CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TURNING BAD
"it's second nature to walk home before the sun goes down"
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The next day came faster then Harley would have preferred. The day rolled by fairly quickly, much to her dismay. You see, at the end of the day, there was detention. Harley was a good girl, she got good grades, did what she was told. That Harley didn't get detention, or bad grades, and she certainly did not do something she wasn't supposed to. But lately it seemed that a lot of things had changed, including her. For one, she received her first B in chemistry that day. It was a disaster. Her mother would absolutely freak, and blame it all on the Southsiders. As well as that, she had literally stolen a bike from someone, candy from some store, all the whilst hanging out with a Serpent. And as if that wasn't enough, she had gone to an illegal drag race.
Harley was convinced, she was turning bad.
Actually, detention was one of the least worrisome things she had been doing lately. Harley could only hope her parents wouldn't notice the change in her behavior. Some of her friends had already. Midge had pointed it out on several occasions, and Josie as actually related to the girl on different things.
Harley slumped in her chair when the prissy looking teacher entered the room, wearing a deep scowl. "This is detention, where you will be spending one hour each day till the end of the week. I don't care for any of your excuses, you will be sitting here, in silence, doing what you're told. Today, you might as well make your self useful. You and. . . You will be cleaning out the janitors closet, the rest of you will help restocking the library."
With her chin in the palm of her hand and her elbow propped ontop of the desk, Harley sighed. As mentioned, this was the first time ever she had been in detention. It was like she never got into trouble- actually yeah, it was just like that. Her dream ( or her mother's ) was for her to go to a elite school, more specifically Princeton. Getting detention risked jeopardizing that plan. That B would also risk her future plans. She needed to get her act togheter. Before her mother found out.
Speaking of which, Harley was still incredibly furious at her mother. She just didn't understand. The Southside wasn't as bad as everyone made them out to be. Sweet Pea was fun to be around, he even paid for her food at Pop's even though she protested and both of them them knew he struggled with income. Toni had volunteered to do the tricky part of their presentation. And then there was Jughead. He was incredibly sweet, kind and overall an amazing human being. None of them fit the description of the reckless thugs of the Southside. Even Fangs was nice, despite his lame attempts to flirt with her.
Harley tried her best to think about something else. Thinking about her mother made her skin boil.
Their teacher, more specifically Mr. Jensen, had appointed Harley and someone else to clean out the janitors closet. Just my luck, she thought. Harley thought detention meant sitting in a quiet classroom for an hour, staring. Not cleaning out the janitors closet.
She didn't mind checking who else was doing it with her. She simply followed after Mr. Jensen as he led her and the other delinquent to the closet. "Take your time, make it neat and tidy. I will be coming by to make sure you actually work." With that, he disappeared down the hallway. Harley sighed in annoyance, entering the closet. Her nose scrunched up at the small place as she flipped the light switch. It looked like a hurricane had hit it.
"Looks like it's just the two of us, princess." Harley reeled around at the voice, staring wide eyed at Sweet Pea. Today he wasn't wearing his usual attire that consisted of a leather jacket, flannels and a basic tee shirt. No, he was dressed in a pair of tight fitting blue pants, a beige turtleneck and his hair gelled neatly back. Harley couldn't help herself. She bursted out in laughter.
"Wh-what a-re you- wearing." She spit between laughs, her brown eyes repeatedly fanning over his outfit. He rolled his eyes.
"Not funny." He grumbled, closing the door as he entered. Harley almost shed tears at the ridiculous sight of him.
"Yes, very funny." Harley retorted, her laughter finally dying down. He was still wearing that scary glare of his, and he still appeared somewhat intimidating, but his outfit made him impossible to take serious. "You look cute." She blurted, eyes widening. Did I just call Sweet Pea cute?
"I'm not cute." Sweet Pea scrunched his nose up at the word. He had been called a lot of things, like menacing, or intimidating, but not once had someone ever called him cute before. Guess there was a first for everything after all.
"Uh, yeah you are. Adorable even." Sweet Pea rolled his eyes, ruffling her hair to annoy her. She swatted his big hand away, groaning in annoyance as she tried taming the mess of curls. "That was so unnecessary!"
"Yeah, these uniforms are too. Your dumb principal makes us wear them, seeing as some of us can't afford 'school acceptable clothing'." He quoted Wheatherbee. Harley was already working on getting the closet cleaned up as Sweet Pea stood at the sidelines ranting. "I don't get why we need to cover up the tattoos. Weren't the jackets enough? And it wasn't even our fault. But of course, as usual, you Northsiders get off the hook while we take the fall."
Harley turned around. Her eyebrows shut up in surprise at his words. "What do you mean you Northsiders? That was one guy who did that. You can't just blame half the town of Riverdale for that." With her hands planted on her hips, she stared at him. Sweet Pea raked a hand through his hair and scoffed.
"Am I wrong?"
"Yes! You're really wrong! You do know that by addressing 'Northsiders', you're addressing me. Sweet Pea, I am one, and I'd never do what Reggie did." Harley was growing frustrated. She didn't understand why he was so riled up. Yes, she got that what Reggie did was shitty, and she too was mad at him. What she didn't understand was how Reggie Mantle being a dick equaled all Northsiders were shit. Did he think she was a piece of shit?
Silence engulfed them. Sweet Pea weighed his words carefully before he answered. Usually, he just blurted whatever he wanted, not giving a shit if the one he was talking to got hurt. By now, he would usually be fighting whoever he was arguing with. He never managed to control his anger. But something about Harley kept him in control, like she was the anchor he needed to stay calm. So, he did what he never did. Sweet Pea apologized.
