😭
The sudden urge to lose herself in the onslaught of emotionsoverwhelmed her as she pushed through the door leading into the musty oldclassroom housing the updated office for the Blue and Gold. Betty thought she’dmanaged to escape everyone’s notice before letting the silent sobs wrackthrough her entire body, but the soft squeak of hinges in need of some oilbetrayed the arrival of someone cautiously pushing open the very door she hadn’tthought to lock.Instinctively, Betty turned her back toward the door in an attempt to shieldherself as she feebly tried to wipe away the mess of tears staining hercheeks. “The office is closed right now.” Betty managed between hitched sobs asshe tried futilely to control her breathing, her emotions too far out of hercontrol and only frustrating and upsetting her further.Not hearing the satisfying click of the door closing behind someone leaving herto fall apart in peace, Betty stole a glance over her shoulder to see afamiliar beanie-clad face looming hesitantly in the doorway. Jughead was amongone of the last people she’d wanted to come across her in such a state, secondonly to Veronica or Archie. “Leave me alone Jughead, it’s really not a goodtime right now.” Her words were clipped and callous, uncharacteristic for theusually warm-natured blonde but it was a last ditch attempt to get him to leaveas she felt an entirely new wave of tears coming on.It hadn’t been any one particular thing that had finally made her crack, it wasa thousand tiny things that had been building up over time leaving Bettyhelpless against the necessary catharsis of letting herself cry out everythingshe’d been holding back from everyone else around her. It was the fightingbetween her parents keeping her lying awake in bed at night when they thoughtshe couldn’t hear, it was Betty feeling like she’d lost Archie as her bestfriend after that fateful night at the Blossom house of horrors that onlyfurther fueled deep-rooted insecurities about Veronica’s arrival to Riverdale. It was Jason Blossom’s murder and the entire investigation culminating in thewrongful arrest of FP Jones and the fact that Clifford Blossom had beenresponsible for the cold-blooded filicide all along in a mess of a drug traffickingring before taking his own life. It was the segregation in their town between the North and South Sidesthat only continued to divide with each passing day, civil mutiny threateningto break as violence continued to spike at the hands of both communities. BettyCooper had been carrying the weight of Riverdale’s fate on her shoulders sincethe night of her speech at the town’s jubilee in an attempt to rally and savethe town that she so loved but the burden had become too much for her to bear alone.It was the fact that the only person in the world she couldn’t stand to haveseeing her fall apart was there now wearing the same worn leather jacket markedby the Southside Serpents blatantly announcing not only the striking changesaround them in Riverdale but the shift in his own personal allegiances. “Go away.” It was all she could manage before turning from him as she faced the rain pelting against the windows, arms wrapping around her middle in a physical attempt to hold herself together until he finally left her alone. @joneshead








