CHAPTER TEN
Luckily enough, my wish came through. Somehow my dad managed to work his magic and convinced the doctors to release me early. I was discharged that very same day.
Another good news was Lzzy managed to get me a job as a bartender at the Whyte Wyrm. She wanted me to head down there tonight to check things out.
Since being discharged yesterday, all I've been doing was rest at home per doctor's orders. All I really want to do right now was head down to the Whyte Wyrm so that I could start work right away.
I haven't told my dad or Archie about my job at the Whyte Wyrm yet. They will probably not approve anyways because firstly, I'm working in the Southside, secondly, I'm working a job where I'm surrounded by alcohol. I'm surprised I can even get a job as a bartender as a minor.
When evening rolled around, I changed into a light grey hoodie and denim jeans. As I was getting ready to go downstairs, I passed Archie's bedroom on the way. He had his bedroom door open and I could see him playing the guitar on his bed. Sweet tunes leaking out of the room.
I leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. "Hey Arch," Archie stopped playing the guitar to look up, "heard you were going to drag race against the Ghoulies."
"Who told you that?" Archie set his guitar aside.
"Lzzy," I said. "What? You thought your little sister wouldn't find out?"
Archie sighs and looked away, "I didn't want you to worry."
"Well too bad, I do worry. Arch, you don't even know how to drive."
"I'm not driving, Jughead is."
"So what's the point of you even being in the same car with him?"
"I'm going to be fine Kenna, trust me. Why don't you come and watch-" he stopped himself mid sentence.
I cocked my head, "Yeah, go on, finish your sentence."
Archie did not say anything.
"What?" I asked when he didn't respond. "It's dangerous? Is that why you stopped yourself?"
"I just don't want you to get into trouble, alright?" Archie spat. "Especially since you got mistakenly arrested."
I scoffed, "What kind of trouble can I get from watching a drag race?"
Archie did not reply immediately. He paused to think. "Fine, you can come and watch," he finally said.
I looked at him. He was almost sad. As if guilty. He was planning something.
"You don't have to be in the same car," I said. "I don't trust Jughead's driving, what if you guys get into an accident? What if-"
"Don't worry about me, Kenna. I got a plan," he says.
I stared at him, still unsure. He was as stubborn a mule. Nothing I say could convince him to not race.
I eventually gave up. "Sure. Whatever, I'm leaving," I turned around, ready to leave.
"Where are you going?" asked Archie.
"Out."
★ ★ ★
I made my way to the Southside, straying to the same path I always took, away from the streets. Never really liked the environment in the Southside, abandoned and broken buildings lined the streets. Litters became a normality. Even worse when you have the thought of gangs and drugs lingering at the back of your mind.
Up ahead was a group of boys who seemed to be from another gang. They were blasting loud punk rock music from their speakers. I tried looking for other ways to get past them but it's seems like walking past them was my only option.
Curse me for choosing a secluded path.
I stared down at the ground, trying my best to not make eye contact and ignore them when I walked past them.
One of them wolf-whistled when I walked by. Fucking. Sexist. Pieces of shits. "Look at what we got here," he called out. "What is a Northsider like you doing in the Southside?"
"None of your business," I spat.
"Ooo. . . " they sang, stepping closer.
I continued walking, once they get the hint that I have no interest they'll leave me alone. My heart was pounding so fast it felt like my chest was going to burst. Beads of sweat rolled down my face.
I got ready to run at any moment. Running to the left where the Sunnyside Trailer Park was seemed like a good idea. It was Serpent territory and it was crowded. Besides the trailer park was like a fucking maze, I could easily loose them off.
"Hey, back off will you," said a gruff voice, which can only belong to Sweet Pea.
I looked back and saw Sweet Pea, towering over the other boys. They immediately stepped back but one of the boys, who appeared to be the leader, stood his ground.
"A Southside Serpent," he said, stepping closer to him, showing no fear.
Sweet Pea was gonna loose, it was five to one. What is he doing? He's an idiot. I wanted to continue walking and ignore the commotion, trouble was definitely arising but I felt compelled to stay. What if a fight did break loose.
"Do you really wanna try?" the boy continued to ask, he pulled out a switchblade from his pocket and held it in front of his face.
Holy fucking shit he has a knife bitch what the fuck.
Sweet Pea chuckles and pulls out his own switchblade. "I got one too," he said.
