Chapter 30- Reunited Once Again
Natalie
Waking up the next morning was strange for me. Unlike my brother who sacrificed his bed for JB, leaving him sleeping on the pullout sofa, I had my own bed. Dad had sacrificed his bed for Mom and had slept on the other sofa. I was surprised to walk into the kitchen of my home to find Mom by the oven, frying bacon and stirring up egg in a pan. Scrambled egg, toast, bacon and orange juice.
"Good morning sunshine" Mom greeted me as she walked away from the oven and into the living room where she awoke Jughead with breakfast. He was startled by the surprise breakfast.
"Well this is a surprise" I sighed as I sat down at the kitchen table.
"You hungry?" Mom asked me as she walked back to the oven and started piling food onto a plate.
"Sure" I nodded as the plate was placed in front of me.
Mom walked back to Jughead, sitting beside him as he sat up with a surprised look as he complemented the breakfast. Dad walked through from the bathroom and I watched as he looked tired.
"Morning" Mom said as she smiled up at him.
"Morning" He mumbled back.
"Sleep on it wrong?" Mom asked.
"Theres no right way to sleep on a couch" Dad sighed.
"Do you want the bed?" Mom asked.
"No, I'm fine" Dad denied.
"I need coffee" Jellybean groaned as she walked into the kitchen rubbing here eyes.
"You let her drink coffee?" Dad asked with a chuckle. Jellybean glared at him and he chuckled as he shrugged. "Okay. It's fine by me. Help yourself" He sighed.
"I gotta get to work. Hey. You need anything, call me" Dad said as he turned to me.
"Alright" I nodded.
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"Nat we have a problem" Fangs sighed as he walked beside me and Sweet Pea as we made our way to the Serpent meeting in school.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I opened the classroom door.
"We lost a load of members" Fangs pointed out as we looked around the classroom. There were only a few other Serpents along with me, Sweet Pea and Fangs.
"Well this is great" I huffed. "Where is everyone?"
"A new gang" Sweet Pea answered. "The Pretty Poisons"
"And you didn't tell me?" I asked as I looked at him.
"Thought you knew" Sweet Pea sighed.
"Where the hell is everyone else?" Jughead asked as him and Betty walked in.
"We're down another eight" I replied with a sigh.
"Another eight?" Jughead repeated in shock.
"All girls" Sweet Pea added.
"Where are they all going?" Betty asked.
"Turns out Toni and Cheryl started their own gang" I replied.
"All the girls are defecting to it" Sweet Pea sighed.
"The Pretty Poisons" Fangs muttered. "So, what do you want us to do boss?" Fangs asked, turning to me.
"Nothing. This is all because I banished Cheryl and Toni" I shook my head.
"I can talk to Toni, get her back into the Serpent fold and the rest will come back, too" Jughead said.
"Thanks Jug" I smiled at him. "They need to be reminded what it means to be a Serpent"
"I'll make this right" Jughead nodded.
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"So your mom just appeared?" Sweet Pea asked for the second time.
"Yeah. And my little sister" I nodded.
"You have a little sister?" Fangs questioned.
"Yep. Guess whose the favourite daughter" I scoffed.
"Oh" Fangs face dropped as he realised.
"Listen. I gotta go see how Jughead got on talking with Toni. I'll update you guys later" I sighed as I let go of Sweet Peas hand and waved goodbye to two boys.
"Later boss" Fangs waved as he dragged Sweet Pea along with him.
I walked back to the trailer, walking inside I was met with my Mom.
"Hey. How was school?" She asked me.
"It was fine" I shrugged.
"Nat. Can we watch tv?" Jellybean asked as she smiled up me.
"Sure. Is Jughead not home?" I asked as I looked around.
"No. No not yet" Mom shook her head. I nodded and walked away with Jellybean. We spent an hour watching tv when Jughead had arrived home.
"Jug. Busy day?" Mom asked as she looked at his tired expression.
"I suppose" Jughead mumbled.
"How did it go with Toni?" I asked him.
"Awful" Jughead sighed as he walked over and sat beside me.
"What did she say?" I asked.
"She said unless you resign being Queen and hand the title to her, she won't be coming back. Apparently she wants to be a leader. She's queen of the poisons" Jughead told me.
"Wow. Great" I huffed. I glanced at the door as someone knocked on it and I got up, walking over and opening it.
Suddenly, Sweet Pea fell through the door and into her arms as he groaned in pain. I noticed he was covered in blood and my eyes widened.
"Woah! Sweet Pea!" I gasped as I stared at Fangs who stood behind him, beaten and clenching his eyes shut in agony.
"Oh my gosh! Guys!?" Jughead rushed over, helping the two in.
Mom grabbed a first aid kit and sat Fangs down in a chair. She helped fix him up. He had a grazed chin and a cut across his eyebrow. He blood down his forehead and bruises on his hands.
