DESPERADO | SWEET PEA [2]

3

After being soaked in water by Reggie and the rest of the Bulldogs, Izzy decided to go for a swim. As she emerged from the water, she spotted Sweet Pea sitting by himself with his feet dipped in the pool. She swam over to him, which quickly caught Sweet Pea's attention, "Izzy." He stated, his eyes wide.

"We should talk," Izzy replied and Sweet Pea nodded his head, "Somewhere more private."

Sweet Pea glanced around before his eyes locked on the pool house. Her eyes locked on what Sweet Pea was looking at and was quick to agree with him, "Pool house it is." She commented as she went to climb out of the pool.

She was having a bit of trouble so Sweet Pea grabbed her hand and helped pull her out. After he did so, Izzy gave him a small smile before they both walked over to the pool house.

Once entering, Izzy closed the door behind her turning to face Sweet Pea, "You left, Sweet Pea. You snapped at me for ignoring you and then left," Izzy began to complain, "You broke our promise of never leaving."

"I'm sorry, Izzy," Sweet Pea tried to apologize, "I was mad. You've basically ignored me this whole entire summer. Hell, you spend more time with Fangs than you do with me. And that bothered me. We're both Serpents and somehow, it seemed like you chose to lead the gang over me."

Izzy shook her head, walking a bit closer to Sweet Pea. She cupped his face with her hands, using them to make it so that Sweet Pea looking down at her, "Hey, I would never do that, Sweet Pea. It's just..." Izzy trailed off, "I've been using the Serpents as a distraction and an excuse."

"Distraction from what?" Sweet Pea asked, sounding a bit offended, "From me?"

"No! Of course not!" Izzy quickly replied, "My mom, she's basically been brainwashed by these farm cult people. I don't want to be anywhere near that so I used leading the Serpents as an excuse to get away from that. Three times already, Alice tried to take that away from me because of something the leader, Edgar, said. I'm afraid that she's going to do the same thing with you and I don't want that to happen. So I thought if I distanced myself from you a bit for a little while, it wouldn't happen." She explained and Sweet Pea gave her a puzzled look.

"For someone that's so smart, you make the most stupid and impulsive decisions at times, Izzy." Sweet Pea commented as he wrapped his arms around Izzy's waist, a smile forming on his lips, "I forgive you though."

Sweet Pea began to lean forward to kiss her, but before he could, Izzy turned her head to stop him, causing Sweet Pea to give her a confused look, "What the hell was that?" Sweet Pea asked his girlfriend confused.

"What's going on with you and Josie?" Izzy questioned her boyfriend, leading to Sweet Pea frowning.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sweet Pea replied, sounding deeply confused, "Oh, you mean earlier when she was talking to me? I was trying to make you jealous, which I'm guessing worked."

Izzy scoffed, rolling her eyes at Sweet Pea, "You're such a dumbass, you know that?" She reminded him and Sweet Pea smirked at her.

"Your dumbass though." He replied, still smirking.

"You need a new response to that, Sweet Pea. It's getting old." Izzy commented before leaning forward, pressing her lips against Sweet Pea's.

The kiss deepened and Sweet Pea pushed Izzy against the wall, his hands trailing down to the small of her back. There was a sudden knock on the door, causing the couple to pull away from each other as they both sighed.

When Izzy and Sweet Pea exited the poolhouse, suddenly, Fangs ran over to them in a rush, "Izzy, Izzy!" He called out to her, clearly out of breath.

"What's up, Fangs?" Izzy asked him, a confused look on her face, "I thought you weren't coming."

"It's the Ghoulies, Izzy. Those bastards have Hot Dog." Fangs informed her and a furious look grew on Izzy's face at the thought of the Ghoulies taking her dog.

Meanwhile later, the whole group of teenage Serpents; Izzy, Jughead, Sweet Pea, Fangs, Toni, Betty, and Cheryl, all stood together in Thornhill, making up their plan. Izzy was quiet for a brief moment, trying to process the news. She paced for a moment before turning to Fangs, "Are you absolutely positive that the dog was our Hot Dog?" Izzy asked him confused.

"Hundred percent, Izzy." Fangs replied, nodding his head, "They must have snatched him on Riot Night. He looked skinny. I don't think the Ghoulies are feeding him enough."

"We're lucky those animals aren't slow-roasting him on a grill." Sweet Pea commented.

"What I want to know is how it's been three months since riot night and everyone is just noticing that our dog is missing." Izzy commented, causing everyone to look at her, "Can anyone answer that?"

Everyone became silent, not knowing the answer to the question she had asked. It was a valid one, but there was still no answer to it. Well, one that made sense at least.

"What do we do, Izzy?" Toni asked her leader concerned.

"When we save Hot Dog we'd be going behind enemy lines, outmanned, open to attack from all directions and risking another gang war." Izzy explained to the group, "But No Serpent is ever left for dead, right? That includes our dog. Okay, this is the plan. We'll go after dark. It's gonna be a stealthy mission and it's going to be as quick as humanly possible so we won't get caught."

"Izzy," Betty spoke up, causing Izzy to look up at her younger sister, "Last time you and Jughead went into Ghoulie territory, you both were nearly beaten to death."

"He'll have backup this time," Cheryl cut her off and Izzy nodded her head in agreement.

"And we're going to be quick, Betty." Jughead tried to assure his girlfriend, "They won't even know we were there."

"Well, then I'm coming with you," Betty replied, causing Izzy to frown.

"Are you joking? What, are you high on Ad--" Izzy began to say, almost losing Betty's cover.

"No. Don't you dare tell me that I'm high on drugs for wanting to do this or that it's too dangerous, Izzy. You told me I could be a part of this, that you would never leave me out of anything. If my boyfriend and my sister are going to be on the frontlines, so am I." Betty demanded and Izzy let out a sigh, feeling a bit hesitant.

"Okay, fine," Izzy replied, "Tonight all of us are going to bring Hot Dog home together and nothing's going to stop us, got it? Not even Penny Peabody and Malachai with their gang of Ghoulies."