Archive of Our Own

Ever since the shooting of Fred Andrews things had been… weird, to say the very least. Archie had changed irrevocably since that day, hell bent on finding who was responsible for the senseless crime. Veronica had tried to comfort him as much as possible but she had issues of her own with her father Hiram coming to Riverdale. Veronica and Archie’s relationship had been tested so early on in their relationship, which left them feeling distant with each other. So distant, in fact, that Betty Cooper found herself comforting Archie on a Sunday night in her room. Initially he was crying on her shoulder, then they were talking about how different and horrible things had been in their respective lives. In order to lighten up the mood, Betty recalled how in the fifth grade when Reggie cut off part of Betty’s ponytail as a joke, Archie turned around and wailed him in the face. And when Fred Andrews was called to the school to pick Archie up for his expulsion, he took Betty and Archie out for milkshakes.

“Yeah,” Archie said with a slight laugh and a boyish grin, “I remember. I was so worried he was going to be disappointed in me but instead… he was proud of me. For sticking up for my friends…for sticking up for you.”

Betty laughed and their eyes met. He was staring at her intently when she became aware that their faces were mere inches apart. She cleared her throat before shifting her weight back away from him, “Well your dad-“

Archie cut her off by pressing his lips to hers and gently taking her face in his hands. Immediately, Betty’s eyes snapped open and she pushed him off of her, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“What the hell are you doing Archie?” She demanded.

“Betty…listen,” Archie said, shaking his head, “Maybe I made a mistake with Ronnie…her father hates me and basically forbids us from hanging out, and with my dad-“

“No,” She held her hand up to stop him from talking and got up off of the bed, “You don’t get to use your father as an excuse for kissing me. What about Jughead?”

“What about Jughead?” Archie snapped at her.

“I love him, Archie. And he’s your best friend!” Betty yelled, exasperated.

“Oh yeah? Then where is he Betty? Why isn’t he here right now if we both meant as much to him as he means to us?” Archie stood up in front of her.

Jughead. Juggy. She gulped, feeling tears sting at her eyes. Of all the things that have changed in Riverdale as of late, perhaps the boy in question was the most affected. He politely declined the Southside Serpents offer… or at least told her he had. Either way, he had been so busy fitting in at Southside High and acquainting himself with his foster family that Betty could admit he had put their gang on the back burner.
“You knew Archie! FP told you this would happen. That Jughead would…distance himself from us- try to disappear on us. And he told you to keep an eye out for him!” She said to him, shaking her head.

“I don’t have time to always look out for him! I have my own problems to deal with,” Archie bit back darkly, remembering how pale and listless his father looked on his last visit to the hospital.

“And besides, it’s not like he’s ghosting us because he’s sad or depressed or whatever about being at Southside High! He’s finally fitting in and…he’s moved on. Maybe it’s time you do the same, Betty.”

With that, Archie made for the door. His bulky shoulders brushed hers as he stormed past her. He paused before descending the stairs, waiting for her to make a move or ask him to stay. Instead she stood stoic in her room, tears falling freely from her mixed blue-green eyes. She fought to keep her breathing steady until she heard him leave her house. Once she heard the front door slam, she closed her own bedroom door and slowly slid down it as quiet sobs enveloped her.

--

Her head hurt, most likely from crying for the past two hours. However, she blamed it on her ponytail and made quick work of releasing her hair. Her golden curls fell limply at her shoulders and she massaged her temples. She reached for her phone but paused before unlocking it. She took a moment to brace herself, worried about the possibility of an empty notification tray.

She tapped the home button and let out a sigh of relief after seeing a message from the raven haired boy and typed out a new message. She couldn’t stop herself from feeling dread build in her stomach.

J: Hey Juliet, what’s up?
B: Hey Juggy
J: What’s going on? Any news about Archie’s dad?
B: Nothing new

She had been excited all day at the prospect of being able to talk to him. But now, when she finally had the chance, she felt a thin barrier of ice encasing her heart.

J: What’s wrong?
B: Nothing…there’s just nothing new to report.
J: You know I don’t believe that for a second.
B: I just… miss you. I guess.
J: Well I guess I miss you too

A smiled pulled at the corners of her lips.

J: I’ve heard that visiting your boyfriend at school on a Tuesday afternoon could help with that whole “missing you” thing

Betty knew him and knew that he phrased the invitation in a way that wouldn’t sound like a question- for fear of being rejected.

B: Can’t wait :)

--
Monday was a painfully long day. She felt horrible about the kiss with Archie regardless of the fact that she hadn’t reciprocated or allowed him to push further. She couldn’t even look at Archie without her eyes filling with contempt and disgust.

Veronica didn’t take the news very well. She barely let Betty finish her sentence before storming off with Kevin in tow. When she passed the duo walking with Ethel to lunch they wouldn’t even so much as look at her. V was right, Betty thought to herself Her superpower is ice. Subconsciously, Betty welcomed the familiar, dull pain of blunt fingernails digging into her skin. Lately the bruises left behind in a poor attempt at self-control had been growing in severity. The crescents were outlined with black and blue marks and scabs formed lightly over them.

Instead of eating lunch with Cheryl at the social-pariah table, she found herself spending the lunch period in the Blue and Gold office. She was quick to learn that her choice may have been worse than spending the afternoon with the ginger queen.

It felt like wallowing in her own misery, occasionally sighing dramatically and not even attempting to eat her perfectly packed peanut butter and jelly sandwich or the red apple. Rather she looked around aimlessly, in a haze, hoping that someone would waltz through the door with the intention of making her feel a little bit better or even just distracting her. There was no Jughead lurking in the shadows, ready to appear with a cryptic comment or burst through the doors of the lonely little office.

Predictably, no one came and as the bell rang, she shoved her uneaten food into the trash can.

When Tuesday finally rolled around Betty was ready for a change in scenery. She made her way down to Southside High during their lunch period and walked through the metal detectors with a fair bit of panic. Her anxiety was unjustified; it wasn’t like she had any weapons on her but the thought of going through it still made her a little nauseous. All she could think about was how, when Archie, Veronica and herself stormed in here, Jughead looked so content and happy with his new friends.

