She had been sitting in her usual spot near the pool tables when some Northsiders burst into the Whyte Wyrm. They walked around like they owned the place and Sapphire noticed her brother walking in with them. Her eyes blaze because what the fuck, Quin?
FP had managed to keep a brawl from bursting out which would've have ended with all of them walking out in handcuffs and the Northies leaving out in body bags. As the Northsiders left, Sapphire made her way to her brother and scowled at him. He flinched at the look in her eyes and nodded in unspoken agreement. Bring those assholes into our territory. You can very well go fucking live with them.
It was only for the night because Sapphire honestly couldn't stay mad at her brother if you paid her to. Not that someone could afford her, but the point remains. When he came back to the house the next day, she had fixed him make-up breakfast but left before they could have a proper conversation. She didn't care if he kept the northsiders on their side of town and his little boy toy/boyfriend whatever kept a smile on his face.
She had been at Southside High's own homecoming dance draped elegantly on Sweet Pea's arm. She was pretty sure she had the most expensive dress in the building, but it made no matter as she made sure to also deck her own friends out in expensive dresses and suits. All eyes were on her as she moved with eased in her six-inch heels and her beautiful long starry black dress with a plunging V-neck. Every piece of her hair was curled to perfection and her face was contoured and baked and all the other official makeup terms that made her look like a model on one of her magazines.
Toni, who Sapphire was irritated to note brought her camera, was dressed in an off-white jumpsuit that brought out her pink highlights. When she saw the scowl, Sapphire aimed at her camera, she just laughed and took a picture of her before linking her arms with Fangs and made their way to the dance floor.
"May I have this dance," Sweet Pea smirked at her and her heart fluttered like a hummingbird's wing. She took his outstretched hand and let him lead the way to the dance floor.
Time was a fickle thing as Sapphire danced in Sweet Pea's arms before being swapped with Toni to dance with Fangs. When it was time to announce Homecoming Queen and King, she leaned back into Sweet Pea's embrace and felt content as she waited for the winning contestants to make their way onto the stage.
It came as a surprise to her when it was her name being called because she was like 100% sure that she paid off the homecoming committee to make sure that Toni won because her Gem sister was a fucking queen. The shocked look that was on her face didn't go away until she was standing up on stage accepting her crown.
Not many missed the way her nose scrunched up as she was forced to dance with the homecoming king. A fucking Ghoulie who took too much pleasure in having her in his arms.
"I didn't think this was the way to end the rivalry between us, but I can't deny that I don't like it," he stated smugly as one of his hands drooped lower near her ass as the song was coming to an end. She felt the moment her friends made stepped forward to rip his arms off her, but they stopped the second her heel connected with his foot and her knee met his dick. He dropped down to his knees as he spat and moaned curses out at her.
"Remember your place, bitch," she spat. "The likes of you would never be fucking worthy of me."
She turned on her heel dramatically before relinking her arm with Sweet Pea who was torn between walking away with her or finish beating the Ghoulie's ass when their phones went off. Each of them shared at glance at each other before pulling their phones out as if A from PLL was sending them messages.
Except it was worse.
Well nothing's worse than a group of stalking bitches determined to ruin your life and kill you, but the point remains. It was horrible.
FP had been arrested for the murder of Jason Blossom.
If Sapphire thought that was bad, she woke up to find her house empty on the scheduled brother-sister bonding day that Joaquin suggested. She was even more furious to find out that he was on the Northside and oh, she had some words to say.
She threw on a random pair of jeans and white t-shirt and topping it off with her Serpent jacket and black converse before she was speeding her bike through the roads of the Southside to the house where her brother's phone location was coming from.
Turning off her bike, she went to the door of the house, but no one answered, and it was just her luck that she managed to her voices coming from the backyard and in some garage.
Her eyes burned bright to see all those Northsiders crowding her brother.
"I'm not asking you as your boyfriend. I'm asking as the sheriff's son."
"Well get a fucking warrant because he doesn't have to tell you shit without a lawyer," she snapped watching as all eyes swiveled around to meet hers.
"Who are you," the red hair boy questioned but Sapphire wasn't paying him any attention. She only had eyes for her brother.
"Joaquin DeSantos, why in the hell did I wake up this morning to an empty house on Sibling Bonding Sunday?" She snarled at him and her fists clenched into fists.
