A/N: Watched the new Riverdale episodes where the Serpents come in, and let's just say I kinda laughed when I saw the Serpent boy had a snake tattoo on his neck. I know it wasn't my thought that made the creators add that in, but it kinda makes me happy that I can think it's part of my little fanfic. Anyways, onto a new chapter 3 (I'm sorry that i'm stretching the story a lot so bare with me!)

The next day as I came to school, Betty wasn't there. I woke up next to an empty spot as I wiped the sunlight out of my eyes and started getting ready for the day. I remember her saying she had a few things she needed back home, so she was going to sneak into her house and get them. She apparently didn't want to make contact with her parents just yet, especially because she would've gotten in so much trouble. I'm just glad I don't have parents like that.

Or parents at all.

No. I told myself I wouldn't get all sappy and emotional about my past. It might be a sad story, but none of the Serpents could care less since to them it's a stereotypical horrible childhood like they all had. None of us have had a great life but we managed to survive on our own. I mean, take Ruby for instance. She has a family, just not a great one. Sometimes she comes to school worn down and broken like she just had a fight with someone. I wouldn't say that her father would go as far as to hit her, but honestly we could never tell anymore if the bruises were from other Serpents or from him. Poor girl, she's fighting in a fight she can never win.

Than again, Bryce has persevered in another matter, debt. Most of us didn't really know about him since he was scrawny and weak, but Rose convinced all of us to let him into the group and let her tutor him in the Southside. Bryce seemed to stick to Rose after that, not even complaining when Rose told everyone about how his family was in huge debt from Bryce's dad losing his job and all. Usually losing a job wasn't harsh at all, but in his case they had already piled a huge stack of taxes and debts they needed to pay off. In the end they fled to the Southside, opening up to it with very wide open arms.

Cyndil.. well she can be very hard to read. I've seen certain signs about her, the crazy tomboy-ish getup and the certain attachment to Rose, but all I know from her is that she was raised on the streets by a group of women. She's grown up knowing everything she needs to know about how to survive and how to use all of the equipment provided for her, but somehow she seems more.. aware of the fact that she's always close to Rose. It's more of a.. connection attraction than the one with Bryce. Bryce's connection with Rose is more of a big sister deal while Cyndil's is.. questionable. She's definitely hiding something but I can't quite figure it out yet. All that I know is that she's hiding something.

Now you probably didn't want to hear all of this boring exposition about other people when you haven't even heard anything about me! I know I told myself not to get all emotional.. but here we go! It's okay to say this outloud because I'm talking in my head.

Like Cyndil I wasn't exactly born into a home. I was born in a ditzy little hospital in the corner of a huge apartment complex at the very last parts of the Southside area. It was known for being extremely reliable when it comes to cost, but not in service. My mother would say how hard it was to even get a public room because of the crappy staff they had. Nonetheless she eventually, while in labor mind you, waited until there was finally an available spot. My mom loved to reminisce about my birth and all of the details about it. The atmosphere, the way the staff looked, and even the person she had to share a room with.

"She was very beautiful, hard to believe she was a Serpent." She said, in her softly spoken tone she used around me whenever it was storming outside. We were usually sleeping right under the rain or if we were lucky, under a store front.

"She was accompanied by a handsome man, probably her boyfriend, who was holding her hand the entire hand she was screaming out in pain, and man was she screaming." She giggled, raising up her arm to block the rain from hitting me and making me catch a cold. She always got colds.

"When her baby finally came, it was a girl! I could tell she would have the most beautiful golden locks of hair her mother had. I didn't quite catch her name, or even a glimpse at the baby, when I started my little tantrum. After all my screaming and crying you finally came out and I couldn't be happier." She rubbed my head and grinned as I chuckled along with her. "To this day I still remember the golden-locked woman and I always think about what happened to her and her family, since I haven't seen her since. I wonder if her daughter had grown up to be a beautiful child, just like you'll be."

After that day my mom started getting worse and worse. It wasn't just colds anymore, it was fevers and diseases, then eventually a diagnosis that we both knew was going to take her away eventually. I spent the rest of her days tending to her needs, even if that meant not going to school. One day we both realized half-heartedly that she was going to die in her sleep in the night.

As her eyes started closing, she gathered enough strength to tell me her final words. "Lucas, my baby, please live on your life and go to school. Make friends, get an education, find your one true love. Don't grieve and promise me you won't let your life drag you down. This horrible life I've given you."

Tears streamed down my face. "I promise Mom, I promise. I'll find them for you mom, I promise. I'll find the golden haired woman and her child. I promise."

She smiled weakly and said, "I love you" before slowly closing her eyes.

"Yo Lucas." Hunter walked up to me and punched me in the arm, making me snap out of my trance. Over the years I found it difficult to contain myself whenever I looked back on those moments, but I've taught myself to look natural if I happen to look back on them during school or around other people. I spread a grin across my face.

"What's up Hunter. Seen the others?"

"Of course. They're in the cafeteria discussing all the latest gossip. Jughead and Ruby included. You should head there fast."

I nodded and looked around the hallway and only saw a few lingering students. It was mostly empty.

"Seen Betty yet?"

"Who's Betty?"

I glared at him.

"Dude, you know who Betty is. Just tell me where she is."

"I swear I don't know. Jughead would be the first one to know I'd think."

I gritted my teeth and gave him another death glare.

"First of all, Jughead doesn't know anything because he could care less about her."

"Dude."

"Second of all, even if Jughead did know where she was, that would mean that she would have to tell him in the first place, and as far as I'm concerned, she went straight away to do her business."

"Dude"

"Third of all-"

"Dude! Look over there!"

Hunter grabbed my shoulders and spun me around in the direction of the front doors. Standing right in front of them was Betty, or I think it was Betty.

It was a girl for sure. Extremely dark bobbed haircut with a certain leather jacket draped across her shoulders. She was wearing black lipstick and black eyeliner accompanied by some very light eye shadow. Underneath the jacket was a very short black tank top and some jeans. She glanced over at me wildly and marched over in my direction.

She winked at me and dragged me towards one of the classrooms. "Let's have a little talk, shall we?"