A day had passed since Angelina had barged into the bar and had confronted Sweet Pea about his behavior concerning Star. Since then, she had ignored his messages because talking to him wouldn't do any of them any good for she could say things she would later regret.
Angelina had decided to stay home yesterday, as she needed some time to calm down. Sweet Pea and a few other members had blown up her phone, asking where she was and demanding she would talk to her boyfriend which had angered her even further.
Their relationship was something between the two of them, so she didn't want anyone else to infere or state their opinion. Since all of the younger members of the Serpents were close, it was only natural they wanted everything to be okay. But this was something that the two teenagers had to figure out by themselves.
The reason why Angelina was so hurt and upset was because Sweet Pea just let Star touch him without caring what other people thought and without caring if she would've found out. Which she did.
Perhaps she was overreacting, perhaps she should've given Sweet Pea the benefit of the doubt. But at that exact moment, Angelina wasn't prepared to listen to his excuse.
Angelina sighed as she put on a pair of black jeans with tears at the knees, with a bordeau sweater and black combat boots underneath. With doubting fingers she rubbed the fabric of her Serpent jacket. It was urgent time that she would to the Serpent dance, only then would she be fully accepted by the group, especially by Star.
She frowned and began applying her make-up. Angelina had mixed feelings towards the Serpent dance, her reasoning were questionable. She wanted to prove to Star that she was in fact loyal towards all Serpents.
Another reason why was because it sometimes felt weird, hanging out with a bunch of people and yet feeling slightly left out. Hopefully it would change after she humiliated herself in front of everyone.
After Angelina smeared a last layer of mascara on her eyelashes, she put on the Serpent jacket, grabbed her handbag, and knocked on her brothers' doors as she passed.
When she arrived in the kitchen, she saw a note on the kitchen table.
"Angel, the school called this morning to inform me you weren't at school. I hope you have a really good explanation. Love, mom."
Angelina groaned, crumpled the note, and threw it into the bin. She had never guessed that the staff at Southside High were so accommodating with their students. It's not like they cared when the two gangs got into a fight or when students were being bullied and blackmailed.
She wasn't really worried about what her mom had to say about the matter. Her mom grew up in the Southside so she probably skipped school all the time. Instead, Angelina focused on making breakfast for her and her two brothers.
"Hey, sis." Ryder greeted her as they entered the kitchen. Her smile dropped from her face when she saw the t-shirt Rocco was wearing. "I thought I asked you not to wear these." She scolded.
When her two brothers had come home yesterday, they had enthusiastically told about the events that had taken place at Riverdale High. Veronica had made a large number of t-shirts with a red target on the front. She had done that to support her boyfriend, Archie, through the insane situation with the Black Hood.
"I know, but everyone's wearing this. It's a statement." Rocco complained. "Take it off. I don't want you to get involved with this." Angelina wasn't going to take a no for an answer.
Ryder awkwardly ate his breakfast whilst staring at his two siblings. At least he knew better. "Please, take it off." She repeated, more friendly this time. Rocco looked her dead in the eye before he turned around and walked back upstairs.
//////
"I really think you should talk to Sweet Pea. He has been such a mess since the fight." Toni began. She and Angelina had been walking around the school ground, both expressing their feelings. It felt great to let out her thoughts on Sweet Pea and Toni really had given her great advice.
Angelina sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I know. I read the 47 text messages." She looked at a few guys sitting on a bench a bit further, clearly all under influence of drugs. Ever since the whole affair with Rocco and Mustang, she had never felt more disgusted by drugs.
"Why would he flirt so openly with her? Why would he do that to me?" She mumbled distractly. "Just talk to him. Figure things out." Angelina agreed by gently nodding her head. "I will. I just needed some time to clear my mind."
The school bell rang which indicated it was time for the next class. "What did you do last night?" Angelina asked her friend as they began their walk towards the school building.