"They found out that FP used his one phone call on me," he replied calmly not even phased by his younger sister's anger. His words stop her in her tracks and he could see the pain, sadness, and concern in her eyes.
"Is he okay? Does he need me to phone him a lawyer? Are they treating him, right? They better damn well fucking be, or I'll have every single one of those pigs fired."
She ignored the cough in the background and the scoff of outrage from the people behind her as her brother sat up in his seat and took her hands in his. "He's alright, mi hermana. You know the laws, Saph. A Serpent never shows cowardice."
She sighed and nodded, "And you know the laws. In unity, there is strength. I wish there was something we could do to help him."
"We can start by finding out who framed him," a voice piped up from behind her. She shared a look with her brother who nodded inconspicuously.
She turned, and her eyes found their way to a boy who looked incredibly familiar. In fact, the older version of him was sitting in a holding cell uptown. "Jughead Jones. FP's boy."
He looked confused but nodded his head anyway. "I know your dad is being framed. The whole Southside knows. When the leader of the Serpents goes to jail, we take notice."
The blonde girl standing beside Jughead looked at her and stepped just a tiny bit closer to him. Yeah, sweetheart, no thanks. I like my men taller and with neck tattoos who wear dog tags and silver rings. "Who are you?"
Sapphire quirk a brow, "Didn't you hear me? I thought I made it clear that I was Joaquin's sister."
"You two look nothing alike," the redhead boy stated.
"That's none of your business, Northie. What the hell else do you want with us?"
The sheriff's son and Quin's lover boy straightened just a little as he looked at the siblings, "We just want to know why FP called him and what he knows."
The Northsiders watched the two siblings basically have a nonverbal conversation right in front of them. Sharp looks and snarls and sneers. Pointed and exasperated looks and pouts before they turned back to them with Sapphire looking stubbornly out the window.
Joaquin began to explain to them why FP called him and what happened on July the Eleventh. Sapphire mentally flinched because she remembered. She had been hanging out and goofing about while her brother was cleaning up a crime scene.
Somehow the conversation ended with them talking about going over to the Southside to go see Mustang. The guy that the redhead Archie had nearly got into a fight with at the Whyte Wyrm. Sapphire snarled before she disappeared out the garage and hurried over to her bike. She needed to get out of the Northside. She felt dark and unholy just by being in its area. At least on the Southside you knew what was happening. People didn't hide by masks there.
She rode around the Southside for a while and pulled to stop outside of Mustang's apartment complex when she saw police cars pulling up. She hopped off her bike and moved closer when she noticed the covered stretcher being pulled out of his apartment. Sapphire didn't even notice the scream of grief that left her lips at seeing that.
"MUSTANG!"
She wanted to cry and scream and break everything and everybody in sight as she ran forward only for to be pulled backwards and into someone's body. She felt the feeling of familiar silver rings running through her hair as she cried into Sweet Pea's arms.
"Mustang!" She heard the voice of Toni yell as she glances up to see her best friend also rush forward only for Fangs to hold her in a similar embrace to her and Sweet Pea.
She wept harshly into Sweet Pea's arms as they pulled the body into the ambulance and closed the doors. Another Serpent gone from her life.
She went home to even more grief when she noticed that her brother wasn't there and the only person in her house was the Sheriff's son. Sweet Pea and Fangs begin to walk around her to get him away, but she raises a hand to stop them. Just barely though.
The boy, Kevin, says, "Joaquin's gone. He told me to tell you that he loves you."
And fuck it, she hits the floor in dead faint.
It was all over the news and newspapers the next morning. Clifford Blossom was a drug lord, murdered his son, and committed suicide.
And the worst part about it, was that FP was still in jail and her brother fucked off to San Junipero. She was alone. Her brother gone. Her adopted parents had moved away two years ago just in time for her to get emancipated though she continued to funnel them checks just because.
She skipped school and sat in her living room crying to herself holding onto one of her brother's other jackets. Aside from the Serpents, she had no one else left. She was alone.
Sapphire felt sick with grief and hatred. Fucking Northsiders ruin everything.
Her anger mixed with her grief and she tore her living room up. Overthrowing the table and pushing over the couches. A small, very small part of her was conscious to leave the television alone. She punched the wall as hard as she could and barely registered the pain from her hand when it broke through. She tore the pictures off the wall and she just let it all out.
