Unholy

6

The gossip dies down after a couple of days. Well, maybe it takes a week but a lot happened. It took them a long time to process it. Reggie asked me to be his girlfriend and I accepted since this time he asked and didn't just assume. He doesn't seem like he's used to having to work for something.

The gossip starts back up around the time more shots were heard. This time, there was a casualty. The one everyone calls Moose was shot in the woods near where Reggie and I were. He had a metal spoke stabbed through his chest, holding a piece of paper in place. "Sinner" was scrawled out in what looked like blood. Kevin, his ex-boyfriend, took it the hardest. Apparently, Kevin and Moose had a secret relationship for almost a year before Moose broke it off and went for Midge, a girl. Moose didn't want to be gay. After they broke up, Kevin found comfort with the serpents and more specifically Fangs.

A month goes by and then another. Toni and Cheryl are stronger than ever. The serpents have stayed out of my way for the most part. Every now and then I'll run into Sweet Pea but he just shoves past me. His brooding puts me in a sour mood every time I see it. In fact, if he isn't silent with me, he's fighting with me. Verbal of course, but still aggressive. Like right now, for example.

"You have my knife." He has me backed into a corner with nowhere to go.

"What? This old thing?" I tease him. He goes to grab for it and I shove it into my bra.

"I will go in there and get it." He warns. I just smirk and put it down my skinny jeans instead.

"What about there?" I bat my eyelashes innocently.

"How the fuck did you even get it? I've been looking for it for months."

"When I cleaned you up after that fight with Reggie I took it. Figured when they search you, they would expel you if the found a switchblade." I shrug.

"Well, thanks. Now give it back, Princess." He demands.

"Come and get it." I taunt him, gesturing down to the crotch of my pants.

"For fuck sakes." He growls and punches the locker next to my head. I flinch as he walks away fuming with anger.

"What happened with you two?" Toni asks me in the next class.

"Mutual distaste for each other, I guess." I shrug.

"That is more than distaste," Toni mumbles but I ignore her. Betty, once again, has called a meeting at Pop's with the whole lot of us. Herself, Jughead, Fangs, Sweet Pea, Toni, Cheryl, Archie, Veronica, Kevin, and I.

"The killer is still out there. Several other people have claimed to have heard gunshots near them since Moose. We don't have long before someone else dies. We have to stop this." She insists.

"Why can't we just leave it to the adults?" I ask, and they look at me like I've grown a second head. "Nevermind? Why isn't Reggie here?"

"Because Reggie can't play nice with the serpents. And we have more serpents than Reggies." Betty says, sipping her vanilla milkshake. Jug takes a bite of his third burger while we slowly drink our one milkshakes. My boyfriend texts me through the meeting, so he's not really left out. "What do we know about the victims?"

"Well, Reggie and I were shot at first. Moose got shot in the same place we were at. We had planned a date there again but Moose told us he was bringing someone there that night." I say.

"Who?" Kevin looks at me with sadness. Fangs holds his hand tightly.

"I don't know. Anyway, the Branson family heard shots from the library. Ethel Muggs said she was working late on the school play when she heard them. The last family was on a late run to the supermarket." Cheryl continues what I was saying.