The boy looked Sweet Pea up and down and smirks. "Last chance, Serpent. It's five against one," said the boy. Sweet Pea didn't react, not even a flinch. He's a whole fucking idiot.
I stopped myself and turned back, if Sweet Pea gets hurt, it's on me. I went back and stepped between them. "Make it two, pretty boy," I said. Fuck, I might actually be the bigger idiot, they have KNIFES.
The boy chuckles, "Oh, you got your girlfriend to defend you, huh."
We had a stare down for probably like five fucking hours. Each of us waiting for the other to make a move. He glared at us and we glared back at them. Their breathing was heavy, like a dog panting.
"How about we don't fight at all and you let us be on our merry way," was what I wanted to say but before I could, someone reacted.
I didn't see who but it didn't matter, we were fighting. The boy with the knife lunged forward and started having a brawl with Sweet Pea, each of them using equal strength to keep the knifes away from their faces.
My adrenaline was off the fucking roof. I had to stop one of these idiots from stabbing the other. I kicked the boy in the balls. As impulse, he dropped the knife and hunched over, grabbing his ahem.
Holy shit, that's awesome.
I kicked the knife away before anyone else could reach it. I looked up to see Sweet Pea kicking the boy to the ground, his other buddies stepping forward to fight.
One of them was coming straight at me. He had his fist flying right at me, I immediately held up my left arm to block the punch. Holy fucking shit. However, I didn't anticipate his other free hand, which came right at me and he landed a punch on my face. A seething pain shot down my spin, I clutched the right side of my face. Fuck, it hurt like hell. I couldn't get distracted by the pain. I used all the strength in me and punched him in the gut. He hunched forward and I threw a punch across his face, almost knocking him over, he took a few steps back and I kicked him to the ground.
Sweet Pea on the other hand, had loads of things going on on his plate. Luckily for him, he had a switchblade. The other three seemed wary to attack. One of them was bleeding from a cut on his arm. Sweet Pea was swinging the knife wildly whenever one of them tried to step forward. He wouldn't actually stab anyone, would he?
I took the liberty to come forward and fight them off for him. I punched one of them in the face, who fell back a few steps and swung his arm at me, his fist landed square on my face, now the other side of my cheek was hurting like hell. The taste of iron touched my tongue. I was bleeding from my mouth. I tried tackling him but he did the same, we were pushing each other with equal force, he didn't seem to budge. I gripped his shoulders tightly and kicked his groin with my knee. Like the other guy, his instinct was to grab his ahem. While he was distracted, I punched him in the face before kicking him down. This pretty much became my signature move at this point.
I looked around and it seemed like Sweet Pea took care of the other two, they were groaning on the ground. I could feel blood trickling down the side of my lips. The taste was unpleasant but I could not be bothered with that right now.
Every one who was knocked down was now starting to get back up. The first guy was crawling for his switchblade but I quickly snatched it away from him before he could reach it. They started closing in on us, forcing Sweet Pea and I to lean back to back, switchblade in hand, ready to strike.
"Sweet Pea, what do we do?" I asked.
"Prepare to make a run for it," he replied.
The leader got up, visibly still in pain as he crutches his abdomen. His face bruised and bloody. He laughs, "You're surrounded, better back down now."
I gripped the switchblade tighter. The boys were surrounding us in a fighting stance. "How about you back down?" I retorted. "We're the ones with the pointy bits so really you're the one at a disadvantage."
"Just let us go and we'll be on our merry way."
The leader shakes his head slowly, "Not a chance. A lone Serpent in our midst? I wouldn't let that chance just slip away."
Prepare to make a run for it.
I gulped, "Suit yourself."
I lunged forward and starting swinging the switchblade. The boys took a step back to avoid getting slashed. I just needed to scare them enough to escape through the space between them. I think Sweet Pea was doing the same.
One of them came at me, avoiding the knife as I swung it at him. He upper cuts my switchblade-wielding arm causing a jolting pain in my hand, disarming me. I let the switchblade slip out of my hand. He continues to punch me in the face and I fell to the ground.
I was in so much pain.
But the adrenaline pumping through my veins wouldn't allow me to give up.
Right in front of me was two switchblades. They must have disarmed Sweet Pea as well. I reached for the one closest to me.
