Family || Sweet Pea [1]

10

Chapter 10 || New Student

"I hate today." I groaned, standing beside Toni in our high school hallway. She was supposed to be a peer mentor for a new student, but she wouldn't tell me who.

"You don't hate today." She said with a smile.

"Oh, I do." I disagreed. "I didn't get any sleep last night because Fangs and I shared his bed. And if you know anything about Fangs, when he's not cuddling something or someone, you know he moves around worse than a junkie looking for a fix."

I pointed over to a Ghoulie who looked rough, making Toni laugh.

"Why didn't you just take the couch?" She asked, looking at the students coming through the metal detectors.

"Because it was so cold last night, and Fangs took all the blankets. I had to use him for warmth." I rolled my eyes. Toni started walking towards the metal detectors, dragging me along with her.

"Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third." She stated, clicking a picture of him on her camera. I let a smile grace my face as I watched my twin walk towards Toni and I.

"Uh, it's Jughead, actually." He corrected, shooting me a look.

"I'm Toni Topaz." Toni introduced herself. "I was supposed to give you the full animatronic tour of Southside High, but some of the robots went insane and started killing the guests, so we'll just wing it."

Jughead rose his eyebrows at her while I let out a small laugh.

"You're cute." I told her. She smiled at me as we walked, telling Jughead all about what our school has to offer.

"The classrooms don't have wifi, the bathroom stalls don't have doors." Toni rattled off, leading Jughead downstairs.

"What about the school paper, The Red and Black?" Jughead asked.

"Yeah, it no longer exists. Censorships, budget cuts. Take your pick." Toni said with a sigh. "To your right, you'll find a rare glimpse of Jingle-Jangle being consumed in its natural habitat."

I glanced over my shoulder, rolling my eyes at the Ghoulies pouring their drugs down their throats.

"I'm sorry, 'Jingle-Jangle'?" Jughead asked.

"This place is crawling with the JJ." I told him.

"Highly-addictive total gutter drug." Toni added.

"So let's not touch that." I finished.

"Jingle-Jangle." Jug muttered. "Fascinating."

I ignored him as Toni and I led him to the Cafetorium.

"All right. Here in the Cafetorium, the Ghoulies sit over there," Toni pointed to the Ghoulies. "Rival gang, drug dealers, street racers-"

"Rumors of cannibalism." I added with a smile.

"Don't ask." Toni tacked on. "And we sit over there. With the Serpents."

"You're a Southside Serpent?" Jughead asked.

"Why do you think I volunteered to give you the tour?" Toni asked. "Come on."

"Actually." Jughead stopped. "I'm going to sit alone. Just gonna finish my book and brood."

"I'm confused," Toni started, her arms crossing over her chest. "Aren't you like Kitty? A Serpent-by-blood? The son of FP Jones."

"Yeah, so?" Jughead asked. "I self-identify as a loner. I'm not a pack animal. Just gonna put my head down and try and get through this, okay?"

"Hey," Toni called. "You wanna get through this?"

"You should hang with the Serpents." I told him.

"If the Ghoulies get a whiff that you're alone and vulnerable, they'll make you their bitch faster than you can say 'American History X'." Toni said, turning and walking away.

"You really should hang with us, Jug." I whispered.

"Us? What, you're one of them too?" Jughead asked me, anger evident in his tone. I tried to hide my hurt, but apparently I didn't do a good job.

"Hey, Kitty." Sweet Pea said, suddenly appearing beside me. "I got you some chips."

"Thanks." I smiled, turning and walking with him to our table. Jughead tried to grab me, but I shrugged him off and joined the other Serpents with a smile.

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The next day in English, I sat beside Sweet Pea. He tried to distract me from my brother, who was sitting behind us, but it only half worked. Sweet Pea got a text, and as he read it he got angry. He stormed out of the room, leaving me sitting alone and looking up at our teacher.

"People, there's a burning book on the cover..." Phillips trailed off. I rolled my eyes.

"Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns." Jughead boomed. "'It was a pleasure to burn'."

"Indeed... Thank you, Mr... Jones. Welcome to hell."

The bell rang and I took off to find Sweet Pea. I found him outside one of the side doors, an unlit cigarette between his lips.

"You better not." I said, making my presence known. His eyes snapped up to mine, anger raging behind his gaze.

"Why not?" He snapped.

"Because I don't want you to get lung cancer and die on me, Sweets. Now, lose the attitude and tell me what's wrong." I said, snatching the cigarette out of his mouth.

"It's Serpent stuff, Kit. I can't tell you." He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Well then just take a breather." I smiled. "And then come with me to find Toni."

"Fine." He took a few deep breaths to calm down, and I tossed his cigarette onto a nearby table. Someone would put it to good use, probably a Ghoulie.

"Let's go." I said, grabbing his hand and leading him through the halls. A few of our Serpent friends joined us as we walked to the old Red and Black office.

"Topaz, let's bounce." Sweet Pea said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I looked anywhere but Jughead, but Sweet Pea looked right at him.

"Other Jones," He said, holding me tighter. "You wanna come with? We're going down to the quarry."

"Uh, I don't have my beach bod yet." Jughead declined, looking away from Sweet Pea.

"What, you'll ask for help from the Serpents when you need it but you won't hang with us?" Sweet Pea asked. "Don't come crawling to us, hat in hand, when some Ghoulie decides to earn his stripes by taking out FP Jones's kid."

"Duly noted. Thank you, Sweet Pea." Jughead said, looking back at Sweet Pea. "I appreciate what you and the Serpents have done for me, my dad, and Katarina. I do. But I'm done. Okay? No more favors coming your way."

Sweet Pea dropped his arm from around me and took a step forward. As dangerous as I knew it was, I stepped right in front of Sweet Pea, forcing him to stop.

"Hey, hey, hey." I said, placing my hands on his chest.

"He made up his mind, okay?" Toni said, coming to my aid. "Take the hint, Sweet Pea. He's just not that into you."

"Let's motor." I said, grabbing Sweet Pea's arm and pulling him out of the office. I heard Toni say goodbye to my brother as I pulled Sweets out of Southside High.