Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

2.13

THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  

Queenie's hazel eyes met with Polly's and she was completely shocked, "Polly?" Queenie gasped once Polly removed her hand from Polly's face

  "Queenie. You have to help me. Please." Polly begged her and Queenie quickly nodded her head in response before the two of them walked to Queenie and Sweet Pea's trailer.

  Once entering, Sweet Pea frowned when he saw Queenie enter with the pregnant blonde, who had a bleeding wound on her right calf.  Sweet Pea jumped up from his seat and quickly walked over to them, "What the hell happened? Who's this?"

  Queenie sighed, "This is Polly. The girl I talked about to you." She informed them and Sweet Pea started to realize what was going on.

  "You helped her break out of that hellhole, didn't you, Queenie?" Sweet Pea asked the Jones girl and she nodded. Sweet Pea looked down at the girl's wound and sighed, "First aid kit's underneath the bathroom sink, she can stay for as long as she'd like."

  Queenie stared at Sweet Pea in confusion, why was he so okay with this? Any other person would have said she couldn't stay.

  A few minutes later, Polly sat on the bed in Queenie's room while Queenie wrapped up her wound in gauze, "How did you get all the way to the Southside of town from the Sisters without anyone noticing?" Queenie asked as Sweet Pea walked in with a cup of hot chocolate.

  "I could only find hot chocolate. There's nothing else that would warm you us." Sweet Pea told Polly, handing her the cup.

  She sent him a small smile before taking the cup from him, "Thank you." She thanked him quietly before turning to Queenie, "We wrote the book on sneaking around town without anyone noticing. Remember, Queenie? But from what I've seen, it seems like you're losing your spark, sadly."

    It was quiet for a moment before Sweet Pea, who was still in the room, spoke up, "Hey, uh, I know it's not any of my business and all, but why are you so inclined on leaving town? From what Queenie told me, you want to be as far away from your parents as possible. Why though?"

   Polly sighed, "Because. My mom and dad want me to put the baby up for adoption. My dad even tried to force me to have an abortion. They want nothing more than to have this baby gone, I can't let that happen. I can't." Polly explained.

  Just then, there was a knock on the door and Polly jumped a bit, causing Queenie to place a reassuring hand on hers, "It's okay, Polly. You're safe here."

  "It's probably just Fangs. He told me he was going to come by." Sweet Pea informed the two girls, causing Polly to feel better.

  Once Sweet Pea left the room, Polly turned to Queenie and smiled slightly at her, "He's cute, you like him?" She asked her, trying to brighten the mood up.

  Queenie shrugged her shoulder, "Sweet Pea...he's been there for me more times than I can count. I call, he's there. Hell, he even let me live with him..."

  "Why am I sensing a 'but'?" Polly questioned curiously.

   "Sweet Pea's just a friend, nothing more. And I'm still not over Jason. I don't think I ever will be. Not for a while." Queenie explained to her and Polly nodded her head in understanding.

  Just then, Queenie heard someone shout, "I need to see my sister! Let me in, Sweet Pea!"

  It was clearly Jughead, yelling at Sweet Pea. Queenie let out a sigh as she got up from the bed. She turned to Polly for a moment, "I'll be right back. Stay here." She insisted before she walked toward the door to see Sweet Pea in front of the closed door.

  "It's Jughead." Sweet Pea told her and Queenie rolled her eyes.

  "I know, I can hear him yelling, Sweet Pea." She laughed and Sweet Pea patted her on the shoulder as a way of saying, 'good luck, it's all on you', before he left the living room.

  Queenie opened the door to see Jughead, who was pretty frustrated at that moment, "Jughead." She greeted her brother in the calm tone, only to get the complete opposite greeting from her younger brother.

  "Queenie, do you know how much it took to convince Betty not to tell Sheriff Keller that we left you with the car before we left? You freaking torched the evidence, Queenie!"

  "What are you talking about, Jughead?" Queenie frowned at him, "Right after you guys left, I felt sick and walked home by myself. I literally just got home, like, twenty minutes ago." She informed him, even though some of it was a lie, like always, "Why? What happened? Someone torched the car?"

    Jughead let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked up at her and gave her a sympathetic look, figuring she didn't know anything because he actually fell for her lie, "Someone torched Jason's getaway car after we left." He informed him, "Betty and I thought it was you. I guess we wrong."

  "Who do you think did it?" Queenie asked him curiously and Jughead shrugged his shoulders.

   "We don't know. Probably the same person who killed Jason." He replied, feeling unsure about the answer.

      Queenie felt a pang of guilt at that moment. She knew who set fire to the car. It was their father. Now, poor Jughead and Betty were going on this search, even though the perpetrator was Jughead's father. She wondered, if Jughead knew it was FP, would he suspect him as Jason's killer? Queenie knew her father wasn't capable of killing Jason Blossom. He was no killer. He was able to hurt someone badly for the people he cared for most, but not kill. Never. Queenie knew this. She knew her father better than anyone else did.

   Queenie was quiet for a moment before staring up at her brother, "I better be going to bed, Jug..." She trailed off as she was about to close the door, but Jughead stopped her, knowing this was the best time to ask her.

"One more thing," He spoke up to her, "I thought you'd like to know. Polly went missing. She escaped the Sisters of Quiet Mercy and is now on the loose. Do you happen to know where she could be?" Jughead asked her curiously and Queenie instantly shook her head.

  "No, I don't. But if you do find her, tell me." Queenie told him before saying her goodbyes and closed the door.

  As he began to walk off, Jughead shook his head in disbelief as he took out his phone and began to dial Betty's number. After it rang a few times, the Cooper girl answer, "You were right, Betty. Queenie didn't torch the car, but I can tell, she knows exactly where Polly is."

  "How could you tell she was lying? I thought you said she was a good liar." Betty asked him confused.

  Jughead chuckled at this, "Queenie has always been an extremely good liar, but if you ask her something when she's least expecting it, she gets caught off guar and ends up giving herself away as she lies because she avoids eye contact with you. I learned that about her when we were kids." Jughead explained calmly. And with that, Jughead hung up the phone.

He wondering to himself, could Polly be in that trailer with Queenie? He thought it may be true a moment before thinking, why would Sweet Pea even let that happen?

But maybe that was the point, Sweet Pea would probably do anything for Queenie. She could say jump and he would ask how high.

Jughead slightly smiled, thinking this as he walked off. Sweet Pea clearly was falling hard for Jughead's older sister, but had no clue that he probably had no chance. He kinda felt bad.