{Ok so this chapter's a little shorter than the other two. Sorry, I was in a rush to finish. It still has a lot of stuff going on, but it just ended up being shorter. Idk. Thanks for reading!}

"Let's make a club." I told Betty after Jughead got hauled off by the police.

"What?"

"The My-Boyfriend-Is-In-Jail-For-A-Crime-He-Didn't-Commit Club." I gave a sympathetic smile.

"Now really isn't the best time to make a joke, V. Jughead and Archie are both arrested and in police custody." She started looking around for something, scanning the kitchen counters.

"What are you looking for?"

"My keys. We're going to see Jughead." She found them and started out the front door.

"Betty, they're not going to let you see him!" I told her. Didn't we just go through this with Archie a few hours ago?

"I don't care. It's worth a try." She opened her garage and stood outside her car. She looked at me. "Are you coming?"

I sighed and looked around. I couldn't go home, where my parents were going Bonnie and Clyde. I couldn't stay here, where everything was falling to shambles. My boyfriend was in jail. Jughead was in jail. "Fine."

I looked at Betty as we were driving. She seemed positively pissed. I didn't really want to say anything, because if I did, I would probably make the situation worse. So, instead, I rolled down my window and looked outside. Everything was eerily normal. It was if nothing had changed. I felt the breeze on my face and the sun shining on me.

Betty broke the silence. "Maybe we can see Archie."

I perked up hearing his name. "That's right! He has to be done with questioning by now. He's probably in..." I trailed off.

"His jail cell." Betty finished grimly. I nodded.

"It's so unfair that Chic just got away with everything. Running away from the scene of the crime. Doesn't that just prove guilt?"

"Exactly. I can't believe he used Jughead's arrest as a distraction to get away." She shook her head. "I mean, seriously, how can the police be so blind?"

"We know Minetta's corrupt. Probably hired by my dad..." I looked down. "I think the others just follow him since he's the sheriff. They're willfully blind."

"I know." We drove in silence for a few more minutes.

"We need a plan."

"A plan?" Betty turned her head to look at me.

"Eyes on the road." I teased her. She smiled and rolled her eyes, focusing her attention back to driving. I continued. "We need to get Jughead and Archie out of jail somehow. It's not like we can just smuggle them out. The Sheriff's not budging on his position that they're both guilty. What are we going to do?"

She shook her head. "I have no idea. But I'll think of something. We'll think of something." She corrected. "For now, we just need to check on them. See where they stand. We should be able to see Archie. Jughead may still be in questioning, but I'm willing to wait."

"Me too." I squeezed Betty's hand, feeling confident that this nightmare would end soon.

{-}

We reached the police station (For the second time that day!) and swung open the doors like some badass female superheroes. I can just picture it in slow motion. We walked up to the front counter.

"Hi, can we speak to Sheriff Minetta?" I asked. Betty smiled frighteningly sweet.

"Concerning what?" The lady at the desk asked. She was on the older side, with light brown hair and black eyes.

"Concerning the fact that this whole station is crawling with corrupt spies, and the fact that both our boyfriends were just put into police custody for crimes they didn't commit," Betty said threateningly, just over a whisper, leaning over the desk. Say goodbye to Betty, Dark! Betty was rising.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The lady put her glasses on, almost as if to see us more clearly.

"Oh, I think you do." I said in the same tone as Betty. The lady, taken aback, grabbed the phone and dialed a number. I presume it was Sheriff Minetta's, because a minute later, he paraded down the hallway.

"Ah! What a surprise!" He gave us another one of his cold smiles, but this time, we were not going to be shoved outside. We were a force to be reckoned with. "Miss Lodge. Miss Cooper." He nodded his head at us respectively.

"Y'know, back when Mr. Keller was Sheriff, we all called him Sheriff Clueless. You're worse. You're Sheriff Corrupt." I spat at him (Not literally, I have class, thank you very much). "Show us where Archie is!" I demanded.

He chuckled. "The Lodges are quite a feisty family, aren't they?" His eyes shifted to the right of him, then quickly went back to us. "Mr. Jones is still in questioning," I saw Betty straighten up. "But Mr. Andrews is ready for visitors."

"Great!" I declared. "Let's go." I started walking, but he grabbed my arm.

"Not so fast, Miss Lodge. You still need to fill out paperwork." He took out a pen and grabbed two sheets from the desk we were at. "Please complete these and speak to me after you're done."

Betty and I sat down at some chairs and started filling out the questions. Most of them were basic.

