Alright, thank you all for your patience! I had a bit of writers block and I just decided to enjoy my birthday weekend before getting myself out of the muck. I hope you enjoy!
The ride into school was exhilarating. You could tell FP had been riding for most of his life as he took turns with ease and accelerated like it was nothing.
I had my arms wrapped around his waist, loose at first but tighter as we picked up speed. I was laughing by the time we pulled into the lot, adrenaline running high and my senses enveloped by the sheer masculine odour coming from FP. He always smelled so good, like smoke, motor oil and cedar wood.
He put the bike up on the stand while I kept my hands on his waist to maintain balance. He turned his head to look at me and I winked while pulling myself off the bike, running my hand across his waist and turning to my friends. As I sashayed over I could feel him watching me and hear his incredulous laugh at my boldness. Oh yeah, Betty Cooper had changed just a little.
"Woo, sweet threads Betty-girl, you look so grown up on daddy's bike in a big girl jacket." Fangs taunted.
I flipped him the bird and did a little twirl for the rest of the gang, flipping my hair and going on all out on my impromptu fashion show, catching more than one appreciative glance.
"Now, now, Fogarty, just because I fill it out better and look nicer riding bitch doesn't mean you're any less of a woman."
A chorus of 'ooohs' and 'burns' came from the group and Fangs clutched his chest in mock hurt, turning to FP to validate his manliness.
"Don't look at me boy, I came here to back up our newbie but it looks like she has it all sown up around here, even got you pegged."
With a drama queen huff and a dramatic twirl he grabbed a couple of the boys and walked off, making sure to put some extra sway in his hips.
"You know, if I didn't know him so well I'd swear he played on my team," Toni said shaking her head, "but since I do know him all I can really say is that boy would do well in drag, his hips swivel more than mine do!"
"Alright kids, play nice, do well in school and Betts? Give 'em hell." FP declared, straddling his bike and kicking it into gear. He tossed me a crooked smile and a wink as he sped off, causing Toni to elbow me in the ribs and drag me away from the proverbial wolf pack.
"Atta girl, play the field, no reason to make any one guy feel too comfortable around here."
"Woah, no, Toni, there's nothing goin on-"
"I didn't say there was, but it'd do Sweet some good thinking he doesn't have all the pussy dialed at this school. I'm not saying he's not a good guy or a great mentor, but he plays that field like…well some sort of sports analogy that I'm sure exists." she tapered off as we both laughed at her lack of sports know-how.
Walking into the school before classes was a new experience for me all together. Not only were the halls twice as loud at this school, they were also so full of whispers you couldn't make any one word out. What I could decode, however, was that I was the newest topic of hot gossip.
The men were all assessing me, some with blatant lust, some with awe; the women…well that seemed pretty much the same too, though there was some open hostility I'd never really been on the receiving end of before.
"Just ignore the girls, they all seem to think you're some sort of huge competition, and some of the men folk will probably think the 'north sider' is easy pickings. You just do you and they'll eventually see you're not to be messed with."
"Though with the way you handed Smallman his ass I'm sure they'll come around sooner than you think." Sweet added, appearing from a dimly lit side hall. "Can I talk to you quick, Legs? I'll walk her to her first class Toni."
With a wink and a twirl of her own Toni was off to hang out with some of the crew before first period, leaving me to fend for myself in the rather entangled situation I'd put myself in. We were silent for a while, me lost in thought on how I was going to handle this, and him…well, it looked like he was brooding. As he stopped in front of the door to what I assumed was my English class, I had come up with a game plan.
"Look Sweet Pea, about last night," I started, shushing him as he tried to cut in, "no, let me get this out. Last night was fun but I'm really not looking for anything serious right now."
The stunned look on his face made me waver just slightly in my conviction to cut him off completely, and then I had an even more brilliant idea.
"But you know, if either of us has an itch that needs scratching, you have my number and I have yours. Sound good?"
He seemed to mull this over for a while before nodding his head slowly.
"All good, besides, we're crew first and friends with benefits might be better for us anyway, at least while you're still starting out. But, total honesty, either of us gets feelings we pull the cord, deal?"
I could agree to those terms, after Archie I'd built up a pretty good wall around my emotions, never letting them get more out of hand than I could deal with. Jughead was a bit of a special case since I did love him, but having him throw me away so carelessly after I'd done my dance had hardened my resolve even further. Nothing was going to stand in my way of making it in this club.
"You have first period with Jones and I already talked him into walking you to second period since I'm on the other side of school. Good luck."
