Bittersweet: Carmen Pham gave up everything so her little sister Faye would have a shot at a good future—now a brutal Serpent and FP's right hand woman, she's managed to keep her side-job a secret. She may not be thrilled when Southside High is shut down, bringing the Serpents back into Faye's life, but Faye is drawn to the town's shadows—especially a serpent named Sweet Pea. SP/OC, FP/OC

CHAPTER EIGHT: I DON'T THINK I HAVE A SECRET

"Now I know there is something blacker than desire / Perhaps it will save me / Perhaps it will kill me." -Sarah Kane

Reggie had been late for Jason's funeral by the time Faye successfully explained special triangles to him, so he'd dropped her off at Pop's instead of taking her all the way home. It would've been fine, if she hadn't found the door locked and the parking lot completely abandoned with the exception of one motorcycle.

Motorcycle. The Serpents were known for riding motorcycles. Maybe it was one of them. Maybe they would be willing to answer her questions.

Faye scanned the parking lot. The coast seemed clear enough.

She wasn't exactly sure what she expected to find on the bike; she didn't know anything about cars or motorcycles or mechanics, so nothing about the way it looked was going to clue her into anything. Poking at the headlight, she noticed a small snake drawn on the bike's bumper in silver sharpie. It didn't look anything close to official—the forked tongue sticking out of its mouth looked more cartoonish than intimidating.

"Some type of gang," she muttered.

"Can I help you?"

Faye spun, her ponytail smacking her in the face when she came to an abrupt stop. Before her was a teenage boy—or, his chest at least. She craned her neck to meet his eyes, which were about a foot above hers. A cut had been drawn across his cheek. Faye gulped. "Hello," she said, figuring that that was a good enough place to start.

"You're blocking my bike," he returned, seemingly disinterested in conversation.

Faye squinted at him. Where did she recognize him from? "Do I know you?"

"Nope."

"Are you a Serpent?"

He gave her a look like she might be on drugs. "No, I'm wearing a leather jacket with a snake on it for different reasons." She didn't say anything, just tried to pretend that she wasn't in danger, hoping that if she kept lying to herself her pulse might slow down and she might stop freaking out. "Are you going to move?"

She considered her options, and then said, "No." It would've sounded powerful, maybe, if her voice hadn't cracked as she forced the word out. "I have questions."

The guy raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Honestly, Faye couldn't blame him. What was she going to do? He was at least six-foot-two, and she was a solid five-foot-nothing, with no weapon, fighting experience, or backup. This was a dumb situation for her to have gotten herself into. When had confronting a gang member in an abandoned parking lot ever gone well for a young woman?

"Serpents don't give out free information to Northsiders," he said. "Sorry."

"I'm not a Northsider," she protested. "I live on the Southside. My sister's, um—she's in the Serpents. That's why I have...questions." She dug out her phone and opened up the most recent photo she had of Carmen, trying to keep her hands from shaking. The photo was grainy, taken in the low light of her apartment as Carmen held up a burnt-black casserole in her hands proudly. "See?"

The guy leaned in, and it took all Faye's self-control not to reel back. "That's your sister?"

"Yes? Carmen? Do you know her?"

Bewildered, his eyes flicked back and forth between her and the photo she was holding up, never looking quite convinced. "Carmen, you said?" he asked.

Faye nodded. "I can find a better picture."

The guy gestured to his shoulder. "This tall? Mechanic?"

Faye nodded again. "Um, yeah. I saw her at the Drive-Thru—" Wait a minute. Duh, of course that was where she knew him from! "I saw you at the Drive-Thru!" she accused.

"It's a free country?"

"Your friend was catcalling me."

To his credit, he cringed slightly at the reminder. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that."

"Okay, well, I would really appreciate it if you could make it up to me by answering some of my questions. Or else I'm—"

"Or else you'll what?" He looked amused. "To be clear, I'll help you out, but I want to hear you finish that sentence."

"I'll…" What would she do? "Call the police?" It wouldn't even go through; Sheriff Keller and his family were at the funeral. Also, what was she going to call them for? He wasn't doing anything besides hanging out in a parking lot, and if that was a crime, she was just as guilty.

"Scary," he remarked, voice dripping with sarcasm. Moving to the front of the bike, he unhooked his helmet and tossed it her way. Faye squeaked, moving to duck before she realized what was happening. The helmet clattered to the ground. "Jesus, do you mind?"

She scrambled to pick it up. "I'm so sorry."

