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Chapter Text

Betty Cooper loved routine.  She'd had one since she could remember.  Her routine had changed slightly throughout the years to cater to her age, but it had remained mostly consistent.  Every morning, Betty would wake up at 6:15AM and immediately hop in the shower.  She'd use the same strawberry cucumber shampoo and conditioner that she'd been using since she was eleven, and wash her body with a pink loofa and a body wash that smelled similar to her hair care.  When she was done showering, she'd place her hair in a towel, and get dressed into some type of pastel colored clothing.  She'd throw the slightest bit of makeup on, wearing nothing more than some concealer, mascara, a cream blush, and her signature lipstick Pink Perfection.  It wasn't much, just enough to hide the dark circles from sleepless nights... Something that had all but become routine.

By the time she was ready for the day, she'd head downstairs to see a plate of sliced up fruit placed neatly in the center of the kitchen island.  There used to be a note that would read "Had to run to work early, xoxo mom", but after so many early mornings, her mother realized that it was just part of the routine.  Betty would typically grab a slice or two, sometimes she'd ignore the plate all together, grab her delicate pink backpack and head straight to school.

Betty had routine at school, even.  She'd begin her day in the student lounge, waiting for her best friend Veronica and boyfriend Archie to show up.  They were rarely there before her, which gave her time to proof read any articles that were about to go to the Blue and Gold's printer, which she ran.  Once they arrive, she'd spend the remainder of their time before the bell catching up, gossiping, and talking about the cheer team, a hobby that both Veronica and Betty participated in.

She'd spend her lunch working in the Blue and Gold, and after school she'd head to cheer practice.  Only after games would she switch it up a bit and treat herself to a little chaos in the form of a strawberry milkshake rather than going right home to dive into homework.

Betty Cooper loved routine.

Everyone thought Betty Cooper loved routine. 

It was Friday, but Betty knew all-to-well that it was no ordinary Friday.  It was the last day of Spirit Week, which would then lead to the big homecoming game against Baxter High.  The entire season thus far had led up to this game, and most people were excited.

Archie Andrews, the star quarterback and Betty's beau, was less than delighted.  His football career lingered on tonight, and he was visibly nervous when Betty gazed up to find him walking into the student lounge with her BFF beside him.  Draped in his blue and yellow-gold jersey and letterman, his forehead was shiny from sweat and his hair was messy as though he'd just woken up.

Veronica smiled gracefully as she practically skipped into the room, her cheer uniform freshly pressed and her legs draped in yellow thigh highs.  She wore a blue bow in her hair, tied neatly around her hair as to not keep it from falling in precious waves.  It was as if she was completely unaware of the nervous wreck who stood beside her.

"It's finally here," She practically sang as she took a seat in the sofa chair across from Betty.  Archie took a seat next to Betty, nothing more than small breaths escaping his lips.  Betty crooked her neck to look at him, offering a sympathetic smile before she returned her gaze to Veronica.

"It's finally here."  Betty repeated, a quiet sigh escaping her barely parted lips.  She hadn't dressed up nearly as much as Veronica, and the worry that Cheryl would have something to say about that lingered in her mind.

"We've got practice after school, and as always, Pops after the game."  Veronica spoke the schedule out loud, as if solidifying it in her mind.  Her deep purple lips pursed as she pulled her iPhone from the black Micheal Kors bag that she called a 'school-bag'.  Her thick brows furrowed, and she let out an exasperated sigh.  

Betty raised a brow, tilting her head as she stared at Veronica, studying her facial expressions.  She was clearly annoyed about something.  "What is it?"

"Dad of the year once again isn't going to make it, mija."  She spoke the last words in what could only be described as a mock-filled hispanic male accent.

Betty understood why Veronica was annoyed about this.  For the three years that they'd gone to Riverdale High, Hiram Lodge had skipped every last game.  He'd convince Veronica that he'd be attending leading up to every game, and as if it were clock work, he'd cancel the morning of after Veronica had already left for school.  Betty would comfort Veronica, trying to calm her nerves before the game, and Veronica would say that she's never inviting him again.  By the next game, she'd have forgiven him, and get hurt yet again.

It was their routine.

"I'm so sorry, V."  Betty spoke with a soft tone, careful of her word choice.  "He's got a lot of work to do as the mayor of Riverdale.  I'm sure he'd be here if he could."

"No."  Veronica shook her head, her eyes practically rolling out of her eyes.  "As mayor, he should be making appearances at the local high school's football games.  He's just an asshole."

"I'm sure-"  Betty was interrupted by an unfamiliar group of bodies entering the student lounge.  Her gaze traveled from their dirty Converse and black combat boots up to the leather jackets that enveloped their torso's.  To the side was a pink haired girl, adorned in fishnet stockings, shorts that were definitely against dress code, and a plaid halter top under her jacket.  Beside her were two boys, one much taller than the other.  The tall one had a flannel on below his jacket, a snarl on his lips, and a snake tattoo decorating his neck.  The one beside him had much softer features, his eyes seemingly inspecting the lounge.  In front of the three of them, stood the roughest looking one of them all.  He wore a red S t-shirt under his obviously worn leather jacket, and his hair was messily tucked under a grey beanie that slightly resembled a crown.  His skin was pale, and dark bags filled the area below his eyes.  There was a small cut on his naturally pink lips, but by the look of how red it was, it was recent.  Betty found her eyes meeting his, locking on the deep blue-green that filled them.  She couldn't break his gaze, and a subtle smirk breaking through his lips proved that he was fully aware.

"Serpents aren't welcome in here."  Betty quickly snapped back to reality, turning her attention to Archie's good friend Reggie. He was the same height as Archie, but his body was more defined under the Bulldogs jersey than Archie's.

Reggie stepped towards the group of misfits, his arms crossed across his chest.  The group didn't respond, and instead begun to strike up a conversation of their own.

"Maybe you didn't hear me,"  Reggie huffed, raising his voice.

The one with the blue-green eyes turned his gaze to Reggie, offering a chuckle.  "Oh, I heard you."  His voice was deep, and dangerous sounding.  Betty perked up at his voice, shivers running down her spine.  Was she afraid of him?  Was that what this was?

"Get the fuck out, before-"

"Before what?!"  The tall one spoke up, stepping forward.  "Fucking try me, pussy."

"Enough."  The one who caught Betty's attention placed his calloused hand on the tall one's shoulder, and he instantly seemed to retract himself, backing up slowly until he was behind the powerful one yet again.  His eyes never broke from Reggie, however.  "Here's something you need to understand,"  The words rolled off his tongue as if he were a prison guard speaking to a prisoner.  His voice was authoritative and harsh.  "You don't tell a snake where to shed its skin, or that snake will turn around and bite your fucking fingers off."

Reggie opened his mouth to speak what could have only been some snarky response, but he was interrupted by the bell for first period.  The room fell silent for a moment as the Serpents turned and walked out of the lounge, having never gotten farther than the vending machine, and everyone filed out of the lounge and into the hallways.

"See you after class, babe."  Archie finally spoke up, taking Betty's hand in his and squeezing it before rising from his spot and following the rest.

Betty and Veronica walked out in confusion, neither of them quite sure what had happened just then.  They'd always known that the Southside Serpents went to school with them, but seeing them was especially rare.  Most of them hung out under the bleachers, smoking pot and causing trouble; some could be seen in the lunch room, sitting as far away from the other students as possible.  They weren't a very social group of people.

But Betty had never seen that one before.  She'd have remembered those enchanting eyes.

"What the hell was that?"  Veronica's voice was low, clearly shaken up.

Betty shook her head, searching the hallways for the boy as they headed towards Chemistry.  "I have no idea," was all she could say.

Chapter Text

Betty stood at the sidelines of the football field, the rest of the Vixens standing nearby.  Every so often, they would raise their pom-poms and shout 'Go Bulldogs! Woo!'.  Betty absentmindedly followed along, but her mind wasn't on the game.

Ever since the close encounter before school, Betty had been thinking of the alluring blue-green eyes of the Serpent boy.  Some would assume she had a crush, but it was nothing like that.  Betty's heart belonged to none other than Archie Andrews, the energetic force who raged through the field before her.  No, this wasn't a crush on some Southsider.  Betty was drawn to his threatening aura.  He was powerful, steady in the face of danger, and he didn't seem to have a care in the world.

Betty was comfortable with her routine, but a piece of her was always left longing for more.  More excitement, more adventure, more danger.  She'd never felt her heart beat faster than it was supposed to, her lips had never gone dry from anxiety, she'd never felt true adrenaline.  She was the perfect girl next door, and she hated that.

Betty wasn't sure how long she'd been zoning out, but she was brought back rather suddenly when she stumbled and her butt hit the ground, her pom-poms flying up and landing beside her.

"Oh my god, B!"  Veronica rushed to Betty's side instantly, worry coursing through her eyes.  "Are you okay?"

Betty nodded, feeling more embarrassed than anything.  "I'm fine, I guess I just lost my balance."

"Oh. Hell. No."  Red hair blocked Betty's view of the field, and her eyes lifted to find a red-in-the-face Cheryl.  "How dare you tarnish the Vixen name by being a klutz on this, the night of the most important game of our Bulldogs season?"   

"Jeez Cheryl, she just fell.  Take a chill pill."  Veronica's eyes darted to Cheryl, still kneeling beside Betty.

"I absolutely will not take a chill pill, Veronica."  Cheryl's words were ice as she spoke, her hands stiff on her hips.  "I can't have an awkward imbecile standing atop the highest pyramid.  What if she falls?!"

"I'm fine, Cheryl."  Betty spoke in a monotone, pushing herself off the ground and to her feet.  She brushed the dirt off of her skirt, and offered a subtle smile.  "See?  Good as new."

"Nope."  Cheryl shook her head, raising her arms so that they crossed in front of her chest.  "Sorry Betty, but you're not performing tonight."

Betty's eyes widened and her lips parted, her hands dropping to her sides.  "You can't do that, Cheryl!  I'm the only one who knows the routine for the peak."

"Au contraire."  Cheryl's smile was smug as she shifted her weight to the right side of her body.  "I do, and I will be taking your spot tonight."

Betty's shoulders drooped.  She knew there was nothing she could do to change Cheryl's mind once it was made up.

"She's worked all season for this, Cheryl.  Betty works her ass off every damn day for you, how can you be such a stone cold bitch?"  Veronica rose beside Betty, her face turning red from anger.

"Be careful who you call a bitch, or Betty won't be the only one not performing tonight."

Betty quickly raised her hand to Veronica's shoulder, something she'd never done before; but she knew that if she didn't stop Veronica, they'd both lose their spots on the Vixens.

"Don't, V."  Betty said calmly.  "It's fine.  There's always next year."

Veronica tensed up under Betty's hand, but the tension released when she realized it was Betty.  They peered into each other's eyes until Veronica sighs.  "It's not fair," She whispered.

"I know."  Betty agreed, shrugging her shoulders.  "Make sure to cheer extra loud for Archie for me."  Veronica nodded, her eyes sad as the buzzer went off signaling the end of the first half of the game.  The crowd erupted as the Bulldogs ran off the field and to the locker room; Veronica offered a weak wave as the Vixens took their places on the field.  Betty sighed, gazing around the field.  Without being able to cheer, she had no real reason to stay.  She turned and headed towards the girls locker room, where she always kept a fresh set of clothes placed neatly in her locker.

It didn't take her more than ten minutes to change out of her cheer uniform and into a pair of light blue skinny jeans and a pale pink long sleeve blouse with a deep wide scoop neckline.  She kept her hair in its usual ponytail, and stuffed her cheer uniform into her backpack, making a mental note to wash it when she got home.  She could hear the crowd cheering again from inside the locker room, communicating the end of half time.  Betty felt a tightness in her chest as she was reminded of Cheryl's frigid tone.

She looked in the mirror of her locker, noticing that the shadows under her eyes were a little more visible than normal.  She tried to smear the concealer under her eyes as a last resort of hiding them, but all she did was smear her mascara.  "Whatever," She exhaled, shutting her locker door.  There was no use fixing it, she was just heading home anyways.

Betty headed for the locker room door, but just as she rounded the corner, she ran smack dab into another body.

Betty's bag fell to the floor in a mess of papers, as did the bag of the other girl.  Betty barely had a chance to look up before the other one fell to her knee's in front of her, stumbling to grab her belongings.  "Oh god, I'm sorry, I-"

Betty looked up, meeting eyes with the same pink haired girl from earlier.  The girl smirked, raising an eyebrow.  "Aren't you supposed to be out on the field?"

Betty shook her head, reaching for her own papers.  "I guess not."

"Damn.  That bad?"

Betty laughed quietly, nodding.  She liked that this girl didn't need an explanation.  "What are you doing here so late?  I didn't think Serpents attended football games."

"I was working on a paper.  I don't have a computer... or a printer.  Or internet."  She shrugged, making her pink waves bounce lightly.

Betty couldn't remember a time she'd ever gone without any of the three things the girl had listed.  Her mother gifted her with a new laptop every two or so years, they'd always had a high end printer, and their internet was packaged with their home phone and cable television.

"I'm Toni, by the way."  She reached out to Betty, ready to shake her hand.  Betty glanced down at her perfectly manicured hands, equipped with long black stiletto nails, and a green and red snake on both of her pointer fingers.  Betty had never painted her nails any colors besides white, and pastel pinks and yellows.

Betty looked back to Toni, a smile crossing her lips as she reached for Toni's hand.  "I'm Betty.  It's nice to meet you, and um... Sorry about Reggie earlier.  He's kind of a wild card."

Toni laughed loudly at this, shaking her head.  "You think we're afraid of that baboon?  We're Serpents, Betty.  I deal with bigger threats on the daily at work."

Betty raised her brow.  "Where do you work?"

Toni's face went cold immediately, and she shook her head.  "I gotta run actually, but I'll catch you later.  It was nice to meet you."  Toni immediately took off, walking quickly down the hallway until she was out of sight.  Betty stared in confusion as she filed the last of her papers neatly in her binder.  It wasn't until she looked down that she'd realized that she had an unfamiliar paper poking out from her binder that she realized there'd been a mix up.

"Oh shit," Betty whispered, pulling the paper out.  "This could be important."

Betty glanced down at the paper, a tarnished piece of yellow paper with black ink on it.  A picture of a 50's style pinup girl wearing a leather jacket lay front and center, and the words "LOOKING FOR DANCERS, WHYTE WYRM - ASK FOR TALL BOY" danced around her body in bold lettering.

Maybe it was the idea of breaking her routine, or the fact that she didn't need to be home for another two hours, but Betty didn't put in her own address when she requested a Lyft that night.

Chapter Text

Betty had no idea what she was expecting as she watched the tall green tree's that she'd grown to know disappear, and her sweet town turn into what could only be described as a junkyard.  A few houses lined the road, but they were nothing like her own, or Archie's.  Instead of long walkways and arched doorways, these houses donned thick screen doors and rusted metal fences blocking in small yards of browned grass.  There was a gas station on the corner of one street, though it only held two pumps, and all of the doors and windows had massive steel bars on them.  At one point they even passed a trailer park.  Betty had never seen an actual trailer park before, but she'd been inside a trailer once, when she visited her aunt in Rhode Island.  Her trailer was called a double-wide, and it was furnished just like a regular home.  It was elegant and classy; these trailers looked nothing of the sort.

