Chapter Eighteen

Betty

There they are. I see six of them. One large guy with tattoos and a nose ring is leaning against a black fence. We are just feet from the river, behind the line of trees. All six of them look to the gang of bikers that stop where they are. I see one of them with a sugar stick and then another with a cigarette. We turn our bikes to the edge of the street and stop. I get off of mine and set the helmet on my seat.

"What are we doing?" Sweet Pea asks.

"Beating the hell out of them and then leaving," I assure.

We jump through the trees and end up on the other side. They stop their laughing and look to us with confusion. I decide that they have to know why we are here. If there are just a bunch of random serpents hurting other people and showing up in neighborhoods, trashing their teenagers, things are going to get dangerous. So instead, their Serpent Queen will have to talk to them.

"Hey! You guys know that red head that you beat up for no reason?" I ask.

"That kid killed Cassidy! He deserved it!" the tall one says. He snarls between his teeth. Another one takes a shot of a pixie stick and then I understand.

"They're all high," I mutter to the others. Sweet Pea stands beside me, pushing his chest out so that he is just inches from the other guy.

"What the hell are you guys?" he asks.

"We're the serpents."

"Then we want to talk to your leader. We don't want anyone getting the wrong idea. We beat that kid up because he deserved to get beat the hell up. he killed someone. But if I could tell that to someone with some authority, that would be great."

I laugh so hard I almost fall over. I put my arms across my chest and bite my lower lip as I step forward so that Sweet Pea won't be covering me anymore.

"You're talking to her, bitch," I say. "And you should know that Archie did not kill that guy. He was framed. So not only did you beat up an innocent teenager, you beat up an innocent who was framed for murder. An innocent with friends, by the way. And since you thought that you would take it upon yourself to take control of this, we thought we would show you what it means to take control."

I put my right hand up and show them our serpent symbol. It take one second before I hear a snarl. My serpents charge him, two to each of their bitchy faces. The kicking, punching and screaming lasts for a few seconds before I decide to get involved. I jump in when I see Sweet Pea holding that big guy down.

"Let me," I tell him.

I stop, putting my heel on his throat and leaning down so that I can see him struggle. He gasps for air and rips his hands at my leg. He tries to pull me off of him but I am too easily stabilized. Sweet Pea holds the rest of him down as I push my heel harder into his throat. I put my hand on the nasty nose ring that he has sticking out from his septum.

"You thought that you could hurt my friend but taking away the one thing that he had left. He had pride and his body. But no. you wanted that too, even though you knew nothing about the case."

He struggles underneath of me, pushing me off. I kick him again, placing my heel above his eye and leaning down again as he sits completely still. He is so still that it almost shocks me. I lean over his body.

"Get anywhere near Archie or any of our friends again…and we will end you," I assure.

He doesn't move or even speak. His face is in pure shock and his body is completely still. I want to reach down and gouge his eyes out but I know that is not going to help. I know what I need to do. I need to destroy their hope. If I do that, maybe they will back the hell off and tell everyone else what happened to them.

"If anyone ever comes for him again, I am going to find you and ask why it happened," I say. "Don't think of crossing us again. Do you understand, low life?"

He nods slowly but with fear.

The sound of fear and anger still rings throughout the small space between the fence and the trees. I stand above them all, not letting the kid get up from where we are making him lay. I look to Sweet Pea and nod my head so that he can stand up. He rolls his shoulders back and then looks to me for the next set of orders.

"Hey! Hey!" I shout. "Serpents!"

They finally stop the war with the very few low life scums that have graced Archie with their fists. Each Serpent stands up and looks to me, stopping the pain that they are inflicting on these terrible people.

"Come anywhere near Archie or any of our friends again, and we will make sure that you are brushing your teeth with your toes. Got that?" I demand.

I get a couple of nods but not very many answers. They are too afraid to answer. I thought they would have been fierce warriors. But instead I found myself the leader of a gang banging of a bunch of losers.

"As long as we're clear, Serpents, clear out," I demand.

I watch as each of them drop their prey and go back to their bikes. They start up. Sweet Pea puts his hand on my arm.

"Let's get the hell out of here," I say.

"Couldn't agree more," Sweet Pea says with a smile.

I move my heel from the kids throat and run back to my bike. We hurry onto our bikes before one of them has the time to call the police. We ride for a long time, fast and on back roads for as long as we can until we cross the bridge. I thought that I would feel satisfied, or even happy that we did that to those terrible people. But I don't. I don't feel great about it. Maybe they really did think that Archie killed Cassidy.

When we finally stop back in Sunnyside, I see Jughead standing outside of his trailer. I get off of the bike and toss my helmet down. I know that I am about to hear it from him so I step up and hold my hands out. He doesn't take them. He looks livid. His face is scared behind the mask of anger. His lips are pulled together. His eyebrows are drawn in. he is standing in nothing but his tank top, jeans and boots, sweat dripping down his face and chest. When I get no reaction, I just wait.

"What the actual hell were you thinking, Betty?" he demands.

"I was thinking that Arch needs someone to stand up for him. He is alone in the world. So many people think that he really killed Cassidy. I can't have the thinking that my best friend is a murder!" I shout.

He presses his lips together, crossing his arms over each other and looking around him. I turn around to see the others going back to their tents or trailers. Sweet Pea looks to me and gives me a small nod. I nod back and he makes his way to his tent.

"Sweet Pea was with you?" he asks.

"They were all with me, Jug," I tell him. I turn back to him, standing just below him because I know that he won't let me come back inside until he understands the same things that I do. I did this for a good reason but he just has to see that.

"I asked them to come with me. Only those who wanted to, did. It was a choice, Jughead. I would never make them do something like that."

"Did it make you feel better to get some blood out of it, Bets? Did it make you feel whole to beat someone else up because they hurt Archie?" I roll my eyes. I back down the steps when I realize that he is not going to understand what I mean. He grabs my arm and pulls me back toward him. I almost trip up the steps but he stops me, grabbing me and turning me back so that I am facing him again.

"Does hurting them make you any better than what they did to Archie?" he asks.

"No. It doesn't. And no, I don't feel good about it. But they deserved what they got and I don't care that it hurt. I wanted it to hurt. I don't regret it, Jug. They aren't going to go after him or anyone else again. Maybe they needed to learn that lesson."

His voice drops to a soft tone. He pulls me close so that we are on the same step. We are looking at each other when he whispers the next words.

"Did you have to be the one to teach it to them?" he asks.

"No. But I was."

He gives me a small smile and I realize that we might not agree but we don't have to. In this case, we did what we had to do. It's done and they deserved it. Him and I can deal with being different.

"You look sexy in your serpent jacket," he says with a smile.

"Oh yeah?" I ask.

He looks back to the door and then to me.

"Archie is asleep in the living room." He gives me that seductive smile that I know will lead to more so I smile back at him. "And you would look a whole lot better with nothing…but that serpent jacket on."

I feel nothing but warmth in my gut as Jughead leads me to the backroom. I forget my guilt. I forget the pain that Archie felt. I remember that we work together, even when the other one doesn't agree. We stand as a united front against the world.