Breaking Boundaries / Sweet Pea \

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"We all are living in a dream, but life ain't what it seems. Oh everything's a mess. And all these sorrows I have seen, they lead me to believe that everything's a mess"

Sweet Pea stared at the girl standing on his doorstep in confusion, not saying anything. "Can I come in?" Lola whispered, afraid of his reaction. The tall Serpent didn't seem to hear her and, if he did, he ignored her. "Are you crying?" he asked. Lola blinked, only now feeling the salty tears on her cheeks. When did she start crying? She wiped them away before answering. "Apparently I am."

Sweet Pea didn't answer, but moved aside and opened the door wider, allowing Lola to enter. "I'm sorry, I don't really know why I came here. I just, I can't be at home right now, not while my dad's there. And I can't go to Jug, he'd tell FP and then it'd be so much worse and I just-" Lola was rambling frantically. She didn't really know how to explain herself and when she started talking she couldn't stop until Sweet Pea cut her off with a hug.

"It's ok. Calm down. Just tell me what happened" Sweet Pea said softly in her ear, still holding her. Lola was surprised by his calmness. She wasn't sure why, but she had expected him to think she was crazy. When he released her, she let out a shaky breath and sat on his couch.

"It's my dad. He... He's dealing. For the Snake Charmer" Lola said warily, knowing how short-tempered Sweet Pea was. "What's she got on him?" he asked simply. This caused tears to slowly fall down Lola's face once more. "That's the thing. he says it's nothing, that he's doing it for no particular reason. For once I can't tell if he's lying or not and I'm scared. I'm really scared" she said, her voice shaking.

Sweet Pea sat down beside Lola and put a reassuring hand on her leg. "Hey, it's gonna be okay. You can stay here tonight and we can figure out what to do in the morning" he stated. Lola smiled weakly at him; he knew just how to calm her down. "Yeah, okay. Thank you" she replied.

The two sat on the couch talking for hours. They talked about everything and anything. Lola had even given Sweet Pea the designated nickname of Sweets. Original, right? They were sitting in a comfortable silence when Sweet Pea spoke up. "Hey, I've always wondered, when did you become a Serpent?"

Lola thought about it for a minute. It seemed like so long ago. She had to calculate it in her head to find out how old she was. "Uh, when I was twelve I guess" she finally said. Sweet Pea's eyebrows shot up, not having thought she would've been that young. "Seriously? You did the Serpent Dance when you were twelve?" he asked in disbelief. 

Lola laughed but nodded. Her dad hadn't been happy about it but she insisted that she do it. She wanted to be a Serpent and that meant going through the initiation. "So how come none of us knew you? The younger Serpents, I mean" he continued, clearly interested about her past.

"Oh boy, that's a long story" Lola said. She expected him to loose interest but, when he looked at her in anticipation, she continued. "My dad wanted to isolate me, be able to pull me out if he needed to. Just like he did" she began, smiling sadly at the memory. "He didn't want me to make friends, become attached. So he made sure I never met a Serpent my age. He thought I'd want to go to Southside High or that I'd get into trouble a lot more if I did." Lola had mixed emotions at these memories. She hadn't talked about them openly in so long, it felt strange.

"He wanted to send me to Riverdale High so I could get a chance to leave this place and he figured if people knew I was a Serpent I'd be a sitting duck, so he made me hide it. I was allowed to be a Serpent after school but then one day he pulled me out, no explanation. It killed me. To be honest I'm not sure why he let me transfer with Jug or re-join the Serpents" Lola finished. Sweet Pea was engrossed by her story. He couldn't imagine what it had been like for her.