Consequences

Chapter 9

Jughead Jones was not good at apologising. Even as an excellent writer, when it came to apologies, it seemed all the words would get jumbled in his mind and stuck in his throat.

So Jughead Jones actually went to bed as a subtle way to apologise because
A. he couldn't find Veronica in the impossibly big Thornhill and
B. he did not know how to express his regret verbally.

He lay in bed, wondering when Veronica would forgive him.

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The door opened and in came Veronica.

"Veronica! I—," Jughead sat up immediately, but unfortunately, Veronica was only here to deliver his lunch.

Shaking his head, Jughead got up and took the lunch Veronica had left near the door she had just slammed shut.

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Veronica had not spoken a word to Jughead even during dinner and FP, ever so observant, had asked Jughead about it.

"I made her mad," Jughead mumbled to his dad.

"Then solve it," was FP's blunt response.

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"Veronica, I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I said," Jughead blurted once Veronica came into their room.

No response.

Jughead groaned in frustration as Veronica, earning her title as the Ice Queen, pulled the covers over her head.

"Look, Veronica, you know I didn't mean it," he continued anyway. "I was just... I was really stressed about how the Ghoulies have been re-gathering in secret and earning a lot of money by selling drugs."

The Ice Queen did not even stir.

"I believe you're innocent, Veronica," Jughead said softly. "Trust me, I really do."

"Do you?" Veronica snarked, still under her covers with her back to Jughead.

"I do, but I had no choice, Veronica, I had to appease the Serpents," Jughead tried.

Unfortunately for Jughead, that seemed to be the wrong thing to say.  Veronica flung her covers away and sat up straight.

"No choice? Then what happened when most of the Serpents deemed Betty unfit to be 'Serpent Princess'? You chose to make no changes, which was a foolish decision, considering she left you. It seems like you choose whether you have a choice or not," Veronica replied furiously.

"There was no choice, okay? I may be the leader, but you should know even with such high power, there are a lot of instances when we don't get to decide for our Serpents! With your case, it was either kill or imprison! Do you know how hard I had to convince them not to kill you?"

"I'm not angry about that!" Veronica ran her fingers through her hair, " I don't care if they don't believe me, I don't care! But you! I can't believe that after all we've been through during the war, you didn't believe me when I was framed!"

"I did, I...," Jughead hesitated.

"Yeah right, you did!" Veronica fired. "All three of you, Betty, Archie and you, turned against me once you saw that pathetic excuse of a framing letter. You know what hurts the most? Even after all these years of friendship, none of you could trust me. All of you immediately believed dead paper over me."

"I did...I.."

"Took you three months to at least talk to me and five months to half believe me," Veronica went back to bed.

Jughead Jones was rendered speechless. How did he go from trying to make amends to making the situation worse?