Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

1.11

THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER ELEVEN
May 26, 2017

Almost a week after their kiss at Sweetwater, Queenie and Jason had become even closer. Someone could go as far as to say that they were a couple. The two spend every free moment with each other. School was over for the year and summer had just begun that day.

Here the couple was, sitting in a booth together at Pop's. Cheryl sat with her two friends a few booths away from them. She and Queenie had become close during Queenie's time spent at the Blossom house with Jason.

Queenie and Jason were sharing a strawberry milkshake that had two straws in it when Reggie Mantle suddenly came over and took a seat next to Jason, "Well, well, well, look at what we have here. Snake girl and Blossom."  Reggie commented and Queenie rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't call her that, Reggie." Jason defended Queenie and Reggie quietly laughed at the Blossom boy.

"Nah, I'm just joking. Lighten up," Reggie commented as he roughly patted Jason on the back, "I'm here because now that you're dating my boy Jason, I thought we should settle our differences and I wanted to tell you that I'm done being caught up on you punching me. It's in this past and I think we should start fresh." Reggie told her as he held out his hand for her to shake.

Both Queenie and Jason stared at Reggie in disbelief, the duo thought they would never hear Reggie say those words in their whole entire lives, "Very mature of you, Mantle," Queenie commented, "Sure, why not? Let us start fresh."

Meanwhile, at Cheryl's booth, Cheryl was drinking her strawberry milkshake as she sat across from her two minions, Tina and Ginger, "Ugh, I can't believe Jason's dating Southside trash like her." Ginger scoffed, "Don't you think, Cheryl?" Ginger asked the redhead, thinking that Cheryl would agree with her, but she got the complete opposite response.

"Excuse me, don't you ever call Queenie 'Southside trash', ever again. You got it?" Cheryl snapped at Ginger, much to her surprise. It was surprising to both girls that Cheryl stuck up for the girl.

Before Reggie left Jason and Queenie's table, he turned to the two and smiled, "Party at my house tomorrow night. Parents are out of town, you two should come."

"Reggie, I don't know if Qu-" Jason began, but Queenie cut him off.

"We'll be there." Queenie replied and Reggie smirked at her before walking off.

"Are you sure you want to go to a party with kids from Riverdale High?' Jason asked her with a face full of concern.

"Yes, I'm sure," She answered his questioned confidently, "If Reggie Mantle and your sister are okay with me, I think the majority of the school would be too."

Right after finishing her sentence, Queenie looked up to see her brother, Jughead, enter with his best friend Archie Andrews. The duo locked eyes with Queenie before Jughead pulled Archie towards Jughead's usual booth.

"I'll be right back." She told Jason quickly before getting up and making her way towards her brother's booth.

Queenie walked over to Jughead and Archie's booth and took a seat next to Jughead across from Archie, "Andrews." She greeted the redhead before looking directly at her brother.

"Hey Jughead, it feels like I haven't seen you in forever." She remarked jokingly.

"That's because it has, Queenie," He replied before quickly looking over at the table Queenie was formerly sitting at, "What are doing sitting with Jason Blossom?" Jughead asked her and Archie already knew that it his cue to leave while they talked.

"I'm—uh–gonna go to the bathroom." Archie awkwardly told them before getting up and leaving.

"Jason and I are kinda dating." Queenie answered her brother's previous questioned and Jughead slightly laughed.

"Never saw that coming," He chuckled, "Now, Queenie, I know you didn't come over to my booth to tell me you were dating Jason Blossom, why are you really here?"

Queenie sighed, "Look, Jug, I'm sorry that I haven't been paying attention to you or hanging out with you like I used to. And I'm sorry that I'm never home." She apologized only to have Jughead give her an amused look.

"Wow, you really are out of the loop." Jughead remarked.

"What are you talking about?" Queenie asked her younger brother confused.

"I moved out. I don't live at the trailer anymore." He explained and Queenie stared at him in shock.

"W-where are you living now?" She asked him concerned.

"Couch surfing at the moment." He lied to her and of course, she believed him.

______

After their date at Pop's being interrupted twice, Queenie and Jason made their way back to Thornhill Mansion together. The two entered to see Jason's mother, Penelope standing before them.

Penelope stared at Jason for a long moment before her eyes averted toward Queenie, "Who's this, Jason? Your girlfriend?" Penelope asked before her eyes looked down at her visible Serpent tattoo.

Jason noticed this, but didn't care, "Yeah, she is." He replied and was shocked to see that his mother's reaction was the opposite of what he expected.

"I didn't need you to answer, Jason. I already knew the answer, you are awful at sneaking her in late at night," Penelope argued calmly, "What's your name?"

"Queenie Jones." She replied as she held out her hand for Penelope to shake.

Penelope was shocked by her manners, most teenagers in Riverdale lacked in that, "It's nice to meet you, Queenie. I'm Penelope." Penelope replied as she shook the Serpent girl's hand.

"I saw you eying my tattoo a few seconds ago and the answer is, yes, I am Serpent and I hope that isn't a problem. And just know, I would never involve Jason in that business in any way."

"You're way too pretty and well-mannered to be a Serpent." Penelope replied in a joking way.

"Well, I am." Queenie said awkwardly.

"Well, we're gonna go up to my room now, Mother." Jason told his mother to break the awkward silence.

"It was nice meeting you, Queenie. You're welcome to stay anytime you'd like."

Queenie thanked the Blossom female before she and Jason made their way to his room, "You're mother's actually pretty nice. people always say she's coldhearted."

Jason slightly laughed, "She usually is. I honestly don't know why she was acting like that down there. She's never that nice to anyone. I guess she likes you."

"I guess so." Queenie laughed also.