Resilience | Sweet Pea.

67 - Desantos

I hold hands with Archie as I walk into school the next day, I've always been one to hold my own, but what happened with Sweet pea really shook me right to my core almost as if it cut the last ties to my former self. But I don't know.

"Okay, I think I'll be alright on my own." I say as Archie and I reach my locker.

"Nov, you're still holding onto my arm." Archie chuckles, I quickly let go and turn to open my locker. "It's okay to be nervous."

"Maybe I should drop out." I sigh.

"No, you shouldn't. I'll meet you here after school, okay? We'll go to Jug's about Ricky, and figure something out" Archie says, Ricky being the homeless kid Archie's looking after that ran away from Pops, yesterday.

"Okay." I sigh.

"I'll see you later okay?" Archie says. I nod.

I watch him walk away, my legs suddenly feeling like jelly. I grab some books from my locker, slamming it and leaning against it, trying to keep myself up and decide what I'm to do next, do I go to class and just sit down? Do I go to the nurse and fake being sick? I sigh, Fred's right. I need to bite the bullet eventually.

"Hey." I hear behind me, I turn to see Jughead. I smile at him a little.

"Hey." I reply.

"You look tired." Jughead informs me.

"I haven't been sleeping well." I say

"You need to talk to someone No-"

"I'm fine, Jughead." I lie. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Fine. So, you know the B&E here?" Jughead asks.

"You mentioned it." I say as the two of us begin walking through the halls.

"It was Kurtz and the other Gargoyles." Jughead sighs. "And before you say it, they outnumber us. As much as we hate it, we do need them."

"Not if it's gonna be like this." I say. "Jug I'm concerned to why your mom pushed this."

"Me too. I just hope we've got a hunch for nothing." He sighs. "I don't want my mom to be the bad guy, Nov."

"I don't want that either, Jug." I sigh. "We'll figure it out."

"Sup, Daniels." Toni says, walking past Jug and I with some of her poisons, I only know one by name Peaches N Cream. Peaches to most.

"What, Toni?" I ask.

"Haven't seen you round, what gives?" Toni asks.

"I've been sick." I lie.

"Explains why you look like shit." Peaches says.

"Thanks, Princess." I scoff. "I'm not gonna give you guys the bitch fight you want, I'm out."

I give the girls a salute and walk away, Jughead in tow.

*

After school, Archie and I stand in Jughead's kitchen about the whole Ricky thing. Archie had gone to get Ricky from Pops, yesterday only to find he'd been chased out by some thugs, possible gang members and had left behind nothing but a sinister drawing.

"You weren't kidding." Jughead says, looking over the drawing "This kid is into some really dark stuff."

"Yeah, I got a sketch of him too." Archie says, taking the folded sketch from his pocket and tossing it to Jughead. "Pop Tate said some thugs chased him out of the diner."

"Thugs?" Jughead asks. "You mean gang members?"

"Probably. Didn't you just recruit a bunch of Gargoyles?" Archie asks.