A/N: This was written for the take a prompt, leave a prompt challenge on the Riverdale Fanfiction Challenges Forum. My prompt was the title: Through the Looking Glass. If you are into Riverdale and want to socialize with fellow enthusiasts, check out the Riverdale Fanfiction Challenges Forum for great people, fun times, and even better writing inspiration. There is something for everyone, and if not, you can make your own challenges!

Through the Looking Glass

Through the looking glass - a metaphorical expression derived from Lewis Caroll's novel of the same name, meaning: on the strange side, in the twilight zone, or in a strange parallel world

The summer sun beat down on the asphalt of the empty parking lot. Only one occupant braved the heat. Decked in head to toe black leather, the lithe blonde figure leaned up against her motorcycle and smoked a cigarette, something that only added to the sweltering heat. She did not seem to mind though. In fact, she seemed at home in her surroundings, fitting in with the urban jungle of decrepit buildings and graffiti art.

"Hey, Ponytail!"

The blonde turned to see Toni running towards her, hair freshly died with strands of crimson interlaced through the brown. It was badass, one of the better looks her best friend had rocked over the years.

"Toni," Betty replied with a smile, giving the girl a brief hug, careful not to snag herself on Toni's large hoops. "I was starting to think you wouldn't show."

"And miss the chance to catch up with my best girl?" Toni replied, punching Betty lightly on the arm. Betty extended her pack of smokes, and Toni took one, lighting the cigarette on the blunt end of Betty's. Toni took a long drag, blowing out sweet nicotine before turning to Betty once more. "How was life up in the Five Seasons?"

"Nauseating," Betty said drolly, taking another drag of her cigarette as if it would wash away the time spent in that living nightmare.

"Really?"

"They made me wear pink."

Toni nearly choked on her cigarette, and Betty laughed, but it was bittersweet. She hadn't realized just how much being separated from the Southside would ache until she spent three months away. It was the little things that she longed for: hanging out with Toni and the others in abandoned lots just like this one, smoking and getting drunk by themselves until the sun came up. It was a hell of a lot better than the bubblegum fantasy her father made her live.

"I've missed you Ponytail," Toni said once she had finished wiping the laughter tears from her eyes. "The Southside isn't the same when you're gone. There's no one around to keep Sweet Pea in check."

Betty smiled to herself, thinking of all the kinds of trouble Sweet Pea and his boys had managed to get themselves in without her to guide them.

"What happened while I was away?"

"Nothing much. Joaquin tried dating the Sheriff's kid for a while - don't know what the hell he was thinking. Of course that pretentious Northsider was going to break his sensitive little heart."

Betty snorted. This wasn't the first time Joaquin had made a mistake like this, and it wouldn't be the last. Not that it mattered. Serpents took care of their own, no matter what. "I hope you broke the kid's legs to repay the favor."

She was only half kidding, and Toni knew it.

"See, this is why I missed you," Toni said, smiling devilishly. Betty mimicked the smile in turn.

Betty had missed Toni too, of course. Toni was her oldest and truest friend. They had grown up together, gone to school together, and became two of the only female Serpents together. Toni was the closest thing Betty had to a sister, especially since Polly ran off with that richy-rich Blossom boy to play happily-ever-after with his trust fund in the Blossom family mansion. Polly had always been too preppy and sunshine for Betty to really relate to anyway. Toni, on the other hand, was much more attuned to Betty's darker side. They shared the same restless spirit, the same need to rebel, and wore the same leather jacket with matching tattoo.

"Anything else?" Betty asked, knowing there had to be something going on. It was the Southside after all; things were hardly at ease for long.

Toni started to fidget, and Betty knew she was getting close to something. One of Betty's most defining (and famously irritating) features was her persistence. Call it a killer intuition, or call it stubbornness - she had heard just about every variation in between. But at the end of the day, Betty Cooper always got what she wanted.

"Come on Toni. You've always been a terrible liar."

Toni rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She was clearly reluctant to tell Betty, which meant that this couldn't be good. Betty braced herself for bad news.

