Too Late ➳ Bughead

chapter ten

betty

Today we were visiting Cheryl again. Its been one month since the wreck and she's doing a lot better. She's starting physical therapy in a week, so we want to spend as much time with her as possible before all of her time is occupied. I grab the keys to my car, and drive to Jughead's trailer to pick him up.

...

"Hey Cheryl!" I knock on the door to the hospital room.

"What'd up cousin?" she laughs.

"Nothing much. How's it going?" I ask. To be honest I'm still getting used to the whole cousin thing.

"Well I'm binging as much as I can before physical therapy"

"Now that sounds a lot better than school," Jughead smirks sarcastically, "I'm gonna go get some chips, want anything?"

"I'm good." Cheryl says.

"Me too." Jughead nods and heads out the door.

"Sooo... how are things with Jughead?" Cheryl asks.

"We're doing really good!" I reply.

"Have you..?" She begins.

"Wha?" I wonder, confused, "Oh! No, not yet." My cheeks turn bright red.

"Do you want to?" She questions once again.

"Do I want to do what?" Jughead walks into the room, opening a bag of barbecue chips.

"Oh- uh, nothing." I reply nervously. Cheryl giggles.

"Alright then.."

jughead

"So Cheryl, have you told anyone about what your mom did?" I inquire.

"No, I don't really have evidence. It would be my word against hers. You both know how that would go." She looks down.

"Well is there any evidence of the payment?" Betty asks.

"She doesn't use cash, so I suppose there's a bank transaction or something about it in her checkbook." Cheryl mumbles. Betty and I glance at each other. Cheryl notices.

"Don't tell me you guys want to look into this." She says.

"Cheryl if we can prove it somehow, she can go away to jail and you wouldn't have to deal with her anymore." Betty pleads.

"I'm sorry Betty, but no. It's too dangerous. You don't know what my mother is capable of." She warns.

"We can handle it, Cheryl." I chime in.

"I love you guys and appreciate the effort. You really didn't have to visit me every day while I was in this hell hole. But, as much as I appreciate it, I can't put you in that danger." She states firmly.

"I suppose we'll leave it alone." I sigh.

...

We spent another hour with Cheryl, then decided to head back to Betty's house. Alice was working at the register, not that she would be mad if I came over. The car ride was silent. I wanted to talk about Penelope, but I also didn't want to go against Cheryl's wishes, and I don't think Betty would want to either.

However, Betty was the one who broke the silence. "We have to look into it, Jug."

"I know, but what if Cheryl finds out."

"The only way is if we caught Penelope and she went to jail." She leads on.

"And at that point, she would thank us." I add.