❝If you're cold you hurt people, if you're sensitive they hurt you...❞
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ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF RIVERDALE A GROUP of teenagers had gathered amongst themselves in an abandoned parking lot. A ponytail blonde stood leaning over the open hood of a black Chevelle, she was prepping the beanie wearing boy who was about to drive it.
When Theo had arrived with Mari and Brent the parking lot was already packed full and despite this being a battle between two Southside gangs there was a line up of Northside teens across the lot. That was where her friends had dragged her.
"What's this thing all about again?" Mari questioned, her arm linked with Theo's as they approached where Reggie and Kevin were sitting on the hood of a truck.
"Some kind of race. No idea what the stakes are though, I don't even know half these people." Brent informed Mari.
Judging by the amount of Serpents who had willingly subjected themselves to the presence of Northside teens Theo could guess that the stakes were pretty high.
Mari nodded her head slowly and asked, "And we're here why?"
Tossing his arm over her shoulder Brent told her, "Thought it might be fun."
Theo rolled her eyes at him and pointed out, "No, he just didn't want to pay to see a movie."
"That too." Brent states with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, lifting his hand up to flick Theo in the side of the head.
She flips him off and climbs onto the hood of the truck, grasping tightly onto Kevin's outstretched hand and narrowing her eyes into an icy glare when Reggie hoisted her up by her hips. He let out a laugh at her and settled on the bumper, his shoulders knocking against Theo's knees.
It was blazing hot out, the sun beating down harsh and unrelenting and Theo's eyes wander across the parking lot to the group of leather clad teenagers leaning against bikes.
She meets Fangs gaze and the two of them, experts in covert affairs by now, share a quick and mischievous smile. And then it happens, her eyes lock with those of the tall boy leaning on the worn seat of his bike next to his.
There's an anger behind his eyes, brewing up with an intensity she hadn't seen often from him and it clashes with the blankness present in her own eyes. And yet he keeps his eyes locked with hers, barely even blinking and Theo isn't sure if he's angry at whatever unknown circumstances have them both here today or if that anger was with her but she thinks maybe it's a little bit of both.
And so she does what she does best. Her eyes roll quite obviously and she pops a bubble of gum loudly before looking away, just missing the way the tall Serpents mouth curls up into a smirk.
The moment she turns her attention away from him her eyes catch on a shiny red car that was pulling into the lot. It drove through a break in a crowd of people, engine revving loudly and excessively, but it slows as it drives by Theo and her friends.
Kevin Keller leans into Theo's shoulder, speaking into her ear but his words are missed by her as the dark haired driver behind the wheel of the red car turns his head and catches her eye from the open passenger side window. Theo's blood ran cold in her veins as the corner of his mouth curled up into a smirk and he winked at her.
His engine revved as he sped up and then came to a screeching halt next to Reggie Mantle's Chevelle with Jughead Jones behind the wheel. Theo swallowed thickly and looked down at her hands, clasped together tightly in her lap, the stone detail of her ring leaving an indentation in her skin.
She shouldn't have come here.
She's nudged by Kevin, who's watching her with concern evident in his eyes as his brows pull together, "You okay Theo?"
Nodding her head she lied through her teeth, another thing that seems to come naturally to her, "Just thinking about all the things I could be doing instead of wasting my time here."
Kevin allows a low laugh to escape his mouth, "Sometimes I wonder if you hear the words that come out of your mouth."
She did, for the record, she just didn't care.
Her eyes flicker across the parking lot again as the two cars line up, Cheryl practically pushing Toni aside to wave her little flag with that irritating Blossom smile on her face. Theo rolled her eyes at that, because some things truly never changed, and as the two cars peeled out of the parking lot, tires squealing against the asphalt she found her eyes drifting over to Sweet Pea again.
She's not surprised to find that he's focused intensely on the slowly disappearing tail lights, nor that there is a scowl on his face as he does so. She's reminded again that whatever it is that brought everyone here must have been something important and she finds herself wondering just what it was.
Seeing Jughead behind the wheel, with his redheaded sidekick sitting passenger was enough to tell her that it had likely been his decision. And that alone pointed to something Theo knew was so far out of the field of good that this could only end in one way. Complete and total disaster.
And as luck would have it, disaster came knocking when someone screamed out, "Cops!"
Before she knows it she's being pushed off of the hood of the truck she was sitting on, hitting the ground with a thud, her palms catching her and scraping against the asphalt. A foot connects with her stomach, someone trying to hop over her to get to their own vehicle, she knows trying to scramble to her feet now would only end in her being trampled so Theo tucks her head down and stays as close to the ground as she can.
When she feels hands grab her from the underside of her biceps and haul her to her feet Theo slams her foot down hard against the black boot of whoever it was, and it isn't until she hears a grunt and a voice that she realizes the hands holding onto her are adorned in rings she recognizes, "Jesus Malibu Barbie relax it's me."
As she whirls around Sweet Pea finds himself being smacked in the face by her dark hair, he spits a mouthful of it out, plucking the strands that stuck to his lips before he narrows his eyes at her as she exclaimed, "Hasn't anyone ever told you not to grab a girl from behind?"
"And to think you'd actually be grateful I kept you from being roadkill under some Northsiders six thousand dollar sneakers." He muttered, rolling his eyes as he let go of her arms only to slide his hand down her arm and slip his fingers around her wrist. He didn't give her any time to object, instead pulling her along with him through throngs of panicking teenagers and young adults. He stops when they arrive at his bike and bounces his helmet between his hands, "You got two options: hop on the back of my bike or stay here and be arrested."
Theo rolls her eyes, "Like it's a hard choice, give me the helmet asshole."
** Alright it's been a hot minute and that's my bad yo.
I'm back though so yaaaay.
This was subpar, but I got some good stuff planned for the next chapter which I'll probably upload in the next day or two