Saturday AM
(8:34) -Sweetpea-
Beep beep, motherfucker!
(8:34) -Jughead-
Get your ass out here!
(8:35) -Cheryl-
Hey! Give me a bit!
(8:35) -Cheryl-
Stop honking!
(8:36) -Toni-
It's Sweetpea. He had chocolate for breakfast, so now he's on a sugar high.
(8:37) -Cheryl-
Damn it, Pea, you've been told!
(8:38) -Juggy-
I scolded him for you. Those two aggressive beeps were his response.
(8:38) -Cheryl-
I'll be two seconds, just calm down.
(8:39) -Toni-
Come on, Cheryl! Beep beep! Let's go be Adults!
(8:39) -Cheryl-
Don't use the A word.
(8:40) -Juggy-
Then get a move on. How much stuff do you have?
(8:40) -Cheryl-
Gotta pack my emotional baggage. Now stop texting.
*
Cheryl looked around her empty room with a heavy sigh.
She didn't feel anxious, not how she expected to be. She already had a feeling of homesickness, even if all of her belongings were right in front of her in bags and boxes, and her mother and father stood at the door watching her. Cheryl imagined that they felt worse, their only, and chronically ill, child leaving the house at just age eighteen.
Sometimes Cheryl wondered what kind of madness possessed her to do such a thing, but other times she heard Toni talk on and on about what they would do in their shared house, and Cheryl felt excited again.
That madness was Toni. Toni constantly driving her to do unpredictable things she never even thought about before, nor knew existed.
"It's alright if you change your mind," Penelope spoke up softly. "You know Toni and everyone will understand." Cheryl's mom stepped further into the room, smoothing a bit of Cheryl's hair down "Just because it's my Alma Mater doesn't mean you have to attend Highsmith College"
Cheryl nodded silently, still looking around her old – was it old yet? – bedroom.
All that remained as a reminder of her life were the canopy bed and large pieces of mahogany that wouldn't fit in a suitcase.
A buzzing came from her pocket.
(8:45) -Toni-
Get in loser, we're going University-ing.
She smiled, about to type a reply when another message came through.
(8:45) -Sweetpea-
Have your parents held you captive? It's okay, we've already dealt with FP. We're experts at this now.
Cheryl took a deep breath, then collected the bags in front of her, and asked her parents if they could take the boxes.
She wasn't going to back out of it now.
*
Toni was sure sick as hell of the Beatles.
"Don't you have any other artists on your phone?" She groaned at Sweetpea, who was looking more than annoyed in the driver's seat.
"I've got Rolling Stones," he said. "I've also got 'Toni Can Fuck Off With That Face of Hers'."
"And what face is that?" Toni asked innocently, still scrolling through the taller boy's phone in a desperate attempt to magically conjure up some decent music.
"The face that says everyone around you are idiots and have no taste," Cheryl piped up from where she slid into the backseat, bordered by bags and boxes of belongings.
Sweetpea made eye contact with her in the rearview mirror and shot his thumb up in a sign of solidarity. Jughead just groaned and rolled his head back against the headrest.
"Fangs would agree with me," Toni said petulantly. "I'll ask him later."
Sweetpea slowed the car practically to a stop to turn the next corner, all four of them keeping silent as he edged the car around. He let out an audible sigh of relief when they made it, car and passengers all in tact.
"When's he finishing with Kevin's stuff?" Sweetpea asked once he was sure they weren't going to get into an accident and there wasn't going to be a random dog jumping into the street on a suicide mission like every driving instructor video portrayed, brutally, before he could get his licence.
When Clifford handed him the keys to Cheryl's car, it wasn't without a long lecture and threats they all knew he was good for radiating his apprehensiveness giving the Serpent a key to his daughter's birthday gift.
"He said about middle of the afternoon." Toni shrugged, then leaned forward in her seat to look at Jughead. "Heard from Betty? How's she settling in?"
"Fine," Jughead said, a warm smile gracing his features. "She's already getting her detective on. It's super hot."