Full name? Veronica Cecilia Lodge

Age? 16 years old

What is your relation to inmate? Girlfriend and friend

Race? Hispanic

Etc, etc

"Ugh. All this is stressing me out. I'm going to go get a coffee. Want anything?" I asked. Betty shook her head. I walked over to the coffee station and got it with whipped cream and sugar. Suddenly, I heard voices coming from the general direction of the cells. Was that...? No. It couldn't be. I couldn't hear well, so I took a few steps towards the cells. No one seemed to notice. I took a few more steps, and now I could hear the voices clearly. My parents. What. Were. They. Doing. Here? I didn't want to speak to them, I didn't want to look at them, I didn't even want to hear of them ever again. But I had to. I marched down the hallway, heading in the direction of the voices. To hell with paperwork.

"Mom? Dad? What the actual hell are you doing here?" They were at Archie's cell. I was furious. How dare they think they can get my boyfriend arrested and then talk to him like nothing had happened.

"Veronica...!" My mom jumped at the sound of my voice, looking at my father. My gaze was beady and unyielding. "Wh-what are you doing here?" She asked nervously.

I pointed at myself, feigning surprise. "What-what am I doing here? Oh, I don't know, maybe checking on my boyfriend that you had arrested!" I was tired of all this Lodge crap. I really just wanted to be emancipated at this point.

"Veronica!" I heard Archie's voice. And then I saw him. His usually bright red hair was now a light brown, and his always-twinkling eyes seemed dim. "Archie, oh my god." I rushed over to the cell, not caring that my parents were right there.

"Remember what we talked about, Mr. Andrews." My father nodded at Archie, didn't acknowledge me, and walked away.

"What we talked about? Archiekins, what did that snake say? Did he threaten you? Are you ok? How long are you going to be in here?" I reached my hand through the bars to hold his.

He laughed, despite the situation. "I'm fine, Ronnie. The thing with your dad..." He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "It's nothing. It's really not a big deal. Not your problem."

"Yes, yes it is my problem! What did he say?" I brushed my hand on his cheek.

"I think that's a question for another day, Miss Lodge." Minetta was standing right behind me. "Whatever happened to that paperwork? You're not allowed to be here."

"It's right here!" A voice came from down the hall. God bless Betty, always there to save the day. I squinted. She had even filled out the rest of my paperwork. She thrusted it into the Sheriff's hands.

"Very well," He said. "You have 15 minutes." He tapped his watch and slowly walked away.

"Oh, god, Archie..." Betty said.

"I'm fine. Seriously." He swept a hand through his hair. "What have I missed?" Betty and I exchanged a glance. "What?" He asked. "Did something happen?"

"Chic broke into Betty's house with Charles's dying body." I announced.

"Oh my god, is everyone ok? Charles? I thought he was dead?" He looked confused.

"Chic lied." I told him. Shocker.

"Is he in police custody?"

"No, but Jughead is." Betty said quietly, as though if she said it soft enough, it would make it not true.

"Jughead? What?" Archie was gripping the bars of the cell.

"When the police came, they saw Chic pinned to the ground by Jughead and assumed he was the one who broke in and tried killing Charles." Betty explained. "Chic got away..."

Archie hit one of the cell bars. "That's ridiculous!"

"It is, but we were witnesses." I said. "We can tell Minetta what really happened." I assured Betty.

"What if he doesn't believe us?" She asked with fearful eyes.

"We'll make him." I said firmly.

We talked with Archie for a few more minutes before Sheriff Minetta ushered us out. "Have a nice rest of your day."

"Hey!" Betty exclaimed. "We're witnesses regarding to Jughead's arrest. We know what really happened, and Jughead doesn't deserve to be in there." She pointed to the questioning room where Jughead was.

"You want to make a statement..." Minetta said slowly. We nodded, and he saw that we weren't changing our minds. "Follow me." He brought Betty to another questioning room, and then put me into another. "An officer will be with you shortly." He shut the door in my face.

The room was dark at first, but I found a light switch and flipped it on. I saw cameras in the corners of the room, which just made me feel more uncomfortable. All my life, I had felt watched by my parents. I had to make the right move in every decision, there was no room for faulty errors. A female officer with dark red hair stepped in.

"Miss Lodge? Please sit down." She motioned to the chair.

I saw the red light on the camera blink, signaling it was recording. Was this going to be how things were for the rest of my life?

Constantly being watched and judged?