Picken's Day was supposed to be a day of celebration. A time to put town differences aside and come together for a fun day at the fair. All week in class they had learned about General Pickens in history and how important the annual town event was. As Veronica was a newcomer to Riverdale, it would be her first Picken's Day and she wanted to make a lasting impression. By singing. Veronica found that singing was an excellent escape from the unfortunately overdramatic teenage existence that encapsulated Riverdale High.
Veronica was becoming a pro at easing the town tension in those school hallways. She was nothing if not persistent. After a handful of fights and the whole uniform controversy, the Serpents had found their place with their afterschool club, while Reggie and the Bulldogs focused on their sports. Of course, there were times when the two groups were intermingled, but everyone seemed to be behaving. Picken's Day would be the first real opportunity to see if the Riverdale parents and adults could co-exist with the Southsiders just as well as their teenage counterparts.
Despite Jughead's continued insistence that the Serpents were only invited to provide security and that it was really a northsider event, his now predictable rants were becoming easier and easier to tune out. Veronica found her mind wandering to a certain Serpent. Him. If the Serpents were at the festival, Sweet Pea would be there too. And she would be singing. And he would be somewhere in the crowd. Again.
Meanwhile, Archie and her father were locked in some sort of ego battle that stemmed from Archie's newfound interest in wrestling, a sport her father was famously known for. Men and their egos.
Luckily, she had the idea of singing at the festival to distract her. Veronica was actually looking forward to it and was excited when Josie agreed to sing at the festival with the Pussycats. She was excited for the rest of that week, diligently rehearsing, only to have that happiness smashed by Josie's misguided rant about the Lodge family in the Riverdale music room.
She vividly remembered standing in that room, after Josie had stormed out and trying to not let her frustrations get the best of her. Veronica had turned back to the microphone, leaned down to restart the backing music, and closed her eyes and she straightened. Veronica envisioned the crowd before her, as the music crested and she began to sing. Veronica finished the song with a smile on her face, letting the tension from the encounter flow out of her.
Now, here she was, about to sing in front of the whole town with the Pussycats as her band, inside the cute SoDale Stage that sat in the middle of Picken's Park, her family name adorned on the steps just in front of her. There were bunches of red, yellow, and blue balloons everywhere, a colorful contrast to the cat print shirt and ears Veronica wore with a green skirt and black boots.
Veronica stepped in front of the mic with a confident smile on her face, waiting politely as the crowd applauded after Mr. Andrews announced her and the other girls. She turned back to Valerie and Melody as the girls readied their instruments and the song started. In the name of Riverdale unity, the group had decided to cover Duran Duran's "Union of the Snake."
Nightshades on a warning
Give me strength or give me light
Give me anything even sympathy
If there's a chance you could be right
If I listen close I can hear them singers oh
Veronica tried to focus on the words and her performance, choosing to ignore the look of shock that still adorned Josie's face in the crowd. Did she really think the Pussycats would drop out of the performance because she did?
Voices in your body coming through on the radio oh
The union of the snake is on the climb
Moving up it's gonna race it's gonna break
Through the borderline
As she continued to sing she noticed movement towards the back of the crowd. Suddenly, people in matching leather jackets were moving up through the crowd towards the stage. Serpents. Veronica kept singing, but her smile dropped quickly, although she did her best to hide her confusion. Not that anyone was watching her anymore. As she glanced around, Veronica realized that the Serpents had commanded the attention of the town.
The union of the snake is on the climb
Moving up it's gonna race it's gonna break
Through the borderline
Veronica was getting nervous now, as she the Serpents reached the front of the crowd and fanned out in a line. They were even more noticeable due to the signs they were holding or wearing across their bodies, with messages like "Honor This Land" and "Sacred Land." As they drew closer, her eyes were drawn to a tall Serpent who stood out from the rest. Sweet Pea.
They hadn't interacted since that day in the parking lot, and he seemed more intimidating than usual among so many other leather jackets. As she finished the next line, Veronica noticed that some of the Serpents had tape over their mouths, even him. He's the strong and silent type but that's a bit much.
