When Sapphire woke up, it was to the concerned faces of all her friends, Tall Boy, and even Sweet Pea's family. She felt a hand in hers and slowly turned her heavy head to look at Sweet Pea who was silently crying. She barely moved her hand an inch before his head snapped up to hers.
"Saph," he gasped, and everyone else's eyes flew to hers. Jughead stepped out to call for a doctor as everyone else crowded around her asking her if she was alright. But then Grammy Sweets snapped for them to move back and give them space.
The small lady moved forward carefully and brushed some hair out of Sapphire's face. "You scared the shit out of us."
And Sapphire blinked because she rarely heard Grammy Sweets curse. "I told my Sweet Pea that you were strong and that'd you'd make it through the surgery. You get better now, you hear. Sweet Pea needs a strong woman in his life."
Sweet Pea blushed, but Sapphire paid no mind as Grammy Sweets placed a kiss onto her forehead. The medicine was still in her veins but some of the fog was clearing up.
Jughead returned to the room with a doctor and Sheriff Keller right as Grammy pulled away.
"Miss Stone, its good to see you awake," the doctor said, and Sapphire nodded her head the best she could. "Your wound is healing nicely. There was no lasting effects or damage, but we're going to keep you in for a few more days to watch just in case of an infection. I'm just going to do a small checkup."
Sapphire nodded as the doctor moved around her checking the machines, "Vitals are good, and everything seems to move along smoothly. As long as everything keeps going fine and you don't stress yourself, you'll be out of here in no time."
As the doctor left out of the room, Sheriff Keller walked up to her, "I know this isn't a good time to ask, but I'll try to be quick, so you can get back to resting."
Sapphire nodded her head and inwardly laughed at sight of Grammy Sweets waving her fist around at the back of the Sheriff's head.
"Can you tell me what happened and describe the shooter?"
Sapphire glanced over at Sweet Pea who had tightened his grip on her hand before looking back at the sheriff. "I had asked my English teacher for the pass to bathroom and when I came out the stall, there was just this man standing there. He wore a black ski mask and he had like these really sea green eyes. He was a taller than you and more buff. He had on this really ugly fake leather jacket and that's all I could remember before he shot me."
He nodded his head, "Thank you for your cooperation. We're doing our best to search for him. I hope you get better soon."
Then he took his leave. Toni moved to her side and held onto her other hand. "We told FP what happened."
Sapphire winced a little, "How did he take it?"
Everyone else in the room face's scrunched as they remembered how much yelling had come from FP. It was loud enough to be heard all over the facility.
"Not well," Sapphire nodded as she took in everyone's expressions.
"That's not all actually," Fangs mumbled. "Um, we managed to get in contact with Quin. He's on his way back here."
Sapphire's jaw dropped. "It's not safe for him to be here!"
Jughead moved forward, "We tried to tell him that, but he didn't care to listen. He's on his way here whether it's safe or not."
The five teenagers descended into silence before Mama Sweets exclaimed, "Oh, I almost forgot. We figured that you wouldn't want any of that horrible hospital food."
She carefully handed over a bowl of their families' infamous soup. The one where only Grammy and Mama Sweets knew the recipe to until another strong-willed woman came into this family.
It was also Sapphire's favorite thing to eat whenever she went over to Sweet Pea's house. Like her favorite thing and add on to the fact that his mother always fixed it when she knew that Sapphire was coming over for dinner.
"Thank you, Ma," Sapphire said gratefully as Toni let go of her hand so that she could eat. Once she finished, she listened to everyone talk about her as the medicine pulled her to sleep but she felt a kiss placed on her hand. She turned to smile at Sweet Pea who was just staring at her with most relieved look on his face.
One week later, Sapphire was still in the hospital as an infection had creep into her wound. It had put a setback on her healing and it was enough for her friends to say fuck the rules and took camping out her room.
