Poison | Jughead Jones

Chapter nineteen

Shedding skin

The mud soaked her jeans like the plague, creeping up to her knees as she stepped deeper into the woods. The flashlight flickered on and off as the battery pleaded to be switched, but the group kept progressing further.

Betty led them, her hands cupped around her lips as she called her sisters name. Her parents not far behind, eyes wide with alarm and fear if they did find the secretly pregnant girl with the whole town watching.

It was oddly silent, other than the shrieks of Pollys name echoing through the tree trunks. Bella kept her gaze casted to the floor, her own fear settling in her stomach.

"I don't think you'll find Polly in the mud, Pea." Jughead whispered, a light chuckled trickling into the tense air. Bella swallowed hard and looked up, instantly being filled with regret.

A young girl fled past the trees, darting for the south side like a bullet with a shadow lurking behind her. Bellas eyes widened with alarm, her head snapping back to follow the girl only to find the vacant hilltop.
Her breath shortened as she kept pushing forward, allowing Jughead to gently direct her as her mind wobbled.

The same flash of colour flickered through the trees, a small brunette splattered in blood and dirt panting by one of the many mossy trunks. This time she had stopped, and the face sent shivers down Bellas spine.

She was going insane.

Bella too stopped, and gawked at the girl with sunken eyes. Her clothes were torn, and her head was whipping around as if scared something was coming to grab her.

A black ribbon what should've hung loosely in her hair, swayed to the floor with a lick of wind. A hallow scream erupted into the air and Bellas hand clapped against her lips, tears pricking at the corners of her gaze.

"Pea?" Jughead whispered, snapping her out of her trance and to the startled boy. The group had gone on, and apparently the pair were left teetering on the edge. Bella couldn't reply, she just let her gaze flicker between the boy and the tree the girl had been at.

But she was gone. Vanished along with the trace of wind that had been there only momentarily. She shook off Jugheads calming grip and strayed from the track, heading to search for any sign of the remnant of her past.

Jughead was bewildered but let her walk away, slowly following her as she wandered through the light snow. She stopped by one of the many identical trees, crouching and immediately digging her hands into the snow. Her breath became laboured as she clawed back the thin layer of white caressing the floor.

And then she stopped.

Jughead wanted to pull her up and calm her down from whatever episode she was having, but froze with one simple movement. Bellas fingertips rose from the cold bitter ground, woven in soft material. Both kids were stunned as a black ribbon soaked in old blood and dirt draped from her hand.

He had thought when she came back she had plainly grown up from adolescent bows. But standing there, letting the cold brittle air ripple against his skin, he realised that was never the reason why.

But why had Jessebelle Rhodes been running in the woods 2 years ago, and why did it cause her to run away from everything?

Jessebelle Rhodes shut off as her walls came crumbling down around her. She did her best to reconstruct with the dust left by her feet, but it was no use, soon everyone would know her secret.

Without a word, she trekked back to the group and ignored the soft murmurings of her best friend, the black ribbon balled into her fist. Her gaze was casted down as she fell next to Veronica lodge without as much as a hello. The Blossom posey stood across the forest plain from the Coopers as if it were a show down, eyes narrowed and attitude cocked.

Jughead watched the serpent calculatingly, wondering what her next move would be. But his thoughts were cut short with a snide remark from the weasleys.

"Polly has ran away, like she did on July fourth when she killed our baby Jason. How can we trust the word of her Neanderthal family, who may be harnessing a fugitive, when they associate with serpent scum like Jessebelle Rhodes. This discrepancy has gone unnoticed for too long. And quite frankly I don't know how." Penelope Blossom bellowed as she strode toward the shocked petite brunette nestled in the back. Her tone was sinister and uncaring, and her touch was as cold as Jack Frost on a winters night.

People stopped and stared as Bella reeled from the shock of the blossom outburst. She had done nothing to the family bar a few bad words thrown to their name. Even after what had happened.

Penelope tore away a part of Jessebelles senile coat and revealed the serpent embellishment tattooed onto her arm, the ink oozing from her skin like an alarm to some of the prestigious families of Riverdale.

Bellas eyes went wide, her gaze momentarily meeting with Betty as her mother pulled her behind her body to form a barrier. She narrowed her gaze at the older woman, rage and confusion flooding her body all at once. Jughead pulled Penelope Blossom away from the startled girl, immediately causing havoc between the richest family and poorest.

"Looks like poor Bella has a few more snakes in her closet than we expected." Cheryl beamed as she watched the serpent reel from the aftermath.

Already fragile from her hallucination of her past, and suddenly the bulldozers known as the Blossoms destroying the remnants of her sanctuary, Bella was left defenceless.

"I bet you've been thinking of some witty pun for hours haven't you, Cheryl?" Pea muttered, pushing her way past the stuttering leftover of Riverdale prep and toward the feisty redhead.

"Brooding in that dusty and lonely room of yours, conjuring the best way to knock me off my feet." Bella tutted with a simple eye roll, all emotion draining from her skin as her gaze burnt an anger even Cheryl couldn't match. It was as if a switch had flipped, Bella could no longer hide behind her secrets as they laid tattered on the floor, so instead she became what they thought her to be. She shed her skin, revealing the serpent.

"But i think you've had your head stuck up your own arse for too long to think of the consequences. Because Cheryl you've just pissed off a snake, and I'm not afraid to bite back."

•••

Clarification: remember Cheryl in season one before the character growth? I'd like people to bare in mind how harsh and calculating the Blossom was before we saw her break and develop. Because remember this is still season one in the book.