"Things are not like you remember them, Ponytail. Right after you left, things got bad. Jingle Jangle is growing out of the walls of Southside High like weeds. Ghoulies and Serpents are fighting like never before. Mayor McCoy and her Northside army have set up daily raids in order to pick out the 'sinners'. It's chaos."

Betty glowered, throwing her cigarette to the ground and grinding it under her boot. This...this was a whole lot worse than bad.

"It sounds like war to me."

Leave it to the Northside to blame the Southside for something out of their control. Crucifying Serpents was what those rich snobs lived for, and Serpents didn't even touch Jingle Jangle! It was the Ghoulies who ran that operation, and if anyone from the Northside had even bothered to look into things, they would have known that. They were just as much to blame as the Ghoulies; after all, it was Northside kids that kept the dealers in business!

"Did they catch you?" Betty asked, concerned for her friend. If Toni had been in trouble and Betty wasn't there to protect her...Betty would never let herself live that down.

"Yeah, on the first raid. Didn't find anything though. I don't deal in that crap. They let me off with a warning," Toni grumbled, and while Betty was glad nothing terrible had happened to her friend, she was still livid this had happened at all. "Now that you're back, hopefully some kind of truce can be made. If not for the Serpents and the Ghoulies as a whole, then at least while we're at school."

"You know how I feel about school, Toni: it's a neutral space. No wars, no gangs, no politics," Betty recited, feeling her skin boil under her leather Serpent jacket. "I'll do what I can to keep the peace. It's what mom would have wanted."

"Make her proud girl," Toni supported, placing a hand on her shoulder. Betty appreciated the sentiment, knowing that Toni would have her back no matter what. "You're Alice Cooper's daughter for a reason. You take shit from no one. Remind them of that."

"I will," Betty nodded, suddenly feeling restless. She needed to get out of there, clear her mind and think about what she needed to do to reclaim her home. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

"Sure," Toni shrugged. She had walked there, no ride in sight. "Pop's? I'm buying."

Betty nodded, the thought of one of Pop's famous milkshakes making her mouth water. Just one more thing she had craved during her stint upstate.

She mounted her bike and Toni slid behind her, both girls fastening helmets to their heads. Toni's arms slipped around Betty's waist, holding her tight. With a rev of the engine, Betty tore out of the lot, leaving summer in the dust.

Another school year had come, bringing the same amount of stress and bullshit as all the others before.

However, there was one good thing about school, a sole redeeming feature. One thing worth getting up the extra hour early and staying an extra hour after the final bell.

Betty opened the door, dust and the smell of stale chips filtering out of the closet that served as the Red and Black's base of operations. It was a poor excuse for a work space, but it was Betty's second home. The dim lighting from the flickering bulb in the ceiling was like a welcome home sign; her creaky metal chair and wobbly writer's desk were as comfortable as her bed. She cracked her fingers before dusting off the keyboard to her computer.

She wondered what stories would find their way across her desk this year. As the sole writer and editor of the Red and Black, she had her pick of the lot.

Looking up to the cork board, she realized that she had not cleared off her stuff from last year. A web of entangled threads, photos, and newspaper clippings littered the jam-packed board. It would be impossible to read by anyone except herself. She had solved Cheryl Blossom's murder with this board just last spring. And what did the sheriff's department do to thank her for her hard work? Gave her a slap on the wrist and searched her meager bearings - and her house - for proof that she might have tampered with evidence to fabricate the story. Because who really wanted to believe that local millionaire Clifford Blossom would shoot his own daughter in the head at point blank range? Betty was the first to admit that it was insane, but even she was not good enough to botch video evidence of a bullet ripping straight through Cheryl's brain.

Ungrateful Northsiders, sticking their nose into everything where they don't belong, Betty seethed in her mind, ripping down her victory in order to lay the foundations for her next one.

