Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

2.5

THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER FIVE

The next day, Queenie entered Southside High alongside Sweet Pea. Everyone seemed to be staring at her, especially her stomach. She groaned before sending them all a glare, which caused them all to quickly look away. It was good. After everything, she still had that effect on that.

"That never gets old." She muttered quietly. The duo ended up having to be pat down by officers and they also had to go through metal detectors.

Once successfully making it through, the duo made their way to their friends, not even bothering to go to their lockers.

From across the hallway, Queenie could already hear Mandy squeal. Within seconds of hearing this, Mandy ran over with Joaquin, Fangs, and Toni following close behind.

"Oh, my God! Queenie!" Mandy shouted excitedly, pulling her friend in for a hug.

Queenie laughed, wrapping her arms around her friend, "Hey, Mandy." She greeted the raven-haired girl.

Once pulling away, Queenie turned to face the rest of her friends, "I'm so, so sorry, guys." She apologized.

"For what?" Joaquin asked sarcastically, "Oh, you mean leaving without a goodbye?" Mandy rolled her eyes as she roughly kicked Joaquin, "Ow! Dude, I was joking."

"Don't worry, Queenie," Toni spoke up, "We're over it. We understand why you left."

Just then, the first bell of the school day rang and the whole group left with a sigh. The whole group of friends went their separate ways, leaving Queenie with Sweet Pea, who didn't want to leave her by herself.

"What class you have first?" Sweet Pea asked her curiously.

Queenie smiled slightly, tilting her head as she looked up at the boy who was about eight inches taller than her, "English with Mr. Phillips." Sweet Pea looked pretty disappointed about her not having the same class as him, "Look, Sweet Pea, it's not like I'm going to have any classes with you. You're in the sophomore class and I'm in the junior class. I'll just see you at Lunch."

And with that, Queenie made her way to Mr. Phillips' English class, which she was already late for. He didn't seem bothered that she was late for class. He must have been used to it, clearly.

She took a seat towards the middle of the room by herself. An unknown came over and suddenly sat next to her. He only sent her a smile, not saying a single word to her.

"Welcome back, students." Mr. Phillips greeted the class even though nobody was actually listening. He walked by every desk and handed them a book. Queenie looked down at the beaten up cover to see it was the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, a book she read in her free time once a couple years back, "Today, we are going to continue to talk about the book we were all supposed to finish reading last week. Can anybody tell me what the character, Scout's real name is?" He asked them, but there was no answer.

Every student was too busy talking or on their phone. Queenie shut her eyes for a moment, letting out a small sigh before she spoke up, "Jean Louise Finch." She spoke up and numerous people that sat in front of her looked at her shocked.

"Great job, Ms. Jones," He told her with a small smile, "Welcome back to hell."

"I'm glad to be back." She replied sarcastically.

"Okay, can anyone tell me who founded Finch's Landing?" He asked the class and yet again, nobody answered.

There were a few snickers here and there, but nobody answered. They clearly didn't care.

"Simon Finch," Queenie answered confidently with a smile and Mr. Phillips nodded his head at her, indicating that she was correct.

"And that is correct, Ms. Jones. Glad to see someone did their homework during their absence." He told her and multiple students in the classroom laughed.

Queenie chuckled, shaking her head, "No, I uh didn't do my homework. I've just read the book before." She informed him and before Mr. Phillips could reply, it was the end of class. Student hurried out, not wanting to be in that class any longer.

When Queenie went to walk by his desk, Mr. Phillips spoke up, "Queenie Jones." He called out and Queenie turned to face her.

"Yes?" She answered with a small smile.

"Great to have you back, in class," He told her, returning a smile as he handed her a brand new book for her to read and a packet to go with it.

He knew she was more than capable of doing all the work and not having trouble. He also knew that unlike the rest of his students, she did come here to learn. Queenie was technically learning at a grade level higher than the rest of her grade at Southside High. She had her teachers at Riverdale High to thank for that.

"Thanks," she replied, grabbing the book and packet from his hands before leaving the classroom.

Once leaving Mr. Phillips' English class, she was instantly approached Sweet Pea, who had just gotten out of his classes also.

When she wasn't paying attention, Sweet Pea snatched the book and packet of paper from her hands, "Hmm, what's this?" Sweet Pea asked sarcastically before looking back over at the shorter girl, "Is Queenie Jones doing extra credit?"

Queenie rolled her eyes at him, "Oh, shut up," She replied with attitude, "Are you going to the drive-in tomorrow night?" She asked him curiously, clearly changing the subject.

Sweet Pea shrugged, handing the Jones girl back her book and a small stack of paper, "I don't know, probably. Are you?" He replied and Queenie only smiled.

"I'm going with Cheryl." She informed him and Sweet Pea quietly scoffed, "What? Is there a problem with that? Cheryl is my friend no matter what side of town I live on and she'll always be my friend. If you got a problem with that--"

Before Queenie could finish her sentence, Sweet Pea cut her off, "No, it's fine. It's just I was shocked that you weren't going with the Serpents. It's nothing. And I think I actually am going to go." He told her, "If you get bored of your Northside friends, you're welcome to join the Serpents. Joaquin and Mandy are going, too."

Queenie nodded her head and gave him a quick smile, "Maybe I will."