelled!" Betty told him excitedly.
Reggie pumped his fist in the air. "Looks like he took the bait, then. Idiot," he added contemptuously.
"Okay, you've got to let us know what's going on!" Midge broke in.
"Well, we noticed what a jerk Nick was in general," Betty began. "And we also really didn't like how he treated Kevin." Her usually cheerful face darkened.
"Reasoning that Nick's level of integrity was fairly low, we decided to encourage him to fabricate his miscellaneous academic assignments," Dilton continued. "We would leave essays, lab reports, and response papers in Nick's vicinity, where he would be certain to locate them."
"And he would white-out one of our names and then turn it in as his own." Reggie scoffed. "Can you believe it? As if the white-out didn't make it obvious the paper originally belong to someone else."
"We knew if Nick got caught cheating more than once, and using various students' work, he would be in serious trouble," Betty told them. "And now he is."
"Betty Cooper, that was positively devious of you all!" Midge exclaimed.
"Well done," Jughead congratulated them.
"It was my plan," Reggie informed Midge, straightening his Armani shirt.
"Of course," Archie muttered, but he clapped Reggie on the back nonetheless. "You did good. Now if only Kevin would find an even somewhat decent person to date, for a change."
"Oh, damn. Kevin." Dilton froze. "It didn't occur to me. But it's only a week until Valentine's Day. He's going to be going through a breakup just before the most romantic holiday of the year."
Betty looked stricken. "You're right. I never thought about that. Kevin always does take his breakups really hard, and now it's going to be even worse for him."
Moose frowned. "You'd think he would be used to them by now." He jumped as Midge dug an elbow into his ribs. "Ow! What was that for?"
Archie hesitated. "I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but I honestly think he's better off alone than with Nick on any day of the year. Still, it's gonna suck for him to see a bunch of lovey-dovey couples when he's alone."
"He has us, and he has me," Veronica said firmly. "I'm texting him now. Don't worry. I'll check if he's okay. Even if it means cancelling my own plans, I'll make sure he doesn't spend Valentine's Day on his own."
"Veronica thinking of others? It's a Valentine's Day miracle!" Jughead joked, ducking Veronica's hand that she swung to slap the back of his head.
Straightening, he quickly fired off a text to Kevin as well, just a friendly, "How are you?" But by the time lunch ended, Kevin still hadn't texted him back.