little talks [ sweet pea ]

twenty four

(unedited)
a/n holy shit almost 10k reads!
and thank you for 500+ votes 🥺 also I just wanted to make this clear now, I haven't watched any of season 4, maybe 3-4 episodes, so if anything that is said now doesn't tie in with season 4 then that's why :)

Jacksons disliking for Kevin Keller only seemed to grow as the days went by. he didn't understand how one person could make him want to tear his ears off from the constant talking.

Jackson was close to grabbing his skateboard from inside and leaving. at the moment he was working on Fred Andrews jobsite after having been dragged to the place by Archie. he was supposed to spend his afternoon with Kayden and Sweet pea (Toni and Fangs were going to see if they could get out of Serpent work and join too) but instead he got guilt tripped by Archie to help out Fred.

on the plus side Kayden got dragged along too.

"hey, guys. real lifesaver today. I appreciate it," Fred thanked the boys as they entered the trailer office he had set up in the middle of the jobsite. "hard hats go in the bin, and theres sodas in the fridge. Jackson, someone is here for you," Fred pointed to a certain pink haired Serpent sitting in the corner of the office.

"hey, T," Jackson greeted her with a friendly but confused smile. why on earth was she here? he placed his hard hat in the bin and turned to her with a questioning gaze. Moose called out that he needed to grab his phone as he'd left it outside, only getting ignored by everyone.

"Sweet Pea wanted-" Toni was cut off by the power going out. everyone looked around in alarm and quickly rushed out the door. they jogged down the pathway towards the power source to find a ute speeding away and Moose laying on the ground in pain.

"Moose are you okay?" Archie shouted as they all approached the groaning the boy. Fred and Kevin both dropped down beside him.

"stay down. we'll get you some help," Fred told Moose. Jackson glanced back behind him at Toni only to discover she wasn't there. he frowned and looked up the road to see her retreating figure leaving the jobsite.

"who did this to you, Moose?" Jughead asked as Jacksons phone vibrated in his back pocket. he pulled it out and saw it was a message from Toni.

T. Topaz;
meet me at Old Earls shop in an hour. don't be late, Doherty.

Jackson pressed the lock button on his phone and locked it, shoving the device back into his pocket and focused his attention on Moose.

"they said as long as we keep working, theyre gonna keep coming back," Moose explained. Fred stood up, Kevin staying crouched down beside Moose and asking him if he were okay. Jackson heard Fred say he was going to go call the Sheriff as he walked back to the office.

within fifteen minutes Sheriff Keller was there. definitely got there quicker than any LA cop, Jackson thought to himself. he smiled slightly as he remembered when he was fourteen and got caught using a truck to pull him along on his board. the cops were right behind him and caught him red handed. apparently it was illegal. that day he got driven home in the back of a cop car and grounded for two weeks.

"what the hell happened?" Kellers voice shook Jackson from his memories. he looked up at the man from his spot beside Moose on the large laid down tyre. Kayden was stood over with Jughead, behind a random kid from the football team. it seemed that Kayden was poking him in the back and then acting as if he didn't do it by looking overly fascinated in a rock he'd spotted on the ground.

"well, Moose over there, he caught a couple of guys working over my equipment with a crowbar," Fred explained to the sheriff, "and they got the drop on him."

"who were they, vandals?"

"Cliff Blossom has made it clear that he would love nothing more than to see this go belly up."

"I doubt that Blossom is gonna hire some thugs to bust up your site and beat up some teenagers."

Archie suddenly stood, Jackson, Jughead and Kayden all looking between each other confused. what the hell was he doing now?

"maybe it wasn't him," Archie suggested and Jackson already had a slight feeling as to where he was going with things, "I mean, this is Serpent territory, right?" Jacksons head snapped up to Archie and then over to his two best friends. Jughead and Kayden were already making their way beside Archie, "maybe it was them, pissed that they had to leave because of this project."

"Serpents?" asked Kevin, now standing beside his dad and sounding confused with the idea of it being Serpents.

"yeah," Archie nodded.

"when I worked at the drive-in, the Serpents never bugged me," Jughead butted in. Jackson shot him a look that just screamed 'I wonder fucking why?'. Jughead ignored it.

"I-I work at the Whyte Wyrm," Jackson cleared his throat, deciding to speak up. he wasn't going to let the Serpents get blamed for this when he knew It wasn't them. this wasn't something they'd do. everyone shot him looks at his words but he ignored them all, looking at the sheriff, "the Serpents are all super chilled out people, trust me. they wouldn't do something as petty as this."

"you're only saying that because your dad is one," Archie rolled his eyes at Jackson and Jackson looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. as much as he wanted to argue back with Archie he had to stop himself from doing so. reason one, Archie could easily get it over him in a fight and reason number two, Kayden and Jughead were practically threatening him not to with their eyes.

Keller turned his attention to Moose, "did you see any snake tattoos? anything on their jackets?"

"it happened pretty fast," Moose shrugged.

Kelly nodded, "alright, i'll talk to Blossom, but I don't think we're gonna get anywhere unless we can ID these guys."

"that is such bull," Archie exclaimed and Jackson rolled his eyes at just the sound of the boys voice. even though he was being slightly dramatic about the whole thing, Jackson was pissed at him for his little comment. "if this was Clifford Blossom asking for help, you'd say yes."

"Archie," Fred warned.

"what, dad? its true!"

"its also not helping," Fred told his son and Archie stopped his ranting. Jackson checked his time and realised he only had twenty minutes to get to Old Earls shop.

"I need to go," Jackson said as he shoved his phone back into his pocket and stood up from the tyre, "Kayden, are you good to get home?"

Kayden nodded and smiled at his best friend, "yeah, Freds dropping me home."

"okay, see you tomorrow," Jackson waved and walked off out of the jobsite. he got to Earls shop at ten to nine, the time he wasn't supposed to be getting there at, and waited in the car park of the shop for Toni.

"Doherty," Jackson turned around at the deep voice, frowning at the sight of a man he'd never seen before. his black hair was spiked up in all directions, thick chains around his neck and spikes sticking out of his leather jacket. Jacksons face dropped at the realisation that he was exactly how Sweet Pea described the Ghoulies.

"fuck," Jackson whispered to himself just as a fist went flying into his face.