Toni scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You know Betty Cooper, right? Jughead's girlfriend?" Angelina nodded. "Well, she is a complete bitch." Toni said, nearly fuming with anger. "What exactly happened?" Angelina asked questioningly. "Jughead asked if I wanted to come over and-"
"And Betty arrived and thought he was cheating on her with you?" Angelina interrupted. Toni shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair. "No, not like that. She thought it would be fun to try to break the code that the Black Hood had sent. You know, the cypher?"
Angelina nodded even though she wasn't really familiar with the cypher, trying to understand a murderer wasn't her idea of entertainment.
"Well, Betty pretty much accused the Serpents for all the shit that's going down. She's convinced that the Black Hood must be someone from the Serpents." Angelina narrowed her eyebrows and a disgusted look appeared on her face. "What the hell? Why do Northsiders keep blaming everything on the Southside?"
Toni shrugged and sighed deeply. "I just left afterwards, there was no point in fighting with her." Angelina gave her a sideways glance. "Why's that?" She asked curiously. "She's Jughead's girlfriend. He loves her, don't ask me why. I don't wanna come between him and his Northsider princess but God, I can't stand her."
Angelina placed her arm over the girl's slim shoulders and hugged her sideways. "Don't worry about her, babe." She said comforting.
The girls laughed loudly which resulted in a few whistles from the group of high teenage boys. "Oh, shut up." Toni said half-heartedly as they passed them by.
//////
The classes had ended so Angelina rushed to the parking lot. She had caught Sweet Pea staring at her in class a few times, obviously trying to get her attention. She wasn't sure if he expected to talk about what happened during class, as it wasn't exactly the right moment or place to do so. Besides, she wanted him to be the one to take initiation.
Just as she opened her door, a large hand held her waist and spun her around. She already knew who it was before she saw his handsome face. His full eyebrows, broad jaws and piercing eyes were making her knees weak, just as they did in the very beginning.
"Babe, can we talk? Please?" He begged. Angelina closed the door and leaned against her car. "Talk to me." She said.
"Look, I'm sorry about last night." He began. "I had a few drinks and Star came on to me. I wasn't thinking about how it looked to others or how it might have come off to you." Sweet Pea came closer so that she could feel his fresh breath in her face. "I know I made a mistake."
Angelina rested her hand on his chest. "Star has been trying to create a wedge between us, ever since I arrived here. And I'm afraid that one day, she'll succeed. I need to know you're on my side."
Sweet Pea sighed, ran his hands through his thick hair and looked at her with a painful gaze. "I am on your side. I will always be with you. I know I made a mistake and it won't happen again. I'm really sorry, please forgive me. I promise I'll change, I won't let her that close again."
His sincere words sounded like music in her ears. She didn't know how to react, so she put her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck. She inhaled his body odor and felt his firm arms around her waist.
"I love you." She whispered.
Immediately she froze and released him hesitantly. A few seconds passed by in absolute silence. She didn't dare to look him in the eyes and stared uncomfortably to the ground. The words had slipped out of her mouth without a second guess. She knew she was falling in love with him, but perhaps she had made a mistake by telling?
He surprised her by suddenly grabbing her face with the softest touch and pulled her towards him. She felt his pleasant lips on hers and all the negative feelings she had experiened over the past two days disappeared like snow in the sun.
"I love you too."
//////
Sweet Pea held her hand as they walked around in a night shop. A few hours had passed since their confession and they hadn't let each other out of sight ever since. Angelina felt like a teenager in love - which she was exactly. She felt giddy about the fact that they were showing the outside world how happy they were.
"We should go." Fangs said as he led them towards the exit. The sky had darkened and soon the moon would rise. "Why? It's not like you have a girlfriend." Angelina said jokingly to which Sweet Pea chuckled.
Fangs pushed his best friend aside while a smile appeared on his face. "I could've if I wanted to! Besides, you two are gross." Angelina stuck out her tongue and placed a kiss on Sweet Pea's cheek. Fangs reacted by holding his hands in front of his eyes. "Tell me when the show's over."
