she got the best of me.

@ Kol.

Amery sighed as she closed the door to her house and make her way to South Side High. The morning started out rough since her father was having one of his down day, so she had to make sure that he was situated enough so that he would be okay on his own while she was going to school. Life for Amery had been hard since her father was diagnosed with Leukemia and she was the only one there to take care of him.

Sighing once more, Amery arrived to SSH and continued to make her way to her locker, passing by Sweetpea and Toni, but neither of them spoke to her nor made eye contact with her as usual. However, the three of them used to be best friends, but when Amery's father first fell ill, both Sweetpea and Toni stopped talking to her and she, to this day, she didn't know why they stopped being friends, especially since she needed them the most now.

Grabbing her books and closing her locker, Amery took one last glance at her former friends and headed to her first class.

---

Jughead walked down the corridor of South Side High, finding his locker. It was his first day at the rundown high school since he was forced to transfer there from Riverdale High. He had seen familiar faces of Serpents that he knew, but because he content being a loner, he didn't bother greeting them as he just wanted to get through the day without any problems.

Grabbing the material he needed, he closed closed his assigned locker door and looked down at the map of the school in his hand to find the room for his first class of the day. However, in the midst of walking, Jughead bumped into a girl, knocking her down. He put the school map in his back pocket and reached down to help the girl up, who he recognized. "Hey Teagan. Sorry for knocking you down. I'm trying to find my class in this crazy maze of a school" He said grabbing her hand and helped the girl up.

Sweetpea leaned back against his locker next to Toni and looked down the hall just watching everything happen around them. And he couldn't hold back his sigh as he witnessed it all happening. "You don't think Teagan would do anything stupid do you?" He asked his friend as he witnessed Teagan and Jughead converse little ways down the hall. "And by that I mean give away important Serpent information to someone who isn't a Serpent," he said knowing that FP was Jughead's dad and that made Jughead this important person they had to protect. However, Sweetpea wasn't going to trust the Jones boy until he proved himself and became a serpent himself. Not to mention Jughead was surely still close to all his little Northside friends, and that just wasn't a good sign.

He shook his head not even wanting to think about the whole situation right now and decided to look elsewhere only to spot Amery also back at school using her locker. "I also didn't know that Amery was coming back," he said sighing again. If Sweetpea hadn't already hated being at this hell hole of a school he really would've hated it now. The last thing he wanted to deal with was an old friend coming back into his life who he wasn't really friends with anymore. After all, surely she knew what she did to upset him and Toni. But add him worrying about Teagan into all of this and Sweetpea wasn't sure how he was going to survive the year.

---

Teagan dusted herself off once she was off the ground and picked up her bag. "You're fine, this place can be a little crazy when you don't know where you're going," she said turning to her own locker which she'd just arrived at. "Why don't you tell me where you're going and I'll show you where it is," she said knowing that trying to make the adjustment to a new school at this age had to rough. Especially when all your friends were at another school that wasn't even that far away. Plus Jughead was like an honorary serpent in a way, his dad had kind of been in charge and well Teagan knew as well as the rest of them did that this wasn't a good time for serpents, and none of them should really be alone.

"Do you miss being at Riverdale High?" She asked him just wondering what the biggest differences would even be, well other than the obvious ones. "I mean I know it's a lot nicer than it is here, it's probably less drug infested, and the teachers probably care a lot more about you guys there then they do us here, but do you miss it?" she asked him hoping she wasn't being to forward or weird or anything. It just wasn't very often they got anything new or exciting around here. And from the few times that Teagan had been around Jughead as they'd grown up, she could tell that he was an interesting and exciting person. He just gave off a different vibe than most.

[ I hope this was an okay reply! ]

@ Kol.
[You're reply was great! ]

It saddened Amery a little that she was back at her old school with people she knew, but none of them would speak to her nor look in her direction. She was hoping that she could reunite with her former best friends, but it looked like she was going to be a loner, like she was when she briefly went to Riverdale High. But this time it was different. When she was attending Riverdale High, she became a loner so that no one on the Northside would know that she was a South Side Serpent and wouldn't have to deal with being harrassed by the students. This time, it's going to be because the group of people who supposed to have her back, ditched her. So the only way for Amery to survive the rest of her stay at SSH, she would have to keep to herself and stay away from trouble.

