"The Serpents are a family. You join and they'll die for you" the woman on the dark street had told her. Then why now, standing on the stage, mind full of sexy dance moves, did Toni feel so embarrassed and objectified? Why did all the old men's eyes fall on her and why the fuck were they licking their lips?
Antoinette "Toni" Topaz was born into a poor, multi-racial family on the 29th of February. Nothing in her childhood went smoothly. With an alcoholic father who put his hand on the girl's mother almost every day, insulting her with racist slurs, life was definitely far from perfect. (Even her birthday could only truly be celebrated once in every four years.)
But, despite the crappy apartment with straining ceilings and broken walls, the little girl was lively and energetic. With her father working daily, Toni mostly grew up with her mom, Brianna, who loved her with all her heart.
The girl had her mother's features: from the chocolate eyes to the slightly afro hair, she was a little reflection of the older Topaz woman. The only difference between the two was the skin—while Toni's mother was an African-American black woman, Toni's dad was white. And so, the little girl had a mixed skin color, though if someone asked, she would proudly announce she considered herself black.
At the age of seven, Toni lost her father. The man had never been a good person, but he was still her dad. And so, when he was arrested for dealing drugs, right in front of the young girl, something in her changed.
The now fatherless Toni, being bullied at school for her poor living situation, was determined to prove everybody wrong. Promising herself that one day she was going to be rich, the girl kept dressing in light colors, stopped being talkative at school, and started paying attention in class. Her grades drastically rose, to the point where she was at the top of her class.
Determined to do her best and teach everyone a lesson, to prove that even a poor black girl could succeed, she kept going.
However, her now single mother broke under the pressure when her husband was taken away. Abusive as he was, he had brought money home, however illegal it was. The shitty apartment was taken from the Topazes, and even as Toni didn't fully understand the situation at the time, her mother did.
They were homeless.
Every night, moving shelters to shelters with her young daughter, Brianna couldn't handle it.
When Toni turned nine, things genuinely got even worse. Her mother had a job at that time, but she wouldn't tell the young girl what it was. And, Toni... she had a guess. It must have been something similar to what her father had done all those years ago.
The little girl kept doing better at school, distracting herself from her mother. And soon, the woman would, instead of selling it, get high herself.
The pain and misery lasted until the girl was thirteen when one day, after school, Toni came home, only to see her mother on the floor, a needle still in her arm. What had started as a happy day with friends, finishing their second to last year of middle school, ended being Toni's worst nightmare.
The tears started running immediately, and she knew exactly what had happened—something so horribly dreadful that her brain couldn't grasp it.
There was no point in touching her mother's neck to find a pulse, but she did it anyway, hoping for a miracle. The color had drained from Toni's face by the time she called the police, just like her mother had always taught her—in the case of an emergency. Considering they were black, and as a little girl, she had played the scenario many times, it shouldn't have been a hard thing to do.
It was.
Uttering those horrible words, a few police officers and ambulance workers were sent her way, as well as a mortuary car. Toni was taken to the child services and placed with a nice foster family for a week, before being shipped off to Riverdale, to her uncle.
So, there was Toni, sitting on a bus, dreading to look outside. She hadn't been to the small town since the age of three, and thus, didn't remember anything about it. Her uncle, who she was supposed to go and live with, didn't have a familiar face, either.
She wasn't sure if they had ever met.
Her uncle was a poor man with a huge money problem (caused by the slight alcohol addiction), and now a kid he didn't want. He resembled Toni's mother a bit, giving her a kind smile when welcoming the girl to his small trailer.
The first impression wasn't bad; the ceilings weren't leak-through, the walls had remained their yellowish-white color, and she even got her first-ever own room, which could be called more of a closet, which was non-relevant considering that she had her own bed.
A few hours later, the man seated her down, for a simple conversation. "I want you to get a job," was the first thing he stated, without further introduction, or any questions about her feelings.
The thirteen-year-old raised her eyebrows, but reluctantly, nodded. She needed to show gratitude for being taken in.
"Look, Toni, I'm sure you're a smart girl, and since you're basically an adult, I'm just going to say it. I have money problems. And now that we need to live here together, I think that, at least in summer, you should work."
"Sounds fair," the girl shortly said, heart thumping in her chest.
The man gave her a brief smile and stood up, ruffling her hair before heading for the door.
"Do you know where I can possibly find jobs in this town, though?"
"Just go look around, kid." And with that, he was gone.
Having walked through most of Riverdale without any success, Toni was headed back home. With someone suddenly grabbing her hand, though, Toni froze on the spot momentarily before whipping herself around and pulling her arm away. Facing the person, she was shocked to find an old gray woman instead of the perverse man she had imagined.
"I heard you're looking for a job," her quiet voice said in a whisper.
"Uh, yes?" the teenager offered, confused by how a random woman on the street could know that... Had she been following her around the whole day?
"Go to the Whyte Wyrm. It's a place for snakes alike. They need new members and accept everyone over thirteen. If you join them, they will help you out." Then, as if looking for something in the girl's eyes, she clarified, "The Serpents are a family. You join and they'll die for you... Ask for FP."
And just like that, the mysterious figure walked away as if nothing had happened. The teenager frowned, standing on the place for a moment, before keeping on moving and pulling out her phone to look for the place.
Turned out, it wasn't too far away, situated right next to the trailer park. Her feet changed the course slightly, hurrying toward the Whyte Wyrm, wondering what was waiting there...