She was about to go through every room of the house in the prices of trashing everything she could get her hands on when she heard her someone knocking on her. She whirled around with the look of pure murder in her eyes as she flung it open.
A red mist covered her eyes when she realized it was the cops. "What the hell do you want?"
The Sheriff held up a warrant for arrest. A warrant for her brother's arrest. "We're looking for Joaquin DeSantos for his part in Jason Blossom's murder."
"Well you're shit out of luck, he's not fucking here. And if he was, I wouldn't let you pig head good for nothing son of a bitches touch him. Now get the hell off my porch and leave me alone," she snarled before slamming the door shoot in their faces.
The sound of her phone vibrating loudly on the counter caught her attention next and her anger started to peak higher. She had a message and barely spared a glance to who sent it as she opened it.
I'm coming over. Be there in 15 -SP
Muttering to herself, she almost texted back but she knew nothing she could say would stop him from ditching to come check on her. Instead, she just walked back to the front door and glared at the police car that was parked across the street from her home. You can sit there all you fucking want. Joaquin isn't coming home anytime soon, she thought as she made her way over to her bike.
She hunched over the bike as she finally registered the pain in her hand. Tears sprung to her eyes and she wondered if it was broken or badly sprained.
She rode over to the Serpents dealer and bought a dime bag of weed. She doesn't usually smoke, but she'd be damn if she didn't find a stress reliever. And headed straight to the medic also to get her hand fixed up. Apparently, it was only badly sprained before but because she drove her bike and put pressure on it, it broke. Well fuck it, she needed to get back home broken hand or not. She'd let it rest when she got there.
When she pulled back up to her house, Sweet Pea was pulling up right behind her. The police car across the street was still there. Still watching even as Sweet Pea pulled her into a hug right then and there.
"Going soft," she muttered against his chest. "You don't usually hug in front of people."
"You looked like you need one," he replied holding her closer before shooting a glare over to the cop car.
When he finally let her go, they walked into the house and she locked the door back. Sweet Pea stood around and noticed the havoc she had wrecked upon her living room. He turned to look at her when he noticed the brace on her hand.
"DID YOU DRIVE YOUR BIKE WITH A FUCKING BROKEN HAND!" He didn't try to yell, but that was plain stupid. As much as she yaps at him about riding with injuries, she goes off and does the same thing.
"Pot meet kettle," she snapped pushing him away as he came close to her. A part of her regretted snapping at him but she was having a bad day so sure her. "What did you come here for?"
Sweet Pea watched with furrowed brows as she moved around her kitchen before pulling out a blunt and her grinder. He watched as she threw her dime bag on the counter and struggled to get the grinder open with a broken hand. He sighed as he moved over in her direction and helped. He even pushed her away so that he could roll the blunt up for her himself.
"I was worried about you. I needed to see how you were holding up," he told her casting a glance around her living room before concentrating back on the blunt. "Not well I see."
Sapphire crossed her arms being careful with her hand. She watched him effortlessly roll up her weed before she muttered out, "Aside for the Serpents, I'm alone, Pea. I've got no one else. And have you seen the shit they've been saying about the Southside on twitter. It's horrible. I don't know what to do."
He passed her the blunt and watched her pull a lighter out of her jacket, lit it, and took a puff. She held it out in offering but he just shook his head. "You need to relax. Everything will work out in the end. I promise."
That's comforting right, he thought to himself. She looked at him blankly as she puffed out a smoke and Sweet Pea let his eyes trailing over her. Her dark hair was hanging messily down to her beginning of her back and her caramel skin was still lightly flushed from what he guesses was anger running through her veins. He watched as her dark brown eyes disappeared as she closed them to inhale another puff and the way her lips parted as she exhaled. The way the smoke curled in her front of her and Sweet Pea felt guilty. Here she was going through the hard time and all he was doing was lusting over her.
Sapphire's eyes flickered over to Sweet Pea as she felt how intently he was staring at her. It made her nerves tingle. She noticed the way he seemed zone out as he stared at her before she looked up to his eyes and noticed how dark they had gotten. She saw the way he rolled his lips in-between his teeth and Sapphire's heart stopped.