She had woken in the middle of the night to see all her friends lying around on the floor in her room. But what shocked her even more was the sight of the northsiders in her room. Even more shocking was the sight of Cheryl Blossom lying cuddled into Sweet Pea's embrace.
As if she belonged there. As if she had any right there.
Like she had been there before.
Sapphire felt sick and turned her head from the sight. She looked to her side to find Toni awake and staring at the two of them.
"You know," Toni whispered quietly. "I thought when she approached me this past week… I thought it was because she might have felt something for me. But I look at this and I don't know what to think."
Sapphire stretched her hand out and grabbed at Toni's, "I doubt it's like that, Toni."
It better not fucking be like that.
Toni turned to look at her with frustrated eyes, "I hope not."
When Sapphire was finally discharged, it wasn't Sweet Pea who was with her to go home. Oh, no. He was "strangely" absent.
Sapphire was giving him the benefit of the doubt because she refused to be one of those jealous and clingy girlfriends. So, she ignored it and listened as Jughead and Fangs worked out a schedule for her to take her medicine while Toni chimed in on who would be on "Sapphire Duty".
She laughed quietly to herself even when Jughead pulled out a notebook and wrote everything down.
When they pulled up to Sapphire's house, they all looked on in shock at the sight of Sweet Pea standing outside of her door with his hands around Cheryl's waist kissing her. Sapphire choked as she watched the two and she felt the anger boiled inside of her.
How fucking dare, they?
Tension rose quickly in the car, but none of them knew what to do with the pure undisguised fury in rolling off her in waves.
Her friends paused, but quickly scrambled into action as she threw open her door. She struggled out of her seat and tried to grab her crutch at the same time before Fangs helped her out.
"What the fuck," she screeched at the couple who jumped at pulled a part at her voice. Her gaze pinned them both to their spots as she moved towards them slowly managing to look intimidating even while using a crutch.
"What the fuck is this," she snarled as she moved closer to them. Cheryl grinned a snottily.
"What does it look like," the ginger scoffed. She pressed her body closer to Sweet Pea and trailed a hand down his chest. "I was making out with my boyfriend before you so rudely interrupted."
Sapphire almost fainted right there.
"Boyfriend," she repeated before throwing her glare over to Sweet Pea. She felt tears build in her eyes before she refused to let them fall.
Honestly, she should've known. Why would Sweet Pea like her? She might have grown up on the Southside, but she looked like a Northsider. She was the physical representation of not being able to choose what part of the tracks she came from.
She was so stupid. Fuck, there was no way he could ever… he could have ever loved her. She was an idiot for not realizing it sooner.
"Get the hell away from my house and don't come back," she muttered as she turned away from them.
"NOW," she yelled when they didn't move. She didn't even turn around when they scrambled off her porch. She just walked into her house and right to her room. She threw her crutch to the floor before lying carefully into her bed and crying into her pillow.
She heard the footsteps of one of the others enter the room, but she didn't even acknowledge as she continued to cry. Sapphire sat up a little when she felt the charm bracelet Sweet Pea gave her poke into her skin. She pulled it off and threw it somewhere in her room.
Fangs watched the girl he considered a sister cry before grabbing her and letting her cry into his arms. He honestly couldn't believe that Sweet Pea would even think to do something like that to Sapphire.
And even worse to do it front of the girl's house.
Oh, shit. How will the other Serpents react to this?
Two weeks later, Sapphire calmly walked pass the happy couple to her seat at the table when a passing comment caught her attention.
"I can't believe that you used to date that," the disgust evident in her voice. "You did the world a favor when you decided that me and you were better together."
Sapphire snorted out a laugh, "Cheryl, you could never be on the same scale as me." Sapphire had kept walking not paying her any attention as she sat beside Toni.
"You're just jealous that Sweet Pea picked me. That I was the one to win in the end," Cheryl stated haughty with her nose stuck in the air. Sapphire grabbed Toni's hand under the table because she knew of her friend's feelings for the red head.
