The drive to Southside wasn't nearly as quiet as the one to Riverdale had been. I was excited to start my new school, thrilled to be away from the preppy posers of the Northside, and above all? They had auto shop at Southside. Riverdale high only had a "theory of mechanics" class that women were allowed to take. Can you say sexist?

Toni and I chatted the whole way over to school, I even gave her a play by play of what happened inside Riverdale High.

"Oh my gawd! I wish I could have seen their damn faces, girl! Why didn't I go instead of Sweet, shit!" she belted, hitting the steering wheel with her palm as I laughed.

"That's definitely not my fault, I texted you! I don't even have his phone number."

"You should have seen that boy move when I said you needed back up! I didn't even have time to lock up the car before he was gone. That boy is sweet on you, no pun intended. Look at you go, wrapping broody men around your finger on every side of town."

I could feel the blush cover my face as I thought about Sweet Pea. I mean, he was handsome…brooding and clearly bad ass. He had my back and was protective, but I really didn't know a damn thing about him. I'd have to rectify that at some point, but I was happy to just let my hormones have this one for a while. It was nice to crush on a cute boy without having to over analyze feelings right away. I really wasn't ready for that.

"Alright, I think he's cute, but-hold on I said but!- I'm not ready for a relationship PLUS I don't even know him. Let's just get through my first day of hazing, alright?"

That last comment seemed to sober Toni up a bit. She then proceeded to give me a run down of what life was like at the school. How the teachers were only in it for the pay, the lackluster equipment available to us and above all, the Ghoulies.

There was some huge turf war going on and I was going to have to watch my back. No Serpent should be alone on school grounds, It was just asking to get jumped. It didn't scare me as much as I'm thinking she intended. I had never really had problems with people, but then again I'd never been part of a biker gang before either.

As we pulled into the parking lot she showed me "our" section of the poorly paved area. No one would touch Toni's car here so all of the stuff we'd procured from my parents would be safe.

"Alright, I can't miss another calculus class, so I'm going to leave you with Sweet to get your transfer secured and your schedule set up. Text me when it's done and then I'll meet you out here after class. I really don't think they'll force you to go to last period of the day half way through. Now stay out of trouble you two, I'm looking at you Sweet Pea, keep her safe!" With those final words she was off to the races, bolting around a corner and out of sight.

That left me all alone with the handsome young biker to my left.

"Alright Blondie, let's go get you set up in this hell hole," He said, smirking and turning towards the slightly ominous brick building.

As I moved to catch up with him I couldn't stop myself from giving him a quick once over.

He was toned in a way the Riverdale boys weren't. It looked like all his muscle was from actual hard labour instead of hours purposely spent at the gym trying to woo women. His shoulders were squared and strong, filling out that serpent jacket a little too well. He looked like he could throw me over his shoulder without a second thought and that thought in and of itself got me a little hot and bothered.

In my reverie I failed to notice he had stopped walking…and crashed right into the firm backside I was shamelessly ogling.

I squeaked and quickly apologized as I used his hips to keep myself upright, a fact not lost on him as he turned around and held my hips in return.

"Be careful there Blondie, "he whispered, ducking his head closer to my ear, "I'd hate to be getting the wrong idea about you."

My eyes were glued to his mouth as he pulled away from me, watching another signature smirk grace the cupids bow of his lips. Licking my own I looked up into his eyes.

"I don't think there are any wrong ideas happening here Sweets."

The chocolate colour of his eyes darkened as he stared at me.

"Don't tease me, you won't like how it ends."

I fluttered my eyelashes and started walking away, only to turn back and cock my eyebrow, "Won't I?"

With a growl he caught up to me and grabbed me around my waist again, pressing my body firmly into his. Before anything more could happen a tweeked out looking teenager came running out of the doors to the school, nearly crashing into us.

With a curse Sweet Pea loosened his grip on me and pushed the kid away. If looks could kill, let me tell you… As soon as the kid was out of sight he shook his head and started walking us into the school.

"As much as I'd like to ravish you in public, we have a job to get done. Maybe after all the paperwork is dealt with I'll give you a ride…home." With one final wink we made our way into the office. That dark promise had me eager to get this done.

A little fun with my new body guard screamed bad idea, but maybe I wanted to see where this could go. Maybe legacy Betty had a wild side.

Before my brain could dive head first into the gutter, we'd breached the walls of my new educational facility.

It was dark in here. Not just because half the lightbulbs didn't work, but also because it looked like the windows hadn't been cleaned in over a year. There was graffiti on everything. Literally everything. The floors, lockers, walls, classroom doors, even the ceilings were covered!

You're definitely not in Kansas anymore Cooper, I thought, looking around the hallway, maybe you should have taken Toni a little more seriously.

There were kids clearly skipping class in random alcoves. Some avoided eye contact, others purposely sneered in our direction. None of them made a move though, whether it was because of how close we were to the guarded office or the glower on my companions face…I guess only time would tell.

Sweet Pea held the door open for me and then followed through, the door creaking shut and then clicking ominously behind us. He motioned me ahead to the bullet proof plastic where a sign clearly states "hands where they are visible, only one person at the glass at a time." This place looked like they spent more money on the safety of their administrators than the education of their students.

"Um, hello, I'm Betty Cooper, I'm supposed to be transferring here today? I have my paperwork right here…"

"Put the paper through the slot down below and have a seat. Someone will be out to get you for class selection in a moment." The unsmiling woman said, barely looking up to gesture me to an uncomfortable looking seating area as far away from the glass as they could manage in the tight space.