Every step she took towards the cafeteria heightened her discomfort because each step solidified the mantra replaying itself in her head: “I don’t belong here.” Students evaluated her pale pink sweater with white peter-pan collars and white jeans. She stood out in the crowd of ripped jeans, flannels and sweaters. Even her winter coat, beige, set her apart from the tattered grey and black coats covering the halls.

At last, she reached the open cafeteria doors. She nervously adjusted her over-the shoulder bag when she spotted Jughead across the room. His eyes were searching the cafeteria until they found what they were looking for-her. Instantaneously, a smile spread across his face and he got up to greet her. She walked towards him unable to control the wide grin that spread across her face as they pulled each other into a hug.

Under her breath she said, “I missed you.”

“Don’t have to miss me now,” Jughead responded with a cheeky grin before saying, “Betts I-“

But before he could finish his sentence a girl with dyed mahogany hair jumped next to him and draped her arm on his shoulder (in a way that Betty perceived as nothing if not territorial). She had brown skin that complimented her worn black leather jacket and bright red lipstick. Her eyes were a warm brown color and were accompanied by a slim nose, a slender face and perfectly arched eyebrows. She was wearing a grey faded sweater under the jacket, ripped blue jeans and black combat boots.

“You must be Betty!” The girl exclaimed with an over-extended level of cheer. “When I first saw you, all I could think was ‘What’s this bubblegum pink princess Glinda of the North witch doing on the Southside?’ but now I can see that you’re the girl who Juggy over here,” She jolted his shoulders playfully, “Hasn’t shut up about!”

Juggy. Betty’s stomach tightened at the strangers use of her nickname for him. She felt jealousy seeping through her and wanted nothing more than to disappear in that moment. All of the distance she felt between her and her boyfriend had been manifested into this…girl. Her inner despair worsened when she watched Jughead laugh and playfully shove her back. The interactions between the two felt too natural and comfortable. Betty desperately fought the urge to clench her fists, knowing that Jughead would notice if she did.

“Oh come on,” he said bashfully before eagerly changing the subject, “Anyway, Betty this is Antonia Topaz…Toni, meet Betty Cooper.”

Betty forced a smile unto her face that likely turned out to be more of a grimace. She stuck her hand out to meet Toni’s. The bruises in the center of her palm caught Jughead’s eye when Toni abruptly pulled Betty into a hug.

“It’s so good to finally meet you!” Antonia said as she pulled back, “All of my friends call me Toni.” She followed that suggestion with a menacing wink that immediately filled the blonde with further distrust for the stranger.

“Come on!” Toni said, tugging Jughead along, “Sit with us!” She commanded as she looked back at Betty.

Betty expected their lunch table to be filled with other students, as it had been on her first visit here. But she was lead to an empty table in the back, leftmost corner of the cafeteria.

“It’s just you two? Where are the rest of your friends Jughead?” Betty gulped, trying not to sound too suspicious. She took a seat across the table from him and for a brief moment he seemed confused that she didn’t accept the seat next to him. But quickly, that seat was filled by Toni.

“We sit with them some days,” She tilted her head back to gesture to a crowd of students at the table in front of them, “But most days it’s just us. Those idiots couldn’t string along an intellectual conversation to save their lives.”

Jughead shook his head with a slight laugh, “Plus, with you coming today- “

Once again, Toni cut him off, “We decided to spare you from the scrutiny of so many Southside shitheads at once. Wouldn’t wanna scare you off the Northern folk,” She said with a laugh, resting her chin on her hand awaiting a reaction from Betty.

Betty didn’t pay any mind to the implications in Toni’s words, they were just further hints at a large-scale strife that she saw coming from a mile away. What irked her was the we she had used. We decided. We. Not Betty and Jughead, but rather Toni and Jughead. The decision was about Betty and yet Betty had been taken out of the equation entirely. She forced a laugh, scrambling to get the thoughts in her head to slow down.

Jughead rolled his eyes, “It’s taco Tuesday Betts. And trust me, you don’t want to be around those idiots on Taco Tuesday.”

“I’ll just have to take your word for it,” She said a little too sharply to go unnoticed.

“So…” Toni started to prattle off about something, and Betty felt a deep urge to ask the girl if she ever stopped talking or stopped inserting herself in other people’s lives for that matter. She clenched her fists underneath the table, not really hearing what the pair in front of her were saying to each other. She spaced out, lost in thought and desperately trying to think up a way to remove herself from this situation.

“-And that was just the first of many times that we caught Dilton Doiley trying to eat bugs in elementary school. Right Betty?” Jughead asked, turning his attention back to the blonde with bright eyes.

“What?” Betty snapped back to attention, earning a giggle from Toni and a furrowed brow from Jughead. At once, her phone began to ring startlingly loud, causing all three of them to jump. Saved by the bell she thought.

“Oh, um, it’s my mom…I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” She spoke hurriedly, getting up and making a beeline for the door of the cafeteria.

As soon as she was out of their line of vision, she rapidly hit decline on the too-bright, grinning picture of her mother that flashed on the screen. She kept walking, nearly sprinting to the closest bathroom she could find. It was dingy, with yellow-beige colored stalls complimented by minute yellow and white tiling on the floor. It felt sickly and smelt like someone had attempted to clean it but had given up half way. The walls were concrete blocks, sloppily covered in a thick coating of white paint and were accompanied by graffiti. The inside of the stalls were decorated with phrases calling certain students sluts or whores, FMK lists, MASH games and the like.

She gripped the sink directly adjacent to the door with her head bowed, steadying herself and breathing deeply. She felt that the deeper her breath was, the better her chances were of banishing the nausea in her stomach. The girl wasn’t sure how long she stood like that, she began to hear a few students making their way through the hallways, and she could make out two voices distinctly.

“So that’s the Betty Cooper huh?” Betty pressed herself up against the door to make out Toni’s voice.

“Yeah,” responded Jughead.

“It’s a shame that…” She began to hear Toni speak when the bell rang and more students shuffled out into the hallway.

Betty held the knob of the door close to her in a vice grip so no other student could try to walk in as she pushed her ear against the door.

She could only make out pieces of what they were saying, catching Jughead at, “[…] No one is perfect,” with another gap in the conversation before hearing, “[…] Can be crazy sometimes…”

They were most likely still talking about her, she realized with her heart jack-hammering in her chest. Don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry, don’t you dare cry, Elizabeth Cooper she heard her mother’s voice ringing in her head as she brought her hand up to her mouth to keep quiet. She was crazy, she’d suppose. Crazy for letting herself backslide, as her mother would so kindly put it.

