Sweet Pea // Poisonous veins

Chapter Twenty-five

Angelina suddenly remembered the very beginning when she went to this school, how worried she was about making friends and that she didn't want to confine herself to the Serpents. In retrospect, this turned out to be the best option. The pupils of the school could be placed into four categories, people either belonged to the Serpents or the Ghoulies, the silent wall flowers that were often the victims of bullying or the annoying, mean people who weren't afraid to oppose the gangs.

After Angelina underwent the metal procedure, she waited patiently for Toni at her locker. It didn't take long before she felt a large hand on her lower back. Surprised she turned around and stared into the eyes of Sweet Pea. "Hey." She said. His large body shielded them from bystanders and her heart fluttered as he lowered his head and kissed her lovingly. "Missed me?" He asked almost innocently. "Oh, I almost exploded. Never leave me again." She exaggerated to which he responded with a smile and an eye roll. "You're so dramatic."

Together the love birds walked towards their classroom. She immediately noticed a difference in his attitude. Whenever they were out in public, Sweet Pea was more restrained as he couldn't afford to come across as 'weak' to others, for it could mess up his reputation.

He had a fairly high rank in the gang and the lack of privacy was something she needed to accept. It wasn't as if he never paid attention to her or touched her, but he did keep the public affection to a minimum.

"So, could you please be nice to Jughead?" Angelina asked while clasping her hands together and raising them to her chin. "Pretty please?" Sweet Pea and Jughead had met each other before, but those were never in friendly circumstances. "I can't promise shit. We'll see." The raven-haired boy had never been keen on outsiders, which she had experienced herself, but she knew he would give Jughead a fair shot, just for her. "Thank you."

Sweet Pea had to held in his respond for Toni and Fangs both appeared out of nowhere. "Hey, shitheads." Fangs said jokingly. "Who are you talking to, huh?" Sweet Pea grabbed his best friend and held him in a choking position. "Angelina, you're not a shithead. You're so hot-" Her jealous boyfriend pushed Fangs away from him and snorted. "I know she's hot." While laughing, the foursome stepped into the classroom. And so the next dreadful schoolhours began.

//////

The young members of the Southside Serpents were sitting around their table in the cafeteria, a place that had been taken up decades ago by the original members, some of whom still remained to this day.

The only one missing was Toni. She had announced this morning that she would give Jughead a tour around school. Angelina was extremely curious to see how the members would react to him.

"So, like I totally went up to this girl and started fighting with her." Star proudly was sharing a story about a barfight, the blonde girl made busy hand gestures and talked loudly enough to make sure that everyone at the table was forced to listen. Angelina couldn't care less about anything that left Stars mouth, but for the sake of peacekeeping she remained silent.

Angelina had once asked Toni what the others thought of Star, and she felt relieved with the answer. The Serpents rarely kicked someone out of the gang, and since Star had been around for such a long time, they didn't want to risk losing her as they considered her part of the family.

Suddenly Fangs nudged her shoulder. "Isn't that your cousin?" Angelina turned her head and saw how Toni approached them with Jughead by her side. They paused for a moment to talk but Angelina couldn't catch what they were talking about.