That Girl: Betty Cooper

River Vixens

     Zachary walked into the gymnasium to see Betty and Veronica about to try out. He closed the door as quietly as he could. He made eye contact with Cheryl and gave her a sly grin which she smirked at and walked up the bleachers, prepared to watch. "We're blue! And gold! We're dynamite! We'll take you down, and fight the fight! Whoo! Go, Bulldogs!" The two girls cheered as Zachary smiled at the two. "Hmm. Ladies, where's the heat? Where's the sizzle?" Cheryl asked, clearly not impressed. "Well, you haven't seen our big finish yet." Veronica said as Zachary scooted forward confused as to what she meant. He saw Veronica whisper something before he saw something that shocked him. Damn Ronnie, you got her before I did, Zachary thought as he watched his best friend and the girl named Betty kissing right in front of him. They pulled back, Betty with a blush and Veronica with a smirk as Cheryl began to speak. "Check your sell-by date, ladies, faux lesbian kissing hasn't been taboo since 1994. So let's see if you do better with the interview portion of our audition. Betty, how's your sister doing?" "Um, Polly's fine, thanks for asking." The blonde answered. "Veronica, has Betty told you or that handsome friend of yours Zachary, about her sister yet?" Cheryl questioned. "Uh, no." Veronica answered, just as confused as Zachary. "Go ahead, Betty. Tell Veronica and Zachary about your sister and my dear brother." Cheryl pushed. "Polly and Jason dated." Betty said, looking down avoiding Veronica's and Zachary's gaze. Cheryl scoffed and said, "I wouldn't say "dated". "It didn't end well." Betty continued to look up to notice Zachary. "In fact, Jason's probably why your sister had a nervous breakdown and now lives in a group home, isn't it?" "That's what my parents think." "What do you have to say about that, Betty? Go ahead, the floor is yours. Whatever you've been dying to spew about Jason and how he treated Polly, unleash it. Destroy me. Tear me a new one. Rip me to shreds. Annihilate me." Cheryl rudely encouraged, trying to make Betty look like a fool in front of the new kids. "I just-" Betty started. "Finally." Cheryl spoke. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened to Jason. I can't even imagine what you and your family must be going through." Betty said as Zachary smiled at her, getting one right back. "Right. Veronica, welcome to the River Vixens. Betty, better luck next time." Cheryl said, following her eyes to Zachary, scoffing when she saw the smile he was giving her. "Wait, what? Why? Because you couldn't bully Betty into being a bitch?" Veronica said, standing up for her. "I need girls with fire on my squad." Cheryl said, irritated. "I know what you need, Cheryl, because I know who you are. You would rather people fear than like you, so you traffic in terror and intimidation. You're rich, so you've never been held accountable, but I'm living proof. That certainty, that entitlement you wear on your head like a crown? It won't last. Eventually, there will be a reckoning. Or Maybe that reckoning is now. And maybe, that reckoning is me. Betty and I come as a matching set. You want one, you take us both. You wanted fire? Sorry, Cherylbombshell, my specialty's ice." Veronica finished, earning a playful eye roll and smile from Zachary.