Then the ruffling of students quieted down and she could hear Jughead and Toni more clearly.

“Well if anything changes between you two, don’t forget to give me a call, I wanna be the first in line!” Betty heard Toni’s high pitched voice ring out.

“Yeah, you’ll be the first person I call,” Jughead promised.

--
Betty stood in the bathroom for an immeasurable amount of time. Her mother called again and again, as did Jughead.

J: Betty? Are you okay?
J: Where are you?
J: Betty?

She ignored his messages, instead finally mustering the moxie to pull the bathroom door open. Once out of the bathroom she booked it to the main entrance, eager now more than ever to see the pillars of the metal detectors. When they were finally insight and she could see the overcast skies of the November outside waiting for her, Betty heard his voice.

“Betty?” Jughead called out hurt evident in voice, seeing her phone in hand and knowing full well that she had ignored his texts and his calls.

She didn’t turn around, merely turning her head to the side and responding with “Yeah?” She hadn’t banked on having to face him so…soon.

“Where have you been? Where are you going? I’ve been looking for you, you never came back,” He said, with a nervous laugh, “I was worried Nancy Drew was about to stage her own mystery disappearance. Are you okay?”

“Jesus,” she said angrily, “Got any more questions or are you saving them for the Spanish Inquisition?” Betty whipped her head around.

He looked shocked and confused but, instead of turning away from her harsh words, he took a breath to calm himself and said, “Everything was fine before your mom called. Did something happen at home?”

“No,” She snapped, “Nothing happened at home. And everything wasn’t fine before she called. Nothing is fine for anyone except for you, Jughead!”

He took a step towards her, “What are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about,” she said exasperated and using her hands to gesture to the school. “Not that you’re ever around to care but things have kind of just been going to shit lately. But what do I know? Maybe I’m just crazy?” She said as she crossed her arms and enunciated the word with a sharp flick of her head.

He paled instantly, “Betty- “

“No,” She held her hand up to stop him from talking, “I heard you and Toni talking. And you know what? Archie was right. You barely come around to the Northside anymore. You don’t care about Archie’s dad or anything else that’s going on. Because you’re so busy with your new life down here, your new friends and your new girlfriend.”

“My new girlfriend?” Jughead challenged, “Betty, that’s cr- that’s not right.”

“Oh, really?” She asked rhetorically, “Then I must have seen a different Jughead and Toni in there. Or heard a different Jughead and Toni in the hallway.”

He shook his head, “It’s not what you think-“

“Save it, Jughead. Why don’t you give your friend Toni a call? Because we’re…” She averted his gaze and felt tears pooling in her eyes, “We’re done here Jughead.”

As if on cue, the bell rang again and students came pouring out of their respective classrooms. Toni was out and by his side in a second, looking on at the scene before her with confusion. Betty ignored her and turned around on her heel, storming past the detectors. She heard the sound of Jughead punching a locker and a concerned faculty member yelling out “Mr. Jones!” in shock.

All of the sound faded away as the glass doors shut behind her and, to no one’s surprise, there was her mother’s car waiting out front for her.

She prepared herself for a barrage of comments from her mother, turning to her and saying, “Don’t worry mom, it won’t happen again.”

--
Betty could feel her phone ringing constantly in the pocket of her jeans. She was expecting missed calls from Jughead and was surprised to find they were from an unknown number.

Unknown: Did u kno u don’t even have ur voicemail set up?? Pick up the damn phone

She had a suspicion of who it might be and instead of feeding into Toni’s attempts to gloat, Betty ripped the back of her phone off, took out the battery and unceremoniously chucked it across her room before running her hands across her scalp, loosening the top of the ponytail. She looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes were rimmed red with the few tears she had let fall, her hair was a mess and she looked stressed out, pale. You look crazy, a voice in the back of her head said.

She heard muffled voices that sounded light years away, but were enough for her to turn her head in their direction. To further her dismay, she found the source of the noise was Archie…and Veronica. In his room, together, as if nothing had ever happened. Betty walked over to the window across from Archie’s to shut the blinds and move the curtains. As she was about to do so, Veronica tried to make eye contact with her, offering an apologetic smile and mouthing something unintelligible to her.

Betty ignored her, allowing the blinds to intercept whatever message Veronica was trying to relay. The golden haired girl shut the bedroom door, locked it, pulled her hair down out of the pony tail, shut the lights off, played whatever caught her eye first on Spotify, and flopped down onto her bed.

Tauntingly, she could hear Archie’s voice in her head saying, “You are so perfect, I’ve never been good enough for you.”

And Cheryl’s constant jabs at her crazy sister Polly.

And Chuck Clayton screaming at her from the bathtub, “You are crazy! Oh my god, you are crazy as hell!”

She held her hands in front of her face and examined her palms, all eight of the crescent shaped scars more prominent now than ever before. They weren’t painful, rather they were a dull ache that occupied the back of her mind. She remembered when they were less red, less colored with black and blues. She had showed them to Jughead when they were less severe and yellow. Painfully, her heart throbbed and reminded her of how he kissed them in that booth at Pop’s and it was the best her hands had felt in a long time.

Finally, his distorted voice echoed in her mind, “Can be crazy sometimes.”

Betty Cooper didn’t give up on people, not people she loved. She could deal with being jealous of his new friend, but the things he said to Toni…how Betty was crazy and how eagerly he’d inform Toni of their relationships inevitable end…what was there to fight for? She’d already pursued someone who wasn’t interested in her and she wasn’t willing to make the same mistake once more.

Sobs wracked her body and she turned to face into her pillow so she wouldn’t raise the attention of her parents or Polly. She felt alone, isolated from her friends for an action she didn’t even initiate. And while it was clear Veronica could forgive Archie, she had no interest in making amends with Betty.

