Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

3.8

THE SECOND TIME AROUND
CHAPTER EIGHT

The next morning, Queenie stood in the living room of her family's, watching as Betty cleaned Jughead's bruises from the night before. Queenie had the feeling that Jughead was going to lie to his girlfriend, she just wondered what that lie would be. After all, Queenie was the good liar in the face, Jughead wasn't, he was the worst liar.

Betty sighed as she poured a bit of peroxide on a piece of cotton cloth, "Can't you just...take a day off?" Betty asked her boyfriend before cleaning a bruise on Jughead's face.

"It's not that bad," Jughead assured her calmly, "Just some cuts and bruises."

"I told you, during Queenie's motorcycle was risky, Jug. Queenie's a skilled driver, yet she still stopped after she got pregnant," Queenie straightened her back up a bit as she gave her brother a confused look, "You promised me you were always going to wear a helmet."

"It was just around the block," Jughead replied, "Don't blame me, alright? Blame the pothole."

Betty stopped cleaning his cuts for a moment so she could speak to him, "I thought you were going to say that you were jumped by those...Creepies."

"They're called Ghoulies," Queenie corrected the blonde as she walked closer to her, "But no, the Serpents would never allow that. We got Jughead's back, even though he's not an official member. It's just some family loyalty. And don't worry, Betty, I'll keep him out of trouble." She assured her as Betty shared a glance with Jughead before.

She sighed out before she got up from her seat and packed her things up, "Right. I gotta go to school, try and fix this mess with Kevin. Queenie, will you keep an eye on him?"

"Already said I would. Tell Polly I said hi." Queenie replied before Betty left. Queenie watched as Betty left the trailer. Once she was long gone, Queenie turned to face her brother, giving him a raised brow.

"Don't tell Betty," He begged her and Queenie scoffed.

"Why would I tell Betty?" She questioned as she crossed her arms, "I'm more interested on what made you think you could use my bike without even asking first. I may be pregnant, but I sure as hell will be riding that thing once I have these kids."

Jughead smiled and nodded his head before Queenie spoke up again, "If you're driving it, you better be putting gas in it." She remarked and made her way back to her and Sweet Pea's trailer.

_______

Once getting back to the trailer, which was a couple trailers away from her father's, Queenie found Polly standing in front of a cab. She looked as if she was almost as if she was waiting for someone. And maybe that someone was Queenie.

"Polly?" She called out and Polly instantly looked up at her friends before making her way over to her. She stood in front of Queenie, giving her a sad look, "What's wrong? What happened?" She asked her confused.

"I wanted to tell you goodbye, Queenie," Polly spoke up quietly, "I was hoping Sweet Pea would be here, too, to say goodbye, but I figured he wouldn't be." Polly told and Queenie became even more confused. Why did she need to say goodbye?

"What? Why are you saying goodbye, Pol?" She asked her, not having a clue what was going on at all, "Are you...Are you leaving town, Polly? Tell me you're not leaving town." Queenie gave Polly a pleading look, hoping she wasn't actually leaving town like she seemed to be.

  Polly had tears threatening to spill as she nodded her head in response, "I am, Queenie. I'm going to live at the farm upstate. The one you, me and Jason were supposed to go before you know, everything happened. I can't be here anymore. I can't be in Riverdale, it just puts me in danger. The Black Hood is targetting sinners and I'm basically a poster child for sinners. I literally an unwed mother, pregnant with Chuck Clayton's babies! I would ask you to come with me, but I know you wouldn't, not with how happy you are here. You have so much going on you, you're finally happy, but I'm not. I have to leave." She explained to her and Queenie had a few tears streaming down her cheeks.

It was quiet for a moment before Queenie pulled her best friend in for a hug . She tightly wrapped her arms around her as Polly hugged her back. They like this for a moment before Polly spoke up once again, "I'll call you when I get there, Queenie, I promise. We can still talk on the phone whenever we want and I can visit once this whole Black Hood crap is over."

Queenie nodded her head and sighed, "Ugh, I'm going to miss you, Polly." Queenie said quietly.

After a few moments, Queenie and Polly pulled away from each other. Queenie followed Polly over to the yellow cab. She opened the door for her friend and Polly got into the vehicle, "Bye, Polly."Queenie sent her a small smile.

"Bye, Queenie." Polly told her back before Queenie closed the door.

Queenie watched as the car drove off, out of Sunnyside Trailer Park. She sure was going to miss her friend. Polly had seemed to relate the most to her. Now, she was gone.

_________

That day, at lunch in the Southside High School cafeteria , Queenie sat beside Sweet Pea and across from Toni and Mandy. It was silent at their table, mostly because of the mood Queenie was giving.

Lately, it had been Queenie who usually took it upon herself to lighten up the modd, but that day, it was the complete opposite. Queenie was in a depressing mood, which made everyone else in one, too. With Queenie usually lightening up the mood, it helped everyone get over the fact that their group was missing one of its members: Joaquin.

  Since Joaquin had left town, Mandy acted a bit different. They treated each other as siblings along with Queenie. They were the original Southside High trio. Now, a new trio was there, Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea.

Queenie looked down at the table, not making any eye contact with anyone she was sitting with. Everyone could tell she was sad about something, but only Sweet Pea knew exactly why. She was sad about Polly leaving town. She didn't have to tell Sweet Pea how she felt, he could already sense it in the way she acted.

In the gap between the two, Queenie had her left hand rested on the metal bench. Sweet Pea grabbed Queenie's hand and held it in his. Queenie turned her head a little to give Sweet Pea a small smile, which he gladly returned.

  Just then, Jughead walked over, causing Queenie to lift her head to look at him. Sweet Pea looked up also when Jughead stopped and stood right in front of their table.

"Is this seat taken?" Jughead spoke up, pointing to the spot on the bench next to Toni. They all stayed quiet as Toni moved her back to make room for Jughead. Jughead ended up a seat directly across from Queenie.

  Everything seemed fine once again in Riverdale, but boy, were they wrong. The trouble was just getting started.