Speak To Me

Her Act

Right after Betty made her promise to never speak a word of this to anyone, Alice drove her home and she texted Jughead to forget about meeting at his dad's trailer. She lied and sent a mass text to the friend group about how she wasn't feeling too well and she was just gonna go home and hang out in her room for the night. The moment she and Alice stepped into the house, her mother's attitude warped into her usual peppy self.

"Where were you all day, Alice?" Hal wondered when they entered. "I waited for you all day at the Register and you never showed up."

"There was a problem with the paperwork at the daycare center, so I had to stay longer and sort that out, then I had some errands to run and time just slipped from me. I'm sorry." Alice responded as she set her car keys on their hook by the front door.

"Okay." Hal replied in an unconvinced tone, just leaving out the 'yeah' before 'okay.' He didn't quite believe her anymore, but he also didn't quite care much. He COULDN'T care anymore. This little game between the two of them was beginning to get very exhausting and he felt himself not wanting to fight for it anymore.

Betty found Alice's ability to think of a lie so quickly quite impressive yet heartbreaking. When she walked into the living room, she saw Polly sitting on the floor, playing peek-a-boo with both twins. She thought of joining them, but continued to walk passed, heading for the stairs to be alone in her room for the rest of the night.

When she made it up into her room, she closed and locked the door behind her. The first thing she did was reach up and pull out her hair tie, letting her high ponytail fall upon her shoulders. She put her fingers in her messy hair, massaging her head as she walked over to her bed to sit on the edge of it. At first, she just sat there, staring off into the abyss. Her head eventually turned to look at the drawer of her dresser that she kept her diary in. She should write it all down. She should get it out of her head before it explodes. She should let it out before she told someone she shouldn't. But she couldn't. She just couldn't. She couldn't stand. She couldn't bring herself over to the other side of the room. She couldn't find the strength to even move. She just sat there. Looking around. Hoping this was all some horrible, horrible nightmare.

Eventually, her hand reached up to touch the side of her face where her mother had hit her. She had been so angry the moment it happened, but now...she felt something other than anger. Almost pity. And soon....guilt. Everything her mother had said to her played back in her mind on repeat. But one specific thing caused her stomach to tense up whenever she heard it in her mind again. Alice and FP were going to bury their feelings all for the sake of her and Jughead?

She sighed, putting her hands to her forehead before falling back onto her bed. She laid there, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what her life had become. How would she keep all of these secrets? From so many important people? How could she stop two people from being happy for her own happiness with Jughead? How could all of this had spiraled out of control so quickly?

She closed her eyes, feeling the rush of thousands of emotions she hadn't known existed and soon, she fell asleep.

About an hour later, Betty woke up to a knock on her bedroom door. She cleared her throat and slowly sat up. "Betty?" Polly's voice came from the other side. She watched as the doorknob turned while her big sister on the other side realized it was locked. She knocked once more. "Betty, are you alright?"

The younger blonde stretched her arms before running her fingers through her hair and she slowly stood, walking over to the door to unlock and open it. On the other side, she was shocked to see Jughead, Archie, Kevin, and Veronica in the hall with her sister. "Hey, B." Veronica weakly smiled in the doorway.

"Mind if we come in?" Juggy asked, just as Veronica walked in without waiting for an answer.

"What are you guys doing here?" Betty asked, suddenly remembering she probably didn't look her best.

"We came to check on you." Kevin said, entering her room as well.

"They were worried." Polly said, following Archie in.

"Yeah. It's not really a fun night out without Betty Cooper." Kevin said, sitting on the stool at her vanity mirror.

"You said you didn't feel good. Do you need anything?" Jughead offered. A large smile suddenly grew on his face. "My dad surprised me and came home today. Maybe I can text him to bring you something."

"No, no. I'm fine." She tried to fake a smile, though the thought of FP just brought instant tears to her eyes. "I'm just..." She wanted to let them know that everything was fine and dandy, but her act was getting so exhausting, she couldn't do it anymore. She forced herself to smile, hoping it would stop her tears. Jughead noticed right away.

"Hey, hey." He softly said, stepping closer to her. He put a hand on her cheek and attempted to look into her eyes while she looked away. "What's wrong?" He asked with so much love and concern that the others began to feel concerned as well.

"What is it, B?" Veronica asked, moving closer to them.

"We're here for you. You know that, right?" Kevin said from near the vanity.

"Are you okay, Betty?" Polly asked.

"What's going on?" Archie wondered.

"Hey." Jughead said once more, using his hand to slowly lift her chin, forcing her to look up at him.

Finally, she let it go. She couldn't hold it back any longer. The tears streamed down her face and getting words out had now become impossible. Jughead wasted no time in pulling her head into his chest, hugging her closely to him. She wrapped her arms around his back, sobbing into him while Kevin, Archie, Veronica, and Polly all moved in for a tight group hug around her.