Time passed immeasurably and she wasn’t sure how long she had laid there, wallowing in her misery and solitude. The last thing she heard before falling asleep were the lyrics of the last song on her playlist:

But the days get harder in November, and love grows colder in the winter…

--

Wednesday was a blur. She worried if every coming day would feel this…gut-wrenching. Veronica had tried to approach her, assuming Betty’s mood was over their spat about Archie. Kevin attempted to apologize for the “extreme dosage of cold shoulder” he had issued to her on Monday, but his words fell on deaf ears. She was numb to them and their apologies (or lack thereof in Archie’s case). The teen felt as though she was in a haze, merely passing time in a mechanical manner. She still participated in her classes, always issuing out the correct answer even if was in a half-hearted tone: she couldn’t let her participation grade drop.

It felt robotic, like she was operating on autopilot and the only issue occupying her brain was the hole inside of her heart and the constant-sinking feeling in her stomach. The dull throbbing she achieved from pushing her fingers into the tender, abused skin of her palms was the only thing that reminded her that she wasn’t completely numb. She wasn’t afraid of it anymore, she welcomed it. Because she was crazy. Even the one person who was always there for her, always supported of her, thought so.

These thoughts repeated in her head all day and she wasn’t broken out of her reverie until she was walking to the parking lot after the last bell of the school day had rung. She was taking languid steps, lost in her repetitive thoughts, when the unforgiving sound of tires screeching on pavement startled her. Her head snapped up to see an old, fairly dented, noxious white civic pull up mere inches of her. When she recognized the driver, she rolled her eyes and hugged her books close to her navy-blue sweater.

“Betty Cooper, what the hell is wrong with you?” Came a loud, demanding voice from the car.

“J-Toni? What are you doing here?”

When she got out of the rusting car, Toni shoved her sunglasses on top of her head with an outfit similar, but not identical, to the one she donned yesterday, “Me and Jughead? Really?” she demanded.

“What are you talking about?” Confusion wracked Betty’s brain. If this was Toni’s way of trying to rub it in Betty’s face, she had a really odd way about it.

“Betty, look at me,” Toni put her hand on her hip and used the other the gesture to herself wildly, “Gay. With a capital ‘G’, sweetie.”

Realization hit the blonde like a freight train. She gasped and immediately put her hand to her forehead. “Oh my god, no way,” Betty said, panicked.

Toni pursed her lips and crossed her arms, “Funny. My parents said the same thing.”

“B-but, but how?” Betty whispered, aghast.

“Well that’s a topic of much debate but I like to think every day we get closer to accepting the theory that we’re all born this way,” Toni remarked sarcastically, leaning against the door of her car.

Betty, although far shorter than the Amazonian woman standing before her, sent a bone-chilling glare her way. “I know that,” she gritted out between clenched teeth, “But I…I heard you and Jughead talking in the hallway.”

It was Toni’s turn to blanch, and her face flushed a little bit, “You-you did?”

“Yeah,” she responded assertively, “I heard all about how…” she paused, not wanting to say it out loud, “crazy he thinks I am. How you’ll be the first person he calls when we break up.”

“Wait, what?” Toni’s face contorted in confusion, “Girl-no. That’s not how it happened.”

“That’s what I heard,” Betty argued, feeling only slightly ashamed for admitting that she was eavesdropping.

“From where? The friggin’ bathroom stall?” guessed Toni, and upon gauging Betty’s reaction, she knew she was correct, “Seriously Cooper? Those walls have concrete blocks that are at least 3 feet thick. I’m surprised you even heard us at all.”

“Okay then,” Betty sighed, squaring her shoulders, “Then what was said?”

--

After Betty hadn’t returned from her phone call with her mother, Jughead and Toni began to walk to their next class. He knew he wouldn’t actually be going to class, instead combing the halls for Betty or attempting to contact her until he knew was going on with her mother. He didn’t get a great look at her hands, but from the snippet he saw he could tell things must have been rough for her lately.

He cursed himself for not asking her sooner-not seeing her sooner. It’d been a busy few weeks and his foster parents were rather protective of him. It was a feeling he wasn’t used to, and as much as he’d love to politely tell them where they could shove their 9:30 pm curfew, he kind of liked the fact that they cared about him. The reality was that they had only gone a few days without seeing each other, but he should have known that even a few hours in this recently-damned town could change everything.

Jughead knew there was something bothering Betty, probably multiple things, which made him more eager to find her. He had planned on bailing on US History to do so, when Toni began to speak.

“So that’s the Betty Cooper huh?” She nudged him playfully on the shoulder again.

“Yeah,” he said with a grin on his face.

“It’s a shame that her mom had to interrupt,” The girl said, crossing her arms indignantly, “I wanted to get to know her. And damn…she’s hot.”

He huffed, shaking his head and ignoring her latter comment, “That’s Alice Cooper for you. She’s always pushing Betty, trying to mold her into whatever brand of perfection she prefers that day.”

Toni laughed humorlessly, “I guess she’s succeeding then, because that girl was stunning. Literal perfection walking the very streets before us. I feel like I should hide my face in shame.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “No one is perfect,” he recalled their fight during his birthday party, “And her mom goes too far, she can be crazy sometimes. The demands she puts on Betty; she raises the bar so high just so that she can chastise her own daughter. It’s so unfair…it’s maddening to watch.”

The bell rang and students began to shuffle out. After a brief pause, he noticed Toni was starting at him, “You really like her.”

He smiled shyly once again, “Yeah I do,”

Seconds later, he winced when Toni pinched his cheek between her index finger and her thumb “You looooooooooove her.” She taunted with a shit eating-grin. He merely rolled his at her and swatted her hands away.

“Well if anything changes between you two, don’t forget to give me a call, I wanna be first in line!” For the Cooper train thought was obvious.

“You’ll be the first person I call,” Jughead responded.

He never thought he’d ever be making that call, much less one later that day.

After many failed attempts to contact Betty, including walking to her house only to find the lights dimmed (and what appears to be no Betty from his view on the ground), he bit the bullet and dialed Toni.

“Jughead? What’s up?” She asked, concern prominent in her voice. He never called her in the span of their short friendship.

“Congratulations,” was all he said in response as he began his descent to the Southside.

--

“Oh no,” Betty was freaking out after hearing Toni’s side of the story, “Oh no no no no no no.” She repeated running her hand through perfectly arranged hair.

“Okay calm-“ Toni began to say, noticing that Betty was beginning to draw attention to herself. Veronica, Kevin, Ethel and Archie were peering over at the two with Veronica beginning to stalk over from across the courtyard.