The last time Sweet Pea had looked at her like that was after the two of them were drunkenly running away from Toni and Quin, who had been on babysitting duties for the two of them by FP, and they hid in the concession stand to the drive in. Her hair had been hanging wildly around her face flying everywhere after the wind had fun with it. They had been holding onto each other giggling madly and trying to get the other to hush up when they made eye contact. Sweet Pea's gaze flickered down her body to the V-neck she was wearing and the black leggings; his eyes growing darker by the second as he noticed how the two clung onto her like second skin.
It was Sapphire who had kissed him first tasting the tequila in his mouth as their tongue fought for dominance. It didn't take long for them to undress and for the two to share a moment that Sapphire would forever remember. Once the two finished and cleaned their selves up, they went right back to the bar and continued drinking until Toni and Quin and FP and Fangs were quite literally dragging and carrying the two of them out. Sapphire remembered every detail of that night and she assumed that Sweet Pea didn't, so she never mentioned it. As far as she knew, he thought she lost her virginity to one of the rich snobs from her rich girl life.
Sweet Pea knows he was the one to take her virginity, but at the time it happened, he had only saw her as sister and he didn't know how to approach her to let her know that without ruining their friendship. He hadn't meant to grow feelings for her, but hell what's that saying his Auntie used to say all time... something she got from tv. The heart wants what the heart wants.
And sure, the two of them had been somewhat together over the pass months but it wasn't anything exclusive. The two of them still flirted with whoever they want, but they both subconsciously drew a line not to cross. They both could honestly not remember the last time they got laid.
Ahh, fuck it. The best stress reliever is sex, Sapphire thought as she threw out the last of her blunt. She moved closer to Sweet Pea and noticed how his eyes seemed to grow darker with each of her steps. She had just been leaning up to kiss him when there was an excessive knocking at her door.
"Got damn cockblockers," she growled as she twisted away from him and smiled when she heard his own breathy chuckle. She cleaned up the kitchen making sure to properly throw out the weed and blunt wrapper before moving back towards the door. When she opened it, it was once again Sheriff Keller but right behind him was Toni and Fangs pulling up. The other police officers made their way back to the door of her house.
"What do you want," Sapphire snapped at Keller. No one ever said she was reasonable person when high.
He held up the warrant for her brother's arrest alongside a search warrant for permission to go through her house, "We're looking for Joaquin DeSantos for his part in Jason Blossom's murder."
She sighed deeply, "I've already told you that he's not here."
Keller furrowed his brows and gave her a disapproving fatherly look, "We still needed to search the premises, ma'am. It's protocol."
Sweet Pea walked up behind her and wrapped an arm around her. Keller and the other police officers had the unpleasant experience of watching the four serpents hold a nonverbal conversation before Sapphire was once again sighing and Sweet Pea pulled the both out of the way to let the cops in.
"Search all you want. Don't fucking touch anything," she snapped.
Sweet Pea leaned down and chuckled into her ear, "How can they search if they can't touch anything?"
"Bite me," she snapped and moved away before he could reply. She went to stand in middle of the mess of her living room watching every move the cops made. She rose a brow when one of them look from the hole in the wall to the brace on her hand and smirked a little at the fear that flashed in his eyes. Fucking wuss.
Sweet Pea and the others made their way to the living room and Sapphire's eyes flickered over to the them when she heard Toni's and Fangs' intake of breath. "Saph…" Fangs started, and she could hear the pity dripping from his voice.
Her anger flared again, and she wanted to snarl. She wanted to punch another hole in the wall. Fuck she wanted to go back in time and punch Clifford Blossom in the face. She wanted, no she needed to do something destructive. But she couldn't. Not with the cops in the house searching for her brother.
They waited a few more minutes as the cops continued their search as if Joaquin was just going to pop out from under her bed or something. While they waited, Sweet Pea and Fangs got to fixing up the furniture in her house and Toni swept up the glass from the vases that fell over. She shot them a look because she hadn't wanted them to do that before she went back to glaring at the cops. It didn't take long for them to leave with Sheriff Keller telling her to call the police if Quin showed back up.
As if she'd sell her brother out.
Once they left, Sapphire glared at the ground before Fangs himself pulled out his own dime bag of weed and Sapphire decided that she need to hit that blunt because fuck them, the police blew her high.
