Falling Apart

Chapter 25

“We'll see with all of you next year,” the principal finishes. We're all supposed to clap now, but everyone jumps up and starts running out of the auditorium. And so do we. I take Jug's hand, not to get lost and everyone starts letting us through, afraid of us. It's comical how they jump out of our way just because we're the Serpent King and Queen. We run out of the school and to the parking lot. We have a competition, the last one to the bar has to buy everyone drinks and the first one can get as many as they want. We and all the others from our gang.
I see Veronica and Cheryl already get into her car and Smithers starts driving. I pull my helmet on rapidly and start my bike, one of the best things about being a serpent.
I smirk, seeing that Jug is behind me, followed by Sweet Pea, Jellybean sitting on the back of his bike. Fangs rides past us, Kevin behind him. Toni and Peaches are behind us now as well, both on their bikes. I put more strength in it and go on full speed, thinking about how I'll see my three brothers in the bar just in a minute. I see Nick every month twice, but the last time I saw the twins was during Christmas.
I ride past Fangs and Kev and also past Veronica and Cheryl. But that only makes them ride faster too.
When I get to the bar, I'm there at the same time as Sweets and JB, so the tree of us get off of our bikes and run towards it. Jelly gets there first, me behind her and Sweets after me. We know there's a meeting in 15 minutes, but we said the last and first one to touch the couch on the stage. So we run in to the bar, everyone turns to look at us and I see my brothers next to the counter, talking with FP. I ignore them at the moment and I feel Sweets holding me and JB back, his arms going around us at once.
“Let GOOOO!” she screams, making everyone cover their ears.
“Shut up,” I laugh and wiggle myself free. I run onto the stage and just as I'm about to touch the couch I realize who's sitting on it. Jughead?
I touch the couch and look at him with narrowed eyes. “You fell behind, how are you here?”
“I have my ways and shortcuts,” he smirks. I groan and so does Jellybean, making everyone laugh. I get off the stage and go to my brothers with an annoyed face.
“Lighten up,” Jake says, wrapping me into his arms and lifting me a little up from the ground as I hug him back. Soon, he kisses my cheek and places me down so that I could hug Dan. I do it.
“How do you know which one is which?” one of the Serpents asks me.
“One is annoying, the other one is not,” I answer, making everyone laugh.
“Which one?” Nick smirks.
I shrug with a smirk, “It’s a secret.” They laugh again and I hug him too now and kiss his cheek. “Hi,” I say quietly.
“I got to admit… This jacket looks great on you,” Dan says.
I smile big. “Thanks.”
The whole gang runs in now. Even though Cheryl, Ronnie and Kev aren't Serpents, they hang out here a lot and the Serpents love them as well. They fight to touch the couch. Fangs ends up as the loser one.
I look at Slurpe behind the counter with a big smile. “Can I get a coke? Fangs is paying.”
“You did not bet on who is the last one to get here,” FP smirks.
I shrug, “As you say.” He chuckles at me and Slurpe gives me a coke with a smirk. “Thanks,” I say. I kiss Jake's and Dan's cheeks and go up on the stage. Jug already has a glass of coke.
“Okay, most of them are here, right?” he asks me quietly.
I shrug, “I’m not in the mood to count up all 200 of them,” I say. He chuckles quietly and hands me a mic. I smile and place it next to me o the couch, pulling my legs up and crossing them on the couch.
We start with the meeting.

“So what are they planning?” Sweets asks with a loud voice.
“We don't know,” I say.
“Who are the planners?” Hog Eye asks.
“We don't know that either,” Jug says, making everyone sigh. “The thing is, they're gone. No Ghoulies, no problems, right? Except if they're trying to track something down.”
“How are we in danger then?” Peaches asks.
“We’re-“ I start, but get interrupted by FP.
“Close the doors!” he shouts. A few guys do it immediately and lock them.
“What's the matter?” I hear Jake asking.
“Charles. What are you doing here?” FP sighs. I see a guy, about 30, stepping out of the back of the front door. He's dark haired, wearing a jean jacket, Ghoulies written on it under the ghost on the back.
“Can’t I say hi to my brother and sister, dad?” he asks.
That's right… Jug told me about him. FP was young, 20 I guess or something. The boy is raised up by his mom, being someone who FP was together with after my mom got together with Hal and had Matt. And when she was 20, I guess she had Nick.
