Back In Black

Chapter Three: Parties and Heartbreak

I make my way out of the gym trying to find Jughead when I see the boys at football practice. I walk over to the stands and put my backpack down, I pull out my camera and adjust to accommodate the speed of the game.

Behind my camera I am safe, no one pays attention to the girl behind the lens. Which is how I like it, candid photos are the best though on occasion I have done photo shoots. I walk out of the stands and just make my way around the field snapping pictures where I feel like. Thats when someone clears their throat beside me.
"I haven't seen you around"
"Shut up Mantel I swear to God."
"What will you do Quinn?" I turn around to look at Reggie Mantel one of the football guys he is sweaty and covered in dirt.
"What do you want Mantel?"
"Whatever pictures you take of me, I want them"
"They are for my portfolio"
"I want to see them"

"Mantel back in the game!" the man I'm assuming is the coach calls.
"Yes sir!" He shouts back. "This isn't over Quinn!" Reggie shouts as he runs back to the field.  I just walk around snapping a few more pictures before I look up into the stands to see the Raven Haired boy staring at me my bag in his hand. I walk over
"Its about time" I laugh walking up to him
"If you weren't avoiding me all day maybe I wouldn't have had to chase you down" I laugh sitting beside him.
"What did Reggie want?"
"Any of my Pictures that he was in." I shake my head. "Pops?"
"Always" he chuckles handing me my back pack and the two of us walk to Pops.

*******

Sitting in that booth at Pops almost forgot about my first day at Riverdale High.
"So how was your day?" Jughead asks taking my milkshake
"It was bearable I guess. And that's mine" I giggle taking my milkshake back.
"Why only bearable?" He tilts his head having some of my fries
"Just take the plate Jug. I laugh shoving my plate towards him
"Now I don't want it" He laughs.
"It was bearable because I got to see you in English, thank God. But I had to deal with New York princess and Betty the perfect. Thank goodness Keller was there but those too are just too much."
"What makes you say that?"
"Betty is head over heels for Archie and its evident but Veronica finds him attractive too so they have a secret war going on over him that Archie can't see. To top it off Veronica is well, shallow and narcissistic."
"Well damn." Jughead laughs
"Shut up. I'm sure I'll get over it but right now they just get on my nerves."
"I don't know, you and Betty were never really that close."
"It was Betty and Archie and you and I, Jug. We were all friends because it just worked out."
"Yeah" He looks down at the plate of fries before pulling out his computer and typing. At first I just pulled out my camera and took a picture but then I pulled out my sketch book and started drawing the scene. Jughead was so handsome when he left this world and entered his head, in this context anyway. He had this look of determination and wonder spread across his face. His eyes followed along the screen as he quickly typed out the story that Jason was telling him to write. The two of us sat there for hours, me just drawing the image I saw and him writing away on his computer. 

The bell at the door goes off and for some reason I look over at it this time. I see Veronica walking in.
"Can I have some fries and two milkshakes please. A double chocolate and a Vanilla, to go please."
"Sure thing" Pop nods.
"Hey Kat." I roll my eyes as Jughead chuckles.
"Hey Ronnie" I stand up trying to give Veronica a second chance.
"Betty and I are going dress shopping for the semi-formal, wanna join?" I look over my shoulder at Jug who is laughing to himself.
"You know what, I'd love to." I grab my bad and wait by Veronica for her order. Jughead continues chuckling.

********

Don't get me wrong I still hate Veronica but walking around the mall with her and Betty, just being teenage girls was really nice. Betty was telling us how her mother tried to get her to quit the cheer squad because of Polly and Jason.
"Betty, I feel like you deserve an apology and I know you wont get one from Cheryl. From what I heard and saw it was unlike Jason to hurt Polly. They were making plans, but I can see that he did. From the bottom of my heart, I am truly sorry." Betty gives me a hug.
"I'm sorry. I heard what happened to Perry" Betty says pulling away.
"I'm missing something" Veronica says looking at the two of us. Betty, Veronica, and I sit down in the foot court where we explain almost everything.
"My older brother Perry, Polly, and Jason were best friends. Cheryl was apart of that group too. Being the younger sister I sometimes got to tag along."
"So you were friends with Jason Blossom?" Veronica says
"Jason was kind of like another brother to me. I mean after everything happened with my family the Blossoms tried to keep us in Riverdale for as long as possible, but no mater where we ended up we kept contact with them. Perry more so, but if anything every happened to either of us Jason was the first to hear about it."
"Wow, that's crazy"
"A part of me feared telling Jason about Perry, I knew he would take the hit even harder than I did. Perry and Jason were like brothers and surprisingly accepted by the Blossoms even though Perry and I are from the southside" I shrug.
"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your brother?" Veronica leans across the table. Betty puts her hand on my arm
"Our second to last house we were in New York. It was a rough time for both Perry and I. Perry started hanging out with some people that had some illegal extracurriculars. One night he had gotten to high and drunk at a party we had been invited too. He came home to find me sitting on the floor in our room crying. The guy who had thrown the party raped me..." I pause trying to ignore the face of the horrible monster. "Perry took it to heart, he was pissed at the world but more pissed at himself for being out of it too much to help me. He sat with me until I fell asleep and a few weeks later when I had a slight pregnancy scare he snapped. I had been expelled from school and our case worker was trying to find us a place. Perry couldn't handle any of it anymore and killed himself..." I start to cry in front of the girls "The police said he didn't suffer but I knew my brother was suffering, I could have gotten him help" Betty pulls me close to her as I cry. It was the first time I had talked about my brother since that night. I was surprised I told them before I told Jughead. 
"Your brother is watching over you know, with Jason" I sigh as I stop crying.
"Lets go and get these dresses before I become more of a wreck" We laugh as we all get up. After that I had a new respect for those two. Sure they still got on my nerves but at the same time it felt good to have some girl friends I could talk to.