Safety Net- SP 2 ✔️

Chapter 21- House Of The Devil

At the Whyte Wyrm I sit on Pea'a lap as he sits in between Toni and Fangs
"So what are you all smiley about?" Toni asks me
"Oh you'll find out in..."
"I have an announcement to make" Jug yells walking into the pub
"Now" I smirk at Toni
"My dad is getting out" we all cheer and clap
"You knew?" Pea asks
"Found out this morning, knew Jug would want to tell you all himself"
"When he does, I'll bring him up to speed about our plans with Mayor McCoy"
"Thats brilliant" Tall Boy says as if he's annoyed. The room quietens down and Tall Boy puts down his drink
"You got a problem with that Tall Boy?" Jug asks
"Your old man? no. I got no problem with him, but you want us to sit down with the Mayor"
"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" Jug says, but Talk Boy laughs
"Bring the Southside back. You've been here all of five minutes"
"Tall Boy I am sick of you acting like a little bitch. Whispering behind my back that I'm half a Serpent or that I don't belong here. Why don't we put it to a vote? if you think what I'm doing is wrong I'll step aside" Jug says looking around. Toni stands up
"All those who stand with Jughead and think Tall Boy should shut the hell up?"  Toni immediately putts her hand in the air. All the other Serpents, including myself put our hands up causing Tall Boy to storm out of the Wyrm
"That went well" I comment making Jughead look at me and chuckle "also the pool table is now free, Fangs fancy a game?"
"I'll beat you're ass" Fangs stands up
"In you're dreams Fogarty" I get up off Sweet Pea's lap

The next night I'm at the Wyrm again, I'm sat with Betty, yes Betty Cooper and we are talking about FP's retirement party

"You have a stage, would you be open to me bringing in a karaoke machine?" Betty asks Toni who is behind the bar serving drinks
"For FP's retirement? sure why not" Toni smiles
"Also Toni, one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you beyond the party planning is, I've been walking the razors edge since Jughead joined the Serpents and I've been thinking as soon as FP gets home everything will be better because he'll be there to protect Jughead and make sure he doesn't get hurt" I look at Betty confused
"Yeah I'm following you. I mean with FP out of the picture..."
"That's my whole point. I do worry so I want to keep an eye on him myself make sure that as deep into these snake infested waters as he goes he doesn't do something that will you know put him in danger"
"So what? You wanna be a Serpent" I smirk at Betty
"Let's say Serpent adjacent but yeah a part of his world, of this world" a woman behind us starts laughing
"Shut it Byrdie" Toni yells making me turn around to see a woman sat at a table on her own
"Sorry sweet valley high you wanna join the club you gotta do the dance. The Serpent dance" she says looking at her drink
"The Serpent dance?" Betty turns to look at Toni  confused
"It's some outdated sexist Serpent tradition. I tried to get it outlawed, but misogyny dies hard" Toni says annoyed
"Rory did you do the dance?" Betty asks me
"No, to be honest I'm not sure why I'm allowed to be a Serpent"
"Because 1, we actually really like you and 2, you have stuck by us and even defended us against your own brother. Laws 1 and 2 a Serpent never shows cowardice and no Serpent stands alone. You have proved both of those laws" Toni smiles at me
'Ok so I have to do this dance?" Betty asks
"You don't wanna know" Toni shakes her head
"Yes, yes I do" Betty leans on the counter top. This is not going to end well.

Finally FP's retirement party arrives, thank goodness because I don't know how much longer I can keep Betty doing the dance a secret. I'm chatting with Fangs and Toni while Pea has his arms around me and hugging me from behind when music starts playing. I look to the stage and see Veronica and Archie at the mics and they start singing Mad World. I sway with Pea still behind me
"I love you" I hear him whisper in my ear
"I love you too" I turn around and lean up to kiss him. The singing stops and I look to see that Archie is running after Veronica
"Boo" Pea yells as well as others. Then I see Betty getting up on stage, knowing she is about to do the dance I sigh
'Whats wrong?" Pea asks me
"Your about to see Betty doing the Serpent dance which will make her more of a Serpent than I am"
"I wish you would stop talking like this. You are a Serpent and if you really want to do the dance then you can do it for me tonight" Sweets smirks at me making me giggle.

After Betty is finished and everyone starts clapping. FP walks on stage and hands Betty his Serpent jacket
"Lets give Betty a round of applause" FP says and everyone starts cheering and clapping again  "And lets show some of that Serpent hospitality we're known for" FP yells still with everyone cheering and clapping "you know I've been in and out of the Serpents since younger than my son and it's been a wild ride. Good times, bad times but through it all the Serpents stuck by my side while most other people turned their backs on me, my own family included. Now the letter of the law says I can't be here in the Serpent den that I cant associate with my friends, my real family. My blood. But I've been thinking about that" I frown beginning to be confused "it'll be a cold day in hell before a snake lets a pig tell him what to do" all the Serpents clap again, Pea included "the Northside wants me out of this gang? well they better bring a coffin because FP Jones ain't retiring. I am not going gently into the night. I am here to stay. So bring the fire" everyone continues to clap and cheer "now I have one last thing to say. While I was away we welcomed a new member, Aurora Andrews, or as you all probably know her as Rory. So Rory, congratulations welcome to the family"
"See even the Serpent leader is saying your a Serpent" Pea whispers in my ear
"Wanna get out of here?" I ask and I can feel the smile on Sweets face as he quickly takes my hand and pulls me out of the Wyrm.