The next day at school, me and Archie went to the Blue and Gold to confront Betty on what happened last night. We found her in there just as we thought.
"What the hell was that last night?" Archie asked. She stayed quiet.
"Betty," I called.
"I lied to you." She said. " When you asked me if the Black Hood had called again. He did. And he told me to cut Veronica out of my life or he'd..." She didn't finish.
"And now he wants me to do the same with Jughead." She sighed.
"Betty, why didn't you tell us?" I sighed.
"Because I knew you'd try to talk me out of it." She said followed by a sniffle from crying.
"You're right." Archie nodded. "It's my mistake." Archie pulls out his phone and starts calling someone. Betty gets up and tries to stop him.
"Archie put the phone down! Put the phone down! Listen to me. He hasn't attacked or killed anyone since we started talking. I think this is distracting him."
"Betty, he's torturing you. Making you hurt your mom, Veronica and now Jughead? How are you gonna put him and yourself through that?" I asked.
"I was hoping maybe you guys would do it." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Do what?" Archie asked.
"Maybe you could tell him that we just need to stay away from each other for a while. Something, anything, to just keep him away...To appease the Black Hood." She said. I sighed shaking my head.
"Betty-"
"It doesn't have to be cruel, just enough to make Jug believe it. We can walk it back later." She said rubbing her arms.
"You mean, you hope we can." Archie sighed.
"No. We can. And we will. Please, guys. Don't quit on me now." We sighed and gave in, agreeing to do it. Archie nodded and agreed as well.
After school that day, Archie and I headed to the trailer park. I was nervous about this whole ordeal and Archie could tell.
"I'll do all the talking, alright?" he asked. I nodded even though I could tell that he was nervous as well. We got to Juggy's trailer. As we were about to knock, Jug opened the door with wide eyes upon seeing us.
"Guys-"
"We gotta talk, Jug," Archie said. Jughead moved passed us.
"Uh, now is really not a good time, okay? You need to leave, okay? You gotta go." He said frantically. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Why, what's going on?" I asked. Just as I did so, a familiar voice spoke up.
"What the hell do we have here?" Sweet Pea asked, ignoring me completely and glaring at Archie.
"Just leave him, all right?" Jug said stepping in front of the Serpents.
"Wait. You're friends with these thugs?" Archie asked. I rolled my eyes at his choice of words.
"It's not what you think." Jug said turning to look at Archie.
"Are you joining the Serpents?" he asked.
"If he survives, and go ahead and call us thugs one more time." Sweets said moving closer to Archie. I got in the middle.
"Can you tell me what's going on please?" I asked looking up him.
"Sweet Pea, you know this chick?" Some guy who I've never met before asked. Sweet Pea looked at me and shook his head.
"Nope." His friends that did know about him and I gave him a strange look, and me a sympathetic one. My eyes watered a bit, but I blinked away the tears. I walked back over to Jug and Archie as they finished up their conversation. Judging by Jughead's face, I can tell that Archie gave him the news. Archie glanced at my face as we walked back to dad's truck.
"Angie, what's wrong?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Nothing important." He sighed.
"I'm sorry for calling them, thugs. I know how you fe-" I cut him off.
"Honestly I could care less right now. So let's head back so I can get ready for my performance with the Pussycats."
•••
We were backstage getting ready to perform and I couldn't stop thinking about what happened today.
"Hey girl. You alright?" Josie asked. I took a breath and nodded.
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Good. Let's go and rock this stage." She smiled. I chuckled and got up. We made sure everything was set as they introduced us.
Josie and I started singing and dancing around the stage. My mood started to lift up until I noticed Nick walking off with Cheryl who didn't seem to be in the best condition. Me and the girls shared a look.
We finished up the song and headed up the stairs they went. We grabbed the janitors keys and went into the room, so see Cheryl laid out, with Nick ready to take advantage of her.
"Get off of her!" Veronica said as she grabbed him and punched him. The girls handled him while I walked over to Cheryl. I sat next to her and tapped her face.
"Keep your eyes open."
The girls knocked Nick out, and we managed to get Cheryl to the pembrooke. Veronica called Archie and Archie called Betty. Josie and the girls sat with Cheryl as they tried to calm her down.
"If you hadn't come when you did..." she sighed.
"Where the hell is he?" Archie asked, clearly upset about what happened.
"You can put your cape away Archie. The girls already saved me." She said looked down. Josie sighed and rubbed her back.
"I feel so sick about this." Veronica said.
"Nick's a monster. And there's no way he hasn't done this before. Probably right under my nose." Vee sighed.
"It's not your fault Veronica." Betty said shaking her head. I nodded agreeing.
"I wanna press charges. I want Nick to pay. To suffer. To burn in Hell." Cheryl said before sobbing. The girls hugged her close. I noticed the way Betty looked at her when she said it. Made me feel a little off.
Later that night, I left the Pembrooke with Betty. She went home, but I needed answers. Sweet Pea has been acting so weird lately and I bet Jughead knows why. I headed to the trailer park and walked to Juggy's trailer. I walked inside about to say something but stopped when I saw him and Toni kissing.
"Uh..." They pulled away when they heard me. They both turned to look at me. My eyes widen seeing the condition Jughead was in.
"What the hell happened to you?! Who did that, I swear I will-"
"Angie calm down." He said getting up and walking over to me.
"It's part of his initiation. He's a serpent now." Toni said getting up as well. My eyes widen even more.
"Here sit down." Jug said moving me to the couch. My leg bounced as he sat across from me.
"What the fuck is going on?"
•••
(So Sorry about how long this took. Senior year is already so stressful and I'm only in my second month. I'll try to update more for you guys)
