Serpent By Association

Real Friends

Sophia had walked and walked until she ended up outside of Archie's house. She knocked on the door loudly.

"Sophia, lovely to see you!" Fred said, before noticing the look on her face. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded silently. "Is Archie home?"

"He's in the garage. Come in." Fred beckoned her inside, pointing her in the right direction. She knocked on the garage door.

"You're early, V, come in." Archie said, but he was surprised when Sophia opened the door. "Hey Soph, everything okay?"

Sophia shook her head. "Archie..." She burst into tears and he put down his guitar, ushering her over to the sofa to sit on. He hugged her tightly, letting her just cry into him.

Archie🎸: my house asap
Sweet Pea🌵: why??
Archie🎸: sophias been here nonstop crying for about ten minutes
Sweet Pea🌵: on my way

Sweet Pea left the others in a rush, speeding over to the Andrew's household. Veronica had just turned up to hang out, and was surprised to see Sweet Pea pull up.

"Everything good?" She asked.

"Sophia's here," he answered.

"Betty just filled me in." Veronica said, knocking on the door. Fred answered.

"Veronica, I'm glad you could make it," he said. "Hi, Sweet Pea."

"Hey, Mr Andrews. I'm here for Sophia." Sweet Pea told him.

"They're in the garage." Fred said, so the teens quickly made their way out.

Veronica ran straight over to where Sophia was on the sofa. She pulled her in and Sophia cried into her friend.

"Soph! Betty just called and told me. You're a hero. You're amazing," she said, stroking her friends hair.

"What happened?" Archie asked. "She hasn't really said anything, she's just been like this."

"Sophia took on about twenty Ghoulies on her own to save Thomas. She has swollen knuckles and couple of scrapes, they were all knocked out cold." Sweet Pea said.

"Woah." Archie said. "Veronica's right, Soph, you're a hero. Why are you so upset?"

"Grenade." Sophia managed to get out.

"Grenade?" Archie and Veronica asked.

"Penny kept calling her it. They were talking about research, so I assume it's her gang name from England. Because like a grenade, you put her in a room and she quite literally explodes." Sweet Pea explained.

Sophia managed to calm down enough to speak. "That's exactly what it was. And it isn't amazing or heroic. It's damaging to them, clearly, but also to me. And to Tommy. I can't imagine what he must think of me now he's seen that. I've let him down so badly."

"No, you haven't." Sweet Pea said. "He, like everyone, is so proud of what you did. You saved him."

"Without me he wouldn't have been in that situation." Sophia sniffed. "I let him join the Serpents and I said I'd protect him and he ended up beaten and tied up at the hands of a rival gang, the leader of which took him because she knew it would get to me, because she had heard about the grenade thing from the old gang I was in. If I hadn't have been in a stupid gang in the first place, none of this would've even happened."

"Soph, you can't put everything on yourself like that." Archie said. "Sure, it might not have happened, but if you weren't in a gang in London, who knows what could've happened to Tom? We all know you protected him out there, so if you didn't, who knows what trouble he would've got in?"

"Soph, this may not be a good time, but how- why did you get involved in a gang so young?" Veronica asked.

"Is it ever a good time, V?" Sophia chuckled lowly. "I was always a lone wolf type back in London, even when I was in the gang I kept to myself. As a kid, through primary school which is like elementary for you guys I guess, I just didn't have friends. And mum would always tell me to go make friends. What I actually did was end up sitting in the park reading for hours. This one day when I'd just started secondary, there were a couple of girls in the park minding their own business when some guys a couple years older than us walked in and started causing trouble for them. I'd never been in a fight or anything but I was just overcome with rage at the thought of these guys being such dickheads that I went in and next thing I knew they were running away crying like little bitches. The girls thanked me and then the story went around school. A guy had heard about it and asked me and we ended up becoming pretty good friends. His dad was the gang leader. He heard about it too, and made me demonstrate on some of the guys in the gang. He was so impressed, called me a little grenade. He asked me to join when I turned twelve, and up until that point I was being trained on what would happen. By the time my birthday rolled around I already felt like I was too deep, so I joined. It was actually with my friend that my initiation happened, so luckily I didn't feel scared or anything. Up until the point I left, I'm pretty sure it was known that I'd end up marrying him and we'd take over when we were 25, even though we both slept with countless people when we were supposedly together. From the moment I joined, I guess everyone just respected me. There was a rumour once that the guys dad was just going to hand it to me instead, but that was bullshit. Families rule everything in gangland."

"Sophia." Sweet Pea pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that."

Archie and Veronica wrapped their arms around them, making it a group hug. Fred walked in.

"Sorry to interrupt, guys. I just wanted to ask if Sophia and Sweet Pea were also staying for dinner." He said.

"Yeah, please, dad." Archie sent him a smile.

"Sophia, are you okay?" Fred asked.

Sophia nodded. "I'm better now, thanks."

"Good. Dinner in half an hour." Fred told them, leaving the garage.

The four teenagers broke apart, Sophia wiping the makeup from her cheeks with her sleeve.

"Here." Veronica got a highlighter compact and a brush out of her bag, swiping it across Sophia's cheeks. "Like it never happened."

"Thanks V." Sophia said. "Thank you all. It's good to know that I have real friends."

"Nice drum set." Sweet Pea noted.

"Do you play?" Archie asked.

"I used to." Sweet Pea said.

They went into the dining room when it was time for dinner, Fred at the head of the table, Sophia and Sweet Pea on one side of him and Archie and Veronica on the other.

"So, when did you two becoming a thing?" Fred asked Sweet Pea and Sophia.

"About a week and a half ago now, Mr Andrews." Sweet Pea answered.

"Please, call me Fred," he smiled, and Sweet Pea nodded.

"And it may officially be a week and a half but it was a long time coming." Archie said.

They had a lovely dinner, and Sweet Pea and Sophia stayed for a while so the boys could play some video games, the girls sat on Archie's bed chatting.

"Hey, Soph." Veronica said quietly. "I hope you don't mind but Archie mentioned to me about what you said when you were doing the barbecue. I just wanted to say that I'm really happy you've found someone to be happy with."

"I don't mind at all. Thanks, Ronnie." Sophia replied. "I just can't help my feelings, you know?"

"I know." Veronica nodded.