As much as she bemoaned the Northside, Betty understood that cooperation between both sides was the only way this insanity was going to end. It was what her mother had instilled in her at a young age, and what she chose to believe now. Getting everyone to work together was going to be the real problem, especially with this drug war going on. Suspicions and mistrust were running high on both sides; Betty could feel the unrest in the air walking down the hall that morning. Hell, she felt some of the outrage herself when she received a random pat down from one of the deputies positioned by her locker. Riverdale was teetering on the verge of civil war, and Betty was afraid she was going to see it sooner rather than later.

"Hey Ponytail," came a voice from a few feet away, one that made her worries vanish and her heart soar. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

Sweet Pea stood in the doorway, leaning up against the frame as he admired her. He looked just as Betty remembered, if not better: tall, dark, and handsome with black hair greased back, equally dark eyes sparkling with mischief and adoration.

"Come here," Betty said with a smile, watching as her boyfriend walked forward at a snail's pace before finally reaching her.

She pushed up to her tiptoes and he pulled her the rest of the way into a kiss. Fingers wound their way into his hair as she swayed on her feet, reveling in the feeling of home. On the outside, Sweet Pea looked like a thug without a conscience, but on the inside...he was still those things, but also the incredibly kind and attentive person who she loved.

"It's been far too fucking long," he sighed as they parted, playing with the ends of her curly ponytail.

"Tell me about it," Betty agreed, pecking him thrice more on the lips for good measure. "I've missed this more than you can imagine."

"Oh, I can imagine."

A few minutes and a thorough make-out session later, Betty backed away from her boyfriend before they got in trouble. The last thing she needed was to start her junior year with a misdemeanor against her. Also, she loved how mesmerized Sweet Pea looked whenever she walked away. She was such a tease, and they both knew it.

Instead, she turned her focus back on her empty board. She would have to pick out a new muse this year, something to top Cheryl Blossom's murder. Though, in Riverdale, she doubted something that scandalous and groundbreaking would ever cross her path again. It was frustrating to peak as a journalist at the ripe young age of sixteen.

"Already back at it then?" Sweet Pea asked, hands running over the fallen contents of her board. He picked up a particularly damning article, one written by FJIII, a newbie writer at some school on the west coast who had taken an interest in their sleepy little town, that had started to curl around the edges. Whoever FJIII was, she owed him a lot. Even if he wasn't from Riverdale, his article was the catalyst that eventually led her to crack the case. Sometimes an outside perspective was all it took to change the tide of an investigation.

"The truth waits for no woman."

"Atta girl," Sweet Pea encouraged, a look of pride on his face.

It felt like he was one of the only people who supported Betty's passion for journalism. The rest of the Serpents tolerated it because she could always use her influence in the local media to swing stories their way, but Sweet Pea...he actually read Betty's articles - even the crappy ones about how the cafeteria ladies weren't using quality grade meat - and gave her the strength and motivation to keep going. When she was looking into Cheryl's death, everyone thought she was going to fail. No one believed in her except Toni and Sweet Pea. She didn't know where she would be without them.

"So, how was the upstate? The old man still giving you hell?"

"He hid me in the closet like some kind of secret the entire time," Betty spat as she recalled the look of shame each of the few times he had to introduce her as his daughter, a stain on his picket white fence life. "I don't even know why he said he'd look after me if he didn't even want to...not that I need him anyway,"

"Fuck him," Sweet Pea said, a look of disgust mingled with anger plastered on his face. "If he can't pull his head out of his ass long enough to appreciate his daughter, then fuck him."

"Thanks babe," Betty replied appreciatively, but this was a wound that would not heal with a few words. Ever since she was little, her father had favored Polly, something Polly still liked to bring up years after he had decided his family just wasn't worth it and left their mom for a secretary at his journal who was ten years younger and untainted by the Southside. "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm not going back there again. He and his Stepford wife can go be perfect away from me."

"Serpents are having a back-to-school bonfire tonight. Thought maybe you'd wanna go?" he asked, trying to cheer her up. Betty loved a good bonfire, and it had been ages since she'd been.

"Will there be booze?"