"He's not some prize to win," Sapphire snapped avoiding Sweet Pea's eyes.
"It's alright, Stonewall," Cheryl shrugged. "I treat him much better than you could have ever."
"Yeah, okay, Blossom," Sapphire laughed a little bitterly, rolling her eyes, and turning her back on the couple.
"Aw, did I hit a nerve?" Cheryl purred. "Is little Sapphire still a virgin?"
Sapphire still didn't turn towards the girl.
"Virgin Mary," Cheryl purred but Sapphire still didn't turn around. "I know you hear me, Mary Sue."
Sapphire dragged her eyes over to the couple and even made eye contact with Sweet Pea. Her expression was carefully blank. Sapphire stayed calm and collected, leaning forward and waiting for the moment to drop the bombshell.
"You ask your boyfriend if I'm a virgin," Sapphire replied coolly as a smirk danced on her lips. The expression on her face was filled with humor. She watched with delight as Cheryl's face dropped, though the girl looked skeptical. "No, seriously, ask him."
When Cheryl huffed and glared even more, Sapphire laughed and moved over towards the bar to grab her another drink. She spent a few minutes speaking with the bartender and a few members of her den when she felt someone else coming up behind her.
"Tell me why I shouldn't throw this drink in your face," the voice of Cheryl stated from behind her. Sapphire turned to look at the girl and sighed in irritation.
"Because you'll never get off the floor, bitch," Sapphire shrugged before Cheryl did throw her drink Sapphire's face and pushed her off the stool turning to walk back towards the group.
"Bitch, who the fuck do you think you are," Sapphire growled as she stood up and yanked her back by her hair and threw her into the pool table.
"Back away! Let them fight," Tall Boy called out even as their group of friends ran up to them. But Sapphire paid no mind to that as she dodged Cheryl's nails and fists as she punched the other girl as hard as she could.
"I will break your fucking neck," Sapphire growled as Fangs started to pull her off. He wasn't prepared for when she locked her legs around Cheryl and with the right amount of force, she flew out of his embrace went right back to fighting with Cheryl.
"Sapphire! Saph, let her go!" But Saph couldn't really hear them. The only thing that mattered was beating the hell out the girl underneath her.
It was because of the Blossoms that her parents died.
It was because of the Blossoms that her father figure went to jail.
It was because of the Blossoms that her brother left.
It was Cheryl who had lead Toni on only to get closer to Sweet Pea.
She was going to fuck this bitch up.
Sapphire was yanked back harshly before lips were planted on hers and that shocked her back to reality because no one kissed her without her consent.
She blinked, and Toni was staring at her in shock. She glances to the side to see Cheryl bruise with a bleeding nose being comforted by Sweet Pea and Veronica. She felt something wet and sticky on herself and moved her head to look down but hissed at the pain coming from her neck.
"Let's go get you cleaned up," Fangs muttered glaring over at the girl in Sweet Pea's arms and walked Sapphire and Toni to FP's office. He looked around for the first aid kit until he found it in one of the drawers of the desk.
He opened it just as Jughead walked into the room. "What do you want, JugJug? Cause I'm not apologizing," Sapphire grumbled but Jughead shook his head.
"No, I just came to check on you," he stated scrunching his nose up as she winced in from the disinfectant.
"Damn, Saph, she really did a number on you," Fangs mumbled as he looked at all the long scratch marks on her neck. "If she went any deeper with those claws of hers, you would've needed stitches."
Sapphire winced, but none of them were prepared for the sneer that appeared on her face when Sweet Pea stormed into the room.
"What the fuck was that Sapphire," he yelled.
"Don't bring your ass in here yelling at me for defending myself," she snarled. Their friends awkwardly looked away. The arguments that had been going on between the two were bad enough that Sapphire had stopped sitting with them in classes and at lunch. Hell, they didn't even see her in the hallways anymore.