The street lights were dimmer on this side of town, and it made Betty feel uneasy.

What am I getting myself into?  She thought to herself, her body tensing up under the seatbelt.

Her eye's scanned the property in front of her as the car slowed to a halt.  Before her was a large building with wooden paneling that was in desperate need of a renewal.  Pieces were dangling off, some were darkened, and others seemed to have been broken off completely at one point or another.  Betty examined the tall red and brown farm doors, noticing how they opened and closed every few seconds as people would enter and exit.  Some stood outside of the bar, taking long drags off cheap cigarettes, others with a beer in hand.

"You sure this is the right place?"  Betty drew her attention to the driver, noting his facial expressions through his rear view mirror.  He looked confused.  Why would a girl that looked like her, be here?

Betty looked back once more, her eyes grazing over the hefty black and green tarp sign that read the words "WHYTE WYRM".

Betty was about to open her mouth and say yes, having already reached for her buckle; but then she saw them.

A group of four emerged from the bars entrance, all of them sharing a chuckle as they stepped to the side.  She recognized Toni immediately, watching as Toni flickered a lighter towards the three boys.  The tallest one had traded his leather jacket for a denim vest.  He pulled a cigarette from the pocket of his vest, placed it in his mouth, and leaned into the flame.  He took a long drag, letting the smoke rest in his throat for a moment longer than he should have, and released his breathe with a loud cough that Betty could hear even in the car.

He was there, too.  The one with the blue-green eyes that had mesmerized Betty earlier that day.  He held a bottle in his right hand, ever so often lifting it to his lips and taking a swig.

In a rush of fear and panic, Betty removed her hand from the buckle, looked back to the driver, and shook her head.  "I put in the wrong address, I'm sorry."

Betty stood at her doorway, a towering red door in front of her.  It was a quarter to eleven, meaning she hadn't missed her curfew quite yet.  With the release of her nervous breathe, Betty turned the doorknob and stepped in.

The house was dark as usual.  Whenever she returned home from a game late, her mother had already gone to bed.  Betty could count on there being dinner in the microwave, but hunger had been replaced by an unsettling feeling in her stomach.  Betty drug herself up the stairway and to her bedroom, locking her bedroom door behind her.  She gazed through her window, her eyes landing on the window just across the way from her own.  Archie lived right next door, and they'd shared many nights talking through these very windows.  It's where she first realized she liked him, and where he first asked her on a date to Pops when they were fifteen.

His bedroom was dark, signaling that he hadn't yet returned from the diner.  She pulled her phone from her back pocket, checking the many texts that she'd been receiving since the game ended.

Veronica: where did u go? thought u were going to stay for the game?

Archie: why didn't i see you after half time?

Archie: nvm, ronnie just told me everything

Archie: hopefully you'll still make it to pops?

Veronica: hello?!?!?! pops?!?!?! it's TRADITION 😡

Archie: a little worried, are you okay?

Archie: give me a call when you see these so i know you're safe, love you

Betty replied to both Veronica and Archie with the same story, stating that she wasn't feeling great after everything so she went home and fell asleep.  It was enough for them to believe, and she didn't need them to know about the mistake she'd almost made tonight.

Betty walked to her dresser, pulling out a pair of her favorite white night shorts with the little floral accents on it, and a pastel purple tank top.  She gazed down at the tank top, then back into the dresser.

Do I only own pastel? Jesus.  Betty rummaged through the drawer until she found a black spaghetti strap tank, and traded it for the purple one she'd been holding.  She walked into her bathroom, placing her pajamas on the counter and shutting the door.  She walked to the shower and turned it on, turning the hot water knob farther than normal.  As the mirrors begun to steam up, she slowly undressed, watching the clothes fall beneath her.  Everything fell into a pile and she slowly stepped out of it, peering into the blurry mirror to catch a glimpse of her naked body.  She ran her fingers over her stomach, where it bulged out just slightly, when it would be sucked in on others normally.  She tilted her neck, staring at the way her stomach looked for a few moments before she moved on to her chest.  She wasn't flat chested in any regard, but her breasts hung slightly lower than Veronica's, and weren't perky like Cheryl's.  She moved her fingers from her chest to her arms, feeling the lack of muscle in them.  For someone on a cheer squad, it sure doesn't look like I work out, Betty told herself with a sigh.

It was just another part to her routine: Come home, stare at herself in the mirror, and think of all the things she dislikes.

Betty finally stepped back from the mirror, and stepped into the shower.  She stood under the stream of boiling water, her body aching for it as if it were the last bit of water on earth.  She watched the dirt from the game fall of her body, and as she pulled her hair tie out and tossed it to the side, she felt her golden locks cling to her face and neck, begging to stay down for once.

Forty minutes later, Betty emerged from the longest shower she'd taken in a while.  Her body felt refreshed, and her mind was at ease as she tossed her hair into a towel and pulled on her pajamas.  She left her dirty clothes in a pile on the floor, making a mental note to take care of it tomorrow.

She walked from the bathroom towards her bed, glancing quickly at Archie's bedroom.  The light was still off, which Betty found quite odd.  It was past midnight at this point, and Archie never missed curfew.

He probably got home while you were showering and went to bed.  Betty cooled her thoughts and took a seat on her bed, bringing her legs up so she sat criss cross.  She glanced down at her phone, seeing a lack of response from both her best friend and her beau.

Betty sighed and opened the dial pad, quickly dialing Veronica's phone.  Even if she'd gone to bed, which wasn't likely, she never ignored a call from Betty -- and right now, Betty just wanted to make sure that Veronica was still a Vixen.

The phone rang a few times and finally someone picked up.

"H-hello?"  Veronica's voice was breathless as she answered the phone.  Betty immediately sat straight up, worry filling her veins.

"V?  Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!"  Veronica answered quickly.  Betty was caught off guard.  When she didn't respond, Veronica continued.  "Ugh, sorry, I didn't mean to sound bitchy.  This workout is just kicking my ass."

Betty let out a sigh of relief.  "You had me worried.  Why are you working out so late?"

Veronica took a moment to answer this time.  Her words seemed carefully chosen.  "The gym was empty."

"Oh okay, well-"

"Anyways, I gotta go B.  Call you tomorrow?"

Betty blinked, confusion making its way into her mind.  Veronica rarely ended a phone call before any actual conversation had happened.  "Yeah, of course," Betty managed to say, before the line went dead.

Betty set her phone down on her nightstand and glanced at the time.  It was 12:13am.  Betty knew she should be asleep, but her mind couldn't help but wander.  Without anything else to keep her mind preoccupied, she began to think about the Whyte Wyrm, and what she set out to do at the beginning of her trip.

What did she set out to do?

Betty wasn't even fully aware at this point.  The poster had said they needed dancers, but Betty... Betty wasn't a stripper.  She was a damn virgin, in fact.  She wanted to change things up, but dancing seemed a little extreme to her now that she had actually sat down and thought about it.  Not to mention, she was sixteen.  There was no way they'd let a sixteen year old Northsider in there.

But even with all the reasons why Betty knew she was crazy for even thinking it, there was a lingering feeling that resided within her.  A simple... what if.

Chapter Text

The sun cast a golden shadow through the deep green curtains that hung over Jughead's bed.  Although, calling it a bed may have been a bit generous.  Jughead lay sprawled out on the pickle colored couch, a tan sheet intertwined between his bare legs.  He was adorned in nothing more than a pair of white and blue striped boxers, his clothes from the night before laying in a pile near the couch.

He groaned as a sliver of bright light peaked from behind the curtain, hitting him right in the middle of his bruised face.  He slowly lifted himself into a sitting position, swinging his legs over the edge of the couch so that they hit the floor beneath him.  He stood up, the sheet falling from around his legs.  He stepped out of the mess of layers around his feet and made his way into the kitchen, which was a mere three steps from the couch.  The perks of living in a trailer?  You didn't have to go far for just about anything.

The coffee maker was untouched from yesterday morning, proving that his dad had yet again slept in and would be late to work.  The house reeked of cigarette smoke and the cheapest gas station beer you could find.  As he prepared the coffee maker, his eyes scanned the kitchen around him.  There were a few dirty cups in the sink, and a pot full of who knows what on the stove, but besides that, his dad had kept the kitchen up alright for the last week.

It wasn't always like this.  The house used to be an awful mess, full of flies and month old rotting fruit.  Broken beer bottles were scattered around their home, and the smell of liquor was more distinguishable than any other smell.  His clothes were rarely washed, considering they didn't have a washing machine and his parents were too busy with the gang or having marital disputes to actually take the clothes to a laundromat.  His sister, Jellybean, was lucky to have not started school by the time his mother left.  JB was in tow behind her, and he hadn't seen them since.  That was eight years ago.

Every once in a while, FP decided to make a change in his life for the better, and clean the house up.  He didn't stop drinking, and he sure as hell would never abandon the Southside Serpents, but Jughead had come to accept these things.  He even became involved, knowing he would take over the Serpents someday soon.  For now he was just in charge of the younger crew, making sure they kept out of trouble and didn't go against orders.

Jughead sighed as he watched the coffee pot fill ever so slowly, anxiously awaiting that first sip of coffee that would send a call through his body to wake the hell up.  He'd been up late the night before, as he typically was, but last night was different than most.

Jughead had been sitting in the same spot he always sat at in the Wyrm, watching a few older Serpents playing pool in the center of the room.  On the stage stood a couple of girls, including none other than his good friend Toni Topaz.  Her long pink hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore gym shorts and a bright red tank top.

"Layla, you can't do that."  She said sternly, pointing to the way Layla was holding the silver pole that fell from the ceiling onto the stage.  "If you hold it like that, you're going to break your wrist the second you try to spin."

"I know what I'm doing, Toni."  Layla responded harshly.  She did not, in fact, know what she was doing.  This was something Jughead was sure of.

"I'm only telling you this for your own good."  Toni was clearly agitated as she made her way across the stage, picking up her gym bag.  "But if you want to break your wrist on a Friday night in front of all those paying customers..." Toni turned to look back just once, offering a smirk as her eyes narrowed.  "That's your choice."

Jughead chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he returned to watch the men playing pool.  Toni had been gone for all of five minutes before she returned, this time wearing her leather Serpent jacket.  She took a seat next to Jughead at the bar, her eyes practically rolling out of her head as Jughead gave her a menacing smile.  "Why hasn't she been fired yet?"

"Tall Boy doesn't want to get rid of her because she's cute."  Toni drew her fingers to her temples, rubbing them slowly.  "But she's our worst dancer.  We're literally losing money because of her."

"Toni."  A demanding voice broke through the sound of the bar, causing everyone to look in its direction.  Walking towards the two friends was none other than Tall Boy, the man in charge of the Wyrms entertainment.  Jughead had always wondered why his father had put such a creep in charge of the girls, but he never asked.  His dad shared very little about the inner workings of the Whyte Wyrm.

"What do you need, Tall Boy?"  Toni asked, turning in her seat to face him.

The large, grungy looking man towered above the two of them, a stack of papers in his hands.  He dropped them onto the bar beside Toni, a loud thud echoing as they hit the countertop.  "I want more dancers, and I want them to be young and tight... like you."

Toni snarled, but she didn't dare speak up.  Tall Boy was practically second in command, and what he said went.  Jughead could see just how uncomfortable his friend was getting from the interaction though, and he didn't like it one bit.

"I want to bring more money into the Wyrm, and dancers just aren't doing that.  We're upping our services."

"What the fuck do you mean we're upping our services?"  Toni perked up, her shoulders tensing and her fingers balled into fists.

"I mean that some of our patrons want more than a lap dance, and we're going to start offering it."  Tall Boy snickered, brushing his fingers through his long disheveled beard.  "Which is why we need some young one's to help.  I figure you can hand these out to your little school friends."

Toni nearly pounced out of her seat, ready to throw a punch.  Jughead watched this, knowing she was too small to take him on and Tall Boy had no problem hitting a girl.  He quickly stood up and grabbed Toni's wrist, pulling her behind him.  "We're not in the business of prostitution, Tall Boy."

"We're in the business of making money, Jones."  Tall Boy took a step towards Jughead, narrowing the distance between them.  His chest puffed out towards Jughead, his way of saying he was stronger than some sixteen year old.  "She'll do as I say, or she won't have a job."

"Do you really want me to get my dad involved in this?"  Jughead asked, taking another step towards Tall Boy and closing the space between them.

Tall Boy threw his head back and began laughing as if he had just heard the worlds most hilarious joke.  "Do you think I'm afraid of your dad?"  That was when everything took a turn for the worst.

Tall Boy grabbed Jughead by the shoulders, his grip tight enough to make Jughead wince.  Without a second thought, he took the boy and slammed him against the bar.  His lower back ached as he was thrown against the cold counter tile.  The room around him moved too quickly for him to fully comprehend what was happening, and it wasn't until he felt a rugged hand press his face to the counter that he could see glimpses of pink hair flying.

"Get off of him!"  He heard her scream, her voice hoarse.  Jughead could feel the bruising that would no doubt begin to form around his cheek and eyes, and a warm liquid poured down from his bottom lip from where one of Tall Boys unkempt nails had likely caught him.

After what felt like an eternity, Jughead was released from Tall Boys grip, but not without a being shoved once more into the counter.  As Tall Boy disappeared into the bar, Jughead regained his balance.  His face was red with rage as he wiped the blood off of his mouth, smearing the bronzy red liquid onto his knuckles.

Jughead shook the memory from his head, replacing his thoughts with the smell of freshly brewed coffee.  He grabbed the cleanest cup he could find and spilled the coffee into his cup.  He'd already begun to gulp it down before he placed the coffee pot down to the holder.

He instantly felt more awake.

"I'm telling you, Jug,"  Sweet Pea reached into the pocket of his leather jacket, pulling out a folded dollar bill.  "The vending machine in the student lounge has way better options than the cafeteria, and I need some Cheese Crunch's right now."

Jughead rolled his eyes, reluctantly avoiding the doors of the cafeteria and instead walking towards a hallway he preferred to avoid.  His classes were typically on the other side of the school, aside from one chemistry class he'd been placed in his freshman year.  "I'm not going to judge because, let's face it, I love food more than I'll ever love another human; but why exactly do you need Cheese Crunch's at 7:57am?"

The group laughed, shaking their heads.  "Did 'cha get high this morning?"  Toni chimed in, a growing smirk on her deep purple lips.

"Or are you just hungover from all the beer you snuck from your pop last night?"  Fangs and Toni giggled in sync, Sweet Pea punching Fang's shoulder before indulging in the laughter himself.

Jughead joined in, and they continued to laugh as they stepped into the student lounge.  Their laughter stopped as they were enveloped by the disapproving glances of everyone in the room.

Sweet Pea was the first to become defensive, hastily trading his smile for a snarl; Toni's shoulders tensed up, and Fangs placed both feet on the ground in a fighting stance.  Rather than engage with the pitiful behavior, Jughead scanned the room for anything to stare at besides these god-awful glares.

That's when his eyes met hers.