“No- I can’t,” Betty responded, gulping, “I can’t ‘calm down’, Toni, I have to find him.” She began to turn to walk away.

“Um, hello?” Toni said, dangling her keys obnoxiously, “Kinda what I’m here for.”

“You want to help me,” Betty stated obviously as Toni ran her fingers through her curled hair “Why?”

Toni’s eyes nervously darted around, “Because, I feel like it’s partially my fault. I’m just…an affectionate person, I guess. I wasn’t raised the way you were, like a ‘proper lady’,” both of the girls rolled their eyes at the phrase, “I wear my heart on my sleeve, I’m outgoing. I don’t hide behind a mask of politeness-“

As if on cue by some unknown holy force, the queen of faux-politeness popped out of nowhere, “Betty!” Cheryl’s voice turned both of their heads, “I suppose your expanding your horizon of Southside Scum.” She said, raking Toni over with her eyes.

Instead of getting offended or firing something equally hurtful back, Toni smirked and said, “I bet I could expand your horizons too.”

Cheryl sputtered for a good teen seconds, something Betty was ashamed to admit she got satisfaction out of. Her grin fell from her face when she saw Veronica approaching. “Come on Jo, let’s go.” She said, tugging the girls arm toward her car.

“B, wait!” Veronica called after her, now nearly sprinting despite the impressively high heels she was donning.

Betty paused in her tracks and turned around, “What?” she asked icily.

“Can we talk?” Veronica questioned, unfazed and unblinking.

“I’m kind of in the middle of something,” She said gesturing to Jo, who was now impatiently waiting for them behind the wheel of her car.

“B, what’s been going on with you lately?” The raven haired girl asked, genuinely concerned for her best friend.

Irritated, Betty snapped, “Why the sudden interest Veronica? You wanted nothing to do with me two days ago. Hell, you even convinced Kevin and Ethel to follow suit.”

“I’m sorry,” She said, ashamed, “I was just…hurt.”

“So you take it out on me? And not Archie? When he’s the one who started it?” She bit back, but noticed Jo’s attention was peaked.

“I was jealous too. I felt like I wasn’t enough and there was all of this distance between him and I, and things with my dad only made it worse-“

“So talk to me V,” Betty shook her head, “Don’t turn on me and make my life worse because you’re hurting and need someone to take it out on. I’m not your punching bag.”

“I am so sorry,” Veronica pleaded, “Can-‘ HONK.

Toni yelled from the window, “C’mon Cooper you’re burning my gas here!”

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Veronica determined, looking at the impatient girl. “To be continued?” she asked hopefully.

Not in the mood to fight or stress herself out anymore, Betty nodded, “To be continued.”

As she got into the car, Veronica yelled for her to text her.

Toni sped out of the student parking lot and looked at Betty at the corner of her eye, “Any ideas, bright eyes?”

“What? What do you mean? You don’t know where he is?” Betty asked in shock.

“I have yet to plant a personal tracking device in him, if that’s what you’re asking,” She shot back, unamused.

Betty sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling her own anxiety begin to rise. She needed to fix this and she needed to do so as soon as possible-anything less than that was simply unacceptable.

“Let’s try Sunnyside first,” she suggested, and within a few minutes they were already half way there.

“He probably won’t even want to see me,” Betty admitted, twinges of remorse evident in her tone.

“That’s a possibility,” The driver deadpanned back.

“Gee, thanks for all the support,” Betty huffed and folded her arms in front of her chest, looking outside of the window.

“Do you want me to lie to you?” She asked incredulously, “To stroke your ego and tell you that you can blow sunshine at him and suddenly everything will be okay?”

“I-no-“

“Good. Because I won’t.” She interjected, seamlessly switching lanes as she did so, “Betty. It’s not pretty. He’s kinda miserable that the last person on the right side of the tracks has given up on him.”

“I didn’t mean to-I didn’t even know what I was doing. I wish I could take it back, I wish I wasn’t so stupid,” She bit her lip, fighting back tears

“Hey,” she reached her arm out to touch Betty’s shoulder, “You made a mistake. He did too. These fears you have about your relationship; they don’t just manifest overnight. They build overtime and he should have paid more attention before things escalated to this point. You seem fairly reasonable to me, Betty, not the kind to jump to conclusions like you did yesterday.

“So maybe he could have been more attentive and less focused on his own fear that you’re too good for him. And you could have given him a chance before ending what you two had. But now you have a chance to fight for it,” Toni explained thoughtfully as they pulled into the trailer park.

“Then fight for it, I shall,” Betty muttered.

--

The trailer park was a dead end. As was Pop’s, Southside High, the jail his father was placed in, his foster parents house, the bus station…everywhere, void of Jughead. They drove past Archie’s house after turning up and down every road for nearly two hours. Betty noticed the lights in Archie’s house were all off, meaning he had never come home after school. Or had left after coming home. With football season over and Archie being sapped of all creative energy, Betty knew there was only one place Archie could have gone where Jughead was likely with him; the hospital.

Toni booked it to the North River Hospital, and silently Betty willed her to go even faster. Concerned about the chance to speak with Jughead, but also worried about Fred. When Toni and Betty ran into the main lobby, they saw Veronica, Cheryl and Kevin in the lobby area. While Archie and Jughead were talking further down the hall, outside of Fred’s designated room.

“Betty!” Veronica said, sounding relieved, “Where have you been? I’ve been texting you for the past two hours- I was worried.”

The blonde shook her head, “I’m sorry, my phone’s been dead,” remembering the parts of the phone she had shucked across her room.

Archie and Jughead noticed Betty and Toni at the same time. Instantly Jughead stiffened and began walking towards them, making eye contact with Betty once; his red rimmed eyes meeting her swollen, tired ones.

“Jughead,” She breathed out as he approached, but he shifted his gaze to the floor, walking angrily “Can we please talk? Please?” she begged.

“Got nothing to say,” He responded sullenly, brushing his shoulder against hers as he trudged past her.

“Really? Nothing to say? At all?” Toni inquired, regretting it nearly instantly when he turned around on his heel and looked at Betty.

His stare was harsh, unblinking and cold, “Actually just one question.”

Betty swallowed, “Sure. Anything.”