"You nearly beat her into unconsciousness," Sweet Pea stated as he balled his fists up. And Sapphire's eyes narrowed.
If there was one thing everyone knew about the two of them, it was their beliefs. Sweet Pea didn't believe in hitting a girl, but Sapphire believed in if someone hit you first, then you had the right to knock their asses back out girl or boy.
"And she threw her drink in my face and pushed me off my seat," she shot back wincing a little as Fangs finished bandaging up her neck. "Big whoop. She's dating a Serpent. She needs to learn how to properly defend herself. Daddy's drug money won't protect her for long."
"What so you thought you'd give her a free lesson," he scoffed. "Just admit it, Saph. You're jealous."
And she flew off the table and yelled, "You don't get to fucking call me, Saph. You lost the right to that."
She shoulder checked him as she stormed out the room leaving an awkward silence in the office. She stepped back into the bar and everyone immediately went quiet at the sight of small girl as she left out the bar fuming. She didn't pay attention to any of the Northsiders as she walked out of the bar and hopped on her bike before taking off.
Sapphire made it into her house to the sounds of moaning and groaning and she had to take a step back to make sure she was in the right house.
"What in the hell," she whispered pulling out the dagger Fangs had given her from her boot. She moved slowly through her house as the sounds got louder until she made it to Joaquin's old room.
She fell back with a screech and near impaled herself with her own dagger.
"WHAT THE FUCK, QUIN! CLOSE THE DOOR YOU JACKASS!" Sapphire screamed as she rushed up as fast as her still healing bullet wound would allow so that she could run into her own room. She slammed the door shoot.
"I need brain bleach," she moaned dramatically and wincing at the pain from her neck. She looked down at her hands before walking over to her vanity table, grabbing a wet wipe, and cleaning the dried blood off. She saw that her knuckles had bruised and split open.
Huh, guess I punched the table a couple of times.
A knock sounded on her door before it opened to show her, thankfully, dressed brother. He moved forward to hug her and she moved backwards to dodge the hug.
"I don't think so. You need a shower before you touch me, ya nasty," she teased even as lover boy Kevin walked up behind him. She shook her head before walking and hugging her brother. "I've missed you, Quin."
"I've miss you, too, mi hermana."
Kevin had managed to catch sight of the bandages on her neck as her jacket and hair moved out of the way. "Oh crap, what happened to your neck!"
Sapphire flew out of Joaquin's embrace and raised a hand to the bandages before turning away, "I got into a fight."
"With what a werewolf," her brother snorted as he ran his hand alongside all of them. Kevin walked in further before looking at the small board on her door. "Um, this sign says you time for you to take your medicine."
Sapphire glared at both of them, "No, I got into a fight with Cheryl Blossom and Kevin, I feel alright."
What she didn't admitted that her side was burning like hell and she was pretty sure she popped her stitches.
"Why did you two get into a fight," Kevin asked instead as her brother carefully unwrapped the bandages to see the damage. "It wasn't over Sweet Pea, was it?"
Sapphire snorted. "She threw a drink in my face so I threw her into the pool table."
Kevin gaped at her, but Joaquin laughed, "You always have had a bad habit of throwing people into tables." She smiled at her brother and hissed as he touched one of the scratches on her neck. They were still raw and sore.
Sapphire turned back to Kevin and carefully shrugged, "She was probably mad when I told her that SP was the one to take my virginity."
She moved out of her brother's embrace and walked slowly to not bring attention to the pain she was getting from her side until she blanked out for a second and was stopped from falling on her face by someone's arm.
"Saph, what?" Her brother asked her but she screamed out in the pain as his arm brush over her wound. "You nearly fainted!"
"I'm fine, Quin," she gritted out. "I just... fell asleep... in mid-air for a second."
"That's the same thing," Kevin pointed as Joaquin moved her over to her bed, but the second he helped her lay down she screamed bloody murder as the wound lit up her side.
She passed out. Huh, she seem to do that a lot.