New Girl In Town

Chapter 19

A gentle snore was the first thing I heard when I started to wake up. A smile began to creep onto my face as I felt Sweet Pea's long arms wrapped around me, holding me close to him. My eyes fluttered open, and I saw the now familiar space of Sweet's trailer, sunlight pouring in through the small window. I gently reached out to grab my phone from the coffee table in front of me, careful not to move too much and wake up Sweet Pea. I checked my phone and saw that I had a couple of notifications; nothing was out of the ordinary... except for the time— 9:37. I exploded off of the couch, running to the coat rack to grab my jacket.

"Sweet Pea, wake up! We're late for school, we have to go!" I shrieked, flusteredly trying to put my boots on and struggling with the laces. He just groaned in response, not showing any signs of moving from his lazy position on his the couch. I threw a pillow at him, my last attempt to wake him up, but at this point, he was about as mobile as a boulder.

"Fine," I huffed, shrugging my jacket on and opening the door, "I'm going to school. I'll see you there if you decide to get up". I stepped out into the cold, closing the door behind me and rushing to my house to get my uniform and backpack before heading to school.

* * *

I'd made it to school by fourth period, but it was after lunch now, so it was my free period. It was too cold to go out to our usual smoking spot, so I was in the hang out now. I was sitting with Toni, Fangs, and Jughead; we were surrounded by the usual northsiders: Betty, Veronica, Archie, and unfortunately, Cheryll. To be completely honest, I don't know why she was in here; she constantly made it clear that she disliked literally every person in the room. She's tried to get me to join the River Vixens a few more times since the first day I met her, but I always shot her down. She was persistent, though, and she was constantly bothering us. I think she had a crush on Toni, she was always staring at my pink haired friend. When I talked to Toni about it, she just laughed at me, so I let that theory die.

"Did you guys see the spray paint on the the gym building?" Betty questioned to Archie and Ronnie. Toni, Fangs, and I all exchanged glances as Jughead crossed his arms, leaned back into the couch, and closed his eyes.

"It was just some butthurt Southsiders trying to make a statement," Cheryll chimed in, "It's pathetic."

"Hey, do you guys know anything about it?" Archie called out, slowly approaching us with a suspicious look on his face.

"Archie, leave them alone," Veronica pleaded softly, placing her hand on his bicep in an attempt to stop him, but he shrugged her off and sat down next to us.

"Did you guys do it?" Archie continued to press, staring directly at Fangs with his brow furrowed. Fangs just clenched his jaw and glared back at the giger boy. Archie has recently been trying to make amends with the Serpents. I'm pretty sure it was only because of his friendship with Jughead and because Veronica had begged him to play nice, but he was trying nonetheless; however, tensions still tended to rise in certain situations where Archie's Bulldog pride blinded his judgement. This seemed to be one of those situations, and someone needed to stop them before World War III broke out between the Serpents and the Bulldogs.

"Stop it, Archie. Just let us be," I sighed, leaning into the couch and letting my head fall back. I was exhausted from last night's Serpent adventures, and the last thing I wanted to do was argue with.

"Um, Ash?" Archie questioned, looking at me with a quizzical expression.

"Hmm?" I responded, not budging from my comfortable position.

"What's on your neck?" He asked.

"What?" I exclaimed, sitting up abruptly and opening my phone camera to see what he was talking about. I examined my reflection and noticed two small, red and purple blemishes that heavily contrasted my pale complection.

"Shit," I mumbled embarrassedly, biting my lip. I had been in such a rush this morning that hadn't even gotten the chance to look in the mirror. Through my phone camera, I could see that the collar of my uniform mostly covered them, but if I looked up, the fabric shifted and revealed the dark marks.

"Are those hickeys?" Veronica squealed, a mischievous smile growing on her face.

"Are you serious?" Cheryll exclaimed before I had the chance to defend myself. "Do you have some new boy-toy that we don't know about?"

"I know something you don't know," Toni sang out with a smirk, causing Fangs to chuckle at her remark.

"Shut up," I warned, smacking her in the shoulder.

"Wait, they know and I don't?" Cheryll huffed, crossing her arms in front of herself. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Cheryll, I hate to break it to you, but we're not friends," I pointed out, earning an eye-roll from her and a small giggle from Veronica and Betty. "Besides, it's really not that big of a deal".

"Well, who is it?" Veronica excitedly asked, but before I could deflect her question, we were interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps entering the room.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I heard Sweet Pea's voice call out from across the room. I turned to look at him with a guilty expression, and he just peered back at me with a slightly confused look on his face. His hair was greased back in its usual style, and he was wearing his uniform, but matching blemishes littered his neck and were peeking out beneath the fabric of his turtleneck.

"Speak of the devil," Jughead finally said, breaking the momentary silence as Fangs made kissy faces at Sweet Pea and Toni tried to stifle her laughter. Sweet Pea approached us and took a seat next to me, resting his hand on my knee as I looked sheepishly at the ground; I could feel a heavy blush making its way onto my cheeks.

"I guess the cat's out of the bag," he said with a small chuckle, lightly squeezing my knee as he did so.

"Yeah, I guess it is," I agreed, looking up at him with a weak smile.

"It's him?" Cheryll suddenly cried out with a distasteful expression covering her face. "I'll be honest with you, Asher, I expected more from you". And with that remarck, she strutted out of the room in a huff.

The space was silent, and everyone was still, so my attention was caught when I saw, from the corner of my eye, Archie slipping Veronica what looked to be money.

"Wait a minute!" I exclaimed, turning to face the guilty looking culprits as I did so, "Were you guys betting on us?"

"Yup!" Veronica replied without hesitation, placing the cash into her wallet. "And I told you they were dating" she said as she smirked at Archie, and he just rolled his eyes and laughed.

"I can't believe you two, " I muttered, crossing my arms and shaking my head, but I couldn't stop the small giggle from escaping my mouth as I did so.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Betty asked softly, a small, warm smile on her face.

"Well, I knew about the rivalry between the Serpents and the Bulldogs," I began, "and I guess I just didn't want to create any unnecessary drama". Sweet Pea put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close, helping to calm the nerves I had developed from confessing the truth about our relationship to my Northside friends.

"Oh Asher, we will one hundred percent support you two" she assured me; Veronica agreed with a smile, and surprisingly, Archie nodded as well, signifying that he was also willing to approve of my decision to date Sweet Pea.

"So, how long have you guys been official?" Veronica questioned.

"Two months" Sweet Pea swiftly replied, smiling at me warmly as he did so.

They continued to bombard us with questions and ensure us that they supported our relationship, and of course, Archie made Sweet Pea promise not to hurt me. Unfortunately, our surprisingly civil conversation was interrupted by the announcements instructing me, Sweet Pea, Toni, Fangs, Jughead, and a few other Serpents to report to the principal's office immediately. We all exchanged weary looks before getting up from our places and shuffling towards Weatherbee's office. None of us had to say anything to know what was going on, because we all understood. We were busted.