Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

2.34

THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

Queenie arrived at the 75th annual Jubilee at the town hall and stood near the door, watching as Betty walked onto the stage, ready to give her speech. The applauding began to die down as she began to speak, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank Mayor McCoy for inviting me to be on this historic day. seventy-five years of Riverdale." Betty stated with a smile.

Suddenly, Jughead entered and stood beside his sister, which caused Betty to look straight at the both of them. After a moment, she looked away and stared at the rest of the crowd, "But what is Riverdale? It's the people, right? You, me, our friends, our neighbors... Riverdale is Archie Andrews." She explained and people began to applaud, "Kevin Keller is Riverdale. Veronica Lodge, she's Riverdale. Queenie Jones is even Riverdale. But you know who else is Riverdale? FP Jones." Queenie's eyes widened when she heard the last name Betty stated. She shared a glance with Jughead, who seemed to have the same reaction as her, "Who we were so quick to blame for Jason's murder. Jughead Jones is Riverdale, the very soul of Riverdale. Without him, we may not have ever found out what happened to Jason. And yet, how did we thank him? By banishing him. Which is what we do when the truth gets too ugly in Riverdale. Truth being that Clifford Blossom was also Riverdale. Riverdale's at a crossroads. If we don't face the reality of who and what we are if we keep lying to ourselves and keeping seeing from each other then what happened to Jason and almost happened to Queenie, could happen again. Or God forbid something even worse. Riverdale must do better, we must do better."

After her speech, Betty backed up from the microphone. Everyone was silent, shocked by it all. Betty was right, though. She was completely right and deep, down inside, everyone knew that. Queenie hated it being so silent, so she stepped forward a bit and began to clap for her brother's girlfriend. Jughead ended up following in her footsteps and soon after, everyone did also.

_____

That night, Queenie and some other Serpents, one including Tall Boy, her father's former right hand, walked up to her father's trailer, which was now being lived in by Jughead. Tall Boy walked up the small set of step and knocked on the door a couple times.

Queenie stood at the bottom of the steps, gripping the end of Hot Dog's leash in her left hand. After getting an answer immediately after, Queenie immediately knew something was occurring in that trailer between Jughead and Betty. She smirked evilly, "Knock again. I want to screw with him a bit." She told Tall Boy, who began to knock once more.

Soon enough, Jughead exited the trailer without his normal beanie and he was in the middle of putting on his shirt. She quietly laughed at him when she saw Jughead's face. It was utterly shocked.

Jughead peaked his head out to see all of the Serpents at his doorstep, one of them including his own sister. Hot Dog began to bark once seeing Jughead. He was clearly not used to Queenie's brother. Queenie looked down at the dog and smiled, "Easy, Hot Dog. He's family." She assured him quietly before looking back up.

"Hey." Jughead greeted the group, giving a face that showed he was wondering what they were doing there.

"Heard your could've named names, but didn't," Tall Boy spoke up, "Serpents take care of their own. We wanted you to know, no matter what happens to him, however long he's gone, we got you and Queenie's back," Queenie tossed Tall Boy the Serpent jacket she was holding in his head.

He caught it and held it up, "This is yours, if you want it." Tall Boy told him as he handed Jughead the jacket.

Jughead held it in his hands as he looked down at it, examining it. He looked up at Queenie, who was smiling. he smiled back at her before he began to put proudly put on the Serpent Jacket.

"Juggie?" A voice spoke up from inside the trailer and Queenie recognized it to be Betty Cooper. Jughead quickly looked over at his girlfriend and Queenie sighed in response.

_____

Later on that same night, Queenie made her way to Sweet Pea's trailer with a large duffel bag in her hand. She knocked on the door and a few seconds later, Sweet Pea opened the door, "Queenie? What are you doing here?" He asked her confused.

Queenie smiled slightly, "I was wondering if that offer to stay here was still open? I don't really feel like having to deal with Jughead having Betty over twenty-four/ seven." She told him and Sweet Pea nodded his head.

"Of course, you can stay." He replied as he opened the door wider. Queenie went to go pick up her bag, but Sweet Pea ended up doing it instead, "Here, let me."

"Thanks," She thanked him as she entered the trailer. She stood there for a moment before she finally spoke up, "Hey, Sweet Pea?" She spoke up.

"Yeah?" He answered her. Queenie took a deep breath before she broke the gap between them. She stood in front of him before leaning in for a kiss.

After a moment, they pulled away, "What was that for?" He questioned quietly.

Queenie sighed, "As much as I hate to admit it, Sweet Pea. I like you. I like you a lot. I need you to know now, I'm not over Jason. We never even broke up, he was killed. I had to watch him die and it was the hardest thing to go through. And to top it all off, I'm carrying his babies. I've been going through so much for the past few months since I've gotten back, even before that. You've always been there for me. Anytime I called, anytime I needed someone, you were always there for me. You were there when I needed a shoulder to cry on and when I needed a place to stay, you immediately offered to let me stay. You even went to all of my doctor's appointments with me. I don't think I would have been able to deal with all of the stuff happening to me without you being here by my side." She confessed and Sweet Pea was speechless, "Please, say something."

"I like you, too," He replied with a smile, " More than you ever know. To be honest, I've had the hugest crush on you since I met you. You were this hot, strong, badass Serpent girl who happened to the gang leader's daughter and I couldn't help but start liking you soon after meeting you. But I knew I couldn't have you because you were spoken for already. And you were so happy with him, so I didn't want to ruin that for you. I was crushed when we all found out that you supposedly drowned in the river. Everyone believed you were gone, but me. I still had hope. And guess what? I was right."

     Sweet Pea went to pull her in for another kiss. She pulled back for a moment and Sweet Pea frowned in confusion, "I-I've never asked this of anyone before, but can we just take this slow for a while? After Jason, I don't want to be left heartbroken again. I know you would never do that, but I just...is it alright..." She began to ask.

Sweet Pea just nodded his head, "Yeah, of course." He agreed with her.

Queenie pressed a quick kiss to his lips before she hugged him. Sweet Pea closed his eyes and smiled as they both hugged.

Sweet Pea had finally got the girl, and Queenie was official happy again after being in a depressing state for so long.

  Everything was good for everyone in Riverdale, including Sweet Pea and Queenie.

Or so they thought.

AN: Last chapter of part two. I was thinking about doing a second book for part three because this is at like seventy parts, but screw it. I'm too lazy. I don't know what it is, but I'm really obsessed with writing this book lately. I've spent half my spring break writing on wattpad (mostly this book) and now, today's my birthday and I'm still writing it😂 I'm weird, I know.

Oh! And should I change the titles thingy to 'Riverdale' instead of Jason Blossom?