Back To Life ✧ Sweet Pea (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter Eight ✧ Honorary

Mentions of assault (non-sexual) and suicide are in this chapter.

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Chapter Eight

The next morning, Talia awoke to Jughead telling her parents where she was. He and Toni came up with the story that she decided she wanted to leave early, but that Jughead didn't want her walking the streets alone and they went back to his house since it was closest. He told them that they fell asleep almost instantly and Talia's phone died.

Quite honestly, Talia was surprised they even noticed she was gone. They didn't notice very much anymore. Jughead seemed to catch everything, and he proved it when they had breakfast and he told her to tell him exactly what had happened the night before. He wasn't going to let it go.

"You need to tell me what happened last night, okay Tal?" he said. "I need to know."

She felt her eyes start to sting as the feelings she had had only twelve hours before suddenly came rushing back. She looked over at Toni, who was sitting across from her at the table.

Talia pushed her plate away from her, feeling the tears well up in her eyes as she put her hands at her head.

"You can trust Toni," he said.

"Yeah, you can. I promise I won't tell anyone," she assured her, and reached over to take one of Talia's hands.

Talia took her hands away from her face and looked at Toni, her vision now blurred. "I don't want to scare you."

Toni's brow furrowed. "What do you mean? We're Serpents, you can't scare us. I promise."

She bit at her bottom lip, then closed her eyes and nodded.

She told them. She told them everything.

"I had a friend in my old city. We were friends for a really, really long time... And we were close, too. We were happy. She lived in the bad part of town and the area around where she lived had a lot of gang activity."

She saw the looks on their faces and shook her head, her voice trembling.

"Not like you guys. They were different, they were... They were dangerous. One day she just stopped being as happy and I didn't find out why until months later when she told me the leader's son had beaten her up. She had lied and told me that she hadn't been able to go to school that week because she had mono. Then I realized she was getting sick more and more often and all the puzzle pieces fell into place. He was using her as his punching bag and no one was doing anything about it. Then they came to her house one day while I was over and they beat her half to death right in front of me while they held me back. They hurt me too, but not nearly as badly."

Talia's left hand moved to her right shoulder for a moment. She brought it back down, but Jughead caught it. His face twisted with rage.

"That's how you got it? That scar?"

She nodded silently. She could have sworn she saw Toni's eyes begin to glisten but she didn't dwell on it.

"We made a statement to the police but they were corrupt and didn't do a single thing about it. A week later she-" Talia took in a shaky breath, barely able to let the words leave her mouth. "She killed herself."

Both of their mouths fell open, but they didn't say anything. They knew it wasn't the end of the story.

"Her parents blamed the gang, and they made it clear. There was a federal investigation because they went on the news and it was the biggest story of the year in the entire state. It was a big deal, and because of that, they threatened me too because I was the other person who made a statement. And that's why I have this," she whispered.

She brought out her purse, and pulled out the gun. Both of them jumped back a little, but she placed it onto the table.

Tears flowed freely from her eyes now. "It was me who pointed the gun at Sweet Pea during the fight with the Serpents and the Bulldogs. I wanted to protect Archie the way I couldn't protect Lydia. I don't know why Sweet Pea helped me last night or didn't tell you guys what I did because I don't deserve his help."

Toni looked at Jughead with an expression that Talia couldn't quite read.

"I don't go anywhere without it anymore. I'm so..." she said, and her voice cracked again. "So scared."

She wanted to curl in on herself and hide from them both. She was afraid but also ashamed of herself.

Toni was first. She stood up and came around the table, and pulled Talia up. She hugged Talia tightly and didn't let go for a long time while both of them cried together. Jughead joined her as well, and when Toni pulled back, she put her hands on Talia's shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"From now on, you're an honorary Serpent. No one's gonna touch you, okay? No one. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

They held her for a little while longer, and she could practically feel the anger radiating off of them. They were focused on helping her, yes, but they were Serpents. They were a family, and above all, they were protective. And knowing what had happened to her, they wanted nothing more than to rip the members of that other gang to shreds and hang the pieces for the world to see what happened when the Serpents were messed with.

"You should come with us," Jughead said, frowning. "I gotta go talk to the teachers at school but I'm not leaving you here alone."

Toni nodded. "Yeah, and you could come and meet the other Serpents."

They had already missed first period, but the two of them didn't seem to care. Neither did she.

Jughead had a few pieces of Talia's clothes in his dresser for when she had slept over in the past. She threw on some of those and they were ready to go.

She charged her phone for a few minutes before they left, and Talia hung around the school and outside of Jug and Toni's classes while she waited for them.

Before long, it was time for lunch. Jughead put an arm around Talia's shoulders, being his ever-so-protective self over her, but even more now. She was aware that he never acted that way, not even around Betty. But things with Jughead and Talia were different now. She had always kept him safe, but now it was up to him to keep her safe.

She felt eyes on her the second she stepped foot in the cafeteria. Two people in particular. One boy she had never seen, and the other, of course, was Sweet Pea.

He had been smiling a little and laughing with the other Serpents when he spotted her. Then his smile faded, and he stood. He quickly came over to them and stared at Jughead in surprise.

"Why did you bring her here?" he asked. "After the shit that went down last night-"

"After that she's one of us," Toni said, cutting him off. Her tone was stern. She meant it and she wasn't going to let him argue. Toni also wasn't going to tell him why she was suddenly so protective of her, which Talia was grateful for.

He blinked once, then looked down at Talia. Then his confused expression turned to one of excitement and almost a bit of smugness.

He put his arm across her shoulders and pulled her into his side, sweeping her away from Jughead and taking her to the area where the rest of the Serpents sat.

"Then I guess you'd better come say hi," he grinned.