"Whatever," he said, swinging one leg over the bike and pointing behind him. "Are you coming?"

"Uh, where?" she asked, glancing behind her. "I just feel like—if I'm going to get on a motorcycle with a stranger, I should know generally where we're going."

"Sunnyside Trailer Park," he answered. "I'll talk, but only in Serpent territory."

"Right," said Faye. She glanced down at her skirt—a tan, corduroy button-up she found at the Greendale thrift store—then back at the bike, and vaguely registered that riding side saddle was not an option. Whatever. You're getting the answers you want. Delicately, she hopped on the back of the bike.

"You have to hold onto me," the guy called, starting up the motorcycle's engine. "Unless you want to be roadkill."

She did not want to be roadkill, so she reluctantly planted her hands on the guy's shoulders. As he pulled out of the parking lot, she prayed to God that Carmen was still at work, because if she got caught, she was gonna be grounded until she graduated high school.

Despite living on the Southside, Faye had never been to Sunnyside Trailer Park. Hearing that it was Serpent Territory explained that, somewhat, but she didn't say anything about it as she disembarked from the guy's bike.

The ride had been scary, a first, but he was a decidedly better driver than Reggie. That discrepancy had been cancelled out by the motorcycle/car safety divide, but she made it to the Park in one piece, which was victory enough.

"What's your name?" she asked Biker Boy.

"Sweet Pea," he said, dead serious.

She waited for him to tell her his real name, but he didn't. Just stared back at her. "Oh—so, like, actually?"

"Actually," he replied, sticking his hand out for her to shake. "Who are you?"

"Faye," she answered. "Are your parents home?"

He shrugged. "No clue. They don't live here."

"Oh," she said. She glanced at the bungalow in front of them. "So—you live by yourself?"

"I have roommates," he answered. "They're not home."

Wow. Faye knew that she technically didn't live with her parents, either, but Carmen filled that role almost completely. No way would she be able to do her own laundry and cook all of her own meals and pay her own rent—that was a lot of responsibility, especially for a guy who didn't look all that much older than her. As she followed him up the steps, she noticed a small plant through the window, sheathed by a set of white curtains.

Sweet Pea collected his mail from the box on the wall, and then reached into his pocket for keys. Faye didn't know what she had expected from him, but the inside of the bungalow was very...homey. A small, beat-up sofa sat opposite two wooden chairs that looked like they belonged in a restaurant. Potted plants lined the kitchen windowsill, and the dishes sat, neatly washed, in the drying rack. Faye tried to imagine having to furnish her own living room, but couldn't. Where would she get the furniture? Or—forget the furniture. Where would she get the living room?

"You have a nice place," she said.

He shrugged. "Your sister bought us the couch."

"I like the plants." She pointed over his shoulder, towards the kitchen.

"Fangs," he said. She blinked at him, trying to figure out why he was randomly introducing vampire puns into their conversation.

"You're, uh, velcome?" What even?

He gave her a look of confusion that mirrored the one on her own face. "What?"

"You said Fangs? Did I miss something?"

"Fangs is my roommate."

She flushed red, even though there was no way she could've known that. "Oh. Okay, well, it's not my fault you all have weird names." The glare he shot her probably should've intimidated her more, but her nerves were already cranked up to maximum stress levels, so it was useless.

"Want something to drink?"

For a gangster, he was very polite. Maybe that was how he got his name?

Unless—unless that was his birth name, which was even more questionable.

"I'm okay."

Shrugging, he pulled something out of the fridge for himself. Faye expected it to be a beer, or something else alcoholic; she was surprised to find him holding a jug of orange juice. Drinking straight from the carton, he puffed out his chest a bit, reminding her yet again of how outsized she was.

"You know," he said, recapping the carton. "In the future, maybe don't let strangers bring you back to their houses."

Thank you, Sweet Pea. She rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah."

"Okay, okay," he said, lifting his hands defensively. "My bad, I didn't realize that the girl who approached me in a parking lot and then got onto my bike basically without question had great survival instincts."

"Whatever," she said, because she couldn't think of anything better. "Can we talk?"

Gesturing out towards the living room, he replied, "Be my guest."

Faye sat down on the edge of the couch, since it was closest to the door. Her spine stayed ramrod straight, her body tense. She wanted answers, but she also dreaded the possibility that things were far, far worse than she had expected. What if Carmen had killed someone? What if she had killed multiple people? What if she had killed Jason Blossom?

