A long way down | Jughead Jones x OC | One-Shot

A long way down

"I can't believe you thought it was a good idea to take me here." I mumbled looking up at the 50-foot high cliff in horror. Graffiti artwork was plastered over the yellowish-brown rock at various places along its stretch. People were scaling the wall like it was the most normal thing in the world, others were jumping off the top and into the enormous body of water down below.

"This is insane."

"Oh come on Cait, it's not that bad. Think of it as a diving board, you jump off those on a daily basis." Jughead exclaimed from beside me. I watched as someone let out a yell of excitement as he jumped off the cliff and plummeted down to the water.

"I jump off a starter's block," I corrected. "It's not even 2 feet high, Jug. And have you seen me on those things? I'm so wobbly I almost fall in before the beep goes off."

"Oh relax. You'll be fine. It'll be good to get out of your comfort zone. Face your fears." The raven-haired boy told me, poking me in my side with his elbow.

"I hate you." I stated, keeping a straight face as I looked up at him. He grinned at me before grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

"You know you love me, really."

We walked through the sand quickly, reaching the cliff side within the minute. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be an easy climb. Pieces of rock had been carved out for hand and footholds. I'd still have to be careful but it didn't seem quite as hopeless to get up there as I thought it was going to be. The 'getting up there' part was never going to be the problem though. The 'getting down' was what worried me.

"Alright. Now you go first. Be sure your foot is positioned well and it won't slip before putting all your weight on it." Jughead instructed, pulling the shoulder-straps of his backpack tighter. "I'll be right down here if anything goes wrong."

"Don't sound too positive there, Jug." I replied sarcastically. He ignored me, inspecting the rock instead.

"Okay, you can put your foot here. Seems like this path isn't going to be too difficult. Halfway up there's a platform in the rock you can rest on if you need."

The breeze was much appreciated as I jammed my foot into the rock. Testing to see if it would hold I carefully put some weight on it. The sun was beating down on us, the temperature up in the mid-nineties with no cloud in sight. Perfect weather for a good outdoor swim. But no, Jughead dragged me to go rock-climbing instead. I'm terrified of heights so he should've known that this was a bad idea. And he did know. He just loves to torture me. Such a good friend I have.

"Am I there yet?!" I yelled down to the ground after having climbed for a while. It hadn't been too difficult like Jug had predicted. It was, however, a path meant for people taller than 4 foot 11 inches. I had to stretch and stand on my toes to be able to grab hold of the next handhold and often needed to step so far up with my foot I felt like I was taking four stair steps at a time.

"You're nearly halfway up! Take a rest on the platform for a bit!" Jughead's voice called up. "There's a handhold to your left, try and move over a bit. You'll be able to get to the platform more easily."

I looked around for the handhold and moved to grab hold of it. I moved my left leg to the side as well, blindly searching for a spot to put my foot. No way was I going to look down to find a spot on the wall and risk seeing the ground down below. I was sure that if I were to see how high up I was, I'd slip and plummet to my death.

"Okay, you can put your foot in the hole over there! It's just a little higher!" Jughead instructed from the ground. Panting and tightly holding on to the rock I moved my left foot upwards, searching around. Eventually, the nose of my shoe slipped into a hole in the rock and I made sure it was secure before moving my right hand to the handhold my left was in a moment ago.