"All kinds," Sweet Pea assured, looking like a kid who was caught stealing out of the cookie jar. "I uh...snagged some of the good stuff from the stash last night. They hauled in so much, I doubt they'll notice it's missing."

"Sweet Pea!" Betty gasped, looking up and smacking him across the chest. "You're gonna get us in trouble."

If Tall Boy knew that Sweet Pea had been stealing from the Serpent stash, there would be hell to pay. There were some things where being Alice Cooper's daughter did not buy her sway, and this was one of them. She was not looking forward to taking care of her boyfriend when he had both his elbows and knees blown out because of it.

"Isn't that what you live for, Ponytail?" he teased, leaning down and bracing his arms around her so that she was caged in. It sent a thrill down her spine that had all her hairs standing on end.

Yes, it is. That rush, that spike of adrenaline that came with pulling off the impossible, there was nothing better.

"Pick me up at eight. Don't be late," Betty instructed, kissing Sweet Pea hard before shoving him out of her office before the first period bell rang.

The playground could be a vicious place, especially for a five year old who would rather spend his time reading than playing with kids his own age.

Maybe that was why Betty took an instant liking to him. He wasn't loud and obnoxious like the other boys who pulled on her ponytail and stole her juice before recess.

He was nursing a black eye, holding it gingerly while sucking up fat, crocodile tears. His trying to be tough was only more endearing. What was not endearing was a pudgy boy who insisted on being called Sweet Pea tormenting him. He and his equally pudgy friends were not being nice, dangling the sad boy's book above his head where he could not reach, pushing him down to the grass every time he tried to get up. The teachers did nothing, turning their heads as if they saw nothing at all. This was the Southside, and in the Southside, they believed in tough love. As Mommy would say, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'.

Betty just thought they were being cruel, which was probably why she plucked up the nerve to say something.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Betty shouted, coming up to place herself between the boy on the ground and his attackers, brandishing all her thirty-five pound might.

"Go away!" one of them ordered, shoving Betty to the ground next to the sad boy.

Instead of rolling over or taking it, Betty felt a rage unlike she had ever felt before. She got up and rushed forward, kicking the boy between the legs. Immediately he yelped and fell to the ground, sobbing like a baby. The other boys looked at her like she was crazy, running away to go tattle no doubt. Betty didn't care. She just felt proud.

She leaned down and picked up the book, handing it to the sad boy who was also looking at her like she had a few screws loose.

"Thanks," he muttered, plucking the book from her fingers and soothing down the places where the paper had been wrinkled.

"I'm Betty. What's your name?" she asked, sitting down next to him, determined to be his friend now that she had stuck her neck out for him.

"Jughead."

"That's not a name," Betty giggled, much to the boy's displeasure.

"It is too!" he protested, pouting.

"Okay, Jughead," she said teasingly, which only made him blush further with irritation. "Why did those boys take your book?"

"I don't know," Jughead grumbled. "Why did you stop them?"

"I don't know," she admitted. It just felt like the right thing to do, and Mommy always told her to do what was right. "But so long as we're friends, I'll always protect you."

"Friends?" Jughead asked, not sure to believe her or not. "I've never had a friend before."

"Well, now you do."

And miraculously enough, the sad boy smiled.

Betty watched, fire in her veins, as the greyhound bus pulled out of the station, wheels turning up dust as it wound its way down the road.

All her aspirations, her hopes, and more importantly, her story, disappeared along with the bus, and there was only one person to blame.

"You!" Betty hissed as she turned on the guy standing behind her. Fingernails bit into her palms which were growing slick with blood, angry that this idiot had gotten in her way, thereby allowing her only lead to escape. "Who the hell are you?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" the guy retorted, just as furious.

He picked up his grey beanie from the ground, dusting it off before replacing it atop his mop of dark black hair. Funny, properly situated, it looked just like a crown. Betty wondered if that was supposed to mean something, if this kid thought that he was some kind of royalty just because he was from the Northside.

"Because of you, my source just caught the last bus out of town," Betty seethed, not liking his lip. Did this kid even know who he was talking to? "Who knows if he'll come back!"