“Did you and Archie wait to have your make out sesh,” he spat the words out mockingly, “until after you dumped me? Or could you just not wait any longer? Couldn’t contain yourself and couldn’t spare me the dignity?”

Betty’s heart jumped and twisted painfully in her chest. Toni and Cheryl gasped, clearly out of the loop.

“What-Jughead-no!” Tears formed in her eyes and she reached out to touch him. “Jughead- I didn’t-“

He ignored her and kept walking down the hall. Betty made to run after him, but Toni (who was stronger than she appeared) held her firmly in place, “Let him go.”

Betty struggled to break her arm free, but Toni’s grip only tightened and her eyes were full of venom.

“It’s not true,” She tried to gasp out, eyes full of tears but Jughead had already disappeared. She turned back to look at Archie, ready to kill him for whatever he said to Jughead, but he had already began walking with a team of medical staff that were leading him down the hall.

Resigned, her muscles fell limp and she walked towards the east wing of the hospital, where neither boy had ventured. With no clear direction or goal in line, she just kept walking, fists clenched. She didn’t want to be near her friends, who had been so uninvolved in her life as of late that they didn’t even know about her break up with Jughead.

She only paused when she saw a set of vending machines. Betty leaned the wall adjacent to the furthest, slowly sliding down with her head tucked between her knees, fingernails still biting into her palms, harder now more than ever.

Her breathing was shallow and she felt incredibly small, figuring she wouldn’t mind if a giant black hole opened up beneath her and swallowed her whole in that very moment.

After Fred was shot, she began to feel the lingerings of loneliness seeping into her. When Archie kissed her, those feelings were magnified as her friend group was torn. Veronica, who had sworn they’d never fight over a boy again, iced her out. Kevin, Ethel all followed suit and she reckoned Cheryl would’ve done the same had she known. But those were losses she could recover from, friendships that could be mended again. Finally, there was Jughead, who she had pushed away and hurt out of the fear he was doing the same to her. She needed to make it right, but she didn’t have the faintest idea how.

“Hope those are tears of happiness,” Came a dry, drawled out voice.

“Would you just get out of here already?” Betty bit back, raising her head.

“Oh, believe me, I’m going,” Toni said, “You’re on your own. Find your own ride back home.”

“Shockingly enough, that’s kind of the least of my concerns right now,” Betty shook her head and a humorless laugh fell from her lips.

“Whatever, I don’t help cheaters,” She responded, swinging her keys around on her fingers.

“I didn’t kiss Archie, I pushed him off of me!” Her eyes pierced into Toni’s, blue eyes looking so truthful that Toni faltered for a minute.

“Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t,” she rolled her eyes, “I would have liked to know this before I wasted my time trying to help you two- “

“Betty’s right,” A soft voice called out from the beginning of the hallway. “Archie kissed her after him and I fought. And he admitted to me that she didn’t reciprocate. Like at all.”

“V,” Betty breathed out, not sure if she should feel relieved or concerned.

Veronica walked over and kneeled in front of her, “B, I am so sorry,” there were tears in her eyes, “I was just…jealous. That you were better at dealing with all of this stuff better than I am.” She said, gesturing to the hospital but Betty knew she was more concerned with her inability to comfort Archie after his father was shot.

“I know you’d never do that to me. But the fact that I wasn’t enough for him…it hurt,” Veronica admitted.

“Hey,” Betty said giving her a half smile and finally relaxing her hands. “You’re more than enough for him, V. If he can’t see that then it’s his stupid fault.”

“So wait,” Toni spoke up, “Why would Archie tell Jughead you kissed him then?”

“He’s been trying to push Jughead away,” Betty explained, “I think he’s worried that whoever shot his dad is a serpent. He needs a scapegoat and Jughead fits the bill. That uh night, after I rejected him, he told me just to forget about Jughead. That Jughead was moving on to better things,” She eyed Toni pointedly, “And that I should to. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he told Jughead just to complicate things between us.”

“I don’t think he did,” Veronica piped up, “I think Archie was trying to explain but all Jughead heard was ‘we kissed’, and that’s when you two walked in. I’m Veronica, by the way.” She turned to Toni and stuck her hand out.

Begrudgingly Toni took her hand and said, “Jo. Friend of Jughead and before you get any ideas like this one,” she pointed to Betty, “He’s not my type.”

At Veronica’s raised brow, Betty explained, “I may have, uh, broken up with Jughead. Yesterday. Because I thought he had feelings for her.”

“Betty,” the raven haired girl laughed humorlessly, “This girl is gay. Like with a capital G. No offense.”

“Hey, none taken,” The girl in question piped in.

“Okay well, I know that now,” Betty laughed a little bit, “I also thought I overheard him calling me crazy.”

“Most millennial white boys think it’s trendy to call their girlfriends crazy,” Veronica pointed out, “But Jughead isn’t most millennial white boys.”

“I’ve noticed,” Betty responded, wiping the tears from her eyes that had pooled against her will. Upon doing so, both Veronica and Toni looked at her with grave concern; there was blood smeared across her face.

“What?” she asked.

“B, you’re bleeding,” Veronica pointing out and Betty looked down at her hands to see that her palms had been amassing blood, finally giving way to the constant sharp pressure put on them.

--

It was well past 9pm when Toni rolled up to Bettys house with a tired sigh. The blonde made a move to get out of the car and thank Jo.

“Listen Betty,” She sighed once again, “I know you want to talk to him- “

“I need to talk to him.”

“I know, but now might not be the best time. He’s probably not in the most receptive of moods. Let me just try to talk to him first.”

“Jo, I can’t wait any longer. The longer I go without seeing him and telling him the truth- “

“You heard Veronica, Archie tried to tell him the truth. He’s just not listening to reason and if you go to talk to him now, you may wind up hurting each other more.”

“Is that even possible?” Betty asked incredulously, fidgeting with the bandaids on her palms.

“You know very damn well it is,” Toni pointed out.

After seeing Betty’s silhouette Polly ran out to the car, “Betty! Where have you been?”

“Sorry Pol, I was looking for Jughead,” Betty explained from the rolled down window.

“Damn, do all of you Coopers have perfect genes?” Toni asked, mouth agape and earning blushes from both Betty and Polly.

