XXVI

                                    

                                          
Storm was sitting in her room, and her hands were shaking as she typed on her laptop, and suddenly she looks up to see Sweet Pea at the door.
                          
"I guess I left the door unlocked." She said and he looked at her, and shakes his head, as he shut the door quickly.
                          
"You gave me a key, sorry if I startled you." He said and she sighed as he sat down next to her.
                          
"Looking still for an lot more ways to stop the eviction notices for everyone, who needs it?" He asks quietly, and he looked over her shoulder, at the typed paragraphs, and she, momentarily for a second almost fell asleep.
                          
Her head hit the table and just as suddenly she was awake again, her bags much darker, much worse then they had been before. "Jesus, Tempest, how long has it been since you slept?"
                          
He asked as he slid a bottle of water over to her and she looks at her hands which continue to shake. "Three days, and five hours." She said and he looks at her with fury in his eyes.
                          
"You have our vote. The young Serpents are all voting for you and Jughead, we were there. We aren't a bunch of fakes who abandon our best defender, just when she needs us." He says and she shakes her head.
                          
"It wasn't just lawyers I was calling back in the Whyte Wyrm, when this all first began Sweet Pea." She said as she clenched her one hand into a fist.
                          
"I don't get it, what are you talking about?" Sweet Pea looked extremely confused and she shakes her head.
                          
"I was trying to see how much money I could get out of the various banks of my mom, some of which are also in at my name added onto them. I was in it, in the process of paying off all of your debt, when one of them contacted, the worst person ever who could've heard the news." Storm put her face in her hands.
                          
"Who was it? Storm, tell me and I'll find a way to get you out of whatever this is that's causing you to not sleep! I swear, all of the young Serpents." He says and she shakes her head.
                          
"Hiram Lodge threatened to have a criminal, that has a horrible history with me, released from jail." Storm's voice was trembling and then Sweet Pea looked up at her.
                          
"What?" He asked and his voice was poison and tears ran down her face as she looked up. He reaches over, and he hugged her, as she shook.
                          
"There's nothing you can do, Sweet Pea. Anything you do will get yourself or any of the Serpents hurt, dead, or imprisoned." She whispered and he'd look down at her.
                          
"I'm sorry Stormy." He murmured quietly, and then he realized suddenly that her breathing had turned regular again.
                          
He looked down quickly, to see her completely asleep, her arms wrapped around him in a hug, and her head on his shoulder, as she slept.
                          
"Well, this is awkward." He mumbled and he gently half carried her toward the couch, and then since she was half hanging onto him for dear life, he just sat down with her.
                          
Sweet Pea woke up to see Storm still asleep and he sighed at her as he tried to move his arm, but she just quite simply moves slightly so her head was on his arm again.
                          
"Looks like I'm stuck." He mumbled and she punched him in the ribs and he grunts at once in pain. "Ow, man! Tempest, what the hell was that?" He asked.
                          
"Stop moving around Sweet Pea, I'm trying to sleep." She murmured and a second later, her eyes shot open wide.
                          
They both shouted at each other and she pushed away immediately and in doing so, almost knocked her laptops, screens, printer, and fridge over.
                          
"What the hell are you still doing over here, Sweet Pea?" She asked shaking a lot more sleepiness out of her eyes.
                          
"You fell asleep yesterday. Around 10ish and used me as your pillow. You wouldn't let go, so I crashed here. And I have a very sore arm because of it."
                          
Sweet Pea says and Storm looked apologetically at him immediately, the scar under her eye ripplin' as her face expression changed. "Sorry for that. It used to happen when I was little, had a lot of nightmares and stuff. I used to hang onto Archie for dear life, and he wouldn't be able to get me off. No one could. Guess I repeated it." She said as she grabbed her hoodie and pulled it over her head quickly.
                          
"I'm gonna head to Pop's. You want something?" She asked and he snorted at her.
                          
"I'm coming with you. Remember the last time that you went to Pop's? With no backup?" He asked, and she sighed but nodded.
                          
"All right. We'll take dad's truck. Let's go." She says, and he followed her out with a smug look on his face.
                          
"Wipe that incredibly stupid look of smugness off of your face Sweet Pea. Just because you know you're right, doesn't mean that I won't hit you." She said and the look melted off his face at once.
                          
After getting their food, Storm dropped the truck back off at home and they sped off on their motorbikes as they went to the Whyte Wyrm for the vote.
                          
Storm sat on the corner and waited in a solemn silence as she typed onto her laptop, and the young Serpents, sat all around her. She drank a milkshake as she continued to type, and then Sweet Pea nudges her arm, and she looks up.
                          
Walking into the bar was Jughead, FP and Betty, with Betty holding the head of General Pickens in her hands.
                          
Tall Boy was accused and when he confessed to it, FP looked at Jughead to answer for punishment.
                          
"Strip him of his jacket. Exile him." He said quickly and then FP looks around at Serpents who were in the bar.
                          
"All in favor?" He called and Storm put her hand up along with everyone else, including Jughead.
                          
FP laughs at the unanimous decision vote, and chuckles at Tall Boy, as they grabbed his jacket from him, and Tall Boy was marched out of the Wyrm in shame.
                          
"Looks like we're safe." Storm says to Jughead who laughed at her and nods as Storm knocks him on the back.