"Your source?" the guy asked incredulously, hands on his hips as he peered at her with contempt. "That guy was my source for an article I'm writing! Or, at least I was writing before you came crashing into me and screwed things up!"

"You want to rethink those words?" Betty challenged, her switchblade out faster than the kid could blink. The blade glinted in the sunlight, making sure he saw it. He swallowed thickly, Adam's apple bobbing as all that bravado turned into comical fear. Regardless of what he thought, she wasn't really going to knife him. He didn't deserve it, but he did deserve a good old fashioned intimidating. Make him think twice before talking back to her again.

She backed him up against the concrete wall so that his shoulder blades dug against the stone. She pointed the knife right up under his chin, metal barely glancing his skin. From this close, she could hear his heart racing; she could almost smell the fear on him.

"W-what does a Serpent even want with a mediocre music student anyway?" he stammered.

Betty could have taken the time to explain how she had spent the past two weeks painstakingly digging up a string of loosely-connected murders and her source was the last person to see his cello tutor alive. But that would be giving away her story, what was left of it at least, and like hell was she letting this idiot ruin anything else for her.

Something about this idiot was terribly familiar. It was gnawing on her insides, his face and a name on the tip of her tongue and it was driving her mad. Then, she noticed she had gotten too close to this guy, only a foot of space between them, her face near enough to count the flecks of gold in those hazel-green eyes. Really beautiful eyes...and the guy seemed just as hypnotized with her...

Betty jerked back, rapidly coming to her senses.

"None of your goddamn business," Betty snapped, jerking her knife in the opposite direction. "Now get out of here before I change my mind and turn your intestines into a Picasso painting."

The guy gave her a funny look, sidestepping her the entire way until he was in the clear. Then he bolted as quickly as he could without being considered running.

All throughout their younger years, Betty and Jughead were like a Southside fairytale.

That day on the playground was only the start of their intense friendship. They refused to call it anything else, because they were supposed to have cooties and boys and girls weren't supposed to fall in love at such a young age. But there was no other way to describe it.

Betty and Jughead were completely and utterly in love with one another.

Anyone with eyes could see how much they cared about one another, how they were inseparable and had to spend every waking moment talking with or about the other. Their teachers cooed over them and had nothing but sweet things to say. The only people who had a problem were their parents, but Betty and Jughead were both too young to understand the politics of the Southside and why a Cooper and a Jones were ill-fated from the start.

So, they continued with their fairytale, all smiles and shared snacks and holding hands in the hallway.

"Pass me the scissors, will you?" Betty asked, her art project almost complete. She was making a butterfly; all that was left was to cut it out.

Jughead walked around and passed Betty the scissors, smiling brightly. "Anything for you Betty!"

"Thank you Juggie," Betty said, placing a kiss on his cheek. He flushed a dark red, but was happier than any other boy in the world.

"Ugh, you guys are so gross!" Toni moaned and rolled her eyes, the sassiest seven-year-old that ever existed.

Both Betty and Jughead stuck their tongues out at her. They were used to their friends doing things like that now. It used to really bother them at first, but the teasing was so commonplace that the little jibes did not even register.

People threw around the terms 'sweethearts' and 'happily-ever-after', and they really believed it, unaware that a storm lingered just around the corner.

"Do you have fifty cents? I want to see what new songs Pop has on queue," Toni asked, palm open and expectant.

Betty fished through her wallet, brandishing two tarnished quarters and placing them into her friend's hand. Toni beamed and got up from the booth, swaggering over to the jukebox. Betty knew that the girl would be over there deliberating for at least ten minutes, so when Pop came over with their meals, she didn't wait before tucking into her burger and fries.

Serpents didn't usually hang out at Pop's. There were too many Northsiders to make it an enjoyable experience, but tonight was different. The place was mostly empty (Betty had been told that it was Riverdale High's homecoming) so besides the older couple in the back corner booth, she, Sweet Pea, Joaquin, and Toni had the whole place to themselves.