Cheryl flicked him in the neck, narrowing her eyes at him from where she craned her neck to scowl at him "That's my cousin you're talking about hobo,"
"Guess that makes her my bride. Anyway, I invited her to Kevin's senior year bash."
Sweetpea looked panicked, partly from the looming fear of Clifford's threats in the air and the insinuation of Betty coming to a Southside party. "Is that really a good idea? Betty seems like a nice, straight laced girl. No mischief."
"Pea, when did you become such a stick in the mud?" Cheryl asked. She tapped Sweetpea on the head, causing him to jump in his seat and swerve the car slightly.
"Am not!" he protested. "I'm just remembering graduation!"
"Oh, I did tell Betty about that. She thought burning 'Class of 2019' into the school oval was a great idea."
Sweetpea sighed in defeat.
"Graduation was cool," Toni added. "Just because you nearly caught on fire doesn't mean it was bad for the rest of us."
Cheryl hummed. "Well, that would put a damper on things."
Toni was about to go for another round of making fun of Sweetpea when her phone chimed in her hand.
(9:34) -Fangs Fagorty-
Hey, nearly done with everything here. Didn't take as long as we expected. You got Cheryl?
(9:34) -Toni-
Yeah, we got her. We'll be there in 10
Toni looked at the girl beside her and smiled, Cheryl catching her eye and smiling with confusion lacing her features "What?"
The redhead glanced around the car, seeing the same smile on each boy's face "What!"
Sweetpea turned another corner sharply, Cheryl's corvette bumping over the rocky and uneven terrain as they went down a side road, Jughead laughing each time the car hit a ditch in the road "What the fuck, Sweetpea! What happened to being scared shitless!" Cheryl shouted over the roaring engine as it tried to make it safely down the road, accompanied by the booming bass from the music Jughead suddenly decided to crank up "Where are we going?! The schools back that way!"
Toni nipped at her lip furiously, glancing at the girl sitting rigidly beside her. Over the summer she'd abandoned the argyle sweaters and glasses for an older, more defined look. When Cheryl first walked in with red lipstick and a short skirt Toni nearly fainted if it weren't for Sweetpea holding her up by the shoulder.
She interlaced their hands, leaning over to kiss the girl on the cheek. "Just trust me. Do you trust me?"
Cheryl looked her in the eyes, swirling with honey and warmth, Toni's own deep and kind. The redhead nodded, squeezing the brunette's hair reassuringly "Of course."
"FUCK YEAAAAAH BABY!!!!" Sweetpea hollered from the front seat as the car left the pavement and soared over the train tracks separating the South and North side.
"What are we doing on the Southside?" Cheryl asked, looking bewildered as the trees whirred by in a flash. "Well, babe, I just... I wanted to do something for you. Yknow?" She took in a deep breath as they approached the lake where several familiar faces gathered "You deserve so much more then the hand you've been dealt so, just go with it, okay?"
Cheryl nodded apprehensively, following Toni out of the car, their hands finding eachother immediately as the two boys raced toward the keg.
Cheryl took in the sight before her. It was the opposite side of Sweetwater river, and if she tried she could probably find where Jason drowned all the years back, but she took a step forward, taking in a deep breath of the fall morning. The air was crisp, and the warmth radiated from the bonfire sitting snuggly in the middle of a bunch of teenagers. She casted her eyes around. Veronica, Archie, Betty, Fangs and Kevin were chatting excitedly, laughing as they chugged down their clear cups filled with questionable dark purple liquid. She approached with Toni, greeting them all tentatively, pulling Toni closer into her side to whisper in her ear, "You can drink if you want, you don't need to be careful around me."
Since they'd been dating, Toni hadn't touched a drop of liquor and Cheryl felt the guilt bubbling in the pit of her stomach at the sight of their friends amusement. Toni seemed to notice, and cupped Cheryl's cheek; leaning into the warmth of the brunette's palm "I don't need alcohol to have fun. I have you. That's all I could ever ask for." Her voice was captivating, like it was dripping with sap from a tree and Cheryl was sure no matter how many times she heard the other girl speak she'd never fully wrap her mind around the perfection that she got to call hers. Cheryl nodded, looking out at the cloudy sky. A giant almost tarot looking poster was hanging from a poll, Serpentina embedded beautifully in the fabric.