“Uhm,” Polly cleared her throat, “Jughead was here earlier, looking for you-“

“Earlier when?” Betty asked, eyes wide and hopeful.

“Right after school,” Bettys heart sank, “And then something happened with Archie’s dad and they went to the hospital.

Of course, neither of the girls suspected that while looking for Jughead, he’d be looking for Betty.

“Are mom and dad home?” Betty asked.

“No, they’re still at that Gala or Whatever-I tried to call you!” Polly said.

Betty cursed herself and got out of the car. “Let me know how it goes?” She asked Toni, still uneasy.

“I’ll text you, but actually pickup this time, yeah?” Toni said before winking at Polly, “I can text you too if you want.”

Betty rolled her eyes and helped Polly into the house as Toni drove away.

“So who was that?” Polly asked, a bit taken aback with a hand on her stomach.

“Long story.”

--
T: So what’s Polly’s deal?
J: Uh? She’s pregnant?
T: Yeah but where’s the dad @ now
J: Guess that depends on your personal opinion of Jason Blossom
T: Jason Blossom? srsly? That’s the baby daddy??
J: Yep
T: Shit…well anyway she’s cute when she’s worried

Jughead furrowed his brow, worried about what? He typed back.

T: Well I’ve been telling her that Betty’s fine and she’s w/ u but she’s still worried. Not good 4 the babies

J: What? What are you talking about?

He hadn’t seen Betty since…earlier that day. His heart clenched at the thought.

J: She’s with Archie probably. Don’t worry about it
T:..Jug. She’s not w/u?
J: Why would she be?
T: After u left she went after u… said she was meeting U at Sunnyside

Jughead blood ran cold. He wasn’t even at the trailer park. He was at his foster parent’s house.

J:How long ago??
T: Stop playing. This isn’t funny. She left like 4 hours ago.
J: I’m not playing, I seriously haven’t seen her.
T: Polly’s freaking out…she’s worried Bettys hurt. Says she knows how Betty gets when she’s upset
J: What???
T: Idk. She’s about to call her parents now
J: I’m gonna go check Sunnyside and see if she’s there

Hurriedly, he shoved his beanie sloppily on his head, grabbed a jacket and quietly left his room through the window to evade his foster parents notice.

From across the street, Toni, far from the presence of Polly, smirked as she watched him leave. Her plan was working.

--
For the past half hour, Betty’s heart was steadily rising and falling. After reassembling her phone, she had experienced a flood of messages. Most were from Jughead and with each one that came in intermittently, she was hopeful it was him, reaching out to her only to discover the date stamp on the message was over 12 hours ago. She laid on her bed, wide awake, when her phone buzzed for what felt like the hundredth time.

T: Go to Sunnyside. Now

In seconds, Betty grabbed her things and was running down the stairs. She only paused when she saw Polly sitting in the living room with a knowing smile on her face.

“Don’t worry,” the older girl said, “I’ll cover for you.”

--
Betty arrived to the trailer first, confused and anxious when she shoved the door open to find no one inside.

“Jughead?” She called out tentatively, with no response.

She sighed, maybe he’d left or was never going to show. Toni wasn’t specific with her plan. She sat down and raked her fingers through her hair.

Her heart stopped when Jughead burst through the doors, calling her name, “Betty?” His tone was rushed, worried.

She stood up immediately, “Jughead?”

He turned toward her, with a look of relief in his eyes. “Are you okay?” He approached her and touched her arm gingerly, “Are you hurt?”

Silently, shook her head and he continued on, pacing in front of her for a bit, “Where have you been? Everyone’s been worried sick. Polly’s been worried sick, even Toni was worried. I think they just called your parents.”

“Polly?” Betty asked, confused. “I just saw Polly when I left. Toni drove me home from the hospital after we, um, talked.”

Realization hit Jughead hard. Of course. Toni had set him up, made up some shitty excuse about Betty being hurt, knowing it was the only way to draw him out of his shell. He laughed bitterly, “I should have known Toni would do this, stage some fake scenario just so I’d come here.”

Betty winced, “We need to talk. Can we, please?”

He shook his head, what more was there to talk about? He still loved her, cared about her just the same but being in the room with her was only hurting him more. He wasn’t sure what more she wanted. “You know, some odd 48 hours ago those words would have terrified me.”

“Jughead I- “

“But now…what else is there to say?” He said, walking to the door, “You’ve made it clear how you feel.”

“No,” she spoke softly, “I haven’t Jughead.”

He froze in his tracks, still not facing her when she spoke again, “I don’t have feelings for Archie. Not romantic ones anyway, I barely even want to be his friend anymore,” she said, chest clenching at the admission. They’d been friends for what felt like forever, but it didn’t matter anymore “I used to think I was in love with him. Because I felt like that’s what everyone expected, it was the norm. Football player boy-next door and the perfect girl next door? At the beginning of the school year I tried to make it happen because…that’s what everyone wanted to happen.”

Not everyone, he thought to himself bitterly. She continued on, “It seemed like that was my future, set in stone…this picturesque life. And I wanted it, so bad. Not him, but the idea of him and the satisfaction of…I don’t know, living up to everyone’s expectations. Surpassing them. But I know now, if that really was my future…I would have gone mad,” she said sincerely, emotion clouding her voice. He turned around slowly to meet her gaze, looking at her strangely.

“I mean, what kind of boring life would that have been?” She asked, genuinely, “It’d be straight out of some placid 50’s sitcom. My feelings for him weren’t real Jughead. I was only in love with the idea of him. And when he kissed me on Sunday night…I felt nothing. I didn’t even kiss him back, I pushed him off,” she paused when she saw him animate at that and held her hand up, “You don’t have to believe me. But it’s…true, Jughead,” she looked at him earnestly.

He cleared his throat, “Why didn’t you tell me? I texted you that night. I knew something was wrong.”

“Because,” she sighed, “After I pushed him away he got…so angry, so offended. He kept talking about how you were hardly around anymore and told me that you were moving on from all of us. He told me I should do the same- “

“So you just listened?” Jughead asked, exuding disbelief and hurt.

