Sweet Pea // Poisonous veins

Chapter Four

The following two days Angelina had decided to go straight home after school to unpack her moving boxes. The room slowly became her own personal space, Rocco had helped her set up bookshelves against a wall and Angelina had gone to a convenient store to buy some stuff like fake plants and a dark carpet to make her room more homely. The bookshelves were slowly filling up with her large amount of books. 

Angelina could be described as a moody girl with a big mouth, someone who never paid attention in class. But secretly she loved reading books. It was a fascination which she picked up a few years ago. Her love for reading was a secret she would never entrust to someone. She didn't want to be known as a geek. 

It was now Friday afternoon and Angelina was sitting on the floor, making a big photo collage of her friends. When she was forced to say goodbye to her friends at her previous school, they had given her a small box. In that box were a pile of photos and some old junk that had emotional attachment to her. She was very moved by the gift. In the convenient store she had found a large glass picture frame which she was now slowly filling up. 

After an hour or so her project was finished and she decided to hang it above her desk. She took a step back and admired it while a smile came across her face. She took a picture and send it to the groupchat on Facebook.  Everyone gave nice feedback and talked about how much they missed her. She knew that eventually they would forget about her since they would never see each other again. That realization stung a bit. Angelina decided to focus her thoughts on something else and texted Toni.

'Hey girl. Are we still going to that drive-in?'

Toni Topaz:

'Hell yeah. We'll pick you up in 'bout ten minutes.'

About fifteen minutes later Angelina was patiently waiting for Toni in her living room. In the meantime, she had quickly refreshed her face and touched up her makeup. She had doubted if she would do something special with her hair but decided not to. Her hair was pretty thick and slightly curly so she often stood powerless against it. 

Her younger brothers always came home a bit later as they got dropped off by the school bus. They were now busy unpacking boxes in the living room while their mom coordinated. Angelina didn't offer to help.

Angelina thought about her day at school. She had tried to make friends but wasn't going smoothly. Some girls were afraid of her because she was hanging out with the Serpents while others didn't even think she was worthy to talk to, let alone look at. 

She had passed Malachai a few times in the hallways, he always winked at her while she gave him a small smile. They hadn't shared a decent conversation because Angelina didn't feel comfortable talking openly to him. She still believed she had the freedom to talk to whomever she wanted but she also didn't want to upset Sweet Pea and the others. 

Angelina heard a heavy engine of a motorcycle roaring outside which caused her to slightly jump up. She reached for her handbag and told her mom she shouldn't stay up. 

Angelina walked out the door and saw Toni sitting on the back of Fang's motorcycle. "Hey, girl." Toni greeted her. "You can ride with Sweet Pea." With a smooth gesture Angelina sat down on his bike. She had never driven such a heavy motorcycle before. A few of her friends had scooters but that was something completely different.

Angelina scratched her throat softly as she wasn't sure if she was allowed to hold on to Sweet Pea. Instead, she decided to place her hands on the sides of the bike. "You good?" His heavy voice spoke. She hummed and they quickly drove off.