Fluorescent Adolescent~Jughead Jones

twenty eight

The Ghoulie's had been silent. With their leader and some members locked away, it wasn't a surprise. The way the Ghoulie's worked without someone in power and the process to get someone new was so complicated Poet wasn't sure he even understood. But until something happened, they'd stay silent. Poet wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

The Serpents had bonded more with him. More and more of the gang had begun to trust him, especially with how close they all saw the Jones' were with him. In the beginning, few of them had trusted him save for Toni and the younger Serpents, although Poet was still pretty sure Sweet Pea would slit his throat without a second thought if asked.

But, with the hibernation of the Ghoulies it gave them a more solid reason to trust the Price boy. Some of the older Serpents had even started to tell him stories about his parents he'd never heard before.

So here he stood, in the middle of three gangs, each holding a place his his heart. Weird, huh?

Poet's phone rang and he stuffed his hand in his pocket, pulling the phone out and to his ear.

"Yellow?"

"Poet. Where are you?"

Poet frowned at the emotion in Jughead's voice, unclear of what was happening. "Uh, corner of Dans street, why?"

"I-I just...fuck! I need you. Meet me at the Wyrm okay? The Serpents are having a meeting and I need you there."

"Okay." Poet nodded. "I'll be there."

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"It's insane! This whole thing's because of some stupid head of a statue of a man who committed genocide. If we could find it, like eighty percent of this attention would be off the Serpents."

Poet nodded, watching as Jughead ranted and paced back and forth in the empty parking lot. There'd been an impromptu meeting for the Serpents with the recent Sunnyside trailer park closing. Poet didn't know either of those things, having kept his phone off while at the Lodge's.

Jughead slipped his hands under his hat, pulling at the hair and grunting in annoyance. Poet sighed in empathy at the boy. "So let's find it."

Jughead's head jerked up at him. "How are we supposed to do that?"

Poet shrugged, leaning back into the crate he was sitting on. "Well, what do you do with a missing person? Make posters, offer rewards that we definitely won't pay. I mean someone had to have seen something, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea." Jughead nodded, his mind running wild with ideas. He sat next to Poet, his hand on his chin as he thought. "We'll print out posters and hang them around the area tomorrow. Thank you. And not just for the idea, when I'm ranting you like filter out everything. It's really helpful." He sent a grateful smile to Poet who sent one back, taking Jughead's hand in his own.

"Of course, babe."

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After hanging the posters around town and a few miles out, Jughead and Poet walked back into the bar, swinging their intertwined hands together. Jughead let out a laugh, his head thrown back as Poet smiled. "I'm serious! I spent two days missing a chunk of hair before someone even told me! That's why I'm never trusting garden sheers again."

Jughead smiled at him, covering his face with his free hand. "You're ridiculous."

"You love it."

Jughead's face went red, him quickly covering his blush with a cough. The two turned the corner into the main part of the bar, freezing as a familiar voice rung out.

"Jughead Jones. Did you really think you'd see that last of me?"

Poet stood next to Jughead, shaking in anger as the one and only Penny Peabody smiled at them.

"Poet Price here, too? Shouldn't you be with your Ghoulies?"

"I'm right where I'm supposed to be, bitch. Can't say the same for you."

Penny gave a laugh before rolling her eyes. "Bastard."

Jughead stepped forward, breaking the tension between the two. "What are you doing here, Penny?"

"Tall Boy brought me in. To help you all out of this mess. And considering the chunk you dug out of my arm you better be nice to me."

Jughead walked over closer to the table, Poet still standing in anger at the door, flashes of Enoch's mutilated boy and the Black Hood's letters flashing through his mind.

Penny Peabody. Enoch's aunt. Enoch's abuser and reason for death. She deserved to die. Not Enoch. But the Black Hood said he had plans for her. Hopefully they were coming soon.

Poet zoned back in, just in time to see F.P. tug Jughead past him and out the bar, leaving Poet behind. Poet exhaled, biting his tongue. He'd talk to penny whether she liked it or not.

He stood at the wall until Penny was alone before he rushed forward and tugged her behind the wall, putting a knife to her neck, covering her mouth.

"I have at least five reasons to slice your throat right now. I can cut it in just the right way so you'll never talk again. And we both know a snake is no good without it's venom so you're going to answer all my questions within the next five minutes or I swear to god I'll kill you."

Penny rolled her eyes but nodded. Poet dropped his hand, still keeping a tight grip on her. "Fine." She spat. "What do you wanna know, bastard?"

"Enoch Yearling." At the name, Penny's nostrils flared, her eyes widening.

"You know."

"Yeah. I know what you did, made him do. That's you're one hell of a lousy aunt. And that you know about the Black Hood."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Your point?"

"Why?" Poet's voice cracked, his emotions bubbling in his stomach. "He was innocent. Still a teenager. He didn't deserve this."

"He was far from innocent, bastard child. No one's ever innocent. He's dead now and there's nothing you can do about it."

"You don't even care?"

"Why? Do you? He loved you and you didn't love him back. What's the point in dwelling over something that's already happened. Now one more word and I'll make certain you never see that Seprent Prince again."

Poet let her go and sinking to the ground, tears in his eyes and his hand over his mouth. He let out a muffled scream into his hand before pulling his knees closer and resting his head in between his knees, the only word able to slip past his lips a faint, quiet,

"Eney"

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Sooo I skipped Picken's Day cause it doesn't really contribute to Poet's story and I kind of just wanted to leave it more about the Genocide and corruption of Riverdale and more about Toni's grandfather but Poet did stand with Toni as she protested. Sorry if this chapter seemed kinda rushed.

It's amazing how many things I can spell wrong when I'm writing out my story line in Docs. Also, my Bakugo story should be coming out soon so get excited for that, I just gotta do the small details and stuff.

Anyways, vote, comment, follow, hope you liked it!~underrated human

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