I move to go help him, but I'm pulled back along with Jughead, by Archie.
"Arch we have to help them!" I yelled.
"Hey you want to help them, well you can't do that behind bars! Let's go!" He yelled while pulling the two of us out of the school. I panicked the whole way to Pops. We got inside and sat in a booth. I had my head in my hands, with my leg bouncing while Jughead began pacing.
"You two need to calm down," Archie said. I sat up and gave him a look. Jug turned to look at him as well.
"Calm down? Archie, Riverdale just became a police state." I said.
"McCoy's convinced the Serpents are the ones dealing Jingle Jangle." Jug said.
"But we know that's not the case. She won't listen." I spoke up.
"Exactly. Serpents don't deal that stuff, the Ghoulies do." Jug said.
"So tell Mayor McCoy that," Archie replied.
"Did you not just hear me Arch? You want us to tell McCoy after she just arrested my- Sweet Pea and all of Juggy's friends for no reason?" I hesitated on what to call him because I wasn't even sure what we were anymore.
"What do you care anyway, man? I thought you and Betty wanted nothing to do with me, right?" Jug asked.
"Look, I'm sorry about what happened and how it happened. And as for Betty, you should maybe talk to her." Archie said just before Jughead got a message notification on his phone.
"I got to go. Tall Boy wants to parley." Jug said getting up.
"Wait, let me come," I said getting up as well.
"After what just happened, they're not gonna wanna see you there."
"I don't care. I want to be there. I'll lay low."
"No. It's not a good idea. I'll fill you in about what happened." He said before leaving. I sighed and turned to Archie who sighed as well.
"We should get home." He said. I just nodded and followed him out the diner.
...
Later that night at dinner, we talked to dad.
"Community service? Can't you just ground us?" Archie asked dad, as we sat down.
"And Angie didn't even take Jingle Jangle, why is she getting punished?" He asked on my behalf.
"Because she was there, and instead of telling an adult, she stood around and watched everyone take it," Dad said. I stayed quiet while eating my food.
"Besides, the Community Service is Mayor McCoy's idea, and it's a damn good one if you ask me. Put that trash in your body you can spend a day pickin' up trash at Pickens Park." Archie sighed to himself.
"You know, I know Jug wasn't at your little Lollapalooza the other night, but he does go to Southside High. It's ground-zero for that crap. You talkin' to him? Checking in? How's he doing?"
"Tryin' to yeah," Archie replied.
"It was like kind of like that when I was tryin' to help FP. I don't know what it is. Never ending battle with those two. I just hope with Jug it's not a losing one." Dad said. I just continued eating my food.
"You've been awfully quiet this evening Angie. Anything you want to talk about?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Does it have anything to do with Sweet Pea?" He asked. I took a breath.
"It doesn't matter." I sighed getting up to dump my plate. I walked upstairs to my room and laid down with a sigh.
This thing between Sweet Pea and I seem to be over. I still care about him and I still love him, but there's too much going on and it's affecting him. Maybe space is what we need. Or maybe being together is what's best. I didn't know. So I wrote a letter expressing all this and decided to drop it by his trailer. I was about to head over before Archie told me Jug called and needed us over.
We headed over to his trailer. We sat on the couch and listened to him rant about what happened at his little meeting.
"This isn't an Alliance with the Ghoulies, this is a hostile takeover. Oh, God. Who knows how long Tall Boy has been planning on betraying us. Maybe I stall, just until Sweet Pea and Toni get out." I tense up hearing his name.
"I just hope they'd rather go to war with the Ghoulies than start...dealing Jingle Jangle." He sighed.
"Jughead. You joined the Serpents to keep the peace." Archie said.
"My dad would never sit back and let this happen. So neither will I. So unless you have any better ideas." Then I realized something.
"We don't. But we know someone who does."
•••
Now here we were, visiting FP. The three of us sat on the other side of the glass. I shared the phone with Jug so I could hear what Fp had to say.
"Start from the beginning." He said. We told him everything making sure to leave nothing out. Fp dropped his head and rubbed his face.
"Hey, you can reprimand me for joining the Serpents later, but if we don't do something now, there will be no more Serpents. It'll just be the Ghoulies." Jug said before Fp hit the glass with his phone causing me to jump slightly.
"Ghoulies dress like fops, but they're a nasty crew. Serpents have survived worse though. Much worse. The only hitch is, it sounds like you're out-manned, which means you gotta avoid bloodshed at all costs." Fp said. I nodded.
"I agree 100%," Archie said.
"So out think em. This is about territory...if there's one thing Ghoulies love, it's their crazy souped-up retro cars and hearses. You catch my Riverdale drift kids?" I smirked slightly understanding perfectly.
The boys still looked confused causing me to roll my eyes. Fp looked around before talking quietly into the phone.
"Challenge them to a street race, one on one. But keep it on the DL. It's illegal, it'll get you locked up."
"Go on." Jug said.
"Set the terms of the race. Their guy wins, the Serpents roll over." Fp said.
"And if we win, the Ghoulies back off." Jug said. Fp nodded his head.
"Maybe you raise the stakes. And whoever wins controls Southside High." Fp shrugged.
"And we get rid of the Ghoulies and get rid of the Jingle Jangle, and get McCoy off our back." Fp gave us a look before hanging up and getting escorted by the officer, back to his cell.
Before Archie and I headed back home, I gave Jughead the letter I wrote for Sweet Pea.
"Can you make sure he gets this?" I sighed. Jug didn't question it. Instead, he nodded and took the letter. We wished him goodnight before going home. We had to be up in the morning to get our Community Service done.
