bloodline [sweet pea]

act one, scene five

❝Sometimes we don't want to heal because the pain is the last link to what we've lost...❞

☽ ---------------- 𓆙𓆙𓆙 ---------------- ☾

THE NEWS HAD SPREAD LIKE WILDFIRE, and by the next morning everyone at Riverdale High knew about the Bulldogs and Serpents rumble the night before. And everyone was talking about it. By lunch there were whispers and quiet conversations by lockers and on the bleachers during gym class, and by fourth period no one was reserved with their words anymore. 

Theo had heard more about last nights fight than she had any other high school gossip topic since she had started at Riverdale High. She had spent all day ignoring it the best she could, staying out of conversations and keeping her head down as best as she could where the Serpents vs Bulldogs were involved.

It had never ceased to amaze her how blind her peers were when it came to the Southside. Perhaps blind wasn't the right word, self-righteous may have been a better fit. After all the war that had been raging between the two sides of town came unprovoked, a self-proclamation of course. 

"Did you hear the newest news? Dilton's in the hospital." When Mari voiced this as the blonde dropped onto her bed with a sigh, her eyes flickering down to the tablet in her hand. 

Dilton's in the hospital because he's one brain cell away from a stalk of celery.

"Can we talk about something else? All I've heard all day is about this stupid fight." Theo complained, fluffing up her hair as she glanced at Mari through the mirror above her dresser. 

Mari raised a brow and then shrugged, "Sure, you wanna hear my newest reason for plotting to kill Ethan?"

The brunette in question stuck his head into Mari's bedroom with a sly grin, "You rang?"

Mari reached over and tossed a pillow from the bed in his direction, "Get lost you rat!"

True to what Theo, an only child, assumed was a natural sibling relationship Ethan launched himself onto Mari's bed, jostling the blonde and nearly sending her flying right off of the bed. She turned to face him with a glower, blowing her hair from her face as he grinned, "Why is your bed so much comfier than mine?"

"Because mom and dad hate you." Mari shot back, and from where she stood in front of the mirror that hung over the dresser Theo stifled a laugh. Mari and Ethan, who had each been adopted by the Maren's eight and six years ago respectively, had been in Theo's life since grade school. Where Mari went Ethan was around the corner. They couldn't have been more different, and they bickered so much Theo was surprised Riverdale hadn't been blown off the map yet, but she was always jealous of their relationship. Her childhood had been lonely as an only child.