It was Sunday afternoon and Angelina and Toni were walking through the streets of the town. After Jughead's 'birthday' party had ended, Angelina had called Toni and asked if she wanted to stay over. They had rolled out of bed and decided to cruise around, on the look out to buy some new clothes.
Shopping in the Southside of Riverdale was completely different than on the Northside. Here there weren't so many shops or boutiques. Angelina had only gone to the Northside a few times, to order a burger at Pop's with her family or to sniffle around the library, yet that was enough to clearly see the difference.
The absence of decent clothing shops - amongst other things - were another huge difference that Angelina had noticed between this life and her previous one. There was an abundance of everything in New York; public transport, cafes, shopping malls, entertainment and the list goes on and on. It was at moments like these that Angelina missed her old life. She missed the densely populated neighborhoods, she missed how easy and comfortable it was when she went out with her friends. In the Southside, teenagers had a lack of things to do which was probably a big reason for them to join the Southside Serpents. What else were they supposed to do?
Angelina had of course heard of the upcoming development called SoDale. It was the project that Archie's father worked on in order of the Lodges. The Lodges wanted to create commercial space, which included a shopping center, a multiplex cinema as well as public parks and modern condos. On one hand, Angelina found it quite exciting that they wanted to create more life and activities in this part of town, but on the other hand, she felt angry. SoDale was the reason why the Twilight Drive-In was demolished. This caused Jughead to lose his temporary home.
Angelina was so deep in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that Toni wasn't walking beside her anymore. Angelina looked around confused as to where Toni went. "Hey, in here!" Angelina looked over her shoulder and saw Toni standing in the doorway of a tattoo parlor.
Curiously Angelina went inside and studied the space. A man stood behind the counter, busy making a drawing while another man was tattooing a girl laying on her back. Both men were completely covered in tattoos and Angelina noticed the Serpents tattoo, indicating they were a member of the Southside gang. "She's in the back." The man at the counter said uninterestedly without looking up. Confused Angelina raised an eyebrow as she didn't know who the man was talking about. "We're not here for her." Toni responded. "I'm here for a new tattoo."
Moments later Toni sat down in a chair while the man was preparing his gear. Angelina flipped through a magazine full of tattoo ideas. If she ever came home with a tattoo, her mom would go insane. Her mom had nothing against piercings but had a strong dislike for tattoos. Angelina never understood why since her mom had tattoos of her own.
Toni decided on a tattoo of the word 'Familia' and wanted it on the side of her left arm. Angelina wondered what it would feel like to have the stabbing little needle tapping rapidly into her skin. She shivered and got her phone out of her pocket and started texting Malachai.
"So, who are we texting?" Toni asked while keeping her gaze on the man's hands. "No one special." Angelina replied. "Don't lie to me, I know you're seeing someone." Angelina immediately looked up from her screen and felt her heart beat faster. "Is it someone you're not supposed to?" Toni asked. Shit, how did she find out? Angelina hesitated to answer. "Is it someone from the Ghoulies?" When Angelina didn't reply Toni's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. "Please, don't tell me it's a Ghoulie. Who?" Angelina shrugged. "It's not a Ghoulie." Toni obviously didn't believe her. "Who?" She demanded. Angelina looked down at her lap and started fiddling with her fingers. "I'll tell you in private." She whispered, feeling like a child being caught stealing candy.
About an hour later the girls walked outside the tattoo parlor. "Now, tell me." The entire time Toni was sitting in that chair she kept looking at Angelina with a mix of pain, fear and annoyance.
Angelina placed her hands in her pockets and looked at the ground. "Malachai." She heard Toni gasp for air. "Are you insane? Dating a Ghoulie is one thing, but dating the leader?" She exclaimed. "I'm not dating him! We just made out a few times." Toni scoffed. "Oh sorry, 'cause that makes such a difference." She hissed. "Don't be angry." Angelina pleaded.
Toni started walking down the sideway holding her hand on the bandage covering her arm. "Do you know what will happen when the Serpents find out?" Angelina shrugged. "I'm not a Serpent, remember?" Toni slapped Angelina on her shoulder. "You do have a death wish."
