Adoration || Sweet Pea [2] [DISCONTINUED]

||TWELVE - MAN HUNT||

Jayda's POV

Here we are, yet again, in the middle of class, and getting a visit. This time it was Sheriff Minetta, and he was grilling us about Archie's escape.

"Archie is a murderer. And we know he didn't escape alone. He had help." Sheriff Minetta says. "Hiding a convict or withholding information from the law is a felony offence. So, whoever's aided and abetted Archie Andrews is just as much of a criminal as he is." He was standing in front of Reggie.

"I was busy all day, Sheriff. You can check my browser history, is you know what I mean." Reggie says, and you could hear the distant chuckles of some people in the class. I just rolled my eyes.

"I don't even know this Archie person." The redhead sitting behind Fangs says. "And on Mondays, I host a group for teen Farmies. We are still accepting members." So this was the weird farm girl I'd heard stuff about from Jughead.

"Where were you, Ms. McCoy, at the time of the breakout?" Minetta asks Josie. Oh shit, she's the most likely to crack out of all of us.

"Don't look at me, sir. I, uh..." She stutters. "I... I was in the music room. Practicing."

"Alone?" Minetta questions. She didn't respond, and Minetta addressed everyone. "I will be looking into all of your alibis. And if I find out later that someone in here was involved, then you can say goodbye to this school."

He leaned down at Josie's desk, speaking directly to her now.

"Your hopes, and dreams. Your music, your entire future. All of it goes away, just like that." Minetta says, then looks up at everyone again. "Again, to be clear, if you know anything, now's the time to tell me--"

"Sheriff Minetta back off!" Cheryl yells, and gets out her seat and goes over to Josie. This is when I notice Josie seizing up, and her head slammed against the desk. She shot backwards, then stopped.

She became unconscious, and Cheryl caught her before she could fall onto the floor.

-----

Later that day, I was half asleep while doing homework, then shot awake when my bedroom door opened.

"Do you mind?" I ask them.

"We got a problem." Fangs says, and I follow them out my door. I look out the window of the trailer, and see Minetta in his cruiser, looking around tent city. And trashing it.

"What the hell?!" I exclaim. I am really angry, right now. I try to leave the trailer, but Sweet Pea pulls me back.

"You'll get yourself arrested, don't." He says. He lets go of me and I calm down.

"Why is he doing it anyway?" I ask them.

"He's trashing it, looking for Archie." Sweet Pea explains.

"I propose a man hunt of our own. I want every Serpent on the ground looking for Joaquin." I say, then Jughead comes in, and joins the conversation.

"Unless they have something very important to do." I add on the end. "And, I don't want a stone left unturned."

"Serpents don't just shiv other Serpents. What the hell do you think got into him?" Sweet Pea asks.

"According to Archie, Joaquin did it for Warden Norton." I say.

"And, when the Warden confronted Betty, he called Archie the Red Paladin." Jughead chimes in. "Plus the Warden poisoned himself with cyanide and blueberry Fresh-Aid. And he worked for Riverdale High before the Detention Center."

"The question is, was he playing G&G with someone, or for someone?" I question.

"And since he's dead, Joaquin's the only one who can know the answer." Sweet Pea concludes.

"Right, but Joaquin may not be alone. Kevin said that he might be rolling with a new gang." I point out.

"Those Gargoyle creeps Jughead saw?" Fangs asks.

"Exactly." Jughead nods. "And if the gang is working for the King, then they're gonna take us right to him."

They both turned to leave, but I quickly grabbed Sweet Pea's wrist, making him look at me.

"Be safe. Try not to kill yourself, or Fangs, okay?" I say to him.

"I'll try." He responds. He quickly kisses me, before leaving to find Joaquin with Fangs.

-----

I was washing dishes, when my phone started ringing.

"Jug, can you answer it for me?" I ask my brother.

"But what if it's Sweet Pea?" He asks, with a disgusted look on his face. I look over to the table and check the caller ID.

"Don't worry, it's Fangs." I tell him. He answers the phone, and puts it on speaker.

"Fangs. Did you find Joaquin?" Jughead asks.

"Centerville Serpents spotted him at the Last Resort Youth Hostel. We're on our way now." Fangs responds.

"Grab him. Take him to Fox Forest, near the footbridge. We'll meet you there." I say, and the door opens.

"On it, boss." Fangs replies. Jughead hangs up and puts my phone down on the table. Dad looks fuming as he comes in the door. 

I dry off my hands quickly, and put my phone in my back pocket.

"Going somewhere, boy?" Dad asks Jug.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go meet the Serpents." Jughead responds, cooly.

"Yeah?" Dad counters. "Like hell you are!" Dad quickly handcuffs him.

"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?" Jughead yells, as Dad continues to cuff the other side to the fridge handle.

"What I should've done the second I saw you playing." Dad answers, shouting at my twin. "You're addicted. G&G's like a drug. It gotten into your blood."

"I'm not addicted." Jughead says, calmly. "I just need to ascend, so I can finally find the Gargoyle King and put an end to all this." Dad takes Jughead's phone out his pocket.

"You're right. You sound nothing like an addict." Dad huffs, throwing Jughead's phone onto the table, out of his reach. "My mistake."

Dad walks over to him, and places a hand on his face.

"It's time for you to sober up, boy." He says, and Jughead rips the hand from his face. "For your own good."

"Jay, you're seriously not gonna let him do this?" Jughead asks him.

"I agree, you are addicted. You need to learn responsibility." I say to him, annoyed. "You're going to kill yourself, and my friends if you carry on like this."

"What do you know about responsibility?!" Jughead snaps at me. "You're just a sixteen year old girl that got herself pregnant, and killed her own baby!"

That hit a nerve. The whole trailer was silent, and the tears run down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Jay. I didn't mean it--" Jughead tries to apologise.

"No. You're right. I don't know anything about responsibility." I shrug, and run out of the trailer. I run over to my bike, and head over to Fox Forest to meet the boys.

I can feel myself crying as I fly through the streets of Riverdale. I try to keep my mind off of it. But, I can't. It's true. I killed my baby.