My Serpent's Keeper [J.J]

Good News

Loud footsteps sounded in the empty halls of Northside High. Cleo Cassidy looked around the school in interest, it was clean. No Holes in the walls, no graffiti, no damage. She didn't like school, no kid did, but she did wish she had a better education so she could get out of there and do something for herself. Better herself. Going to Southside High wasn't going to help her get there.

"Hey." Cleo spun around to see Archie with Veronica "What are you doing in our school?" Veronica scowled "I was invited, Princess." Cleo smirked and walked towards them. "The newsroom is this way." Archie told her and nodded down the hall. No one knew Cleo and Jughead were dating except Archie and Betty. 

  They entered the newsroom and Cleo felt a weird swirl of emotions. This is where Jughead came from, he was used to this and what he got instead was their poor excuse of a dusty old newsroom where even if he wrote a school paper no one would read it. "Cleo." Jughead smiled and hugged the girl tightly, spinning her in a circle. Cleo giggled in surprise "What's got you all excited?" she asked as he set her down. The Northsiders looked at them confused.

   "So the reason we called you guys in here..." Betty smiled starting off. Cleo looked to her then Jughead, she knew he was with her today and she didn't mind, she had some serpent duties to take care of that she rather him not know about. "My dad's getting out of jail." Jughead said happily. Cleo's eyes widened "FP's coming home?" Jug nodded and Cleo jumped on him "Oh my god!" she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. 

 "Jug, that's...that's great." Archie said "Yeah, what heralded this miracle?" Veronica asked. Jughead and Cleo shared looks "Uh, overcrowding at the jail, I guess the judge reviewed my dad's case and after Cheryl's testimony it was....a perfect storm." he lied. "What do you need from us, Jug?" Archie asked "We have a new lead on the Black Hood case. And Jughead and I, we were wondering if you guys would follow up on it for us." Betty told them. "We can give you all of the details, the articles." she held a large file in her hands.

   "It's just that I have to be there for my dad to help with his re-entry, so." Jughead draped an arm over Cleo's shoulders "Uh, yeah and I'm just...I'm taking a break from the Black Hood." Betty pulled on her sleeves "Wait, so, you want us to be you guys?" Veronica asked "Essentially, yes. Why, is there a problem with that?" Betty asked raising a brow. Archie and Veronica looked to each other, there was definitely some tension there. "Nope, no problem." Veronica gave a tight-lipped smile.

   Those two left and Jughead turned to Betty "hey, if it's not too weird can we borrow your station wagon to pick up my dad?" Jughead asked. Betty looked from him to Cleo. Her and Jug were on speaking terms, they still wanted to try and be friends but she was more than a little intimidated by the Serpent girl. "Uh, y-yeah, sure...I guess." she stuttered. "Great, we better go spread the news." Jug smiled wide down at Cleo. "I'll meet you at your bike?" he furrowed his brow but nodded and left. 

   Betty swallowed thickly, anticipating some sort of fight to break out. "Listen, I don't want things to be weird between us....Jughead told me everything and we talked. I gave him an out, told him if he wanted he could run back to you and there would be no hard feelings but he chose to stay." Betty couldn't deny that stung a little. "I know we started off on the wrong foot, and I know you probably hate me but....you make Jughead happy. You fulfill the sleuth side of him that I just can't wrap my head around." Cleo chuckled a bit "So I would like if we could at least get along, maybe even friends eventually.....and I'm sorry for threatening you before. The Serpents are my family and I just get a little protective." 

    Betty was in total shock, this Cleo was so drastically different than the one she had met before. "Uh, wow, I honestly thought you were going to punch me or something." Cleo chuckled "In the past I probably would have." Cleo nodded "But Jughead told me I need to start letting my walls down so here I am trying a different approach, for him." Betty deflated slightly, part of her had hoped that Jughead would come back to her but seeing Cleo here, the way Jughead acted with her around. She could see that this wasn't just a fling, they were serious.  

    Cleo ran a hand through her hair and let out a puff of air "Man this is so weird. Alright, if anyone asks tell them I ripped you a new one....I got a reputation to keep." Cleo was back to her usual smirk. Betty smiled a bit "I can fake cry if it helps." Cleo chuckled "You know, you're not so bad, Cooper." Betty smiled.

   "I better go, tell the Serpents FP is coming home." Cleo walked towards the door "Hey, Cleo..." Betty called. Cleo turned to her "...keep him safe." Betty said with furrowed brows. "Don't worry, Cooper. Jughead may wear the leather but I keep him away from any real gang activity....trust me.....he's in good hands." Cleo said sincerely. Betty let out a breath and nodded, watching as Cleo disappeared down the hall.

Cleo walked up to Jughead who sat on his bike, leg bouncing in worry of what was going on inside. "Don't worry, I didn't kill her." Cleo smirked. "Just threatened her a little." Jughead gave her a look "Not funny." Cleo giggled and put on her helmet. "Come on, let's go tell the Serpents their King is coming home."

-

 The couple walked into the White Wyrm holding hands, it was the first time they were seen together and it made more than a couple of people turn and stare. They walked to the middle fo the room "Listen up!" Cleo yelled and the room quieted down "I have an announcement to make." Jughead spoke up "My dad's getting out." the bar cheered "And when he does, I'll bring him up to speed about our plans with Mayor McCoy." Jughead added.

   "That's brilliant." Tallboy muttered but they heard him "Do you have a problem with that, Tall Boy?" Jughead asked "Your old man? No. I got no problem with him. But you want us to sit down with the Mayor." Tallboy stood and walked closer to them. "I do. He's right. I think we can bring the Southside back. But it's going to take work and it's going to take compromise." Jughead told the crowd. Tallboy let out a loud laugh "Bring the Southside back. You've been here all of five minutes." 

   Cleo glared and stepped up "At least he's trying to keep things civilized. You? You turned to the Ghoulies first chance you got...isn't that counted as treason, boys?" Cleo asked crossing her arms. The crowd started to whisper and Tallboy glared "You think just cause your daddy was second in command you run the place? Nuh-uh, little girl. I'm in command now." Tallboy pointed to himself. Cleo clenched her fists at her sides "You will never be in charge around here, Tallboy. And you talk about my Daddy with some damn respect!" she growled "My daddy went to jail to cover up something you did." she poked him in the chest "He's always covered up your dumb ass mistakes and you don't even care..." Cleo shook her head.

   Jughead was in shock, he didn't know her dad went to jail because of something Tallboy did, he didn't know Tallboy was the reason her life fell apart. His anger flared and he stepped up to Tallboy, pushing Cleo back "Tall Boy, I am sick of you acting like a little bitch." Cleo looked to Jug surprised "Whispering behind my back that I'm half a Serpent or that I don't belong here. Disrespecting the Serpents by going to the Ghoulies, disrespecting her dad." Jughead motioned to Cleo. 

"Why don't we put it to a vote? If you guys think what I'm doing is wrong, I'll step aside." Jughead said looking around the crowd "All those who stand with Jughead and think that Tall Boy should shut the hell up..." Toni spoke up and raised her hand. Slowly most of the people in the bar raised their hands and Cleo smirked staring Tallboy down. Tallboy walked out and Jughead and Cleo shared a look.

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(small update because this chapter was getting super long so I decided to break it up into a couple shorter chapters.)