She was strikingly beautiful, in an unexpectedly simple way.  Her buttery blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her skin glowed as if it had been basking in the sun for hours prior.  Her eyes were a shocking green that seemed to jump out of her eye sockets against her pale skin.  Her lips plump and pink, seemed to part just slightly as if she wanted to say hello.  He couldn't break their gaze, but he wasn't sure he wanted to.  A tiny smirk begun to grow across his lips, the cut from the previous night aching ever so slightly as he did.

"Serpents aren't welcome in here."  The blonde beauty broke eye contact first, immediately looking to the brawny football player who had come forward.

Of course she's one of them, Jughead told himself, hiding an eye roll.  It was then that he realized she was wearing a River Vixen uniform, her delicate hand placed atop the thigh of a ginger headed boy in a jersey matching the asshole's in front of him.  Why would I think she wasn't?

"So where are the Cheese Curds or whatever it is that you're wanting, dude?"  Jughead said to Sweet Pea in an attempt to shut a fight down before it begun.

Toni, being his best friend for the longest amount of time, saw the play Jughead had made and quickly joined in.  "They're called Cheese Crunch's, idiot; and they're-"

"Maybe you didn't hear me."  The hefty boy said, taking another step forward.

Do I look deaf to you?

Jughead snickered, shaking his head at the boy.  "Oh, I heard you," He said with a slight growl in his voice.

"Get the fuck out, before-"

"Before what?!"  Sweet Pea lunged forward, nearly trampling Jughead in the process.  "Fucking try me, pussy."

Jughead glared at the back of Sweet Pea's head, the kids tousled hair jumping with the large huff's he was making towards the football player.  Did he think he looked powerful?  Jughead felt that he looked more like a clown.

"Enough."  Jughead reached forward and placed his hand on Sweet Pea's shoulder, his fingers planting an unseen death grip signifying power.  His eyes met Reggie's with a cold, dark stare.  Sweet Pea instantly backed up, understanding what Jughead was expressing.  He was all too tired of the reckless game's his friend's played with the quick to anger Northsiders.  He was going to put an end to it, one way or another.

"Here's something you need to understand,"  Jughead spoke loudly and clearly, so that the entire room could hear his message.  "You don't tell a snake where to shed it's skin, or that snake will turn around and bite your fucking fingers off."

Confusion flashed through the beefy football player as he scattered to find something to snap back with, but he was too late.  The bell for first period signaled, and the entire room suddenly flooded with people trying to escape.

Jughead and his crew were the first to leave, but as they did, he turned for just a moment to get a look at the blonde beauty once more.

He couldn't help but think of her throughout the rest of the school day.

Chapter Text

Betty couldn't remember a time when her life hadn't felt planned out. From early childhood, her it was as if there had been a silent agreement between Alice and herself that she'd spend her entire school career working towards a good college, and then she'd get a degree in a field where she would make plenty of money and marry a simple man who didn't need much out of life. As Betty grew older, she begun to realize that Alice saw their neighbor boy as the perfect fit for this description. She officially met the hyper red head when she was six years old, during a playdate her mother had arranged with his father.

It was a great play date, Betty would admit. Archie let her read his comic books, which she was never allowed to do at home, and then they played in the treehouse in the Andrews' backyard for hours on end. The night ended with Betty enjoying a bowl of macaroni and cheese that Archie's father, Fred, had prepared for them. It was the first time she'd eaten processed food, and she'd never quite forgotten it. Ever since then, Archie would make her macaroni and cheese anytime he had something to apologize for. It was rare that they'd argue, and Archie seldom did things that required an apology.

"Elizabeth,"

Betty broke from her intense concentration, shutting the book she'd been meaning to read. In all truthfulness, she couldn't remember any of the last two chapters. Her mind had been elsewhere. "Yes, mom?" She asked as she leaned over and set the book on her nightstand. It was barely past nine in the morning, but Betty had been awake for at least two hours. Her mother had woken up sometime before her, but they rarely socialized on the weekend. Her relationship with her mother was... distant. It always had been.

Alice held a cardboard box of belongings in her hands, a few of the items peeking from the top instantly recognizable to Betty as toys from her childhood. "I'm headed to work, but I need you to go through this box before I get home and separate it between toss and donate." Without permission, Alice made her way into Betty's room and set the box at the edge of Betty's bed.

"Would it be okay if I went through it tomorrow? Besides, the thrift store doesn't open until Monday and-"

"Don't be silly, Elizabeth. I'm donating it to the church, so it needs to be done today."

Church. Betty had nearly forgotten about church. It was the one thing she and her mother did together, but it only happened once a month. It was Betty's least favorite activity, partially due to the fact that she'd never really known what to believe. Much like her career and love interest, this was another aspect of Betty's life that had been chosen for her. Betty wondered if she was capable of making her own decisions at this point.

"Okay." Betty nodded. "I'll make sure it's done before you get home."

"Wonderful." Alice gazed towards Betty's closet, then back to Betty. "Make sure to have your church dress out tonight, too." Alice disappeared, not bothering to shut the door behind her, and left Betty sighing.

She knew what dress her mother meant. Every suburban middle-class daughter had one of them, in varying colors and patterns. Betty's was a light pink number, with short length sleeves and a high collar. It fell just below the knee so that when she'd sit, it wouldn't reveal anything past her knee's. The dress was embellished in a beautiful floral lining that matched the color of the base fabric, and ruffled out after the solid waistband. Her mother had bought it for her a year ago, and it'd been rather loose at the time. Betty had come to fill it a bit better now, but she took that as a sign of her gaining weight rather than her body just simply growing.

God, I hate that dress. She thought to herself unironically.

A few hours had passed as Betty avoided the box, not wanting to interrupt her routine for a box of belongings that would likely all go to the church. She'd spent most of her time working on homework, with an hour of it being spent writing in her diary that she kept locked away. Nothing special was written in it today, as Betty had no idea how to put into words what she had done the night before.

The most important part of her Saturday routine, however, was when Archie would come over just a bit past 1pm. With her mother being at work until seven or eight, she knew they had plenty of time to hang out and do things that most teenage couples did when they were alone: watch horror movies and drink soda, a thing Betty's mother would faint at the sight of.

It was a tradition that Betty had come to love.

"So basically, this version has way better CGI, but it falls short on the intensity of the original." Betty stepped out from the kitchen, a big clear bowl of extra-butter popcorn in her hands as she headed for the couch where Archie sat. "Skarsgard is wonderful, but no one beats Tim Curry."

Archie chuckled as Betty took a seat beside him, setting the popcorn on the coffee table. He immediately draped his arm around her, bringing a smile to her face. "I don't know," he said. "Bill just has this creepy essence about him that adds to the movie. Tim's amazing, don't get me wrong; but the shitty CGI spider at the end of the original really ruined the magic for me."

Betty shook her head disapprovingly and grabbed a handful of popcorn, picking single pieces at a time and tossing them into her mouth. She was just about to press play when Archie's free hand suddenly fell to Betty's thigh. While she was dressed in a modest outfit of jeans and a dark pink polo sweater, she could still feel the heat of his hand on her thigh. She wasn't sure she enjoyed the feeling.

Trying to ignore it, Betty pressed play and stared at the opening credits.

His hand remained there for a while. It wasn't until nearly halfway through the movie that he spoke up, his voice shaky as he did. "So Betty..."

Betty's chest tightened. She knew they'd have this conversation eventually. Hell, she and Veronica had this conversation nearly every cheer practice. When are you going to sleep with Archie? When are you and Archie going to do more than a little groping? When are you and Archie finally going to have sex? Betty had wondered for a while too, but in the last few months she'd found herself not interested in the idea of sex with Archie. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in sex at all, because let's face it, she's a teenage girl filled with hormones. No, that wasn't it at all. She just wasn't interested in sex with him. Her own boyfriend.

She fully believed that it was just a phase, and that she'd grow to want that type of intimate relationship with him, but everything about their relationship felt so platonic. It was as if she and Archie were just best friends, who occasionally kissed at school or in front of her door step. She'd never admitted that to anyone though, not even her diary. She could barely stand to admit it to herself. She used to really love Archie, he was perfect for her; but as she changed, she realized that her feelings were too. She no longer wanted the white picket fence that her mother so desperately tried to force on her. Betty Cooper wanted something else, something bigger, something... dangerous. Dating Archie felt like just another part of her routine, and she was bored.

Betty gulped, refusing to look towards him. "Y-yeah?"

"I was thinking... uh," Archie was nervous, she could see the bit of sweat dripping off of his nose from the corner of her eye. She'd admit, his nervousness was cute. But cute wasn't going to change her feelings. "We've been together for a long time, and well, you know I love you, and..."

"I'm not ready." Betty blurted out.

Archie immediately removed his hand from her thigh and scooted a couple inches away, his arm falling from around her shoulder. "What do you mean you're not ready?" Archie was baffled, and Betty knew he had every right to be. "We've been together for ages. How can you not be ready?"

Betty turned to face Archie, her face growing red. She was embarrassed. How would it look to everyone at school to know that their it couple hadn't even had sex yet? That they were both still virgins?

"I can't just make myself ready just because you want me to be, Archie." Betty shook her head, peering at the spot where he'd sat a moment ago.

"Do you even realize how much the team makes fun of me just because we haven't had sex?" Archie's voice grew louder, and Betty looked back up to see his eyes filled with anger. "Even Coach Clayton teases me about it!"

"So what, Archie?" Betty's annoyance level was growing with each passing second, her head shaking as her stare turned into a glare. "Lot's of people don't have sex."

"Not football players and cheerleaders!"

"I didn't realize you were so shallow..." Betty rose from the couch, turning her back from Archie so she could peer at the plain colored wall coated in family photo's. Her eyes scanned them, searching for wisdom from her family.

"I didn't realize you were such a prude." The words hit her right in the heart, and they hurt. Archie, the perfect boy next door who'd been so willing to show her his comic book collection all those years ago, was calling Betty names because she was denying him sex.

Betty's eyes filled with tears as she shoved a sob back down her throat. "Get... out." Betty choked out, her words quiet.

"Are you serious?"

Betty exploded. Of course she was serious! She'd never been more serious in her life. She was angry and hurt, all at the hands of a boy she'd never expected to treat her this way.

She swung around, her ponytail coming around and whipping her in the face, as she stared into the eyes of the boy across from her. Her breathe was heavy and tears began to fall from her green eyes. "If sex is so important to you, then go find someone to have sex with! Now get out!"

Archie threw his hands up in self defense, walking backwards towards the front door. "Fine, whatever." He shook his head, mumbling curse words to himself as he reached the door, swinging it open. He let it slam behind him, and the sound crashed through her body as she finally gave into the sobs she'd been holding in. She wanted to let go right there, right now; but instead, she tripped up the stairs until she found her bedroom door through tear induced fuzzy vision, and fell to her bed. She clutched a fluffy pink pillow to her stomach and let out heavy wails, snot running from her nose and onto her other pillows. She tried to stretch out, but when her feet hit a large item and she heard a loud thud, she remembered the box.

The stupid, stupid box for the stupid, stupid church.

Betty was ready to offer nothing more than a passing gaze at the items that had fallen, until she saw the small black blob that sat messily on the ground atop an old Atari.

It was a wig she'd worn for a Halloween costume six years ago. It probably didn't fit her head anymore; alas, Betty still stood from her bed and picked it up, her mind wandering to what she'd look like with it now. What would Betty Cooper look like without her signature golden ponytail?

She took a seat in front of her vanity, her eyes darting from the wig, to her face in the mirror, and back to the wig. Without time for a second thought, she pinned her ponytail into a bun and placed the black wig on her scalp.

And it fit.

She didn't recognize herself. Her face was engulfed in a black wig that fell just shy of her chin, with sharp bangs painting her forehead. There was a stark contrast between the dark hair and her pale skin, something she'd never noticed the during the first go-round with this wig.

She didn't look like herself. She looked like a powerful woman. A woman who could tear a man down just for speaking to her the way Archie did. She looked good.

She felt good.

Chapter Text

The church was tall, with white wood paneling and hauntingly high stain glass windows that consumed most of the upper parts of the building.  The concrete walkway leading up to the tall double doors was broken in different spots, an expense the church never could afford to take care of.  Betty found herself standing in the middle of the walkway, her eyes peering up at the stain glass as if she was trying to understand them.  The sun shone brightly on her face, her eyes squinting ever so slightly.

A loud crash caused Betty to turn around, her eyes wandering to find the cause.  She sighed when she realized it was just two young boys wrestling in the grass outside of the church, positively getting mud all over their Sunday bests.

"Elizabeth, would you hurry up?"  Her mothers fingers enveloped her upper arm, tugging her towards the church entrance.  "We need to give these to Pastor Edgar before the service begins."

Betty rolled her eyes, her mother walking unknowingly beside her, and followed Alice's lead.

The inside of the church was large, with ceilings that seemed to stretch for miles.  Artwork of different points in the Bible coated the walls and high ceilings.  The pews were full of people sitting and chatting, some laughing, some serious.  Some held their bibles closely, others seemed to have no interest.  Betty fit in with the latter, but her mother expected much more.

"Alice, Betty!"  A tall man with shaggy blonde hair and a beard to match approached the two women, his body draped in a well-tailored blue and gold suit.  "What a wonderful blessing to have you two in today."

"We're overjoyed to be here, Pastor."  Alice said through a wide smile.  "We've brought some things to donate as well."  She held up a paper bag full of the items Betty had decided to donate, as well as some clean linen.  One item in particular was missing from the bag.

The wig.

Betty had contemplated throwing it into the donate bag, knowing that it would be reused for Halloween for years to come... but something kept her from tossing it.  Instead, she had stuffed it and a comb into her purse.  She wasn't sure why she'd done it, but her mind kept going back to the way she felt as she stared into the mirror the night before.

Powerful.

Confident.

Sexy.

Dangerous.

The thought of being dangerous sent shivers down Betty's spine, like she'd never felt before.  She craved it.  Her body seemed to call out for danger, begging anything interesting to happen in her boring life.  She-

"Elizabeth, answer him."

"Huh?"  Betty blinked at Pastor Edgar, her mind adjusting to the safe environment around her.  "I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you asked."  She apologized.  As her hands fell to her sides, her fingers brushed against her purse and the need for danger coursed through her veins yet again.

"I was just asking how school has been going for you, our star student."  Edgar's smile was large, and took up most of his face... yet, it was comforting.  Kind.

"It's been great.  Easy."  Betty lied.

"And you're still running the Blue and Gold?"

Betty nodded.  "In charge of all two of us."   They shared a chuckle.

As Edgar turned away to greet a few more of his attendee's, Betty noticed a familiar fiery head of hair standing just a few pews done.  She knew Archie went to church with his family, she'd just hoped he would skip this one time.

Her mother grabbed her arm yet again, this time causing a bit of pain, as she pulled Betty towards the group where Archie stood.  As they neared, she recognized Veronica standing across from him, a serious expression coating her face as she spoke to him.  Veronica was Catholic, so it came as a surprise to Betty to see her standing in a Christian church.

