(Betty)

Toni offered to drive me to my trailer in her car while Sweet Pea followed on his bike. After giving her directions the car seemed to fall into a tense silence…at least it was tense on my part.

I knew what the trailer looked like, in theory, but I was worried it was going to look much worse than I imagined. Did the cleaning service my real estate agent hired get everything? Did the maintenance crew manage to get the bathroom up and running last week? Was my kitchen sink still backed up with whatever was growing in there over the last 3 years? Had the smell been aired out enough?

All these questions and more were spinning through my already over worked mind and I knew I wouldn't be able to breathe until I'd seen the place myself again…if I even could then, depending on it's state of disrepair. I was promised the front door wouldn't be hanging at such a drastic angle and that the window would at least be patched up, if not replaced…the carpet would still have cigarette burns in it but that could be lived with until I had the money to afford new flooring. Hopefully I wouldn't be judged too harshly on the state of my new place…it couldn't be as bad as I remembered anymore, right?

As we rounded the last bend and came upon my trailer I let out a quiet sigh of relief. The window had been replaced and the door looked pretty okay, even the outside light was on! I definitely had power at least, which meant maybe the plumbing was fixed too?

"Okay, here we are," Toni said, shutting off the car and opening the door. Her shoes crunched on the gravel as she made her way up the drive, looking around at the slightly leaning structure in front of her.

I stepped out more cautiously, aware of the big potholes in what could be called my driveway. At least it leads to a little run-down garage, how many trailers could say that? As I picked my way up the drive I became all too aware of the myriad other problems with this place…the siding wasn't in the best shape, that hole over there looked like it might belong to a possum, and oh god…was that a hornet's nest? That wasn't there last week!

"It's a uh…nice place you got here Blondie." A male voice said from behind me.

FUCK, I totally forgot he was here, I thought, just another person to witness the fall of the once illustrious Betty Cooper.

"It's really not as bad as it looks, Mr. Reynolds promised me the door would lock and that the plumbing would be up and running this week…everything else is just cosmetic…" I trailed off, knowing that I was getting arched eyebrows behind my back.

As I approached the door I dug around for the key the aforementioned Mr. Reynolds had sent to me. It went into the lock no problem and the door didn't even creak when it opened! The inside, however was definitely as bad as I remembered…and that smell, gawd, it must be coming from the carpet.

Looks like that will have to be replaced sooner rather than later.

I scrunched up my nose and pushed forward, checking the kitchen sink and the bathroom. The kitchen sink wasn't growing any cultures anymore, which was good, and the bathroom looked like the toilet had been replaced completely. I mean, thank god for small mercies, but it must have been worse than anyone was guessing. Worse than I wanted to imagine.

As my guests followed me in I could see them making faces at each other in my peripherals, and not so subtle hand gestures.

"Betts, you can totally stay at my place tonight, I have the room and then we can have some of the guys come over and fix up a couple things, it wouldn't be any problem and-"

"It's fine," I cut her off, "It works for now and I can make changes as I need to, it's really not that bad, it was so much worse last week and at least now it's livable."

Toni looked like she wanted to argue but the look on my face must have stopped her. Did I look resigned? Desperate maybe? Either way, I got myself into the mess, I'd be damned if anyone else thought I needed rescuing. I had a little too much pride saved up to cave to anyone's wishes now.

"Thank you guys, so much, for getting me home safely. So um, what time should I be up tomorrow?" I asked, trying desperately to change the subject and get those two out of here before they noticed anything else wrong with the place.

"We'll be here at 9, Toni will bring you some clothes for school, you won't quite fit in with the clothes you usually wear."

Sweet Pea was gruff, but his word seemed final as he dragged Toni out of my place.

"See you tomorrow B! Feel free to call if you change your mind!" Toni yelled on her way out the door, "Jesus, let go of me before I die on this driveway Sweet, I can't move that fast!"

I waved at no one, seeing as my place was vacated so quickly, and laughed as I went to close and lock the door. As shitty as it was, this place was my own and that made it perfect. Ok, not perfect. But, better than nothing.

As I walked into the bedroom I felt a great sense of relief. I was home. No one could take it away from me. I lay my head on the new pillow and mattress, the two things that absolutely had to be replaced, and tried to drift off. It took a while, but I managed with a smile on my face. This was home.

MEANWHILE… *ring ring* *ring ring* "Yeah Sweet Pea, what is it…no, you're right, you take her on those errands and me and a couple of the boys will be by to fix it up a bit…no, we should be done before you get back…yeah…no, I'll tell her I came by and did it. Thanks for letting me know."

As FP hung up the phone he wondered just how stubborn a girl could be to live like that.

She'd learn soon enough that asking for help from family wasn't weak.

She would learn that Serpents never stand alone.