Silhouetted Sins

no serpent stands alone

A/n: i love this song ^^

also i apologize in advance if this book or the ending makes you sad 🥺

toni's pov

we had to continue working the rest of the night like nothing happened to guarantee that no one figured out what we just pulled off.

i still couldn't believe veronica did that.....and succeeded?

it's like i want to mad at her for being so god damn stupid but at the same time she pulled it off.

it felt like forever that i was just lost in my own head trying to wrap my brain around the situation before i was finally able to talk about it out loud.

after a few more hours we closed for the night and had to let all the kids go. sophie, scooty, moonee, and jancey are in the basement by themselves right now just waiting for us to go back to the motel. the whole gang was upstairs trying to figure the situation out.

"so you guys drugged a man because if you didn't he would've took everything from us?" ashley asks clearly confused since she missed basically everything.

"um no not we. only veronica." betty corrects. "b you gotta stop blaming it on me. i just saved the bar." veronica says. "oh no i'm blaming it on you because it was your idea and you did it." betty says.

"she did it successfully though." cheryl says.

"ok guys fighting is going to get us no where." jughead says calmly. "so what are we supposed to do? move on with our lives as if nothing happened?" betty asks and rolls her eyes.

"yea. or we could do it again." halley says seriously and everyone looks at her.

"what? i'm just saying. look at that pile of money. that could pay off my fucking rent for the next 3 years." halley says. "she's not wrong." i say.

"as much i like where your head is at, are we able to pull off getting away with this? we would be risking our lives. it's illegal." jughead says. "you're just realizing it's illegal now?! what if scott wakes up tomorrow and remembers something about what happened and then calls the cops?!" betty says.

"what is he gonna say? i lost a game of poker to a woman?" veronica says and laughs a little.

"it doesn't matter what he says. all he has to do is say where he was. our illegal casino." betty says. "you're thinking too deep." archie says. "i'm being reasonable. you guys can go to jail if you want. i'm staying clean." betty says.

"ok fine. you can run back off to riverdale while we stay here and make millions. your choice." cheryl says. "cheryl's not wrong betty. you have the option to run back to riverdale whenever you want. we don't." i say.

"well sorry i actually made smart choices in high school and you guys didn't." betty says. "what?" fangs asks.

"well toni, halley, and ashley got knocked up by god knows who and ran away from reality, literally every serpent was homeless, and veronica and cheryl, the rich bitches, spent majority of their lives living off of daddy's money. and daddy's money was just payments from his dirty work." betty snaps.

"betty." jughead whispers and looks at her. she instantly realizes she messed up and her face turns from angry to sorry. "i- i'm sorry i didn't mean it like that." she mumbles.

"are you fucking serious?! i was raped! you act as if i chose to get raped! you can stand there all you want and bitch about how you don't want to do anything illegal but that doesn't mean you can use me, halley, and ashley as an example of a quote on quote bad influence. you think we planned on having kids? like it was our choice to have a kid that we knew we were going to have to raise alone? you might not but we have other people to provide for besides ourselves. if it means doing something illegal to provide we do it. we've been living poor for 6 years. 6 fucking years. excuse me if i seem selfish but you know what i don't care anymore. it's OUR turn to be selfish. the serpents as a whole have been looked down on forever. it's time for justice. we have a right to be selfish. and that's exactly what we're gonna do." i say angrily.

i get simpatheic glances from both halley and ashley and i can tell they're thanking me for standing up for them. i give them a small smile back.

"i'm sorry betty but toni's right. as leader of the serpents i refuse to stand here and let us fall. we came here to help toni because she is one of us. what is the 3rd law?" jughead stands up and says.

"no serpent stands alone." sweet pea recites.

"exactly. we don't stand for ourselves. we stand for each other. we have to keep fighting." jughead says and all the serpents cheer. "that's the spirit." veronica says.

"i- i have go go." betty says and runs out. "it's alright guys. she's ok. i'll talk to her in a minute." jughead says.

"thanks for having my back." i say to jughead and he smiles. "of course. in unity there is strength!" jughead says. "in unity there is strength!" we all recite.

nobody's pov

it was an interesting night for everyone.

majority of the serpents were ready for change no matter what they had to do to achieve it and betty was torn between making a decision that she knew was going to end bad both ways.

but it wasn't only them who had an interesting night.

there were also the kids who everyone thought were playing games or watching tv. the entire time moonee, scooty, jancey, and sophie sat on the basement steps behind the closed door and listened as their parents argued.

"what does illegal mean?" jancey asks. "it means you go to jail." moonee says.

"what does raped mean?" scooty asks. "it's when someone forces someone else to have a kid. basically it means we weren't meant to exist." sophie says with deep sadness in her voice.

"we weren't?" jancey asks. "nope." moonee says. "is that why i don't have a mom?" jancey asks. "probably. and that's why i don't have a dad." sophie whispers.

"i guess you're right." scooty says. "i don't like when they fight." moonee says and stands up to try and open the door. "no don't. it's not worth it." sophie sighs.

adults biggest mistake in life is not realizing the pain they cause their kids behind closed doors. everyone feels unwanted sometimes. even 6 year olds.

A/n: are you guys enjoying this book?