Serpent Skins (Riverdale Fanfic)

Prowling in Pop's

"You could have told me this over the phone, you know."

"I'm sorry, Jug. What else did you expect me to do? I was freaking out."

Betty Cooper sat across from Jughead at a table in Pop's, sipping a milkshake while she told him about the things happening at home. Her mother had been on her case for some time now, about hardly anything at all. It only seemed to be a big deal because Betty was angry in the moment. Jughead, however, was very confused.

"You're telling me you called me away from my dad to tell me your mom is yelling at you about not keeping you room cleaned?"

"Yes! She knows that I've been very busy. I've been fighting with a lot of people. Veronica, Kevin, Archie." She listed them off on her fingers. "To make matters worse, my 'brother' keeps coming back to the house to see my mom. You know how he scares me." Jughead leaned back in his seat and raised an eyebrow at her. "It was just the straw that broke the camel's back, Jug. I'm stressed."

"I know you are, and I'm sorry. But I would be thrilled to have my dad yell at me about cleaning my room. I get yelled at about starting a protest and 'Who's blood did you spill this time?' All because of that one time I cut that Snake Charmer's tattoo off."

"I don't even want to talk about that right now." Betty gestured to her milkshake.

"I know, I know. Just give her time to cool off, Betty. It'll be fine."

The bell chimed, signaling someone's entry to the building. In walked Cheryl Blossom, full, red lips ready to talk someone's ear off. To the couple's surprise, all she did was sit down at the booth. Another chime.

"I'm assuming you're Pop?" a voice Betty had never heard said. She turned around in her seat. Jughead recognized the voice, and strained his neck to see who was speaking.

"The one and only," Pop's cheery voice piped up. Cheryl was looking this stranger up and down, a look of confusion on her face.

"Yeah, I called in for an order of burgers a little bit ago."

"Oh! That's right." Pop went to retrieve the burgers.

"What's  a Serpent doing at Pop's this early in the day? Besides Jughead," Cheryl asked.

The new girl smiled and pushed her dyed red hair out of her eyes. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Cherry."

"It's Cheryl."

"Funny. Your lips tell me otherwise." The new girl turned on her booted heels, and walked towards the door. She stopped in her tracks and waved at Jughead.

"Penny?" Jughead asked. "What are you doing here?"

Penny held up the bag. "Getting burgers for my dad. What are you doing here?"

"I've never seen you around before," Betty said, smiling.

"I never leave the shop," Penny said with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, Jughead, see you around."

"Not if you never leave the shop," Betty piped up again. Who was this girl and why was she talking to her boyfriend?

"Believe me, I'm going to be out of there a lot more often."

"We'll be seeing you around then, Penny." Jughead finally got a word in before his girlfriend spoke for him. Penny smiled, raised a hand as if to say goodbye, turned, and left.

"Who was she?" Betty asked, a little annoyed.

"Just a Serpent in a shop, no big deal," Jughead said, smiling and taking a bite of his burger.