Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

3.26

THE SECOND TIME AROUND CHAPTER 

 TWENTY SIX

  The next morning, after waking up, Queenie made her way to her family's trailer by foot. It was easy to just walk there from her and Sweet Pea's trailer, seeing as there were only a few trailers in between them. She had a large bag of gifts in her hand she was asked to buy for her dad. They were gifts for Jughead, his mom, and Jellybean. FP was planning to take Jughead to go see his mother in Toledo. He asked if Queenie would like to come also, but she told him she got carsick when in a car for long periods of time.

  That was only half true, though. The other reason was that she didn't want to go and see her father's wife. It was clear that she hated Queenie, seeing as she was the offspring of her husband and her best friend drunkenly sleeping together. The only reason she even let Queenie stay with them was mere circumstance. She knew that FP would never let Queenie go and live with someone else as a child when she had a perfectly good home in Riverdale. And Queenie hated her, too. All the times Jughead would call Queenie his sister, she would simply answer, 'That's not your sister, Jughead, just your father's daughter'.  And the last time Queenie saw her father's wife didn't really end well.

   Once arriving at her father's trailer, she knocked on the door because the door was locked and she forgot her key at home. The doorknob turned and FP opened the door for her. Queenie entered and she immediately saw Jughead sitting at the kitchen table, "Put them in the corner." He stated, pointing toward a part of the living room.

  "What's in the bags, Queenie?" Jughead questioned her and Queenie ignored him, rolling her eyes.

   "Hey, what did I just say?" FP warned him sternly, "Mind your damn business, get to school." He demanded.

    "What about Queenie?" Jughead asked with attitude as he stood up from his seat at the table.

     "What about Queenie?" FP retorted and Jughead gave him a glare.

      "Are you forgetting that she goes to high school, too! I work my ass off at school and never get in any trouble. I even joined the Serpents! Yet, Queenie has done nothing but get in trouble. She got pregnant by Jason Blossom at sixteen years, she moved out of this house and left you, causing you to start drinking, she chose the Blossoms over us more than once, she tried to run away with her boyfriend without telling you or saying goodbye before she left forever, she helped start an ongoing war with the Serpents and Bulldogs alongside her hotheaded, but still, she's the 'good child' in your eyes!" Jughead shouted at him angrily, finally getting it off his chest after so long.

   Queenie, from where she standing in the living, gave her brother a sympathetic look.

     "Boy, don't start saying stuff about her that you have no clue about? You've done stuff, too. Don't blame it all on her. And you joining the Serpents? Jughead, you're not even ready to join the Serpents if you still depend on your older pregnant sister to bail you out of every single shitty situation you can't handle on your own. Yeah, she may do nothing but get in trouble, but guess what? Every time she does get in trouble, she independently gets herself out of it without needing anyone's help but her own, unlike you." FP shouted back, pointing his finger over at Queenie as he talked about her.

   Jughead gave Queenie a death glare, indicating he was pissed at her before he stormed out of the trailer. The door slammed behind him, causing her to let out a deep sigh. After placing down the gifts, she turned to her father, "You shouldn't have said that stuff to him." She spoke up and FP frowned.

   "Why the hell not, Queenie? It's not like it wasn't true, he needed to know. I told you I was going to give him a piece of my mind when I got out and there it was." He argued and Queenie shook her head in response.

  "You basically told him that I was the better child and that you favored him more than me. Do you know how hard it is to hear that?" She explained to him, "I had to deal with that exact thing almost every single day when I lived here with you, Jughead, Jellybean, and their mom. Gladys hated my guts and she expressed it to me every day to me that she clearly loved Jughead and Jellybean way more than she ever did with me. And now, Jughead's probably feeling that same way. Probably worse because you're his actual parent, Gladys wasn't mine." She explained to him, getting all defensive.

   FP's eyes softened at this and Queenie just rolled her eyes, "I gotta get to the store to buy my gifts for everyone, I'll be at the Wyrm in like an hour." She informed him before she exited the trailer just like Jughead.

________

   Later on that day at the Whyte Wyrm, Jughead entered the bar to see gifts everywhere. He walked down the set of steps and found Fangs, Toni, and Mandy all standing near a pile of gifts, "What is all this?" He asked curiously, making his way over to stand beside the three teenagers.

   "It's Serpent tradition, Jug." Mandy informed him, "Every year we give back to the Southside,"

   "Toys for Tots, Meals on Wheels, kids and old folks living alone," Toni explained with a smile.

    "The Hells Angels do it," Fangs added in with a smile as he stopped applying tape to a gift he was wrapping so he could look up at Jughead.

   Jughead nodded his head in response before Mandy began to speak again, "We have your sister to thank for most of these gifts actually. She went on a shopping spree this morning and bought a whole ton of gifts for both us and this cause."

   Jughead rolled his eyes at the mention of his sister, "That reminds me, have you seen Queenie and my dad?" He questioned as Queenie and FP just arrived as if on cue.

   "Hey, why aren't you in school?" FP asked him as he walked past the group of teenagers alongside Queenie.

 Jughead turned around to face them, "Uh, it's a half day before break, I would think Queenie would have told you that."

  FP nodded his head as he patted Jughead on the shoulder when he walked past him, "Well, in that case, you can hold the fort down while we're gone." FP replied as Jughead followed the two of them to a table.

  Both FP and Queenie placed down the bags that were in their hands as Jughead stood in between them, "Or I can come with you guys?" Jughead suggested, but FP was quick to disagree.

  "Nice try," FP stated, "The answer's no."

   "Come on, guys," Jughead tried to convince his father and sister, "Let me pull my weight. Dad? Queenie?"

   Queenie sighed, sharing a glance with her father. FP gave her a look, which she instantly knew it meant he needed help with getting Jughead to give up. She turned her body around and glanced around the room in search of someone else that could help them. Her eyes locked on Sweet Pea, who was sitting at a table by himself while he wrapped a gift from the pile in front of him, "Sweet Pea," She spoke up, causing her boyfriend to instantly look up at her, "You're with us."

   Jughead stared at his sister, his face full of shock in defeat. She shrugged in response, acting as if she didn't care. She gave him a single pat on the back before she and Sweet Pea followed her father out of the bar.