The boys each grabbed a beer, branching off as the two girls made their way to the river, laughing and stumbling over themselves as they tried to walk with their legs locked together like a potato sack race. The water was cold as ice, and it made Cheryl think about how precious these moments were. She remembered a time where she believed she'd never live long enough to experience these things for herself. And yet Toni Topaz came crashing into her life at her lowest, and even with a depleting immune system, she still found herself filled with more life then she could fathom.
FP whistled, stepping onto a makeshift stage to gather the group's attention "Listen up now! Hey, listen up!"
The group quieted, the only sound the crackle from the fire and gentle wind creating ripples in the clear body of water.
"Some 60 years ago, the first serpent meeting took place on these same river banks. It makes sense that this is where we gather now where I..." FP pursed his lips, blinking a few times as he mulled over his words "where I say my goodbye."
The group looked on in in confusion as he extended a hand to Jughead "Jughead son, would you step up here."
The beanie clad boy looked around, uncertainty swimming in his dark eyes as he stood and made his way to his father, Sweetpea and Fangs stood with their jaws slack "Dad, what are you doing?" He murmured as the older Jones' man grabbed onto his shoulder, looking up at the boy who had grown a few inches taller over the summer "What I should have done a long time ago." He patted the boy reassuringly, looking back out onto the gathered Serpents and their friends "I'm retiring from the Serpents. For real" the crowd murmured their disapproval, and he hushed them by the simple motion of putting a hand up. It was crazy to Cheryl how much power and authority one man had over a bunch of presumed strays and bandits. "Woah. And my boy!" He shouted, patting Jughead on the chest a few times "My boy has never stopped fighting for this crew, hell, he almost died for it."
Cheryl looked at her friends in puzzlement, her mouth ajar at the stiff looks on both Sweetpea and Fangs' faces that she'd never seen on the usually such carefree boys "that's why I'm giving you," he turned to face his son fully "the mantle."
Without even a beat the crowd started cheering, as Jughead's head snapped between the serpents and his father. Toni shoved Cheryl forward, clapping and smiling at her lifelong best friend, while the redhead just watched in awe at the display. She had no clue what the fuck the mantle was, other than briefly hearing about the passing of the metaphorical torch from one leader to the next generation. And, with all the smarts she had, came to the conclusion that this was that moment. Sweetpea laughed, smacking Fangs roughly on the back "Ow!" He grimaced, smacking his friend as his laughter washed away in the crowd's cheering. Jughead bowed his head, trying to grasp at straws for any indication as to what was happening. "Now, as your first official duty as Serpent King," he motioned toward Toni, who stepped away from her place beside Cheryl to approach the outstretched hand, pulling a bright red jacket from the bag she had slung around her all day long. "Think you know what to do with this," FP smirked, curling up the collar of the jacket before handing it to his son. Jughead just looked up at his father, uncertainty and apprehension still stuck like gum to his face "Take it," FP said softly, nudging the jacket at the younger serpent. Jughead smiled after a moment, grabbing the jacket as the group began to chant louder for the young king, Fangs and Sweetpea lifting their beers and knocking them till it overflowed, "Alright, alright all I can say is..." he stopped to look at FP who watched him from afar "Love you dad. And the Serpents will never die out. Not on my watch."