She couldn't quite make out what Veronica was saying, but Archie seemed to roll his eyes at her and cross his arms over his chest.  It was that moment that Veronica caught wind of Betty staring her down, and her expression immediately changed to shock, and then excitement.  "B!"  She exclaimed, quickly walking from Archie to Betty.  Archie dropped his arms when he saw Betty, biting his lip nervously as he turned to walk away.

Veronica grabbed Betty's arm, pulling her in the opposite direction of Archie.  "I had no idea you were coming to church today, why didn't you tell me?"  She asked eagerly.

"I didn't realize you came to this church,"  Betty answered, her brows furrowing in confusion.  "I thought you were Catholic."

"You know what Pastor Edgar says... All religions are welcome."  Veronica shrugged, her eyes darting around the room before landing on Betty.  "Plus, I don't typically come.  My parents are out of town this weekend and I didn't want to go to their church alone... Those old ladies are brutal."

Betty laughed, nodding her head.  She'd heard the stories from Veronica many times before.  "Why didn't you tell me?"  She asked, genuine curiosity in her eyes.

"I guess I just know you're uh,"  Veronica lowered her voice, making sure no one could overhear her.  "You're not the biggest fan of this place."

Betty couldn't argue with her there.  "You still should have told me.  We've barely spoken all weekend.  I had a huge fight with Archie, and-"

Betty was interrupted by the sound of a beautiful hymn being played from the stage, signaling the beginning of the service.  Veronica looked at Betty with apologetic eyes, and mouthed the words, "we'll talk later" as she found her way back towards Archie and his family.  Betty felt a tinge of sadness watching her best friend choose to sit with him over her, but she gulped it town and took a seat beside her mother, mentally preparing herself to deal with the two hours of service she had in front of her.

"That was a truly beautiful service," Alice reached her arm out, placing her manicured fingers on Pastor Edgar's bicep.  "You've blown us away yet again."

Betty could barely contain a laugh.  Her mother had been on her phone throughout the entire service, completing different work tasks.  Her job was like her other child, and Betty was the forgotten one.

"I appreciate your kindness," Edgar smiled.  "I do hope we'll see you next week?"  His gaze found its way to Betty before going back to Alice.

"So long as work isn't calling!"  Alice gave a flirtatious laugh before replacing her grip on Edgar's arm with Betty's.  "Let's go, Elizabeth."  With a jerk that could easily be mistaken as Betty tripping over her own two feet, Alice pulled Betty towards the doors.  Others would think she just slipped a bit, but Betty knew the truth.  She knew how her mother was.

They had almost made it to their station wagon when a shorter, brown haired male stepped into their path.

"Fred, what can I do for you?"  Alice asked, the slightest tinge of annoyance in her voice.

Fred offered a gentle smile, the type he always seemed to flash at Betty and her mother.  "We're having a little get together in our backyard today, and it just wouldn't be right not to invite my boy's girlfriend and her mother."

Oh god, he doesn't know about the fight.  "Uh, I-"

"We'll be there." Alice interrupted Betty, as if she could somehow tell that Betty was going to find a way to turn down the offer.

"Great, see you there."  Fred began to turn around, but he quickly flashed another smile in Betty's direction.  "Ronnie will be there too, so you won't get too bored."

Betty nodded with fake excitement before climbing into the passenger side of the car.  As she buckled her seatbelt, she could only think one thing.

This is going to be so awkward.

And it was.  Betty was all-too correct.  She and her mother had been there for an hour and a half, and Archie hadn't said a single word to her.  Veronica had gone back and forth between talking to her and talking to Archie, giving them each five minute intervals so not to leave the other alone for too long.

Betty had given up trying to confide in her best friend about the fight she'd had with Archie.  Veronica had found a way to shut the subject down each time it was brought up, and Betty had no energy left to keep trying.

She sat in an old off-white lawn chair, sipping from an old fashioned root beer.  Her eyes ambled around the yard, full of adults from the neighborhood, including her own mother.  Alice sat across the yard from Betty, sipping red wine with Mary Andrews and Sierra McCoy as they gossiped about whatever neighborhood gossip was new this weekend.  Fred Andrews and Tom Keller stood at the barbecue, cold beers in their hands as they reminisced on their high school days.  A few teenagers sat with Archie at the wooden picnic table, all laughing at whatever jokes he seemed to be telling.

The Andrews had held these gatherings many times before, and Betty had always found herself at Archie's arm at the same picnic table, but she'd never felt like she belonged.  Her best friend was a popular cheerleader, her boyfriend was a star quarterback, but outside of cheerleading, Betty had never felt like she fit in with the popular crowd.  Sitting alone, enjoying the sunlight and the cold soda, alone for once, felt right.  She was at peace when she wasn't staring at Archie, thinking back to their fight.

Just then, Veronica rose from the picnic table.  Seems it was Betty's turn for social interaction.

Veronica walked in Betty's direction, but turned her pace towards the house instead.  "I'll be back B, I just need to freshen up."  She said with a smile, before disappearing up the deck stairs and into the house.  Betty pursed her lips and sat back, sighing.  She couldn't help but let her gaze wander back to Archie, who's face held a smile that could brighten an entire room; but for her, it seemed to just darken up the space.  She was still so angry at him and the way he'd spoken to her the day before, but she knew she was expected to forgive him.  He'd probably make her some mac and cheese and bring it to her at school tomorrow, and she'd smile and kiss him in acceptance... but would she be happy?

She didn't know anymore.

Archie suddenly rose from his spot, his gaze meeting hers for the tiniest of moments, before quickly looking towards his house.  "I'll be back," he seemed to say to the others before he jogged up to his deck and fled into the house.

Betty sighed, gazing up at the house.  She'd entered their kitchen many times before from that very door, typically when she'd snuck out of her bedroom window to come see Archie.  Fred had always been Betty's favorite of Archie's parents as he would often "forget" to tell Alice that Betty had snuck out.  She'd made great memories with Archie in this very backyard.  When they first started dating, Archie had put together an entire picnic for Betty just because she'd have to miss a school-wide one because of her other commitments.  Not wanting Betty to miss out on the fun, he made all the same food and even had a few of their friends FaceTime her so that it felt like she'd gone to the other one.  It was romantic, and it was kind.  Archie was romantic and kind.  Who he was yesterday was completely out of the norm for him, and Betty suddenly felt awful for avoiding him.  There had to be an underlying cause to explain his behavior.

I've got to talk to him.  Betty quickly stood from her chair, root beer in hand as she headed up the same stairs she'd walked up a thousand times over.  She took a deep breathe at the door, her hand reaching slowly for the handle.  She and Archie would talk all of this out, and they'd be fine.  Everything would be back to normal, as if they'd never had the fight in the first place.  She turned the handle and stepped into the kitchen, heading for the stairs that led to Archie's bedroom.  She heard a familiar voice as she reached the last stair, stopping to see if she'd heard correctly.

"No, Archie."  There was no doubt who's voice that was: Veronica.

What business did Veronica have in Archie's bedroom?  

Betty couldn't help herself.  She leaned up against the wall so that she could hear the two of them better.

"You really fucked up with Betty."  Betty smiled to herself as she heard her best friend stick up for her.  Turns out Betty didn't need to tell Veronica about the fight, because Archie had done it himself.

"I don't care."  Archie was noticeably annoyed, as he spoke.  "She's a prude, and I can't keep dating this girl that everyone thinks I should be with if she's not going to at least put out a little."

Betty's chest tightened.  Ouch.  She was ready to throw in the towel on her apology and run home, when she heard his next words.  "I don't feel whatever it is I'm supposed to feel about Betty."

As much as the words hurt, Betty realized that he'd just explained exactly what she was feeling.  She knew she was supposed to feel something for him; everyone told her so.  But she didn't feel it anymore, and she wasn't sure she'd ever fully felt it at this point.

"I know, Archie, but-"

"But I do feel those things for you."

Betty's jaw dropped.  No, this couldn't be happening.  She was going to get dumped just so he could be with her best friend?  Her entire plan included him.  She was willing to forgive him for his atrocious attitude, just so she wouldn't mess up her routine.  He couldn't just rip that away from her.  He couldn't.  She couldn't let him.

"You know I feel the same."  Veronica's voice was soft and quiet as she spoke her words, and yet they cut through Betty's skin more than anything Archie had ever said.  "But it was a one-time, excitement induced decision fueled on elated emotions from the Bulldogs winning.  It was amazing, but I can't do that to Betty."

Betty's eyes widened.  The anxiety she'd thought she'd never feel was suddenly there.  Her heart was beating hard against her chest, her palms sweaty.  Tears slowly begun to escape her eyes, finding their way down her cheeks.

"We can keep us a secret."  Archie said in an amorous tone.

"I can't."  Veronica audibly sighed.  "This secret is big enough as it is.  If it gets out that you and I had sex-"

The bottle in Betty's hand lost traction against the sweat, slipping from her hand and loudly rolling down the stairs before crashing and bursting into a thousand tiny shards.

Just like her heart.

"Shit, shit, shit," Betty whispered to herself, panic racing through her body as she tried to run down the stairs before the two emerged from Archie's room.

"Oh fuck," She heard Veronica gasp.  It was too late.  "Betty?"

Betty looked back at Veronica and Archie, standing less than an inch from each other.  With tear stained eyes, Betty just shook her head at them.  She had no idea what to say, or what to do.  "I-I have to go."

"Betty, please, just wait."  Betty ran towards the kitchen, but she could hear the click of heels against Archie's stairs as Veronica chased after her.  Betty couldn't be bothered to stop.  She swung the porch door open and flew down the stairs towards where her purse was.

As she grabbed the purse, she caught a glimpse of Veronica jogging down the stairs.  "Betty, let me explain!"  Veronica shouted across the yard.  The entire crowd seemed to stop what they were doing and look in the direction of Betty and Veronica, who had made her way to the grass and was stomping towards Betty.

Betty erupted in a fire of anger, pain, and disgust.  "No!"  Betty roared.  "You don't get to explain yourself!  You don't get to explain yourself."  She repeated.  She could see Alice stand from her seat, her facial expression clearly dumbfounded by how her daughter could be acting this way.

"Betty, please-"

"Just shut up!"  Betty burst into sobs.  "I don't want an apology from you or Archie.  In fact, I don't want to talk to or see either of you ever again.  Tell Cheryl she can keep the top of the pyramid, because I quit."

With that, Betty took her purse and disappeared.  Alice tried to chase after her, but Betty was faster.  She was halfway down their block before Alice had reached the front yard.

She didn't know where she was running, and her shoe's weren't made to run in, but she knew she had to get away.  Away from Archie and Veronica, away from Alice, away from her home... away from her perfect life.

Chapter Text

Betty had been walking for hours.

The sky had transformed into a mess of deep pink and purple hues, and dark clouds warned that a storm was brewing.  Donning her same pink church dress, Betty knew she'd be soaked the moment the rain started.  Still, she continued onward to an unknown destination.

She was numb.  Her feet had gone numb after the first hour of walking, but emotionally she had become numb after she felt her final sob leave her body.  It was sometime after she passed Pops, and before she had crossed the grave yard.  It was only then that the knife that had been stabbed through her chest finally released itself, and allowed Betty to take a deep breath.  As she exhaled and the air slid from between her parted lips, so did any feeling.

Betty had felt hurt before.  She was hurt when her cat, Caramel, died.  She was hurt when Alice would comment on her weight, as if she were extremely unhealthy.  She was hurt when she didn't win the writing competition in sixth grade; but the worst of them all, was when her father left.

Somehow, all of that pain seemed like nothing in comparison to being betrayed by the one person she knew she could always count on, her best friend in the entire world.

How could Veronica hurt me like that?

Betty had begun to feel bad before she'd gone numb.  She'd felt sorry that she was so quick to judge their rendezvous, considering that she wasn't even sure she had feelings for Archie anymore, and knowing Archie had felt the same way.  Betty could have talked to him about it, they could have figured out where they stood.

There was only one problem: Veronica had no idea about Betty's feelings for Archie.  Veronica had gone and had sex with Betty's boyfriend, under the assumption that Betty was still head over heels for Archie.  Veronica Lodge slept with Archie Andrews, with the last in-person thing Betty having said to her being, "cheer extra loud for Archie for me".  Had Veronica misconstrued her meaning?  Had she somehow believed that Betty had meant, "go fuck my boyfriend"?  Veronica could be a ditz, but she wasn't stupid.  And yet, she'd gone and done the stupidest thing she could do.

Betty placed a lot of blame on Veronica, but she was placing equal blame, if not more, on Archie.  They'd been together for years.  They'd gone through everything together.  He was there to comfort her when they were just kids, after Caramel died; and when she lost the writing competition, he still framed her work and hung it in his families kitchen proudly, knowing Alice would never hang something that had been reduced to second-best.  He was there the night her father left, even.  They'd only been dating a couple of weeks at that point, but he held her hours that evening, listening to the soft sobs as she tried to make sense of her fathers sudden departure from her life, never to call again.  It was only when Alice had told Betty to "stop crying and grow up" and demanded that Archie go home, that he left.  Even then, they sat at their mirroring windows late into the night, after the rest of the neighborhood had gone to sleep.  There was no speaking the rest of the night.  Instead, he found old photo's his parents had taken throughout the years and held them up.  Images of their childhood floated across his windows, distracting Betty just long enough to stop the tears.  She fell asleep at her window that night, and woke to find that the sweet red-headed boy she'd grown to like so much, had done the same.

None of that seemed to matter anymore.  Her heart couldn't continue to ache over the memories that seemed to fracture into shards just like the root beer bottle.  All of her pain had been replaced with a numbing sensation.  She didn't care anymore.

She couldn't care anymore.

Maybe that's why Betty Cooper found herself walking where the street lights seemed dimmer and the houses appeared to be less than welcoming.  The Southside, she realized.

Had she been walking for so long that she'd actually crossed over the train tracks and made it to the Southside?

The answer was yes, she had been walking that long.  In an awful pink church dress, light brown booties, and a high ponytail, to make matters worse.  She stood out like a sore thumb on this side of town, but even the Southside seemed to be quiet on a Sunday night, much like the Northside.  Did the Southsiders go to church?  Did they even have a church?

Betty continued to walk, hoping she could find a spot to sit down eventually.  Maybe she couldn't feel any emotions, but the feeling in her feet was starting to come back and they hurt like hell.

As Betty suspected it would, the rain began to pour from the sky as if it were crying for her.  Betty could feel the cold droplets hit her bare arms and drench her hair, but she couldn't find the emotion to care.  Soon, she was stomping through puddles, turning her perfectly light shoes dark.

Just like me, her mind seemed to say as she caught a glimpse of her shoes.  Her mother would have a heart attack if she could see her right now.  Betty knew without a doubt that her mother wasn't looking for her.  Alice was probably inside their big suburban house, drinking wine and working on her next big piece for the Register.  She didn't care about Betty.  She hadn't cared since long before Betty's father left, but it became more apparent after he did.

Betty stood in a deep puddle, staring at the large decaying building before her.  She recognized it as the Whyte Wyrm, the same building she'd almost gone to on Friday night.  Beat up cars and motorcycles were parked outside, but no one seemed to be lingering outside like the last time she'd been here.  She took the moment of silence to look the building up and down, really taking in its rustic features.  The red doors were taller than she remembered, though in her defense, she'd been in the comfort of a luxurious Lyft that night.  Tonight, she stood without the protection of her middle class life.  Anyone could see her tonight, and see that she didn't belong.  She had no tinted windows to hide behind or a driver who was willing to drive back the other way just because she panicked.  Betty got herself into this mess, and this time there was no simple way out.