The four of them sat around on her couches passing the blunt around and drinking some of the red wine she keeps hidden in one of the floor boards under her bed. Toni ended up leaving first because she had a meeting with Tall Boy about FP's son coming to join their school. Fangs left afterwards because he had to babysit his little sister while his mother went to the jubilee on the Northside.
Which left Sweet Pea and Sapphire together once again. The two looked at each other before looking away quickly. Neither said anything. Neither brought up the moment they had hours before.
Sapphire had stood up to go grab the wine bottle that Toni had put it in the kitchen when she felt a hand wrap around her ankle. She looked down at Sweet Pea who was still lying on the floor looking up at her. Except this time, he wasn't looking at her with lust.
He stared at her as she was the brightest star in the night sky. The one person in the world that always pulled your attention to them no matter how hard you tried to turn away. She was the light to his life like moth by lampshade. Like a cat chasing after a laser light.
"Sweets," she questioned, her voice going soft as her heart started to beat faster. He sat up a little and moved his hand from her ankle and to her uninjured wrist. Then he pulled her down to his lap.
"We need to talk," he spoke softly as he wrapped his arms around her. "A talk that's been put off for a while now."
Sapphire swallowed before turning to face him. "On a scale from water to the tequila that Joaquin probably left in his converse shoebox in his closet, how emotional do you think this conversation is going to be?"
He breathed out a laugh before making a face to look like he was thinking, "I say the rest of your wine, but I'm also hoping that it doesn't get that emotional at all."
Sapphire nodded her head before she slid off his lap and sat in front of him. "What's it that you want to talk- "
"Do you love me?"
Sapphire choked on her spit. Her eyes went wide as she whipped her head up to look at him. "What?"
"Do you love me," Sweet Pea questioned seriously. "Because, fuck, I never thought I'd end up loving you, but I do. I really, really do."
Sapphire was starting to feel lightheaded, but it could be the buzz of wine finally kicking in. "Sweet Pea, I-I, yes. Yes, I do love you. I just thought you didn't see me the same way."
"How could I not? Look at you, Saph, you're the most beautiful girl I have ever laid my eyes on and I can't think of anyone else to spend the rest of my life with. You're perfect for me."
"Sweet Pea…"
"And I know I've done some shitty things. Getting you to ask other girls out for me or that time I took your bike to Tiana's house to go fuck… but Sapphire Maria Stone, there is no other girl in the world that could even compare to you. These last few months have been shit watching you flirt and giggle with all those other guys and I tried to drown out my jealousy by doing the same with other girls, but it wasn't easy. There is literally no other girl that could hold a candle to you."
Sapphire felt tears gather in her eyes and Sweet Pea internally panicked a little and brought her back into his arms. He placed a kiss onto her forehead before continuing with his words. "I'm a jerk for not admitting this until now, I know… I can't be sure if I would've said it any time before, we both know that I'm as inexperienced as they come in this area…"
Sapphire had started to cry sniffling every now and then. "Please don't cry, Saph. I'm not worth your tears. I don't even deserve to have you loving me."
"You're a big sap, you know that. Under all that anger and delinquency, you're a big teddy bear," she sniffled as she smiled slowly. "Sweet Pea, I've had a crush on you for years. Since like sixth grade and you walked into the library and threw Scott Reynolds into the sci-fi bookshelf because he had flipped Toni's skirt up…"
"… I don't care that you don't think you deserve to have my affections. You are the only boy that I want in my life. By my side. The light of my life. And yeah, there have been times I wanted to wring your neck especially when it came to other girls but Pea, it's just. I can't even explain it. It's just… you're the one for me even if we grow up and fall in love with other people, you'll always have a special place in my heart."
The two looked at each other light blushes dusting their cheeks before Sapphire stood up from his embrace. She held a hand out for him to take and pulled him along with her. He did the gentlemanly thing and went outside to secure their bikes before coming back in and she locked the door behind him. She continued to pull him towards her room cutting the lights off as they went.
Once they made it inside, she closed the door behind them and both changed into their night clothes. The emotional turmoil from the day weighing down on them. Sweet Pea placed a kiss on her forehead as the two lied down in bed.
And that anger that had been bubbling in Sapphire's blood? It faded away until left nothing but a dull ache.