He was wearing a yellow and black patterned flannel shirt under his jacket, the matching festival color catching her eye, but not looking entirely out of place in that crowd. Picken's Park was on the south side of town, so it makes sense that he naturally fits into the area more than I do. Veronica had coordinated her outfit with her performance, but she was still glaring northside, and she suddenly felt like a more obvious show of unity would have been a better choice, given her bridge-building between the north and south.
A flash of pink caught Veronica's eye to Sweet Pea's left and recognition set in. Veronica quickly turned her head back and motioned for Melody and Valerie to stop playing the song. The music sharply cut out at the end of the note just as the Serpents found their positions in the crowd. It was dead silent, as no one dared break the tension that was quickly rising in that picturesque little park. The families, including Sheriff Keller, Mayor McCoy, and Alice Cooper all looked warily as the Serpents, while the biker gang all wore faces of purpose, with a mixture of determination and anger. Sweet Pea was no exception.
Veronica whipped back around and gripped the mic with her right hand, her left hand moving up to secure the cat ears on top of her raven locks, as she stepped forward to get closer to the pink haired Serpent.
"Toni?" Veronica inquired incredulously. Moving to the top step of the gazebo, while the other girls stayed behind their instruments.
"Jughead? What the hell is going on?!" Veronica demanded, addressing her friend whose face she could make out in the crowd of Serpents, while most of them that already turned their leather-clad backs on her. He didn't answer, as there was masking tape on his mouth as well and didn't even seem to acknowledge her as he stared at Toni who stood facing him a few feet away.
Veronica's voice was quickly drowned out by the booming voice of Toni Topaz, who had raised a white and orange megaphone to her lips and begun to shout to the crowd, also ignoring her. Fangs and Sweet Pea flanked her, their signs a jarring sight among the colorful decorations of Picken's Day.
"We're here representing the dead and the silenced. Picken's Day is a lie! General Picken's slaughtered the uktena tribe. My grandfather's family and then the land? The land that we're standing on? The land that will soon give way to a new southside was stolen from them. And we can't bring them back but we can and we must honor them."
Veronica listened to Toni's speech in front of the crowd with confusion, her eyes moving from the back of Toni's head to Sweet Pea's, then to Fangs, then to Jughead's focused stare, and around to the other northsiders. It was until she looked at her parents did she see any other movement. With a few short strides, her father made his way towards the stage, careful to walk around the line of Serpents while Toni spoke.
Veronica moved back to the microphone, ready to help her father was his next move, whatever it may be. Hiram's voice suddenly engulfed the crowd as Veronica came to stand beside her father at the microphone.
"Hey, folks! Uh, hi. I think we can all be proud to live in a Riverdale, where young people stand up for justice," her father spoke with his usual casual tone, gesturing to the Serpents in front of the stage as they all looked back at Hiram. Veronica stood ramrod straight, her knee-high Chanel boots close together and her hands clasped tightly in front of her olive miniskirt.
Her irises were drawn to Sweet Pea, who has looked to her after her father paused in his impromptu speech. His face was full of anger but she saw a glint of surprise when they locked eyes, and she swore there was a tiny smirk on his lips but she had no way of really knowing with that blasted tape over his mouth. Veronica nodded a few times at her father's words, angling her body towards him.
"Where a young woman can defend the honor and legacy of her grandfather. And where we can celebrate the living legacy of the uktena, who contribute to the rich tapestry that is Riverdale. That is the Southside and that will be SoDale. So, let's hear a round of applause for that am I right?" Hiram finished a bright smile on his face, the strong applause filling the crowd instantly. Veronica began to clap as well, smiling wide and looking at the rest of the crowd.
"That's right. What do you say, people?" Hiram finished speaking once again. Veronica took that moment to survey the crowd. Sweet Pea was glaring daggers at her father, but she felt that was justified given that he had just cut off Toni's speech and the apparent elaborate protest the Serpents had planned. Archie, Mr. Andrews, Kevin, Sheriff Keller and even Mayor McCoy had begun to slowly clap, while the Coopers stood near the back, their hands at their sides, the unamused glare of Alice Cooper piercing Veronica's gaze in a way that Betty's apologetic look couldn't fix.