The bell rang meaning that class was starting and Amery saw students piling into the room, including Sweetpea and Toni. Amery sighed and pulled her Serpents jacket close to her body as she looked down, hoping no one would bother her.

---

Jughead stopped walking and looked at Teagan. He shrugged his shoulders at her question. He didn't particularly miss Riverdale High. He was sad that he was attending the same school as his girlfriend, Betty, and his best friend Archie. He noticed that Teagen was waiting for his answer, so he shook his head no.

"Although Riverdale is nicer presentation wise, I don't really miss it. I just mainly miss my girlfriend and my friends. Everyone else hated me because they anf their parents knew who my dad was." Jughead explained to Teagen. "That and the whole thing with Blossom family murder amdy dad being framed, it just left a bad impact on him and I."

Hearing the warning bell go off in the school, Jughead smiled softly at Teagen. "We should get to class soon. I don't want to set the wrong impression of me." He joked lightly as the two of them found their class and walked in.

Sweetpea walked into class with Toni and he took his usual seat close to Toni and Teagan. He’d literally be damned before he let people just walk into his or his friends lives and mess things up. That didn’t mean that Sweetpea hated Jughead, or even Amery for that matter. But he didn’t trust them. Though there were good reasons for that. Both of them had been students at Riverdale High, on the Northside which hated the Serpents. And he didn’t know what all had gone down with Amery while she was there. Sweetpea just couldn’t risk letting either of them just walk into the Southside and expect things. He had to put the group first and while they protected their own, they also had rules that needed to be followed.

---

Teagan felt really bad about everything going on with Jughead. She knew all about the crap going on with him because it had been all over place. Everyone knew his dad was being accused of killing Jason Blossom, and of course all that was blowing back on Jughead and really the rest of the Serpents. But honestly, this wasn’t the first time some scandal had broken loose making life as a Serpent harder. Either way Teagan was happy with her life like this, and she didn’t let people thinking she wajs part of some gang get her down. Mostly because the people in said ‘gang’ were her family. They were the people she spent all of her time with, the people who supported her through thick and thin. They were also the people Teagan would go to the end of the world for.

She couldn’t help but let out a little laugh at Jugheads comment. “Right,” she said running her fingers through her hair as she walked into the classroom. “Because impressions are the important things here,” she said as she took her seat. The day someone came to southside high and actually had a teacher try with them because they made a good impression would be the day their school ended. The teachers here didn’t care, and no matter what the students who’d been there forever did nothing was going to change. Honestly, Teagan had given up even trying to win their stupid games forever ago, because she knew the staff here didn’t care. They just saw her as another gang member because of her leather jacket and thought what everyone thinks, ‘that she was throwing her life away’ or that ‘she was going to end up on drugs, in jail, or dead before she was 18’. And while she hated it, Teagan knew she couldn’t change people’s minds who didn’t want to accept it.

@ Kol.

It was half way through the school day and all Amery did was just kept to herself during her classes. So far both Sweetpea and Toni had been in every one of her classes, but they kept their distance from Amery except for one class where the teacher had assigned seats and Amery had to sit in between them. She definitely felt the tension there and it made her want to disappear at that moment.

The bell had rang, signalling that it was lunch period. Amery grabbed her lunch from backpack and headed to the cafeteria, finding an empty table that was placed in the middle of the room that almost served as the dividing line between where the Serpents and the Ghoulies sit. She took out the content inside of her paper lunch bag and began eating.

Soon, Amery was approached by Jughead and Teagan. She was surprised to see them both together, but she was also surprised that Teagan wanted to be near her, especially since she is close to her former best friends. She was startled when Jughead asked her why she wasn't sitting with the rest of the Serpents, but she replied anyways.

"I'm technically a Serpent, but I'm not viewed as one...and my former friends don't talk to me anymore...I just don't want to cause issues with anyone." Amery told Jughead, her eyes avoiding Teagan.

---

Jughead and Teagan left their classroom and headed to the cafeteria. "So what's good to eat here?" He asked, knowing that the food was probably going to be a shit show. When they walked into the cafeteria, he noticed how divided it was. The Serpents on one side and the Ghoulies on the other, but then he noticed one girl sitting st a table by herself, away from everyone. He looked st Teagan and pointed her out. "Isn't she a Serpent? I wonder why she is not sitting with the rest of them? I thought I would be the lonely one today." He said and then started to approach the girl and asking her the same question.

