The next day I didn't see Jughead, nor know his location of where he might be.

My first instinct was to look anywhere I could at any given opportunity such as during lunch, in my free periods where our clubs were taking place, and after school. All of his usual spots were not preoccupied and seemed to be more vacant then ever. I asked around his hangouts such as Pop's or maybe even at the Twilight Drive In, but all it brought back were random memories shared by my friends or by him. Each one made me more determined to catch his capture caper. Not that anyone could've kidnapped him, but it might've been an option.

Though he might not want to see me, at least from what I'm gathering from his farewell from yesterday, I still needed to know he was okay. Even Archie, who was one of the main problems in the picture, was worried about Jughead. He even texted me multiple times if I had found where Jughead was and if he was alright. I pictured him sitting in his classroom or eating in the cafeteria having a look of regret and worry on his face. He didn't want to lose him as much as any of his friends would want to.

I tried to find him after I was done with my search. My first thought was to look in our usual hangout area in the common room. As I expected, he was sitting casually between Kevin and Veronica, chatting with them like nothing happened. I had hoped he didn't tell them why Jughead disappeared. I started walking up to them.

"Hey Betts, what's up?" He asked, directing everyone's attention to me. Him and Ronnie grinned. "Um, nothing special. Can I talk to you for a second Arch?" I asked, motioning towards the door to the hallway while giving him an "about that" signal . Archie nodded and gave Veronica a quick pat on the shoulder before standing up and walking to the hallway with me. When we entered an out of range hearing from the group and any other passing students, I glared at him. "What are you doing?! Are you even remotely afraid of where Jughead might be? He hasn't come to school at all and he seems to be missing completely. Remember this is technically your fault too!"

Archie softened his gaze and patted me on the shoulder. " I've also been worried sick about Jughead. It is my fault but he would never listen to me, you need to be the one to talk to him." He explained. I wanted to retaliate with another sentence before I realized he was probably telling the truth. I guess I related to that because it sounded just like the first time Jughead did that for m-

"Fine then. We both need to look around for him, ask anyone if they'd seen him. The Twilight Drive In, any Riverdale High students, Pop's, or even if he's hiding in the janitor's closet. We need to search everywhere and anywhere!" I said to him.

"But, you've already looked there, haven't you?" He asked. When I thought about it, I had looked there. Several times and all those times there was always the same answers that they haven't seen him in the last week. I hated when Archie was right.

When he saw the look on my face he said, "What about the Southside? Weren't you there the last time you saw him? You should check there, after all, you did mention he was conversing with them a lot, plus he did have his own place there." Archie suggested. The thought never crossed my mind, probably because I didn't want it to.

"Are you kidding Arch?! I would be dead in less than five minutes there, and without Jughead as protection, how am I going to even blend in? The Serpents are nasty and cruel, and they only show kindness when providing for their own children. Not to girls like me!" I told him. Archie explained to me how they couldn't be all bad if they even bothered to spare me the first time I was there, especially when I was un-supervised.

"She doesn't love you Jughead. Just put her back home. She doesn't belong here!"

I shook my head. "Okay I'll go! Thanks Archie, say hello to Ronnie and Kevin for me!" I told him before running out towards the front doors. I looked back and saw Archie smiling and waving. There were probably at least three more periods until school was officially down for the day, but it didn't matter. I was pretty sure Jughead was worth more than possibly getting detention for a week. The least I could do was tell Principal Weatherbee that it was some journalism tasks for the newspaper.

I had my whole idea planned out. The only factor that was missing was what I would say to him when I actually found him, or if he would really come back this time. Last time I left him to the Serpents, he looked like he was having plenty of fun by himself. He even made friends right off of the bat. It looked almost like he was there for his whole life.

His mind even distorts reality to pure fiction, making it look like events that happened in the past happened for a reason, or he made them more happy than they used to be. When his mother and sister left, and when I consoled him from his problems, I realized the story he told me seemed far off from what actually happened. He said that his mother forced Jellybean off him and that his mother wanted nothing of him. That he was a disgrace to his family.

I don't know what the real truth is to his backstory and whether or not the truth is the real truth, but I do know that without Jughead, Riverdale would be in complete shambles.

I would fall into shambles.

"Hey Jughead, welcome back!" A black and green haired boy said before smacking me on the back before slipping on the official Serpents leather jacket onto my shoulders. I articulated my shoulders around until I felt comfortable. I looked towards the boy and grinned.

"Hey Hunter. Glad to see you. I didn't realize you liked green." I told him, pointing at the little splotches of green on his usual black greased hair. Hunter ran his fingers through his hair and chuckled. "Dyed it last time you left. Though it'd look cool but the girls here don't seem to be falling for it."

I laughed. "What, you? I would've never guessed. You were always the lady charmer." I walked up towards the run-down school and blinked at how crusty and broken it looked. It definitely looked more homely than it should've been.

"Ha, not as much as you." Hunter walked up to where I was standing and opened the doors, opening it to me.

"Welcome Jughead Jones, to Southside High!"