Overcast Night Stars

22: Baby Blooms

Chapter 22- Baby Blooms

Two weeks after Alice's Cravings fest. Things started to slow down. Her and Fp said they didn't want anything too over the top. And what did Veronica, Betty and Cheryl do? They did the complete opposite. They wanted a low key gender reveal party. With maybe a 30 people or less. As her daughter and Veronica and Cheryl listed the party ideas. Alice wanted to put in her ear buds and escape. She didn't want to hear the ideas. She frankly didn't care. She wasn't the mom to be like all party hungry.

Alice looked over at her calendar in her office a thought came to mind. Betty and Veronica knew the gender. It was driving her crazy. It wasn't fair they knew before her. Her appointment was yesterday. The doctors predicted around October. She was excited beyond belief.

A knock on the door, stirred her away from thoughts. To her surprise it was Jughead. She wondered why he was there. "I figured you wanted to see Cheryl become of us. I borrowed Archie's truck. I can sneak you in." Jughead said as he led her through the back hallway their new house.

They quickly got into Archie's truck and drove to Sweetwater. The drive was short. Her and Jughead had created a bond that nobody understood. They knew it confused Fp and Betty. He pushed the door open and walked around to open the door for her. His dad always said treat them like a gentlemen. So that's what he was doing. He helped Alice out of the truck and they waddled to the hidden tree.

Cheryl couldn't believe it was the day. She had been preparing for days and even months. She was ready to show what she had. Instead of keeping a secret. She told Betty and Toni first. Betty told she was okay with it. Toni on the other hand was a little more hesitant about the idea. But Fp reassured her that Cheryl wasn't being exploited in anyway and it was perfectly safe. That made Toni much more secure. She didn't like that her girlfriend had to do the sexist tradition. But when it was brought to her attention that it was different. There was no Serpent dance. Then she felt a lot better about the idea.

Toni approached Cheryl just before she went on stage. She wanted to make sure Cheryl was for sure about this. She didn't want Cheryl to regret her decision. "Are you sure about this? Once you join. You'll have want to die for us." She asked as she voiced her concerns. Cheryl nodded her head and then kissed her softly before making way on stage.

First she had to recite the laws. That didn't seem hard. She had been already doing that for weeks. And she had them all memorized in the back of her brain. Once she recited all the laws. Her next task was the knife throwing. She grabbed the knife and gripped the handle as she swung in back and it hit right in the center. She didn't even miss the bullseye. She hit smack dab right on it. The crowd erupted with cheers and shouts as she threw all six knifes at the target. After she finished, She was allowed to fly some arrows. She grabbed her archery bow into her hands. She put the arrow on and extended her arm full length back and it speared into the bulleye. And that was the same for every one.

After she completed all the tasks it was time for the real one. Sweet Pea stood up in front and she had to go through a line of stings and pounds before she got to Sweet Pea. The pain was agonizing as she finished. She was in such pain. But it was worth it. She had a family and a family that finally accepts for her and what she is. "Cheryl!" Jughead cheered as she came on stage. He placed a red serpent jacket on her and she flipped her hair up as it fell just right back down. She looked around to see Toni clapping for her and that was what meant the world to her.

After the test was over Fp came to her and helped bring some hydrogen peroxide for her wounds. He felt bad for the pain that was caused. He didn't like seeing girls get hurt. It was almost stomach churning to think that could be his little girl. It was already hard enough for him to have his son be a serpent. But if his daughter did too? He wasn't sure how he would handle it. He was just looking forward to the gender reveal party later. He couldn't wait to find out what he was having.