"Hi Betty. Long time no see."

We both stood there saying nothing, Betty's eyes open wide in surprisement. Beside me was Ruby, who insisted that she went with me for our annual meetings after school. I insisted she didn't join, but she pressured me into bringing her. At least I didn't have to explain to everyone why she wouldn't be there.

Ruby eyed Betty and raised her eyebrow when she saw Lucas standing dangerously close to her, one hand on her shoulder. Betty didn't notice her, but Lucas made eye contact and winked. Ruby rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something before Lucas interrupted her.

"So, are we gonna start or what?" He shook Betty's arm, which made me flinch a little, and Betty diverted her gaze towards him. She nodded shakily and sat down. Ruby sat down too, while patting the spot next to her in signal for me. Lucas looked at her and immediately sat down next to where she was patting while dragging me towards the spot next to him. Ruby glanced towards Betty, who she was now sitting next to, and Betty just looked down at the floor to avoid her stare. She glanced over at Lucas mouthing something.

Rose cleared her throat. "So our first topic: Where is Lucas's jacket? Lucas, you will start." She leaned forward towards Lucas grinning. Lucas fumbled around his words before saying, "Well I uh, didn't want to wear it today. Stuffy y'now?" He grinned awkwardly and gulped. Rose obviously didn't buy it, and neither did anybody else. "Then why does Betty suspiciously have a Serpent jacket when we all know there's no way she can get one unless she stole it or someone gave it to h-"

"Lucas gave it to me because I asked him to!"

Everyone instantly looked at Betty in a confused matter. She glanced at everyone and sighed shakingly again.

"I-I asked him to let me borrow it in case anyone suspected me of being an outsider. Seems to be working, r-right?" Her whole body was shaking and my first instinct was to just run over to her and wrap her in a comforting hug. The last time she was this nervous was during one of her mental breakdowns, which seemed to happen a lot more lately. We both found out the hard way that she does more than dig her fingers into her palm whenever she's angry. Now she shakes whenever she's extremely nervous. It never ends well.

Her shaking only got worse as more of the members started interrogating her. "I-I mean he u-usually isn't that n-nice to me, s-so it's kinda like a on-one time thing!"

"Well there has to be some explanation! I mean he doesn't just give you his jacket for nothing? Are you guys dating? Have you even kissed?"

"N-No that's n-not i-"

"Guys leave her alone!" Lucas interrupted, grabbing Betty by the wrist while using his other arm to shield her like they were in any sort of danger. Betty looked up at him dazed. "Lucas, what are you do-"

"Come on Betty. Let's go back. This meeting is done." Lucas dragged up Betty gently and gave everyone cold looks before dragging her farther and farther away from our spot. Everyone looked at each other for some sort of explanation. "Well I guess we'll all go home. Shall we Juggie?" I heard faintly as I stared at the path Betty and Lucas took. I felt a small poking on my shoulder before I snapped back to reality. I looked up and saw Ruby towering down at me.

"Sorry Ruby, what were you saying?"

Lucas dragged me towards the front of the school where we were standing before we went to the meeting. He forced me to run, which left me breathless before we even stopped. I caught my breath for a moment, leaning forwards onto my shaking knees, before looking back up at him. He was pacing back and forth worriedly before catching my eye and stopping.

"What were you doing? You should've told them to back off! Now they think we're friends and possibly something more." He shook his head and started putting his fingers through his hair, messing it all up. My whole body felt like it was going to collapse as I realized how shook my whole body was. I looked up at Lucas as my knees locked tight and fell completely onto him.

The force of my fall knocked both of us over onto the pavement, scratching part of his cheek. He lifted his head up and rubbed his cheek. My body was numb but my neck and up was conscious.

"Lucas! Are you okay?" I choked out, wriggling my body to fall right next to him. He groaned and lifted himself up while balancing himself with both his elbows positioned on the concrete. He glanced at me and started standing up. I looked up as he walked over to me and started picking me up bridal style. I blushed.

"W-What are you doing?!" I pushed him with my head as he walked over to the wall of the school while setting me down against the wall. I stopped fighting him and just rested my head and body. He sat down next to me and sat there for a few awkward moments before I spoke up.

"Do you think I can change Lucas?" My body started coming alive again and I started moving my foot in circular motions. Lucas hummed. "Well, it depends if you're confident you can keep up with the change, not backing out no matter what happens. It's pretty hard to do it though that's for sure."

I nodded and swerved my body to face him. "I want to change my look, but specifically my hair. My hair sticks out a lot because it's very clean-cut and bright. I need something to represent the darkness that is this town."

Lucas stayed quiet for a second before speaking. "What about a kinda black colored, short bobbed hairstyle? It's seems very Serpent-esque don't you think." He gave me advice too about keeping his jacket and maybe wearing a few colors but mostly black attire. I could feel twitching happening from my hand.

"Perfect!" I told him punching his arm in satisfaction. "Are you willing to do that though? You have very nice long blond hair, why would you change it just to fit in?"

I thought about it for a moment. Of course I wouldn't want to cut my hair. Why would I? Even though it reminded me of the darkness that really recited inside me that could never come out, I wouldn't want to outright destroy it. I needed to find another solution.

"A wig! I can use a wig!" I yelled out, glancing over at Lucas as I waited for his reaction. He asked how I would find such a specific wig in a short amount of time. I giggled a little. The giggle came out for a much different reason than just being funny.

"Let's just say I have a lot of secrets that you don't know yet."

I grinned but felt a slight rupter in the depths of my chest. A slight intoxication of blackness emptied into my heart. I grabbed my shirt and gasped a little bit, but smiled a little bit as the rupter subsided.

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked, obviously worried about what happened. I turned to him and giggled creepily.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm extremely fine."