Rebel Without A Cause

➶chapter twenty-five

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

•Wednesday January 19th•

In school, the serpents and I were in the Swords and Serpents classroom. We were discussing plans on how to slow Hiram Lodge down. We could not let him tear down the trailers and even anymore buildings. However, Jughead seemed to already have a plan. Someone knocked on the classroom door and it was Fred Andrews.

Apparently Jughead asked him to come by today just to hear him out. I did not understand why, because Fred already gave his address at the Town Hall and he was officially running for mayor.

"What's going on here Jug?" he asked

"Mr. Andrews, do you remember when Archie and I would runaway to my tree house on the south side?" Fred just nodded his head. Jughead had the map that we had been filling in of all the criminal activity Hiram Lodge was doing. He pointed to a section of the map and said. "My tree house use to be right there. Hiram Lodge ordered your crew to tear it down for their SoDale project"

Fred just sighed and then Toni interjected. "My father lives on the North side, but that doesn't matter to Hiram Lodge. He just wants to squeeze the Serpents out of existence. Mr. Andrews, I know you don't know me, but I don't want to lose my home"

"But you do know me Mr. Andrews" I said, "Toni is my cousin and your helping a man destroy innocent lives. The serpents are a family and they won't go down without a fight"

After a few minutes of awkward silence, between Fred Andrews and the serpents I finally needed to interject once again. My mother had just texted me that she called the school to let me leave early. "I have to go, my mother is doing an interview with The Register about her candidacy for mayor. Mr. Andrews, could you give me a ride home please?" I asked him

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At my house I invited Fred inside to listen in on the interview. Hal Cooper was sitting on the couch with my mother sitting across from him. Fred and I sat on the other seats in the living room.

For a while Hal asked my mother about what her plans were for mayor. She gave her answers very clear and concise and did not hesitate to get into the more controversial topics that she wanted to discuss. Hal was both recording the interview and writing some notes down to put into the final article that would be published.

"What are your plans exactly for the Southside?"

"Well, many of the southsiders are divided in half. One half is obviously the Southside Serpents. That group of people deserve to have a second chance at everything. I want to be able to offer them jobs rebuilding their own version of the Southside. They are still a part of Riverdale whether people care to admit that or not"

"And Southside High? The Lodges want to turn it into a prison"

"I understand where the ideas are coming from, because it is creating jobs. However, building a prison on the bones of a high school is ludicrous. If it comes to needing Southside High to remain closed, then I propose it becomes a place for extracurricular activities"