thirteen reasons why ↣ riverdale

xi. jughead jones

Checking the eleventh file, Jughead realized that this one was different. All he heard was, 'you will receive an email if you're the eleventh person on the file'.

He didn't want to be like the others who would quickly check their emails because he wasn't like that and he believed it wasn't his tape yet. Coincidentally, his phone begins to ring. It was from an unknown number.

JUGHEAD
UM, WHO IS THIS?

UNKNOWN
JUGHEAD JONES? THIS IS JASON SMITH, CARMEN'S BROTHER.

JUGHEAD
OH, HI. WHY DID YOU CALL? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO CARMEN??

JASON
NO, BUT I KNOW SOMETHING  IMPORTANT ABOUT YOUR BEST FRIEND. YOU SHOULD SOME ALONE, OKAY? MEET ME AT THE PARK, 11:45PM.

JUGHEAD
JASON? JASON??? UGH, HE HUNG UP.

"What was that?" He asked himself while shaking his head. The thing Jason just said about his best friend? What was that about? But he couldn't deny that he was worried, worried about his unknown best friend.

He hated how he's afraid to call a person who'd been there a friend or a best friend. He'd say he has a phobia of commitment because he did. He was traumatized by the people who left him. He knew what Betty felt, being left hanging by the people she trusted the most.

He continued to type about his novel on this town and its mysteries after the murder of Jason Blossom. He had drafted his conspiracy theory on Carmen and her eerie resemblance to the town's dead girl.

His eyes soon fell yet he continued to fight the urge. For him, his eyes closed for a minute but in reality, 10 minutes has gone. "Shit." He whimpered, realizing he had only about 6 minutes before he'd meet Carmen's brother.

His pace quickened by the minute, losing his breath in the process. Once he reached the said place, he saw the dirty blonde-haired guy standing in an all-black apparel.

"Hey, Jason. Um, so what were you going to tell me?" He asked, shivering at the cold weather of the town.

Before replying, he made sure nobody other than the two of them could hear.

"Carmen isn't who you all think she is. She's not a Smith firsthand. But her mother is. She's someone you know and the reason she doesn't remember any of you because she had dissociative amnesia. My mom told me it was time to tell someone because this was wrong for Alice. Help her find herself, please." Jason pleaded Jughead, who was still confused.

"What? What does it mean 'Carmen is not who we think she is'? I mean, Alice is her aunt? She's related to Alice and to your mother, who's been in Riverdale for years, so probably she had a few memories...maybe from her youth?!" Jughead exclaimed, his mind trying to fit the puzzle pieces altogether.

"God dammit, Jughead! I thought you'd know Carmen is somehow Betty, firsthand! But she was in a coma then was diagnosed with dissociative amnesia meaning Hal Cooper lied to Alice at the hospital."

Jughead laughed while Jason stood there, serious about what he said.

"Hal Cooper wanted to get back at Alice for kicking him out just like that. Betty was one of Alice's weakness. You have to believe me Jughead. Betty needs all of you right now but you cant overwhelm her, she can relapse again. As of Hal? He paid many of the doctors to transfer Betty into a hospital in New York that wouldn't cause suspicion. Then he asked us to fake it with him because in the past we fostered a 3-year-old girl so he thought we could play with that. My mom was cornered so she had to but now, Hal's out of the country so we have to rat him out as fast as possible! You've got to help me and Betty, too." Jason let all the information out because he deserved to know what Hal did.

Jughead believed him now. He knew he was right all this time. It was impossible for someone to resemble Betty that much. Everything about her was all too familiar.

"You have to be kidding me, Jason. Betty died...two months ago!" He dismissed what Jason's revelation while he lost his focus thinking that he was probably right about what really happened.

Jason didn't want to tell him but he had to, "Trust me, Jughead. I would love to tell you everything but my mom and I have to leave the country, to get away from Hal while he's not here."

Jason left, leaving Jughead by the park to think about the revelation. He had to create a plan, he had someone to help him at least. He pulled out his phone and called one of the people he knew that knows Betty like he did.

JUGHEAD
Meet me at Riverdale H. @ 2
i need ur help asap

VERONICA
fine. ill probs be there
in about 20 minutes tops.

He waited and as he waited, he decided to finally scroll through his emails. He scrolled through emails from Mr. Weatherbee, his subscription to the Times, and surprisingly the email he'd been dreading.

RE: ELEVENTH
( A/N: the email will be posted as a separate chapter )

His mind too focused on the email, he was stunned the moment he felt someone's grip on his shoulders.

"Woah, you got to chill Jug." Veronica flashes a grin at the stunned Jughead. Her grin turned upside down once she saw his phone and the email from Betty. "You didn't really kill her, right?"

He fixes himself up and quickly reached out for his now exposed phone. He didn't reply to what Veronica said because if we're talking technicality here, Betty didn't die. "Veronica, according to Jason, nobody really killed Betty."

"Jughead? It's all in the tapes." She replied, confused.

"Everything on the tapes are just the things the triggered her. But, the pills didn't kill her completely." He said, making Veronica scoff. She looked at him with a ridiculed smile. But his serious face changed hers too.

He then proceeded to explain and tell everything Jason had told him, leaving Veronica is state of shock. "We-we've been right all along? And does Alice know about this? She needs to know!"

They settled on a plan to help her remember. It would take time but they had to, for Betty's sake.

"V, you know that we have to this from the beginning, right?"

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it in the end because we get a chance to have our best friend back again."

♡
[CARMEN'S (or BETTY's) POV]

I headed to school with Jughead today. He was kind enough to wait for me this morning with a to-go vanilla milkshake and some waffles too. It was hard enough to see mom and Jason leave for Greece, without me. But it would be great to spend more time with my cousin and the twins.

Why does everything in this town seem all too familiar? Why does holding Jughead's hand feel so natural? Why am I like this?

As I walk the halls within my Jughead, I felt a ting in my head, a painful one. Then a flicker of a memory flashed before my eyes that I never thought was mine.

Hey there Juliet. Nurse off duty?

And there he was, the same guy I stood next to, whom I never knew until recently. But how was he part of my past?

♡
y'all my plot has been shité and im blocked but i still try to write. anyways, im rly sorry about it and its been bugging me sm 🤦‍♀️

btw i hate myself for revealing this TOO EARLY but this'll help with the other chapters.

lastly, betty / carmen thinks she remembers everything but actually there's still gaps. she hasn't remembered the few days and months leading up to her attempt. but the tapes will help her remember, also, the gang obvi!!