Joaquin had been silent and stoic as usual, making the occasional snide comment while Toni regaled them with some impossible story from the summer. Betty, however, was a million miles away, her mind on the boy with the crown beanie.

Who was this kid that plagued her thoughts and dreams? Ever since their encounter at the bus stop, he was a constant presence in her mind. It was going to sound crazy, but sometimes Betty thought that she knew him. It felt like she was seeing a ghost, and it creeped her out. She just wanted to know his name, and then she could rest. But, she didn't even know where he lived or where to find him, and it wasn't like she could just go up to Tall Boy or one of the other Serpents and ask about him without one, getting him beaten up or two, word getting around to Sweet Pea. Not that Sweet Pea had anything to fear from this kid, but he was the possessive, jealous type. Any other boy attached to Betty's name and Sweet Pea would go full on Schwarzenegger.

"Earth to Ponytail..."

Betty blinked rapidly, pulling herself back into the now. Sweet Pea was looking at her like something was wrong, his face twisted into a frown.

"Yeah?"

"There's this car show going on at the old drive-in lot this Saturday. I know you've been talking about getting a new engine for your bike. Wanna go?"

"I'll go," Joaquin interjected, a smirk on his face as Sweet Pea grew irate.

"No one asked you," Sweet Pea grunted.

Joaquin gave Sweet Pea a look before getting up to join Toni at the jukebox, leaving the couple alone.

"Visiting hours start at eight, and I already missed the last twelve weeks," Betty said apologetically, reaching out to take Sweet Pea's hand in hers. "But thanks for thinking of me."

No longer annoyed, Sweet Pea's expression morphed into one of sympathy. "How is Alice these days?"

"Livid, angry, a ball of righteous fury," Betty rattled off, picking at her fries, food suddenly looking unappealing. It happened every time she thought about how her mom was sitting in jail while she was out in the world, able to enjoy the things her mother couldn't. It was even worse now that the memory of her last visit before leaving upstate included her mother being dragged away from the phone kicking and screaming by two guards after they accused her of getting too emotional.

"Penny Peabody said - "

"Penny Peabody is a goddamn liar and a snake," Betty snapped, feeling guilty about it immediately after the words escaped her mouth. Sweet Pea was not who she was mad at. She was mad at the world, and her boyfriend did not deserve the wrath she had reserved for God and karma and the rest of the universe. "Pun not intended."

The levity at the end eased Sweet Pea a little. He remained silent so that she could get everything she needed out.

"I know she's done a lot for my mom, but nothing she told me has come true," Betty explained, feeling hopelessness creep in at the thought of her mother rotting behind bars for the rest of her life.

"These things...they take time," Sweet Pea said gently, careful not to upset her further.

"But she's innocent. She was just trying to keep the peace. She was just trying to protect me," Betty said miserably, feeling the darkness creeping in the longer she dwelled on the unpleasant topic.

The Northside needed a scapegoat to pin the Blossom mess on, and instead of let the Southside descend into chaos, or worse, let Betty be made into the prime suspect because of her involvement in uncovering the truth, Alice Cooper stepped forward and took the fall for the sake of peace. The Northside was so proud of themselves. Alice Cooper, the leader of the Southside Serpents, finally behind bars. It was day to celebrate! No one gave a fuck about the daughters she left behind, nor the sacrifices she made to ensure that no one ever went after her family again. Her mother had told her that there were risks involved with investigative journalism, but Betty had never given them thought until the moment Sheriff Keller cuffed her mother and read her her rights. It was a debt that Betty would never be able to repay, something that kept her up at night, a burden she would never get rid of even though that was never her mother's intent.

"I know," Sweet Pea said reaching to wrap his arm around her and pull her close. "We all know. Which is why we will get your mom out, I promise. Serpents look after each other, and no Serpent is more important than Alice Cooper...except her daughter."

Reluctantly, Betty's lips curled up into a smile. Damn Sweet Pea and his charm distracting her from her misery.

