Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

ten

betty woke up the next morning with a massive weight lifted off her shoulders. she hadn't let the black hood kill anyone, and she wasn't murdered in her sleep which was always a plus.

she heard a light tap on her window, figuring it was archie she went to open. however, to her surprise a shivering jughead stood on a ladder set against the side of the house.

"jughead?" she questioned as she pushed the window open, "what are you doing here?"

"i don't like how we left things off. i was acting like a dick, and i'm sorry. i was just pissed about something." he climbed into her room, and let out a satisfactory sigh as the warm air hit his cold, pale skin.

"it's fine, jug. what were you pissed about?" she normally forgave jughead easily. it was better than starting a war, and having him push her away. she shouldn't have though, he was being a total asshole at pop's. he yelled at her, made nasty remarks, and acted in a completely unwarranted manner.

"just a thing with this serpent. she was being unreasonable."

"she?" betty questioned, "i didn't think there were many female serpents."

"there aren't, and that's part of why i came over here. i was wondering if maybe you'd want to join the serpents." betty's eyes widened.

"join the serpents? hell no!" she thought.

"i don't know, jug. that's a big commitment, and i don't know if-"

"wait," he cut her off, "before you say no just hear me out, please."

betty nodded for him to go on.

"our lives have been so disconnected ever since i switches to southside high, and i just want to go back to how we were. i feel like you coming into such an important aspect of my life would help us down a better path." jughead wrapped his arms around her waist.

betty refrained from rolling her eyes when he said the serpents were "an important aspect of his life." he'd been a serpent for all of three minutes, and now he thought he was some untouchable, gang leader. the only reason he even got into the serpents was, because his dad was in charge. she just wanted the old jughead back.

"um, could i maybe have some time to think?" betty asked hesitantly. she didn't want to disappoint him, or make him feel like she was uninterested in his life. she wasn't uninterested in his life, however, she was uninterested in joining a gang.

"take all the time you need." he pecked her on the lips, before crawling back out the window.

"later, juliet." he yelled from the bottom of the ladder. she smiled down at him, before shutting the window again.

"what have i gotten myself into?" she ran her fingers through her messy hair.

another knock came from her window, but this time it was who she'd been waiting for.

"arch." she said excitedly as she opened the window, letting him crawl through.

"did i just see jughead coming out of your window? i thought that was my thing." he feigned a pout to mask his underlying jealously.

"aw, i'm sorry. did i hurt your feelings, archibald?" she asked sarcastically.

"as a matter of fact, you did not."

she did.

"are boys going to keep crawling through my window, or can i get ready for school?" betty asked as she began looking through her closet.

"i just wanted to make sure you know who didn't kill you while you were sleeping." archie said as he flopped down on betty's bed.

"well, as you can see i'm very much alive. so, bye bye." she said as she struggled to pull him off her bed.

"why can't i stay?" he whined.

"because i need to get ready for school, arch."

"i don't want to be alone, right now. just get dressed in the bathroom, i'll stay here. scouts honor." betty huffed, but agreed.

"so i'm guessing you, and jughead fixed things." archie called from her bed, as betty changed in the bathroom.

"yeah, we're good," she exited the bathroom in her clothes, and sat at her vanity to begin doing her makeup, "but he asked me to join the serpents."

"he what?" archie sat up straight.

"i know, it's insane."

"you said no, right?"

"i haven't said anything, yet. i just asked him to let me think about it." betty said.

"you're not seriously contemplating joining the serpents, are you?" archie said, disgust filled his voice. it's not that he had a problem with the serpents, he just had a problem with his best friend joining them.

"of course not. i just don't want to disappoint him." she admitted.

"betty, sometimes you need to put yourself before other people. this is one of those times."

"i know, but i don't want him to get upset with me over this." she set down the mascara she had been using.

"if he gets upset with you for not wanting to join a gang, what kind of boyfriend is he really?"

betty squeezed her eyes shut. she felt like archie's words were all over her, running down her spine, kissing up her neck, nipping at her collarbones. what kind of boyfriend was jughead?

"can we not talk about this?"

archie gave her a pity-filled look.

"stop it." she said sternly.

"stop, what?" he questioned.

"stop, looking at me like that. i don't want your pity. let's just walk to school." she said as she grabbed her things.

archie noticed her outfit for the first time since she's stepped out of the bathroom. she was wearing a blue blouse, a light-washed denim jacket, and white jeans.

"you should wear blue more, it looks good on you." he said.

she gave him a puzzled look.

"well everything looks good on you, i just think blues makes you look really pretty. not that you're not pretty when you don't wear blue it's just... i'm going to stop talking now." she giggled at him, and he rubbed the back of his neck shyly as they exited the house.

"thanks, arch."

after walking in silence for a few minutes, betty decided she was done with the quiet.

"so how are you and veronica doing?" she asked.

"we're on a break. we have been for awhile now." he said.

"oh my god, i feel like such a bad friend. you could've talked me, you know."

"i just don't want you worrying about us, when you should be worrying about yourself. we'll figure something out eventually."

"well, i don't want to distract you with my problems. you two should figure out your stuff, then you can help me."

"no way. the black hood is way more pressing than a few relationship issues." archie said.

"how about this: run to school, get there early, so you can be waiting for veronica at her locker, and figure out your problems. then tonight we can work on black hood stuff." archie smiled at her.

"thanks betts, you're the best hands down." he pecked her cheek before sprinting down the road.

betty chuckled sweetly at the boy. he was like a child sometimes, but she still loved him. somewhere deep inside her she knew she loved him in a way she wasn't supposed to, but she couldn't help it as she watched him disappear into the distance. she began to walk towards school again, slowly and alone. however, before she could make it very far something hard hit her head, and everything around her went black.

A/N - what? me, posting more than once a year? what is this? who is this? we don't know her. ;)