Betty looked down into the puddle.  Even through the darkness, she could see her reflection in the water.  Her pink dress seemed bright against the darkening sky, and the ruffled seemed childish.  Without giving it another thought, Betty reached for her right sleeve and ripped it right from the seam.  She quickly did the same with her left sleeve, leaving nothing but frayed edges where the sleeves used to be.  Her shoulders, once protected from the rain, could now feel the cool droplets as they hit her skin and traced their way down to her fingers.  Still, it wasn't enough.  Betty let the sleeves drop to the ground, and then reached for her next victim: the solid colored bottom ruffle of her dress.  With one loud rip, that piece of the dress added itself to the collection of fabric that lay on the wet ground beside Betty.  She liked the dress a lot more suddenly.

Bzzz.

Betty's side vibrated, which almost startled her.  She'd completely forgotten about her phone, having been so lost in her thoughts to pay attention to the world around her.  Betty sighed and opened her purse, ready to pull out her phone, but instead she was met with a mess of black strands.  The wig.

Betty stared at the wig for a moment, but as she looked back up at the bar in front of her, she remembered the flyer from the night before.

"LOOKING FOR DANCERS."

"Fuck it," Betty scowled, and grabbed the wig out, stuffing her dripping blonde ponytail into it.  She secured it onto her head, smoothing it out with her fingers.  She took only a moment to glance down at her phone.  Her screen showed seventeen missed calls from Veronica, a voicemail from her mother, twenty-three text messages from Veronica, and one single text from Archie.  Her battery percentage flashed, and within a second her phone died.  Good riddance.

She took a deep breathe, and a small voice in the back of her mind seemed to tell her that this was a bad idea, but what did Betty care?  Betty was the blonde haired girl next door.  Right now, she had raven hair and a shredded dress.  She wasn't Betty anymore.  She was whoever she wanted to be.

Inside was just as damaged as outside.  There was an awful smell, though that could have been the cigarettes, and Betty was sure she could see water leaking from the ceiling near the bar.  People seemed to crowd in groups, all of them wearing the same leather jackets that the boy with the hypnotic eyes and his crew had been wearing on Friday.  Even in her ripped up outfit and dark hair, she stood out too much.

"What can I do for you?"  Betty's eyes shifted to the familiar voice.  They landed on a girl with pink hair and beautiful skin who stood behind the bar.  Toni.

Betty recognized Toni from the night of the football game, but she quickly realized that Toni would hopefully not recognize her.

When Betty didn't answer for a moment, Toni raised an eyebrow at her.  "Do you need a drink or...?"

"Oh, uh- no."  Betty shook her head quickly.  "I'm actually looking for..."  She thought back to the flyer, trying to remember the name.  "Tall Man?"

Toni let out a laugh.  Her smile was so kind compared to the way Serpents were portrayed.  It caught Betty off guard the night they met, and it caught her off guard yet again.  "You mean Tall Boy."

Betty's face went red.  She'd been there for less than five minutes and she was already making a fool of herself.  "Yeah, sorry."

Toni shook her head and waved it off as if it were a simple mistake.  "Don't sweat it.  He should be over here soon anyways, if you want to take a seat?"

Betty glanced at the worn bar stools, then back to Toni.  "That'd be great.  Thank you."

Betty walked over to the bar stools, taking a seat at the one farthest from the stage.  She was surprised by how small it seemed in comparison to the rest of the building.  The pole in the center was definitely the main attraction.

"So do you have a name, or are you just mysterious girl in the pink dress?"  Betty's eyes shot back to Toni, who was now cleaning out a clear glass with an off-white rag that had seen better days.  She opened her mouth to say Betty, but she realized in that moment that she couldn't tell anyone her real name.  Too many people could put the connection together.

"Eliza."  Betty blurted out without a second thought.  "My name is Eliza."

"Cute.  I'm Toni."  Toni reached out to shake Betty's hand, and Betty quickly returned it before letting her fingers fall to her side.  "So you're here to talk to Tall Boy, eh?"

Betty nodded.

"I'm guessing you want to be a dancer?"

Betty nodded again.

Toni's smile faded as she nodded.  "Oh, cool.  Well, if you get the job, we'll be working together."

Betty stared at Toni, confused.  Toni was in the same grade as Betty, there was no way she was the legal age to dance... though, neither was Betty, so who was she to ask?  Instead, she just smiled.  "Do you like it?"  Betty asked quietly.

"It pays the bills."

A figure suddenly took a seat beside Betty, leaning on the counter.  Whoever it was seemed to make Toni's smile reappear, and she quickly turned her attention to them.

"How was the meeting?"  She asked.

"I had to listen to Tall Boy amble on for thirty minutes about why he thinks that a brothel is exactly what the Wyrm needs for business."  Betty perked up for two reasons.

One: The sign said dancers.  It said nothing about a brothel.  Betty was not about to sell herself.  She was rebelling, but even that was too far for someone her age.

Two: The voice.  She instantly recognized the voice.  The boy with the eyes.  The blue-green eyes that held her gaze for what seemed like an eternity that day.

"Uh, Jughead..."  Toni's face showed embarrassment as she nodded her head in Betty's direction.  "Meet our newest dancer applicant, Eliza."

So he does have a name.

Betty turned to face him slowly, her palms growing sweaty, a sensation she recognized from earlier.  Just as they did on Friday, her eyes locked with his and she felt a gravitational pull towards him.  She couldn't seem to release herself from his gaze.

Jughead's brows furrowed as he stared into her eyes, as if he were trying to understand something.  His lips parted slightly as he stared at her.  Betty couldn't help but to study his expression.  Confusion crossed over his face, and for a moment, Betty thought he recognized her.  Finally, he simply said "nice to meet you, Eliza," and turned away from her.

Betty let out a silent breath as she turned back towards Toni.  That had been a close call.

Chapter Text

"Look, boy."  FP stood tall over Jughead, his voice heavy with stress.  "I know it's not ideal, but Tall Boy is right about one thing: The Wyrm is drowning in debt, and we need to start making money asap."

Jughead stared up at his father, bewildered by FP's statement.  Tall Boy had spent the last half hour explaining his plan to open a brothel inside of the Serpent bar.  The employee's?  Their current dancers.  Jughead already hated that Tall Boy was in charge of the dancers, but now he'd be a pimp?

"I know you're mad, but these meetings aren't pretty, Jug."  FP sighed, shaking his head.  "But you have to get used to it.  You're going to be running it someday, after all."

Jughead shook his head, taking a step back from his father.  "This isn't right."  He glared.  "He's going to force all of these girls into a profession they never agree'd to."

"They don't have to do it, Jughead.  They can quit anytime."

Jughead shook his head in disgust.  "Toni can't."

Before FP could say another word, Jughead had already stormed out of the meeting space.  In all actuality, it was just the living room of what used to be an apartment above the Wyrm, but it fit the Serpents when it needed to, and sound didn't travel down the stairs into the bar so meetings could be secretive when needed.  It seemed to be needed more often lately.

Jughead stomped down the creaky stairs, his mind trying to unwind the insanity of everything he'd heard.  He understood that the bar was in trouble, but prostitution?  Really?  He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that his father actually agree'd with Tall Boy on this.  FP was never a great dad, but he was a great leader.  Jughead just couldn't understand how a great leader could do this to his people.

And Toni. 

Jughead knew that Toni couldn't just quit like the other girls.  That had never been an option for her, otherwise she would have quit ages ago.  He had no idea how she was going to react now that this was an official thing.  After the fight between Tall Boy and himself, Toni hadn't brought it up again.  He assumed she hadn't handed out the fliers though, considering how pissed off she'd gotten about it in the first place.

But something made Jughead think twice about that.  As he neared the bar, he saw a girl with short black hair sitting at the bar, wearing a mangled pink dress.  Her skin was pale and smooth, and she'd clearly been in the rain for a bit before she'd come inside the Wyrm.  She moved her head ever so slightly as she spoke to none other than Toni.  She seemed to stop talking as Jughead took a seat right beside the mystery girl.

Toni immediately turned her attention to Jughead.  "How was the meeting?"  She asked, setting down the glass that she'd been cleaning and reaching for another dirty one.

Jughead exhaled, a long and bitter breathe escaping his lips.  "I had to listen to Tall Boy amble on for thirty minutes about why he thinks that a brothel is exactly what the Wyrm needs for business."  Toni's expression turned to that of embarrassment as he spoke, her eyes wide as if she were signaling for him to start talking.

The girl beside him seemed to twitch lightly, her body language showing that she'd suddenly become very uncomfortable.

Ah, she wants to be a dancer... He realized.  Toni may have seen this realization as too late, but at least the girl would know what she was getting into before she said yes or no.

"Uh, Jughead..."  Toni nodded in the direction of the girl.  "Meet our newest dancer applicant, Eliza."

Jughead crooked his head to look at the raven haired girl, just as she slowly turned in the barstool to face him.  As if she was a magnet, and he a single metal paper clip, he was drawn to her immediately and powerfully the moment their eyes met.  Her eyes were a complex green, and her pupils seemed to scan his eyes, searching for something within his own blue-green.  These were the most beautiful eyes Jughead had ever seen, and he knew this because he'd seen them before.

These were the same eyes as the golden haired girl from the student lounge on Friday.  He would never be able to forget the pull of those eyes; the same pull that was drawing him to her right now.  But something wasn't right here... She didn't look anything like she had on Friday.  She wore a tarnished dress, and skin was more pale against the black hair.  Had she died her golden locks?  Even her makeup was different.  There was a buildup of mascara under her eyes, as if she'd been crying.  How could this be the same girl?

It couldn't be.  The girl from his school was a pristine princess.  She was a popular cheerleader dating a popular football player.  A girl like that wouldn't be caught dead on the wrong side of the train tracks.  Clearly he was just mesmerized by her eyes... just as he had been on Friday.  Maybe his type was girls with green eyes.

Jughead shook the idea from his head.  "Nice to meet you, Eliza," he said timidly, before turning back to Toni.

"You must be the new applicant."  Jughead froze when he heard Tall Boy's voice.  God, he hated Tall Boy.

"This..." Jughead watched as Toni straightened up and hardened her expression.  "...is Eliza."

Jughead watched as Eliza turned in her bar stool yet again, this time to face the reprehensible Tall Boy.  The rugged, unshaven man took a step towards Eliza, peering her up and down with the eyes of a predator.  Jughead's eyes narrowed as he watched the exchange.

"Eliza, huh?"  Tall Boy finally said, his eyes meeting hers.  Jughead examined Eliza's body language.  She was tense, and her fingers, which were balled into fists, seemed to shake lightly.  She was nervous, but for why?

Eliza nodded at his question.  "You got any ID?"  Tall Boy asked her.

Jughead saw panic race through Eliza's eyes so quickly, that he would have missed it if he hadn't been watching her so carefully; but in the same second that she seemed panicked, her body language changed all together.  She stood taller, her fingers releasing from her palms, and stared Tall Boy in the eyes.  "Because this is the type of job that wants me to fill out a 1099."  Her response was snarky and sarcastic, but Jughead found it extremely witty.  He let a small laugh crack through his lips before shutting up, but continued to watch her and Tall Boy attentively.

They were all silent for a moment.  Tall Boy's expression was hard as stone as he stared at Eliza.  Jughead became nervous for her suddenly, realizing that her joke, as funny as he found it to be, may have just cost her a job.

But then Tall Boy began to laugh.  He let out a loud belly laugh, the sound roaring through the rest of the bar.  Jughead had never heard him laugh so noisily before, and he wasn't quite sure he wanted to again.  His laugh reminded Jughead of the villains he'd seen in different Disney movies throughout his childhood... unauthentic and evil.

When Tall Boy finally stopped laughing and caught his breathe, his eyes landed right back on Eliza.  "I like you."  He said.  His eyes traveled behind her to where Toni stood as still as stone.  "I like her.  You should be more like her, Topaz.  Loosen up a little bit."

Toni's eyes tightened and she glared in his direction, but didn't move from her spot.

"Let's take you behind the stage so we can interview in a more..."  Tall Boy seemed to think about his words for a moment before continuing.  "...private."

Jughead immediately stood up, hating the idea of Tall Boy being alone with anyone, but especially with a young girl who couldn't be within more than a couple years of Jugheads age.  Without thinking twice about what he was doing, he looked to Tall Boy and made a demand.  "I'm coming with you."

"Like hell you are, kid."  Tall Boy snickered.

"Like it or not, Tall Boy, I'm taking over the Serpents someday, and that means I need to know the ins and outs of every part of this place."  Jughead took a step closer to Tall Boy, puffing out his chest slightly.  "And I mean all the ins and outs."

Tall Boy took a moment to respond, taking the time to think about what Jughead had just said.  After what seemed like forever, Tall Boy looked at Jughead with a smirk.  "Alright,  Jones.  I'll show you the ins and outs of my job."  With that, Tall Boy rushed off in front of them, waving his hand back for them to follow him.  Rather than heading towards the back of the stage however, Tall Boy headed for the stairs leading to the apartment.  Jughead raised an eyebrow, but quickly followed behind Eliza, who had set off on their destination just seconds before him.  He shot a look back at Toni, who's hands sat on her hips as she gave him a look of disapproval.  He quickly mouthed, "just trust me", and turned back to follow along.

Jughead stood in the center of the living room where they'd held a meeting less than an hour ago.  Without it full of Serpents, it felt more eery.  The dim light fixture hanging from the ceiling only held one working bulb, the other one having died out months ago.  The wall paper on the walls, once a baby blue and light pink floral pattern, was rotting away and ripping in certain areas; the colors had faded to deep browns and grays.  The carpet was weathered, and hadn't been vacuumed in months.  Besides the pale green couch that sat against the far back window, and the tarnished coffee table that was often used to lay out drugs and weapons, the room was empty of furniture.

Jughead looked over at Eliza, who stood near the far right wall.  Her eyes peered at the carpet, but he could tell that her mind was somewhere else.

"What are we here for, Tall Boy?"  Jughead asked, his eyes remaining on Eliza.  She seemed to glance up at Jughead, their eyes meeting once again.   For a second, he saw the golden girls eyes, but he pushed the thought from his mind and broke their contact, choosing to look towards Tall Boy instead, who stood near the entrance to the apartment.  Just outside the front door, was a dark hallway that led to decrepit stairs; those stairs let to the Wyrm.

"I've had to update my interview process, now that we are adding extra services."  Tall Boy glanced from Jughead to Eliza, but his eyes quickly met Jughead's yet again.  "This is our first applicant that's going to go through this process."

"Process?"  Eliza finally spoke up, her voice quiet and shaky.

"I need to know that she's the right fit for our customers; that she isn't going to bail out."

Jughead stared at Tall Boy, confusion lacing its way through his words as he tried to make sense of what Tall Boy was saying.

"Since you want to know the ins and outs of this, you're going to take my interview process for a trial run,"  Tall Boy smirked, but his eyes seemed to get darker.  "You're one lucky guy.  You know that, Jones?"

