"What?!" I exclaimed when I heard the news.

"I know." Archie said, shaking his head. "I never even agreed to Mr. Lodge's offer. I never would have, but he did it anyway!"

I couldn't believe that Jughead was still in jail, and that now the charges were even worse. Not only one murder, but two murders! And no bail!

"Guys, usually I have a bunch of ideas," Veronica claimed. "But I actually dunno with this." She sipped her chocolate milkshake.

Here we were, at a booth at Pops, doing things we normally would be doing. Eating burgers. Sipping milkshakes. Archie and Veronica on one side, me and Jughead on the other. Except... I looked to the right of me. There was a void, where Jughead should be. He should be here, devouring burgers, drinking a strawberry milkshake, getting lost in the world of his computer, his arm around my shoulders. His dark hair should be sticking out from under his beanie, and his blue-green eyes should be twinkling with excitement and mischief. Instead, there was only the empty space where he had sat so many times next to me.

"Why Jughead? He did nothing, nothing to deserve this!" I sighed. "I want to help him... but I don't know how to..." Suddenly, I saw a figure walk through the door. His black hair was as dark as the night sky.

Veronica turned around. "Oh, god." She slumped down in the booth. "Spare me." Luckily, Hiram walked to the other side of the restaurant and sat down at a booth.

"V, have you gone back to your apartment yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm basically just living there. My credit cards are cut off, my 1/3 of Lodge Industries was cut off, I really don't do anything but sleep there. I don't even talk to my dad anymore. I've been trying to tell my mom to leave him, but she won't." Veronica sat back up in her seat.

"Who's he waiting for?" Archie asked, twiddling his thumbs. He was obviously put off that Hiram was here.

"I don't know..." I whispered. I don't know why I was whispering. I doubt Hiram could hear us from where he was. We watched him order a coffee, and start sipping it slowly. We watched another figure walk through the door. Dirty blonde hair, ocean blue eyes.

"Why is-" Veronica asked.

"Penny here." I finished. Anger bubbled inside of me. This is the woman who almost killed Jughead, this is the woman who took advantage of him. I clenched my hands into a fist. I didn't even notice the searing pain, and I didn't notice the blood starting to drip onto the floor. "What is she doing here?" I asked through clenched teeth.

Veronica stared at me, looking concerned. "Betty, calm down." I shook my head.

"How dare she... she even step in here again." I stood up. Who does she think she is?

Veronica stood up. "Ok, Betty, you need to calm down. Let's leave and go somewhere else." She took me by the shoulders and started guiding me out.

Archie objected. "Don't you want to hear what they're talking about?"

Veronica looked at him in disbelief. "Are you serious right now? This is obviously upsetting Betty!" I shook her off.

"It's fine, V." I managed a small smile. "I'm fine. Archie's right. We should try and listen what they're talking about." I sat back down, composing myself. "How are we going to do that? We're too far."

"Mr. Lodge knows me, and obviously Veronica, but he doesn't know you..." Archie suggested.

"Yeah, but Penny knows who I am." I countered.

"But has she ever seen you?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't think so, but she knows what I look like. She would probably recognize me."

"It's worth a try."

I walked over to the other side of the restaurant and sat down at the booth in front of where the duo was sitting. I strained to hear them.

"So Charles doesn't have an immediate family?" Hiram asked. Charles? I was his family! What are they talking about?

"Nope. Ran away from the foster care system when he was young." Penny explained.

"And then he met the other one..." The other one? Does he mean Chic? I listened carefully.

"Yes. But they started to get into fights, until one day Charles got sick of him and ran away. I guess Chic took blame for his death or something, and then found him and brought him back to the Cooper house." I felt sick. Charles was alive, all this time, and I never knew. And now he was dead, for good.

"And they took him to the hospital, and then he... ran away?" Hiram questioned. What? Ran away? I felt a glimmer of hope that he could still be alive. What if he was? Where was he hiding? I wanted to know more.

"Yup. The problem is that he doesn't have an immediate family besides the Coopers. Obviously, Ponytail and her mom would choose not to press charges since Jughead's dating the girl." I touched my hair self-consciously. What I was hearing was too good to be true. Could Jughead be free of one crime if I stepped up and said I was his family and didn't want to press charges?

