fierce ↠ sweet pea [1] [✔]

|| THIRTY-SEVEN ||

The teenage Serpents' phones lit up the decking around the bar as everyone received the same SMS from the school. Sweet Pea slammed his fist against the wood, scoffing hard. "The hell is this? Riverdale High doesn't have a uniform."

"Is this some kind of hint they're giving us to say that we're poor?" Lauryn wondered, shaking her head. 

Fangs stood up, causing the stool he was sat on to rock in its place. "No way am I doing this. They're acting like we come dressed as strippers every day. It's just an excuse to shit all over us."

"It says that it was 'following a suggestion'," Toni told them, her eyes panning over the text again. "No doubt Reggie Mantle decided to phone in."

"Wait until I get my hands on him," Sweet Pea vowed, shaking Fangs by his jacket for agreement. "Fogarty?"

"Nah, I'm not wearing it," he declined. "No way am I being seen dead doin' what they want."

"Wow," his sister remarked. "I thought that Sweet Pea would've been the one to protest."

Sweet Pea disagreed. "No, I'm down. They're just tryin' to get rid of us. Why make it easier?"

"Have you ever even worn a pair of pants that aren't tatted jeans, Sweet Pea?" Toni asked him, and he pondered fakely.

"Couldn't tell you."

Lauryn laughed. "I'm intrigued. Sweet Pea leaving the trailer without dog tags or plaid? We're living in evolutionary times, you guys. Some people would pay good money to see that."

All of a sudden, her phone beeped again, and she looked down to see a text from Veronica. "Well, well, looks like our friend Mantle wasn't behind this after all."

Despite feeling somewhat betrayed, Lauryn couldn't say she was surprised. She wondered if Veronica being nice to her was only to gain her trust for a moment.

"What?" Sweet Pea frowned, leaning over to read the text himself. He grimaced. "The Lodge girl was the one who suggested this crap?"

"Yeah," Lauryn sighed. "Just when I thought someone was starting to trust us."

"We're Serpents," Sweet Pea reminded her with a certain hardness in his voice. "We've been treated like this for years. You can't expect one day to change anything."

She exhaled, and he rubbed her back lightly. "I know. She just seemed nice, that's all."

Never in her days did Lauryn ever imagine that she'd have to wear such smart colours. The uniforms were worse than they'd imagined.

She looked at herself in the mirror, turning to the side to see if the bump was too visible, but by the beige trousers and blue polo shirt combination she had on, it appeared that the bump was the least of her worries. With her tattoo on her left forearm, she had to wear a long-sleeved white shirt under the polo shirt.

"No. Damn. Way." Angel Face protested, slumping arms hands down at her sides. "It looks like I'm going to lunch at the country club. I now understand why Fangs flaked."

Sweet Pea then emerged from the bathroom looking rather embarrassed. His hair was neatly slicked back and he wasn't wearing any jewellery. "Don't laugh."

Concealing a laugh climbing its way up her throat, Lauryn chose the more speechless approach. "You look... different."

"Like a total idiot, you mean," he corrected her, rolling his eyes as he stood by her to look in the mirror. 

"It's not that bad," she reassured him, reaching up to stroke over where his bangs once used to be, but were now slicked back. "New hairstyle for the occasion?"