The following Monday, Jane woke up and dreaded having to go back to the school and face Sweet Pea. She'd spent the whole Sunday writing the paper for English, and Sweet Pea hadn't texted. Maybe he lied to her. Maybe he just wanted her for arm candy at the party to make Savannah jealous.
With a sigh, Jane dragged herself out of bed and forced herself to shower and blow-dry her hair. She picked out some plain black leggings and topped it off with a striped black and white t-shirt. Mornings were still chilly in Riverdale, so she grabbed her trusty cardigan. She didn't feel like doing much to her hair today so she let if fall in her natural curls. Jane crept down the stairs so as not to wake her mother and made herself some tea in a travel mug while she ate a banana.
Why did she go to that stupid party? Why did she have a crush on a boy after the last one ended so terribly?
Pushing her negative thoughts away, she focused on driving herself to school without a daydream distracted accident.
Upon her arrival, she made sure not to park near the motorcycles and trudged her way into the school with her bag slung over her shoulder and her travel mug. Sipping on her tea, she lurked the halls in search of Freda but also careful not to be spotted by Sweet Pea. Jane soon found Freda at her usual table in the library and managed to spill everything that happened before the bell rang, which left her best friend in complete shock.
"Damn, my best friend in with a biker gang." Freda joked, winking at Jane.
Jane rolled her eyes and the bell rang. "We will discuss this later, Freda." she made an indication with her hand to zip her lips. The pair bade farewell and took off to their respective classes. Jane's first class was english. Shit.
She took her usual seat and didn't look up from her phone until Ms. Brushett called their attention to her. Out of the corner of her eye she could make out the tall raven haired boy. Jane kept her gaze on the teacher until they were told to hand their papers in to her. With one last look over, she made sure both names were signed before she stood up to hand it in, placing it in her teachers hand before turning and walking back to her desk, failing the simple task of not making eye contact with Sweet Pea. He looked tired but also confused. He shot her a half smile and she returned it with a small one, and took her seat once again. Jane wrapped her hands around her travel mug and her gaze on Ms Brushett until the buzzer rang.
Jane took off out of the class and managed to dodge Sweet Pea until the end of the day. Right before final bell, she received a text.
'Meet me on the bleachers after school. -SP'
Why wasn't this getting any easier?
The final bell rang and Jane slowly made her way to the bleachers, dreading this meeting and her heart in her throat. Sweet Pea was already there, and he patted the seat beside him.
"Look, you've been avoiding me all day. I thought we hit it off the other night. What did I do wrong?" Sweet Pea said plainly and to the point.
"You didn't do anything wrong. We did- uh we did hit it off. I had fun at the party." replies Jane, her eyes on her chipped fingernail polish.
"Hey, there's something you're not telling me. Was it Savannah? The kiss?"
With a sigh, Jane met his gaze. He had deep, dark eyes that knew more than she could fathom, sure she knew school but Sweet Pea seemed to know the outside world. She could tell by different scars on his hands and face, and especially the tattoo of the Serpent sticking out from under his jacket collar.
"I don't know if I'm ready to let another boy into my life yet. The last one was enough for me to swear to stay alone forever." she admitted.
Sweet Pea placed a hand on her knee and she flinched, causing him to pull away quickly. "Were you hurt before?" he asked, a different tone in his voice that Jane had never heard before.
She couldn't bring herself to answer, he already knew the truth.
"Who did it?" he asked.
"He graduated last year. You wouldn't know him." she shivered, and caught a worried look from Sweet Pea.
"You don't have to talk about it anymore. Jane, I really, really like you. I won't smother you and force you to date me. I won't hurt you." Sweet Pea took her hand in both of his. "We can start with being friends. How about that?"
"Friends. Yeah." Jane nodded, allowing Sweet Pea's fingers to graze over her own, warm and comforting.
"Okay, Jane. I have another question for you." he said, a smile dancing on his lips. The lips Jane wanted on hers so badly, but couldn't allow it.
"Shoot."
"Are you afraid of hanging around Southside Serpents?"
This made Jane laugh. "I'm not afraid of a group of ultrafine ladies and gentleman who ride bikes and wear leather jackets."
"Oh Princess, we do so much more than that. In fact, you'll have to come to the Quarry with Toni, Fangs and I. You in?" Sweet Pea asked, raising a brow.
"Yes. Yeah. When? I have my car.." Jane rambled, and nervously began twisting her hair between her fingers.
"I'll follow you home. Let's go."
Jane and Sweet Pea met again in her driveway, and she tossed her book bag and travel mug in the front door before heading back outside to jump on the bike behind Sweet Pea. Her new friend. He fastened her helmet on before taking off down the road. Jane had her hands shoved in his leather jacket pockets as she watched the trees and houses speed by, eventually crossing the tracks and after a few minutes, taking a dirt road to the Quarry. She'd heard of it before but she'd also heard it was solely for Southside use.