Jughead noticed that Amery avoided any eye contact with Teagan and that made him wonder if she knew about the girl's situation. But before he could get the chance to say anything else, Sweetpea, Fangs, Toni, and a few other Serpents surrounded them, not looking happy.
"Look guys I'm not looking to start a fight or anything. No need to roll up like you're gonna kill someone." He said, not even feeling the intimidation that radiated off of them.

"Seriously T?" was the first thing Sweetpea asked his friend when lunch rolled around. He knew that it was probably a little much for them to all circle around this one lunch table, but he also felt like this was what was expected of him. It wasn't like they were big on keeping secrets with one another or handling things in secret either. Usually, if they had problems with one another everyone knew, not that that was a very normal thing. Most of the Serpents really were pretty close and got along really well. This was just a weird situation.

"This isn't even about you Jones," he said glancing over to the boy who'd spent the better part of the day thus far warming up to Teagan, Sweetpea could see it from both of them. And while it did bother him a little, he wasn't there to deal with Jughead Jones at the moment. He'd save that for another day, or maybe just another time later that day. At the moment Teagan knew why he was there and he was going to deal with this issue.

---

Teagan rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Really Sweetpea. I haven't said a damn thing to anyone. And you know I wouldn't, or did I not swear I wouldn't, plus if shit went down you know who's side I'd be on. So I don't know why you're acting like I'm some kind of traitor or something. I literally just walked in to get lunch," she said sometimes wondering why Sweetpea really was the way he was. Because sometimes he could be an idiot. He and Teagan had been friends for a while now but he still tried to act all tough around her, as if she needed him to remind her who was in charge or something absolutely ridiculous.

"Let's go Jughead, I'll show you the best way to make sure your food doesn't suck around here," she said grabbing his arm and trying to pull him out of the circle of crazy. Maybe then her friends could work on their damn issues. And she wasn't going to tell Jughead what was going on with all of them, just because the last thing that she wanted was to involve herself in their stupid little war or whatever the hell it was with Amery, and she knew for a fact that if she did break her promise to Sweetpea and Toni they'd never be the same. They'd probably never forgive her, or at least not anytime within the foreseeable future.

@ Kol.

Amery watched Teagan and Jughead leave before looking back down at her simple lunch. She could feel Sweetpea and Toni staring down at her, so she looked back at them both. "What happened to us? Why did you guys ditch me? What happened to never leaving a Serpent behind?" She asked them. Amery wanted to know why her two best friends left her behind. "I need you guys the most but not only did you turn your back on me, but you have the whole gang against me." She said with a frown when neither of them said a word.

---

Jughead walked with Teagan as they left Amery alone to deal with the Serpents. He didn't like how they left, but he also didn't want Sweetpea or the other Serpents try to start a fight.

"You don't have to go in details, but do you really know what went down between Amery and Sweetpea? Because the last thing I knew was that they were the best of friends." Jughead spoke, once they were away from everyone

Sweetpea sighed and set his hand down on the table in front of her, "what happened?" he asked looking at her as if she should know. "Really? How about the fact that you abandoned us for your fancy new school on the Northside for a year. And now that you're back you want things to go back to normal? How do we even know you're the same person?" He said clearly upset about the whole thing, and he honestly thought he had the right to be.

After all, his best friend had literally just up and moved to the Northside where she was going to a nicer school, and while most people hated The Serpents and everything they stood for that didn't mean it was impossible for one of them to live on the Northside and become part of that world. He also wasn't an idiot, he knew that they were all at a point in their lives when any one of them could be swayed a lot easier than they should be. He didn't like to think that it would happen, but in the back of his mind, he knew.

---

Teagan ran her fingers through her hair and turned to Jughead, "yea I do and believe me it's just best to let them do their own thing with this," she told him getting a feeling that Jughead was going to question a lot of things. Which Teagan didn't think it was a bad thing at all, but she did know there were some things better just left alone. And Sweetpea dealing with things the way he liked was one of them because when people stepped in with him it literally made them worse than they really needed to be.

"I'm sure everything will be fine them though," she said glancing back to the table and really hoping she was right. She didn't want things to get super out of control, especially not now. Because things were shifting in Riverdale and it didn't feel like a good type of shift, and the last thing any of them needed was tension amongst themselves while there was also tension outside of the group.

