[In The Way Of] Life and Death • Sweet Pea [1]

Epiphany

"Who knew Bird Martin was so dirty?" Toni nudged my shoulder with a smirk making me roll my eyes, pushing her back while we waited in line in the gym to vote in the student election.

"Shut up, Topaz." I shook my head, glancing over to Sweet Pea a few lines down with his arms crossed, as usual, standing next to Jughead. "I don't think I've seen this many leather jackets in one room.." I trailed off, grazing over every student who wore a Serpent jacket as a protest to keep former Southside high students in Riverdale high.

Toni glanced from me, to the jackets, and back to me with a knowing smile, "It's not too late, you know?" She spoke, capturing my attention as I turned back to her.

"What?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Becoming a Serpent." She answered, eyeing the matching attire our peers wore, "It's not too late."

I shook my head, walking forward as the line moved, "No way. Not after me and Pea's argument." I rejected with a bite of my lip, "After he told me what it would've done to us- I got a reality check. I don't know what I would do if I lost him."

Toni gave me a 'really' look before responding, "What happens when you're this passionate about something else Sweet Pea doesn't like? You gonna quit that, too?" She rose her eyebrows questioningly.

I replaced my frown with a plastic smile, "Well, I won't have to worry about that. Besides, there's no gang to join so what does it matter? Initiation isn't even in the picture anymore so we can all just drop it." I huffed, placing my hands in the black jacket I wore.

Toni's shook her head in the slightest, rolling her eyes, "Why does everybody keep saying that? The Serpents are fine!"

I furrowed my eyebrows, "What are you on about, Topaz?"

"Ever since the sheriff and his goons raided the Wyrm and Fred Andrews took us in temporarily, Serpents came out of hiding. They felt safe enough to take back their rightful positions. The wusses who skipped town and joined the Ghoulies won't be forgotten but, hey, you win some you lose some." She half shrugged with a small smile. "We're okay, Bird. And if you want to join the Serpents, you should."

Toni's words left me thinking, echoing through my head as I faced what I knew was the hardest decision I would have to make: Join the Serpents, or keep Sweet Pea.

...

"Hey, sweetheart." Cora greeted me with a smile once she entered the house and saw me sitting at the counter, drinking the milkshake I had made in some sort of attempt to clear my mind.

"Hey." I half-smiled, circling my finger around the rim of the glass.

She tilted her head, reaching into her pocket before taking the seat beside me and leaning the side of her face on the palm of her hand, "Penny for your thoughts?" She held up the coin. "You know I used to make you milkshakes after you'd had a bad day at school."

I cracked a smile, holding out my hand to where she placed it in the center. I accepted it, beginning to spin it on the counter until it eventually collapsed on one of its two sides.

 "Sweet Pea means the world to me.." I trailed off, spinning the penny again, "but so do the Serpents.." I watched the penny fall one last time before turning to my mother, "I want this, mom. I want to prove myself. When I thought the Serpents were done- I felt empty. But now that they're not-"

"You wanna do the initiation." She finished knowingly. My shoulders fell as I nodded making her sigh and at first I thought she would tell me the same thing everyone else had which was, 'are you sure?' or something similar. I convinced myself that if I heard one more question along those lines, I would go crazy. The question is insulting, as I am being spoken to like a child would be. I had given more thought to it than anyone would know and by now I was certain.