I quickly got back up and swung the switchblade at the person closest to me. The leader expected the stab and grabbed my arm when the knife was inches away from his face.
I could've stabbed him in the fucking eye if he hadn't stopped me.
The leader smirks.
I let go of the switchblade and it fell through the air. Before it fell to the ground my free hand managed to grab hold of it.
I drove the switchblade straight into his lower hip.
He yelped in pain and let go of my arm.
It alerted his other gang members who stopped fighting and came to his aid. I walked back a few steps as I watched his gang mates helplessly try to help him.
Sweet Pea was laying on the ground, aghast at what I just did. I pulled him up and we both started running.
"Get them!" I heard.
I didn't know where we were running to but we were running for our lives. I was running after Sweet Pea who was headed to the Trailer Park.
We met a fork in the road.
We could either climb over the fence to get to the trailer park or continue running around the fence until we reached the entrance.
Sweet Pea chose to climb.
He bent over for me and I climbed onto his back as he catapulted me over the fence. I awkwardly clambered over the fence, falling to the other side.
Sweet Pea climbed over the fence much more easily. He was tall and could easily reach the top of the fence. He gave running start, running straight towards the fence and kicking himself up and climbed over the fence.
We both continued to run even though we were on the other side. I was still following Sweet Pea. We ran for awhile before we eventually ran out of stamina and crashed into the side of a trailer.
I was panting heavily, breathing harshly in and out of my mouth. I could taste the blood as I breathed. I felt pain everywhere. My heart, my face, my legs, everywhere. But I got used to it.
We laid in the dirt in silence as we gathered ourselves.
Until Sweet Pea started laughing madly.
I slowly turned my head, "What?"
He laughed and wheezed between each word, "You kicked him in the balls."
I chuckled, "Guess I did."
We stared at each other, a smile still etched on his face. It was weird seeing him happy. Almost unnatural. I was used to seeing him being all dark and brooding, I didn't even know he was capable of smiling. I wanted him to stop but yet his smile was sweet.
We burst out laughing.
We laughed so hard it hurt even more but we couldn't stop laughing. I was slapping my knee. I was finding it hard to catch my breath. It hurt but it felt good to laugh.
If anybody walked by right now, they'd think we were crazy.
"Ah oof," said Sweet Pea as if he was in pain, "thank god you didn't kick me in the balls the other day."
"That never crossed my mind," I said.
"Ssskk," he sucked in his breath, "Ouch."
We eventually calmed down from the laughter but we were still panting from the adrenaline rush.
"Should we run?" I huffed.
He shook his head, "No. We're in Serpent territory now, they won't cross it. C'mon."
We got up and started walking. Again, he was leading the way. I followed him and we walked past a few trailers until we finally reached one and he started unlocking the door.
"Is this your place?" I asked.
"Yeah," he said, pushing on the door.
We entered the trailer, there was no one at home. The place looked like it had been ransacked. Everything was all over the place. Clothes (a lot of flannel) buried the couch. Empty cans of soda littered the floor, I even accidentally kicked one coming in here.
He peeled away his Serpent jacket and the flannel underneath and tossed it onto a nearby chair, revealing the shirt he had underneath and multiple cuts on his sleeves which was bleeding.
He led me to the kitchen sink and we started washing ourselves off. It was awkward cause both of us were squeezing into the same sink.
I rubbed away the blood on my knuckles which dyed the sink red. It wasn't my blood. My knuckles were bruised but not bloody. I also washed up my face. Above the sink, was a tiny mirror, which was when I discovered I had a busted lip. My hoodie was also torn and tattered in multiple places. I also gargled the blood out of my mouth.
I started the conversation, "What did they want with us?"
"They're Ghoulies. Rival gang. They'd snap at any chance to fight us," he explained, rubbing his knuckles which was bleeding unlike mine.
"Do you have a medkit?" I continued to ask.
"Yeah, I'll get it later," he said.
My mind randomly brought me back to the fight. It was crazy how things happened so fast. Usually when your adrenaline is high you can't think straight but somehow I managed to survive that ordeal.
I stabbed a guy.
"I stabbed a guy," I uttered.
"It happens," he brushes it off.
"You've stabbed someone before?"
"Yeah, couple of times."
"Couple of times as in stabbing someone multiple times or. . ."
"Several different people."
I nodded and continued washing away the blood. "It's morbid how calm you are about that."
