That Mantle Girl

Chapter 2

"Where were you?" I look to see my brother in full mom mode. Hands on his hips, head tilted to the side, eyebrow arched threateningly, and a stern voice. "I went to Pop's to check on you, and to my surprise, you weren't there." Quickly thinking of something, anything to get out of this, "I must've left before you got there," hoping that was enough to ease his anger. "I went over an hour ago. Care to explain how that works?" It wasn't. "I saw Jughead on my way home and we talked for a bit. No biggie." I shrug my shoulders want it not seem like a big deal but it already was. "I told you not be hanging around him. His Serpent buddies are dangerous, making him dangerous too." Serpents? Is that what Sweet Pea is? "He was by himself. We were fine, Reggie." I start up the stairs wanting this conversation to end. "No, Regina, it's not fine. I ask you to do one thing and you don't listen! Why can't you just trust me? I'm trying to protect you!" "Okay! Reggie," I turn to face him, "I get it, I'm sorry." I continue to my room and close the door behind me.

I stayed in my room the whole night, not wanting to face my brother and his wrath again. I ended up just finishing some homework and doodled a bit before my phone buzzes. "Hello?" I answer not bothering to look at the ID, "Hey Gina." I smile hearing his voice, "What's up Juggy?" He takes a breath, "How bad would it be if I asked you to come over to help Betty and me figure something out?" I sit up, taking a moment to think, "Not at all. I'm on my way." I have never walked so fast in my life, sure I've walked down here before but at night it gets ten times creepier. I turn a corner into an alley I don't recognize. Oh shoot. I must've taken a wrong turn earlier. I turn to retrace my steps but run into a leather wall. Falling on the ground, I look up and see Sweet Pea. He looks at me and smirks, "Oh, back again, Northside? You're really lost now huh?" There are two more people with him, I only remember one of them as Fangs. I internally curse at myself when I flinch as he stretches his hand to help me up. "What? I won't hurt you, princess. I'll lead you back to the right way to Jughead's." I hesitate for a second before grabbing his hand letting him lift me to my feet and following him back the way I came.

"So," he starts, "I didn't know you were fearless enough to come down here at night." His voice is deep but smooth almost making me forget to answer. "Jug asked me to help him and one of our friends. They're trying to figure something out." I say, staying close to Sweet Pea so I don't get lost again. Looking around seeing all the different shops, It's basically the same as the North, they just make it seem scarier than it is. "You're different, you know." Sweet Pea says then pauses, I look up at him, "How so?" I ask curiously. "You don't look at us like we're evil or below you. You look at us like you look at Jughead or FP. Why?" I think for a second trying to understand the tone of his voice. I take a breath, "Well, I don't think you guys are those things." I look up at him, though he keeps his eyes forward, I continue, "There's no reason for me to hate you. You're friends with Jug, you watch him at Southside High, and so I'm actually grateful to you." "Why are you being nice to me?" I ask carefully, "I'm just a Northsider." He turns to look at me, "Exactly, I mean you don't exactly look like you could take on a few Ghoulies." I few what? He points to the left, "Anyway, there's FP's trailer. Don't linger out here too long, it's not safe." I nod, "Oh okay, thanks for bringing me here." He nods and rubs the back of his neck with his hand, "So uh, I don't think I got to introduce myself correctly. I'm Sweet Pea." He reaches his hand out, after a few seconds I shake it, "Gina." We let go and I start walking to the trailer, right before I open the door, I look back to see Sweet Pea still looking me. He waves with a smile, "See you around, Northside." and turns away walking into the darkness.

I enter the trailer to see Jug on the couch, Betty on the floor, Kevin sitting next to the couch and a girl with pink hair. "Hey, guys," I say just above a whisper, not to disturb them. Jug looks at me and smiles, "Hey, Gina. This is Toni." He's referring to the girl with pink hair, she stretches her hand out, "Gina. Nice to meet you." I shake her hand and she goes back to what she was reading. I sit next to Betty and she hands me a book, "Look through this and see if you find any symbols that look like these." She shows me a paper with weird symbols in a strange order. "Okay..." I start to browse through the book not finding anything and I guessed they hadn't either. "They look so familiar," Betty says after an hour of looking, she looks at Kevin, "I know I've seen them before but it's driving me crazy I can't figure out from where." "Maybe if you loosened your ponytail." We all look at Toni shocked, she looks up and sees us staring, "What? That was a joke, guys." Kevin speaks up "Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach." Jug and I laugh, "Calm down Kevin, I'm sure Toni didn't mean it like that." Toni thanks me and we continue our search.

It's past 1 am and we found nothing. I stand, "Well, this was fun but I gotta go before my brother finds out I was here and kills me." I gather my stuff and the others follow suit deciding to call it a day. Well, morning. I start to head out when Betty grabs my arm, "Maybe we should walk you home. It's too late for you to be walking by yourself." I nod and say goodbye to Jug and Toni and walk out with Betty and Kevin. The lights at my house are all off, meaning Reggie was asleep but I decide to climb the tree and go through my window, not wanting to risk it. Once I'm in my room, I look out and wave at Betty and Kevin before they head to their homes. Finally, I lay down and fall asleep as soon as my head hits my pillow.

At school, I walk into the lounge where everyone is. "Just night jogging, as one does," I look at Kevin with an arched eyebrow and Betty scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. I walk over to get a drink as they continue to chat about how Moose was shot and they're thinking it was the Black Hood. I hear Veronica say something about a new season of 'The Matchlorette' starting and I laugh to myself. "Hey, Andrews." I look and see my brother walk in with two other Bulldogs, "We're going to see Moose at the hospital, you coming?" He asks as he walks over to me, giving me a quick hug and a kiss on the forehead, he looks at me and says, "I'll be back. I'll text you if I'm gonna be late. You go straight home, you hear me?" I salute him, making him smile, "Aye aye, Captain." We laugh and he leaves with Archie and the others. Jughead gets up to leave too, something about peer mentoring. "Jug wait." Betty and I say in unison and look at each other, "Um, Jug, don't forget about that thing we talked about." I quickly say and walk out heading to my next class.