Okay, no. Jason went missing the week of July 4th, during which time Carmen and Faye had driven down to the city for college tours. At least there was no way she had killed Jason Blossom.

Once Sweet Pea took a seat on the chair across from her, manspreading and stretching his legs out, Faye cleared her throat. "So, Carmen? How do you know her?"

He whistled lowly. "Carmen is one of the Serpent leaders."

Suddenly, Faye was extremely grateful that she'd opted out of a drink, because the odds of her spitting water all over this guy's living room would've been through the roof. "L—leaders?" He nodded. "Does it happen to be, like, a council? Like...maybe she's treasurer—or, secretary?"

Sweet Pea winced. "Well, there's more than one leader, but she's definitely not secretary." He raised a brow. "She's the Serpent Queen."

Faye felt like she was going to faint. On this random guy's couch. And then he was going to call her sister, and she was going to be grounded. "And do you mean queen in the traditional sense, where, like, they just sit there?" Vaguely, she registered that these questions were setting feminism back several decades, but she would much rather Carmen be arm candy for some gang leader than be a gang leader herself.

"Uh, no. She gives out most of the orders for the day-to-day stuff. FP Jones is the Serpent King. He does long term strategizing and most of the Serpent's external business, but, uh, your sister does most of the commanding."

Faye buried her head in her hands. Dear god. The Serpents were hardly a wholesome, family-friendly organization, and if her sister was literally giving the orders then she had to be guilty of something. And then she realized—Jones. Was FP Jughead's dad? Did King and Queen imply some sort of relationship between them? None of this made any sense to her—or, no. That wasn't quite right. It did make sense, she just didn't want it to.

"Are you okay?" Sweet Pea asked.

"No," Faye said.

"Did you not know this?"

She rubbed at her eyes and lifted her head, flattening her palms into her cheeks. "No. I found out on accident! And she doesn't even know I know."

"Hate to tell you, but she might have some kind of idea," Sweet Pea informed her. "She was flashing your picture at us earlier asking if we'd seen you."

Oh no. Faye hated this so much—on the one hand, her sister was a literal criminal, and on the other, she was worried about being grounded. Dumbest combination of problems ever. "Us?" she asked. "Who's us?"

"Fangs," he said. "And Toni."

"Tony? Is he also a Serpent?"

"She is, yes."

"Oh, right." She dropped her voice to a whisper, as if someone was going to overhear. "Has Carmen ever….killed anyone?"

Sweet Pea shrugged, which was possibly the most horrifying response to that question. "I don't know everything she does. I just follow the orders she gives."

Dear God. She wanted him to say, No, your sister would never kill anybody, or even Yes, she killed one person on this day. Now, she was just going to wonder. Was Carmen capable of murder?

A week ago, Faye would've said no without hesitation. Her sister was a fighter—she had to be, she'd become solely responsible for a child when she was 18—but she was no killer. Now, she wasn't so sure. Faye had also thought that Riverdale wasn't the kind of place where high schoolers washed up with bullets in their heads, but she'd been wrong about that too.

If she wasn't going to get those answers from Sweet Pea, she was going to get other answers. "What were the Serpents doing at the Drive-in?" she asked, switching gears.

Sweet Pea glanced out the window over her shoulder. "Look, this is supposed to be confidential."

"Okay."

"And if you tell anybody, your sister is definitely gonna be in deep shit."

"Okay. I won't tell anyone."

"We were trashing it," he admitted. "To drive prices down for the buyer."

Huh. So Jughead's theory that neglect had caused the Drive-in to close had been merited, after all? She considered texting him about it, and then realized that it was supposed to be confidential. Faye didn't know him well, but he did seem like the kind of person who would need to make a point about having been right all along, and she couldn't risk it. Not when her sister was at risk.

"Who was the buyer?" she asked.

Sweet Pea shrugged. "I don't tend to ask those kinds of questions."

Right. He'd mentioned that.

"You know, you guys don't really look alike."

Faye raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Maybe it would help with the resemblance if you had some kind of terrible, dark secret," he said. "What is it? Adderall?"

"What?"

"Do you take Adderall? I guess I could see you doing adderall."

"I...no." Faye didn't even know where to get drugs.

"So what is your secret, then?" he asked.

"I don't...I don't think I have a secret."

Sweet Pea shrugged. "Everybody has a secret."

