His Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 8- Stolen Returned

The lodge girl was singing a song in front of the people of Pickens Park. Some happy go lucky pop song that Sweet Pea would never remember or care about the lyrics. Midway through it, of course, was when the real show stopper was. The true soul of this Pickens day party.

The Serpents had just come from the parking lot where they stored their precious bikes.  Young and old marched alongside each other, mouths taped, signs in hand. With justice fueling their fire they marched straight up to the stage to make sure that their voices could truly be heard.

"Toni? Jughead? What the hell is going on?" The lodge girl stopped her singing to ask a question she already knew the answer to.

"We're here representing the dead and silenced," Toni spoke through a megaphone for everyone to hear the message. "Pickens Day is a lie! General Pickens, slaughtered the Uktena tribe, my grandfathers family. And this land, the land that we're standing on, the land that will soon give way to a "New Southside" was stolen from them. And we can't bring them back! But we can and we must honor them."

Of course, to save himself the embarrassment of people following the protest, Hiram Lodge took to the microphone to deliver an unexpected speech. His words completely covered up and shatter the protest. Sweet Pea could see the array of emotions from his fellow Southside Serpents, from disappointed to tired to completely enraged about the silence. The serpents began to walk back to the place they came the parking lot.

"Well, that went well," Fangs ripped the duct tape off his mouth. 

"Hiram Lodge, why didn't I add him to the equation. I should've known he would do this." He looked down.

"Maybe we should still walk around with our signs. If we leave it will be like giving up! We will be silenced just like the Uktena." Toni attempted to soothe it over. Sweet Pea looked around the parking lot they were all gathered into. Until a strange sight caught his eye, his bike in almost perfect condition. 

He walked over to it completely in awe. The graffiti was gone, and it was entirely polished. The tire looked as though they had been replaced, the bike looked like what it would've looked like had he bought it new. Who could've done this? Why would they do this? He looked at the seat where his keys and a card sat. 

Sweet Pea,

I am so sorry about the graffiti that occurred on your bike. It was really hard to get off, by the way, I don't know what those neanderthals used but it was rough. I also made a few necessary repairs, just to make sure it's safer. This was truly my fault so I had to fix it, I would also like to apologize for the hallway yesterday. For what Reggie said, you can use a fork, he's an idiot that doesn't know what he talking about. Anyways once again sorry, and please don't do anything stupid or drastic.

Yours Truly,

Sleeping Beauty

"Sweet Pea? Is that your bike?" Toni asked, he quickly stashed the card away.

"Yeah, I don't know who, our how. It's here and practically new." He smiled.

"I think I know who and I think she just arrived." Toni pointed to Jess. She was walking to the celebration, ready for her date with Reggie. She started walking towards the wooded area instead.

"Don't tell me she got all dressed up for you?" Fangs chuckled and punched him in the shoulder.

"She's on a date with Mantle. So are we just walking around?" He asked the rest of the Serpents. They just nodded and he started walking towards Jess. She just kept walking until hit Sweetwater River, there she went up to a tree and hit her head up against it. "Hey there Sleeping Beauty."

"You scared me! My God!" She did a complete one-eighty. He couldn't help it, he walked straight towards her, and put his hand on her cheek and stared lovingly into her eyes. There was no way to stop him, he leaned down and kissed her. At first, he could feel her tense up, it was a complete surprise for her until she began to kiss him back. Lips moving in sync, heating up the kiss, Sweet Pea pushed her against the tree. She put one hand on his neck and another in his hair, snaked his arms around her waist. She broke it off subtlety. "I told you not to anything drastic."

"I couldn't help it. I have been waiting for a while to get the chance." She looked him back in the eyes. "You do know that it's not your fault that people are smallminded. Thank you for fixing my bike."

"It was no problem really. My Grandpa co-owns a bike shop where they let me fix things up with them. It was free of cost, thank God because it took me days to get whatever they used off it." She smiled at him, a rare sight he hadn't seen in over a week. 

"I love that smile," He smiled back at her, again, she completely changed her body language.

"Sweet Pea, I am here with Reggie, " She looked down, unable to face him.

"Screw Reggie, he's an asshole!"

"It's not just Reggie, your bike, that was a warning to for you. Imagine what would be like if we started hanging out again." He tried to lift her head to see her eyes, but her eyes refused to meet his. "I am sorry, but we can't, I can't have that on my conscious."

"No," He kept her stuck, she looked him in the eyes and he saw something he's never seen in her before. Fear. He gave way and let her walk back leaving him alone. Out of his rage, he punched a tree until it started bleeding. Screaming and letting his anger out.