The Serpent Queen

1.1

Dear Diary,

My name is Cali. Well, I guess you could say my real name is Callista Everhart. A month ago, my mother, who means everything to me, went missing. There wasn't a note, no signs – she just vanished. Oddly, none of my family seemed bothered by it, and the police brushed it off, assuming she returned to her hometown in Pennsylvania. They haven't bothered to look into it. She's left before, but never for this long. She always talked about hating Riverdale and wanting to leave. We moved here just before I was born, and my neighbors, Betty and Archie, have been my best friends ever since. Jughead Jones also became a friend around the same time because my dad is best friends with his father, FP Jones. It's always been Betty, Archie, Juggie, and Cali – the inseparable four. Well, until this summer when we all started drifting due to some canceled road trip drama. But, honestly, I never cared about that. My focus was on my mom.

Betty Cooper (and I suppose Jughead too) has been my support since my mom disappeared mysteriously. I never stopped talking to them, unlike Jughead, who's giving Archie the silent treatment. And then there's my dad, Caspian Everhart, the King of the serpents. He and FP have been running the Serpent gang for decades. I became a serpent at age 12, and Jughead still doesn't want me to reveal his dad's serpent connection. Understandable, I guess. My mom was always known as the Serpent Queen. The whole town knows my name because of that. With the Serpent King and Queen as parents, plus my dad owning the Whyte Worm...

"Cali, Dinner," Caspian yelled from downstairs.

"Coming, Dad!" I yelled back.

I guess I need to wrap this up.

I flew down the staircase to the kitchen, greeted by my older brother, Simon, and my father. I grabbed a plate, piled on some meat and potatoes, and sat at the dinner table next to Simon.

"So, you guys hear about all this Jason Blossom stuff?" Caspian began.

Right, the one thing I didn't write in that damn diary. The Blossom twins, Cheryl and Jason, drove out to Sweetwater River, and the next thing we knew, Cheryl was on the shore alone. No Jason. He went missing around the same time my mother did, which is a little weird. We were always told to stay away from the Blossoms; they're enemies to our family. I don't know what that means, but I know better than to question my parents about something like that.

"A little, I guess," I began.

I looked at Simon, who had a nauseous look on his face.

"Dad, I'm not hungry. Y'know, nervous about tomorrow. It's the first day of school, and I want to get some rest," Simon stated, putting his plate in the sink and scurrying off.

I looked at my dad, and we both shrugged it off.

~~~

I awoke the next morning to my door being pounded on by Simon.

"Cali, wake up! Or you're walking to school," he yelled.

I slowly looked at the clock on my nightstand.

"7:30? 7:30!" I realized that I should have been up an hour ago.

I abruptly got out of bed, put on a maroon shirt, black baggy ripped jeans, and my iconic Serpent jacket, grabbed my makeup bag, and slung my backpack over my shoulder.

"Guess I'm doing my makeup in the car," I mumbled.

~~~

I pulled down the mirror in Simon's car and brushed through my blonde pin-straight hair, which had light emerald streaks in it.

"What happened last night? You seemed on edge," I asked my brother.

"Nothing. Just nervous. It's my first day of junior year," he replied.