Faye opened her mouth to disagree before realizing that in her experience, his words held true. She did have a secret; she was from the Southside. But that wasn't a secret here. Nobody cared about her, here. That was only a secret at school, where she would get ostracized for it. "Maybe." She looked down at her hands, at her chipped pink nail polish. "Is it...dangerous? Being a Serpent?" She pursed her lips. "I just—I know about the Ghoulies, and all that, and I worry that someone might...hurt her."

His loud, bright laugh wasn't at all what she expected. "Nobody fucks with Carmen Pham," he divulged. "FP would kill them, if she didn't get them first."

It wasn't the perfect answer, but at the very least, Faye knew that Carmen wasn't about to get gunned down by some rival gangster.

"Plus, last summer," Sweet Pea added, as if she was supposed to divine some sort of meaning from that.

"What happened last summer?" Faye asked, her brows furrowing.

He frowned. "What do you think happened last summer?"

Jason Blossom. That could only mean Jason Blossom. Faye swallowed. It was as if the temperature in the room had dropped a few degrees.

Technically, he'd only gone missing on July 4th. Who was to say that he wasn't killed later, after Carmen got back in town? Faye strained to remember her sister's behavior on their trip. At the time, nothing had registered as out of the ordinary, but maybe she had missed something. Given all that had already happened right under her nose, it wasn't like this was completely out of the question.

She swallowed. "I need to go home."

"Alright," Sweet Pea said, standing up. "You need a ride?"

She shook her head, pulling out her phone to call Reggie, only to find it dead. "Can I please borrow your phone?"

Sweet Pea pulled a slider phone from his pocket, handing it to her wordlessly. Faye dialed Reggie's number.

[7:02 pm] Faye Pham: SOS please come get me from Sunnyside trailer park

She tapped her foot on the ground nervously as she waited for a reply. Fortunately, it arrived quickly.

[7:03 pm] Reggie Mantle: ? who is this

[7:03 pm] Faye Pham: faye im using someone elses phone mine died

Where was the punctuation on this thing? After a minute of searching the keyboard, she gave up and hit send.

[7:04 pm] Reggie Mantle: dude it's the middle of the wake

[7:05 pm] Faye Pham: reggie i swear to god

[7:05 pm] Faye Pham: this is an emergency

[7:05 pm] Faye Pham: i wouldnt ask if it wasnt you can have free tutoring i just feel sick and i need to go home and its dark so i dont wanna walk

[7:06 pm] Reggie Mantle: ok. be there in 15.

Faye slid the phone shut and handed it back to Sweet Pea, smiling dumbly. "I'll just wait outside," she said, lifting her backpack up from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder.

"It's, like, forty degrees out right now," Sweet Pea said.

She shook her head. "That's fine! I like the cold."

He rolled his eyes. "Just take my jacket. It's fine. I'll wait with you." He shrugged off the leather jacket and threw it at her. This time, Faye managed to catch the object he hurled at her, the leather slapping into her hands as she seized it by the sleeve. It was still warm. Reluctantly, she slid her backpack off her shoulders and replaced it with the jacket. It was heavy, and far too big, and smelled like cologne. She found, to her simultaneous horror and delight, that she didn't mind.

Outside, the sky had paled to a light blue, and the sun was already below the horizon. Small clusters of people gathered around a handful of grills and folding tables, and someone was playing 70s rock out of a speaker. For all the bad stuff she heard about the Southside at school, it was kind of...nice. She tried to imagine herself being part of this world, grilling outside with her neighbors. Beside her, Sweet Pea reached into the jacket's pocket, his hand pushing against her side as he fished out a pack of cigarettes.

"Do you mind?" he asked.

Faye swallowed. All the health teachers she'd ever had had said that the smell of smoke would cling to her, and that her parents—or sister, in her case—would know as soon as she got home. Still, she found herself shaking her head no.

Sweet Pea balanced the cigarette between his lips as he shielded the lighter with his hand, and she noticed the dip below his high cheekbones. He had really nice cheekbones.

It was easier to breathe outside, even with the smoke he was exhaling. "Do you know these people?" she asked, looking out at the crowd. A gust of wind blew past them, and while some people laughed, she found herself wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them to her chest. Maybe the jacket had been a smart move.

"Yeah," he said. "You know, Northsiders are so obsessed with their dumbass white fences and diving everything up. We take care of each other, here."

She nodded, slowly. Before she could even tell what she was doing, she pointed to the cigarette hanging between his fingers and asked, "Can I try?"