Shrugging at Sweet Pea we both made our way to the seating area. He sat as close to me as he could, keeping his back to the wall and his eyes on the door as if waiting for an attack from outside. He looked as uncomfortable in this space as he did in my parents house. Like anything could happen at any moment.

Is this the learning environment I was walking in to? It was a miracle anyone learned anything in this place.

About ten minutes after sitting down an uncomfortable looking balding gentleman came out from behind a banged up looking metal door across the office. His eyes shifted from me to Sweet Pea and back. He gestured for me to follow him to the windowless room and that's when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Sweet Pea stood up and followed me to the door.

"I'll be standing right outside this door Betty," he whispered seriously, "if he tries anything you scream, you throw a chair, you make as much noise as possible and I will get you out of there, okay?"

I gulped audiblly and nodded my head, making eye contact for as long as possible until I was alone in the room with the stringy, sweating male.

"Alright, Miss Cooper, do you mind if I call you Betty?" he started, his voice nasally and higher pitched than I would have imagined.

I shook my head, trying to keep as light of a rapport in here as possible. It smelled stale, like sweat and broken youths. The carpet was stained in several places and the singular halogen lamp did an abysmal job of lightening up the space. It made it twice as creepy in here, not to mention the almost laboured breaths of my new guidance counsilor were making my hackles rise.

"It says here you were in all honours classes, sorry to say we don't offer many of those here but I can put you in honours English…now, were there any classes you had in mind to fill in the ones we don't uh…provide?" He started leaning closer to me, putting an arm on the back of the chair I was in and breathing deeply. He adjusted the wire rimmed glasses on his nose and gave me a once over.

I could not believe this…who was in charge of hiring guidance councilors for this place?! He was clearly here to help himself more than he was here to help his charges!

"We offer auto shop in place of the theory of mechanics class, though your perfect little hands needn't get dirty on my watch…I could just give you the credit, in exchange for…something else.." his eyebrow raised in what I'm sure he thought was a suggestive manner as his hand stroked over my own. I could feel the surface of my skin break underneath the unrelenting pressure of my nails. Is this the time would I should yell out? What could Sweet Pea do anyway that wouldn't get him in a fuck load of trouble?

"It's Miss Cooper, if you don't mind, and I'll thank you to back away from my person." I bit out. How many people had he taken advantage of in this room? I could almost feel the desperation in this place, eating away at my hope, at any sort of safety a person in authority was supposed to provide.

Looks like day one of school was going to be as infamous for me as my last one at Riverdale High. There was no way I was going to let this man prey on me or anyone else for that matter. Sweet Pea's warning should never have been necessary and this man would bring no more harm to students if I had anything to say about it. Clearly physical threats didn't work otherwise the rest of the gang would have dealt with this problem swiftly, which meant I'd have to spin things the old fashioned way. Looks like old Betty Cooper had a twilight ride.

"My name is Elizabeth Cooper, daughter of Alice and Hal Cooper, you know, the owners of the Register? I'm sure they would just love to hear all about the guidance councilor that preys upon his students like a sick, deranged pedophile, locking them away in windowless rooms, telling them, let me guess, that "no one will ever believe them" or that "their lives would be so much worse should they say anything" am I right?"

Watching him from under my lashes I could see his spine straighten and perspiration trickle down from under his pathetic comb over. It would serve him right to be as scared in this space as I'm sure many others had felt over the years. I couldn't just get him fired though, who knew what kind of person he would be replaced with? No, I had to de-fang him. The devil you know was always better than the one you don't.

"Now, I'm not sure what you've gotten away with in this room, but it all ends today. North side will take me much more seriously than any kid you've ever had come through this room so from now on, you do as I say, we clear?"

I could see him getting angry, a vein in his temple started throbbing and his face was going from ashen to red pretty quickly, I had to diffuse this in an unquestionable way.

"My best friend also happens to be Kevin Keller, the Sherriff's son, so if you think my only clout is through journalism you are sadly mistaken."

I know you're probably mad at me Kev but you gotta come through if I have to bring this to you…

That seemed to drain all colour from his features as fast as it had started rising. He nodded stiffly, bowing to my upper hand as I'd known he would eventually.

"I am going to pick out my classes, you are going to submit them and ANY time a student is forced to come to you, you will do your job and only your job. If I EVER hear otherwise your life will be lived out in a cell where you will get a prisoner's form of justice, capiche?"

With a final nod he wrote down my classes and opened the old door, not making eye contact with me or anyone else in the vicinity. He scurried back to his office proper and the door locked behind him.

I smiled a slightly evil smile at Sweet Pea as I walked sedately from the room.

"What did you do to Mr. Smallman?" he quietly questioned, having noted the tail between the legs retreat he made.

"Let's just say that no one ever has to fear that man again." I said, walking to the main exit and beckoning him forward. Once we were outside I told him exactly what happened and what I'd done, earning me a "Damn" and a hug that my feet didn't touch ground for.

"You are a snake in the grass Miss Cooper, just wait 'til the gang hears." He praised me, putting even more colour in my cheeks, "day one and the Legacy leaves a legacy of her own."

Little did I know that what I did would make me untouchable by the end of the day. Teachers feared me, bullies avoided me and even the Ghoulies had given me a pass. I made life at the school better and it wasn't forgotten.

Now if only Forsyth Pendleton the Third hadn't been sitting out back with Toni, waiting for the newest prospect…