"Whoa, did we interrupt a moment?" Toni asked, looking between the couple awkwardly as she and Joaquin slid into the other side of the booth. They had brought back a round of shakes in everyone's favorite flavors: chocolate for Toni and Sweet Pea, strawberries and cream for Joaquin, and plain vanilla for Betty.

"No, we're good," Betty replied, squeezing Sweet Pea's hand before letting go and sitting up so that she was no longer tucked into his muscly side.

"Some of the guys said they saw you lay into a Northsider at the bus station the other day," Sweet Pea changed the conversation, looking down at Betty with mild concern. While he knew that Betty could handle herself, she knew he could not stop being overprotective.

"It was nothing," Betty lied, shrugging her shoulders.

"You sure?" Sweet Pea asked, unconvinced. "I could get a couple guys together, rough him up a bit."

"He's not worth it," Betty dismissed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning on them as she went to take a sip of her milkshake. As sweet as it was that her boyfriend wanted to defend her, the effort would be wasted. Besides, the thought of this guy lying in a pile of his own blood brought her an unexpected amount of physical and emotional pain. "I don't think he'll be hanging around the Southside anymore."

Sweet Pea seemed disappointed, but nodded his head.

"Don't worry, it's only been a few weeks," Toni said, trying to cheer up Sweet Pea. "I'm sure there'll be plenty of chances for you to get your hands dirty by the time the year is up."

"The Ghoulies won't even know what hit them," Joaquin replied with a smirk, raising his milkshake to clink glasses with Toni and Sweet Pea.

Betty smiled and rolled her eyes before raising her glass as well.

The end of their fairytale started with five words.

"Betty...I have to leave..."

"What? No you don't Juggie," she dismissed like he was playing some kind of joke. "You're staying here, with me."

"Betty, I have to go," Jughead repeated. If this was some kind of joke, it wasn't funny, and Betty was getting really fed up with it. "Dad got sent away so Mom is taking me and Jellybean to live with my aunt."

Oh, there was a plan. This was real. He was leaving. Betty could hardly believe it, shock taking over her entire body.

"Where does she live?" Betty asked, eyes wide. If he was moving upstate, it wouldn't be that bad. Daddy told her that he had always wanted to move upstate, that it was nice there, but Mommy always said no, that Riverdale was their home. They fought a lot about that. It made Betty sad, but if Juggie was moving there, maybe Daddy would drive her there a few times a month so that they could still have playdates and nothing would have to change.

"California."

All those plans her crafty mind concocted crumbled. Everything, her whole world, felt like it was ending. How could he leave her and move so far away? How could he do that? Didn't he know she loved him? She thought he loved her too...

"No!" she shouted, jumping up from where she was coloring to get away from him.

"Betty! I'm sorry!" Jughead apologized, looking really upset. "We can still be friends! I'll write you letters!"

"No! If you were my friend you wouldn't be leaving me!" Betty shouted. She was causing a scene; some of the other kids were staring to stare, but she didn't care.

Betty ran out of the classroom and down the hall, the teacher's screams following after her. She got sent home early that day for misconduct, her mother's face a deep-set scowl that promised hell as she showed up to the front office. The whole ride home she cried fat, silent tears, her eight-year-old heart breaking for the first time.

Betty never saw Jughead Jones again, his memory dwindling to nothing but a bittersweet dream.

"Miss Cooper, a moment of your time, if you may?"

The principal stood in the doorway, causing everyone to look up and stare at Betty. As notorious as she was in the Serpents, Betty was a model student in school. Teachers loved her, praised her, and pitied her future as it was tied to a gang and not in journalism school where they said she belonged. She had never been written up or called out of class a day in her life...until now.

Betty gathered her things and left class, following the principal down the hall to God-knows-where.

What could this possibly be about? Was she getting detention for the homework she forgot to turn in for chemistry the other week? Because her teacher had already told her that her exam grade more than made up for the deficit. Was this about the Red and Black? Were they finally fed up with her one-woman show and were pulling the plug because she had been struggling to crack a good case? If so, Betty hardened her exterior shell. She was not going to give up her pride and joy without a fight, fists and words included.