Jughead raised an eyebrow, his face turning cold.  "What does that mean?"

"You're both sleeping here tonight."  Tall Boy looked to Eliza, as did Jughead.  Her eyes widened.  "I hope you didn't have any plans tonight, babe."

"What the fuck, Tall Boy?"  Jughead turned towards the despicable man again, his fingers balled into tight fists.  "I have school tomorrow, and why the hell do I need to stay the night with a dancer?!"

"You wanted to know the ins and outs, and these are it.  You're taking her for a test run, like a new car.  I'll lock the door from the outside, so you can't sneak off."  Tall Boy licked his lips, furthermore solidifying the fact that he was a predator in Jugheads eyes.  "You could always go home, and I could take her for that test run."

Jughead could hear Eliza's breathing become coarse.  He sighed, shaking his head as defeat filled his mind.  He wouldn't dare put Eliza through whatever it was that Tall Boy thought he'd do to her, but how could he tell her that currently?  He had to play the part and make him leave.

"Fine, Tall Boy."  Jughead straightened his spine out, tightening his shoulders as he spoke clearly.  "I'll take the newby for a test run, but I will not be late for school.  That door needs to unlock no later than 7AM."

Tall Boy let out a chuckle, pulling a keychain from his pocket that held an array of keys.  He jingled them in the air for a moment before turning from the two of them and leaving through the door.  Jughead could hear the sound of the keys as Tall Boy locked the door, and continued to listen until he couldn't hear the large man's footsteps anymore.

He turned to Eliza, who's eyes were suddenly full of fear.  She stared at him in disbelief, her eyes sparkling against the tears that had balled up in the corner of her eyes.  "P-please... don't hurt... m-me."  She begged shakily.

Chapter Text

Betty had done everything to keep herself from bursting into tears as she listened to Tall Boy's demands.  Her eyes swelled with tears as her body shook uncontrollably.  This was never what she set out to do that afternoon.  She wanted to call the police, or even her own mother, but that was no use: her fucking phone was dead.

Even if she could call, what would she say?  Oh hey mom, yeah sorry about storming off earlier, but could you maybe come get me from this bar on the Southside?  I was going to be a stripper because I was tired of being so vanilla, but then they decided to make me a sex worker, so yeah.  If she lived through the night, she wasn't sure she'd live through her mothers wrath the next day.

She watched the entire transaction unfold between Tall Boy and the Serpent boy, Jughead.  Is that what she had been reduced to?  A transaction?  Her sexuality didn’t feel like her own anymore; over a period of forty-eight hours, her sex life, or lack there of, had felt as if it belonged to everyone but her.  Archie had made it his mission to make her feel as absolutely awful as she possibly could, just because she wouldn’t have sex with him.  Now she was going to be forced to have sex with a Serpent who she’d only ever interacted with through eye contact.  Under any other circumstance, Betty knew she’d be more likely to have sex with Jughead than she would Archie; but now, she wanted nothing further than that.  She found herself questioning if she’d made the right decision in turning Archie down.  Would she even be here if she’d bit the bullet and had sex with him?

Tall Boy slammed the door shut, locking it as he left.  Betty whimpered at the sound, the anxiety coursing through her veins as if it were the very blood that kept her alive.  Jughead stood about eight feet in front of her, his body tense as he waited.  He seemed to be listening to Tall Boy's footsteps.  Even with Tall Boy gone, she felt incredibly unsafe.  Jughead had just told his boss that he'd take the dancer for a test run.  Their cryptic conversation been effective; Betty knew exactly what he meant, and she wanted no part of it.

She couldn’t contain the sobs anymore when the tall boy in the crown beanie turned around to face her.  Their eyes met and she broke down.  “P-please…”. She begged through breathless sobs.  “Don’t hurt… m-me…”

She’d never imagined that three days ago, when their eyes met for the first time, that he would be capable of something so unspeakable.  She knew the Serpents were bad, but she’d never have suspected that they were this bad.  She thought they dealt with drugs and motorcycles, not sex trafficking.

The drugs and motorcycles were what had drawn her to him in the first place.  The danger she felt when she stared into his eyes, the danger that burned through her chest and made her realize just how boring her life was, made her want to know more.  How could she be so stupid?

And that’s when she realized… She was stupid, there was no doubt about that.  She’d made the choice to come here; but this all circled back to Jughead.  If he hadn’t looked at her in the student lounge on Friday, she wouldn’t have gotten kicked off the cheer team, which resulted in her running into Toni and finding that flyer.

It was all his fault.

Her face burned as she stared at him, her eyes narrowing slightly.  It was all his fault, and he didn’t even know it.

“Hey…”. Jughead spoke quietly as he inched towards her.  Betty’s entire body twitched in fear, throwing her hands up to stop him from coming any closer.

“Don’t fucking touch me.”  She snapped, breaking their eye contact as her eyes darted to the dirty couch in the back of the room.

Jughead threw his hands up in defense and backed away slowly.  “I didn’t plan on it.”  His voice had gone down an octave, signaling to Betty that he was taking her seriously.  An emotion she really didn’t expect from him at this point.

Betty glanced at him for a moment, noticing that his eyes had gone dark and his gaze had drifted to the opposite direction of hers.  “But you—“ Her voice was low but still angry.

“I just said it so Tall Boy would leave.”  Jughead shrugged, sticking his hands into the pockets of the dark jeans he wore.  “I fucking hate him,” He muttered below his breath, almost as if he hadn’t wanted Betty to hear him say it.

“So you’re not going to make me have sex with you?”  She asked quietly.

Jughead’s face went slightly red at her words, and she couldn’t tell if he was blushing or if he was angry that she’d even assume he’d want to have sex with her.  She opted to believe the latter.  “No.  I’m not going to make you have sex with me.”

Betty nodded slowly, her narrowed eyes skimming the room to avoid his.  The anger in her body was boiled down a bit, but it still lingered.  She would have never been in this situation if it weren’t for him.  “Cool,” was all she could get out.

“Unless you want to, that is.”  Jugheads tone was rattled with sarcasm.  Betty snapped her head in his direction, her face getting hotter as a smirk grew across his face.  He actually thought this was humorous.

“No, you urchin.”  Betty scoffed, crossing her shaking arms across her chest.  “I don’t want to have sex with you.”

Jughead raised his palm to his chest, wincing slightly at her words.  “Now that just hurts.”  He retorted.

“I don’t care.”  Betty quipped, unsure that her eyes could narrow more than they already had.  She wondered if he’d always been this cocky.  Sure, he was handsome as hell and the way his hair hung down in a curl peeking from under his beanie made him quite possibly one of the cutest guys at Riverdale High, and Betty had never seen eyes as magnetic as his turquoise pair, but that didn’t mean she wanted to fuck him.

He’s probably been with half the girls at school.  A total man whore that makes the girls swoon, because who doesn’t over a bad boy?  I guess that would also make him experienced… Archie wasn’t experienced, I think.  What if I’d lost my virginity to some non experienced loser?  Archie wouldn’t even get me off, I bet.  He’d finish and not even think about me… Maybe experienced wouldn’t be that awful.  Maybe Jughead wouldn’t be that—

Betty quickly snapped out of her impure thoughts, blinking hard to get the images of a shirtless Jughead out of her mind.  Attraction or not, he was the reason she was here and she hated him.  She never wanted to see him again.

“I want to go home.”  Betty said, glancing around the room as if she were trying to find a way to get out.

Jughead chuckled, shooting a look at the locked door behind him.  He looked back at Betty—er, Eliza, as he would have assumed— and shrugged his shoulders.  “It sucks to want things, huh?”

No, it sucks to be stuck in a shitty apartment with an equally shitty scoundrel that you keep imaging without a shirt on.

Betty groaned, stomping to the couch.  If she was going to be stuck here all night with him, then she’d better be at least a little comfortable.  She stared down at the various stains on the couch, unsure of what they could be.  A few of them looked like they might even be blood…

Of course it’s blood.  You’re on Serpent territory, you dumb bitch.

Betty took a deep breathe and tried to imagine she was sitting down on her pillow-top mattress as sat down on the side furthest from Jughead.  Without looking in his direction, she asked with an irked tone, “What time is it?”

It took a moment for Jughead to answer.  “I don’t know,”  He finally said.  “My phone is downstairs.”

“You’re useless, you know that?”  Betty sighed.

“Why don’t you check your own phone?”

“Mine died before I got here.”

“Real smart.”  Jughead spit.  “Come to the Southside in a tiny pink dress, and a dead phone.”

“Excuse me?”  Betty looked towards Jughead, a questioning look growing on her face.

“It’s obvious you’re not from around here, but there’s no way you don’t know the stories about the Southside.”

“So what if I do?”  She asked.

“Then you’re stupider than you look.”

Betty huffed, curling her feet under her bottom and resting her body against the back of the couch.  The silence between them thickened, and though it was an uncomfortable silence, Betty also found it peaceful.  The adrenaline was finally starting to leave her body, and she could feel the effects of her long walk to the Southside finally hit her.  She stared at the rotting wood of a boarded up window, her eyes blinking slowly and heavily until they were too heavy to open again.

Her fingertips felt something soft and delicate draped over her body.  She opened her eyes, gazing at the deep burgundy sheep that dressed her body.  Her eyes drifted to the sheeted mattress below the sheet. When had she gotten up and gone to the bedroom?  She was surprised this place even had a furnished bedroom.  Betty shrugged and grabbed a handful of the sheet and pulled it closer to her, snuggling into it.  Her arm grazed her breast, and she suddenly became very aware that the sheet was the only piece of fabric she was wearing.  Oh my god, she thought.  Did I take my clothes off in my sleep?  I haven’t done that since I was a kid!

“Did you sleep okay?”

Betty’s eyes darted to the bedroom door.  A tall male with a head full of messy black hair, and two coffee cups, leaned against the door frame.  He was dressed in nothing but blue and white striped boxers, his muscles clearly defined against the glimmer of morning light that snuck in through the blindfolds on the window.

“Jughead?”  Betty stared at the boy who seemed to be missing his beanie, disbelief crossing her eyes.  She sat up, pulling the sheet with her to remain covered.

Jughead seemed to smile at her actions, his head shaking as he moved towards her, handing one coffee cup forward.  Betty instinctively retrieved it, holding the sheet up with her elbows.  “What’s so funny?”  She asked, setting the coffee cup on the nightstand beside her.  She didn’t want the Southsiders possibly poisoned coffee.  That was when she saw it.  His beanie lay next to the alarm clock, slightly hanging off of the side of the nightstand.  Why is his beanie in here?  He was wearing it when I fell asleep… I think.

“I just think it’s cute that you’re hiding under that sheet, after…” His voice trailed off, and she immediately jerked her head up to stare at him.

“After what?”  She asked, her eyes widening.

Jughead’s smile grew bigger and his eyes met hers.  His stare sent shivers down her spine.  “You don’t remember?  Really?  That’s a blow to my ego,” He joked, sipping from his coffee.

“I—I don’t remember.”  Betty’s head dropped and she searched her mind for any memory she had from the last few hours.  All she could remember was blackness.

“We had sex, Betty.”  Betty blinked twice.  That wasn’t Jughead’s voice.  His voice was gruff, smoky… This voice was cold and monotone… She recognized the voice all too well.

“Archie?”  Betty’s eyes rose, only to be met by the brown eyes and red hair of the boy who had cheated on her.  She shook her head in confusion.  “No, that’s not possible.  Jughead was just here… His beanie…”  She looked down at the bedside table and gasped.  His beanie wasn’t there anymore.  Had it ever been?

“We’re going to do it again, too.”  Archie stepped towards Betty, dropping the coffee cup that Betty hadn’t imagined, letting it shatter to pieces.  He reached down, snatching the sheet from Betty and tossing it to the ground.  Her body was completely exposed.  Fear fogged her mind as she searched for an idea of what to do.

“Why are you doing this, Archie?”  She begged, tears swelling up in her ducts.

“Because that’s your plan, Betty.  It was always your plan to loose your virginity to me.”  Archie towered over her, his body seeming bigger than it ever had.   Betty shook her head, pushing her hands to his chest to keep him away from her.

A mischievous grin creeped across Archie’s face as his left hand swooped in and captured her.  His fingers gripped tightly around her small wrists, and she wondered if his hands had always been this big.  “You have to stick to the plan, Betty.”

Archie pushed Betty onto her back, a whimper escaping her shivering lips as she tried to kick him away.  “No!”  Her body splashed around widely.  She squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could, hoping it would make everything go away.

And suddenly, it did.

Betty opened her eyes to find her torso curled into her knee’s against the same dirty couch that she’d fallen asleep.  She raised her head, searching the room around her.  A frightened gasp escaped her lips as her eyes were met with Jugheads.  He was knelt down not even a foot from her, his left hand resting on the arm of the couch.  His eyes were wide, and the color in his eyes seemed lighter than she remembered.

“Are you okay?”  He asked gently.  “It looked like you were having a pretty wild dream.”

Betty let out a long sigh of relief, tilting her head back.  It was just a dream… It was just a dream. She repeated to herself mindlessly.  “I’m okay.”  She managed to say, but she realized she might be lying as she choked on the last word.

“Okay, well…”. Jughead reached his right arm to the ground, picking something up in his fingers.  He lifted it slowly, placing it in front of Betty’s feet.  “I thought you might want this back.”

Betty looked down at the dark object in front of her.  It was a mess of hair and—

Oh my god, the wig.

Betty reached her hand up to her head, feeling her natural and still damp hair under her fingertips.  “Oh, god.”  She muttered.

“No wonder I recognized your eyes earlier.”

Betty glanced up at him, biting her lip slightly.  Jughead seemed to peer at her lips for a moment longer than what she’d consider normal, but his line of vision snapped back up to her eyes.  “You recognized my eyes?”  She asked.

“From the student lounge, yeah.”  Jughead said, shrugging slightly.  “Most people don’t have piercing green eyes, it’d be real weird to see two in forty-eight hours.”

“So you knew I was a high schooler all this time, and you never stopped to think that you should kick the minor out of your bar?”  Betty frowned.

“I mean, I made myself believe you weren’t the same girl.  Not to mention, how would I know you weren’t an eighteen year old senior?  You—.”

“God, you just mess everything up!”  Betty snapped, throwing her arms in the air dramatically before crossing them over her chest.

“Excuse me?  I’m not the one who wore tiny dress and a black wig to a Southside bar to become a dancer.”  Jughead was getting defensive, she could hear it in his voice.

“It’s your fault I’m here!”  Betty yelled, quickly standing from the couch and stomping over to the boarded up window.  Betty could be on Mars and she still wouldn’t be far enough away from this asshole.

“We’ve never even spoke!”  Jughead exclaimed, pushing himself off the ground.  He stalked across the room, taking a stance on the opposite side of the room.  It wasn’t a big living room, Betty realized.  They were still too close.