      Zachary waited outside on the track, eating an apple under a tree when he spotted Betty and Veronica. "Good afternoon, Ms. Lodge and Ms. Cooper or shall I say gorgeous new River Vixens. My name is Zachary Taylor and I would like to honor the two of you and ask to take you to your next class." He spoke in a posh British accent, bowing with a small smile on his face. Veronica and Betty shook their heads in amusement, Veronica wrapping her arm through his and Betty smiling at him. "Thank you, Mr. Taylor. I grant thou permission to walk thee to class." Veronica said, playing along. "Of course. We shall proceed." Zachary began to walk, Veronica and Betty on his left. It was a comfortable silence until Betty began to speak. "Veronica," Veronica and Zachary turned their heads to the sound of Betty's voice. "Yes?" Veronica asked. "Why did you defend me? I know the crowd you both ran with in New York. Why are you guys being so nice?" Betty questioned. Zachary looked at his best friend, "You wanna go first or shall I?" Veronica nodded, dropping her arm from around Zachary's and began to speak. "When my father got arrested, it was the worst thing ever. All these trolls started writing horrible things about us." Veronica pointed at herself and Zachary before sighing. "I'd get letters and e-mails saying that my dad was a thief, my mom was a clueless socialite, how my best friend was a prick, and that I was the spoiled rich-bitch ice princess. And what hurt the most about it was the things the trolls were writing were true. I was like Cheryl. I was worse than Cheryl. So, when my mom we were moving to Riverdale and told me, Zachary and his mom were moving to Riverdale with us, Zachary and I made a pact with ourselves to use this as an opportunity to become maybe, hopefully, a better version of us." Veronica finished as Zachary sent her a reassuring smile. "That's a lot of pressure." Betty said, giving Zachary a look. "I guess it's my turn," He said, chuckling nervously then became serious. "Veronica and I were always like the power couple of the school, except we weren't together. When our dads got arrested, it hurt us, me, worse than Veronica. They took everything besides the car my dad brought me which and most things I had, that, fortunately, was written in my name. However, unlike Veronica's mom, my mother wasn't as strong so when our lives started to fall apart, she started to fall with it. I had to take care of her, myself and somewhat of the family business. I went to school, trying to get away from home only for it to follow me. Our fathers getting arrested on the same day was the highlight of that school year to all the students, especially since it was the parents of the most disrespectful, selfish jock of the school and the rich shallow cheerleader. When I was told, me and Cupcake over here were moving," Zachary said, nudging Veronica, "we made a pact to better each other, ourselves and that's what we're trying to do. My mom has gotten a bit better and I decided to now live by the words my dad always said to me, El cambio es buenos. Change is good." Zachary finished as he looked at Betty, giving her the same look she gave him. She sighed and began talking, "When Polly and Jason got together, it meant everything to her and nothing to him, and..." Betty sighed. "And things got super intense and weird and toxic and my mom turned on Polly. Said Polly wasn't her daughter anymore, said all these awful things to her. Jason hurt Polly, but it's my mom who broke her." Betty finished, avoiding the two best friends eyes but seeing a hint of pity on Zachary's face.
"Archie." Veronica yelled. "You're so doing this." "What?" Betty and Zachary asked. "Slaying your dragons, Betty Cooper, one by one." Archie approached them, taking off his helmet giving Zachary, a head nod, and the girls a smile. "Hi, Teen Outlander." "Hey. Nice outfits." He spoke, giving warm smiles to the girls again. "Betty here has something she wants to ask you about the Back-to-School dance. Go on, Betty, ask." Veronica said, a hint of a smirk placed on her lips. Dang it, Zachary thought. Even though they just met, Zachary wanted to go with Betty. Not because he had feelings for her, well maybe it was because of that, he did, how can you not, but he wanted to go with someone he was familiar with. That's basically why he kinda rejected the cute red headed girl, Cheryl, that asked him earlier. Maybe he'd just go with her. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with the both of us." "Huh?" "What?" Archie and Veronica asked in unison as Zachary sniffled a laugh. "It's your first dance at Riverdale. You should have someone to go with, even if it's just a friend." Betty explained to Veronica. "Well, I was gonna go with Zachary." She said, trying to back out. "Welp, I guess you forgot the part where Cheryl already asked me." Zachary said, looking up slightly to see Betty's face drop at the statement. "And?" Veronica asked, not seeing how that matters when he didn't give her an answer. "And I'm gonna go with her." He said sarcastically with a fake grin while shaking his head. "So you're going with Betty and Archie." Veronica shrugged. "I mean, I'd love to." She answered. "I'm not really in the headspace for a dance." Archie declined. "Oh. That's okay." Betty said, obviously disappointed. "Totally unacceptable, Archiekins." "No way, dude."  Zachary and Veronica complained. "We need an escort. Take a break from being a tortured musical genius and come spend a blissful evening with not one, but two newly-minted River Vixens." Veronica said, trying to convince the ginger haired boy. "C'mon man. Are you really gonna pass up to go to a dance with the two hottest-" Veronica cleared her throat since Zachary was speaking a little bit like how he used to. "I mean, with the two most gorgeous girls in the school, right?" He asked Veronica instead of Archie. Veronica nodded, "Right, right." He confirmed, adjusting his letter jacket and putting his sunglasses back on his face. "We'll text you time and place." Archie chuckled and replied with an "Okay."  "Yeah, okay." Veronica said. "Bye." Archie spoke before running off. Zachary nodded slowly, "Well that went well." The girls looked at each other and laughed before they all kept walking out and talking.