And with those parting words he was off. Yeah, I don't think I was going to have any problems keeping myself from getting overly attached to Sweet Pea, especially since he was leaving me to deal with Jughead on my own day one.
Now, at Riverdale high as the new person you could silence a whole room just by walking into it. At Southside, the noise seemed to kick it up a notch with my entrance.
While scanning the room I noticed many things. Jug hadn't yet arrived, the desks were in a serious state of disrepair, there didn't look to be enough books for everyone and there definitely wasn't enough seats.
As the room continued in a dull roar I made my way over to one of the barred windows and made myself as comfortable as I could on the ledge. I contented myself with people watching while I waited for Jughead to show up, and as I glanced at my watch I realized he was going to be cutting it pretty close.
As the world's loudest bell went off the teacher made their debut but lo and behold, no Jughead Jones.
I settled further into my spot and tried to pay attention to what the day's lesson was, not so subtly checking the door every few minutes to see if he was going to show up. They were doing a book report based on a novel I'd already read and done an assignment on at my old school so I could zone out as much as I wanted for this lesson.
At ten minutes to the bell I'd given up on Jughead being here and was becoming increasingly worried about my chances in the hallways on my own. Not to mention it looked like a couple guys in leather jackets from the back were giving me the eye during class. They definitely weren't Serpents which led me to the horrifying conclusion that they were part of the Ghoulies.
The bell rang and I took my time gathering up my stuff, hoping that they would leave and I could try to make it to my next class un-accosted. The teacher had filed out faster than even the students and I wasn't going to have any sort of buffer between myself and these three hot rods.
By the time I'd realized my plan was failing horribly it was too late. They were heading towards me and I didn't have anywhere to run and hide, or anyone to run to.
Thanks a lot Jones, you are so going to get it if I live through this!
What happened next I don't think anyone could have predicted with any accuracy.
The man who I assumed was this small group's leader walked ahead and snatched my schedule out of my hand.
"Alright, little dove, looks like you have science before lunch. My boy here," he pointed to his left , "will accompany you since he has that as well. Don't make a habit out of being on your own, you're only protected inside school grounds."
I must have looked completely dumb founded. Was a Ghoulie actually helping me or was this some sort of elaborate ruse? As I made eye contact with the leader I conveyed my skepticism.
"So, because you say so, I should just walk out of here with him and just what, trust that nothing is going to happen to me? Not likely."
He rolled his whiskey brown eyes at me and took another step into my personal space.
"You castrated Smallman, you and only you have a pass. A bubble, if you will. No Ghoulie will touch a hair on that pretty blonde head until we feel the scales have been righted, and we'll be sure to tell you when they have. Do we have an understanding there, ducky?"
"It's Betty, and yeah, we have an understanding." I said, feeling a little bit less intimidated.
He smirked and gave me a once over before snatching my cellphone from my back pocket, as I protested he just kept on with what he was doing.
"I'm Damien, you have my number, use it if any of our boys get out of line. I'll handle it personally."
I took my phone back and nodded my head jerkily, hiking my bag onto my shoulder as I did. I spun around to head off, hearing the footsteps of my tour guide behind me.
"Oh, and Ducky? Feel free to use my number if you uh…have any need of me." He said in a tone that came across as overtly sexual.
My only response to that was to flip him off and keep on walking as he laughed it up with his buddy.
My body guard held the door open and I passed through, being reassured by the hall's loud buzzing compared to the quiet and nearly stifling room I'd just left behind. As I walked beside my escort the buzz just…died. I swear the entire hall went mute as eyes stared after us. A Serpent and a Ghoulie side by side, no fighting, no taunts or sneers. When he opened the door to my next class and we both walked in a burst of noise started behind us.
I thanked him and made my way to an open seat next to Toni, who's jaw might as well have been on the floor.
"Did Jonah just walk you to class?" she half whispered half screamed, bringing what little attention wasn't on me to swing right around and stare.
"Jeez Toni, Jug wasn't in class and I didn't know where to go, he walked me here, no big deal." I said shrugging, trying to convey to her with my eyes that this wasn't a topic to be talked about right now.
She nodded her head in understanding and then started sending glares across the room, making people turn away and continue with their own conversations.
"What do you mean he wasn't in class, I was just talking to him before first period," she whispered, pulling her phone out under the table.
"Text everyone and tell them to meet us outside for lunch, we need a freaking team meeting." I bit out under my breath, telling her everything I couldn't say out loud about Jughead leaving me to the wolves. It may have turned out okay in the end but if the situation was even a little bit different I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
Once this class was over Jughead Jones was going to get a piece of my mind. And probably little bit of my fist.