Sweet Pea was fired up. He was always ready for a fight and that fact that the northsiders were on the receiving end was just a bonus. All week at school he had been forced to sit through oral reports in history class about the importance of Picken's Day to the town of Riverdale, and instead of putting him to sleep like it should have, that nonsense just pissed him off. That Blossom chick even tried to say the park should be renamed after her family. Like they didn't already own this town with their stupid maple syrup which didn't even taste that good.
As if that wasn't bad enough Jones had to go and stick his nose in it, activating his white savior complex after interviewing Topaz's grandfather and deciding to crusade for the uktena, whom he hadn't even known about a few days before. The kid never learns. He's only gotten this far because he's FP's son. He understood Jughead's outrage, the whole situation sucked.
A huge, supposedly family-oriented carnival to honor a rich, white murder? Of course, that's something the northside would do. But they didn't have to throw their party down the street from the Whyte Wyrm for fuck's sake. Picken's Park was two blocks south of the train tracks and obviously southside territory.
Seeing her grandfather's pain had really lit a fire in Toni, as she became determined to both out Jughead in his place and stand up for the uktena tribe. The Serpents had been invited to Picken's Day to provide security for the festival, but what they were about to get was a wakeup call. The Serpents were not going to just let the northsiders eat their snow cones and funnel cakes in peace without a care in the world.
So, for the rest of that week, the Serpents had gathered at the Wyrm and prepared for a protest of General Pickens. He and Fangs had swiped some paint from the utility closet at Riverdale High, which Jughead had reluctantly pointed them to after a twenty-minute argument about where to swipe paint for the signs in the first place. Sweet Pea had selected a large piece of whiteboard and carefully added "Honor This Land" to it in big, bold black letters, careful not to spill any on his beloved pool table which was his biggest money maker.
Beside him, Fangs was leaning in close to a smaller, black piece of board, the stark white paint a big contrast against the black, with the words "Sacred Land" across the front. The plan was to wear the signs across their bodies, so it would be easier for people to see the messages. Meanwhile, Toni was busy figuring out what she was going to say in front of all those northsiders with her megaphone, and her pacing back and forth was only halted every once in a while, when Jones quipped in with a thought, only for Topaz's hard stare to send him back into his bar stool in silence.
Sweet Pea was putting the top back on his can of paint when his head jerked up as he heard Toni's motorcycle boot stomp on the floor. He looked up to see a triumphant smile on her face, staring at Jughead's look of confusion, while Fangs kept painting like nothing was happening.
"I've got it," Topaz beamed, clasping her hands together and whirling around to face them. "We should put tape over our mouths, to represent the silenced," Topaz continued. "Because they can't speak for themselves. We have to do it for them," she reasoned like she was speaking to toddlers.
Sweet Pea chanced a look at Fangs, who looked up briefly from his painting with an eyebrow raise. Sweet Pea nodded once as Fangs looked back down at his work and then glanced at Toni.
"We're in," he spoke confidently, before looking over at Fangs' sign to admire the difference with his. Same message, but different style. He heard Topaz get Jughead's approval and didn't even hide his smirk. It would be worth it to see Jones' mouth shut, although he'd bet all the money he won in pool this week that Jughead would be ripping that tape off minutes in to go on a northside hating rant.
When Saturday finally arrived, all the Serpents were packed like sardines at the Wyrm. Sweet Pea stood flanked beside Topaz with Fangs. Jughead was to his left, tape already on his mouth. He was nothing if not committed. Topaz was busy talking with her grandfather, before giving a rousing speech to all the present Serpents about the importance of honoring the uktena at Picken's Day.
Sweet Pea had heard most it before, and he found his thoughts drifted to a certain raven-haired northsider instead. Veronica Lodge. He had heard she would be performing at Picken's Day, singing a song with the Pussycats, some northside cutesy girl band that all wore cat ears while they sang. After witnessing her performance at the Whyte Wyrm a few weeks ago, Sweet Pea knew Veronica didn't need gimmicks to get an audience. She had real talent.
