ѕerpenт qυeen - Jughead Jones

XXVI.

Jughead and Ava walked out of Southside High and heard chattering. Sweet Pea looked up and they saw his black eye. "Sweet Pea. Take care of this." Fangs said. "Nice article your girlfriend's mom wrote." Sweet Pea told Jughead. "Yeah. I saw that." Jughead said looking down and away. Ava looked at the others. "Dilton Doiley said he was stabbedand you jumped him?" Ava said. Sweet Pea shook his head, "The idiot stabbed himselfwith his own knife." Fangs said. Ava clenched her jaw as she shook her head. " We didn't jump him.There was a fight. Bulldogs versus Serpents. See this?" Sweet Pea said. He pointed to his black eye as Ava checked it. "Andrews gave it to me beforehis girlfriend shot a gun into the air." Sweet Pea finished the story. "What happened?" Jughead asked slightly angry. "And, of course, Northsiders get off scot-free,the rest of us are hauled in by police." Sweet Pea said. Ava kissed Sweet Pea's cheek softly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help." She said softly. "It's payback time." Fangs said. Jughead looked at Ava for help. "What are you guys talking about?" Jughead asked. "What is-? What is that? Is that a pipe bomb?" Ava asked looking at the lunch table to see a blueprint of a bomb. "Fogarty's cousin served in the Army.He's gonna build us something." Sweet Pea said. Ava looked at Toni for help but she looked down to the prints. "We'll do it after hours.It'll shut the Riverdale Register down." Fangs said. Ava slammed her hands down on the table, she was angry that they would ever think this would make it better. "You think blowing upa building will make things better?" Ava asked them. "Can't get any worse." Sweet Pea said to Ava. Ava shook her head and glared at him, "Yeah, Sweet Pea, it can." She yelled. 

"Let me talk to Archie, figure this out." Jughead told them. Sweet Pea looked at Jughead. "That's your answer for everything. Talk and more talk. We don't know who you stand with. Us? Or them? You can't be half a Serpent." Sweet Pea told them. Ava nodded and looked at Sweet Pea. She knew that, she knew not to also question the Serpent queen or King when they said something. They all left except Toni. Jughead sat down and sighed softly. "Great. So, Archie started World War III." Ava said. Toni looked at them in anger, "Northside has been dumping on us for years. Your dads tried to keep the peace. Avoid bloodshed. Now that he's gone, idiots like Sweet Peathink there's one path and solution. Violence." Toni said to them before leaving the table too. Ava put her head in her hands, she never thought being the Serpent Queen was hard to do. 

Jughead was in FP's trailer standing there in deep thought about what Sweet Pea said. Jughead looked at his jacket and thought about Betty. Ava was hanging out in the Whyte Wyrm with the other Serpents. Jughead entered the Whyte Wyrm which caused Sweet Pea to look up. "I think this Northsider's lost." Sweet Pea said. "I'm not. I'm over being half a Serpent." Jughead told him. Ava walked to them and smirked softly. Sweet Pea walked over to him, "Wow. You'll do anything to protectyour Northside buddies." Sweet Pea told him. "My father was a Serpent. He led you. I wanna stand with you guys. Tall Boy was the onewho gave me this jacket. It's finally time I start wearing it." Jughead told all of them. Tallboy walked to Jughead which caused Ava to step forwards a bit. "So, now you wanna be a Serpent, huh? Let's see if you survivethe initiation first." Tallboy said. Jughead looked at Ava and she nodded softly. 

Jughead was sleeping when a group comes into the trailer. " Your initiation begins now. With you assuming guardianshipof the Beast." Sweet Pea told him with a mask on. They left which caused Hot Dog to get on his bed. "You gotta be kidding." He said. "Have fun, Juggy." Ava said winking. In the day the core three walked out of the school, Ava, Toni, and Jughead. "What do you think of the Beast?" Toni asked him. "He stinks. And he barks all the time.He's got no boundaries." Jughead said. Ava nodded, "Every new recruit has to care of Hot Dog.It's tradition. By the way, this is our third Hot Dog." Ava said smirking. Jughead looked at them and smirked, "Oh, Hot Dog the third. It's getting borderline ridiculous." Jughead said. "Oh, kind of like Forsyth the third?" Toni said. They all get onto their motorcycles and chuckle. 

Jughead and Ava went to the trailer with Toni to go over the Serpent rules. "A Serpent never shows cowardice. Uh.. If a Serpent is killed or imprisoned,their family will be taken care of. Serpents, uh..." Jughead said. "Come on. Focus. You need to take this seriously." Toni told him. "Okay, I am, Toni. I swear to God I am.It's just-" Jughead said. Jughead got up of the chair he was sitting in. "First the Beast and now these laws?" Jughead said. "Why the change of heart, anyway? Why go from conscientious objectorto full-fledged member?" Ava asked him. She wanted to know why he wanted to join all of a sudden. "Because of something you said... You both said. My dad was the only onekeeping idiots like Sweet Pea in line. Someone needs to step up to keep an all-out war from erupting. I am taking this seriously, Toni." Jughead said. "So... From the top?" Ava said smirking. 

Later in that day, Jughead went to the Whyte Wyrm to finish the laws. Tallboy and Jughead was facing each other while everyone else watched. "What is the fourth law?!" Tallboy yelled. "No Serpent is left for dead!" Jughead yelled back to Tallboy. "What is the fifth law?!" Tallboy yelled again to Jughead. "A Serpent never betrays his own!" Jughead yelled louder. Toni glanced at Jughead then to Ava watching. "Hey Serpent Queen, got anything on your mind?" She asked her. "I'm just thinking about when Jughead would find out this secret... This secret that could tear our friendship..." She said watching Jughead. "What is the sixth?!" Tallboy asked yelling still to him. "In unity, there is strength!" Jughead yelled. 

Then all of them repeated the sixth rule, "In unity there is strength!"