@ Kol.

Amery flinched when Sweetpea slammed his hand down in the table in front of her. "It wasn't like that and you know it, Sweetpea." She said, getting a little angry at him since he was accusing her of things that were simply not true. "I went to Riverdale high because I wasn't getting challenged enough academically, but I never once associated with the north siders. I didn't even talk to Jughead and he's technically a serpent. I kept myself practically invisible there so that they wouldn't find out that I was a Serpent so they wouldn't harrass my family and all of you"

Amery then stood up angrily and got all up in Sweetpea's face. "I'm back here because I got kicked out for missing so many days of school due to family emergency and because those fucking northsiders found out that I was a Serpent and they were harrassing me and my dad. But you would have known that if you and Toni didn't abandoned me." She said glaring at the both of them, before grabbing her lunch and walked away from them.

Jughead nodded, "I hope so too. I remember the three of them being the best of friends." He said with a shrug but then looked at Teagan. "Enough about them, what's your story? I'm sure you know enough about me, but I don't know what you're all about." He said as they found a secluded area to stay for the rest of their lunch period.

While Jughead listened to Teagan talk, he couldn't help but be intrigued by her, that he almost forgot about Betty. He hadn't really thought his first day at SSH would go this way, but it was only half the day things could pop off between the Serpents and the Ghoulies.

[Sorry for the late reply. I had a pretty busy and stressful week with college. ]

[ oh you're fine! I totally get it! I'll probably be all over the place soon myself because I'm doing NaNoWriMo which starts tomorrow and I fully intend on completing it this year ]

Sweetpea hadn't expected Amery to blow up as she had, and he had no idea what she was talking about with her dad. When he glanced over to Toni he could tell that she was just as shocked as he was. He wanted to verify a few things before he trusted anything. While there was a part of him that believed her, Sweetpea just wanted to make sure that she'd been telling them the truth. Sadly, this was all part of his weird nature and he couldn't break himself of his habit. So Sweetpea went to the one person at Southside High currently who could actually tell him what happened. And while he wasn't a huge fan of Jughead he knew that the Jughead had no real reason to lie to him about anything. "Did Amery talk to you ever while you two were at Riverdale high? Do you know anything about her dad? And lastly, was she being harassed by jerks like that red-headed friend of yours?"

---

Teagan ran her fingers through her hair and thought for a moment about her story. She didn't really get asked that a lot so she was never really sure what to share and what not to share with people when they did ask. "Let's see, I live with my grandparents, moved in with them probably about three years ago and I kept to myself for a while because I was not only new in town but everyone here on the Southside had heard about my parents and the last thing a new kid wants at any school is to feel like everyone already has an opinion about them, and that they don't fit anywhere. Luckily though a young Toni Topaz, Fangs, and Sweetpea took me under their wings after they saved me from a group of Ghoulies who were not very nice and let's just say wanted to do awful things. And so I started to hang out with them a lot more and one thing eventually led to another and I ended up becoming a Serpent," she told deciding to just give him the short version rather than the longwinded detailed explanation about everything. Though she'd tell him more if he asked.

@ Kol.

Amery threw her lunch out and walked out of South Side High, knowing she wouldn't get in trouble regardless. It wasnt like the falculty even cared about the students in the first place. She decided to go back home and check on her father to make sure he was okay. Ever since Amery found out that her father was diagnosed with Leukemia and how aggressive it was, she had been very nervous about leaving him alone for long period of time, afraid that something bad may happen while she's gone.

Sighing, Amery started walking the route back to her home. As she was walking, she couldn't help but think about what happened in the cafeteria and Sweetpea's accusations towards her. She was absolutely pissed that he and Toni assumed that she ditched them and betrayed the rules of a Serpent so that she could be one of those stuck up Northsiders. When that was simply not the case. She just wanted to actually learn at school and she wasn't getting that at SSH, but she never once turned her back on the Serpents. The only she did was not wear her jacket so that none of the Northsiders would find out who she was so that they wouldn't bother her or the people she cared about.

