Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

1.10

THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER TEN
May 20, 2017

"Where exactly are we going, Queenie?" Jason asked concerned as he followed the Serpent girl through Fox Forest.

After eating breakfast at Pop's and then spending the rest of the day with each other for some unknown reason, Queenie made up the idea of bringing Jason to her special place. It was night time by then and bright moon was covered by all of the trees, "You'll see. We're almost there." She assured him as she kept walking in the direction of Sweetwater River.

"Here we are," She announced, turning off the flashlight she had in her right hand. Queenie smiled to herself as she admired her surrounding. It was so quiet around them, the only sound heard between them was the river's flow. Jason looked to see Queenie sitting in front of the river's edge. Jason looked up at the sky to see there was also a perfect view of the night sky. The stars were bright and Jason never saw anywhere else in all of Riverdale with this view of the stars.

Queenie smiled as she turned to look at Jason, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked him and he nodded his head, "I come here to think and to get away from everyone. It's like my sanctuary in this dreadful town, "You got a place like that?"

Jason shook his head, "No, sadly."

"Well, maybe you'll find one when we leave," Queenie explained before glancing back over at the water, then back at Jason, "This is going to sound reckless, but do you wanna go for a swim?"

Jason looked at her confused, "We don't have any clothes," Jason questioned before seeing the sly smirk Queenie was giving, "Oh, you mean like...skinny dipping?"

Queenie laughed, "Yeah, like skinny dipping. So, do you want to?"

"Sure, why not?" Jason agreed as he began to take off his shirt.

Jason made sure to give Queenie privacy when she took off her clothes, she took everything off but her underwear, same went for Jason.

Queenie ran into the water and made sure that she was in neck-deep water before looking over at Jason. He, too, made his way over to her in the water. Queenie dunk her head underwater for a long moment before lifting her head above water, "You must really love water, huh?" Jason remarked and Queenie nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, I love it," Queenie answered the boy's question with a smile. Queenie looked directly at Jason to see that he was staring down at her lips. She knew that he was thinking about kissing her and Queenie decided to beat him to it.

Queenie leaned in and kissed Jason on the lips passionately. Jason wasn't the first boy she kissed, but kissing him made her forget about all the other boys she had kissed.

They kissed for what felt like hours until Queenie pulled away. She could have sworn she heard voices coming from a distance, "You hear that?" She asked him quietly and Jason nodded.

Queenie's eyes widened when she looked up at the shore of the water to see Mandy, Joaquin, and numerous other young Serpents standing before her. Mandy and Joaquin began laughing hysterically at their best friend, "Mandy! Joaquin! What the hell are you doing here?" Queenie snapped at her two friends who only laughed at her.

"I thought you told us there was nothing going on between you and Blossom?" Mandy asked with her arms crossed before Joaquin answered her question.

"Quarry got busted by the cops, we have to wait a couple days before coming back so we decided to come here." Joaquin explained to her, but Queenie could tell he was lying to her.

"I know you're lying, Joaquin." She groaned, rolling her eyes, "Tell me why you guys are really here."

Mandy sighed, "FP sent us to lookin' for you. You haven't been home or at the Wyrm in over two days. We all know how much you love it here, so we decided to go check it out and see if you were here." She explained and Queenie quickly glanced at Jason who was staring at her before looking back over at her friends again.

"Tell him I'll be home in a few." Queenie replied and her friends left without saying another word, knowing to never question the Jones girl.

Once the Serpents left, Queenie stayed quiet for a moment as she started to become deep in thought, "That's it," She muttered, "That's it!" She spoke up in a voice just above a whisper.

"What?" Jason asked her confused, not quite understanding what the girl was talking about.

"That's how I can leave with you without anyone knowing. Cheryl, because she's the only other person who knows about the plan beside you, me and Polly, she can say that I drowned in Sweetwater River. The Serpents would believe it because they know how much I love it." Queenie explained, not noticing how selfish she was being by deciding to leave Riverdale with Jason.

She told the Blossom boy multiple times how close she was with her father and how she was the only person he had left, yet here she was, planning to fake her death. Did she notice how much that would affect him?

Jughead's mother left town with Jellybean, Jughead was rarely ever home, and here Queenie was, planning on faking her own death to leave town without a trace left behind. Did she know how much that would ruin her father or did she not care?

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Queenie sighed as she unlocked the door to her family's trailer and entered it to see her father in the kitchen drinking a can of beer, "Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere." FP confessed to her and Queenie sighed as she dropped her keys on the counter before looking up at her father.

"With Jason." She answered without a care in the world.

"The Northside kid you had me do the deal with?" FP frowned and Queenie nodded her head yes, "Why?"

Queenie stood quiet, dreading the moment where she had to answer him, "I like him." She admitted quietly.

"You like a Northsider?" FP scoffed, "Never saw that coming," He commented quietly, "Look, Queenie. I'm not gonna tell you that you can't see him or anything because that's your choice and all, but what do you see happening with this kid? He's leaving in two months to run away from this town and you're still going to be here. Not to mention, he's from the Northside and you're from the Southside." FP explained and Queenie looked down at the tiles on the floor uneasily.

"It's a little fling, nothing serious, Dad. Don't worry." Queenie reassured him even though it was a total lie.

More and more, she was falling for the Blossom boy, not having the slightest hint of what was yet come.

Within a month, her life would be changed forever and there wasn't a single thing she could do about it.