Toni pulled Cheryl's jacket off, pushing the still blissfully unaware girl forward. He lifted his hand, urging the redhead forward, and maybe it was from the high of being around a group that quickly became like family or because of the warmth Toni filled her with; but Cheryl, with a new found confidence, strutted up to the stage, smiling shyly at the ground as the crowd's cheers became deafening, taking her friends hand and stepping up beside him. Cheryl wordlessly turned, allowing him to slip the jacket onto her arms, tossing her red locks that were tucked under the leather that seemed to fit her just as perfectly as Toni's hand fit into her's. She grinned broadly as she shrugged it on, testing it out as she stretched her arms out a bit, looking down at the jacket around her. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion, the only thing she could focus on was the way Toni clutched her forgotten jacket to her chin, looking far beyond proud as she let out a whoop, her eyes moving from Jughead's brilliant yet slightly slanted smile to Fangs and Sweetpea who were practically trying to dog pile each other, then to Betty and Archie, who looked like they were going to burst into tears at any moment, and to Veronica and Kevin who cheered her on.
And at that moment, nothing felt more perfect. "Welcome to the Serpents, Cheryl." Jughead murmured in her ear, before hopping off the stage and making toward his friends who pushed him around.
Cheryl looked at Toni, the shock of it all finally settling in as the brunette pulled her into a bone-crushing hug, mumbling something incoherent into the red locks.
*
She'd been living with the boys longer than she had been living with her brother by this point, but the feeling of having a place of their own filled Toni with excitement. A place outside of the Serpent grounds. A place with constant warm water and heat. A place with food that she didn't have to steal. A place no one knew everything about her and judged her for it. A place she could call home without being terrified of it being torn away from her within a blink of an eye.
Looking over her shoulder she watched Cheryl patiently reading GPS directions to a very frazzled Sweetpea, a fist of apprehension clutching her heart through the excitement. She'd never lived with Cheryl before, so far had only spent one night over at her house when they accidentally came back from a date a bit too late. Cheryl had stayed at the trailer a few times, but with people within a whisper away, it didn't quite feel the same.
Even with them sharing the house with everyone, something about living with Cheryl without any adults – real adults – made Toni tight with fear.
(9:44) -Cheryl-
Stop freaking out, I can see it in your face.
(9:44) -Toni-
You're meant to be reading directions.
(9:45) -Cheryl-
Sweetpea thinks he knows where he's going now.
(9:45) -Toni-
I don't trust him.
(9:45) -Cheryl-
I don't care. Stop avoiding my call out.
(9:46) -Toni-
I leave clothes all over the floor. Even in the kitchen.
(9:47) -Cheryl-
I know.
(9:47) -Toni-
And sometimes I snore and steal blankets.
(9:47) -Cheryl-
I know. But I'm the queen of snoring.
(9:47) -Toni-
Are you sure about this?
(9:48) -Cheryl-
Yes, I am. Are you?
(9:48) -Toni-
Yes. Don't leave.
(9:49) -Cheryl-
I'm not going to. Not even after living with you for a lifetime. I'm sworn in by being in a gang now.
(9:49) -Cheryl-
Want to know a secret?
(9:50) -Toni-
What?
(9:51) -Cheryl-
If it was okay with you, I wasn't really on planning to use my room.
(9:51) -Toni-
That's 1000% perfectly okay with me.
(9:52) -Cheryl-
Good. Now please play something that was at least made in the 21st century.
(9:52) -Toni-
Believe me, I'm trying.
*
Fangs was there before them, Kevin's place not so far from their own, and greeted them by throwing open the front door in nothing but his underwear and a blanket tied around his neck like a cape, shouting that the Marauder House was in business.
"I see that business isn't in fashion retail," Cheryl said and Fangs scoffed at her, pretending to flip his hair off his shoulder.
"There is no use for pants in the house," Fangs proclaimed. "It's the first rule on the Declaration of the Serpent House."
"Rule number two," Sweetpea said quickly, "No fire!"
Jughead and Betty hopped of his bike that he took for a spin around the new neighbourhood to help them unload the car, his things already thrown haphazardly into his assigned room. A box labeled 'kitchen' already sat on the open dining room table, courtesy of FP, but a list on the second-hand fridge, courtesy of Mrs. Andrews, told them they still needed bathroom things. A fish bowl sat on the kitchen bench, the black fish inside swimming around happily.
"Rule number three," Veronica said from some room beyond, "Toni showers last."