---

Jughead listened to Teagan talk about her life. He knew that she was holding back some information, but he wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't able to due to certain Serpents rules or because she didn't want to give out too much details. Jughead placed his hands on top of hers, that were resting on the table. "I know that you are holding back and I don't want to pry and make you uncomfortable, but just know that you can trust me. I know I may be a new face but I'm good at listening." He offer and gave her soft smile. Although Jughead wasn't much of a people person, he felt comfortable around Teagan and he wasn't sure himself if that was a good thing or not.

Jug noticed Sweetpea storming towards him and Teagan from his peripheral. He quickly removed his hands from Teagan so that he wouldn't get her in trouble. As soon Sweetpea arrived, he began asking Jug a bunch of questions all at once.

"Look man, calm down. When Amery first came to Riverdale, I tried talking to her be ause I knew who she was, but she never spoke back to me and would always be quick to get away from me. So no she never talked to anyone at school. I don't know exactly what's going on with her dad, but I do know that he is dealing with some health problems but not sure how serious it was. Dad was going to check up on them but never got the chance to because of him being arrested. Amery wasn't harrassed when she started going to Riverdale, but someone got word that she was a Serpent and that's when everyone from the school and pretty much the town harrassed her and her father, trying to kick them out of the are. Arrchie, Betty, and Veronica never harrassed her, they would never do that since they know my Dad." Jughead answered the questions.

"Look, I'm sure that you are a great listener, but so is my therapist. And I don't exactly trust people easily. I haven't opened up about my past with anyone here, so if I do decide to tell you more details it'll be a while," Teagan told him just wanting to be open with him because she had no reason not to be. And all the other serpents knew that not only was she in therapy once a week but that she'd open up about everything when she was ready. Teagan was sure too that before they'd really gotten to know her as a person that they had opinions about her and thanks to her parents but she was very thankful that people hadn't pushed her into opening up. Because honestly, she wasn't ready to tell anyone else her story yet.

Teagan glanced down at Jughead's hand on top of her own, and she couldn't help but feel something. She was pretty sure that Jughead had a girlfriend back at Riverdale, and the last thing she wanted was to be one of those girls that broke up a couple especially a happy one. And she hadn't heard anything saying Jughead and his girlfriend were unhappy. So while she felt mixed emotions when Sweetpea made his way over to them and Jughead pulled his hand away, she was also kind of thankful. Because she really didn't want to get mixed up in something too messy.

"Sweets why don't you just go and talk to Amery, honestly I'm sure she'd appreciate it," Teagan told Sweetpea as a friend, knowing that someone needed to tell him otherwise he'd be stubborn as always and would do nothing with all the information he had.

Sweetpea sent Teagan a look that someone who didn't know them and their friendship would've thought was a little rude. "I don't need your input here," he said even though he knew that she was right. It was still rather baffling to him that Teagan, the girl who wouldn't open up to anyone, was probably the best person to get advice from. He actually hated it sometimes. Especially when she offered it unsolicited because she was usually right but it wasn't likely that he'd ever tell her that.

"I'll see you later, come on Toni," Sweetpea said motioning for Toni to follow him as they headed out of the cafeteria hoping they could catch up on Amery. Not that it mattered how far ahead she got. They knew where she lived, and neither he nor Toni had any issues leaving school to deal with things. It wasn't like anywhere at SSH gave a damn anyway what they did. Not once could he think of a time when anyone on staff at SSH had shown even a hint that they cared enough to be there for their students.

Sweetpea wasn't sure why he felt so nervous about this all of a sudden, but he did. As they approached Amery's house he was actually nervous. Yea he'd been a total ass to her since she'd gotten back, but he'd thought that he had a reason to be. Plus it was hard for him to wrap his mind around a serpent wanting to go to the Northside. But Amery had always been different than the rest of them.

@ Kol.

Amery was in the middle of making dinner for her and her dad, when she heard her dad yelled some kids, telling them to get off their property. Ever since her father became weak from being I'll, it seemed like there was an invisible sign on their house that attracted people to harass her father and her or rob them, even though they didn't have much to begin with. Amery sighed and turned the heat down to low before stepping away from the kitchen to settled down the commotion, since she didn't need her father to get riled up to make him more sick.

