Fluorescent Adolescent~Jughead Jones

nineteen

Jughead pushed through the crowds of Serpents on high alert. The party had been going so well so far but with everything that's happened it was better to be safe than sorry.

He made is way over to a familiar red head, patting his back.

"Hey, Arch."

"Oh hey, Jug. You alright?"

Jughead nodded, "Yeah I just did a sweep of the perimeter. You good?"

Archie gave a half hearted nod. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ronnie's almost here. We're gonna clear the air, it's going to be a good night."

Jughead gave him a disbelieving look. It wasn't hard to tell the couple had been on edge. He didn't care to ask because ugh people but they were his friends so he still made sure they were alright.

He patted Archie's shoulder, ready to turn but Archie stopped him. "Oh hey, where's that boy you've been hanging out with? The one with the studded jacket?" 

Jughead furrowed his eyebrows. "You mean Poet?"

Archie nodded.

Jughead jerked his chin up towards the stage. "He's up there."

Archie squinted. "The one in the dress?"

"Yeah," Jughead smiled.

On the stage, Poet jumped and danced around with Robbie and Lars. Kusho stood behind the dj table, smiling at her friends. She'd wrestled it away from Betty and threatened her to back off so she could play and I quote 'not shitty, happy Northsider crap'.

Kusho mouthed along with the song, laughing as Poet spun Lars around.

Tonight had been amazing so far. He'd never seen so many Serpents in one place. It was nice to see them all and reconnect with some of them. Despite being in a gang, Serpents tended to move out of town after a couple of years. They didn't leave the Serpents but moved onto other towns to expand the family.  

Poet inwardly frowned at how much they sounded like a cult. They weren't a cult, right? Well if they were at least they were a cool one.

Poet spun around and twirled his black dress. It went down to his mid thigh with spaghetti straps and a low cut neck. He wore nothing under the top, just his jacket on his shoulders to show his pride. The dress was actually Robbie's. 

Robbie had almost one of everything and one hell of a fashion sense. It was one of the things Poet admired most about the man. How original he was. Not afraid to be himself. He inspired a lot of the younger Serpents, despite his drug addiction but he was working on that. 

A few people in the crowd cheered for Poet who spun around on one of the three stripper polls in the bar. He wasn't being overly sexual but attention was attention. 

And not to brag but he'd make an amazing stripper.

He blew a kiss to the crowd who cheered. Betty came up to Kusho and pushed her away from the music. Kusho huffed and dragged her friends off the stage, cursing the whole way. 

Poet hung on Lars, loving how annoyed the boy got. They walked over to the bar, sitting down in front of Toni. Toni smiled at Poet before giving him a beer and turning to talk to Kusho. The two weren't best friends but they bothered to make conversation so that was start. 

Poet sighed and leaned against the bar, taking a long sip of his beer. He was content. Tonight had been one the best nights in a while especially because of Enoch's disappearance, of which he's friends had agreed to tell Keller about in the morning.