Sweet Pea and his sister talk about what happened with his mother. Jug and Betty comfort Sweet Pea and his sister. Who is your favorite Serpent? Mine are Jug, Betty and Sweet Pea!

Chapter Two.

Crushing weight.

That is what it feels like when he tells me that my mother is dead. Pain in my chest. That is what it feels like when I realize that I will never see her again. Shaking hands. That is what happens when I understand that I will never hug her again. Crying. That is what happens when the mysterious person with Betty looks at me.

My sister.

Missy runs across the space between us and jumps into my arms. I gather her close to me, holding her much smaller frame to my body. I hold her as close as I can. I let her rest her head on my chest. I let her sob. I sob into her too. I cry so hard that my chest aches and my body starts to convulse. It hurts… bad. I squeeze all of the pain into her. I hold Missy so tightly, not even caring that some of the other Serpents are around us.

I see them then. They all come into view. I sniffle, stand up straight but keep Missy in my arms. Jughead puts his hand on my shoulder and Betty comes around to my side. Then I feel a couple of the others hugging me too. We all stand there for a few minutes, hugging and breathing deeply. I try really hard not to cry anymore. I hate it. It hurts so bad and crying only makes it worse. It makes it hurt so bad.

"We're here for you, Sweet Pea," Toni says beside me. I nod as a thank you because I can't handle speaking the words out loud. I can't talk. I don't want to say anything and have my words fumble into more fear, more tears. I can't handle that right now. It's stupid and it's so weak but I don't care because I need it.

"Let's give them some space, Serpents!" Jughead says loudly. They all scatter. Toni smiles and squeezes my arm before she walks away, nodding. I can't my voice work. I try to thank her but it just cracks so I can't say anything at all. Betty and Jones don't leave.

"We can give you guys some space," Jug says.

I clear my throat and run my arm across my face. I remove the tears and throw my shoulders back, realizing that I am standing in front of the queen and king of my gang. I should pull it together but damn, I haven't felt pain like this in a long time.

"Wait," I say, swallowing hard. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Missy knows," Betty says. "I thought maybe she'd want to tell you."

Missy shakes her head. I turn to her and she looks sad. I can't ask her to talk about this. Maybe she doesn't need to hear about it either. I haven't seen her cry since the day I left living with them. That was the first and only time I have ever seen it. I think I cry more than she does. She's so much tougher than everything I know.

Right now, she needs some space.

"I'm gonna bring Missy back to my trailer," I say. "You guys come over in about an hour? I need to talk to you outside."

They both nod.

"We'll be there, Sweet Pea," Betty assures.

I nod and walk away, back toward my trailer with Missy at my side, wrapped in my arm and against my side. She doesn't talk. She walks with me in complete silence, even when we get to my trailer. I open the door, glad I cleaned up this morning and let her in. She walks in, looking around and then looks at the bed. I nod to her so she sits down, resting her hands in her lap. I walk over and put my arm around her.

"Want to talk about it?" I ask her.

She shakes her head.

"I'm tired," she says.

I nod.

"I know," I say. "Me too."

I let her lean back on the bed.

"I don't want to kick you out of your own bed," she says.

"Nah, it's okay," I say with a grin. "I can sleep later or on the couch if I need to."

She nods, closing her eyes. I push her black hair away from her face as she begins drifting off. I lift up the dogtag that dangles from her neck. It's the other one to the one that I have. I can't believe that she's still wearing it after all of this time. It makes me smile a little bit.

Tears fall down her eyes. I want to help her. I want to make her feel better but I have no idea how. We are both hurting and very confused as to what we are going to do now.

"Goodnight," I whisper to her.

I get up and go outside to sit on the step of my trailer. I grab a beer from the outside six pack I leave under my trailer. It's probably stupid but I want it so I don't care. I take a long hard swig.

I wait just a few minutes before I see Jug and Betty walking up to meet me. The dark sky looms over us. The only light I have is from the flickering light on my trailer and the bright moon that never fails us.

Jug gives me a sad expression and then sits beside me. Betty pulls up a crate I always leave out and sits down beside me. I look down at my hands, squeezing the beer bottle a little tighter. Jug looks down at the beer and then at my face.

"What?" I ask.

"Come on, Sweet Pea," he says.

He's right. This is stupid and pathetic. I don't need this to figure out what I am doing or what's going on. I need to calm down myself. I need to learn to be okay on my own or okay with the Serpents. But counting on something else is not the way to go, no matter how much my chest hurts and my eyes ache.

"You're right," I say, tossing the bottle to the ground. Betty gives me a warming smile that is a little bit comforting. I'll take just about anything at this point.

"So…what happened?"

"She didn't tell you?" Betty asks.

I shake my head.

Betty and Jones look at each other and then back to me.

"Missy found your mom at home. She had a needle in her arm and…she was gone, Sweet Pea. She overdosed on heroine," he says.

Fuck.

I put my head in my hands and sit there for a few minutes before the pain comes back. It is so heavy and so painful that it is crushing my very soul. I feel two hands on my back. Sobs wrack my body when it all comes down at one time.

"Missy said she called the police and they located you. She said she came straight here after that," Jughead says. I can hardly hear him.

"You're okay," Betty says. "Missy is okay. It's good that you guys are back together. I'm so sorry that this happened, Sweet Pea."

Then I realize that I am not at all alone. The Serpents will always have my back. Missy will always be there in the background. My King and Queen will always protect me, as I will protect them.

Neither of my friends leave me as all of the pain of the events come crashing down.

Who is your favorite Serpent? Mine are Jug, Betty and Sweet Pea. Thanks guys!