Serpent By Association

An Uninvited Guest

Sophia and Frankie had slowly been making their way to a more secluded spot as they were dancing, Frankie pulling Sophia over as she stumbled behind him.

"So, I've never seen you before." Sophia said.

"Probably not. You don't spend much time on the south side." Frankie replied. "But I've heard a lot about you Sophia."

"Oh, dear. All good, I hope," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah, all good. I've heard you give guys and girls a good time." He dragged a finger from her neck down to her cleavage.

"Frankie, no," she said.

"I think you'll find it's a yes," he slapped her face and grabbed her wrists.

"Stop," she pleaded, tears in her eyes. His eyes glazed over with anger, maybe lust, and he smirked.

"No, come on, now. Let's go somewhere private," he said, kissing her jaw and kicking her in the shin. She screamed out in pain and fell to the floor.

He was pulled off her and punched in the face by a raging Sweet Pea. Tom had followed him over after seeing him storming in that direction, and joined him in throwing a punch on the guy he had seen with his sister.

"Tom, I've got this you, go check on Soph." Sweet Pea held the guy by his collar and kneed him in the stomach.

Tom ran over to Sophia. "Are you okay?"

"Tom. Yeah, I'm-" She pulled her hand from her leg to see it covered in blood. "I don't think I am."

"Who is that?" Tom asked.

"He said his name is Frankie. I don't know if he's a Serpent or-" Soph started.

"Not a serpent." Sweet Pea said, holding the guy up by the scruff of his jacket. "This dick is a ghoulie."

"We need to get you to Toni or FP or someone who can clean up for you." Tom said. "He's reopened your stab wound by the looks of it. Come on." He lifted her up and carried her over to the main party, Sweet Pea dragging Frankie along too.

"What happened?" Cheryl spotted them walking over.

"This fucker is Frankie. He's a ghoulie. Fangs, Jughead, with me. Let's show him what we do to fucks who assault girls. Especially one of our girls." Sweet Pea spat.

Jughead and Fangs walked over, but so did Reggie, Chuck, Archie and Moose.

"He's not messing with one of our friends and getting away with it." Chuck said. "Let's go."

The group of them dragged Frankie out of Thornhill, taking him towards the river. Once they were across the bridge, they all reigned some punches onto him before making their way back.

Toni pulled up Sophia's leggings. "He's opened that alright. Cheryl, go get a first aid kit from FP."

Cheryl knocked on FP's trailer door loudly.

"Where's the fire?" He asked.

"We need a first aid kit. A ghoulie infiltrated the party and tried to do things to Sophia. The boys are taking care of it, but he must've kicked her or something because the wound from when she got stabbed is open again and pouring blood." Cheryl explained.

"Fuck." FP grabbed the kit and ran out with her back to the others.

"Can I help?" Kevin asked.

"You might want to hold her hand." FP said, pouring straight vodka over the cut. Sophia let out a cry, squeezing Kevin's hand.

"I know, Soph. Just stay with us. There's a lot of blood." Betty said.

"The boys are going to kill him, aren't they?" Josie said.

"No." Veronica said. "They wouldn't risk a whole gang war on this. It's awful, but they won't."

When the boys came back, they all gathered around the others. Sophia's wound was sewn back up by FP and Toni.

"I think that's enough excitement for one night. Come on, Ronnie, Josie. We'll make sure you get home." Archie said, gesturing to Reggie, Moose, Kevin and Chuck.

"I take it the rest of you are staying?" Moose asked, and Tom, Sophia, Betty and Cheryl nodded.

"Tom, you can crash at mine." Fangs said. "Sweet Pea will take care of Sophia."

Everyone said goodbye and departed ways, the party having fizzled out after Sophia was brought back over bleeding.

Sweet Pea lent Sophia a shirt to sleep in, and they both climbed into his bed.

"What did you guys do to him?" She asked quietly, playing with the hem of the top.

"Nothing major. He'll have some bruises for a while but he's not dead or anything. Though, he should be," his jaw twitched as he tensed it.

"Sweet, it was a guy being a dickhead. Doesn't mean he should die."

"It does, Soph. He's a low life scum bag."

"Can we just sleep, please? I feel so worn out," she winced as she turned into her side and cuddled up to him.

"In a minute. I just have to ask, what were you doing?"

"He seemed nice. We were just talking."

"You need to be more careful with guys, Soph. I know you like doing what you want to do but just be more careful. Not everyone is just a friend you fuck. Some of them are monsters."

"I know, Sweet Pea. I just hoped I'd left them all back in England."

"There's awful people everywhere, Soph. I'm sorry to tell you that."

"But you're not a monster, Pea. You're a great guy."

"We all have dark parts in us. It's what we act upon that's important, Soph. Go to sleep." He kissed her forehead lightly.