italy | sweet pea

t w o

Eight Years Ago.
Kathryn

"I hate her!" Fangs screamed. I stood in the doorway, eavesdropping on Fangs and Mom.

"Fangs! Don't say that about Kat!" Mom says.

"I hate her! I hate her! I hate her! She gets everything when I get nothing! I wish I was an only child!" Fangs yells.

I quickly ran to my room and grabbed my backpack. I took out my allowance money. I hid them under my pillow and laid down. I pretended to sleep until two in the morning. Everyone was asleep. I got up as quietly as possible. I saw my dad's switchblade on the table so I grabbed it and walked to the back exit. I opened and closed the door as quietly as I can. I walked out of the trailer park to Evergreen Park.

I sat down on the bench and grabbed my pigtails. I took out my dad's knife and started to cut my hair. I grabbed my hair and dumped it into the trash. I bumped into someone a little taller than me, making me to fall. I stood up and looked at the stranger.

"Kat? Why aren't you home?" The voice said.

He stood in the light, revealing his face.

"Sweet Pea? Oh, Fangs doesn't want me at home," I say sadly.

"But it's dangerous out here!" Sweet Pea says. "C'mon I'm taking you home!"

He grabs my wrist but I screamed.

"No!" I yelp. I struggle to let go. Without thinking, I accidentally sliced Sweet's hand. He yells in pain, letting go of my hand. I run off and keep running until I reached a bus stop.

Present
Sweet Pea

I remembered that day. When I let her slip away, just hours before I told her about what Fangs thought about her. I touched the scar on my hand as I looked to the ground.

I was spacing out until Marci grabbed my hand. "Hey, let's think about something else so you don't act so depressed," she suggests.

"Alright.." I say, solemnly. "Hey Marci, how'd you become a foster kid?"

She hesitated to answer but then looked up at me. "As a kid my family hated me, so they gave me up as a kid. When I was put into my first foster home they called me by my full name, which gave me bad memories of my old home."

"What's your full name? I only know you by Marci," I chuckled.

"Marcilene Ray," she says. "Marcilene is my mom's name and Ray is my dad. I have my grandma's madien name which is De La Cruz."

"What's your parent's last names?" I say.

"My mom's is Reyes after my grandpa, and my dad's last name is Franklin," Marci says, laughing. "Don't ask me why I have my grandma's last name. They never told me why."

I laughed along with her and she looks at the ground. "It's hard being a foster kid." She says. "Knowing as a kid that you're not wanted and growing up being passed around. I never understood why my family hated me."

"I never knew how sad your life was as a foster kid. You won't be out of the system until you're 18," I say. She nods and starts fiddling with her ring.

Marci

I fell asleep on Sweet Pea's couch and woke up to him cooking breakfast. I stood up and grabbed my bag. "I should go.." I say. I walk towards the door but he grabs my wrist.

"Wait, eat with me," He offers. I give in and sit down with him to eat. "Why are you such in a rush this morning?"

"Abel said he wanted to meet up. I guess it's about Kathryn," I say, grabbing a piece of bacon.

"I'll go with you. I want to help find her too," He states.

Abel

I waited for Marci at Evergreen Park, where Kathryn was last seen. I looked at the pictures of Kathryn and Fangs when they were kids while I waited.

"Looking for some clues?" I heard. I looked up and saw Marci and Sweet Pea.

"Oh, no. I just printed some pictures of Fangs and Kathryn from the internet," I say handing them the pictures.

"Here," Sweet Pea hands me a picture of him and Kathryn. "That was their eighth birthday, three days before Kathryn went missing."

"You were there weren't you?" Marci says to Sweet Pea. "The day she ran away."

"Yea... I ran into her when I was walking home from the Whyte Worm. My dad was drinking and I followed him but I decided to walk home. She was walking away but bumped into me. She cut her hair with a knife and she tried to leave when I tried dragging her home. She cut my hand and ran," Sweet Pea explains, showing his scar.

He pointed in the direction where she ran. We walked around that area and Sweet Pea stopped at the bridge by Sweetwater River. He was staring up at a tree.

Terrified, I looked up expecting a dead body, but it wasn't. It was a carving in the tree. It said SP+KF. I looked at Sweet Pea and he seemed frustrated. I guess it stood for 'Sweet Pea + Kathryn Fogarty.' I looked over at Marci who was off in her own world.

Marci and I have been friends since she moved into Riverdale. She would come to me when her foster parents were treating her like shit. Sometimes I wish my family could adopt her. Marci has been through a whole lot with her recent foster home. Her foster sister, Abby, absolutely makes her life worse. Abby would remind Marci about her past and how she's unwanted.

"I could've stopped her. I was so close," Sweet Pea mumbles.

"You can't hold this on yourself Sweet Pea. She ran away for a reason," Marci suggested. "It's not your fault."

"How can we find her if it's been eight years?" I say. "Why do you care so much Sweet Pea?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Sweet Pea marches towards me, grabbing my collar. "I fucking loved that girl and you're just some northsider wondering around doing nothing! I don't care if I find Kat dead or alive, I want closure!"

"Sweet Pea," Marci called out but Sweet Pea kept terrorizing me. "Sweet Pea!"

He turns around and glares at Marci.

"Was that the switchblade she was carrying?" Marci pointed out. We walked over to a small grass patch with the end of a switchblade peeking out.

A/N
Soooo like im excited for this book bc i have so much planned out for Kathryn, Sweets, and Marci. Abel can exit. ;)