beast [jarchie]

-chapter three-

november 17th

weeks went by and things were going. school went by like the wind of the autumn air. none of this was in a necessarily bad or good way. things just happened. the days kind of just dragged on. it didn't seem to faze jughead either.

he walked home one day. the chilly air reminded him he need to start bringing his jacket. the colorful tree represented the opposite of what jughead felt. yellow and organs surrounds him physically but emotionally he felt grey-black. he chuckled at the thought.

to his surprise once he arrived to his trailer the top tier serpents waited outside his rusty door. searching around aimlessly no doubt probably looking for jughead.

"what can i do for you, sammie?" jughead asked smoothly. he knew not to be afraid of the serpents. he knew many people in riverdale were actually afraid of the serpents history, but they never got to meet the people now. they never get to see the fact that the serpents were a family not just some gang.

"juggie, boy, how have you been?" sammie gave his gummy smile. he lost his two front teeth when he went through the initiation to become apart of the serpent family. it set him apart from everyone else. everyone had their own scars from initiation. no one ever held a grudge for someone who did their initiation. ever.

sammie had been fp's right hand and he did a damn good job of that. he was always by fp's side. never letting him do anything alone up until the point of his death. he was a humble man, and little crazy too.

"you know, here and there," he nodded his head in greeting to the other three. "juan, mark, steph."

the other three held power over the serpents in this order: mark, steph, and, juan. they did everything and anything for fp or sammie. they were extraordinarily loyal and respectful.

"jughead." they responded in unison.

"we were hoping we could come inside to talk. you know cuz the hills have eyes and all." sammie chuckled. jughead gave his fake laugh.

"sure, come in." he unlocked the door and him and the four members stumbled inside the small trailer.

they sat down on his old couch as he walked to the fridge and offered them water. once everyone was situated jughead looked at sammie, an eyebrow raised.

"what's up, sammie?"

"take over the serpents." sammie was not one to beat around the bush. just as humble as he was, he was straightforward. jughead couldn't be any more grateful for that. he was emotionally and physically drained. he wasn't prepared to deal with people. much less sammie, his dads best friend.

the determination on the four of them was admirable.

jughead smiled in honor. "im honored, really, but you know i can't do that."

"sure you can, boy," sammie shined his crazy smile jughead's way. "ive known you since you was born, child. i was there when you was first initiated. i was there when your mom and jellybean took off. i was there especially when your father passed away. i know you're a strong, mature man. you're a leader like your dad was."

jughead dropped his graze to the dirty floor. when you were never home except to sleep, there was never time to clean up. his head was racing. he knew sammie had known him almost since birth but he never realized it. he respected sammie but he couldn't take the offer. the responsibility was far too great for him.

"you can do this. if not for you, for your father."

"stop."

"what?" confusion etched on sammie's face. if jughead wasn't so angry he would've stumbled back. never in the twelve years jughead knew sammie had even ever seen confusion on his face. or anything but happiness and anger for that matter.

"don't use my father as leverage over me ever again." something stirred inside of jughead. anger prodded slightly in his chest. "ill do it, but don't ever do that ever again."

"yes, boss." sammie nodded his head. his authority began starting now. jughead only saw red. he didn't even process he had agreed to sammie's proposition.

"i want you to stay my right hand, sam. you're a good guy." jughead smiled at him. once it filtered through jugheads head he knew he couldn't back out. instead he took advantage of it.

"thank you, boss."

steph handed a leather jacket to jughead. "welcome back to the family, boss." she smiled at him. her pearly smile warmed jugheads heart.

"thank you." he responded. he put it on with so much admiration. at one point his dad wore this exact jacket. his father. would he be proud?

they all talked about some arrangements. after a few hours the four members got up to leave.

jughead opened the front door for them. "im still going to school. im finishing this last year no matter what." he shared with sammie.

"if that's what you would like, boss, we support you." he smiled in agreement. his missing teeth made jughead chuckle.

"thank you." they all walked out the door.

"it looks like you've got some company, boss." juan informed jughead.

"do you want us to stay?" sammie offered. "you know, just incase ?"

jughead looked who it was. he shook his head. "go home, guys. thank you for everything."

an echo of 'yes sir' went around and they all left. he watched them all get into their cars and back out of his driveway.

"go home." he spoke aloud without looking at the teenager. he was exhausted. he need dinner and sleep.

"since when did you lead the serpents?" the confusion was prominent in the boys voice. jughead rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"since when did you care?" jughead snapped, finally turning head towards the teenage.

"since my dad became the sheriff." he said in his 'duh' tone. he folded his arms over his chest and huffed.

"kevin, i don't think i have to explain myself to you." the tiredness showed through jugheads eyes. he massaged his neck slightly.

"fine then, don't say anything." he sighed in defeat.

"but can i come inside? i think we have to talk."