"I've been in more fights than I can remember."
This guy has stabbed someone before. He's so calm about it it's scary. I had an epiphany.
"You stabbed Dilton Doiley," I accused.
"He stabbed himself," he said, not looking up. "I'm sure he's fine. That Ghoulie," he continued to say.
"He better be," I snickered, "I inflicted a non-fatal wound."
"How do you know it's non-fatal?"
"I saw it in a movie once." Yeah, Crimson Peak. Tom Hiddleston's character had to stab a guy but didn't want to kill him.
"You're basing off facts on a movie?" he stopped and looked at me, sounding disbelieved.
"I'm sure they did their research," I protested.
He sighs and continues to wash off the blood, "You should've stabbed him in the thigh."
I stopped and looked up. I cocked my head at him. "Wow, you're criticising my stabbing technique?"
"You lost my switchblade," he turned off the facet and flicked his wrists into the sink.
"I'll get you a new one," I did the same.
He handed me a rag to dry myself off. He then opened up the fridge to get an ice pack.
"Here," he said, handing me the ice pack.
"Thanks."
He then went to get a medkit and set it on the dining table and we both started assessing our wounds. The only major injury I had was a busted lip and there was nothing I could do except press the ice pack onto my lip to stop the swelling.
Sweet Pea on the other hand was struggling to dress his bloody knuckles. I watched as he awkwardly tries to bandage his knuckles with one hand.
"Let me help," I said, setting the ice pack aside. He reluctantly gave me his hand and I started bandaging it for him.
"So is this what gang life is like?" I asked, wrapping the bandage around his knuckles. "Fighting, street racing with rival gangs," I paused, "stabbing people?"
"That's not all it is," he said.
I glanced at him for a split second. His eyes were glued onto me as I worked on his bandages.
"So what is it?" I tapped the ends of the bandages to prevent it from unraveling.
"Family," he said, still not taking his eyes away from me. He pulled his hand back and examined it after I was done. "You'd do anything for family, wouldn't you? Even if it meant fighting for them?"
I stared at him.
And he stared back at me, waiting for an answer.
But I didn't reply.
He eventually changed the topic, "Anyways, I guess I should thank you. You saved my life, like twice." He leaned back into his seat, one arm over the chair.
"Twice?" I questioned, picking up the ice pack and applying pressure onto my busted lip.
"Just now and when you tried to save me from the cops," he explained.
I chuckled a little. "Emphasis on 'tried to'. We both got arrested anyways," I replied.
"True, but it's the thought that counts."
What's up with him? Just our last encounter, we were still arguing. Now he's thanking me? All because I 'tried to' save him- actually I did save him, huh? If I hadn't went back for him, he'd probably get beaten up for his dumbass-ary.
He didn't just forgive me because I saved him, right?
I didn't know what he wanted. I always thought he was pro anti-Northsiders. Why was he being nice to me?
I drummed my fingers onto the table to pass the time. "I guess I should to thank you as well, for standing up to those assholes. Even though it got you into trouble," I said, feeling partially responsible.
He shrugs, "I'm used to it."
"So you saved my life, I saved yours," he continues. He reached out his hand across the table, "Truce?"
I looked at it for a moment before reaching out my hand to shakes his, "Truce."
He smiled that unnatural smile.
I retracted my hand and so did he.
The smile still hung on his face. "Crazy, huh?" he commented. "Just yesterday you were in the hospital and now you're getting into fights."
I furrowed my brows at him, "How did you know I was in the hospital?"
"I was in the waiting room," he answered. "Lzzy and a bunch of us were going to watch a movie. Liz dropped by to check up on you."
"Huh," I nodded.
"So, where were you headed anyways?" he continued to ask.
"The Whyte Wyrm," I replied.
"Well let's go on then," he stood up and started putting on his Southside Serpent jacket, "no business staying around here."
AUTHOR'S NOTE
I AM SO SORRY THESE CHAPTERS ARE GETTING INCREASINGLY (AND RIDICULOUSLY) LONG.
Writing this fanfiction had always been a way for me to improve on my writing skills. I know some of you don't like lengthy chapters so I'll try to keep it short.
This chapter was originally part of the now chapter eleven, but I decided to split it so that I can make Sweet Pea and Kenna make amends more meaningful unlike the original draft, their apology was just brief.