𝐄𝐙𝐑𝐀 || Reggie Mantle

17

Ezra Jones

"Ezra, what's the capital of Sweden?" Betty asked, quizzing Veronica, Cheryl, Toni and I on everything that could come up in the quiz.

I shrug "Stockholm, listen Betty I don't care about this stupid quiz I-"

"Don't you wanna beat Bret? Especially since he posted that picture?" She looks annoyed, pointing her revision cards at me. 

"No" I shake my head "I don't want to see him beat in some quiz show. No, I want to see him dead and I don't think knowing the fucking capital of Sweden is gonna contribute to that"

Betty rolls her eyes, continuing to ask us various questions. We were up against Seaside High tomorrow and she wanted us to make it to the finals against Stonewall.

Free period ends, my next class was history and I knew Mr. Carter was out sick so instead I parked myself in the student lounge. My internship at the law firm in Riverdale had me working on a solved case, providing me with evidence but no murderer so I decided to continue working on that.

"Oh, hey Ezra. Whatcha doin'?" Fangs dumps his backpack on another chair before sitting beside me.

I shrug and shut the file "Just something for the internship, why aren't you in class?"

"No teacher" He tells me, looking down "Uh do you mind if I ask you a sorta personal question?"

"Go ahead,"

"Why didn't you tell me about that girl? I thought we were best friends, me, you, Toni and Sweet P- never mind. I thought you trusted me, I mean I can't exactly judge" He laughs a little.

I bite the inside of my cheek "I didn't tell anyone because it's no big deal. So what if I date a he, a she or a they? It's nobody's business"

Fangs nods "I get it, but it still kinda sucked to find out my best friend is gay from some random tweet. How did your parents react?"

"I haven't spoken to them" I roll my eyes "You have my sincerest apologies that a picture of me, which I didn't know existed, was uploaded to the internet, another thing I didn't know, and now nobody wants to talk to me about anything other than my sexuality. I'm so sorry that it sucks for you, Fangs"

I grab my bag, marching out of the room and towards my locker, running into Archie Andrews.

"Ezra? Are you okay?"

"No! No I'm not, okay!" I shout, throwing my hand up in the air "I'm angry, Archie, I'm so angry I just wanna knock that preppy bastards head off"

Archie nods "Okay, well then hit something, that works for me"

I scoff "And get suspended for damaging school property?"

"Then hit me?" He shrugs, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't tempt me," I smile a little "I appreciate you trying to help, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it"

Archie and I sit by the lockers and talk until the bell rings, he tells me about his uncle Frank, the construction company and the whole money situation.

When school ends we say our goodbyes, grabbing what we needed from our lockers before leaving the school.

Well, until I hear Elizabeth Cooper shouting my name from down the hall.

"Ezra, wait! Wait there" She hauls ass down the hallway until she's caught up with me "Jughead is picking us up"

I nod, not saying anything and follow her outside to the parking lot where Jughead is already waiting for us.

I climb in the back of the car, throwing my bag in ahead of me as Betty got in the front.

"So, you spoken to dad and Alice yet?" Jughead asks, looking at me in the rear view mirror.

I shake my head "No and I don't intend to. You and Betty have never had to stand in front of them and say your straight so why should I have to say I'm not?" I cross my arms over my chest.

He nods, not saying anything else for the rest of the drive home. When he pulls up I have to wait for him to open my door because my dads car is child locked for some reason.

Betty goes ahead and unlocks the door as the two of us follow behind her, I head for the stairs when she stops me.

"Can you wait one second? Mom? FP? Can you come into the living room, I need to talk to you" She calls into the kitchen.

They do as she asked and sat in the living room, Jughead and I followed.

Betty stood in front of us, holding her hands together in front of her "So uh, this may or may not come as a shock to you, I've never told anyone this but, I'm straight" She smiles, looking over at me and Jughead with a small smile.

Jughead stood up from the couch "I'm, I'm straight too. Not that sexuality even matters but, yeah" He shrugs, sitting back down.

I look between the two of them, feeling a little emotional I must say, before standing up "I'm, uh, I'm gay. I guess, I'm still figuring everything out"

"Jughead, Betty, can you two go upstairs for a minute?" My dad asks, nodding towards the stairs.

They nod, heading up the stairs after giving me a small smile as they walk past me, leaving me stood in front of my parents.

"Why didn't you tell us?" My mom is the first to speak "You shouldn't be keeping these things from us,"

I roll my eyes "It's no big deal, has it never crossed your mind why Toni and I are so close?"

My dad nearly falls off the couch "You and Toni dated!? When was this!?"

I shrug lightly "When Sweet Pea dumped me, the first time. No offence dad but you didn't even know what day of the week it was never mind what Jughead and I were doing"

He opens his mouth to speak but shuts it again, looking defeated.

"Well, it's out now. Nothing has changed, as far as I know, like you said it's not a big deal so why don't we just move on, okay? And no more secrets" My mom says sternly, pointing at us both before heading back into the kitchen.

I sit down beside my dad and he wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him and kissing the top of my head.

"I love you, doll"

"I love you too, dad"