The Serpent Queen

Chapter Thirteen

I woke up the next day in pain from my ribs but I still went to school and dodged questions from people about my very visible black eye - I refused to wear make up to cover it up.

'Nice article your girlfriends mom wrote' Sweet Pea told Jughead as we sat outside the school.

'I saw that. Dilton Doiley was stabbed and you jumped him?' Jughead asked.

'The idiot stabbed himself with his own knife' Fangs corrected.

'And we didn't jump him. There was a fight' I added, 'Bulldogs versus Serpents'

'See this?' Sweet Pea indicated to his black eye, 'Your boy Andrews gave it to me and one to Crystal as well as giving her a few bruised ribs before his little girlfriend shot a gun into the air'

'What happened?'

'And of course, Northsiders get off scot-free, the rest of us are hauled in by police. Some of us are going there tonight' Sweet Pea told him.

'It's payback time' Fangs decided.

'What are you talking about?' Jughead asked worridley, 'What is that?'

He looked at the plans we had laid out in front of us illustrating a pipe bomb. Fangs had a cousin who served in the army who was going to build us something to help us shut down the Riverdale Register. Jughead really wasn't impressed and tried to get us to let him talk to his Northside friends before we did anything. That was always his answer for things! That just wasn't the Serpent way.

'We don't even know who you stand with Jones, so why should we listen to you?' I asked, 'You can't be half a Serpent.'

We left him to think things over after that, I hope he decides the right path and becomes a Serpent. Otherwise he'd be in deep trouble.

I had to head to the police station with Kicks to speak to the Sheriff about the fight. I wasn't impressed but it had to be me since I was the leader. Kicks came with me because I knew he'd be able to keep his cool better than Sweet Pea or Fangs who were my normal backups.

'Sheriff Keller is expecting us' I told the officer at the front desk.

He showed us through to Sheriff Kellers office where the Sheriff was waiting for us. He gestured for us to take the seats on the other side of his desk.

'Thank you for coming here, I wish to discuss some matters with you about the Southside and I heard you were quite influential among them' he started.

'Yes, that sounds accurate' I agreed with him.

'Now I've been led to believe some Serpents came to the Northside and began a fight with some of the kids here, one of them even got stabbed in the leg. Care to comment?'

'Sure, we were baited and following the lead set by the Northside kids' I explained calmly.

'And the one who was knifed?'

'It wasn't any of us, he must've hit himself'

'See, now I have a problem' the Sheriff told us.

'What would that be?' Kicks asked him.

'Your explanation of what happened is the complete opposite of the account I've already received so I have no idea who to believe here' he explained.

'You'll believe the Northsiders Sheriff. You always do in these situations' I told him, 'Us Serpents are always used as your scapegoats in these situations'

'That's not true'

'Well that is a matter of opinion Sheriff. Now, unless you have anything else to say, we're leaving' I announced.

Sheriff Keller quickly shot that idea down, saying we should stay until he came up with a solution. I knew that the solution would only benefit the Northside though.

'I'm sorry Sheriff but no solution you come up with here is going to be accepted by the Northside and the Southside, we want different things' I tried to make him understand.

'Yeah, well maybe you should go then, thank you both for your time' he dismissed us both.

I was shocked that the meeting ended so suddenly but I guess I shouldn't have been. I wasn't going to let it bother me though so Kicks and I headed to the Wyrm.

Fangs, Sweet Pea, Tall Boy, and I were playing pool when Jughead came in wearing the jacket he had been given many months ago.

'I think this Northsider's lost' Sweet Pea commented as he took his shot.

'I'm not' Jughead replied firmly, 'I'm over being half a Serpent'

'Wow. You'll do anything to protect your Northside buddies' Sweet Pea pushed him out the way as he moved round the table.

'My father was a Serpent. He led you. I wanna stand with you guys' Jughead told us as more Serpents began to listen in.

I was slightly offended by what he said - I helped FP to lead the Serpents and just because he was in jail didn't mean he stopped being a Serpent!

'Tall Boy was the one who gave me this jacket. It's finally time I start wearing it' Jughead announced.

'So, now you wanna be a Serpent huh?' Tall Boy asked, approaching him 'Crystal told me to give you that jacket as a sign of respect to your dad. You still gotta earn it though'

'Let's see if you can survive the initiation process Jones' I told Jughead, a smirk on my lips.