THE DRIVE ( jughead jones )

❦ FIFTY-SEVEN | KILL YOU

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Amethyst went with Cheryl and Veronica back to Veronica's apartment where they changed Cheryl into new clothes and wrapped her up in blankets. Amethyst sat besides Cheryl as they sat in front of the fireplace, the two of them not needing to talk as they warmed up.

Veronica walked back into the living room with a mug of hot chocolate, and she smiled as she bent down to their height. "Hot chocolate?" She smiled. Cheryl took the mug. "With a little splash of peppermint liqueur."

"Thank you," Cheryl said quietly.

Amethyst smiled at Veronica before Veronica stood up.

"What is she doing here?" Hermione suddenly asked from the doorway, looking at Cheryl. Veronica stood up and walked over to her mum to talk to her.

"Are you warm enough?" Amethyst quietly asked Cheryl. She didn't give her much time to answer as Amethyst wrapped the blanket that was around her tighter.

Veronica walked back over to the girls and handed Amethyst her keys. "You can take my car to drop Cheryl off at her house when you're ready," she said. "And just hand me my keys after the Jubilee."

Amethyst smiled lightly. "I wasn't even going to go to that thing."

Veronica smiled back. "Just don't crash the car."

"No promises."

Hermione and Veronica walked out of the apartment and Amethyst turned back to Cheryl. "How're you feeling?" She asked.

Cheryl shrugged lightly. "I've warmed up now. I think it's time I go back home," she said. "I need to....I need to talk things over with my mom."

Amethyst smiled lightly. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?"

Cheryl smiled lightly back. "Yeah, I'm sure," she said. "And thank you once again, Amie, for saving my life."

Amethyst sighed and wrapped the girl in a hug. "You're my friend, Cheryl. What else was I supposed to do?"

Cheryl pulled back and smiled. "Friends?" She asked.

Amethyst nodded and smiled. "Friends."

•

Amethyst was on her way to the hall to watch the Jubilee and, hopefully, make it to Betty's speech on time. She was just passing the police station, when she noticed Jughead walking down the road and away from it. Amethyst picked him up in the car and drove him to the Jubilee.

They ran towards the hall hand in hand, and Amethyst internally prayed that she didn't missed Betty's speech. As they walked through to the audience, Amethyst sighed in relief when she saw Betty standing at the podium. As Betty looked over at them, Amethyst held her thumbs up and mouthed 'good luck'.

Betty smiled back before she looked back over to the crowd. "But what is Riverdale?" She said. "It's the people, right? You, me, our friends, our neighbours, our loved ones. Riverdale is Archie Andrews." A few guys on the football team whooped. "Kevin Keller is Riverdale. Veronica Lodge, she's Riverdale. Amethyst Moore is Riverdale." Jughead smiled down at Amethyst as she grinned before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "But you know who else is Riverdale? FP Jones. Who we were so quick to blame for Jason's murder." People in the crowd began to frown and talk to each other. "Jughead Jones is Riverdale. The very soul of Riverdale. Without him, we may not have ever found out what happened to Jason. And yet how do we thank him? By banishing him. Which is what we do when the truth gets too ugly in Riverdale. Truth being that Clifford Blossom was also Riverdale. Riverdale is at a crossroads.

"If we don't face the reality of who and what we are, if we keep lying to ourselves and keeping secrets from each other, then what happened to Jason could happen again. Or God forbid something even worse. Riverdale must do better. We must do better."

Betty stepped away from the microphone, signalling that she was finished. When no one in the audience began to clap, Amethyst held her hands up and began to applaud. Soon enough, everyone began to join as most of them stood up to give her a standing ovation.

Betty smiled proudly at herself as her eyes glanced over towards Jughead and Amethyst who were standing at the back giving her large grins.

•

"Betty, your speech was absolutely amazing," Amethyst gushed as the group all sat down in a booth at Pop's. "Honestly, how does someone even come up with that? I struggle to talk to just one person let alone address a whole freaking crowd."

Betty smiled. "Trust me, Amie, I had to rehearse it about a million times to my reflection in the mirror."

Amethyst chuckled as Pop set out their ordered milkshakes.

Jughead and Amethyst then proceeded to lay the news down to the group that they would be moving schools the following week, and Betty seemed to go quiet at the idea.

"Can I just say, changing schools this late into the semester is not a good idea," Veronica joked after she finished writing on Archie's cast. She passed the pen to Amethyst, who pulled Archie's arm towards her and began to draw Homer from the Simpsons.

"It will be like a social experiment," Amethyst said. "If I don't get killed by a classmate by the end of the first week, then that's saying something about who I am as a person."

"Buttercup, you will fit in fine if you don't wear any bright coloured or fancy clothes," Jughead told her.

"Veronica, don't give me any more of your clothes then," she said.

Veronica chuckled lightly. "If anyone has something wrong with what you wear to school, then send them to me. I'll put them in their place."

"You are pretty scary when you need to be," Archie told Veronica.

Veronica giggled as she playfully smudged Archie's nose with whipped cream.

"What about you, Archie?" Betty asked. "Got any drastic changes or important decisions to make in your life?"

"Oh, please," Veronica scoffed. "He can't even decide between vanilla and-"

"Chocolate," Archie finished off for her, making Veronica giggle.

"Finished," Amethyst said, putting the cap back onto the pen.

Archie looked down at the drawing on his cast. "Homer Simpson, really?" He chuckled.

Amethyst shrugged. "We use to watch that show religiously as children, so I thought, 'why the hell not?'"

Veronica held her milkshake up. "To Archie Andrews! Who saved the town."

"You know what? I think that was Betty's speech?" Archie told her, before smiling at Betty.

"Then hear, hear to Betty Cooper." Everyone held their milkshakes up and clinked glasses.

"Cheers."