Helpline ((Jughead Jones)) 2

30

For my first day back in school, a week after this, and a few days since my bandages encasing my hands were removed, Jughead and the Serpents stayed by my side. Toni, Pea and Fangs had visited me on the second day I was awake, saying that Toni had been looking after my Serpent pet after Pea got bitten for putting his hand in. They were smiling constantly. So, while walking through the halls of hell, people staring and whispering like the day the Serpents joined Riverdale High, they had my back.

It was one of the Serpent meeting, my chair pulled up in front of the desk Toni was sat on, Pea behind me. As Jughead spoke, Sweet Pea slowly pushed and pulled my chair backwards and forwards, demanding he found it fun. Before Jughead spoke, Toni watched as I looked at her crossed legs, almost longingly, wishing I could move my legs from one position to the other. She spotted this and knelt down, slowly helping me move my legs to cross them, bringing a smile to mine and Jughead's faces. In fact, all the Serpents in the room seemed happy to have me back.
"Our old adversaries, the Ghoulies, have been released. They want Serpent blood. They're gunning for a rematch. Not only this, but word on the street says they want Thia, because they know it will hurt all of us, They want war."

I felt Fangs step closer to me, and the Serpents around me began responding that they won't get me, that it's impossible, that they will all protect me. Just as Jughead settled them down, the Bulldogs entered, lead by Reggie.

"Which one of you reptiles was screwing Midge Klump?" He hissed at us all. Jughead approached, and once Sweet Pea was mentioned, he stepped up beside his leader. Toni took the breaks off the wheelchair in case I needed to be moved if things between these two rivals got nasty. I looked around the room, deciding if anyone had done the crime we were being accused of. One look at Fangs and I knew.

Reggie and Sweet Pea started, causing everyone to jump up. Jughead and Archie bellowed at the two sides to stop but that didn't seem to be helping. So, I did the one thing I knew would stop almost everyone in the room. I screamed.

Toni was back at my side, J and the rest of the Serpents looking over in worry. When they could see I was fine and everything was silent, I began to wheel myself forward. T reached out towards my chair but I held my hand up, the clear red line in the back of my hand stopping her. I wheeled myself in between the two sides, facing Reggie.
"You heard Jughead, dog. This is a private meeting. If you wish to join the conversations and interrupt our meetings, you have to speak to Jughead and join properly. You were the one saying Serpent's couldn't follow rules. Were you Bulldogs not trained by your owners?" I spat, and Reggie stepped forward, looking down at me threateningly.
"Is that supposed to scare me? I've seen tougher men than you Reggie. Now leave." Archie began to usher everyone out of the room, while the Serpents all clapped me, Jughead kissing my head, thanking me for stopping the battle that was clearly only the beginning of the war.

Jughead called me the next morning saying that Fangs had visited him. Fangs admitted to seeing Midge, but we both knew before he had to tell anyone that he didn't kill her. He told me the advice he gave him, but I knew how stressed Jughead was. One of his own, his Serpent had come to him. It was like he was feeling Fangs' pain. So he asked me. I had seen the Black Hood. Despite Fangs having the physique to pull off a stunt like that, he didn't have the heart to kill anyone, and he wouldn't touch me. And, believing Archie's description, he didn't have the eyes.

All it took was a leaked video and Fangs was branded guilty. Toni, who seemed to be my driver when it came to navigating school, was braiding my hair for me when I saw the footage and we ran off to tell Jug. Then Weatherbee requested to see him and we ran off to find him.
"Slow on corners remember T!" I called as she took the first corner a little too tightly. We saw Fangs and Jug began to push him to leave.
"You're dead Vixen killer." Reggie shouted as he and other Northsider privilege descended the stairs. Before we knew it, the new Sheriff had grabbed Fangs and was hauling him to the station.
"We'll get you out." I called after him. Jughead and I began to devise our plan.

I chose our attorney. I called her the second Jughead and I entered a quiet classroom. She didn't even need convincing, but I told her everything anyway. I told her what she needed to know, and what she didn't.

The Sheriff chose to question me, an hour before Fangs' release. He demanded and threatened to arrest me as well if I didn't answer his questions. So, with the biggest, darkest glare my red lipstick and mascara would allow me, I glared at the Sheriff from across the room.
"What happened on the night of your attack?" He asked, refusing to sit down so giving himself a greater height advantage as if that would scare me into confessing.
"No comment." I grinned, knowing I wasn't charge and I was technically answering his questions.
"Did you see your attacker?" Again I answered with the same response that would piss him off the most. Jughead and I hadn't left Fangs since attorney McCoy had shown up, refusing to leave one of our own behind.
"Did you see Midge Klump's killer?" He asked me. If I chose not to answer this, then it wouldn't help Fangs.
"Yes. He was wearing a mask, but you could see his slightly greying eyebrows behind it, clearly a middle aged man, not a young teen. Now can I leave, Sheriff?" I snapped back, spitting the last word at him. He just opened the door for me and I wheeled myself out of the room to find Jughead waiting for me. He hugged me and then returned to Fangs' cell side.

The rest of the Serpents came when it was time for his release. It was decided, mostly on my part, that we would all shield Fangs for the crowd, and I would go in front, knowing it was less likely for anyone to hurt me in the town. Jughead went at the front of the protective circle, the boys holding him and Fangs. He was keeping me close, making sure I didn't get lost too. I screamed at the crowd along with the other Serpents, demanding they move. We had a car waiting for us, FP had gotten another Serpent to drive to meet us once we escaped the protestors. I could feel the small jolting as the Serpents were pushed around. The pain in my back was overthrown by the sense of responsibility I had for getting Fangs away safely.

When a shot went off, Jughead looked over at me as I looked around, the crowd moving away panicking. I saw Archie and Reggie and a gun behind Jughead on the floor. But that wasn't what I was focused on. Amongst the rushing people was one still, unmoving individual. Fangs. "Fangs!" I shouted, bringing ever Serpents attention to him, Jughead rushing to his side as he began to fall. Hands pressed against his wound and I looked towards the boys on the floor. Then a figure caught my eyes, a woman walking away, as if a gunshot hadn't sounded, as if there was no danger. And that was more suspicious than anything else.