A.N.: To be honest, when I made the First Chapter of Changes, I didn't expect the reaction it got. Everyone likes their fic to be liked, but I didn't expect it, ya know?

But, since it is so popular, I have made another chapter. Technically, you could call this a companion piece, as you don't have to read chapter one to get it, but that's besides the point. Call it another one-shot or something.

Disclaimer: If I owned Archie and the gang, I would have a Jughead hat. But I don't, so I don't.

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Changes

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Jughead slid lower in his seat, trying to avoid Ms. Grundy's eyes. Please not me, please not me, please not me...But his luck seemed to be against him, and the silver-haired teacher called, "Mr. Jones! Perhaps you know the answer to my question?"

Flinching, the lanky youth sat up slowly, eyes darting hopelessly from one side to another, looking at his classmates pleadingly. No one met his eyes. With a long sigh he guessed, "Y is the co-efficient of negative X?"

Ms. Grundy's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then a smile appeared on her features. "That's correct Mr. Jones. Now kindly take off your hat."

With a sheepish smile, Jughead did as ordered, breathing a sigh of relief as he did so. Math was not his best subject, but if he made an effort, he could understand the questions and come up with the right answer. Ms. Grundy wrote a new equation on the board and glanced over her shoulder. "Mr. Andrews! Since you seem to already know my subject so well, why don't you answer the next question?"

Jughead glanced back to see a red-faced Archie pull away from an equally red Veronica. The panicked expression on the teenager's face made Jughead smirk. He started stammering, "I-I... h-huh... w-would it be...?"

Jughead bit his cheek to keep himself from laughing out loud as he continued to watch the scene before him. Ms. Grundy had a smirk of her own on her face, and she raised an eyebrow at Archie. "Perhaps, Mr. Andrews, you could focus on my lesson, instead of Ms. Lodge. Goodness knows you need all the help you can get."

The class tittered with laughter as Archie slumped in his seat. Jughead shook his head, rolling his eyes at the hopelessness of his friend. Yet another reason why girls only result in trouble. He glanced up at the question on the board, and picking up his gnarled pencil (Math was right before lunch), quickly jotting down the equation. Eying it, sizing it up, he started in on the first part. Carry the two...

Twenty minutes later, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class, and more importantly for Jughead, lunchtime. Snatching up his hat as he slammed his binder shut, he jumped out of his seat and was out the door before the bell finished ringing.

And subsequently nearly crashed into Betty Cooper, who had just escaped her own class, which happened to be right beside his. Grabbing her elbow as he steadied them both, Jughead grinned down at his friend, "Wo-ah Bets'! Where's the fire?"

Betty pulled away from him, her face tinting red as she blushed, "Sorry Juggie! I didn't mean to crash into you."

"Eh. No harm done." Slinging an arm around her shoulder, he started pulling her down the hall. "But just in case you did damage me, you can walk me to the cafeteria."

Giggling, Betty slipped her arm around Jughead's waist. "I guess I can do that for you. Think they'll serve something edible today?"

Jughead snorted, tilting his beanie back on his head, "Edible? Yea, right. In this school?"

"You're probably right." The blond giggled again, nudging his stomach with her elbow, "But if the food is so inedible, why do you eat it?"

Pulling away from Betty, Jughead grinned, rolling his shoulders. "Cast iron stomach. I can eat just about anything."

She crossed her arms, laughter glittering in her eyes, "Anything, huh? You sure?"

Jughead raised an eyebrow, a smirk flitting across his face, "Just about. Why, you got a challenge for me or something?"

They had come to the lunch line, and both of them grabbed trays as they started for the concession. Betty nibbled her bottom lip, glancing shyly away from her friend for a moment, "Well, I'm working on a new recipe at home, and I want to try it out on someone. If you're interested, you can come over tonight and try it out."

Jughead's wide grin appeared as his chocolate-brown eyes lit up. Laughing as he leaned forward to grab a cup of pudding off the counter, he said, "Of course! Your cooking is always spectacular! I wouldn't miss a chance at that for the world!"

Betty's face broke into her own grin as she said, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into Jones!" Glancing over to their usual table, where Veronica, Archie, and the rest of their friends usually sat, she said, "My parents are out of town tonight, so I have to place to myself. I'd ask Veronica to come over..."

"But she has a date tonight, right?" Jughead interrupted, trying not to sigh as Betty's face fell. Rolling his shoulders again, he said, "Come on Betty. You've said how many times that you're not going to waste your time with those two anymore."

Betty turned her face away, her shoulders slumping. Quietly, she said, "I know what I said. But... it's still hard to see them together." Slipping into her seat, she glanced up at her friend. "Oh, don't give me that look. You know as well as I do how much love can hurt."

Now Jughead glanced away, a hint of a frown marring his features. He did indeed know the downside of romance. Years of watching Archie, and the recent divorce of his aunt and uncle had taught him more than he ever wanted to know about the harsher side of relationships. Steeling himself, he sat down beside the blond, and tapped her hand gently with his plastic spoon. "I know love is tough sometimes. But having a painful past doesn't mean you can't have a happy future. Don't forget that, alright?"

She gave him a little smile, tapping his hand with her own spoon. Leaning closer she said, "As long as I have wonderful friends like you around, I won't. Thanks Juggie."

Before Jughead could open his mouth to respond, they were suddenly joined by the rest of their friends. Reggie was chuckling at a joke Archie just gave, Veronica was exchanging gossip with Nancy and Midge, Dilton was trying to explain a math problem to Moose, and Ethel immediately pushed her way in between Jughead and Betty. "Hi guys! How in the world did you get here so fast?"

