The Plan(s) {Betty Cooper} {Bughead}

The Plan

This story will not follow the story line of Riverdale but will include many of the characters.

When Betty Cooper moved in next door to Archie Andrews at the age of 4, he was disappointed. His father had told him that his new neighbors had a kid about his age, what he failed to mention is the kid was a girl.

"I can't be friends with a girl. She won't want to play soccer or get dirty or climb trees." he complained to his mother after spotting Betty.

"You might be surprised" his mother replied. "Just give her a chance".

Later that day Archie, his mother and his father went next door to drop off some brownies and welcome the new family. After Hal Cooper and Alice introduced themselves and Polly and Betty to the Andrews, Betty asked Archie if he wanted to play tag in the yard. Archie was elated, tag was his favorite game. While playing though, Archie fell and skinned his knee. Betty immediately went to get him the first aid kit. While she cleaned his wound, he watched the concentration and concern on her face. The red head boy was enthralled with the beautiful blonds kind and warm heart. She cared about everyone and everything. He decided that he was going to be her best friend and show her the same care that she showed everyone else.

The next month, Archie and Betty began kindergarten even though she was only 4 and the rest of the class was 5. Archie promised both her parents and his that he would look after her and let them know if the age difference was causing any problems. The first day at recess, Betty noticed a dark haired boy off in the corner of the playground by himself. She noticed that he didn't have any friends and was watching everyone else play with a longing look in his eyes. She ran up to the taller boy and introduced herself. Archie had been distracted by the game of tag that he and Reggie were playing and didn't notice Betty missing at first. When he finally noticed her absence, he was frantic to find her and searched the entire playground. He finally found her in one of the play structures listening to the dark haired boy tell her a story he made up. Archie felt a flare of jealousy as he crawled into the structure to investigate.

"What are you doing?" Archie asked his favorite person. Betty looked up at him with a smile.

"Archie!" she said with such joy that the red head immediately felt better and the dark haired boy now felt the same flare of jealousy that Archie had.

"This is my new friend Jughead. This is my best friend Archie" she said to the two boys. The boys eyed each other. Jughead was as enthralled with the girl as Archie was. She was the only child that had talked to him the entire day and he was not about to lose his new friend now.

"Jughead tells the best stories. Come listen, Archie" the little girl continued.

Archie replied "I'm playing tag with Reggie. Come play with us." Betty agreed with the stipulation that Jughead play too. Jughead, seeing no way to refuse the wonderful girl, agreed. Reggie soon got put in time out for pushing Jughead too hard and so the trio played the entire hour. At quiet playtime the three children sat together listening to Jugheads stories and even Archie enjoyed them. At the end of the day, Betty and Archie invited the boy to play at their houses and had a wonderful time climbing trees and playing pretend. By the end of the day, the three decided to be best friends forever.

When Betty was 11 and the rest of her friends were 12, the boys noticed that many of their classmates were starting to look at Betty differently. Archie and Jughead met in their treehouse to discuss it.

"Reggie told me that he thinks Betty is cute" Archie told Jughead.

"Dilton said the same thing to me" responded Jughead.

"We need to do something about this" the redhead responded. Both boys were jealous of anyone that had the potential to take away their friends time and attention. Both boys agreed to discourage any one that was interested in Betty in any way possible. Jughead told Dilton that Betty didn't like him and Archie told Reggie that Bettys mom would kill him if she found out that he liked her daughter. This continued all through middle school. Each boy would find a way to discourage any potential suitors.

Even in high school when the boys started to drift apart. In fact, some of the only times they would speak was to communicate about who was looking at or spending too much time with Betty. Archie took care of the jocks and Jughead took care of the nerds. This plan worked seamlessly, until the summer before junior year.