Blood of My Blood, Flesh of My Flesh (Bughead)

X-Files Theme

Betty crept through the empty hallway, holding her breath. She'd gone back and forth about asking Sweet Pea to join, but in the end, he'd been busy anyway. And, she knew if she told him she was going into the empty school alone...he'd follow. Because of his role as her protector, or whatever. And, really, Betty was fine. She was learning her magic. Plus, was someone really going to attack her with all these other people around?

She glared at Cheryl, who had come uninvited, thinking that Cheryl just wanted to be around the drama. And this, undoubtedly, was drama filled. Betty had half a mind to set her skirt on fire, since she loved it so much. It was that darkness invading again, whispering to her, goading her.

Betty's fingers were inches from her hemline when Veronica broke her out of her revere.

"Hey guys! Get in here. Trev was right."

Veronica was holding the book in her hands, gripping the spine like she imagined it was Chuck, "They didn't even bother hiding it." She whispered.

There was a second when no one moved. the whole group, even Cheryl, held their breath like they weren't sure they really wanted to to know what lay beneath the cover.

Betty snatched it from Veronica's fingers. She had to show what sort of a person Chuck was. Veronica deserved that.

For a second, Betty just flipped. Thousands of names. Hundreds of lies. One book that was everything wrong with this school, with boys, with the world that didn't believe girls like Ethel or Veronica.

"New girl? Is that what I'm reduced to? Nine points?" Veronica asked, disgusted, her finger finding the most recent entry, with a 'SM' with a winky face next to it.

"Better than 'big girl'," Ethel grumbled, flipping back a page.

"Hey, uh, Polly's in this book. Next to Jason's name."

Betty snapped her face back toward the book.

"What?" She asked, her voice strangled.

"This isn't Jason," Cheryl said, snatching the book away in disbelief, "He would never-,"

"It's right there!" Betty exploded, "God, Cheryl! Your brother hurt my sister!" She said, feeling sick. Her parents were right. Jason was bad news. Jason did awful things, "This is what guys like Chuck and Jason think about women. Like us. We're objects, points in a book, notches on a bedpost." Betty continued, her throat closing up with tears. Why hadn't Polly ever said anything? Why wasn't she saying something now?

She was still at their grandmother's house, and all of Betty's texts had gone unresponded to. Did she think no one would believe her?

"They have zero remorse for the lives they destroy," Betty finished, her voice taut, thinking of how Polly couldn't come home and she wasn't in school and she was sick. Everything her parents had told her, she'd been hesitant.

Maybe they were right.

She expected Cheryl to argue. She almost did. Then, she glanced back down. Something changed on her face.

"Maybe I don't know Jason." Cheryl said, and Betty's fire just left her. Cheryl's brother was dead, but now she was losing him again, in a sense. It wasn't an apology, but it was something.

Betty hated Jason. She couldn't hate Cheryl for not knowing. Betty felt like she didn't know her own sister recently either.

"I'll take a picture. We'll show it to Wetherbee. It will be perfect for you to write about, Betty." Veronica said, pulling out her phone with a shaky finger. One hand kept it firmly on a page, unmoving. Ethel tried to flip back, but Veronica wouldn't let her. At first, Betty just thought it was to be able to take the picture of her own name.