Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

2.29

THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Once Jughead had booked his ticket to the first place available. Queenie sat with her brother in a booth a Pop's. She wanted to be there the next morning when he left. She wasn't leaving with him, sadly, but she wanted to tell him goodbye before he left.

   Suddenly, Queenie watched as Veronica, Betty, and Archie entered the diner. She internally groaned, wondering what they were up to. Probably up to no good.

  "Told you," Veronica told her friends confidently as they made their way over to the two siblings.

  "Queenie, Jug," Archie called out, causing Jughead to quickly glance at them

  Betty walked up to her boyfriend and his sister and took a seat beside him, "Jug, Queenie, we're so sorry." Betty apologized quietly, "About everything."

  The two siblings stayed quiet, not saying a single word to them, "Guys, we screwed up. We all did. And breaking into your dad's trailer was wrong, but at least some good came out of it." Archie admitted to them.

   Queenie frowned as she looked up the redhead, "I'm pretty sure our dad getting arrested for killing my boyfriend isn't a good thing." She commented, still not making direct eye contact with any of them.

  "Queenie, that gun wasn't there when we searched his trailer. Someone put it there after we left." Veronica informed them, causing both Jughead and Queenie to look up shocked

"What are you talking about?" Jughead and Queenie asked at the same time.

_____

The core four and Queenie entered the police station and Archie immediately made his way over to the front desk, "Excuse me. We need to see Sheriff Keller." Archie spoke up as Betty walked over to Archie and stood beside him.

  "There's been a huge mistake," Betty added in.

  Just then, the Sheriff walked over to them, seeming a bit confused.  Veronica quickly pushed past her friends and walked over to him, "Sheriff, we need to talk to you about FP Jones."

  "What about him?" Sheriff Keller asked the five teenagers curiously.

  "That he's innocent," Archie stated.

  "He's being framed," Veronica told him and Keller seemed to not believe them one bit. Something must have happened, Queenie knew it.

  "Well then, why did he just confess?" Sheriff questioned as two cops walked by, FP standing between them. He was handcuffed and was clearly being brought back to his cell.

  Queenie's eyes widened when she heard this. FP's eyes locked with his daughter's and he became confused when he saw that she didn't seem angry with him like everyone would expect her to be. Queenie was about to move forward, but Archie and Jughead grabbed onto her.

  "Let me go! Let me go!" She yelled at them, but they wouldn't listen. Once FP was out of their sight and Sheriff Keller had walked away, they finally let go of her.

____

  The next morning, Queenie entered Southside High after a week of being absent. News had spread throughout Riverdale about what happened about FP. All eyes seemed to be on Queenie as she entered the school. She kept her head down and her hands in her pockets as she made her way down the hallway.

  She groaned in frustration when she was cornered by three Ghoulies, "What the hell do you want? I don't have time for your bullshit right now." She told them, unamused.

  One of them smirked, "How does it feel to find out your own father killed your boyfriend?" He asked her curiously, clearly trying to piss her off. She didn't want to get in the gutter with them so she stayed quiet, "Or did you help dear ol' daddy? What? Did your little Northside boyfriend tried to leave you so you helped your dad shoot him in between the eyes."

  By then, Queenie couldn't control her anger any longer. She took her hands out of her pocket and balled her left hand into a tight fist. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before she punched the male Ghoulie in the face. He dropped to the floor just before the other two Ghoulies came at her. She kicked one of them in the groin before roughly pushing them to the ground. The other one came at her, but before she could even think about fighting back, Sweet Pea suddenly came over and punched the Ghoulie in the face. She smiled slightly at Sweet Pea when she saw this.

"Get lost. Now." He demanded sternly through his gritted teeth. Once the Ghoulies were gone, Sweet Pea turned to face Queenie, "You okay?" He asked her concerned.

  Queenie slowly nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just going through a lot right now. People trying to screw with me isn't helping." She confessed quietly. Sweet Pea sighed as he pulled Queenie in for a hug, something she deeply needed, "He didn't do it. I know it. He wouldn't kill Jason. Stuff just isn't adding up. And if he killed Jason, that means he knocked me out before leaving me to die in Greendale. He wouldn't do that to me. I'm his daughter for God's sake." She explained to him.

"I believe you." He replied softly and Queenie couldn't but smile a bit.

He believed. No one else really believed her, not even Jughead. Jughead seemed to be losing all hope on his father, unlike Queenie. It should have been the other way around, but it wasn't. Queenie still believed her father didn't kill Jason. And she still had the feeling the Blossoms had something to do it. Whoever killed Jason, ripped the ring from her neck. And the person who ended up having the ring was the Blossoms. So, if FP supposedly killed Jason, why did the Blossoms have the ring and not him?

The two teenagers headed to the lunch room to see all of their friends waiting for them. It was mostly quiet, they knew they shouldn't talk about some things with Queenie being in such a fragile state.

  Toni looked down at the diamond ring on Queenie's ring finger and smiled, "You found the ring." Toni spoke up and Queenie looked down at her hand.

  She watched as Joaquin frowned, looking down at the ring confused, "Where did you find it? I thought you lost it." Joaquin asked her and Queenie didn't know why he seemed so interested in knowing.

  "Found it at the Blossom house. Supposedly, Jason threw it in their face when he saw them last." She explained.

  "Why do you say 'supposedly'?"Fangs asked her curiously.

  Queenie shrugged, "I don't feel like talking about it. Can we talk about something more exciting and happy?" She suggested as she curled her lips into a small, yet fake smile.

  Sweet Pea smiled along with her as he jokingly wrapped an arm around her, "Hmm. How about we talk about the face that you're going to be the leader of the Serpents in your father's absence." He told her and Queenie looked at him shocked.

  "What?" She asked and all of her friends smiled.

  "You didn't hear? The Serpents all made a vote last night, everyone said yes. Well, everyone except Mustang. The asshole didn't even vote." Mandy informed her with a smile on her face.

  Queenie rolled her eyes, "I don't know what the hell is Mustang's problem. It feels like he's hated my guts ever since I got back." She admitted and Joaquin shifted uncomfortably in his seat, which Queenie noticed, "You go something to say, Joaquin?"

  Joaquin shook his head before he got up and left the lunch room. The whole group frowned at this, Queenie the most, "What? Did I say something wrong?" She asked them confused.

AN: The moment between Queenie still hasn't happened yet, but it will. Just trying to fit it in the right place. I'm kinda glad I put Queenie believing that her father didn't do it.