Flatline ((Jughead Jones)) 3

17

Mid-century colonial. On a quiet, elm-lined street. Three bedrooms, four baths. Perfect for families. Plenty of storage and generous closet space. You will be happy here.

Jughead and I were minding our own business. Actually he had me backed against my locker and was looking down on me with an expression of pure challenge, and never had I loved him more. I bit my lip, daring him to kiss me, knowing he wouldn't in the crowded hallway. Our bubble burst when shouting came from a nearby classroom.

"For once can we have a normal Wednesday?" I asked him, as he pulled me towards the crowd and towards the classroom to get involved in the latest drama of Riverdale. We asked a student who was moving away what was going on, to be told that the Gargoyles, the ones who had newly joined the Serpents, were fighting to 'do-gooder' farmies and the Poisons.
"Is this a high school, or a Roger Corman movie?" Jughead asked me, pulling me faster towards the classroom, Toni catching up to us and making her way through the crowd as well.
"Well this sure is turning into a tale of terror." I remarked, earning a look from Jughead that caused me to smile.

By the time we had broken up the fight, Weatherbee had dragged all three of us into his office, as if we were responsible for the actions of the others. Of course, none of this mattered to Weatherbee, who seemed happy to blame us three for the fight that broke out.
"Mr Jones, Ms Topaz and Ms Blossom, you're the leaders of your respective gangs. And today's brawl is only the most recent incident of gang activity of Riverdale High. Someone robbed the chemistry lab last night."

The three of us exchanged looks. The only reason a gang would rob the chemistry lab would be for some illegal activity, and due to the lack of drugs around recently, that was definitely the purpose. From the three of us, no one knew about the robbery, so unless members were working alone, this wasn't something the Serpents or the Poisons knew about.
"Thousands of dollars of equipment was taken." Weatherbee confirmed, meaning that although it was possible someone stole it to sell, it was more likely that they didn't have the money for that type of equipment.

At Weatherbee's mention, confirming what we had suspected, that the equipment could be used to cook drugs, Jug was quick to defend, saying that Serpents didn't cok drugs.
"They don't steal either, Mr Weatherbee." I added. Toni defended her gang, and Weatherbee rose from his seat, his eyes already pinning all of this on us.
"One more strike." He said quietly before repeating the phrase, barking it at us. "And you're done at my school." His phrase was said, looking directly at Jughead. As I stepped forward, about to begin the classic 'Blossom rant', Jughead dragged me out of the office, me not even being able to finish stating Weatherbee's name.

I supposed that you know what you sign up for when you join a gang. The stereotype. The warriness. The blame. The serpents were a family unit that tried, as much as possible, to stay on the right side of the law. After celebrating FP's new position within the town, every serpent had become hellbent on getting real jobs, earning honest money. Which meant, no matter what Weatherbee thought, there was no way the break in had been the Serpents, or the Pretty Poisons who were made up of ex Serpents.

Sitting in the student lounge, occupying our usual spots, Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead and I finally seemed to take a minute to stop, to breathe in the chaos tha suffocated us.
"What's the update on the homefront, B?" Veronica asked her friend. It had now become common knowledge that the famous Alice Cooper had become hellbent on selling their house. Betty, of course, wasn't sitting idly by, and was sabotaging as many visits as she could. That home held so many happy memories, of a time before psycho fathers and unsolvable mysteries.
"My mom's still trying to sell the house. I'm still trying to sabotage her, but it's only a matter of time before she finds a ghoul who wants to live in a death house."

One of the main reasons why I was certain the house was yet to sell, was because everyone in the town knew who lived there. They knew the house as the Cooper residents, and even if the black hood once resided there, it was Alice Cooper's house, the reporter, the journalist. People from out of town would only have to search the town to find every fact and news article they would need to put them off moving to the 'Town with Pep'.