Poison | Jughead Jones

Chapter twenty four

Explosive baby showers

Fp wrangled the three stray pups, with the help of Jessebelle, and harshly guided them back to the doors of their base. The school kids scurried away into the dimness of the streets, attempting to scatter before the wrath of the serpents clamped down on them.

"Not you red head, you stay." FP demanded, forcing the boy to stop with the coldness of his tone. Archie slowly veered round and noticed the disbelief threaded through both of the serpents eyes, Jessebelles silent tick when annoyed sparking in her eyes.

"What do you think you were doing?" FP remarked, his lips pursed and a new sober smell clinging to his skin.

"I came here to find the thugs that trashed my dads work." Archie snapped back, gaze flickering between the two standing off in front of him.

"Who do you think you are Archie? Tintin? you wanna go search for adventures now, is that it?" Bella spoke up in the cold air, her gaze narrowed on the red head.

"And what have I told you, Jessebelle? To stop pissing off the older guys!" FP turned on her, his tone rising as if he were a father scolding their child. Her mouth dropped agape as Archie smirked subtly underneath his raging facade.

"Now I'm going to speak to the boy alone, and you're going to scurry off to that baby shower you're meant to be at right about now. Do you understand?" The leader ordered, his hard expression never wavering when speaking to the child.

She was like a daughter to him, he had raised her through the gang and he was still trying to lead her in a positive direction. Jughead had decided early on that he wasn't going to be apart of the Jones's bigger family, and Pea acted as a backbone in a way.

With her sharp tongue and quick wit, she would make the perfect leader one day. But was that what he really wanted from her, after everything she had been through?

Bella rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath, her arms quickly folding into her chest and her shoulders slouching.

"Do you understand?" FP repeated, eyeing the boy who shied away ever so slightly at his tone of voice.

"Yes, I hear you loud and clear." Bella snapped back, storming off into the night with nothing more than anger fueling her mind.

*****

Bella pushed the door closed and was immediately hit with an aroma of baby powder and pink decorations. It took Bella a minute to readjust, closing her eyes and allowing her breathing rate to slow.

"Where were you?" Jughead whispered as he grabbed the girls elbow and twirled her out of the guests pathway. Bella squinted as her eyes opened and scowled at the beanie boy acting as confused as Peter rabbit.

"Trying to stop Tintin from reenacting the civil war in the Whyte worm. No heads up? Really, Jug." She bit back as the pair huddled in the corner to draw as little attention as possible.

"I called you like a hundred times!" Jughead remarked, shaking his phone at the line of misdirected calls he had sent out to her phone. She fished it out sheepishly and only then saw the layers of notifications dancing on her lock screen. She peered up with a shy smile, her bottom lip puffing out slightly.

"Truce?" She asked with a soft voice, her eyes glimmering with the fake innocence she had mastered as a child.

"Sure, sure. Whatever." The boy rolled his eyes but allowed a grin to reside on his lips. He pulled the girl into a tight hug, dragging them out of the corner and back into the frenzy of what was Pollys baby shower.

"Oh, and he knows about your dad." Bella whispered into the boys ear, knowing Archie would be on a war path as soon as he was let loose.

"What?" Jughead froze, eyes dropping and mouth falling open. Before Bella could respond, Betty Cooper swooped into the conversation.

"You made it, Bella! Finally. I need your expertise over here." And neither southsider could retort as jessebelle rhodes was being pulled off to help with last minute decorating.

*****

The gift exchange was as pleasant as it could be with the Coopers and the Blossoms both in the same room. Bella stood behind Betty, acting as happy as she could whilst Jughead sent her sharp looks across the sofas. He stood on the opposite side of the circle, trying the catch the girls attention and make her come over to him without an argument.

He was upset Archie had found out, and he knew he couldn't blame her for Archies new found adventurous mind set. But Bella wasn't stupid, she saw how riled up the boy had got and didn't need to be caught in the cross fire.

The door creaked ajar as Penelope handed her present to Polly, her smile faker than Jessebelles. Archie Andrews had barrelled into the room in the midst of the party, vision red as he spotted the boy stood off to one side.

"You were protecting him. Thats why you didn't tell me." Archie spat as the room chilled to an icy silence. The three girls glanced at one another, an unexpected trio that had risen with the founded group.

A serpent, a rich newyorker, and the girl next door.

"Relax." Jughead muttered, eyes wide and alarmed as if it hurt to see his best friend that angry.

"Guys what happened?" Betty soothed as the girls huddled into the group to try and drown out the argument.

"Did you know that Jugheads father is a serpent?" Archie scoffed as he glanced at the two gormless girls stood beside Bella. They shook their heads and soon everything came crashing around them.

"That was not your secret to tell Andrews." Bella reasoned, her expression falling cold as she noticed how much this kid was ruining not only her day but now Pollys.

"When were you going to tell us you were a serpent Bella? Why did the Blossoms have to tell us?" Archie pushed on, watching the anger boil under her skin. Jughead went to grab her hadn't but she shook it off with a step forward, closing in on the red head.

"Now you listen here, Andrews. And you listen good." She seethed, dragging the taller boy down by his varsity jacket so his head was closer to hear her quiet voice. She kept a hushed tone to reduce the theatrics of the baby shower, allowing the guests to whisper and pretend a group fight wasn't about to happen.

"You're going to shut your trap. Because if I remember rightly, this baby shower is not about you going all Scooby doo on us. This is Betty's sisters day, Pollys day, and I will give you hell if you decide to ruin it. Now you can shut up and enjoy some baby inspired cakes, or you can go home and wait to talk to Jughead like an adult." Bella raised her eyebrows as she dropped her grip on the boy, waiting for an egotistical response to spout out of his air of a head.