"We have to pretend that Charles has a family; that someone adopted him." Hiram said casually. They couldn't just lie! If they did, the police would take their side instead of mine. I pulled out my phone and started to record.

"Lucky for you, I forged these adoption papers. Meet Charles's new adopted mother." Penny smiled wickedly.

"Good. Show those to the police and say you want to press charges. Then, the Coopers can't do anything." Hiram got up from his seat. I panicked and crawled under the table so that he wouldn't see me. He shook Penny's hand. "Nice doing business with you." He left, Penny following shortly after. I hit the 'Stop recording' button on my phone. I noticed someone else was sitting in the booth behind where Hiram and Penny just were. How did I not notice when he came in? I walked up to the booth and sat across from him.

"Mr. Keller! What are you doing here?" I smiled.

"Oh, hi Betty. Just getting my morning coffee." He said.

I debated telling him what I heard. I decided to, because he probably heard as well. "Did you hear what Hiram and Penny were talking about?" I asked cautiously.

He looked at me, deciding what to say. "Yes..." He said slowly.

"So then you know that everything they're doing is fake! Jughead, Archie. They're being framed!"

He nodded his head. "I know, Betty. I'm working on it." He said, sipping his coffee.

"What do you mean?" Working on it? "I thought you quit the police department."

He finished his coffee. "Nice seeing you, Betty." He got up and walked away, leaving me very confused. I walked back over to my booth with Archie and Veronica. Their faces were anxious.

"Well?" Veronica asked. "What happened?" I took out my phone and hit 'Play'.

"That happened." I said once the recording finished.

"Oh my god! Betty, you have to tell the police!" Veronica exclaimed.

"Since when have they ever helped us?" Archie asked.

"I have an idea..." I said mysteriously.

{-}

I slammed my phone down on the table where my mom was sitting.

My mom looked up from her computer and took her glasses off. "What, Betty?" She asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"That video," I said, pointing to my phone. "Gives evidence that Jughead was framed."

My mom looked exasperated. "Ok? Why are you showing me? Show the police or something."

"No, I'm not going to show the police, I'm showing you. You have to post it on the online version of the Register, or at least put the url in the hard copy of the newspaper."

"Betty, I'm not going to get in trouble with Hiram Lodge so you can be with your boyfriend. If he's innocent, then he'll win his trial!" My mom went back to typing.

I was desperate. "Charles is alive!"

My mom stopped typing. "What?"

"Just... just watch the video, mom." My voice broke. "Please."

My mom, suddenly in a completely different mood, clicked the play button. The video played out, and my mom covered her mouth.

"Mom, Charles is alive! If we publish this, the police won't have a choice but to drop the charge from Jughead and start an investigation to find Charles!"

I looked at my mom, who was still in shock. She said, "Ok, Betty." And clicked away on her computer before hitting 'Publish'.

The truth was out.

{—}

Hiram Lodge and Penny Peabody Forge Adoption Papers To Get Southside Teen Charged With Murder?

Hiram Lodge and Penny Peabody are in Kahoots to get Southside teen Jughead Jones charged with murder. The two were spotted at Pops the other day, discussing their nefarious plans. Jughead was charged with the murder of Charles Smith, but it turns out he isn't even dead! He ran away from the hospital. What are local police doing? I can tell you what they're not doing! Launching an investigation to find Mr. Smith. Letting an innocent man go.

Penny Peabody even went as far as to forge adoption papers and say that she was the guardian of Mr. Smith so that the Coopers wouldn't come forward and say that they didn't want to press charges! Here the police are, charging two innocent young men with murder instead of arresting the real criminals here.

Written by Alice and Betty Cooper

{-}

"Wow, Betty. I don't even know what to say. Nancy Drew strikes again!" Jughead smiled, despite being behind bars. He had just finished reading the newspaper article.

"If it means one of your charges are dropped, I'd do anything." I smiled. "I've missed you so much. I need you with me." I reached and held his hand.

