The Serpent Queen

Chapter Twenty Six

I went over to FP's trailer straight after school, choosing not to join the others at the Wyrm. I told him what went down at school with the Bulldogs.

'Jugheads gonna have a field day with this' I told him 'I can see him now parading round the Wyrm trying to get the others to carry on wearing their jackets as an act of rebellion'

'Oh great! That's going to be a fun conversation to have with him' FP sighed.

'He's uncontrollable' I laughed 'The others agree with me but Jughead never does. He's too headstrong like his dad'

Fp laughed lightly and kissed me.

'Pretty sure you're the head strong one here Crystal'

'I prefer to think of it as knowing what I want' I corrected him with a smile.

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The Serpents turned up at school the next day without our jackets on and I'll admit, I felt almost naked without it and the others felt the same. It didn't help either that Jughead decided to ignore this new rule and waltzed into school still wearing his jacket. Bad idea.

'Take it off' the Bulldog I learnt was called Reggie demanded, 'take off that jacket rat boy'

He stood up and walked over to Jughead, his friends following, so Toni, Fangs, Sweet Pea and I joined them so we could back up Jughead.

'Oh Reggie, I don't think you know what this jacket means' Jughead replied and I sighed heavily, knowing this wasn't going to end well at all, 'Because you have no sense of honor, or history, or loyalty.'

'That's it!' Reggie lunged at Jughead and tried to rip off his jacket.

I wasn't having it. I dropped my bag and Fangs and Sweet Pea joined me in fighting the other Bulldogs who had jumped in to help Reggie fight Jughead.

No Serpent stands alone.

But someone, my guess was Veronica, grassed us up to Weatherbee so we all got dragged into his office and given a weeks worth of detention for fighting. The only justice was that Reggie was getting detention too.

'Thought I made myself clear to you Mr Jones. Take off that jacket right now or you're suspended' Weatherbee told him.

'Just do it Jughead, it's not worth it' I tried to tell him but he didn't listen to me or Veronica who also tried to tell him.

'Guess I'm suspended' he replied, walking out of the office.

'The rest of you should go back to your classes and then join us here for detention after' Weatherbee dismissed us.

Reggie walked out before us and Veronica looked at me with pleading eyes before following him.

'Jughead's going to get us all killed' Toni commented.

'I can't control him but maybe FP can get through to him' I pondered as we went to our classes 'I'll text him and let you guys know what he says'

FP responded to my text almost straight away so I assumed he was on his break at work and he said he would talk to Jughead and convince him to cooperate and after writing lines in detention, I met FP at a little place we used to visit near Sweetwater River. It was out of the way from eyesight unless you knew it was there.

'I got him to cooperate' he told me after I'd sat down.

'How?'

'Told him to think of it as laying low, waiting to strike until the right moment. Load of rubbish but it worked'

'Thank you' I smiled at him 'I didn't know how to handle him'

'It's what I'm here for' he replied 'That and to bring you food'

He brought out a takeaway bag from Pop's that contained burgers, fries, and some drinks. Just what I wanted!

'This right here is why we're together' I laughed.

'Because I bring you food?'

'Yes, I need my food. Stops me from getting grumpy'

'That would've been something worth knowing a while ago!' he joked.