Toni wasn't stupid—of course, she knew that it could've been a trap and someone could kill her the moment she set her foot through the front door. But, when she reached the building and noticed a bunch of motorcycles parked outside, she couldn't help but smile. It was a bar.
A bit reluctantly, the girl waltzed inside, and slowly, made her way to the bar counter where an old man was working. "Excuse me?" The attention of not only him but also a few others was solely on her now. "Where can I find..." rummaging her brain for the name, she continued, "FP?"
The man's eyes squinted. "You need to find FP? How old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Oh..." Sliding his eyes over her body, he murmured, "Could've sworn you were younger."
It wasn't the first time she had heard this, being noticeably short. So, rolling her eyes at the guy, she looked straight at him, waiting for an answer, and arching her eyebrows.
"Follow me."
And so she did. Walking up some oddly tiny staircase, the worst scenarios of what could've happened playing in her head, she was led to a door. The man knocked, and getting a short answer, pushed it open. "This one here wanted to talk to you."
"Thanks, Hog Eye."
When the man disappeared, it was only Toni and the strangely smelling stranger in the small office-like room. "What do you want?" he bluntly asked.
"Uh... I was told I could get a job here?"
The man snorted. "A job?"
Rummaging for every bit of her mother inside of her, she nodded just as bluntly, gaining some attitude as she understood that was what everyone here did.
"Do you know what this here is, even? Are you a Northsider?"
"North—what? No. I live in a trailer park. Just moved here, to my uncle."
"Your name?"
"Toni Topaz."
The man turned his head to eye her for a moment, and then, a miniature smile came across his face. "Alright, Topaz. Listen, carefully. Southside Serpents is a gang. We don't do easy jobs. Are you sure you still want one?"
Her face had turned white, remembering the way her mother looked with the needle in her arm, and the way her father had gone to jail for dealing drugs. This here surely was no different. But she could do this, right? Maybe they had some jobs she didn't have to get involved with much.
"Yes."
The man tilted his head, curiously staring at her. He knew all about her family, considering that Toni's grandfather had been one of the founders of the Serpents in the early ages. He didn't understand the agreement of getting a job here when her family had been messed up because of them.
"Fair enough. You'll need to join us."
"How?"
"Strip on the stage."
Eyes widening, the girl took a shaky breath, feeling some sort of challenging atmosphere in there. "Why?"
The man, chewing on his gum, shrugged. "To show loyalty. Or you could do what all the boys do. Get beat up and kill a snake."
She shook her head rapidly. "No no. The strip... thingy... is fine."
"Be here at eight tomorrow. We'll talk work after you dance."
Everyone was looking at her when she entered the bar the next day. To her shock, there were so many more people than the previous night, which made her slightly nervous. But she needed to do it. She was ready.
When her name was called, people applauded. The girl before her had been good, and now Toni was nervous, knowing she wasn't that great. But, still, she climbed onto the stage and the music was immediately put on.
There were a whole bunch of people watching. Most of them were men who kept giving her creepy looks. She was just a kid, and they were what? Fifty?
Slowly sliding her top off, the girl revealed the dark purple bra she was wearing, followed by the matching panties after unbuttoning her skirt and letting it fall on the ground, too. There was no booing, which she took as a great sign while twirling herself around the pole, grinding it a few times, and adding some flirty moves.
The music ended sooner than she had thought, and a loud applauding started once she stopped moving. Breathing heavily, from nerves, the girl watched as FP walked onto the stage.
"Here you go, Topaz."
He held up a jacket in front of her. The same one her parents had worn all these years ago. The girl gave him a small nod, accompanied by a proud smile as she grabbed it and pulled it on.
People clapped again, cheering a bit, and Toni, still thirteen with so many emotions brewing inside her, suddenly felt closer to her family than ever.
"You'll work at the bar," FP stated, suddenly standing next to her. "I'm sorry about your family. We won't let any of that happen to you."
After the statement, the man strolled away somewhere, leaving Toni standing there in shock. They didn't give her some freaky drug assignment? She was going to be a bartender?
"Come here and watch how it's done," Hog Eye said, nudging his chin towards the alcohol behind him. Toni did, walking around the counter and standing beside him while he took orders.
"Hey, you!" she soon heard. "Topaz!"
Turning her head towards the voice, she saw two boys standing on the other side of the counter. Frowning a bit, the girl approached them. "Hey?"
"I'm Sweet Pea," the tall boy stated. "This is Fangs. Are you busy or do you wanna hang out?"
That night, going home with her uncle, Toni thought about the situation. She had felt confident in the bar, with the jacket on. Everyone had taken her as their own. And for a girl that had just lost her mother, that was the best feeling in the world.
Looking up at her uncle, Toni asked the only question that mattered to her at that moment. "Can I dye my hair?"
The man rolled his eyes, laughing at the girl he had developed a sweet spot for, and nodded.
As the years went by, Toni kept her good grades up. It was easier to do at her new school, considering that everyone was utterly and completely stupid. She still had her A's, without studying too much.
But, when she was fifteen, the school was shut down. She, Fangs, Sweet Pea, and a few other friends, were forced to convert to Riverdale High. And while her grades kept being good, another distraction showed itself.
A flash of fire-red hair glazed her eyes, changing the girl's life forever.
Toni Topaz was born to fly. And so she would in the years to come, becoming a famous photographer, rich enough to allow herself and her future family everything she didn't have as a child.