Amery walked towards the front of the house to see her dad at the front door yelling at whoever it was outside. She squeezed past him so she could tell the people to go away, but she froze when she saw that her dad was yelling Sweetpea and Toni. She looked at her father and told him that she will handle them, which he nodded and went back inside the house. Amery faced her former best friends and frowned. "Why are you two here?" She asked as she looked at then with her arms crossed against her chest. "Came here to tell me how it's my fault that our friendship ended?" She said, still pissed about how they blamed her ending their friendship with lies.

---

Jughead waited until Sweetpea and Toni left before looking back at Teagan. "I've never seen Sweetpea follow someone else's suggestion before." He joked softly before sighing. "About earlier, I didn't mean what I said to sound like I'm butting into your life or sound like your therapist. I just want to be a friend is all. But I know I have to gain your trust, hell I need to gain the trust from all the Serpents here." He said and then grabbed his bag before standing up.

"Seems like the falculty doesn't give a damn about anyone here, so I think we should skip. Unless you don't wanna hang with me." He said, teasing her at the end with a smile.

Jughead smiled wider when Teagan agreed. "What do you like to do for fun when you're not hanging with the Serpents? He asked as they made their way out. He didn't know what to do around here that's fun that didn't have to do with the Serpents since he's not allowed in their territories.

Sweetpea held his hands up in defeat when Amery's dad came out, and he kept them up when Amery came out to handle the situation. "We came to say we're sorry, and that we were wrong about everything," he said even though it was hard for him to admit that he had. Honestly, Sweetpea hated being wrong about things and saying he was sorry. They just weren't things that he was good at admitting or dealing with. But clearly in this situation, he had been wrong, and he was sorry.

"We had no idea about your dad," he told her wondering how long she'd known and if it was before she'd went to a new school or not because if so he was going to be slightly offended that she hadn't told them. "We didn't know anything that was going on with you because it was like one day you were here and the next we felt like we weren't good enough for you because you were off at some new fancy school," he said knowing how stupid it might've sounded. "I mean we're all Serpents here and the southside is just where we are. It's ours and we can all be together to protect one another. Plus other than Jughead and his dad really I've never even heard of a Serpent going to the Northside so it was all just weird and new to us so we didn't know how to react," he said pretty sure he was totally blowing this apology, but this just wasn't something he was very good at.

---

Teagan shrugged her shoulders and tucked her hair behind her ear, "what can I say, people listen to me for some reason," she said laughing a little. It was totally ironic that people took her advice when she could hardly take advice from anyone herself, but that's how it went usually it seemed. "You're fine, I responded a little aggressively which I've been told isn't how you should respond when people are trying to be nice. Believe me, I'm a work in progress," she said knowing there was no point in wishing it was any different. This was the life she lived regardless of how she 'wished' it was.

"Jughead Jones, look at you trying to get me to skip class and on your first day?" She joked with him as she followed suit to stand up from the lunch table. "You're right, the faculty here doesn't give a shit about any of us. Honestly, even though this place is 'ours' since it's only the southside and we all attend here, you won't find many serpents who wouldn't be happy if this place were shut down entirely," she told him aware that people had a tendency to think because they were in a gang they didn't care about their education, but that was often times an inaccurate assumption. At least when it came to the serpents.

"It'll be easier for me to show you," Teagan told him getting a feeling that Jughead was going to like this. "So I was very upset when the drive-in closed, I know the Serpents hung out there a lot, but I'd go even when everyone else wasn't there. Because I kind of love movies, all movies," she said looking at him with a smile, "but when they closed it down I couldn't go anymore. Well my grandparents are kind of the coolest and we kind of built a drive-in like theater in the small backyard they have so honestly when I'm by myself I like to just go out there and I'll sit and watch a movie, or I'll sit in the car and read a book or journal, or whatever else I feel like doing alone,"

@ Kol.

Amery sighed and listened to Sweetpea give his awkward apology. Once he was done, she sat there for a minute processing everything, before she finally spoke. "You both know how much I love school and learning, and I wasn't getting that at Southside. I didn't want to go to Riverdale High particularly, but it was the only school that I could go to that would let me still live here and still see you guys. I never had any intentions to abandon you two and the Serpents." She said, but then paused as she remembered that she was in the middle of cooking dinner. Sighing once more, she open the front door wide enough to let Sweetpea and Toni come in. "Come on, I need to go back to making dinner before it burns." Amery said and then walked back inside her home after the two went in before her.

