Getting in that car to head to my old home had my heart in my throat. Every tree that passed, every home, had my breathing getting shorter and shorter; my nails digging in to the all too familiar crescent moons in my palm. I didn't even hear Toni when she said we were here, I was so lost in my head, dreading every second of walking in to that house, up to the room that didn't reflect who I felt I was.

A knock on the car window made me jump. There was Sweet Pea looking at me in concern, one eyebrow raised as if to ask if I was ready to do this. I took a deep breath and nodded my head, tucking some of my wet hair behind my ear. He stepped away as I opened the door, moving my reluctant body out and up the front walk.

I unlocked the front door and pushed my way through, ushering my two team mates ahead of me to the stairs.

"I'll start down here, getting the random stuff I'll need, you two head upstairs and get my school stuff and clothes. Toni, could you grab my toiletries from the en-suite bathroom and the blue towels?" I said, heading to the living room to grab my spare charge cord and laptop, "I'll meet you guys up there in just a minute."

They nodded and headed off, leaving me to gather my thoughts. As I wandered through the living room I stopped at the photo albums, making a rash decision to grab all my favourite pictures. Me and Polly, me and my grandparents…there were even some younger pictures of FP and the gang my mom had hidden in an older album. I took them all and left nothing behind. She didn't deserve to look back on them with rage and poison thoughts. It was her decision to turn her back on that life, and now I was going to make her commit or come crawling back, thought I highly doubt the latter would ever happen.

I grabbed a tote from behind the couch and started putting my finds inside. I took my favourite blanket from the room and then moved on to the kitchen.

I knew whatever I took from here no one would notice. My mother had duplicates and triplicates of almost every possible kitchen utensil, so I took the ones I normally used and then some dry goods to stock my own kitchen until I could afford more.

The sad part is that no one would ever even notice this stuff was missing. The life of privilege I once lived in was starting to disgust me.

I headed upstairs to my room. It looked like Toni had taken some empty totes from my closet and had Sweet Pea grabbing what was deemed "acceptable" clothing. There was more in there than I thought there would be, which was a relief to my savings account. Toni was just coming out of my bathroom with another tote of stuff, which looked like it included all my cleaning supplies and a years worth of toilet paper.

"I figured we should take as much stuff as possible without making it look like we robbed the place, though I don't know if they'll even notice. There were, like, 20 towels in that room girl!" Toni said, her eyes wide open in mock shock.

"Well thanks Toni, I do appreciate you looking out for a dame," I said, winking at her. "Oh, Sweet, I'll go through that!"

He was just about to open my underwear drawer and I figure I'd save everyone the discomfort.

"Yeah, Sweet, jeez, leave the good drawers for me! Betty, you go start on what else you want out of here. I can handle the lingerie."

My mouth dropped a little as she honest-to-god headed over and started sorting through my drawers, but what the hell, we were going to be sisters basically anyway. Might as well let her see what she was working with.

As I moved off to my second closet I could feel some of my stress fading away. It was nice to have people around to help me with this transition.

I had Sweet grab the storage bench at the foot of bed and Toni and I followed behind him with the totes we'd filled.

At the front door I took one last look around and then shut it behind me, closing a chapter in my life that I hoped I wouldn't feel the need to look back on too often.

We loaded up the car and then headed off to the thrift store. I didn't need too much stuff, but a Serpent makeover was in the cards for me. It was time to update my look along with my life.

As soon as we walked in the store Sweet Pea went off to look at the old records, games and electronics as Toni and I headed towards the clothes.

"Alright, Betts, we are going to be showing off your assets a little more in your updated wardrobe. Cropped tops, tight jeans, short skirts…as well as functional clothes, you gotta be able to rumble if ever the occasion calls for it." She said, smirking at me slightly.

"Okay, I'm all for tight jeans and rumbles, but do we have to do the short and the cropped?" I whined, hugging an old ugly mumu to my chest. As the gross, scratchy fabric touched my exposed abdomen I flung it away from me, causing us both to laugh as I realized I'd been walking around in a cropped top all morning.

"Betty, you have a rockin' bod and we are going to work on your confidence, but for now you're just going to have to trust me. I swear I will never work you over to look like a harlot, Serpents honour."

I conceded to her will and watched her run off squealing, throwing old cropped band shirts and…was that a pair of leather pants? I laughed at her excitement and more sedately started looking through the rack in front of me. I picked a few items and then moved to the next rack, picking things in dark washes, bolder colours and things I'd secretly wanted but couldn't fit in to my old Betty persona.

After another half hour of searching I finally made it to the back where Toni and the fitting rooms were waiting. I took my time trying everything on, even things I wouldn't have picked for myself and came away with a few new shirts, tons of new pants, a couple skirts and even some dresses that ranged from sun to bondage.

"Alright, now all we need to do is get you some bad ass shoes, some chunky jewelry and you are ready to rock! Now change out of that dress and I'll meet you at the register with the accessories I've picked out."

I nodded to Toni and then checked myself out in the mirror again. I spun in a semi circle and accidentally made eye contact with Sweet Pea. He looked me up and down and then nodded while smirking. I could feel a blush creep from my chest to my cheeks and quickly spun away.

I shut myself back in the change room and took a deep breath. I could feel a smile creeping it's way across my lips. Was I excited that Sweet Pea thought I looked good? Was I attracted to the young serpent?

No, I'm just giddy that someone else is finally looking at me like I'm a woman…right?

Shaking my head I moved away from those thoughts and changed, adding the dress to my pile of keep clothes. I slowly creeped out of the dressing room and made a not so subtle mad dash to the front of the store.

Toni already had the rest of my clothes and some great shoes and boots on the counter. I smiled in thanks and added my stuff on top. Once I checked out I was ten pounds heavier in clothes and 60 bucks lighter in the wallet. It wasn't too bad, and since I'd relieved my old house of some of their food I wasn't feeling too bad budget wise.

Now though, now it was time to head back to Riverdale High and get my transfer papers. I silently prayed to whoever was listening that I wouldn't run in to anyone as I made my way to the office.

Of course, I could never be that lucky…

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by and reviewed, it means the world to me, honestly.

So I'm cranking through these chapters pretty quickly as I feel inspired, and they should be comping even more quicky as my wonderful husband

has bestowed upon me a keyboard for my tablet *praise the writing gods and my husband*

Please please please leave a review if you find my writing is rushed or if there's detail you feel isnt necessary, all reviews are helpful reviews!