A while later Angelina sat at her desk while Toni laid across her bed. "What if the Ghoulies decide to jump you? They can't be trusted." Angelina blew on her nails for she had just painted them. "Don't tell anyone, please." Toni groaned while placing her hands on her face. "This will end badly." She whispered. "It won't, as long as you keep quiet." Toni grabbed a pillow and threw it in Angelina's direction. "I don't approve this at all. But I do wanna know all about it. Is he a good kisser?" Angelina let out a short laugh. "Yeah, I guess." Toni narrowed her eyes. "You guess?" "I dunno, he's just a fun distraction."
"Oh God, he's your boy toy?" Angelina walked over to her wardrobe and thought about an appropriate outfit. She secretly made plans with Malachai to meet up tonight. "Have you slept with him?" Toni's sudden question made Angelina spin around. "No!" She squealed. She picked the pillow that had fell on the ground and threw it back in Toni's face.
Toni laughed and crawled out of bed. She put her shoes back on and grabbed her bag. "Gotta go, girl. Be careful." She said as she gave Angelina a kiss on her cheek. "Talk to you later!" Angelina said as Toni left her room.
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A few hours later Angelina parked her car at Sweetwater River. She combed her fingers through her hair as she looked at the mirror in her car. She decided to wear a black sweater with turtleneck and high waisted boyfriend jeans paired with white sneakers underneath. For some reason, she had a weird feeling her stomach. The feeling that something bad would happen.
Nevertheless she got out of the car and walked to the water line. She couldn't shake off the bad feeling and decided to text Toni to let her know where she was, just in case. "Angel." The sudden voice caused her to jump up. Malachai stood a bit further, arms crossed over his chest with a smirk on his face. Something in his posture made alarm bells go off inside Angelina's head. Malachai took a few steps forward and held out his hand. "Let's go for a walk."
His outstretched hand remained unanswered in the air for a few seconds. Angelina thought about escape plans since she felt really uncomfortable being there. Malachai didn't react when she slowly began walking backwards. She bumped against something and spun around. Three teenage boys stood before her, each with evil grins on their faces.
A boy grabbed her and dragged her along. "Stop! Let me go!" She screamed as she tried to escape his tight grip. She managed to elbow him in his face, but his hands were quickly replaced by others. She started screaming and kicking her legs but no avail; the tight grip never loosened. Angelina got dragged into the forest and felt a rush of fear crashing over her. She tried her best to fight back but knew she was in serious trouble.
A little further in the woods they came to a stop. Angelina was pushed roughly and fell on her knees and hands on the ground. She gasped loudly and looked wildly around her, trying to find an escape route.
Besides the four boys - including Malachai - two girls were standing in a circle around her. "What do you want from me?" She asked. "We want to show the Serpents that we're not to be fucked with." A girl replied bitterly. "I'm not a Serpent." Angelina hissed. The girl shrugged and looked down at her. "You spend a huge amount of time with them. You obviously mean something." Angelina stood up and wiped her dirty hands on her pants. "I'm not afraid of you." She said with a slight nervousness in her voice.
"You should."
Before she realized it, a girl came forward and punched her in the face. Angelina quickly responded by kicking the girl in her stomach. The girl flew backwards and held her hands on her stomach while breathing heavily.
"Well, well. You're feisty." Malachai sneered as he grabbed the other girl by the waist. "You didn't really think I was into you, right?" Angelina said nothing but clutched her fists, anticipating their next move. In the corner of her eye, she saw a boy with a bloody nose take a step forward, she quickly turned her body around and kicked her leg in the air. The guy fell on his back and moaned out of pain. Without time to think, she felt a hand on her shoulder so she threw her elbow backwards which led to a boy screaming while holding his nose. The other girl grabbed a handful of Angelina's hair and yanked her head down. With calculated moves, Angelina pushed her foot behind the girl's leg while grabbing her arm. The girl harshly fell on the ground and Angelina dislocated her shoulder. The girl let out a agonizing scream of pain. Angelina knew she couldn't keep this up forever, there were too many of them.
