A Serpent Can't Shed Its Skin

Ch.15

I finally walked up the grand, pure white wraparound porch, and unlocked my front door to a pitch black but not completely deserted house.

''And just where have you been??'' My mother screeched in the dark before finally flipping on the side table lamp. She reeked of red wine, and she was wearing a dark red, lacy nightgown with her hair in red curlers, and my father was nowhere to be found.

''Umm out, it's really none of your business..'' I said letting my sentence fade, and tried to maneuver up the stairs quietly to avoid further confrontation.

''Oh no you don't missy!!'' My father said, suddenly appearing at the top of the stairs to prevent me from trying to come up.

''Do you want to tell us where you have been??'' My father said, finally coming down to meet us, and so he could start on confronting me too.

''No I don't!!'' I said defiantly, almost spitting at my dad's big bare feet.

''It doesn't matter that you won't tell us, we can take a wild guess, and besides did you honestly think you could just hang out on the Southside all by yourself, and we wouldn't know about it because we couldn't possibly still have gang connections??'' My father said, using his way too calm voice, but they both were overreacting!!

''You still have gang connections??'' I said, genuinely surprised.

''Of course we do dear, now we are going to ask you this again, where have you been??'' My mother said.

''Finee yes dearest mother and father I was hanging out at the Whyte Wyrm on the Southside with the Southside Serpents so I could actually do the initiation, and then Sweet Pea gave me a ride home on his big, bad motorcycle'' I said it all in a rush, and still acting defiantly.

''Wait you did the Serpent dance, and mommy wasn't there to see it??'' My mother slurred, actually sounding disappointed, and apparently not mad at me anymore.

''Umm noo I'm trying to get in the way all the male Serpents do, namely Jughead..'' I said, letting my sentence fade yet again.

''Ohh mommy is soo proud of you, breaking down gender barriers even if that is super dangerous, is The Gauntlet the last step for you?'' My mother said, looking like she was ready to pass out, and cradling her wine glass like it was a newborn baby.

''But mommy would be soo much more proud of you if you actually did the Serpent dance for a certain Serpent, did I hear you and Sweet Pea were becoming an item??'' My mother said, for some reason she had fallen on the floor, and was looking like she wasn't going to make it through the night, much less this very pointless conversation.

''We aren't an item mother, no I'm not doing the sexist Serpent dance, and how much wine have you had??'' I said just rolling my eyes, and glaring at my father, and seeing if he was going to help her anytime soon.

''I thought you were going to join The Ghoulies?? That's how daddy would be proud of you!'' My father said, also being super unhelpful.

''AHHH!!!'' I screamed in frustration, and ran all the way up the stairs because I really couldn't deal with my parents right now, besides it was almost dawn on the day that I knew for sure Jughead was going to run The Gauntlet so I had to at least get some sleep.

Six hours of dreamless sleep later I woke up, and it was almost noon, and I was sooo late for school, even though I wasn't even sure why I even still went to school, I had no real friends, I wasn't on the Vixens anymore, I never really went to any of my classes, and I was just waiting for the day when I would be able to dropout so I could become a full-fledged gang member with absolutely no future.

I fell out of my perfect pink princess canopy bed, and crawled to my girly bathroom, and very reluctantly looked at myself in the vanity mirror. I was still wearing my short leather mini skirt, my black tank top, my fishnet stockings, my combat boots, and my black leather jacket, and my wild frizzy hair was still wrapped up in the red bandana all from last night, so I decided I was clearly already dressed for school, and didn't have to change a single thing about my appearance so I grabbed my backpack, raced downstairs passed my mother's still sleeping body, and ran out the door in record time.

I ran to school in ten rocket ready minutes, and raced inside the school that was definitely already in session where I went to the cafeteria, and ate all by myself. I had to have a big hardy lunch so I could build up strength for tonight, and then I trudged through the rest of the school day with only one thing on my mind.

Three O'clock finally rolled around, and I raced out of the school yet again, and all the way across town back to the Southside so I could run The Gauntlet, and finally live up to my name as Serpentina, the true princess of the Southside Serpents, and Sweet Pea's girlfriend, and hopefully equal too.