However, what was waiting for her in the front office was not what she expected.

It was the guy - the very same guy in the crown beanie who cost her the story.

He looked very out of place in his button down flannel, pressed black pants and scuff-less shoes. He looked like a Northsider trying too hard to be emo, but strangely, it fit him. If only he wasn't so damn jumpy and suspicious of everything. He glared at every corner of the room as if it had offended him, as if looking for some way out. Betty didn't blame him. The cinder block walls and chain link fences and spray painted lockers of Southside High had to be quite the difference from the posh, spacious, well-lit halls of other schools.

As soon as the office door opened, his eyes were on Betty. He stared at her with such an intensity that it felt like he was boring holes through her head.

Now, she was more confused.

Was this about their run in? Did he want to press charges? Would she need to call a lawyer? Not that she could afford one of those if this snob decided to hit her with the book, but maybe Polly could deign herself to Betty's level and help her only sister out.

"What's this all about?" Betty finally asked, confused as to why she was even there.

"Miss Cooper may I introduce you to Southside High's newest student, Forsythe Jones," Principal ... said, gesturing to the boy who now had a (rather ridiculous) name. "Mr. Jones is transferring from out of state and will be starting here next Monday. I offered to give him a tour of the facilities, but when I mentioned your name, he insisted that you be the one to lead the tour."

"You mentioned me?" Betty asked, not sure who to be more confused by.

"With all you do for the school and the community, Miss Cooper, it is hard not to," the older man replied with a labored breath. "Now, I'll leave you two to it. No funny business. You have an hour. Miss Cooper, I expect you to attend sixth period English, no exceptions."

"Of course, Sir."

The fact that he thought she would skip class with some random boy with a strange yet frustratingly familiar name was more than a little offensive. However, Betty still pulled on a smile and remained on her best behavior until the principal was out of earshot. Then she turned on her heel and walked out of the office, not bothering to check if the idiot was following her.

He was, though. His shoes squeaked on the floor as he jogged to catch up. It had to be culture shock. At his old school, this kid probably passed groups of jocks and cheerleaders. Here, Betty could pass more groups of Serpents and Ghoulies than she could count on both hands. She just hoped the poor sucker didn't get jumped by the time they made it to the Red and Black.

Why is this kid following me? Betty asked, looking up to the universe for some kind of answer. Why does he keep getting sent my way?

She turned the key in the lock, throwing the door open. Dust from the infinite layers billowed around them like a cloud as the pair entered the small room. It wasn't the tour that he was promised, but Betty really didn't care. She was not interested in showing off what Southside High had to offer, which was gang wars, drug wars, and minimal education. Whatever made him change schools, he needed to change back. There was nothing for him here.

And yet, in the musty air, brooding in the corner, he looked like he fit in just fine.

"Where are we?"

"My office," Betty replied dryly, throwing her leather jacket across the back of her chair.

"You're a journalist?" he asked, taking in the context clues as he walked around the cramped space.

"My, aren't you an observant one."

"I used to write for the paper at my old school in California. If you're looking to expand your staff, I could help out."

Betty sighed and pinched her nose. She wasn't looking for a co-editor. "Listen, Forsythe - "

"You gave me hell for ruining your story, yet you have mine pinned on a board," he cut her off, studying the contents of her board with scrutiny.

"What?"

He pointed to an article that she had yet to file, one of the few still pinned on the board she had taken down about Cheryl's murder. It was the same article that Sweet Pea had picked up. The same article that led her to cracking the case.

"FJIII. It's my pen name...my real name, actually. Forsythe Jones the third. But, no one calls me Forsythe," he replied, cringing at the name in the same manner that a sad five year old boy once did on the playground when she told him his name was silly, and suddenly, everything made sense. It was like someone had turned on the lights and shone them into places she had not looked in years. "Everyone calls me - "

" - Jughead," Betty finished, name flying off her tongue before she could stop it, everything falling into place. "Jughead Jones."