New Girl In Town

Chapter 30

Hours had passed, and quite the crowd had accumulated in the hospital waiting room. Multiple Serpents, including Jughead, had gathered to show their support. Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Cheryl even came; word must have spread fast. In the meantime, FP and some of the higher ranked Serpents went out to scout the location where the incident had happened. The Ghoulies had attacked on Serpent territory, meaning there would be a price to pay.

Despite all of the support I was receiving from my friends, I was incredibly anxious. Even though Sweet Pea had been out of surgery for hours, I wasn't allowed to see him yet. I had spoken to his doctor and his nurses, and they all told me the same thing: the internal bleeding had stopped, but the blood loss and the overall damage to his body was severe, and they didn't know when, or if, he would wake up. As difficult as that information was to take in, all I could do at this point was hope for the best. So, a motley mix of Serpents and Bulldogs were left waiting for any information on Sweet Pea.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," Fangs, who was sitting next to me, mumbled angrily as he thought about what Malachai had done to his best friend.

"What the hell would that accomplish?" Jughead countered. "All that would do is guarantee a war with the Ghoulies".

"How stupid are you Jones?" Fangs spat back. "After what happened last night, there's no question that a war is going to happen. They attacked us on our turf; they've practically declared war on us." This aggressive side of Fangs was uncharacteristic of him, he was usually the voice of reason in times like this, but with tensions as high as they were, I understood where his outburst was coming from.

However, I didn't feel like listening to them bicker, so I just sighed and said, "Can you two please shut up? I've been here for nearly twelve hours, and I am way too tired for this shit". They both mumbled an apology and sat back in their seats. I followed suit, leaning back in the uncomfortable chair as I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose in an attempt to stop the headache that had been coming on for the past hour. To say that I was exhausted would be an understatement.

"Hey kiddo. I heard what happened and figured that you'd be here," I suddenly heard a familiar voice say. I froze in my chair, unable to believe what I had just heard. I opened my eyes and slowly looked up to see none other than my father standing in front of me. I stared at him for a moment, and he stood there awkwardly, clearly growing uncomfortable under my heavy gaze.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned, not allowing my shock to show.

"I, uh, I wanted to see how you were doing," he replied with a weak smile.

"Is this some sort of joke?" I snarled, venom dripping from my voice; I noticed Jughead and Fangs sit up and glare at my father, the one who had nearly beaten me to death just a few weeks ago.

"No, it's not. Look, Asher, can I speak with you privately for a moment? I think we need to talk," he stammered, clearly growing more nervous as we gained the attention of a few more menacing looking Serpents.

"I have nothing to say to you," I spat back, crossing my arms over my chest and scowling at him; I couldn't hide the disgust I felt when I looked at him.

"Please Asher, I understand why you're so angry with me, you have every right to be, but please let me explain myself," he practically begged. I was surprised by the genuine sound of his voice. His shoulders were slumped and his head was bowed down, barely making eye contact with me; he looked like a dog who had just been scolded by its owner.

"Fine," I sighed as I stood up from my chair, "you get five minutes". A look of relief flooded over his face as he nodded and followed me to the hall that led away from the waiting room. I noticed a couple of Serpents stand from there chairs and watch us leave. They all knew what my father had done to me, and none of them wanted anything like that to happen again, so they were all keeping a close eye on us as we exited the waiting room, especially Fangs and Jughead.