I looked at Sweet Pea who was as badly beaten. He had a bloody nose and a cut on his cheek along with grazes and cuts all up his left arm. He had a bruise on swelling on his cheek and I grabbed a bag of ice for him to press down on the bruise.
"Ow" Fangs winced as Mom wiped his chin with no care.
"You guys are a joke" She scoffed. "Nat, if you don't get your house in order, more people are gonna deflect. More gangs are going to start popping up. And the serpents little piece of the pie is gonna get smaller and smaller"
"The hell happened to you guys?" Jughead asked.
"Cheryl and the poisons" Sweet Pea muttered. He winced as I wiped his cheek.
"Sorry" I apologised with a sad expression in my eyes. I looked at my Mom and Fangs. "Stores open for suggestions, mom. You got any?"
"You need numbers. Now, I happen to know for a fact, the Ghoulies are up for grabs. Ever since I took care of Penny, they've been leaderless. Recruit them" Mom said.
"The Ghoulies tried to burn down Pop's on Riot Night" Jughead reminded her. "Look at what they done to Natalie that night"
"So, tame them, and give them something they want. Trust me. This is your only shot at survival" Mom said. I sighed as I grabbed my jacket.
"Woah. Where are you going?" Jughead asked as he grabbed my wrist.
"To talk to Toni. Her peppy gang just beat the shit outta my boyfriend and best friend!" I snapped as I snatched my hand away from him and I left the trailer, slamming the door behind me.
I found Toni easily. She was still hovering in the Serpent camp. She was by her motorcycle, taking her helmet off when she caught sight of me.
"Nat have you-" She started but I silenced her when I started to drag the edge of my switchblade along her shiny motorcycle, leaving a mark. Toni's eyes widened and I crossed my arms, glaring at her.
"Next time your stupid gang messes with my gang members just remember there are consequences to your action!" I spat.
"The hell Nat! What are you talking about!?" Toni shouted at me annoyed.
"I'm talking about your gang beating up Sweet Pea and Fangs!" I yelled back. "You keep your gang the hell away from my boyfriend and the rest of the Serpents"
"Wait...what? The poisons did what!?" Toni asked as if she seriously had no idea what I was talking about.
"At Pop's...only a bit ago" I shrugged. "Cheryl was there so I suspected you was too"
"No. No Nat, I had no idea about it" Toni denied. "Listen, I am so sorry they done that. I'll go and talk to Cheryl" Toni went to walk away but I spoke again.
"Congratulations on your title as Queen. But just remember, I'll always be the Queen of the southside" I exclaimed and then I turned and walked away back to the trailer leaving Toni to leave.
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"What are you going to with what mom suggested?" Jughead asked the following morning.
"No idea. I don't think Sweet Pea likes the idea after riot night" I sighed.
"Yeah well neither do I" Jughead said with a small sigh.
"I might go talk to Dad about it. Wanna come?" I asked. Jughead nodded and we made our way to the sheriff station on our motorcycles, joining our father in the sheriffs office. We informed him about the idea Mom said and he himself didn't really look like the idea was one he liked.
"Ghoulies. They're a drug club. They can't be house-trained" Dad sighed as he closed the door to his office.
"That's the Gargoyles, Dad" Jughead corrected as he sat in a chair opposite our fathers desk, I sat beside him.
"The Ghoulies just need a strong leader. Dad, I can be that" I said. "But I'm going to need a carrot that only you can provide. It'd be a lot easier to get the Ghoulies to join us if I could say we had immunity from the law now that you're sheriff"
"Your mom put you up to this?" Dad asked. "Not even in town a week, and she's already making moves"
"She just suggested it" Jughead sighed.
"The Ghoulies are a gang I'm supposed to be protecting you both from" Dad reminded us. "Especially after-"
"Especially after riot night. I know" I sighed. "But coming to you with this ask was my idea and I know it's risky, I know not everyone agrees but if we don't bolster out numbers, we are going to go extinct" Dad thought for a moment before speaking up.
"As long as I don't have to sign anything, yeah. You can tell them Sheriff Jones hasn't forgotten where he's come from. It'll be the live and let live" He said.
Once outside the station I turned to Jughead so we start to plan the next stage of our plan. We just needed a Ghoulie we could talk to.
"Now we just need to locate some Ghoulies" I sighed.
"Can't believe dad agreed to let us do this" Jughead chuckled.
"He'd so anything for his favourite" I said with a smirk.
"Yeah" Jughead nodded. "Wait. Hold on one second. His favourite!?" He gasped.
"Just accept the truth" I shrugged.
"No. No never" Jughead shook his head as he pushed me gently. "I'm defo his favourite. His only son"
"That's where your wrong brother" I reminded him.
"Shut up" Jughead scoffed.