A small, pink-nailed fist slammed down on the table in front of him, snapping Sweet Pea from his thoughts as he stood his head quickly. He was there for an important cause. He couldn't get distracted by her voice, it was all he thought about for weeks. Soon enough, he was adding tape to his own mouth, eagerly taking the roll of tape from Fangs and throwing his sign over his shoulders before heading out the door.
The Serpents marched down the street to Picken's Park, the usually silent street was packed from side to side with Serpent leather. The silence was punctuated by the rhythmic sound of boots on the ground, and as the group drew closer to the park, Sweet Pea could make out a familiar sound. Her.
Sweet Pea trudged through the park with his head held high, as the other Serpents began to fan out around the crowd which was focused towards a gazebo. Veronica was singing on that gazebo. As they continued forward, Sweet Pea noticed Alice Cooper give them a withering stare as they passed through the crowd, but Sweet Pea ignored her predictability and moved towards the front of the crowd. Towards her voice.
When Sweet Pea dared glance away from the crowd he found his eyes were drawn to hers, the slight surprise at seeing him here apparent in her gaze, although she continued singing perfectly. Her arms flailing over her head and those ridiculous cat ears and animal printed top. Sweet Pea looked away when he saw Toni stop out of the corner of his eye and turned around to face the now apprehensive crowd. It was a shame they had to interrupt her singing, but the Serpents were here to honor their family and their past.
Sweet Pea fixed the northsiders with his hardened stare as Topaz spoke. He welcomed their discomfort and confusion, so used to feeling that himself living in this town. He thought maybe Topaz was finally giving him a good lesson when another voice surprised him. Her father's.
Sweet Pea turned around with the other Serpents to witness the devil himself, Hiram Lodge attempt to diffuse their protest with a smart speech. He felt the anger rise in his chest with every word spoken and magnified out to the crowd, his fists were clenched at his side and he knew he needed to calm down. He looked to Veronica, whose face was rather calm, but her posture gave her away. Tension filled her shoulders and she stood as though there was a rod in her back. Her manicured hands were clasped together, trying and failing to stop them from fidgeting. And as ridiculous as those cat ears were, she did look adorable in them. Their eyes met and he couldn't help but smirk a bit, not that she could see it. He could detect a hint of surprise in her eyes as she stared back at him for several moments, before nodding and turning back to her father, like she hadn't just zoned out during his speech.
Sweet Pea swallowed and turned his gaze back to Hiram, only to feel the anger instantly boil up again as the businessman tried to turn Topaz's crusade into a women's empowerment moment. He could only watch as the northsiders clapped for that bullshit, and Sweet Pea leveled a glare at Hiram that wouldn't ended the man if he had laser vision.
Looking back to the crowd, Sweet Pea's angered subsided slightly when he noticed to his prediction that Jones had ripped off his tape and attempted to storm the stage to stop Hiram, before being held back and chastised by Topaz's grandfather. Serves him right.
Not long after that, the crowd disbanded around them, the enjoyment of the day for the northsiders was clearly over and they started heading home. Sweet Pea, Fangs, Toni, Jughead, and even Cheryl Blossom seemed to stick around, not moving from their places, content being a physical reminder of the history of Picken's Park.
Sweet Pea had tried to keep his gaze on as many northsiders as he could, intent on being an intimidating presence through and through. His intense stare didn't let up until he noticed the unmistakable form of Hiram and Hermoine Lodge, leisurely walking away from the park, Veronica a few steps to their left. She was still wearing those ears on her head, and as he stared at her, he saw her head turn slightly back, catching his gaze easily as though she'd known he was still standing there. He saw her flash a small smile, a hint of pride in her eyes, like she was impressed with the Serpents resolve to stand up for the uktena, and she wasn't angry for her song being interrupted. And he wasn't judging her for standing by her family.
Sweet Pea held the gaze until she was out of sight, and it wasn't until he could no longer see her that he felt a similar smile drop from his face that he didn't remember consciously forming. Until next time, princess.