fierce ↠ sweet pea [1] [✔]

|| THIRTY-SEVEN ||

"Using only half a tub of gel would ruin the entire Northside look."

Giggling, she shook her head at him. "Who are you and what have you done with the Serpent I'm dating?"

"Hey," he rested his hands on her hips. "If you've got a thing for uniforms, then consider me an improvement."

Lauryn slapped his arm. "I do not!"

"We'll see by the end of the day," he teased, picking her bag up off of the bed and handing it to her. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

After he walked out of the bedroom, he noticed how she wasn't following him and quickly turned around. Peering back into the bedroom, he frowned. "Angel Face?"

She was stood by the mirror still, examining herself with her hands tracing over all angles of her shirt. Startled, she stopped. "Sorry."

He put down his bag, approaching her from behind. "This isn't about blue not being your colour, is it?"

She chuckled in self-pity. "I wish it was. I'm showing, Sweet Pea, and with this shirt, everyone's gonna know."

"People are gonna know eventually," he told her, as gently as possible. "It's not as obvious as you think. Don't think too much about it. You've, uh, told FP, right?"

Lauryn turned to him, and by the look on her face, he immediately knew the truth. "No."

"Why not?" he asked. "It's been weeks, and you've called by the Jones trailer numerous times."

"Yeah, to talk about my mom," she defended, slipping past him to avoid further confrontation. "I keep meaning to tell him but I don't know how to bring it up without giving him a literal heart attack."

"Do you want me to?"

"Uh," Lauryn paused, pursing her lips together to think. "No, that's not necessary. I'll do it."

"The same way you keep meaning to swing by your mom's to see what's goin' on?"

Lauryn shot an offended look at him, but he couldn't feel bad about it. They both knew it was true. Lauryn had called her mother every day since the radio silence began, but it was like she'd disappeared. Lauryn wouldn't admit it to herself but she was scared to know the truth.

"I know you're scared she's gonna abandon you again," Sweet Pea said, and she felt somewhat breached since he'd read her so well. Even though she didn't give him an answer straight away, he knew fully by her reluctance of eye contact that he was right. "And if she does, you've still got the rest of us."

"You're crazy," she chortled and internally face-palmed at herself for making it sound so transparent. "What if she's just busy?"

He folded his arms in disbelief. "Too busy to even answer the phone to her daughter?" 

Lauryn's lips separated for her to give him another excuse, but not a single word came out of them. She choked up some air, concluding the conversation there which didn't benefit her at all. "Let's go."

Pulling up at school was the most humiliating thing the Serpents could recall happening to them. From the minute the former greasers drove in on their Harleys, all eyes were on them. 

Taking off his helmet, Sweet Pea glanced around, scowling at nosey students getting a laugh out of their attire. All of the attention didn't help Lauryn's self-consciousness, and she stood awkwardly by Sweet Pea with her arms folded discreetly over her torso.

"We're a laughing stock," Toni complained, flipping off a couple of Bulldogs poking fun at them. "I can't believe this was meant to help us fit in."