Pearl Crowns

Chapter 3

{Typical}

"Yo, Jug. How'd the shipment with the ice queen herself go?" Sweetpea asked as Jughead walked into the bar. Veronica had graciously dropped him off. Jughead chalked it up to their conversation on the side of the road and thanked her politely.

"Perfect. I got yelled at by Veronica for something she did, got called a married couple, a drug dealer got decked, and I got a free ride to the Wyrm." Jughead shrugged in passing as he went to find his father.

"Shit man, you decked the supplier?" Sweetpea sounded proud. He didn't blame Sweetpea, it was something to be proud of but not for him.

"Lodge," Jughead said as he stopped to talk to Sweetpea and Toni who had shown up just seconds after Sweetpea started talking.

"What?" Sweetpea asked astonished. Jughead nodded in answer.

"She's kinda badass." Jughead spotted his father on the other side of the bar coming out of his office and called out to him. "I'll be back. Save me a drink." Toni rolled her eyes at her friends retreating form.

*****

Veronica slammed the door to the house of the dead open. "I need help taking this shipment out of the truck." Veronica looked at the few people standing around looking at her like she was a ghost and honestly they probably expected her to be. "You know the shipment that I just risked my life for. Oh yeah risked my life with a serpent for! Now someone get outside and help me unload this crap." Veronica walked back outside slamming the door behind her.

A few astonished men walked outside into the black to help 'their princess' remove the drugs from the back of her blue truck. It didn't take long for the few ghoulies to get the shipment to the ground and drag it away. Veronica watched them with hatred as she closed the bed back up and locked the doors.

She hated that they were so astonished by her success. She hated that she was being pretty much sabotaged. She hated that her own mother was allowing it. She hated the Ghoulies.

Veronica walked back into the house of the dead drained. She didn't walk into applause or congratulations which she thought she deserved but instead to empty quietness. Everyone was acting like nothing she had done was out of the ordinary. She wanted to scream.

"Hey, babe. So I was thinking that you could accompany me on my mission tomorrow night." Veronica started to tune Kent out as he continued with the details. Missions were just code talk for drug peddling or selling.

"Of course. Just tell me where to be when." She didn't want to listen to him talk about his over-exaggerated plan, she just wanted to stand on a street corner like good old days. If she ever tried to tell him he'd just ask what she knows about drug dealing and ban her from missions for a month.

Kent was in charge of the teenage "unit" of the Ghoulies when they go on missions. He says who goes when and where and what they do. Veronica didn't much mind most of the time.

Veronica waved goodbye to her boyfriend and locked the door to her bedroom. She just needed some time to herself from all she endured during her assignment. She spent the rest of the night locked away in her room doing her homework. Just because she was Gang royalty didn't mean she was going to give up her straight A's.

*****

It was Monday and school had just opened its doors. Kent, Kelly, and Veronica were always one of the first people through the metal detectors. Although Kelly and Kent hated school they have to admit it's better than sitting in the house of the dead all morning.

Most of the Ghoulies trickled in pretty early followed not long after by all the Serpents. All of them all at once always. They were never not together and that was something Veronica didn't understand too much. Of course, the Ghoulies were a gang and were loyal but only to an extent. Most of the members would drop the gang in a heartbeat if a good enough deal came along. Not the Serpents though. Never.

Veronica noticed Jughead walking down the hall with Sweetpea and Toni at his side. She watched him walk through the halls like he owned them and felt a certain fondness for his confidence. Everyone knew that the Ghoulies were the unofficial rulers of Southside high but that didn't stop Jughead from trying.

Jughead eyed Veronica before stopping to talk to her. "Get a gold medal for working with a Serpent, Princess?" Jughead said folding his arms over his chest.

Kent stepped forward, not quite tall enough to look Jughead straight in the eyes but he made up for it in anger and cockiness. "Do we have a problem, Snake?" He hissed the nickname like a curse. Veronica put a hand on Kent's shoulder and stepped forward.

"I can handle myself Kent." She looked Jughead in the eyes despite her height.

Jughead looked her up and down taking in her dark purple wardrobe. A deep purple shirt that was way too revealing to be something appropriate for school and a pair of jeans that hugged her thighs in the best way. He could see skin through the rips and it was a stark contrast to the black denim. He subconsciously licked his lips. "You certainly can." He winked and walked away before anything else could be said.

"Those damn Serpents are a plague in this school," Kelly said staring at her neon pink nails. Veronica stared after the Serpents who were just staring her down.

"Ronnie?" Kent said pushing on her shoulder. She looked to her boyfriend who waits for an answer.

"Absolutely." She said taking one last look down the hall.

*****

"What was that all about?" Toni asked raising one perfectly manicured eyebrow. Sweetpea nodded in agreement.

Without looking at them he shrugged. "Just messing with her."

Jughead didn't bother telling either of them how much he respected her working so hard to be accepted by her supposed family or how he was growing to like her spunk. It was his only real reasoning for even talking to her. He just wanted to see her spunky response.

Neither of his friends liked that answer but they accepted it anyway and moved on. They all stood outside their respective classrooms talking as they were all in a cluster. They talked about the Serpent celebration the night before and how Sweetpea was still sporting a slight hangover. Toni berated him about not drinking so much and he came back with a "You were bartending." It shut them both up for a second before they all broke into laughter. Their laughter was interrupted by the warning bell.

Jughead waved his friends off before walking two doors down to his homeroom. He wasn't the first one there but the room was by no means full. He sat there for another minute or so before someone plopped down into the seat next to him. He looked over to see raven locks cascading down leather-clad shoulders and smiled.

"Just couldn't stay away could you?" Jughead teased.

Veronica tilted her head to look at Jughead head on and rolled her eyes so hard he could practically hear them strain. "You have a lot of cockiness for a guy who wears the same shirt three times a week." Veronica dropped a notebook onto her desk as she spoke.

"Oh so you're checking me out I get it. I mean I don't blame you. With a boyfriend like Kent... Well, you get it." Jughead never took his eyes off Veronica.

"And what exactly were you doing in the hallway this morning, Torombolo? I'm not blind, Jones." Veronica countered. Jughead just watched her silently. "Típico." Veronica rolled her eyes once more before turning her attention to the teacher that had just walked through the door. 

Still going strong with three chapters in a row with over a thousand words. It may not seem like much but I'm still proud of my self it's taken a lot of work to do that. 

Tell me if ya'll still like it and if I have fucked up the Spanish, which I hope not because it's one word and that would be embarrassing.

Oh, and did I mention I have the ENTIRE plot planned out from beginning to end? Yeah, I'm really going ham on this thing.