"Is this all you got?" Angelina screamed trying to act though even though she felt really terrified. Suddenly Angelina heard noises, clearly coming from the engines of motorcycles. She hoped the persons belonging to the motorcycles weren't Ghoulies. When she noticed the surprised looks on everyone's faces, she realized they weren't expecting anyone. Angelina wanted to run towards the sounds but suddenly she felt someone's arm around her waist while a hand tried to cover her mouth, preventing her from screaming. She quickly reacted by clenching her jaws on some fingers. She heard a fervent scream which she knew belonged to Malachai and the hand dropped from her face.
"Stop." Angelina looked over her shoulder and felt relieved when she saw Sweet Pea, Fangs, Joacquin and a few other boys loom up from the darkness. They all looked furious, especially Sweet Pea.
"Serpents against Ghoulies." One of the boys mumbled in a last attempt to sound strong. Angelina looked around and saw how the Ghoulies were either lying on the ground or desperately clasping onto each other. The girl whom Angelina had dislocated her shoulder never stopped screaming.
Sweet Pea walked over to Angelina and roughly grabbed her by her upper arm. "Let's go." He barked. Angelina didn't protest as he led her towards the motorcycles surrounding her car. She wanted to grab her car keys but realised she dropped her handbag when the unknown Ghoulie dragged her away. "My handbag." She murmured. Sweet Pea groaned irritated and released his grip. One of the other Serpents walked towards them with her handbag in his hand. "Thanks." She whispered. She stretched out her hand but Sweet Pea quickly grabbed her handbag and rumbled in it until he had found her car keys. "Joacquin, take her to the Whyte Wyrm." He commanded while handing him the keys.
Joacquin didn't say a word to her during the whole ride. When he parked her car in the parking lot of the bar, he glanced at her. "You're dead." He simply said before handing over her car keys. Angelina sighed and slowly got out of the car.
When she stumbled inside she saw that the bar was quite crowded and all eyes were on her. FP immediately rushed towards her. "Are you deaf? Blind? Plain stupid?" Her uncle fired one insult after another at her. She didn't interrupt him, instead she kept looking at him with a blank expression. Amelia refused to cry or break in front of him. "Are you done?" She asked. Frustrated FP threw his hands in the air. "They could have-" He didn't need to finish his sentence for her to know what he meant. Angelina quickly looked around and saw Toni standing next to Sweet Pea.
Angelina turned her attention back on her uncle. "Good talk." She wanted to turn around but FP grabbed her roughly and pulled her against his chest. "You won't leave this bar without this jacket." A man walked over and stretched out his arm holding a leather jacket in his hand. Angelina looked at the jacket in confusion. "What?" She asked. "Wear this." Angelina pulled away from his iron grip. "What does this mean?" FP grabbed the jacket from the man.
"Wear this and you'll be a Serpent." She wildly shook her head.
"This doesn't make me Serpent." She answered bitterly. "I'm the leader of the Southside Serpents. I make the rules, and if I say you're a Serpent, then you are a Serpent." He threw the jacket in her arms. "You won't leave this bar unless you obey me." Angelina knew she didn't have a choice. Carefully she got out of the jacket she was currently wearing and changed into the leather jacket with the Serpents logo on it.
"Satisfied?" She sneered. She quickly glanced over at Toni who had a guilty look on her face before spinning around and pushing some men aside as she walked out.
Once Angelina parked her car in her driveway she let her head rest on her steering wheel. She knew she had to keep it together for a bit longer, until she safely entered her bedroom. Angelina also knew she couldn't just walk inside wearing this jacket so she shrugged it off and stuffed it in her handbag.
Thankfully the lights were out, indicating that everyone was asleep. Angelina really didn't feel like having to explain what had happened. Cautiously she walked up the stairs and softly closed the bedroom door behind her. She let herself glide to the ground and softly started crying. After what seemed an eternity, she wiped away some tears and pulled the leather jacket out of her bag. She trailed her fingers over it and realized what the jacket meant.
She had become a Serpent.