Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

one

betty jolted upwards in her bed.

sweat dripped down her neck and her chest heaved. she had just escaped from another one of her nightmares. this one was by far the worst.

she could still hear the blood curdling screams of everyone she cared about, see their dying bodies, smell the iron wafting from the thick, red liquid dribbling down their lips.

shadows and shapes came alive the darkness as she blindly stumbled into the bathroom, leaning against the marble sink as she splashed cold water on her face.

she looked in the mirror at her reflection. it was unrecognizable. it looked as if she hadn't slept in years.

what had become of her over the last month?

betty used to be happy. she used to be perfect. now she was fucked up in more ways than she could count. her breathing slowed and she eventually collected herself. she looked at her room, the pastel pink walls, bedspread, curtains, everything. the whole room was a color that represented betty cooper.

sweet
pretty
innocent

pastel pink. the perfect color, for the perfect girl. betty lived in a pastel pink world. at least she used to.

the pastel pink turned black the second her lollipop ringtone went off. ever since she picked up her life had been in a never ending downward spiral. since then she resented the color.

her and jughead were on the rocks, veronica was consumed in her own petty problems, her mother and father were separating, and her and archie had never been so distant.

the boy next door felt a million miles away.

she laid back on her bed and let out a loud sigh. school was definitely not something she was up for.

she would wear herself out at school trying to be as sociable as possible, then she would come home, do her homework, try to make some time for her friends, and then crash. all the while checking her phone obsessively for a call from an unknown number. it was a repeating cycle, and it would keep on going until it destroyed her. until it destroyed betty cooper.
***
she sat alone in the student lounge, waiting for veronica or kevin to show up. jughead had transferred to south side high about a week prior causing him and betty to drift even farther apart. it was getting hard, too hard, relationships weren't to be a source of continuous stress. she just needed someone that she could pretend everything was normal with. she needed someone to ask her if she was okay.

"hey." a husky voice came from behind her. she recognized it instantly.

the familiar voice once set her at ease. it was the only thing that could calm her down, but now she couldn't hear it without being put on edge.

"hey arch." betty smiled at the redhead who dropped down beside her on the leather couch. he ran his hands over his face and yawned.

"you okay?" betty asked him. archie nodded suspiciously quick.

"yeah, just tired." he gave betty a reassuring smile. an awkward silence grew between them. this had never happened before.

archie and betty were never at a loss for conversation, they could talk for hours. they had been best friends since birth. they used to know every little detail about each other. now archie didn't know that betty was being tormented by the black hood, and betty had no idea archie stayed up every night to make sure his dad was safe.