Leather Jackets and Brooches

Chapter 25

Cheryl stared at the clock that was illuminated on the desk opposite her, it was 1:39 am.  She was staying in the guest room at the Keller's, the room was very nicely decorated and rather spacious. Cheryl lent over the bed to pick up her phone and called Jughead.

"Jughead, it's Cheryl. I need your help" 

A tired Jughead listened to Cheryl whisper down the phone to ensure that she didn't wake up Kevin or Tom Keller. He had agreed to meet her at the end of Kevin's road. Fortunately because the guest room was on the first floor, she quietly lifted up the large window at the end of the room and cautiously climbed through it along with her Vixens bag, she then carefully lowered the window. She then crept away from the house and then down to the agreed meeting place. A few minutes past and Jughead arrived on his bike with a spare helmet on the back.

"Where do you want to go?" Jughead yawned.

"I want to you to take me to Penny"

"What? Are you serious?" Jughead said in shock.

"Yes, I have something she wants and I think I can keep Toni safe from her and the Ghoulies" Cheryl explained.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked while offering the helmet

"Yes" Cheryl accepted the helmet and got on to the back of the bike.

Jughead drove them to Penny's hideout near Centreville, it was an abandoned trailer park that had only a few trailers left that had a few people still living in it. as they got off the bike, there could see a blonde woman rocking back and forth in a chair opposite a fire that was contained in an old barrel. Cheryl and Jughead walked over to the women who drank from the beer in her hand.

"Well, well , look who came to the  lion's den" she smirked

"You are so lucky the police haven't caught you" Jughead threatened.

"Calm down Jughead" Cheryl lightly restrained him.

"What brings you here then?" Penny drinks again from her bottle

"I want to make a deal with you" Cheryl explains

"What kind of deal?" Penny leans forward from the chair.

"You and your Ghoulies stay away from me, Toni and all the Serpents" Cheryl demands.

"Haha, and what makes you thinks that's going to happen? You will call the cops" she pretends to be frightened then laughs to herself.

"No, but this will" Cheryl throws her bag down at Penny's feet.

Penny puts down her beer, then pulls back the zip of the bag. She begins pulling out the large bundles of cash and looking at them in more detail.

"Cheryl what are you doing?" Jughead whispers.

"Trust me" she replies

"There's enough there for you to leave town and never come back" Cheryl stood confidently with her arms rested on her hips.

"Seems fair. I get to keep the bag as well, call it memories of my time here" Penny laughed then put the money bag in to the bag and zipped it up. 

"That means you leave now though" Cheryl folded her arms. 

"Alright kid don't have a tantrum" she continued to laugh.

Penny went inside the old wrecked trailer to pack up her stuff.

"Cheryl where did you get all that money?" Jughead questioned.

"My father's safe" 

"Won't your mom notice it's missing?" he continued.

"Probably not, as shallow as it sounds" Cheryl admitted.

Penny returned with a large duffel bag and a backpack which she secured to her bike. She then climbed on to the bike and put on her helmet but left the visor up.

"Well it's been a pleasure doing business with you both" she smirked 

"Remember, you have to keep to your part of the deal. The Ghoulies and you stay away from us all" Jughead threatened.

"Yeah whatever. I glad I'm getting away from this dump anyway. Ciao" Penny put the visor down on her helmet and started the bike then drove away leaving Cheryl and Jughead in a small cloud of dust and fumes. Cheryl breathed a sigh of relief once the motorbike and Penny was out of sight. She then turned to face Jughead. 

"Why didn't you let her get caught by Sheriff Keller?" Jughead questioned.

"She could still control us and her Ghoulies from inside prison, it was better that we gave her reason to skip town and not return" Cheryl ran her hand through her hair.

"I hope you're right" Jughead admitted

"Me too" Cheryl nodded.