Hopelessly Devoted ➳ a.a ♡ b.c.

eleven

"veronica, can we talk?" archie asked as veronica stopped in front of her locker.

"what do you want, archie?" she asked in a annoyed tone as she grabbed her books from her locker.

"we need to talk about us." archie placed his hand on her arm, but she ripped it away.

"last time we talked, you pretty much said you didn't want to be an us anymore." she said aggressively.

"ronnie, that's not what i-"

"save it, archie. i'm moving on, you should too. it's not like we were going to last anyways. i always came second in your book." she slammed her locker, and glared at him.

"what the hell is that supposed to mean? how are you moving on it's been like a week." he asked.

"it means we're over, and it's none of your business. we're not together anymore. it's not like you haven't had your eyes on someone else." veronica began walking down the hallway.

"who are you talking about? i haven't been doing anything with anyone! veronica? veronica!"
                      ***
"cheryl, wait!" archie called after her, toni stuck to her side.

"what is it, archie?" she asked him.

"i was just wondering if you've seen betty today. we walked to school together, and we're going to walk back together, but now i can't find her anywhere."

"no, i haven't seen her. she probably got sick, went home early or something."

"yeah, i guess." archie said still not convinced.

"give cousin betty my best when you see her, archibald. come along, tt." cheryl said as the two girls strutted off.

archie was worried about her. he had a perfectly good reason to be, the black hood, but there may have been a different reason that he refused to admit to himself.

his phone rang interrupting his thought process. he picked up as he left the building.

"hey, archie."

"hey jug. what's up?"

"i was just wondering, do you know if betty is mad at me, or something? she's been ignoring my calls all day."

archie stopped dead in his tracks before sprinting down the street for the second time that day.

"archie? hello?" jughead's voice came from the phone in archie's hand, but when he didn't get an answer the beanie-wearing boy ended the phone call.
                      ***
"ms cooper is betty here?" archie barged into the house yelling. he rested his hands on his knees, and tried to catch his breath.

"jesus, archie. are you trying to scare me to death? you know there is such a thing as knocking before you enter someone's house." she removed her glasses from the bridge of her nose.

"ms cooper, do you know where betty is right now?" his tone was stern, and it scared alice.

"what do you mean? was she not at school? shouldn't she be walking back with you? where is she? do i need to call the police?" alice began panicking.

"no, no just calm down. i'll call her, and then if she doesn't pick up we'll call the police. besides they can't do anything unless she's been missing for twenty four hours."

"oh my god, this can't be happening." alice sat down, and rubbed her temples.

"it's okay, ms cooper. i'm going to go call her."
                      ***
archie flew up the stairs of his house, briefly hearing a greeting from fred, but ignoring it. he pulled out his phone, clicked on contacts, and began scrolling to find betty's name.

"come on, pick up. come on, betty." he mumbled as the phone rang.

he stopped pacing when a noise signifying the call's acceptance played.

"betty, oh my god. i've been so worried. where are you? why weren't you at school?" archie rambled on.

"this isn't betty." a deep disguised voice came from the other side of the phone. archie felt his heart drop to his feet. he felt sick to his stomach.

"where is she?" his voice deepened with intensity, as he tried to make himself sound formidable.

"wouldn't you like to know." the black hood chuckled.

"if you hurt her i swear to god i'll-"

"you'll what, archie?" the black hood cut him off, "kill me?"

archie was silent.

"see you don't have what it takes to kill someone, i do. i tried to kill your dad, but that didn't work, so now i'm going to kill your precious betty."

"wait, you're doing all of this because of me?" he said not wanting to believe it was true.

"then why not just take me?" archie asked.

"well where's the fun in that? you care more about others than yourself, so i'm taking the people you care most about."

"i don't care how big or strong you are. you don't scare me, and if you so much as go near her, i will rip you apart myself." archie growled in a low tone.

the black hood let out a wry laugh, "you don't scare me either."

"oh, and if you do much as mention this to anyone i'll gut your little girlfriend. i have her right next to me, so if i were you i wouldn't push it." the call ended as he received a text from ms cooper.

alice cooper: did you hear from her?
archie andrews: yeah she said she left town for a few days. she's says she's fine and she loves you she just needed to escape the hovering and pressure for a little.
alice cooper: oh thank god.

of course archie felt bad for lying to alice about betty's whereabouts, but there was no way in hell he was going to "push it". he just needed to follow the black hood's rules, and wait. then he'd get betty back, but archie andrews has never been good at waiting, or following rules.

he wasn't going to sit back while something terrible happened to betty. there was no chance in hell he would let her get hurt. so he needed something, anything that could help him find his best friend. however, as of now he had absolutely nothing at all.