"So." Toni said, surveying him carefully. "You've been awfully quiet today."

"Have I?" Jughead retorted, not looking up from his weathered copy of The Sun Also Rises.

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Jughead, don't say oh."

He raised an eye brow, almost amused. "Now do you see how annoying it is?"

"What happened after I left you with your little Northside Princess?" She demanded, ignoring his comment.

"Betty." He corrected, out of habit.

Toni rolled her eyes. "What happened after I left you with Betty?"

"Nothing."

"You're a terrible liar."

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"Jughead!" Toni smacked him a grin on her face.

He chuckled in response.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Toni, of course he did, he trusted that girl with his life, but the last thing he needed was an instant replay of his last conversation with the girl next door.

Her revision was good, perhaps even entertaining to some, but far, so far, from the truth.

How could she possibly believe, even for a second, that that was truly what happened?

He hadn't vanished from her life.

If anything, she had been yanked from his.

But Betty Cooper had always thought what she wanted, and once she made up her mind, it was hard to convince her otherwise.

They didn't need to rehash the past, not anymore. Betty would stay the determined cheerleader, the popular girl with a circle of friends she could never completely trust, and Jughead would remain a Serpent, hated by the golden haired girl's pose, hated by all Northsiders, but still protecting a certain one, even if it meant that she saw him as the bad guy, the gang member, the boy who was headed for nothing but trouble.

"Hey!" A voice barked. "Jarhead!"

Speaking of trouble.

Reggie entered the lounge, a place Jughead often found the more popular members of Riverdale's senior class hanging out, Chuck and Moose flanking him.

"Reggie." Jughead greeted evenly.

Toni's eyes narrowed.

"We heard you had a little problem with one of our girls the other day." Reggie announced, crossing his arms.

He gritted his teeth, wanting nothing more than to bash the football player's face in for placing any kind of claim on Betty.

"I don't really see how that's any of your business, Reggie."

"It became my business the second you decided to put your hands on her." He hissed.

Jughead suddenly realized that it must have been Veronica Lodge, Betty's apparent best friend, he didn't know if she was dating Reggie or not, he didn't care, who tipped him off.

Yes, he had held Betty in place, his hand curling around her arm, but he had been careful not to hurt her. He would never hurt her. He'd just been trying to protect her, to save her from herself.

"She's not your friend anymore, Jones." Chuck said with a smirk. "She wants nothing to do with you."

Moose didn't comment.

He hated that Chuck was pretending to defend Betty. He had no right.

Jughead finally put his book down. "Why don't you let Betty make her own decisions for once?"

"Who do you think we're here for?" Reggie asked, his expression mimicking that of Chuck's.

Jughead felt a moment of doubt.

As angry as she had been, and she had been angry, Betty wouldn't have sent her friends, or Chuck, after him... Right?

It had to have been Veronica.

And yet, he suddenly founding himself if he knew Betty Cooper at all anymore.

Toni started to stand, whether to finish what the football players had started, or to go round up any fellow Serpent's she could find, but Jughead extended his arm in front of her, halting her.

He didn't need his gang to back him up this time.

No.

This was his fight.

"Look, Reggie-" Jughead began.

A fish connecting with his left eye cut him off.

He doubled over in pain, pressing his hands to his face.

"Stay the hell away from her." Reggie warned. "Or next time, I won't be so nice."

The sounds of high fives enraged him even more. He waited until Reggie's back was turned to enact his revenge.

Jughead tacked the boy he had known since kindergarten, sending them both tumbling forward. He straddled Reggie's waist, throwing his arm back for a revenge shot, and then another.

Fingers locked around his wrist, stopping him. The grip was too strong to be Toni's.

"Jug!" Archie snapped, yanking him up. "What the hell is going on here? Reggie?"

Chuck and Moose pulled the raven haired boy to his feet. When Reggie started toward him again, Archie immediately planted himself in between the two, his back to Jughead.

"What the hell is going on?" He repeated.

"There you are, Andrews." Reggie said, wiping the blood from his lip. "Sorry you didn't get to join the party."

Archie raised an eye brow, glancing at Jughead. "What party?"

"You didn't hear?" He sounded surprised. "I thought you and Betty told each other everything."

"Betty?" His expression hardened knowingly. "What about Betty?"

"Seems like Donnie Darko and your BFF had a little confrontation outside the school yesterday."

"What the hell, Jug?" Archie demanded. "I told you to stay away from her!"

Chuck stared at him. "What? When?"

"It..." He shook his head. "That's not important. What did you say to Betty, Jughead? She's been avoiding me all day."

Despite the pain in his eye, he smirked. "That's your problem, Arch, not mine."

"What did you say to her?"

Jughead shrugged. "Nothing she didn't already know."

"Jug-"

"Relax, Archie." He replied. "I took care of it."

"Took care of what?" Moose asked, speaking for the first time,

"Nothing." They said together.

Reggie glowered. "You keeping secrets from us, Andrews? Secrets that only the Prince of the Serpents knows?"

"Jug." Toni muttered.

He ignored her.

"Who's side are you on?" Chuck questioned, his eyes zeroing in on Archie's Varsity jacket, the same ones they were all wearing.

"Yours." Archie replied automatically, though Jughead thought he still knew him well enough to sense a little hesitation in his tone.

"Then start acting like it." Reggie told him, his shoulder knocking into Archie's as he stalked out of the room, Chuck and Moose obediently following him.

"Jug." Toni said again, a little more sternly this time. "Maybe we should-"

"Hang on." Archie held up a hand to cut her off. "What the hell is wrong with you, Jughead? What part of stay away did you not get?"

"The part where you would willingly let Betty take drugs." Jughead announced.

"I wasn't... She didn't..." He let out a sigh of frustration. "She wasn't taking them, Jug."

He shook his head. "You still believe that?"

"Yes."

"You shouldn't."

"Jug-"

"She hasn't been sleeping, Archie."

"She has a concussion, Jughead."

"A concussion that's almost completely healed." Jughead argued. "And even with her concussion, she would still be getting a few hours, at least. She's wired, Arch, that's exactly what Adderall does to a person."

"Keep your voice down." Archie warned. "Do you want the entire school to know?"

"If that's what it takes to get her to stop."

"She's not taking them." He insisted. "I swear, Jug, if you go near her one more time, I'll..."

Jughead waited.

Archie said nothing.

"What?" He asked. "What, exactly, are you gonna do?"

And then, without waiting for an answer, he glanced at Toni, nodding for her to follow him. As they moved down the hallway, someone knocked into him, nearly spinning him in the other direction.

Betty stared at him for a moment, her face frozen in some unreadable expression, but when she saw his eye, he could already feel it starting to swell, she gasped.

"Juggie." She began, her palm brushing across his cheek. "Oh my god."

He wanted to revel in her touch, in her concern, but it was not his place to.

Jughead caught hold of her wrist, pulling it away from his face and placing it gently back at her side before he let her go.

"Come on." He said to Toni, not sparing the girl next door a second glance.