“I'm not really in the mood to talk to you at the moment,” Jug says, pulling me closer to himself. He's told me that Charles is dangerous and if I see him anywhere that’d keep away.
“You must be Betty, right? Betty Cooper,” he says and smirks at FP's who sighs and drops his head onto his nape.
“Yeah,” I say. “And I'd prefer if you left.”
“Ooh. You're like your mom, right?” he asks, coming closer to the stage slowly.
I narrow my eyes at him a little. “I look a lot like her, yeah. Why?”
“You act a lot like her as well,” he says with a smirk. I clink my teeth together, not to say anything bad. “But how would you know that if you killed her, bitch,” he sighs. He starts walking past my brothers, but Nick punches him, making him fall down. “Ouch,” he says and pushes himself up, looking at Nick. “And you are a lot like your father. Talking about him. Where is he?”
“In jail,” I say.
He looks back at me with a smirk, “And you haven't gone to visit him yet.”
“I'm never going to see him again,” I say.
“Wrong,” I hear some woman's voice behind me. My head shoots up and I look at the backdoor. There is some woman, blue eyes, blonde hair.
“Penny,” FP says between his teeth. Jug sighs and stands up, pulling me up with him. He wraps his arms around me, holding me behind his back.
“Baby, I'm fine,” I whisper. He keeps holding me protectively, not caring about what I just said.
“I see you get along with my niece, Jones,” she says. My eyes go wide and I feel Jug sighing. “Oh. So you haven't told her? Or any of my nephews as I see,” she says. I turn my head and see the boys in just as much of a shock as I am.
“Baby,” Jug says quietly. I look at him, still in shock. “I'll tell you everything later, okay? They wanna get us angry and then later attack the Serpents someway,” he whispers. I nod and we both look back at Penny, he loosens his arms a little, but still holds me behind him.
“Betty, right?” Penny asks. I give her a nod. “I’m your mom's sister,” she smiles. “You look a lot like her.” She wants to touch my hair, but I lean away and Jug pulls me more behind him again. She laughs quietly. “Relax, Jones, I just wanna talk to them.”
“Talk about what?” he asks between his teeth.
“They might have some questions,” she says.
“I do. Like why haven't I heard from you before?” I ask quietly.
She chuckles. “Me and your mom didn't really get along good.”
“Then why now? Because you’re a Ghoulie?” I ask.
She smirks, her hand going into her jacket pocket to take something out. “You’re a hard one. No wonder your dad-“
“You know our dad,” I hear Nick's voice behind me, making me wince. Jug softly pushes me behind my brother, making me roll my eyes.
“Don’t you think I can fight better than you do?” I ask him quietly.
He looks at me with a smirk. “Shh.” I giggle quietly and let him hold me.
“You look like your dad,” Penny says.
“He doesn't. You obviously haven't seen him for a long time,” I say.
“Yeah, it's been a while. You weren't born yet,” she tells me. “And your mom-“
“Wasn't dead, I get it,” I say. She smiles and nods. I lower my head and lean against Nick.
“Can you leave?” Dan asks.
“No,” she smiles big. “Betty, do you know who your dad is?”
“Yeah,” I say.
“FP,” she says. My eyes go wide and I look at FP. He sighs and shakes his head at me. I lower my head, not knowing what to think anymore. “I can tell you many things about your mom and dad, Betty. If you'd only let me,” she says.
“Things like what?” I ask, looking at the ground, leaning on Nick's back.
“Did you know he was there when you were born? Do you know how your mom really died?” she asks. My eyes go wide and I look up at her. She looks at Nick and the twins now. “Do you remember living here? Or why you all moved away?”
“Penny,” FP says with a threatening voice, on the stage now as well, holding Charles' hands behind his back.
“So you've never even considered telling them the truth?” Penny grins evilly. “Or your own son either.” I look at Jug. He seems just as shocked as me and is glaring at his own dad.
FP sighs. “I guess I'll tell them now. You, get out,” he says.
“Not gonna happen with me, Jones,” she says with a smirk and pulls out a pocket knife.
“Whoa,” so many say quietly and Nick pulls me more behind him.
“Idiot, you can't fight,” I whisper to him. He knows I'm better at self-defense. Matt always taught me some moves of boxing or how do simply knock someone out, touching one of the pressure points on their faces or knees. Nick on the other hand, has security everywhere so that they could keep people away from him. Not here, but in the concerts and everything.
The next second I know it, Penny's knife is almost on Jughead's throat, Charles holding him on the place.