"Aw, come on," Toni whined from somewhere else. "Fine, rule number four: Fangs can't wear my shirts anymore."
"Yeah," Cheryl shouted from the living room. "Those are mine now!"
There was a loud bang, like something was dropped onto the floorboards, Archie's voice cursing from the smallest bedroom, followed by Veronica's loud laughter booming thru the house.
"What am I supposed to wear, then? Don't be so afraid of a man presenting feminely." Fangs huffed when he emerged from his bedroom.
"What you've got on now is fine," Cheryl told him, gesturing to the jeans and torn shirt he adorned "Rule number five: no one is allowed to catch a cold."
Jughead nodded, appearing with Betty under his arm. "My immune system is too strong, anyway. No problem."
"Rub salt into my wounds, why don't you," Cheryl teased, resulting in a punch in the ribs from Betty as she lectured him about insensitivity as the redhead laughed.
Veronica had hired a truck the day before so they could transport all of their furniture, so there wasn't much to be done besides each of their rooms and the kitchen. They pooled whatever money they currently had on them to buy food for the day, and some towels at Archie's insistence, and by the late afternoon Bughead (affectionally named by Toni, in argument with Hobo and Bride of Hobo from Cheryl not so affectionately), were out buying groceries while Toni and Cheryl finished up in the kitchen.
"I like Mrs. Andrews confidence in us to eat a vegetable," Toni said, holding up a potato peeler.
Cheryl plucked up a cutting board before placing it in a cupboard "Yeah, she's like that. I like her confidence in us to live alone at all,"
Toni threw the potato peeler into the second drawer, thus far labeled with a sticky note as the 'don't know where else it would go' drawer, and drew nearer to where Cheryl was working on the ceramic plates.
"Don't tickle me," Cheryl warned as she put in a stack of plates.
"I would never," she even said as she wrapped her arms around Cheryl's waist.
Cheryl snorted. "You would so."
"So, how does it feel to be apart of the gang now? I figured since you seemed so keen on joining our little gang," she gestured aimlessly around the house with a flick of her wrist "That you'd appreciate joining us for real." She finished, placing her chin on the redhead's shoulder
"It's... surreal, to be honest," Cheryl laughed nervously, "In the best way possible."
"You nearly done?" Toni pressed her cold nose into the crook of Cheryl's neck, making her squirm and nearly drop a bowl.
"Yeah."
"Good. We need to christen the bed."
"I hope by that you mean we need to sleep in it."
"Duh," Toni sighed. "I was awake at seven this morning. I never want to do that again."
"Remember when you were in school," Cheryl rolled her eyes, turning to face the brunette, looping her arms around her neck.
"I only remember the things that happened after ten in the morning. Now come on, you're taking too long." Toni started tugging on the lapels of Cheryl's Serpent jacket, slowly pulling her backwards into the room originally pegged to be Toni's. Cheryl's clothes were packed away in the room over, but her books were on the bookshelf next to Toni's books, and her telescope sat in the corner of the room next toToni's latest building project, which Cheryl still didn't know the function of.
Toni collapsed on the roughly made bed, rolling over to one side to let Cheryl slide on. Cheryl crawled in close, head on Toni's chest as she instantly felt the pull of sleep try to drag her in.
"This was a good idea," Cheryl said sleepily, feeling those hooks of unconsciousness deepen as Toni ran her hand through her hair.
"It was," Toni agreed, sounding just as tired. "I had a lot of good ideas this year."
"So did I, I think."
"Tell me one."
Cheryl lifted her head to kiss the exposed skin above Toni's shirt neck, pulling herself to practically lie on top of Toni and continue to kiss up her neck.
"Loving you was a good idea," Cheryl said. She didn't feel as scared as she thought she should, saying that for the first time, but instead felt a rush of new adrenaline.
She felt that spike again when Toni whispered, "I love you too," before her body crashed and she fell asleep, Toni joining her seconds after.
*
Sunday AM
(10:30) -Toni-
How much do you think Fangs will kill me for flooding his bedroom?
THE END.