The Perfect Girl Next Door

**This is a very rough story, I did not read over for mistakes! Sorry if there are any, feel free to comment and correct me so I may fix it.**

    Everyone always called her the "Perfect girl next door." But she always hated that word. She believed she was no where near perfect. She woke up one morning, and after getting dressed she went downstairs. She looked over the seemingly empty house. Alone, she thought to herself. Again. Veronica had been whipped away, back to New York for a summer. Jughead has left for Toledo, to see mother and sister. Betty's mother was gone. Along with her sister Polly, with the farm. They were on a large road trip across the country. Her best friend Archie was always trying to hang out with her, but he would always cancel. Due to his father, his dog, or his friends from the football team.

    Betty had been kept up in this empty house for weeks. After eating an apple for breakfast, she slipped her shoes on to take a walk. It was a surprisingly cold summer, raining every week. She grabbed her coat, and put it on. She walked briskly, walking along the football field to see Archie and his team practicing. She sat down on the bleachers nearby to watch until practice was over. She had made plans to go to Pop's afterwards, in hopes of laughing for the first time in weeks. As she waited, she began to clench her fists, digging her finger nails into the palm of her hand.

    When she heard a loud whistle, she was pulled out of her trance, leaving behind crescent shaped scars on her hands. She pulled her sleeves of her jacket up to look at her other scars, trying to see if they had healed.

    Unfortunately, they had not. Red lines were up and down her wrists, and a few still covered a thin line of scabs. She shot up as soon as she heard Archie's voice coming towards her, only a short distance away.

    She scrabbled to pull her jacket sleeves down, and looked up, "Hey, there Arch! You were practicing pretty rough out there. Is your shoulder okay?"

    He shrugged, "I think that it's fine. Why are you here?"

    She realized he had forgotten their plans made two days ago, and quickly improvised. "Oh, I was on a walk to Pop's, and I was thinking of going with you after practice?"

    "Oh Betty... I had made plans with some of the guys to go get pizza. Maybe any other time?" Archie responded, rather quickly.

    "That's fine," Betty replied with a cheerful tone. She got up off the bleachers and started walking towards her house, when she heard Archie's friends.

    "Damn! Andrews are you..?"

    "Reggie, she is my best friend. And I'm dating Veronica. No," Archie chuckled.

    Betty looked down as she walked away. She had many thoughts rattling inside of her head, reminding her of the terrible words she has been called in the past. "Pathetic, lonely, slut," Chuck had called her. "Serpent slut," by an unknown group of kids at her school. She shed a tear, but quickly wiped it away, as she was in public. When she arrived home, she put her coat down, and began making herself a small lunch. After she had made it, she sat down at
the one place setting. A tear rolled down her cheek, and many more followed. Soon her lunch was abandoned and it was dark outside. She was curled up in her room, in a sea of tears.
-12:47-1:30 AM (that night)-
    Later that night, after she had calmed down, she took a shower and dried her hair. She pulled it back into a low pony. She worn a simple, pink, tank top, and gray fabric shorts. She sat by her windowsill, and began to cry looking up into the night.
   
    Little did she know, Archie Andrews, had just walked into his bedroom. He hasn't turned on the light yet, but he stumbled over to his window. After a few seconds he could see her, and began looking for his phone. He was about to text her when he saw the previous messages they had exchanged.

*TEXT CONVERSATION BELOW*
Betty- Hey Arch! I haven't seen you in a while. Did you want to meet up in two days after practice for Pop's?
Arch- Sure Betty... I'm sorry I have been bailing on you.
Betty-It's okay Archie.

    Archie began texting her, when he looked up through his window and Betty was gone. He waited, and soon enough she walked back into his sight range. He went to go to let his dog, Vegas, out, missing the horrific events that followed in Betty's bedroom.

    Betty was carrying a small razor blade. As many thoughts she had in her head, she began to sit down on the edge of her bed. She wiped her tears, hopefully for the last time, she thought. Betty kept replaying the last three weeks of summer in her head. Mean comments, loneliness, and depression. Then, she began to cut her wrists. From the start of her hand, reaching to her inside of her elbow. She began to start on her other arm when she let out a relieved sigh. This is it, this is the end, she thought to herself. No one loved me anyway. Or why would they have left me, all alone? The dark thoughts had followed her everywhere this summer. She laid down onto the foot of her bed, still in sight range through Archie's bedroom window.

    As Archie questioned himself slowly walking up the stairs, he was thinking of a way to apologize. Archie's dad, Fred, yelled out from his room, "What are you doing up so late? You should be in bed, son."

    "Sorry, Dad. I'll be a minute or too!" He responded, yelling through the walls of his house. When he reached his bedroom door, he looked out into Betty's bedroom. It didn't take him long to realize she wasn't sleeping. She was lying in a pool of her own blood. "Dad... DAD! BETTY'S IN TROUBLE—" Archie yelled as he scrambled to run down his stairs and out his front door.

    He ran as fast as he could, to her door. He tried opening it, although it was locked. Blocking all thoughts out but one, that Betty was in trouble, he broke the door down and ran. He scrambled up the stairs, bursting into her room. There she was, lying by the bloody razor blade, in a covered in blood herself. Archie yelled her name, many times, and held her until his dad had arrived into Betty's room.

    "Son, why the HECK did you just burst down Betty's door—" as Fred walked into the door, the ending to his sentence had disappeared.

-SUMMARY of the next hour or two:-
    Fred had called the cops, believing Archie's frightening words "BETTY'S IN TROUBLE," and grabbed bandages from her bathroom. As the ambulance came, Archie was still holding onto Betty, rocking her back and forth, praying. Sheriff Keller (not Minetta!) arrived, and saw the door kicked in. He yelled out, seeing if anyone was inside, to inform them the cops were here. Fred ran down the stairs and told him to come quick. Sheriff Keller, knowing Betty for many years, was struck deeply when he saw her limp body in the blood hands of Archie Andrews. In a few seconds Sheriff Keller came back to reality, and began telling the paramedics to come quick. Sheriff Keller drove Archie and Fred to Riverdale General...

    Archie was still shaking, from seeing Betty like that. His hands were covered in her blood. He couldn't feel like he was the reason she had done such a horrible thing. Fred looked over at Archie, and knew exactly what he was thinking. "It's not your fault, son. We don't know why she would do this. You can't blame yourself. And she will be alright... Right, Tom?"

    Sheriff Keller (Tom) shook his head and responded, "She will be alright. Do either of you know where Alice (Betty's mother) is?"

    "She's on a road trip with Polly, and a group. Across the country in Texas at this moment," Fred replied.
 
    When they reached Riverdale General, Archie was still shaking. A tear rolled down his cheek, as he began to think of what life would be without his best friend. They exited the cruiser cop car, and ran inside to see her being taken in on a gurney. Archie ran after her, but was soon pulled back from entering a staff only hallway. Fred pulled him back to the waiting area, as Sheriff Keller went to phone Betty's mom. "Dad... should I call Jughead? And Veronica? What about Kevin?" Archie asked, his voice trembling.

     "It's not our decision to make, son. Who knows, who doesn't. Betty may want all of her friends here, or may want it kept a secret. We will just have to wait... for her to wake up," Fred said in a sympathetic voice.