reputation //sweet pea//

//two//

"No, no- Heather I just- no Heather I didn't know she'd show up here."

I had been up for hours listening to my dad argue with my mom over the phone. My phone had rung nonstop before that, over fifty messages littering my inbox.

At some point, I decided that I'd have to get up and face what was coming for me. I threw on a pair of leggings and a hoodie, wrapping my hair into a ponytail as I left the confines of the room. I shuffled down the hallway and into a gathering of way too many people for how early it was. Teenagers, about four of them sat at the kitchen table, whispering to one another. Denver was up getting coffee when he noticed me lurking in the doorway.

"No, but- well she knows now," My Dad said looking at me. It was hard to read his face but I was hoping he wasn't too mad. Based on the level of my moms, ehem, talking I knew she definitely was.

I recognized three out of the four faces that sat in the kitchen, now only realizing they were starring. It was the two boys from last night, SP, and Fangs if I remembered correctly. The other was the girl at the bar, I hadn't caught her name. The unrecognizable face belonged to a girl who looked older then the rest of them, I guessed Denver's age. She was uncommonly pretty, but she too wore the snake emblem the rest wore. My family's involvement in the serpents wasn't a secret. My mom had let me know at a young age that my dad, and eventually my brother, were part of a gang. She never seemed too bothered by it, so it never really bothered me. At least, not until I overheard Will shit talking the serpents over the phone one night while he was visiting us. I didn't know what went down in Riverdale but it sure sounded like a civil war.

"Yes Heather, she will call you. Yes, she'll be fine, we'll talk later." Dad hung up the phone and took a long, deep breath. Everyone in the room watched us like we were the most current drama in theaters.

"So, how's mom?" I asked earning a snicker from someone at the table. I chose to ignore them. Ya gotta pick your battles, right?

"Oh, she's great Grace, yeah. Real great. This morning she went to a Greek airport expecting to find her daughter there, but guess what? You know what happened, Grace?" he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Another snicker rang in my ear, but this time I knew it was SP.

"She wasn't there," I mumbled. I caught SP's eye. He had a grin plastered on his face, and I had never wanted to slap someone so much.

"Wow, Gracie. Who knew you were capable of being a fugitive," he laughed. He leaned back into the chair, his hands resting behind his head.

"I'm capable of much more, wanna find out?" I snapped flipping him off. It only seemed to amuse him further.

"Promise?" he snickered.

"That's enough! Grace, your mom and I decided that maybe it wouldn't be terrible if you stayed here for the summer," Dad said.

"Thank you!" I yelled hugging my dad.

"Yeah, yeah. But you'll be on your own a lot. Your brother and I have things going on, you might uh-" he gestured at the table, "wanna make some friends."

Denver clasped a hand on my shoulder and shoved me towards the table.

"Well, it seems like you're already, um, acquainted with Sweet Pea," Denver began. Aha, so that's what SP stood for. "That's Fangs, Toni and my girlfriend Lexi."

Toni stood up and extended a hand. "We might have gotten off on the wrong foot last night," she said. I took the peace offering with a smile.

Lexi stood up, well over my height, and I wasn't by any means short. Her waist length hair swished with every step she took towards. She wrapped her arms around me, all sorts of metal jewelry stabbing me, but I found the gesture comforting and returned it. "It's so nice to finally meet you," she said, a huge smile on her face.