He passed it over to her. She held it between her lips, carefully sucking in a breath. Almost immediately, she felt her lungs heat up and she rushed to exhale, her breath catching and dragging on a cough. She held the cigarette back out, filled with a profound sense of regret, and started hacking into her elbow. "Coughing makes it worse," Sweet Pea informed her, a goofy looking smile on his face.

"Makes—what—worse?" she choked out.

"The coughing. The more you cough, the more you need to cough."

She held her breath, resisting the urge to begin hacking again even though it felt like her lungs were going to explore. Faye reached around into her backpack's side pocket for her water bottle and unscrewed the lid, drinking the lukewarm water inside.

"First time?" he asked.

She nodded.

He shrugged. "It gets easier." When he stuck the cigarette back out in her direction, she lifted both hands, as if to stop him from forcing it on her.

"No, um. I'm good."

They sat in the quiet for another long moment, and Faye watched a moth circle the light above Sweet Pea's door. He hadn't been what she expected.

"How'd you get the cut on your face?" she asked.

"You talk a lot," he said, and she scowled. "I was in a fight." His gaze remained distracted by something straight ahead.

Well, odds were good that she was never going to see this guy again after tonight, so what did it matter if he thought she talked a lot? She was curious. She might as well ask. "How did you really get it?"

"I was in a fight," he repeated, this time turning to meet her eyes. "With some Ghoulies at school."

"Oh. Did you win?"

He dropped the cigarette onto the concrete and stomped it out with his boot. "I always win my fights."

She considered asking him about his name, but before she got the chance, the now-familiar sound of muffled EDM started drifting in. Reggie Mantle, in all his glory, rolled the window of his stupid, expensive Cadillac down, to reveal that he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. At night.

"Let's go!" he called, clearly displeased that she'd interrupted his funeral festivities.

"That's my ride," Faye said, standing up.

Sweet Pea looked at her. "That's my jacket."

"Oh! Right." It made sense that he would want it back. Faye shrugged it off, her skin immediately going cold, and tossed it back to him. "Thank you. For everything. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, sure. If you're Carmen's sister, you're family."

Something warm and pleasant twisted in her stomach. Family. Faye just wanted to belong somewhere. Maybe, in some alternate universe, she belonged to the Serpents, and she was one of these people grilling at night and laughing with her friends. Maybe they were her family. But here, it was just her and her sister. Or maybe it was just her.

"He's charming," Sweet Pea said, pointing out towards Reggie's car, which was shaking from the force of his music.

"He's my only friend that drives." She pulled her backpack on. "Can you, um, not tell Carmen about this? She'd kill me." She flinched at her word choice. Before she gave him the option to say no, she turned and bounded down his front steps, using all the strength she could find to avoid turning back.

A/N: fuck it swaye time! this chapter was so fun to write pls let me know what you thought ! i will see you all next chapter for more carmen/fp and some faye/reggie whoops...anyway yes please let me know what you thought of sweet pea/faye and this chapter !

Review Replies:

AvidMovieFan16: thank you for the review ah ! also omg yes carmen and alice scenes are gonna be top tier when they happen...and there is actually some interaction with carmen and both chic and charles so she's gonna have her hands full w these suspicious blonde guys showing up in her life. generally though yes there will be more of the coopers coming up especially when betty gets more involved with the serpents

marysuewhipple: thank u sm for reviewing ! also i am similarly finding myself into faye/reggie … god bless my trash ship ….. also honestly? if it came to that point carmen 100% would hold someone at knifepoint for the sake of faye's education. if any teacher was talking shit during parent teacher conferences she would've taken off her earrings and gotten ready to brawl. also look i think we were robbed of serpent found family (the way everyone is telling me i will get the found family and then going sike! is deeply upsetting to me) so now im giving them a mom so it has to happen. god bless. also about being a formen stan first...me too me too. i love them they are so angsty and painful but they love each other so much…..goodbye. anyway thank you so much for reviewing ! i always love when i get notifications that you reviewed bc i love your livereads so much

JLenon: reggie is the true antihero... he does things for bad reasons but then they end up being helpful….though i do think he has a lot more depth than the show gave to him so i'm hoping to explore that more! but he also is definitely kind of a prick. tv teachers ARE always shady i'm literally always thinking about this like why can't some of you be normal….at least their physics teacher isn't as bad as the english teacher who was literally cooking and dealing hard drugs that plotline was truly and genuinely off the chain. i'm so glad you enjoyed the formen scene because they're such a fun dynamic to write ! thank you so much for the review i really appreciate it :)