My Serpent's Keeper [J.J]

What's Right Isn't Always Easy

     The gang all sat in the student lounge, Cleo sat in on the arm of the couch with Jughead next to her and his hand on her leg. Betty sat on the other side of the couch and Veronica and Archie sat in chairs across from them. It had been a good morning, Cleo and Jug were all dopey smiles and teasing. The bliss lingering from the night before, but that all got swept away when Veronica Lodge decided to open her mouth.

"Veronica, are you trying to manage me right now?" Jughead asked with furrowed brows "Define 'manage." she sat back in her chair like some queen on a throne, staring down her nose at those lesser than her. "People are gonna lose their homes." Cleo reminded her. This whole business with the trailer park wasn't just over the land like Mr. Lodge had her believe, it was about the ones who lived on that land, people that had nothing and couldn't just pick up and start over. 

   "Jughead, why don't you come over with your dad and sit down with my dad, and hash this out like civilized humans, face-to-face?" Veronica ignored Cleo and spoke directly to Jughead "Okay, one condition." Jughead nodded " Your dad comes to Sunnyside Trailer Park. I want him to see the people that he's gonna be displacing." Jugheadhoped that if they saw the number of people they'de be uprooting they'd change their mind, but deep down Cleo and Jughead knew Hiram Lodge didn't have a merciful bone in his body. "Fine. And trust me, no one is being displaced." Veronica said, Cleo rolled her eyes at the clueless girl.

    "Oh, my God, did you guys hear? My dad's scanner's blowing up. The police found another dead body this morning, there's blood everywhere." Kevin came running into the lounge "Could the Black Hood have risen from the grave?" Jughead asked "Did they say whose body?" Archie asked after "Where did they find it?" Betty's voice was hoarse and her face pale. Cleo looked the blonde over, something wasn't right. 

  "The investigation's ongoing but apparently, it was a gruesome, gangland-style execution at the motel, with blood and brains splattered all over the duvet-" Kevin rambled on "Okay, Kev, we get it!" Archie cut him off. Veronica shrunk with a grimace at the gruesome details. Betty on the other hand looked like she was going to be sick. "I gotta go." she bolted up and stormed out. Cleo's eyes never left her "I'll see you later." she mumbled to Jug before following after Betty. Jughead furrowed his brows but let her go.

-

 Cleo went to the nearest girl's bathroom and opened the door to hear gagging. She turned the corner wondering if it was a girl with eating problems but she was shocked to find Betty leaning against the toilet sobbing. "Betty?" she asked dropping her bag to the ground. "Leave me alone!" she cried. Cleo grabbed some paper towels and kneeled down next to Betty offering the towels "I said leave me." Betty pushed her hand away. Cleo sighed and sat against the opposite side of the stall facing Betty.

    "I know we're not exactly close but you can talk to me." Cleo said "I saw the way you reacted to the news of the dead body..." Cleo said quietly, watching Betty for any reaction or sign she was gonna bolt. "I-it was just too much." Betty lied not looking at Cleo. "I would think for a girl who spends her free time chasing down murderers that something like that wouldn't bother you." Cleo tilted her head and Betty finally looked to her "Why did you even follow me?" Betty asked slightly angry, she didn't mean to she was just trying to steer the conversation away from the topic of death.

   Cleo rest her head back against the stall and looked to the ceiling "Because I've seen that look before...." Cleo trailed off "I saw my first dead body when I was nine...me and my family were walking home when we stumbled across a fight between a few drug dealers, the guy shit him and ran...." Cleo recalled "I remember that night so vividly, the way he lay lifeless just staring at me with those cold dead eyes, the amount of blood that pooled out of him-" Betty sat up again and vomited violently into the toilet, Cleo rubbed her back. "It's okay, you're okay..."