Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

1.26

THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
JULY 4th, 2017

     It was one in the morning on July Fourth when Queenie entered Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. She found her brother, Jughead, sitting at a booth typing away at his computer. She walked over to the booth he was sitting at and stood in front of him, "Hey, Jug." She greeted him, "Whatcha writing?"

   Jughead looked up at his elder sister and instantly closed his computer, almost as if he were trying to hide something, "Gee, no need to get all secretive on me, Jughead," She scoffed as she took a seat across from him.

   Jughead sighed, "What are you doing here, Queenie? It's like almost two in the morning." He asked her.

     Queenie smiled brightly at Jughead, "I'm feeling sentimental and emotional all of a sudden," She replied, "Probably the hormones. I also came here to get a milkshake to go from my local diner and then I saw you here. Decided to come talk to you."

   "Okay," Jughead nodded his head slowly. It seemed to him that something was off with his sister, but he couldn't figure out what it was for the life of him.

       "I wanted to tell you that even if I don't show it at times, I love you, Jughead. You're one of the people I care about most in this boring town. We might fight like dogs at times, but our intentions are good. I'm sorry about how I'm really mean to you sometimes. And I'm sorry I used to bully you and Archie growing up alongside Mandy. We were only kidding around. Oh, my God, here I am, rambling," She explained as she wiped a tear that that was about to slide down her cheek, "I just wanted to say, always keep writing. You're a great writer and I think you should keep doing it no matter what people say. It keeps you being you. And dad needs you right now, okay? He might not act like it at times, but he loves you more than anything. He's just going through a lot and he needs you."

   Jughead stared at his sister shocked. He was unable to form words at first, but finally grew the courage, "What does this seem like a goodbye? Are you leaving, Queenie?" Jughead stammered.

     "no, of course not, why would I be leaving?" She lied but did a very horrible job at it.

      Jughead stared at his sister for a moment, he had the feeling she was lying and boy, was he right, "Queenie, be honest with me. Be absolutely honest with me, this isn't time to be lying. I'm going to ask again: Are you leaving Riverdale?"

    Queenie had to fight the urge to tell him the truth, "No." She said, even though she struggled to answer.

     "I-I have to go." She stuttered before getting up from the booth.

   "Queenie, wait--" Jughead tried to stop his sister, but it was too late, she was already out the door.

   Queenie ran over to where Jason was leaning against the hood of his car. Queenie ran into Jason's arms as she began to sob, "It's okay, it's okay," Jason comforted her quietly.

    "I'm leaving them all. I'm leaving Jughead and my dad and I'm lying to everyone. I want to leave more than anything, why do I feel so guilty!" She cried in Jason's arms.

________

Just after dawn, Cheryl, Jason, and Queenie drove in Jason's car to Sweetwater River . Cheryl ended up sitting in the back seat while Queenie and Jason sat in the front.  The trio arrived at Sweetwater River soon after. They parked right in front of Queenie and Jason's special spot, where a rowboat was already placed down for them by Jason the day before.

    Jason locked hands with both Cheryl and Queenie, both of each side of the Blossom boy. The three teenagers stood in front of the River's edge, "Jason, Queenie, are you scared?" Cheryl asked with a smile as she moved her hair out of her face. Cheryl was wearing a white dress while Jason wore white pants and a white button-down shirt. Queenie didn't wear white that much so she wore a white tank top and white pants that she borrowed from Cheryl because Cheryl insisted they wore white that day.

   Both Queenie and Jason shook their heads at the same time. The trio got onto the boat and Jason began to use the oars to row them to the Greendale side of Sweetwater River. They were to meet Polly at the car Jason had gotten from Queenie's dad, which had numerous pounds of weed in the trunk.

     Once making it to the Greendale side, the group began to say their goodbyes. The trio was walking through the woods when they heard a gunshot fired, "What was that?" Cheryl asked nervously.

     "A gunshot. Someone's probably out hunting. Don't worry." Jason reassured both his sister and his girlfriend.

    Once the group made it far away from the Riverdale, Queenie and Jason began to say their goodbyes. Cheryl first said goodbye to her brother before turning to Queenie, "Promise you will take care of JJ and baby Blossom." Cheryl begged the Jones girl as she gestured to Queenie's stomach.

    "I promise, Cheryl," Queenie assured her as Cheryl pulled her in for a hug.

    "Make sure to mail pictures of them," Cheryl said, still hooked on the fact that there was a high chance Jason and Queenie's unborn baby was actually babies. Two to be exact.

        "We'll call back soon, Cheryl," Jason informed his twin sister, "It'll take a month at most."

     Cheryl held into her brother's hand, but Jason let go of hers so that he could leave. Queenie and Jason locked hands as they began their way out of the woods. Suddenly, there were footsteps around them and Queenie couldn't tell something wasn't right.

      "Jason," She whispered, quietly, "We need to run. Right now."

     Jason stared at his girlfriend in confusion, "What are you talking about, Queenie?"

     She didn't want to say much. She knew someone was following and watching them. She could feel it, "You trust me, right?'

     "Of course, I do." He whispered back.

      "listen to me when I say there's someone following us. Trust me. We need to run." Jason didn't have to ask anymore. He believed her. The two stayed beside each other as they began to run.    

    The duo ran for about ten minutes until they were finally caught. Out of nowhere, someone grabbed Queenie and placed a hand over her mouth as they pulled her away from Jason. She to scream but couldn't. Jason didn't run when he saw his girlfriend get caught. He kept still, not wanting them to hurt the girl he loved more than anything. Queenie wanted to tell him to forget about her and keep running, but her mouth was covered and she knew Jason would never leave her. He would never break his promise to her no matter what. Before anything else could happen she was knocked out and Jason came soon after.

  AN: Sadly, next chapter is you know what. In my story, FP isn't going to have a clue that his daughter was kidnapped along with Jason. Bc if he did, he would help her, of course. Mustang and Cliff don't care about her though.

After the next chapter, I'll have one or two chapters about the gap between July 11 and Season one. Maybe even how Jughead, FP and all of her friends react to her disappearance.