Polaroid // Reggie Mantle (2)

Chapter Twenty-Three

The group of serpents took Penny to a remote location in the woods. This is where they dumped Penny on the ground, and Jughead ripped the hood off her face.

She breathed heavily as she looked around. "Where am I?" She asked.

"You're in Greendale," Jughead replied. "Your new home." Penny rolled her eyes. Jughead bent down so he was on the woman's level. "But frankly, Penny, I don't care where you set up shop. But it's not gonna be in Riverdale. And it's not gonna be with the Serpents. You wanna deal drugs? You wanna extort people? That's your business." He paused. "But not on the Southside. That belongs to us." As he was talking, Penny began to laugh.

"You stupid, cocky kid," she insulted. "Serpent law says you can't hurt one of your own," she informed him, holding out her arm to show her serpent tattoo.

Jughead stood back up. "Oh, Penny. It's time you learned." He paused as he stripped off his jacket. "Grab her," he commanded.

Sweet Pea and Toni went forward to grab Penny's arms. She tried to get up and run, but the restrained her before she could. "What are you doing?" She yelled her question. "Get- get off of me! Get off- get off of me!" She shouted in protest.

It was to no use. Jughead flipped out his blade and walked toward Penny, getting ready to carve the Serpent insignia off of her arm.

"That tattoo doesn't make you a serpent," Jughead said, shoving the knife in Penny's face.

Penny began to scream as Jughead took the cold metal to her skin.

*

Christmas Eve, Caia put on her best dress and made her way to the Mantle residence. She had tried her very best to look presentable, even straightening her hair and putting on makeup.

Standing on the front porch, Caia was very nervous about this meeting. She knew from the few times she had seen them that Reggie's parents were very hardcore.

She rang the doorbell and a few seconds later Reggie opened his front door. He wrapped her in a hug then kissed her quickly.

Reggie lead his girlfriend into his home. Caia observed that he had a very, very nice house. It was no secret that his parents were well off.

Reggie and Caia entered the kitchen where his parents were. His mother was chopping up some vegetables to put in a bowl of lettuce, supposedly salad. His father was standing next to her, observing her actions. A strange smell was wafting from the oven and Caia didn't know what to make of it.

They looked up as the two walked into the kitchen. Straightening up at sight of their impeccable posture, Caia flashed a dazzling smile.

"Mom, dad," Reggie began. "This is my girlfriend, Caia."

Caia held out her hand for them to shake, but they just stared at it before going back to the food. Caia's smile faltered only a moment as she brought her arm back down. "It's really nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Mantle," she stated. There was once again no reply or acknowledgement. Caia tried a conversation again. "It smells very good in here. What are you making?" The smell part was kind of a lir, but Caia didn't say so.

She finally got an answer. "It's tofu loaf," Mrs. Mantle explained briskly, going to the sink and washing off her hands.

"I've never had tofu before," Caia mused. She received two scrutinizing looks from Reggie's parents. "But I'm very excited to try it!" She followed up.

The time before supper was very akward. Caia would try to start conversations and only recieve one or two word answers in return. Reggie tried to help, but it was to much avail.