"Cassidy's family wants to press charges against me and Archie, so there's no getting out of that one." Jughead sighed, and a strand of his dark hair blew upwards. "What if I have to stay here forever?" His eyes became worried.

"I'm not going to let that happen." I looked at him confidently. I wouldn't let that happen if it was the last thing I did. "There's literally no evidence. They don't have anything on you."

Jughead sighed again, this time looking more stressed out and worried. Then, suddenly, his whole demeanor shifted. "Betty, look." He pointed behind me. I turned around, and my eyes widened. Penny Peabody was being led down the hallway, handcuffed. She gave a mean look to us and continued walking.

"They got Penny." I said, much happier.

"Because of you!" Jughead squeezed my hand, and I smiled. "Can you do one more thing for me, Betty?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"My dad... he came in here a couple nights ago and said something about Jellybean and my mom. But... he was... drunk..." Jughead trailed off.

"Oh my god, I thought he quit drinking!"

"Me too...but... I guess not." He looked so heartbroken. I wanted to break through the bars and hug him.

"Do you want me to go see what happened?" I offered.

His face brightened. "Can you?" I nodded my head. "You are too good to me, Betty."

I gave a small smile and shook my head. "It's nothing. I'll see you as soon as I find out what's going on, ok?" He smiled and let go of my hand.

{-}

I knocked on the door to Jughead's trailer. There was no response. I knocked again, but still, no one came to the door. "Hello?" I asked loudly. I knocked a final time. I scanned the trailer. There were a few buckets by the door, and I searched through them until I found an emergency key. I opened the door and stepped in.

Fp was passed out on the couch. Besides that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary except the empty beer bottles scattered around. I shook him awake. "Mr. Jones!" He woke up, jumpy.

"Betty... what are you doing here?" He asked, sitting up.

"I'm here for Jughead, Mr. Jones. He wanted to know what... well, what happened to you." I felt uncomfortable asking about this kind of stuff, but it was for Jughead.

"What happened to me.." He laughed. He waved his beer bottle. "Jellybean and Jughead's mom came home..."

"Where did they go?" I asked, looking around. There was no evidence that anyone else had been living here.

"She left... just like she always does." He said spitefully.

"Mr. Jones, you have to stop drinking! Not only for your sake, but for Jughead's." I grabbed the beer bottle out of his hand and dumped the contents into their sink. "What exactly happened with Jellybean and your ex wife?"

"They came... to take Jughead. They wanted to take my son so I wouldn't let them. We had an argument... Then she left with Jellybean again, saying that was the last time we were going to see each other ever again." He slurred his words.

"Mr. Jones, you need to go to an AA group." I told him. I felt so bad for him. He needed help.

He waved his hand, dismissing the thought.

"Do it for Jughead." I urged him. His face shifted. "He needs you right now."

He nodded his head solemnly. "Fine. I'll do it for Jughead. Anything for my boy..."

{—-}

I visited Jughead right after my meeting with Mr. Jones.

"Jughead... Your mom and Jellybean came back." I told him.

"Really?" His face was excited. "Can I see them? Where are they?"

He was so happy... I didn't want to burst his bubble, but I had to be honest. "They came to take you. But then they found out you were in jail. And even if you weren't in jail, your dad said he was never going to give you up. They got into an argument, and then they left. They went back." I saw the expression on Jughead's face and teared up just from the sight of how sad he looked. "I'm so sorry, Jug."

He shook his head, trying to suppress how he was feeling. "It's fine. I'll see them sometime in the future." He backed up into the depths of his cell.

"Jug..." I didn't know what to say. I wanted to make everything better, I wanted him to be happy.

"Thank you, Betty. Truly. I can always count on you." He smiled weakly. "But you should probably go. I... need a moment to myself."

I nodded my head slowly. I didn't want to leave, but I respected what he wanted. "I'll see you tomorrow, Jug."

"See you soon, Betts." His voice broke.

I walked past his cell, past the other cells. Each step I took, I was further and further away from him. He's my support system. He's the one who I call if I'm worried or scared.

Now, the only times I could see him were during visiting hours, separated by metal bars.