Stardust // Reggie Mantle (3)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

In the days since Heathers and the incident with her father, Caia was glad for the distraction of deputy training with the Serpents. She figured it gave her a good reason to stay sober as well as provide her with some useful ways to protect herself if her father, or any of her other enemies, came back again. The only downside was that she was the only girl, but screw it! A little diversity never hurt anyone.

"Perimeter's clear," came Jughead's instructions over the radio. "Moving in."

Caia glanced at the people around her, who were all nodding in understanding. Once Jughead had seen that everyone was ready, he pushed open the door and everyone crept in.

The High School at night was kind of creepy. It was dark and lonely, and Caia felt like maybe someone could actually be hiding there, although she knew there wasn't. Jughead pointed and whispered a few directions to the boys on the other side of the hallway before sneaking into the deserted student lounge. Caia, Sweet Pea, and a few others followed.

Caia and the others made a sweep of the room, making sure there was nothing of interest. Sweet Pea was the fastest at this and, consequently, the first one out the door. Jughead soon followed but Caia remained in the room. She looked up at the same time Jughead did, the two both noticing the ominous red pointer on the back of Sweet Pea's skull.

"Sweet Pea, duck!" Jughead commanded urgently. Sweet Pea followed his instructions, but it was too late.

"Bang bang," Mr. Keller spoke. He switched on the lights looking clearly unimpressed. "You're both dead." Jughead ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated. "Always check your six, deputies," Keller advised.

FP sauntered down from the opposite end of the hallway. "That's a deadly mistake," He reminded.

"This is just a simulation, but you don't get any do-overs on the street," Tom chimed in.

"Which makes it all the more obvious that you boys, and girl, aren't ready for them," FP concluded. Caia appreciated the addition of her into the lumped group most of the time, but she wished she had been left out, just this once. Then that would mean she was better than everyone else. "You wanna stop the rogue gargoyles? Work as a team," FP instructed. "Till you've prove you can do that, I'm not letting you out there. Do it again."

Caia sighed. As much as she enjoyed this trainee program, this particular exercise was getting tiring. She didn't know how many more times she could stand doing it.

After she got off training, Caia found herself at Pop's with Betty and Veronica for the first time in a long time. After the events before and during the musical, Caia realized that she needed to rebuild her friendships with her female friends. She had been pushing them away for far too long. Besides, she wanted to be there for Veronica and what she was going through.

Betty sighed as Veronica sat down milkshakes in front of both her and Caia. "Is there any way that maybe you can see this divorce as a good thing?" She questioned.

"I'm trying to find a lining of even tarnished silver but-" Veronica paused and sighed. "My parents raised me to beleive that family is the most important thing in the world," she admitted.

"I'm so sorry, V," Betty stated.

Caia smiled softly at the girl in front of her. "At least you've still got us, right?" Veronica smiled back at her, nodding.

Suddenly, the bell on the door to the diner jingled as it was opened. All three girls turned to see who has entered. It was Evelyn Evernever, holding a stack of flyers. From beside her, Betty loudly sipped her milkshake.

"Veronica, hi," Evelyn greeted. "Do you mind if I hang some flyers? The farm's having an open house tomorrow," she inquired.

Betty furrowed her eyebrows. "An open house?" She restated.