Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

2.8

THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER EIGHT

Queenie let out a small sigh as arrived at the football field at Riverdale High during the house she was supposed to be in math class at Southside High. The Riverdale Bulldogs were in the middle of practice and Queenie was only there because Archie had called her for some odd reason to meet. It had something to with her knowledge of music or something like that.

Coach Clayton suddenly blew his whistle, indicating that it was the end of practice, "Hit the showers, ladies!" He shouted out and the Bulldogs quickly obeyed.

As the football players began making their way toward the locker rooms, Archie took off his helmet and turned his head to see Queenie standing from a distance. He looked back at the rest of his team before running over to Queenie, still in his football uniform, which coincidentally, used to be Jason's. That was definitely a mistake.

Archie smiled as he approached the Jones girl, "You actually came." He stated, seeming a bit shocked.

Queenie's eyes locked on Archie's uniform, the number nine on the front of it. It gave her sudden flashbacks of Jason. Without realizing it, Queenie lifted her hand up and stroked Archie's cheek, "J-Jason." She stated, causing Archie to frown.

"Queenie. It's me Archie, not Jason." Archie told her, causing Queenie's eyes widened in shock.

She finally realized that it was Archie, not Jason. She quickly removed her hand from his face and backed up slightly, "S-Sorry, Archie. I didn't mean to, it just hap-" She started, but Archie shook his head.

"It's fine, Queenie. I understand." He reassured her, giving her a small and genuine smile.

It was quiet for a moment before Queenie spoke up, breaking the awkward silence between them, "So, what's the reason you called me here?" She asked him.

"I called you because, I've heard Jughead talking about how you're really good with music, both singing and playing an instrument. He said the one your best at is the guitar. This girl at my school, Valerie, she got me a meeting with this guy at Carson College. For him to help me out, I need to write all my songs down on sheet music. Because you're so good at it, I was wondering if you'd like to help me?" He explained to him and Queenie gave him a small smile.

"Sure, why not? I have nothing else better to do seeing as I can't go to the quarry with my friends," She replied, pointing down to her pregnancy bump, "When's it due by?"

"Uh, tomorrow." He told her and Queenie gave him a confused look, "Is that a problem for you?"

Queenie quickly shook her head, "No, no, it's not. How soon can we start working on it?" She asked him and Archie smiled.

"How about my place?" He suggested and Queenie nodded her head, "Three thirty sound good?"

"Sounds great." She answered before looking down at the ground, "I better get back to Southside High, my friends will probably be looking for me." And without saying goodbye to the Andrews boy, Queenie headed back for Southside High, where her friends were already looking for her.

"Where the hell did you go? We were looking for you." Joaquin asked Queenie as she entered the lunch room and took a seat next to Sweet Pea at lunch.

"Went to Riverdale High to see my brother's buddy," She replied in a calm tone as she stole a single chip from Toni's bag of cool ranch Doritos.

"Hey!" Toni protested and Queenie just laughed at her.

"Hey, I'm not just feeding for myself, I'm feeding for two others," Queenie argued with a smile on her face.

"Why did you have to go see a Northside kid?" Sweet Pea asked her confused.

"Ooh, is someone jealous?" Fangs asked jokingly as he playfully punched his friend in the shoulder.

Sweet Pea rolled his eyes and scoffed at Fangs, "And why would I be jealous?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Mandy replied sarcastically before looking over at Queenie, "So, what were you doing with Archie Andrews? I'm guessing it must be Archie if you're talking about Jughead's buddy." Mandy questioned and Queenie sighed at everyone saying stuff to her at all different times.

"He wants help with writing his music today after school," She informed them, "But it was weird, when I got to Riverdale High, the football players, including Archie, were in the middle of practice and after it ended, Archie comes over in his uniform, which is actually Jason's old one, and I ended up mistakenly calling Archie 'Jason. I even stroked his cheek. It was really, really weird." She explained to her friends and they all listened to her closely.

"Hey, at least you didn't kiss him," Toni stated, looking on the bright side of it all.

Mandy scoffed at her, "Knowing Archie, he would be into it. A little birdie told me little red has turned into Riverdale's resident fuck boy. He went from innocent Betty, to that new girl and now, there are rumors that he went with his music teacher." Mandy informed them with a smirk.

Queenie laughed, "Oh, you mean Ms. Grundy? Yeah, they had a thing. Jughead told me about it." Queenie replied and Joaquin and Mandy looked at her shocked.

"Wait, Ms. Grundy? As in the teacher you punched at Riverdale High, breaking her nose? The reason for your expulsion?" Joaquin asked her shocked. Queenie nodded her head in response, causing the rest of her friends to become shocked also.

"Wait, you punched a teacher?" Fangs spoke up, confused about the subject, seeing as he, Toni and Sweet Pea weren't friends were her at the time.

"Yeah, why do you think I got expelled from Riverdale High?" She answered in question type way, causing him to shrug, "I got into a fight with this football player after he was picking on my brother. He ended up seeing my Serpent jacket and I punched him in the face. Someone tried to pry me off of him, I thought it was another football player so I punched them. It ended up being a teacher." She explained to them.

"So, did you say yes to helping him?" Sweet Pea asked and Queenie nodded her head, "Do you need a ride? I'll be happy to give you one." He offered.

Queenie scoffed, "Remember last time? We ended up having to stop and I threw up in the woods. As much as I love motorcycles, sorry, but the answer's no. Not having that happen again."

Sweet Pea sighed, "Fine, just be careful." He warned her and all of his friends began to smirk at him, "What? I'm being a good friend. It's dangerous to walk alone."

Queenie smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I can take of myself, Sweet Pea," She told him before getting up from her seat, "See ya."