Jughead walked slowly up to the group of adults on the sidewalk. The officer was the one who spoke. Forsythe Pendleton Jones III you are under arrest for attempting to burn down Riverdale elementary school. Jughead's mind was racing. Don't cry, Don't cry, Don't cry, he kept telling himself while he was being hand cuffed. Jughead was lead to the police car.
"Forsythe, I'm going to help you into the police car. I can take the handcuffs off you now. Would you prefer that?"
"Yes sir" Jughead replied. The officer took the handcuffs off Jughead and helped him into the police car. The officer turned to the principal saying "Call his parents, if one of them can pick him up we will release him into their custody." The principal came back about 10 minutes later. "His mother, Gladys Jones, is on his way to pick him up." He told the officer
The officer opened the door, saying to Jughead , "Your parents are on their way to get you son, sit tight."
Jughead became very nervous. He didn't even think about how much trouble he would be in at home. He was pretty much guaranteed to get a spanking once his dad found out.
"No, please just take me to jail. Lock me up and throw away the key." Jughead pleaded
"Why is that kiddo." The officer asked, looking slightly puzzled
"My dad is going to beat my ass , and I don't want a spankin. This is probably going to be the worst spanking of my entire life."
The officer chuckled to himself, thinking that any kid in this situation should be fearing a good ole fashioned ass whippin. "Your parents are on their way."
Gladys Jones pulled up to the school about a half hour later, wearing a look of both fear on her face. "Where is he? You said something about a fire... and matches. Is Jughead okay? Is he hurt?"
"Calm down Mrs. Jones." The principal told her. "Jughead is fine. He isn't hurt, just scared."
"What happened?" Gladys asked. "You mentioned something about a fire."
"Yes Mrs. Jones, it seems that Jughead was playing with matches during a detention." The principal told her. Gladys's face went from fear to anger.
The officer opened the door, and helped Jughead out of the squad car. "Jughead, what did you do." Gladys asked her son.
"It was an accident," he whined. "I was just playing, and it accidentally caught fire."
"Playing with what exactly." Gladys demanded.
"Matches," he mumbled under his breath.
"What was that, I can't understand your mumbling. Do Not Mumble Jug, you know how your father and I feel about mumbling.
"I was playing with matches." Jughead whispered with fresh tears running down his face.
"MATCHES" Gladys screamed, "how many times have your father and I told you not to play with matches?" Gladys reached into Jughead's jacket pockets pulling out an eraser, several pieces of gum wrappers, a paper football, and matches. Gladys deposited everything from inside her hand into her purse. She grabbed Jughead's arm and gave him 3 hard swats on his butt. Jughead was crying again. "I'd save those tears if I were you Jug." Gladys told him. "You are going to need them once your father gets ahold of you."
"Nooo," Jughead cried, "Mommy please don't tell him. I. Don't. Want. A. Spanking."
"Forsythe Pendleton, you are getting more than one spanking. I'm going to spank you, and your father is going to spank you when he gets home."
"No, please." Jughead was Crying even harder now, "mommy no."
"Jughead stop it right now." Gladys told him sternly. Tears were still running down his face, but he stopped screaming.
"Mrs. Jones," The officer interjected, "please bring Forsythe to the station tomorrow at 9:30 for questioning.
"Thank you officer." She responded, shaking his hand "I'll ensure that Jughead is there."