The raven-haired boy laughed but as soon as they stepped outside, his expression changed. "Hey! What the hell are you doing?" He yelled to a stranger in the alley. The male figure stood a few feet further, busy painting a red circle on a wall.
Sweet Pea and Fangs stormed forward while Angelina knew better and trailed behind. When she came near to the figure, she realized it was Archie Andrews. "That boy really has a death wish." She mumbled.
"Back off. I'm not here for you." Archie answered dryly. The two Serpents stood only inches away from the boy, obviously trying to intimidate him. "Oh, yeah? Then who's this message for, huh?" Sweet Pea tried to grab the spray can but Archie refused to let go.
"Aw, hell, don't tell me it's for the Black Hood." It only made sense to Angelina, the red circle clearly represented the group Archie had started. It came to a surprise to her he was willing to go this far.
Sweet Pea laughed and turned to Fangs. "You believe this guy?" He said. "And people say we're the troublemakers." Archie seemed to ignore him, placed the spray can in his backpack and tried to walk away. "Whoa." Fangs and Sweet Pea pushed him back.
"Southside's Serpent country. You can't come here and tag our stuff. So why don't you get your ass back to the Northside before someone gets hurt?" Angelina knew it was Sweet Pea's duty to defend anything Southside related. She honestly thought Archie would've run away after the threat but apparently he did really have a death wish.
"Get out of my way, or someone will get hurt." Archie sneered. Angelina was slightly surprised at the comeback. She knew things would spiral out of control real fast and decided to keep herself at a safe distance.
"You just made a big mistake." Sweet Pea grinned as he grabbed his pocket knife. Archie looked uninterestedly at the knife that was dangling in front of him and pulled a rifle from his backpack and waved it in Sweet Pea's face. "Who made a mistake? Who made a mistake?"
"What the hell?" Sweet Pea replied confused. Angelina gasped for air and had already managed to turn around, ready for an escape. "Come on, let's go." Fangs yelled at the raven-haired boy. "Babe, c'mon!" Angelina's legs moved while her pulse quickened. Never in a million years would she have guessed that Archie Andrews, Captain of the football team, would wave a gun in a Serpent's face late at night.
Three pairs of footsteps and unsteady breaths rushed through the streets. Angelina wasn't sure if they had already reached a safe distance from the lunatic. "Okay, I-I think we're clear." Fangs managed to say.
Angelina stopped in her tracks and nervously glanced over her shoulder. "What the actual fuck happened? Since when does Andrews have a gun?" She exclaimed. "Relax, babe. We're going to handle this." Sweet Pea replied confidently even though his expression didn't match with his attitude. "We're going to get revenge."
Sweet Pea looked her in the eye and said; "Now I need to know if you'll be by my side."
//////
Half an hour had passed since Sweet Pea, Fangs and another guy had gone over to Archie Andrews' house to express a threat. Meanwhile, Angelina and Toni had gathered all male young members of the Serpents at the quarry.
Toni hadn't said a word but Angelina knew she was disgusted by the whole situation. "I know how you feel, Toni. But this needs to happen. We can't just let Northsiders run us over, right?" Angelina asked her friend as she gazed upon the dozens of hyped up teenage boys.
"I know." She answered. "But think about what-" Her sentence was left unfinished as Sweet Pea and two other guys stormed towards the group. "We're going to fight, Serpents against the Bulldogs. Everyone, get in a car or bike and follow us." He said loudly, a murderous look rested in his eyes.
"This will be the fight of the century." Fists flew into the air while loud cries were being heard. Angelina felt slightly nervous as she didn't want anything bad to happen to Sweet Pea. She crawled her way to the front and rested her eyes on his shoulders. "Be careful." She begged him. Sweet Pea replied by kissing her passionately before backing away. "Go home. Wait for my call."
And with that, he left her behind.