Toni came rushing up to me the next day as we waited outside school for the bell to ring almost bursting with excitement.
'I forgot to tell you Crystal, Jughead starts here today and I'm his peer mentor' she told me
'Nice one kid, make sure you warn him to stay away from the Ghoulies!'
'Of course Crystal, it's on the list'
The bell rung and we all began our slow walks to class except Toni who was waiting for Jughead. I received numerous texts from a very annoyed Toni throughout my first couple of classes telling me that Jughead was late. What she wanted me to do about it though, I had no idea! She finally told me he was here as I was heading to lunch so I replied and told her to bring him over to meet us.
'Yo Sweet Pea, Toni is bringing the new kid over. Be sure to welcome him in style' I laughed.
We watched them walk over to us and Jughead looked as though he was hesitating but Toni was telling him some hard truths before she left him and came to sit with us.
'He identifies as a loner and doesn't want to sit with us apparently' Toni scoffed.
'He's gonna be eaten alive by Ghoulies. Just like Kicks. Hey Kicks' I grinned as he joined us.
'You insulting me again Crystal?' he asked.
'Always Kicks, it's like the highlight of my day' I replied.
'Glad to know I'm good for something' he sighed.
'Aw, come on Kicks, you've passed out trials and it's gonna calm down soon now that we have fresh meat' I reassured him.
'It better'
The bell for our next classes sounded and we all headed off, Toni and Sweet Pea had English with Jughead so I requested they kept a lookout for him. I was in Chemistry myself which was a complete waste of time since we never actually did any experiments. About halfway through I received a text from Sweet Pea saying we had to go so I up and left my class, no questions asked, and met him out the front of the school.
'Trouble at the Wyrm. Your dad needs back up' he replied, already heading to the Wyrm.
'Wait, why would he tell you?' I asked, confused.
'Last person he contacted on his phone' he told me 'Come on, it sounded urgent'
We ran the rest of the way, quick as we could and slowed down once we reached the front entrance. We dumped our stuff outside next to the bikes we recognised as Serpent bikes and took out our knives before slowly entering the Wyrm.
I quickly assessed the situation and saw Tall Boy facing off against the leader of a different gang. Sweet Pea and I took our places, he went to the middle of a small group of Serpents whereas I went to the front of the group to face off with the Head of this imposter group.
'Ah, she's here, the Queen Serpent Slut!' the leader announced, as he mock bowed to me.
'I don't believe I've had the pleasure?' I replied cautiously.
'I'm Brass, second in command of the Ghoulies'
'What are you doing here?' I asked, tightening my grip on my knife.
'I'll keep it short and sweet Serpent Slut. Either join us, and provide Jingle Jangle to the people as we do, or perish'
'Hmmmmmm' I pretended to consider his options 'And if I choose neither?'
'You would sign the Serpents death warrant?' he sneered.
'The only death warrant is yours. How dare you come here and threaten us?! You should leave. Now. Before the Ghoulies find themselves in need of a new second' I responded, lifting my knife to his throat.
'Alright kid, we get it. You gotta look tough in front of the real men. No problem. How about we come back when your real leader returns?' he teased.
'She is our real leader' Sweet Pea defended me.
'She's a kid who needs to learn her place' Brass laughed, 'And I'm more than happy to show her that place' he leered.
'I would rather rip my skin off than go near you like that. You need to leave, there's nothing more for you here' I told him.
'We'll be back Serpents'
They left and I could feel the breath return to me. I turned towards the few Serpents who were there and started questioning them on what the hell had happened. From what I learnt, the Ghoulies were becoming more and more confident the longer FP was in jail as they didn't see me as a threat.
I don't think I had ever needed him as much as I did now.