It was off a river bank overlooking a giant pool of water, and already seemed to be occupied by what appeared to be Fangs and Toni. Jane hoped they were as nice sober as they were drunk.
"New friend Jane!" called Fangs, as Sweet Pea parked the bike. Jane hopped off without assistance from Sweet Pea this time, earning an impressive grin from him.
"New friend Fangs!" Jane replied, and she was engulfed into another bear hug. Yup. Still as nice.
"Get off her, man. You're messing up her hair." Sweet Pea joked, most likely trying to make sure Jane's personal space bubble wasn't invaded.
Fangs let go of Jane and instead wrapped his arms around Sweet Pea, which soon caused a wrestling match to break out between the boys. Jane laughed and made her way over to where Toni sat on a log next to a makeshift bonfire.
"How do you put up with those two?" Jane asked, shaking her head as she sat down on the log across from Toni.
Toni gave a laugh and shrugged. "I'm so used to it, they're always like this unfortunately." Jane nodded and watched on as Sweet Pea pushed himself off of Fangs, racing to grab a seat on the log next to Jane, while Fangs took the seat opposite next to Toni.
"Did you enjoy your time, boys?" Toni asked the pair, who seemed to be vastly out of breath.
"Just putting on a show for our new friend, Sugar." Fangs joked, and stuck his hands out towards the fire. "Did FP ask either of you to go for the job tonight?" he asked, which sounded like Serpent talk and led Jane to raising a brow.
Toni shook her head, but Sweet Pea gave them a nod. "Yeah, going to knock some heads." Then he turned to Jane. "If I come back all beaten and bruised, will you patch me up, Princess?"
Jane laughed nervously, and pulled her cardigan closer around her. "Sure thing." she said, earning an eyebrow wiggle from Fangs. Toni just buried her head in her hands.
"You boys. I don't know what I'll do with you." the pink haired girl laughed. "Go get some more wood for the fire." she ordered, and the boys did so, Sweet Pea pausing to pat Jane on the head.
Toni pushed off her seat and came to sit beside Jane. "So, tell me. How did you two meet?" she asked, quite interested in the details behind hers and Sweet Pea's friendship.
"He was pushed into me on your guys' first day at Riverdale High." she answered, glad to have someone to talk to.
"You're the little girl!" Toni exclaimed, grinning. "Sweet Pea talked about colliding with a cutie, wrapping his arms around her and saving her from falling onto the floor."
"Yeah, right. Except my locker caught me, not him." Jane laughed, rolling her eyes at the boy's proud lie.
"I should have known better. Well, I'm glad you're here now. I shouldn't be telling you this, but Sweet Pea has been falling into the dark recently, and he needed a light. Hopefully you're the light that will help him." Toni admitted, looking over towards the two who were challenging each other to carry the bigger amount of branches. There's obviously more to this boy than Jane had thought. She was interested to go deeper with him, to be his light. Hopefully he would let her.
After chatting around the fire for quite some time, the sky grew dim and the air cold. Soon enough, Fangs' phone buzzed with a text from FP.
"It's time, let's go Sweetie Pie." Fangs stood up and clapped his hands together, and Toni pushed herself to her feet, Jane and Sweet Pea following suit.
"Do you know what kind of job he has for you guys?" Toni asked, and Jane looked to Sweet Pea.
"Not sure. Probably something with the Ghoulies. I'm going to take Jane home and then I'll be at the Wyrm." The four said their goodbyes and Jane climbed on the bike behind Sweet Pea.
"What's a job?" she called over the sound of the wind.
"It's something new every time. It's how we make our money. Sort of like Grand Theft Auto but not as bad." Sweet Pea told her, his voice loud so she could hear. "Don't be worried. I'll text you when I'm done."
A sense of easiness fell over the pair as they cruised along, Jane's hands firmly gripping Sweet Pea's leather jacket. She had to resist the urge to rest her head on his back.
They soon pulled back into Jane's driveway, and she slid off the bike and handed her helmet back to Sweet Pea.
"Thanks for today. It was fun." Jane said, shoving her hands in the pockets on her cardigan.
"Thanks for clearing things up between us too." Sweet Pea replied, offering a smile.
"Anytime, well you be safe. I'm looking forward to your 'all finished' text."
"Hopefully it comes sooner rather than later. These things get intense." Sweet Pea looked down at his hands, and that made Jane nervous. "I'll see you at school?"
"Of course. See ya." It seemed as though a split second past and Sweet Pea almost moved to kiss her, but quickly stuck his hand out for a handshake. Jane laughed awkwardly and shook his hand. His nice, big, warm hand.
"See you later, Princess." Sweet Pea said with a wink followed by a waved as Jane walked up her stone steps, and watched as the leather jacket clad boy sped down her street and off into the distance. Hopefully this would get easier.
A/N: Thank you for sticking around this long!! Pm me if you have any requests or questions ️ xo B