Wincing at her shrill voice, Jughead calmly answered Ethel, "We didn't bother going to our lockers. 'sides, I wanted to try and find some edible food before Ms. Beazly pulled out the Mystery Meat."

From across the table, Archie laughed, "No kidding. Mystery Meat looks a lot like last week's chicken/turkey casserole."

Everyone chuckled, and Veronica leaned against the redhead's shoulder, "Oh Archie. You're so funny today!"

Watching as Archie's face reddened, Jughead resisted rolling his eyes. He thought Archie was no funnier than what he was everyday. But when Veronica pulled out the compliments, it usually meant bad things for Archie. Not that Archie ever made that connection. Frowning slightly toward his clueless friend, he leaned forward so he could see Betty, "Hey Bets'?"

She looked up from her plate, her eyes strangely distant. But as soon as their eyes met, she blinked, twice, and the familiar cheerful light returned to her eyes. Leaning past Ethel, she asked, "Yea Juggie?"

Hesitating, Jughead looked around at his friends. Except for Ethel who was still watching him with her usual dreamy expression on her face, everyone else were in their own conversations. Just as he opened his mouth to asked his question, Ethel suddenly gasped dramatically.

"Oh, my god!! I just remembered! Tomorrow is December 6!" Faced with a table full of blank stares, the lanky girl rolled her eyes, and looking at Betty, said, "You know? National Purple Day?"

Every present female grinned with excitement, as the males groaned. Reggie grumbled, "Why does there have to be a day for purple? I mean, it's just a color, theres lots of them."

Jughead nodded in agreement with Reggie, "No kidding. And look what it does to people." He glanced down the table at the excited girls, who were already giggling about what they would wear, where they who go, and oh, my god, don't you think Archie would look good in purple?

Archie's head snapped up as he cried, "Hey! I'm not going to wear purple for Purple Day!"

Reggie clapped the redhead on the back, "What he said! Real men don't wear purple!"

Jughead snorted, nearly choking on a gulp of milk. Eyes watering, Jughead asked, "Real men? Then what color would you describe Coach Clayton's sweater?"

Everyone turned in their seats as they watched the older man walking by. The color of his sweater? Deep purple. Reggie paled, coughing awkwardly as he turned back to the table, while the rest of the table laughed.

Veronica pouted expertly, sticking out her lip as she stared pleadingly at Archie, "Archie-kins! You can't not wear purple for Purple Day! That just wouldn't be classy!"

"Darn. I won't be classy tomorrow." Jughead muttered sarcastically. From across the table, Reggie grinned.

"But Ron! None of the guys are gonna be wearing purple tomorrow! If I do, I'll look like an idiot!" Archie whined, his eyes very wide as he tried to convince an unrelenting Veronica.

Reggie's grin widened, "And that's different from every other day, how?"

"Shut up Reggie!" Archie snapped, as the rest of the table chuckled. Turning towards Betty, he pleaded, "Betty, help me out here! Tell Veronica I can't wear purple tomorrow!"

Jughead glanced down the table to Betty, who was looking at Archie with a faint smile on her face, clearly amused by him. Meeting Veronica's eyes across the table, her smile grew. "I don't think I can do that for you, Archie. If a guy wore purple for Purple Day, because his girlfriend asked him to, then I believe that that would make the guy's girlfriend pretty happy, right?"

Archie groaned, letting his head fall to the table with a thump. Reggie snorted, patting the immobile redhead on the shoulder. "Well, if Archie-kins here won't wear purple tomorrow, I might be convinced to do so." He leered at the girls, most of who rolled their eyes, "I suppose I could make an exception in my wardrobe for one day."

Jughead laughed, looking pointedly at Reggie's designer shirt. "Reg, do you even own purple clothing?"

The youth opened his mouth, closed it, blinked, then said, "Uh, actually, I don't think I do. Huh." Shrugging, Reggie said, "Oh well. Guess I won't wear purple after all."

Dilton nudged his glasses up his nose, grinning slightly at Reggie, "You knew all along that you didn't own any purple clothes, didn't you?"

Reggie laughed, tapping fists with the smaller boy. "'course I did. False hope for Carrot-top always makes for lots of amusement."

More laughter rose around the table as Archie sat up to give Reggie a dirty look. Returning to his meal, Jughead smiled to himself. I'm so glad I never have to deal with that kinda stuff. Girls are always asking you to do crazy things, expecting you to jump up and down in excitement over it.

"Oh, Juggie?" Betty's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up to see Betty leaning forward in her seat, looking past Ethel to see him.

"Yea, Bets'?" He said, leaning forward to meet her blue eyes. Ethel glanced back and forth between them, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Could you bring a pair of onions tonight? I'm gonna need them for my recipe."

Jughead immediately grinned. "Of course. I'll grab a few from my kitchen on my way over tonight."

Still looking between him and Betty, Ethel asked, "Onions? What are you two up tonight?" Jughead still didn't recognize her expression.

Betty answered, "I invited Juggie over tonight. I'm cooking something a little different, and Jug's gonna be my guinea pig."

"Genie pig?" Jughead sputtered indignantly. "I prefer the term 'food taster'!"

The blond giggled. "Ok. Sorry Juggie. Food Taster."

Rolling his eyes, an affectionate smile on his face, Jughead pushed away from the table, his meal finished. "I gotta go you guys. Got a project I need to get started on."

"Why? Whens it due?" Betty asked, glancing up at him.

He chuckled embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck. "In about an hour."

Betty laughed, rolling her eyes.

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