After Amery told her father that Sweetpea and Toni we're staying for a bit, they headed to the kitchen so she could finish making dinner.

"Just so you know, my dad has Leukemia and right now there's nothing else that the doctors can do...we didn't find out until after I started going to Riverdale...not that you care or anything." Amery said as she continued cooking dinner, not looking at her former friends.

---

Jughead looked at the home built drive-in theatre in awe. "This is so cool. I need your grandparents to adopt me," he joked, before he continued to check it out. "You know, the Drive In before it was shut down was the place I lived at, when dad and I weren't on good terms." He said softly. "I hate how the stupid mayor shut it down because the Serpents hung out there. Like it was our hangout spot where we could stay out of trouble." He said but then sat down on the good of the car, patting the spot next to him for Teagan to sit next to him.

Jughead leaned back and looked at the sky.m and sighed. "You know, although my dad and I didn't have the best relationship, I miss him and I hate how everyone on the Northside are accusing him of a crime he didn't commit." He said, as he felt comfortable enough around Teagan to talk about how he is feeling about the whole situation with his dad.

Sweetpea ran his fingers through his hair as he walked into Amery's house. It felt very foreign to be there because it'd been a long time since they'd all hung out at her house. Though once they'd all joined the serpents none of them were every at their own houses anymore. Until the drive-in was shut down they were always either there or the Whyte Wyrm. Now though it was just the Wyrm. Honestly, a lot had changed all around since Amery had left for Riverdale. "We do care Amery," Sweetpea said sighing. "We didn't even know your dad was sick until today," he said though how could they have known? He and Toni had pretty much cut her off the moment she left. He was suddenly realizing that they'd been really shitty friends.

"Look I know I'm really sorry for how everything has gone down. We're Serpents and this has just always been the way things are done. Serpents go to Southside, Non-Serpents go somewhere else. And suddenly you were going somewhere else and the way we've all been raised is that isn't possible. Because you'll go there and end up giving up all your ways. The only Serpent's to ever do that was FP and Alice and look where they both are now, one's in jail and the other has a stick up her ass suddenly acting all high and mighty as if she's forgotten where she came from. I know it's stupid but breaking tradition isn't something easy for us here,"

---

Teagan smiled at Jughead before she took a seat on the hood of the car next to him. "My grandparents are kind of the best," she said honestly thankful that she'd ended up with them rather than ending up in the system. Teagan knew if she'd ended up anywhere else things would be very different right now. "I didn't know that actually. And oh you're not alone there, I think it was an awful idea to shut it down because we hung out there and no one caused any problems. But there are rumors that Hiram Lodge bought the property and that he's in the market for Southside High. Which essentially he'd have to get the school shut down before he could buy it. I can't figure out why exactly he'd want to do that, but if it is true I know it can't be good," she told him wondering how Hiram had even gotten out of prison in the first place. From the stories, she's heard he wasn't a very nice, or good man.

"I know the feeling," Teagan told Jughead realizing that they might've had a lot more in common than she'd thought possible. She knew that she'd just met him, and she did have a hard time trusting people, but there was something about him opening up to her that made it seem easier for her to do the same. Honestly, she was only a little worried that this would all go south. "Have you heard anything about your dad's case? Oh, and where are you staying by the way? You mentioned you'd been living at the drive-in because you and your dad weren't on good terms but obviously he's in jail currently so you can't be staying with him, you're not homeless are you?" She asked him hoping that wasn't too many questions that he didn't want to answer.

@ Kol.

Amery sighed and faced Sweetpea and Toni. "We can't let the odds against us always defeat us. I love going to school and learning just as much as I love being a Serpent. I know things didn't go successful between Alice and FP when they went to Riverdale back in their days. But it's 2018 and we have the power make a change. Just because we're Serpents and from Southside, we shouldn't let outsiders determine what our fate is...I just wanted to show that us Serpents can be great despite all odds. And I just wish that you guys had my back." She said and went back to the stove and fixed her dad a plate of food. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna give Dad his dinner." Amery said, as she excused herself.

Walking into her dad's bedroom, her heart broke as it does every day seeing her dad getting weak every day. "Hi Daddy, dinner is ready." She said softly as she brought his plate to him. "I figured I would make an easy dinner for you to eat, so I made spaghetti." She smiled weakly as he slightly struggle to feed himself since he was so weak. "I'm going to go back to our guests, but I'll be nearby just incase you need me." Amery lightly pressed her lips to her dad's forehead before going back to Sweetpea and Toni in the kitchen.