“We’ve made eye contact!”  Betty shrieked, clenching her fists tightly.  “Your stupid eyes looked at my stupid eyes and then I couldn’t stop thinking about your stupid eyes, so Cheryl kicked me off the pyramid because your stupid eyes made me trip, and then I ran into Toni because your stupid Southside doesn’t have internet, and she left her stupid sign and then my stupid boyfriend had sex with my stupid best friend, and then he tried to force me into having sex with him too, which resulted in us having a stupid fight, and then I found the stupid wig, and then everyone at the stupid barbecue had to watch me scream my stupid head off at my stupid best friend, and then run off like some deranged person, and then I ended up here and your stupid bar!”  Betty sucked in a deep breathe, her head spinning.  She’d never spouted off so many words in one breath in her life, and especially not with the word stupid thrown in a million times.  She was just so angry that he didn’t understand how it was his fault; the words rolled off her tongue and plunged into his ears too quickly for her to keep up.

Betty’s entire face was warm again, and her chest heaved slightly as she tried to catch her breath.  She looked up at the beanie wearing boy, trying to read his expression.  He didn’t speak for a long time.  Maybe he’d been studying her words, or making sense of how it was his fault.  Suddenly, a smile grew across his face.  Betty raised an eyebrow.  Why was he smiling?

“Aw.”  A smirk replaced his smile.  “You like my eyes.”

Betty felt like someone had just unscrewed her head from her body, fiery hot steam exploding out of the opening.  Her face turned red, and she threw her arms to her side, stomping her right foot so hard it shook the boarded up window.  “Ugh!”  She screamed.

Jughead just smirked and shook his head, turning away from her.

Betty had remained by the window for quite some time, anger seeping from her body for what seemed like forever.  Eventually, there was no more anger left to seep.  Betty hadn’t even realized that she’d unclenched her jaw until she noticed sunlight begin to flood into the room, creeping ever so slowly towards the couch.  She immediately pushed herself off the wall she’d been leaning against and peered at the door.  It had to be almost seven, right?  The sun rises close to seven, she recalled.

Her eyes scanned the room, and found Jughead sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the wall and his head drooping to the side.  Is that drool?  She examined, swearing she saw a clear liquid dripping from the side of his plump lips.

Betty shrugged and walked across the room, using her toe of her show to kick Jughead in the side.  She hadn’t kicked him that hard, but it definitely wasn’t a “I don’t blame you” kind of kick.

“H-huh, what?”  Jughead darted forward off the wall, his chest heaving and shoulders pumping as his glance shifted around the room.  He seemed… afraid.

It didn’t take long for his eyes to reach Betty’s bare legs.  Her chest tightened as she watched his eyes slowly run up her body until they met hers.  “Oh, it’s just you.”  Jughead leaned back against the wall, reaching his hand up to his beanie and pulling it off his head.  The tips of his hair seemed to be wet with the sweat that dripped from his forehead.

“Just me?”  Betty asked, glaring in his direction.  “Who else would it have been?”

“It doesn’t matter.”  Jugheads face was stone as he lifted himself off of the ground.  “I’m gonna go wash up.  Tall Boy will be here soon.”  He glanced at Betty for a mere second before heading towards the bathroom.  “You might want to put your wig back on, Eliza.”  He called out.

Betty gulped, realizing that she didn’t want anyone else here to know who she actually was.  As much as she hated to admit it, Jughead was right, she did want to put the wig back on.  She quickly walked to the couch and picked the wig and her purse up off the cushion.  She placed the purse over her shoulder and then slowly tucked her hair into the wig, placing it firmly on her head.  She adjusted it ever so slightly.  She raised her hand to smooth it out, but she was interjected by a firm grip around her wrist.  Her mind instantly went back to her dream.

His fingers gripped tightly around her small wrists, and she wondered if his hands had always been this big.

Betty gulped, praying to a God she wasn’t sure she believed in, that her dream wasn’t coming true.

“Don’t fix it.”  Jughead’s voice was quiet but firm as he released her wrist, letting it fall to her side.  Betty spun around to face him, a questioning express on her face.  “Tall Boy isn’t going to believe we fucked if you look all prim and proper.”

Betty rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms.  “That’s because we didn’t have sex.”  We didn’t even have sex in my dream, I think, she left unspoken.

“I’m fully aware that we didn’t do the deed.”  Jughead sighed.  His eyes were dark, but they weren’t angry.  Something was clouding his mind.  Betty wondered for a split second if it had anything to do with the way he woke up.  “But we want Tall Boy to think we did.”

“Why?  If he thinks I’m a…” Betty bit her lip and furrowed her brows as she tried to say her next word.  “…prude, then he won’t want me to be a dancer.”

Jughead shook his head in disapproval.  “No, he would take you for a test run and try to force the prude out of you.”

Betty gulped and stared at Jughead in disbelief.  “But—“

“You’re on the Southside.  What did you expect?”  Jughead stepped away from Betty, but kept no more than a couple feet in between them.  “It’s not all flowers and farmers markets over here.”

Betty huffed.  “It’s not all flowers and farmers markets over there, either!  My life has never been flowers and farmers markets, it’s been—.”  Betty shut herself up mid-sentence as she heard the recognizable sound of keys dangling.  Betty’s gaze jumped to the door, and then back to Jughead.

“Just shut up and follow my lead.”  Jughead whispered, and without notice he hooked his right arm around Betty’s waist and pulled her against his body.  Betty started to put her arms up in disgust when she remembered what he’d said.  Follow my lead.  Still, that didn’t prepare her for what he did next.  The cold, calloused fingers of his left hand gripped her outer thigh, her feet instinctively raising to her tiptoes.  Jughead placed his cool lips against her neck, not moving from that spot.  This alone caused Betty to let out a quiet whimper, hoping he hadn’t heard her, and rested her chin on his shoulder.

The door to the apartment swung open and Betty could hear a couple footsteps before they abruptly stopped.  Tall Boy’s laugh was husky, and he coughed in the middle of it.  He must have just woken up.

Jughead let go of Betty almost immediately, dropping her to the flats of her feet.  She bit her bottom lip, refusing to look up at him.  She was fully aware that he had told her to follow his lead, but there was no way she had imagined the bulge that had grown as they were pressed together.  He seemed to reach up and scratch his head.  “Sorry, I know you said to take her for a test run but…” Betty peeked up at him, unsure of what he’d say next.  “We were taking test runs all night.”  Jughead seemed to chuckle, and Tall Boy followed.

“Great.  You’ll fill me in when you get out of school.”  Tall Boy began to walk back towards the apartment door.  Jughead grabbed Betty’s wrist and followed suit.  Betty’s mind went back to her dream for a split second, but the feeling of a light slap on the ass snapped her out of it.  She nearly turned around and struck the guilty party, when she realized that it had been Tall Boy.  She had no idea what he would do if she had struck him, but she knew it wouldn’t be pretty.  “And you… Oh, we’ll be in touch, baby.”  Facing away from him, still being led by Jughead, she snarled.  What a disgusting old man, she thought.

As they stepped off the bottom step and into the bar, Betty was a little thrown back by how different it looked in the day time.  It was no night club before, especially not on a Sunday night, but it hadn’t looked nearly as depressed as it did right then.  Overhead lights were switched on,  illuminating the grime build up on the bottom of the barstools and the dust on most of their liquor bottles.  Tears in the wall paper could be seen all around the room now, and a multitude of newspapers from the Riverdale Register were stapled into the walls, most of them near the back corner.  She thought of why they had those papers specifically crossed her mind, but she decided against asking it.  Instead, she let Jughead drag her across the bar until they crossed through the tall farm doors.

Jugheads grip released and her arm fell to her side once again.  She shivered, but she couldn’t tell if it was because of the way Jughead seemed to look at at her as he released her, or if it was from the extremely cold morning.  She decided to believe the latter.

Betty looked down at her clothes, then up at the road.  She let out a long sigh and started to walk towards the parking lot.

“Yeah, if you walk, you’ll get to school right in time for 3rd period…” Jughead leaned back against an old black jeep, crossing his arms across his chest.  “Tomorrow.”

Betty rolled her eyes, and kept walking.  “Well my fucking phone is dead so I can’t order a Lyft, and I can’t even begin to comprehend the bus route normally, let alone on the Southside.”

Betty could hear Jughead let out a quiet sigh.  “I can take you home,”  His voice sounded less than flattered about asking.

“I don’t want a ride home from you.”  She called back, still refusing to stop.  There was no way she’d hop into the vehicle of the Serpent whom caused this train wreck of a weekend, no matter how hot and bothered she may have felt when he placed his lips on her neck.

“Don’t be stubborn.”

“I’m not being stubborn, I’m just walking home.”  Betty felt like she’d finally won when she heard the sound of his keys jangle and his car door open and shut.  The engine revved itself to life.  She listened as the car screeched against the loose gravel in the driveway, surely backing out of the spot it had been parked in just outside the bar.  Betty had almost neared the sidewalk when she heard the quiet roar of Jugheads engine from beside her.  She glanced over, rolling her eyes upon seeing that Jughead had pulled up beside her, sticking his head out of the window and steering with one hand.

“Just get in the car,” He said firmly.  “I’ll take you home and you can do whatever you want from there.”

Betty shook her head, making her refusal apparent.  “No.”

“God damnit.”  Jughead hit the breaks harder than he needed to, the car halting harshly.  Betty stopped for a moment, looking at the car.  “Get in this god damn car before I fucking—.”

“Before you what?  Make me?” Betty took a shot at his cocky game, really enunciating the m’s.

Jughead simply rolled his eyes at her.  “Before I tell Weatherbee why you missed school.”

Betty’s eyes widened.  The threat sounded silly to most others, but Weatherbee had been bribed into calling Alice anytime she was late or missed school.  If Weatherbee didn’t know why she wasn’t there, she could play it off as her being sick from walking in the rain.  “You don’t even know my name.”

“A few minutes in the student lounge would change that, I’m sure.”  Jughead raised an eyebrow at her, making sure she remembered everything had gone down that weekend.

With a loud, exasperating sigh, Betty stomped to the other side of the car and swung the door open.  “Fine, but only because that is not a conversation I want to have with my mother.”  She spoke matter of factly as she climbed into the car and buckled her seat belt, the door swinging shut behind her.

Jughead seemed to ignore this, and sped out of the parking lot as soon as she had buckled.

Betty eyed the small black and red phone charger that hung from his dashboard.  Without asking, she pulled her phone out and plugged it into the charger, watching the little apple logo come to life.

Jughead scoffed.  “Did I give you permission to use that?”

“You think I’m going to ride in the car with you without a way to 911?”  Betty scorned.  “Hell no.”

The corner of Jugheads lips twitched, and Betty thought for a second that he may have almost smiled.

Her phone immediately began to ding with messages and missed calls.  Her mothers name was unsurprisingly missing from her notifications as she scrolled through them.  Most were dated from the previous night, having arrived during the first couple of hours that her phone had been dead.  A few of them came at random points of the night, when she wouldn’t have been awake anyways.  Just like last night, most of the notifications were Veronica.  Even a few voicemails, and Veronica never left a voicemail.  “If they value my time, they’ll call me back anyways.”

Betty glared at her screen before clearing all of her notifications.  Last night had been awful, but she still felt no desire to speak to either of them.  When she looked. up, she realized that they were nearing Elm street.  “Just take a left up here, it’s the white house with the red door.”  Betty ordered.  She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and quickly pulled the black wig off of her head and stuffed it into the purse.

Jughead pulled his jeep up to the curb, leaving it running as he nodded at the doorknob.  Betty examined the driveway, letting out a breathe of relief when she saw that Alice’s car was absent from the driveway.  “Thanks,” She murmured, pulling on the door handle.  The door opened and she unbuckled and pulled her phone from the charger, jumping down from the high seat.

“Do you need a ride to school?”

Betty scoffed and shook her head, but the sun seemed to hit his face just perfectly in that moment, causing his eyes to glisten magically.  As if Friday had just repeated itself, she found herself staring into his eyes and not wanting to look away.  Jughead stared at her, but he seemed to unaware of the way she was drawn to him suddenly… Betty shook her head, backing away from the car.  “No.”  She wondered why she wanted so badly to say yes.  “I’ll order a Lyft.”

Jughead did nothing more than nod, turn back to his steering wheel, and speed off.  Betty quickly hurried up the driveway, hoping no one had seen her quite yet, and walked inside.  The anger towards him was still there, burning in the back of her mind, but a part of her was relieved that she’d see him again at school. 

Something inside of her wanted to see him again.

Chapter Text

Betty stared at herself in the mirror of the girls bathroom.  She’d been staring at herself for more than a few minutes, her eyes tracing her reflection.  Less than an hour ago, she had left the Whyte Wyrm where she had quite literally been held captive all night, wearing nothing more than a torn up pink dress, a messy black wig, and makeup that had melted down her face, creating an abstract painting with her tears.

An oversized pink sweater and black leggings had taken the place of her ruined church dress, which she had thrown into the trash bin before she left for school in hopes of Alice never finding it, and her feet were beginning to feel again through her black Toms.  Her hair remained unwashed.  Betty opted to throw it into a ponytail and add some dry shampoo — make the world believe that she’d spent her night doing homework and writing in her journal like she was supposed to do.  She wiped the dried trails of mascara off of her face and added concealer under her eyes.  If nothing else, she’d at least look like she slept that night.

Her mind wandered back to the night she’d shared with Jughead, but more specifically, the dream she’d had.  She saw glimpses of Jughead wearing nothing but a towel, his biceps illuminating in the small bit of light that peeked through the window blinds.  She didn’t trust him, but she didn’t feel trapped.  The windows weren’t boarded up, and the silky sheet felt cool against her skin, allowing her to relax.  She felt… okay.

But then she didn’t.

Jughead had been replaced by Archie, and Archie was mad.  He told her they had sex, because it was apart of her plan.  And, if she was telling the truth, it had been; but the plan changed as soon as he made her feel like her sexuality wasn’t her own.

Betty felt her chest tighten.

Despite being a virgin, Betty had never felt like she was missing out or that she was naive.  Betty had spent a lot of time exploring her own body, getting to know the ins and outs, the things that made her squirm.  She enjoyed the way her knee’s locked and her body jolted when she would reach her climax, and she knew that she wanted someone else to make her feel that way — just not Archie Andrews.  She didn’t care if it was special, so to speak; she just wanted it to be with someone she was attracted to.

Her mind lingered back to the images of Jughead in the towel.

Nothing but the towel.

Yet, as she stared into the blank eyes in the mirror, she didn’t feel like she could do it at all anymore.  If someone could be so cruel to her, someone who she hadn’t had sex with, she could only imagine how cruel someone would be if she actually did sleep with them.  She knew how to make herself feel good, but she didn’t feel confident in the fact that she could make someone else feel the same.

She used to feel confident.

Archie Andrews had ripped away her sexuality.

Betty felt a the tiniest tear build in the corner of her eye, but she wiped it just in time.  Two seconds later, Cheryl burst into the girls bathroom, followed by two of her Vixen drones.  Betty quickly gathered her bag from where she’d placed it on the ground and tried to scurry away before Cheryl said a single word to her.

“Betty, dear.”  Too late.  Betty felt the tap of Cheryl’s red stiletto nail on her shoulder.  She turned around slowly, her eyes set on Cheryl’s forehead rather than her eyes.

“What can I do for you, Cheryl?”  She asked quietly.

