half the world away [ sweet pea ]

sixteen

『 chapter sixteen 』
not clean

(unedited — feel free to correct any errors)

"Carrots, you fucking lunatic," Jackson muttered as he watched the video Archie and — who Jackson assumed was — the Bulldogs had put up with Toni, Sweet Pea and Fangs. he stood behind the three with a few other Serpents, arms resting on Sweet Pea and Fangs' shoulders as he leant on them. Jackson looked up when he heard the faint sound of Jugheads voice, seeing the Jones boy approach them whilst he pocketed his phone.

"hey," Jughead greeted. Jackson reached over to pause the video right as Archie said 'we will find you', "guessing we're not watching funny cat videos?"

"check this out," Sweet Pea spun his laptop around so Jughead could see the screen, "some sick-in-the-head Northsider posted a crazy ass video, and uh, we were just talking."

"about what?" Jughead asked hastily. Jackson pushed off Fangs and Sweet Peas shoulders, and rounded the table so he could sit opposite of Fangs, feet on the chair and ass on the table.

"Fogarty wants to earn his Serpent stripes," Sweet Pea heavily dropped his hand on Fangs shoulder snd shook him a bit, "i say bring us the head of that Northsider, and you're in."

"i'm down with that."

Jackson spun around to frown at Sweet Pea and Fangs as they whooped and hit their fists on the table. Serpent stripes? it'd been the first time he's heard of it. his eyes shifted to Toni and she gave him the 'i'll explain later' look.

"no, guys, no," Jughead quickly shut down their whooping. Jackson looked at him, as did the other three. Sweet Pea cocked his eyebrow and leant against the table.

"what, Jones?"

"i know this guy. he's a... a milquetoast. he's a football player," everyone seemed to stare blankly at Jughead. Jacksons mumbled a 'they probably don't know what milquetoast means', and winced when Sweet Pea or Fangs — he honestly couldn't tell — fist came into contact with his aching lower back. Jughead nervously laughed and said, "its a lame target, is all i'm saying. you wanna prove something? why don't you go after the Black Hood?"

"now why would we do that?" Sweet Pea rhetorically asked, head tilting a little. Jacksons nosed scrunched up as he remembered Sweet Pea usually did that when he was getting mad. "he's targeting Northsiders, who do nothing but blame the Southside for everything thats wrong with this town and we're sick of it. Black Hoods doing our work for us. he's a hero."

Jackson looked at Sweet Pea incredulously, and reached over to flick him on the forehead, "until he starts going for Southsider's, you dumbass mother fucking bitch."

Sweet Pea frowned at Jacksons arm for a split second, before redirecting his eyes to Jacksons face. expression no longer a frown but a cocked eyebrow. a challenging look. though, when Jackson squinted back at him just as challenging, he backed down, and huffed out annoyed.

"whatever," Sweet Pea closed his laptop and picked it up with his non-slinged arm, getting up from the table. almost losing balance when getting his second leg over the seat. "i'm going for a cigarette before class. comin', Jacko?"

Jackson nodded immediately, and grabbed his bag from the floor beside him before jumping off the table and saying bye to everyone quickly. he walked beside Sweet Pea to the old toilets behind the school, and went straight for his spot on the windowsill when they got inside. pulling his pack of cigarettes from the front pocket of his bag.

he didn't notice Sweet hadn't sat down until he'd had a drag of his cigarette. he looked at the Serpent with a frown, and a slightly tilted head in silent question. Sweet Pea opened his mouth, and closed it, then repeated this a couple more times before he huffed. irritated. and blatantly asked, "are you on the gear again?"