“No. I didn’t. I tried to forget what he even said. But he was right about you hardly being around anymore,” She said pointedly, “I get that you’re adjusting, it’s fine. But even when you’re with us…it’s like you’re not actually there. And I’ve been just waiting for you to be there,” she moved her hand to wipe away the tears forming in her eyes when he caught sight of the bandages on her hand, “And you weren’t. And then when I saw you in school with Jo…so happy, present and carefree…it felt like you really had moved on.”

“And I know now, that she’s just your friend. And she’s ‘Capital G Gay’,” she made air quotes and Jughead had to bite down a laugh, “But I heard, I thought I heard…in the hallway, you calling me crazy and telling her you’d call her as soon as we broke up…I just thought-” She cut herself off, unable to hold her tears back for a minute and he walked towards her to comfort her when she spoke again, “I didn’t mean to give up on you, or us. I just…I thought you already had. I more than thought, I assumed. I believed I had proof of it in the way that you spoke to her and-and,” she took a deep breath, trying to keep the tears at bay.

“Betts-” he put his hand on her shoulder and she looked away.

“No, I’m…so sorry Jughead. I know it’s not enough and it’ll never be enough- but I am truly so sorry. And I don’t care if you believe me now or don’t want to give me another chance,” She said forcefully, “Because I’m not giving up again. I’ll come here every day and apologize, I don’t care. However long it takes. If you need time, I’ll give you time. But I won’t ever stop being there, in your life or trying to apologize not until you really don’t want me-” she was rambling, they both knew it but she couldn’t stop herself.

“Come here,” he said as he pulled her closer to him, resting her head on his chest. She let herself cry freely for a minute before she pulled herself away again.

“I’m sorry,” She pushed the tears away from her eyes. “This isn’t about me. I shouldn’t be crying. I’m the one who hurt you.”

“Hey,” he said softly, “I hurt you too. Can I see your hands?”

She looked nervous but obliged, extending her palms upward toward him. “The band aids just feel weird,” she admitted, “But Toni and V insisted.”

He carefully pulled at the corner of the one on her left hand, and when she nodded with permission he gently removed the bandage, doing the same on her right hand. She wouldn’t look at him, face hot as he inspected the dried blood on her palms. He knew far better than to ask what happened.

“On Tuesday when you shook Jo’s hand, I thought I saw them darker than normal. I was going to ask you about it but I never got the chance,” He noted, “Here, I probably have some Neosporin or something in the bathroom.” She let him gently guide her into the bathroom that barely had enough room to fit the both of them.

She sat on the covered toilet while he shuffled through the first aid kit in the mirror behind the sink. “I…I knew something was off, you weren’t acting like yourself. That’s why I texted you so many times. I thought you didn’t mean what you said and I just wanted to talk.”

She thought about the flood of messages she finally received and felt a pang of guilt, “I wish we just…talked.” She only served to tortured herself by isolating herself from him.

“I wasn’t even so upset that you had ‘broken up with me’,” he admitted, and her eyebrows shot up as he found the antibiotic, “Like I said, I didn’t think you meant it. But then you cut yourself off from me. Betts, you just…left. You disappeared.” He accused, voice breaking at the end.

She felt even worse, recalling how everyone Jughead cared about left at one point or another…Now Betty was also on that list.

“And then Archie told me what happened between you two,” He said coldly, and she could tell he was retreating into himself as he carefully applied the gel, “I thought, ‘Wow, finally it all makes sense. I really was just a stepping stone.’” He shook his head.

Anxiety began to clench in her stomach, wondering if her words all went to waste and here is when he drew the line, telling her it was over or that they needed to take a break. That there was too much drama shrouding their relationship, too many insecurities. She wanted to tug her hands away from his hold, because they were her problem and not his, as an icy barrier once began to form. Faced with her faults, she wanted to shut herself off again, lick her wounds in private but…this time she was not about to give up.

He carefully rebandaged his palms. “I messed up Juggy,” She said, closing the painful silence before laughing bitterly and saying, “No I fucked up-“

“You’ve already apologized-“

“I have. But I’m still sorry and I’m not going to stop. If…if you want to take a break, or you need some space from me…I understand. I’ll do it. It’s whatever you want,” She spoke, admitting the ball was in his court this time, “But I’m not just going to go away. I’m not going to leave, not again. I won’t stop being there for you unless you want me to. And I can wait as long as you need me to, I’ll apologize every day-“

“Betty, stop,” He said, halting her before she could decide what he wanted for him, “That’s not what I want.”

Her heart dropped. So this is it then? She wondered to herself before whispering, “What do you want?”

He knelt down so they were eye-level before breathing out, “You. I want to be with you, Betty.” He cupped her face in his hands with a gentle smile. There was an unspoken But between his sentences that made her breath catch, even as he looked at her with desire.

“We need to be able to talk to each other about this stuff. We…we’re so much better than the passive aggressive plays our parents make when they’re upset with each other. And I wanna know if you ever feel like this again, if you’re ever worried or jealous or hurt…I want to know so we can fix it. And I want to be able to tell you these things too. Because if we’re not improving each other and our relationship then what’s the point?”

She nodded in accordance, still feeling like there was a blow coming, “I promise. To do that, all of that.” The blonde blamed her emotions for her lack of articulation.

“And I vow to do the same,” he said, smiling wider, “And I’m going to be there—more. I’m sorry for being distant.”

She scoffed, “You’re hardly in a position to apologize-“

“Don’t do that,” The boy stopped her mid-thought and grasped her hands tenderly, “This isn’t all on you. We both made mistakes.” He pressed a kiss on the knuckles of both of her hands.

She smiled at him, tearfully, appreciatively when he continued with a faux-arrogant look on his face, “Besides, isn’t this what we’re supposed to do? Make mistakes so we learn and grow from them or whatever?” He complimented the sentence with a roll of his eyes.

Finally, for the first time in a remarkably long time, she let herself laugh before reaching forward to embrace him. Effortlessly, he picked her up and made a mental note to thank Toni later.

“You know Toni doesn’t even hold a candle to you, right?” He said, trying to dispel any lingering feels she might have, “It’s only you, for me. There’s only ever been you.”

“Yeah well, she’s out of your league anyway,” Betty remarked, unable to contain her laughter when he mocked offense.

“Is that so?” He inquired as he laid her down on the couch and began to tickle her.

For the couple, things didn’t go back to the way they were before this incident.

Rather, their lives and their relationships had improved as they continued to grow, together.