---

Jughead sighed. "Yeah I heard the same thing. I feel that he's the one who got my dad into this mess. I don't know what he wants to do with the property of the of the drive-in and the school, but I think he is just wants to get rid of every single Serpent. It's unfortunate that my best friend is dating that monster's daughter." He said as he took off his hat and ran his fingers through his black hair.

Jughead looked back up to the sky and listened to Teagan ask questions about his dad and his living situation. "Apparently there are evidence that supposedly matches to his bulkshit story, but there's something that's not adding up and I'm trying to find one piece of evidence to prove that my dad is innocent." He paused and licked his bottom lip. "As for my living situation, I'm staying with this Foster family, but I don't really like them as much. So I only go to their place when I want to sleep. But it's hard for me to get somewhat comfortable at that house because I know that they are judging me. However, I'm hoping that Archie can convince his dad into letting me stay with them, but that would mean that I would go back to Riverdale, which should be a good thing for me, but now I'm not sure." He admitted truthfully.

Sweetpea didn't know how to handle the situation at hand right now. He felt awful that he'd pushed Amery away as he had only for her to have to deal with her dad getting sick on her own. He did know that she loved school and that Southside High wasn't pushing her enough. Hell, it didn't push anyone enough, the place was an actual hell hole. No one liked going to school there, they went because they had no other options, they hadn't chosen it. And over the years Southside High had just become their place. Of course, lately, there had been a lot of weird territory arguments with the Ghoulies. But there was no way that The Serpents were going to give up anything so the Ghoulies could have more room to make their damn drugs.

"I don't know what we're supposed to do here Toni," He whispered as he pushed his fingers through his hair. This was the most awkward thing he'd been a part of. Not to mention it was kind of a stressful situation which wasn't what anyone needed at the moment with all the other shit going on around The Southside.

---

"He's being accused of killing that football player right? Why do you think he's innocent? And by asking this I'm not saying I think he isn't but maybe I can help you figure it all out," Teagan said looking over at Jughead. "And I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Lodges had something to do with it. The lot of them are so shady, yet somehow we're the ones with a bad name because we wear leather jackets and like to ride motorcycles," she said shaking her head. Teagan knew that there were a handful of Serpents who did bad things and weren't good people. Just like there were some who did do all the things people hated about them. But she hated that people grouped them all together they way they did as if the actions of a few individuals made the whole group. Overall The Serpents weren't bad people who did bad things at all.

"Why don't you stay with us? We have an extra room in case we ever have a guest over and I'm sure my grandparents wouldn't mind taking you in for as long as you needed. I mean it beats being homeless and living with a family that just judges you," She told him knowing it might've sounded a little insane but honestly, Teagan's grandparents were kind of in the business of rescuing kids in a way. "I mean the place isn't much but I'd say we're pretty well off for a family on The Southside," she said hoping it would reinforce that him staying wouldn't be putting them out at all in case he thought it would make him a burden.

@ Kol.

Toni looked at Sweetpea and sighed. "The only thing we can do is ask for forgiveness and make it up to her for abandoning her. I mean we broke rule number 5. She could have had us reported us, but she didn't." Toni said as she looked towards the room Amery went to. "Come on let's show her that we really do care and that we want to." She said and headed towards Amery.

Amery looked up when she heard Toni and Sweetpea come into the room. "Sorry guys, you guys don't have to stay. We can talk tomorrow, maybe." She said softly before looking at her father as he eating slowly.

---

Jughead sighed and looked at Teagan. "I just think it is too convenient for them to blame my dad, a Serpent, for killing the kid. I know my dad can be a complete fuck up at times, but he still has a heart. He would never kill a kid intentionally. Besides, the Blossom family are a weird crowd." He explained to her, watching her take it in.

Jughead ran his fingers through his hair again, but paused half way when Teagan offered the spare guest room in her parents house for him to stay. "Wow, I don't know what to say but thank you. You are really kind and that's a great quality. " He said with a small smile. "I wish I could take your offer, but I don't think Sweetpea or any of the Serpents would like the idea of me sleeping in a room down the hall from you." He said sadly.