“I’m having a huge party next weekend, and I was just wondering…”. Betty stared at her in disbelief.  Had Veronica not told her that she quit, or was Cheryl inviting her out of the kindness of her heart?  “…if you could return your uniform by Friday.  One of the football players is getting dared to wear one, and frankly, yours is the only one that would fit those stocky boys.”

Betty clenched her fists at the jab.  She’d always known Cheryl to be cruel, so this type of interaction wasn’t particularly surprising; but it hurt, nonetheless.

Betty turned on her heel and darted out of the bathroom, and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people in the hallway.  She felt as if the entire school body were walking within that singular hallway.  She’d never felt so overwhelmed in her life, but she had walked these hallways nearly every day for three years.  What changed?

Her chest, still tight from before, began to heave as her eyes searched the perimeter for somewhere, anywhere to go.

The noise of her classmates seemed to get louder and louder, drowning out her thoughts and leaving her terrified.  But then her eyes landed on them, and everything seemed to go quiet.

Veronica was at her locker, adjusting her lipstick in the mirror she’d hung up.  Archie had leaned up against the locker beside hers, and was moving his lips slowly as he spoke.  He watched her apply her lipstick, his eyes staring holes into Veronica’s lips.

They were acting like everything was normal; like the weekend had never happened.

Betty couldn’t take it anymore.  The noise in the hallway had left and was replaced by the sound of her heavy breathing.  It was the only noise she could hear.

Before they could see her, she ran off in the opposite direction until she finally found somewhere she could go.

The Blue and Gold.

Betty jolted through the entrance, her body sticky with sweat.  She was just about to sit down in the rusting computer chair that sat in front of her desk when she saw a small glass Tupperware container with a yellow sticky note on it hiding beside a stack of articles she’d been using for research.

“Let’s talk” was all it said.  Betty stared at the Tupperware container for a long moment before her eyes adjusted and she realized what was inside of it.

Mac and cheese?!
In one swift movement, Betty picked the glass container up with both hands and raised it above her head, fully ready to watch it shatter into a million pieces as she threw it.  Just like the root beer bottle.

“Fuck you, Archie Andrews!”

_________________________________________________________

Jughead stared out of the window of his battered jeep absentmindedly, trying to make sense of the night he’d just experienced.  He was genuinely confused as he attempted to put the pieces together.  The Northsider, who’s name was definitely not Eliza, had gotten cheated on and so she came to the Wyrm to… to do what, exactly?  That was the part of the night that confused him the most.  Well, that and the outburst she’d had about his stupid eyes (and the Southside not having internet, but that was probably just her privilege talking).  Sure, he’d chalked it up to her thinking his eyes were pretty in that moment, but only because he loved to watch the way her face would get all flustered whenever he was cocky.  He didn’t know why he enjoyed it so much, but the way her lips twitched when she was aggravated made him way, way too hot.  She was too concerned with her hatred for Jughead that she probably never noticed the way his eyes would linger on her lips even after she’d finish talking.

Despite the way his pants would get a little tighter every time she’d huff out in anger, he was actually concerned for the girl.  He remembered the way she looked after she’d fallen asleep on the couch, curled into herself.  Her expression was soft, her eyes fluttering ever so gently every few moments.  At one point, her head fell back and she let out the quietest snore he’d ever heard, but what happened next was what really blew him away.

The wig fell off.

He’d been right to recognize her emerald eyes the first moment he laid eyes on her at the Wyrm.  The black hair was a silly little wig.  He half chuckled at the fact that he was right, but he didn’t want to wake the sleeping beauty, so he swallowed his pride and watched her sleep.

Was that creepy?

Maybe it had been, but Jughead didn’t regret it.  The once angelic slumber that she seemed to be in turned into a darkened comatose in the blink of an eye.  Her body jerked around and for a second, he thought she was having a sex dream.  The smirk that began to grow on his face was wiped off the moment she began to kick her legs violently.  Her eyes were shut, but her face showed fear.  Dread.  When she screamed, “No!”, Jughead nearly hurdled over the coffee table to get to her.  He didn’t know why he did it then, and he still didn’t.

Her eyes were full of anxiety when she noticed him less than a foot away from her.  She was scared of him, Jughead was sure of this.  Could he blame her?  She didn’t understand what he’d done, who he’d saved her from.  To him, he was a knight in shining armor saving the princess, but to her… he was just a snake.

But still he wondered, what could she have possibly dreamt about to make her thrash the way that she did?  To make her wake up completely petrified?

Jughead glanced at the light blue numbers illuminated on his dashboard.  7:43.

He knew that his friends would be arriving to school any minute, so he pulled the keys from his ignition and stuffed them into the inner pocket of his leather jacket before hoping out of his jeep.  He hightailed it across the parking lot, his mind still dancing around the events that had occurred the night before.  He was halfway up concrete steps that led to the entrance of Riverdale High, when he felt a gigantic hand on his shoulder.  He spun around, his hand already forming a fist and ready to punch whoever had thought they could touch him.

“Jesus, Jug!”  A startled Sweet Pea exclaimed, throwing his hands up in front of his face in defense.  Sweet Pea had never been a fragile person; he was the largest one of their group, and he packed a mean punch.  But even Sweet Pea knew better than to mess with Jughead.

Jughead blinked twice at Sweet Pea, unclenching his fist and letting it drop to his side.  “Sorry,” was all he could offer.

“What’s got you so tense this morning?” Fangs asked, stepping onto the same stair that held Sweet Pea.  Toni stood a stair down from them and offered Jughead an apologetic gaze.

“You look like you didn’t sleep a wink,”  Sweet Pea said.  “You know, I heard murmurs about you taking some girl up to the meeting room but I didn’t think they were true until now.  Jughead Jones got laid, didn’t he?!”  Sweet Pea’s voice got gradually louder, until he was practically yelling.  Jughead, completely unamused by Sweet Pea’s jokes this morning, formed a fist in his right hand yet again, but this time he actually swung.

And he hit.

He hit hard.

Sweet Pea fell back a step, his hand raising to the spot where Jughead had just hooked him.  “What the fuck was that for?”

Jughead narrowed his eyes at Sweet Pea.  “Don’t believe anything you hear concerning me, unless it’s coming from me.”  He was shorter than Sweet Pea, as were most people, but his voice more than made up for their height difference.  His voice demanded respect, and Sweet Pea obliged immediately.

“Sorry, boss.”  He said, rubbing the slightly reddened spot.  “I just thought—“

“You thought wrong.”  Jughead spoke clearly, and while he was looking at Sweet Pea, he was speaking to anyone that could hear.  “I had trouble sleeping.  I had another dream.”  His explanation was short, simple, and telling the truth.  After all, he did have the dream he’d referred to; he just chose to withhold information regarding the rest of the night.

They all fell silent at the mention of the dream.  They knew the one.  Jughead had been having recurring nightmares for months, but they finally stopped two months earlier.  He didn’t know why it came back when it did, but thew way the Northside Princess kicked him in his side, jolting him awake, it made the dream feel all too real.  The entire dream was all too real.

Toni was the first one to speak up.  “Was it exactly the same as the other ones?”   Her voice was quiet, cautious almost.

Jughead nodded.  “For the most part.”

“What do you mean, for the most part?”  Sweet Pea chirped, raising an eyebrow.

“Just a different hostage this time.  Some girl I didn’t recognize.”  Jughead shrugged, but he knew that his words hadn’t been sincere.  He was positive that he recognized the girl in his dreams this time.

“Did she… you know, this time?”  Fangs asked, trying to tiptoe around the elephant in the room.

Jughead sighed, rubbing his face as he nodded.  “Yes, Fangs.  She died this time.  She dies every single time.”

He knew Toni could see how frustrated Jughead was getting, and he was thankful when she changed the subject.  “So Jug, are you excited for your first day in AP English?”  She asked as the four of them began to walk inside.

Jugheads eyes widened and his mouth formed the shape of an “o” as he listened to her words.  “Oh, shit.”

“What?”  All three off them perked up.

“I completely fucking forgot.”  In the midst of everything going on this weekend, Jughead had forgotten that Principle Weatherbee switched him into a higher English class, which resulted in his Chemistry class switching to 1st period so he could take AP English during 5th period.  “How the fuck did I forget that?”

Toni knew how he could forget, but she kept her mouth closed and instead just offered him a casual shrug.

“I need to grab my Chemistry book, I wasn’t expecting to need it until after lunch.”  Jughead saluted his friends and began to travel through the crowd of students that blocked the direct path to his locker.  His eyes were flickering around the hallway, trying to find an easier coarse, when they landed on the princess herself.

Jughead stopped walking, earning a couple of “get out of the fucking way’s” and “nice going’s” from students who had bumped into him.  He didn’t care though.  His eyes were traveling up and down the blonde beauty, soaking in her outfit.  She looked so different from this morning… in her tight leggings and oversized pink sweater, she looked fragile.

She was standing completely still, her eyes set on something across the hall.  He followed her gaze, only to find a tall red haired boy that he recognized from Friday, and a girl draped in a dress that cost more than his car, standing together at a locker while the rich one applied lipstick.

“And then my stupid boyfriend had sex with my stupid best friend.”

Jughead put two and two together, making the realization that those two were the equally stupid boyfriend and best friend.  His eyes darted back to hers, and he was shocked to find her no longer in the spot she’d just been in.  His eyes caught her quickly though, as she dashed through the crowd like she was running a marathon.  He didn’t know why, but he immediately started to run after her.  He tried to keep her in his sights, but she quickly slid out of view and slid into the Blue and Gold office.

Blue and Gold?  Why there? He asked himself, but he quickly pushed those thoughts to the side and followed nonetheless.  He slowed his pace, keeping his eyes on the door to the Blue and Gold to be sure that she didn’t run away again.  It felt like it took forever for him to reach the doorway, but he finally did, and god, he was glad he did when he had.

Standing near the back of the Blue and Gold was a flushed, shaking Northside Princess, holding a glass container of Mac and Cheese above her head.

“Fuck you, Archie Andrews!”  She screamed.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”  Jughead intervened immediately.  He had raced across the office, and his hand reached up to grab the container from her.  She looked at him, and he saw an array of emotions pass through her eyes.  Shock, confusion, anger, frustration, and then… nothing.  So he did the only thing he knew how to do, he cracked a joke.  “You can’t just go wasting perfectly good mac and cheese like that, princess.”

She didn’t say anything back.  Instead, she backed up against the computer chair and fell into it.  She looked like all of the energy from her body had drained.

Jughead set the container down on the desk, making a mental note to take that with him when he left, because he was serious about not wasting perfectly good mac and cheese.

He took a moment to soak in his surroundings.  He’d dreamt of writing for the Blue and Gold for ages, but he was never willing to try.  He knew it was run by Northsiders, which gave him little chance at actually writing for them.

The office was filled with filing cabinets, some with letters on them, others with numbers, and some with years.  There was an old couch in the back of the room near the window, and three desks.  One of the desks had a multitude of framed photos on it, some of which had the Riverdale Sheriff in them.  Must be Kellers kid, Jughead thought.  The desk after his was completely bare besides a very, very ancient computer covered in dust, and the next… well, the next one was covered in pictures of a certain princess.

So you’re the Northsider who runs this.

He was surprised, if not impressed.  He hadn’t pegged her as the type to work in journalism, even if it was just the high school paper.

The girl seemed to be watching his every move, which mainly consisted of his head turning slightly to look at more things in the office.  “Can I help you…?”  She finally said.  Her voice was feeble and dull.  She sounded as exhausted as she looked.

Not wanting to admit to the fact that he’d watched her run in here in a panic and he didn’t know why he ran after her, he just did, he just shrugged.  “I wanted to know your name.”

This made her raise an eyebrow, but she offered no response.  Jughead leaned up against the middle desk, crossing his arms in front of his chest.  “Oh, don’t toy with me.  I know your name isn’t Eliza.”

Her eyes darted around the room, probably making sure that no one could hear him mutter that name.  “How would you know that?”  She asked when she finally realized that no one outside of this office could hear their conversation.

Jughead smirked.  “You told me this morning that I ‘don’t even know your name’.”  He mocked playfully.

She rolled her eyes and leaned her head against her hands, her elbows propping her body up against the desk.  She sighed, and with a defeated tone, Jughead heard her mutter “Betty”.

“Betty.”  Jughead repeated.  He liked the way her name rolled off his tongue so easily, as if he’d been saying it forever.  Betty.

Betty.

“Why are you here?”  She asked, her face still enveloped by her hands.

Jughead thought about that question for a moment.  Why was he there?

“To be completely honest,” he started, deciding he could at least tell her this one thing.  “I was on my way to get a book for my class, and I saw you having a panic attack in the middle of the hallway.  When you ran for it, I followed you to check on you, and I’m glad I did, because you were about to hurt some beautiful cuisine.”

Betty peeked up, her emerald eyes twinkling with what had to have been tears.  She didn’t dare make eye contact with him.  He knew what happened every time they looked into each others eyes, and he was sure she did too.  Nonetheless, her teary eyes made Jughead soft.  His heart ached gently for her pain, and his own face couldn’t keep up the stone exterior.  Instead, he looked at her understanding eyes, and hoped she would see that.

“Why do you even care?”  She asked apathetically.

“Because mac and cheese should be cherished, not tarnished by the glass of a broken bowl.”

He swore he saw a tiny smile peek through her lips, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.  “That’s not what I meant.”

Jughead knew that, but truthfully, he didn’t have an answer for her.  So he ignored the question.

“So, Betty,”  He spoke, enunciating her name as if it were a beautiful foreign language.  “Why were you panicking in the hallway?”

Betty thought for a long time about this, but she finally spoke up after a long moment of silence.  “I don’t trust you.”

Her words were cold, but he understood exactly why she said it.  “I don’t blame you.  Your first impressions of me have royally sucked.”

Betty scoffed at this.  “Sucked?  That’s the understatement of the year.”

Jughead bit his lip.  Of course she didn’t trust him, why would he expect her to?  She had spent a god awful night locked in an apartment above a Southside bar with him.  No food, no cell phones, nothing.  And she had honest to god thought she was going to be trafficked that night.  She didn’t know or understand what Jughead did, what he risked, in order to keep Tall Boy’s grimy hands off of her.

But what if she found out?

“Okay, so they’ve more than sucked, Betty.”  Jughead pushed himself off the desk, adjusting the strap on his bag as he gazed down at the sparkling emerald eyes in front of him, this time making sure that they made eye contact.  “Eat lunch with me today.  Not alone, my friends will be there.  You know Toni already, so it won’t be that bad.  Plus, I have it on pretty good authority that you’ll be eating alone in here if you don’t eat with us.”

Betty’s eyes were locked into Jugheads as she thought about his proposition for a long time.  So long, in fact, that the bell rang, causing them both to jump slightly at the sound.  She stood up from her desk, looking just as fragile as she did before, and sighed.  “I’ll think about it.  I have to get to chemistry.”

Betty started to walk past him, but Jughead just smirked and followed her lead.  “Great!”  He said with a sarcastic excitement.  “Me too, let’s go.

His tone may have been sarcastic, but every bone in his body seemed to jump for joy that he’d be in class with the emerald eyes herself, Betty.