These days, I wonder whether next year's Fourth of July would be normal. Or the year after that. Or maybe the year after that.

I wonder if, for the next I-don't-know-how-many years, I would have to mourn Jason Blossom's death on every Fourth of July.

I really hope not.

It was afternoon when I heard from my mother that Jason was missing. The Blossom twins were on a boat ride when Cheryl's glove fell into Sweetwater River and Jason, being the perfect brother, reached out for it. The boat capsized. Cheryl made it to the riverbank. Jason went missing.

All of this happened just a week before school reopened.

Naturally, it was what everyone talked about. Many mourned his death. Many pretended to. Some acted as if it didn't make any difference. Alice Cooper, my friend Betty's mother, was an entirely different case.

Now, I wasn't a big fan of Jason myself. We were civil to each other.

Not really.

Cheryl disliked me for reasons unknown to all of us. Jason could've cared less about me. In fact, Jason and I spoke so little that I don't even remember what he sounded like. Sixteen years in the same town and not once did we decide to befriend each other.

Nevertheless, I still mourned for him, because in the end, a life is a life, no matter the person. No person should die so young. Jason Blossom had his whole life ahead of him, with a shining future. He was the captain of the school's water-polo team as well as the star quarterback for the Bulldogs.

His death was a tragedy, yes. But to me, it was one of the biggest mysteries I would ever come across.

"Do not touch the fries"

My fingers froze in mid-air, reaching towards the plate filled with fries, as Jughead Jones continued to type away on his laptop, not even bothering to spare me a glance. I pulled up my legs onto the booth seat, resting my chin on my knees. We sat where we had always sat for the past five years, only there were two of us instead of four.

"Sharing is caring, Jug." I said, making a face.

"Hmm…I don't care and I don't share." He looked up for a second and went back to his typing.

"What," I dragged the plate towards me, "are you talking about? Hey, Pop! I'll have the usual. You love me, Jonesy." And nodded at the "You got it, Max!" Pop sent my way.

Jughead made a noise which could be translated as 'Do you want to argue with me?' I chuckled and devoured the fries until one of the waitresses arrived with my order. More fries and one large chocolate milkshake.

"Foooood" I moaned, thanking the waitress, and reached towards the milkshake only to see Jughead swipe it away. "Oy!" I protested and before I could comprehend what had happened, he handed me an empty glass.

"I- Wha-Jughead Jones! Come on! That's not fair." I whined, "There's literally nothing left." I peered into the glass. Not a drop of it was left.

For the past few weeks, Jughead Jones was moping about the fact that Archie Andrews, our mutual best friend, had bailed on their much planned and much awaited road trip. That had ultimately led to their friendship to spiral down. I wouldn't know much of the details. I hadn't seen Archie all through summer and Jughead refused to speak of it. School starts on the day after tomorrow. I hope everything settles down between them soon.

Lately, he made it a habit to sit at Pop's Chocklit Shoppe until well past midnight, eating and doing who knows what. As I had nothing much to do, except for my rigorous piano practise, I decided to join him almost every evening. Obviously, I couldn't stay till 12 in the night. My parents expected me to be home by 10 p.m., 11 at most, and I respected that curfew.

We didn't do anything. I sometimes read my sheet music or a novel, listened to Chopin, and watched a movie. He read articles or typed a lot.

"That was the point of me drinking the entire thing, Pierce." He smirked at me faintly.

I bit back a smile.

What a foodie my best friend is.

"So, I had the misfortune of running into Alice when I met Betty this morning." I played around with my food, "I almost forgot how my skin crawls in her presence."

"Is that right."

"You could feel the happiness that radiated from her. How can anyone be so, so radiant when a person you know has died?"

"It's Alice, Max. You know how she is." He sighed, looking at me.

"Yes, but you should've seen the way she was celebrating in the living room. Drinking wine, mumbling to herself about how she wished that Jason suffered. I know what happened to Polly. We all know what Jason did to her was wrong but-but bearing a grudge, of this fucking magnitude, is just wrong!" I kept making gestures, showing how aggravated the situation was making me.

Finally looking at my friend, I noticed that he was chomping down a burger (where did that come from?), studying me. I raised my shoulders, arms resting on my knees, "It's ffff-reaking disrespectful."

"I see you still feel uncomfortable while swearing in front of me." He said, in between bites.

"No…yes, maybe. I don't know!" I exclaimed, running my fingers through my short, dark hair. Jughead narrowed his eyes at me.

"….Did you…get a haircut?"

"Oh, you mean how the length of my hair decreased from my back to my cheeks?" I pulled at the bangs of my bob-cut, black hair, "Yes, that is very observant of you."

"Hmm," The corners of his mouth twitched, "Looks good, I suppose."

My ears began to heat up because of the compliment.

"You suppose?" I leaned forward, "I look hella fine."

"Excited for school, aren't you." Jughead went back to his typing.

"No, not really." I put my feet on the floor, leaning back on the seat, "I mean, Cheryl is gonna take complete advantage of the situation. I dunno if it's disrespectful or not, but she's going to use Jason's death as an excuse to magnify her…..bitchy attitude." I stretched my arms across the table and said absentmindedly, "'Sides, the way she speaks about him…it's so weird."

That caught Jughead's attention. He stopped typing immediately and narrowed his eyes at me, "Weird? In what way?"

"Hmm…Oh, nothing. It's nothing big. I mean, I don't kn-" I shrugged, scratching my nose.

"No, you're dying to tell me, Max." He closed his laptop and paid complete attention to me, "So, tell me."

"She talks about him as if she's waiting for him to come back."