“One step and your son here is dead, FP,” Charles says between his teeth.
“That feels good, being killed by your own brother,” Jug says, very calm. After we became the king and queen, FP trained us for about a month on different fighting technique etc. One of the things he said was that when someone grabs you like this, you need to not move and stay calm because if you don't, they'll tighten the grasp.
“Tell me about my mom and dad,” I tell Penny. She smiles and calls me closer. I take a step, but Nick doesn't let me go. “I’m fine,” I say between my teeth. He looks at FP. He gives him a nod, knowing what I want to do. My brother sights and lets go of me. I slowly take these three steps and as I thought, they don't do anything to me.
She touches my hair, making her smile sadly. “You look like her,” she breathes out. “A lot.” I actually smile at that, but my eyes go on Jughead. He looks at me with a panicky face, not remembering what to do. I look down at his feet. He seems to relax a little and gives me a really small smile before I look back at Penny.
“So what do you wanna know?” she asks.
“Who killed her,” I say.
She chuckles. “You really think someone killed her?”
“That’s what you're trying to say, right?” I ask. She sighs and shakes her head. “Can I touch your face?” I ask instead.
She raises her eyebrows. “What?” she chuckles.
“You look like her. Not a lot, but still… I've never really gotten the change to touch my mom or talk to her,” I say. It's not false, but also I can't see why I would want to touch my mom's sister's face. It's not like it's really my mom. They don't look alike much either.
“Uh, yeah, sure,” she says with a frown, not really sure about this. I smile and show Jughead three fingers on my thigh. Then two. My fingers touch Penny's temple. And then one. I curl my middle and index finger up and punch her on her temple. That knocks her out immediately and she falls on the ground. Jug at the same time, raises his knee as high as he can and stomps on the arch of Charles' foot with his heel, making him groan and loosen up. The knife falls down as Jug makes the move to change the positions. So now Charles is trapped by Jug. I pick the knife up and step closer to them, holding the knife. I place it on Charles' cheek, making him pull his head back and Jug able to whisper something to him so that only we hear.
“I have a message to your boss,” he whispers. “Get a new plan, making us fight or break up isn't gonna help anyone. It doesn't make us weaker if we're separated. Also… Never and I repeat ever call her a bitch again or I will end you.” He sounds really angry and creepy. “Now get lost.”
I lower my knife and he pushes his brother out of his arms. “Take her with you,” he says pointing at still knocked out Penny.
“Wait,” I mumble and go to her instead. I squat down and touch her pulse. “Okay,” I sigh and get back up.
“You thought you killed her?” Jug smirks.
I shrug. “Matt always said not to use that if you're not in extreme danger. So yeah, it can kill people,” I say.
He sighs in relief as we see Charles going out of the bar with Penny. “Come here,” he breathes out and takes me into his arms, hugging me tightly as I do the same. He presses his lips against my forehead.
“Are we brother and sister?” I ask quietly, making him chuckle.
“No, I don't think so,” he says, his hot breath striking against my forehead. I turn my head up to look at him, but his eyes are closed. I close mine too and lean up as he leans down to kiss me.
We kiss a couple of times, before he whispers into my mouth. “That really turned me on.”
I laugh and smash his chest, “Idiot,” I say and turn around to see FP. He smiles at us softly and I raise my eyebrows.
“No,” he says. “They did a blood test, you're not mine.”
“But it was a possibility then?” Jake asks. FP sighs and motions us to sit back down.
He tells us about everything and this time how it really was. They broke up because they wanted to try other partners, that was true. Mom got pregnant with Hal, that's why they stayed separated. FP got Penny pregnant because of a one night stand and that's where Charles came from. So my cousin is Juggie's half-brother. FP was there when I was born, because my mom wanted to. He and my dad were friends, but that made them fight more than usual, because no one knew who the father was. Hal was taken out of the room when my mom died, because he was screaming at me and FP too hard. The doctors were all running around, trying to get some blood back to mom and keep her alive. My mom was holding me and crying, but told FP to keep me safe. He promised he will and now he regrets it that he never took me with him and stuff like that. Not that it would’ve been possible after they did the blood test and got to know my dad is Hal. But I wouldn't have known my brothers if I would've come with him. And yes, I would've had a normal and happy childhood, but I couldn't be dating Jug because we'd be siblings. So I'm still happy how it turned out, even if he feels a little guilty. Right now I'm living my life the best I can.