"You're right, I'm sorry." It came out muffled and barely above a whispered, but Harley accepted it. It was obvious the boy never backed down from a fight or admitted his flaws, so she appreacited it. But, she wasn't sure how to react to it.
"Yeah, uh, it's cool. . ." She awkwardly responded, shifting on her feet. "So should we?" She pointed to the mess.
"Uh, erm, yeah, we should."
And so the two teens started cleaning up the closet togheter, chit chatting to pass time. Harley couldn't help but to sneak a few glances at the boy infront of her, a genuine smile playing on her lips, a light pink blush coating her lips when he caught her, and vice versa.
The thing that was slowly brewing between the two teenagers would end in nothing but disaster, but maybe disaster was what they needed to feel completed. They had yet to figure that one out, though. And what way laying up ahead of them, well, let's just say they were nowhere near prepared.
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Surprisingly enough, detention rolled by fairly quickly. It was probably due to the fact that Sweet Pea cracked lame jokes every now and then, and the fact that Harley laughed at every single one of them because her humour was shit helped time pass by as well.
Harley had debated inviting the boy to hang out at Pop's, but she had decided against it. She had remembered last minute that she had a date with Midge at the diner, and she wasn't quite sure how the Klump girl would react if Harley dragged a Serpent along. Maybe some other time.
Harley was now seated in a booth at Pop's across from Midge, the two mindlessly conversing about the most random things. FP Jones was waitering the Chocklit Shoppe, much to Harley's surprise. Seeing the man dressed in anything but his leather jacket was a surprise, especially when it was in a yellow uniform.
Harley had settled for a chocolate milkshake and some curly fries this time. Usually, she would order a burger and strawberry milkshake and normal fries, but she felt like changing it up a bit.
"Oh my gosh, Harley don't look right now, but some really hot guys just entered the diner!" Midge whisper yelled, using her head to point in the direction. Disobeying her orders, Harley sound around, eyes landing on a trio at the entrance. Sweet Pea, Fangs and Toni. "I said don't look!" Midge groaned as Harley turned back around.
"They're Serpents." Harley said, watching the leather cladded trio make their way past them. Sweet Pea flashed her a grin as he passed by while Toni playfully winked in her direction. Fortunately, Midge didn't notice.
"So? They're freaking hot. Especially that short one." Midge answered shamelessly. Harley couldn't help the small smile working its way onto her face. Midge didn't care that they were from the wrong side of the tracks.
"Fangs?" Harley asked, her eyes locked on the dark haired boy. His hair was, as usual, styled up in a quiff, dressed in a dark Serpent shirt, his leather jacket, a flannel tied around his torso and ripped jeans as pants. He looked nonchalant as he slumped into booth, cracking a joke that his friends laughed at. "Don't you have a boyfriend?" Harley question, a brow arched. Midge shrugged her shoulders.
"I do, but that doesn't mean I can't admire beauty." Midge answered cheekily. Harley laughed, watching the Klump teen snatch a curly fry from her.
"Hey! Don't touch my food." Harley complained, pulling the tray of fries closer to herself. Midge happily chewed on the fry she had snatched, smirking at Harley.
"Which one do you like?" Midge asked curiously. Harley chewed on her buttom lip, debating whether or not she should answer it honestly. Sure, Fangs was cute, but he wasn't exactly her. . . type. It wasn't like she had a type anyways. But he just didn't appeal to her in threat way. Sweet Pea however. . .
"You see that girl? Definitely her." Harley joked, earning a gasp from Midge.
"You're a lesbian? That explains the whole Reggie thing!" Harley furrowed her brows.
"What do you mean with 'the whole Reggie thing'?" Midge shrugged, snatching her another fry from Harley. "You know what, I didn't even want to know. And finding a girl hot does not make me lesbian, it makes me realistic. She's attractive as hell."
Midge nodded in agreement, chuckling. "Can't argue with that."
From across the diner, Sweet Pea caught Harley's eyes. The two shared a quick glance at one another, Harley tilting her lips into a close lipped grin. He returned the gesture.
That was pretty much how the rest of the night went. The two teenagers shared several looks from across the room, Harley listening to Midge ranting about school and Moose while Sweet Pea pretended to pay attention to some motorcycle Fangs was rambling on about. Several shared smiles, a chocolate milkshake and some curly fries later, Harley tugged on her jacket, sending him one last smile before heading home for the night.
She called a goodbye to Pop's and Midge, watching the latter climb safely into her car and pulling out of the parking lot. Harley hugged her jacket closer to her body, trying to grasp onto that remaining warmth for as long as she possibly could. The girl huffed slightly, reminding herself to earn money for some sort of vehicle. Hell, even a bicycle would do.
She trudged across the gravel towards the sidewalk. Harley wasn't especially scared of the dark, nor did she ever listen to her parents advice not to walk home alone after the sun had set, but this particular night was giving her the heebie jeebies. So, her keys was out between her knuckles, phone ready in hand. Just in case. Insurance.
A rumble broke through the silence atmosphere of the night. The sound closed in on her. Harley slowly edged around, eyes landing on a motorcycle pulled up to her left.
The driver extended a hand, a helmet in his grasp, with a cheeky grin. "Need a ride?"
And so she accepted the helmet, securing it on her head, slinging a leg over the bike as she climbed on. The two oblivious teenagers speeding down the road, together.
word count; 2296
a/n
can u guys believe that this book has almost hit 1k and we're already at chapter sixteen? cause i sure as heck can't. school is unfortunately starting again, which does in turn mean less updates, but i'll try my best to deliver ! stay tuned, felt like this chapter took a thousand years. sorry if it's kind of short !
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