Two Evils // Sweet Pea

Chapter Four

Katherine Lodge's eyes dart around the room, for a split moment, she'd forgotten where she was, but it clearly wasn't the Pembroke. She pulls the cover over her naked body, scooting to the edge of the bed.
Fuck. It clicked. Jughead.
Kat bites her lip, taking a moment to steady her breathing. She'd hooked up with Jughead — Betty's Jughead; her close-friend-but-more-of-a-brother Jughead. Fuck. She'd ruined everything. Nothing would be the same again.
"Kat?" His rough voice calls from the living area. She gulps, grabbing the closet items of clothing; her underwear, a large baggy grey shirt, Jug's jacket.

"Morning." Kat smiles awkwardly, brushing her messy morning hair over her ear.
"Morning." Jug coos as he closes his laptop and smiles. Taking hold of Katherine's hand, he lightly kisses her fingers.
"So.." She leans against the sofa, adjusting her borrowed clothes, "You hungry?"
"Is that a trick question?" Jughead laughs, smiling like a kid in a candy store. His lack of beanie making him look so much younger.
Kat grins back at him, making her way to the kitchen, "Cool."
What a mess, sighs to herself as she looks over the piles of pots and wrappers left around. When Jug told her he'd be living alone in his father's trailer, it never crossed her mind that he would struggle. And Jughead being Jughead, he wouldn't ask for help. He liked to face things alone, whether that benefited him or not.
She raids the cupboards and fridge momentarily, sighing again. Bare, absolutely nothing in sight but old takeaway containers and empty boxes. Cereal was the only option. Just cereal, no milk in sight. It killed her to see Jug this way. She wanted to offer him some help — even if that was only groceries — but she knew well that he wouldn't allow it.

Kat tiptoes her way back into the living area of the trailer, dodging the mess of clothes and paper on the floor. Sitting down next to Jug and handing him a bowl, she crosses her ankles in front of her.
"Thanks for letting me stay over," She eventually says, smiling sincerely at him.
He takes a spoonful of the dry cereal, "My trailer is your trailer."
They sit in comfortable silence momentarily, but the night before them plagues on Kat's mind. Was she a bad person for hitting a home run with Jug? She swallows. She hadn't done it to spite Betty, she hadn't even thought of that. It just sort of... happened. They were hurting, both of them.
"Last night was.." His voice trails off as he beams at Kat.
She laughs, defensively. It was was a mistake. It 100% shouldn't have happened, "An emotionally-charged mistake?"
"Oof," Jughead chuckles, a slight look of relief on his face, "Way to knock a guys confidence."
"I mean, you were great and everything." She stumbles around her words, "You're gorgeous and sweet, honestly, but.."
"Ah," he chuckles, "There's always a but."
"You're pining for Betty," Kat squeezed his hand, "And I'm not interested in being someone's rebound." He laughs, softly as she takes another spoonful of cereal, "So your face — that part of the Serpent initiation?"
"I'm not meant to talk about it," he says nonchalantly.
"Okay, Tyler Durden," She rose an eyebrow, pointing at his bandaged hand, "Your hand as well? Or can't you tell me?"
He nods, taking another spoonful of cereal.
"Let me guess, the first rule of the Serpents; don't talk about the Serpents?" She mocks.

Kat's phone buzzes, then buzzes again. She rolls her eyes, grabbing her phone off of the table.
"Jug," Kat looks up from her phone, "I don't want to worry you.."
"What's wrong?"
"Mayor McCoy has ordered a raid on Southside High."

*

          Jughead holds onto Kat as they storm into the school. Frantically, they search the halls for the Serpents, urging them to leave.
Kat couldn't help but feel irritated at the sight of the school, no wonder the Southside hated the Northside; they had nothing, whilst Riverdale High had everything. At the main entrance stood three rows of metal detectors, the walls were paint pealed — graffitied to the nines, the floor scuffed and dirty. In the halls, students knocked back tubes of Jingle Jangle; the teachers didn't care in the slightest.
The teachers didn't care, Kat takes a deep breath, realising her everlasting privilege. She bounced from private prep school to prep school, when she moved to Riverdale, she'd joked about how deprived the school was in comparison. This was something else entirely. It was clear that the towns money was pumped into one high school, and it wasn't Southside High.