Grabbing the phone left on the table, Betty pushes her way out of the diner door to jog after its owner.

"Hey!" she shouts, trying to get his attention.

He stops and turns to look at her, rolling his eyes and looking put out. "I thought I made it clear I'm not interested?"

Wow, she thinks, that still hurts more than I thought it would. Hopefully the fact that he's been a jerk to her helps ease the ache and hurt she's experiencing after putting herself out there and getting it thrown back in her face.

"Uh, yeah. You made that pretty clear but you forgot your phone," she tells him, stretching out her hand and offering his phone back to him.

Taking it from her, he offers her a smug grin. "Desperate enough to run after me just to give me my phone? Kind of sad."

She will not cry. Not in front of him and give him the satisfaction. "I'd do it for anyone."

Scoffing at her, he sticks his phone in his pocket. "Sure you would."

"I get it, okay? I do. You don't like me, that much was made clear, but I really just wanted to give you your phone, I know how expensive they are," she declares, proud that her voice barely shook as she was speaking. Walking back into the diner she makes it all the way to the bathroom before the first tear falls.

How did she get here? She can't even answer herself because she doesn't know. Thinking they were friends, having fun and hanging out, developing an all consuming crush, and finally, finally plucking up the courage to try to ask him out.

Not that it mattered. She thinks it was the cruelty of it that throws her off balance because she doesn't know where it came from.

She smiles as she sees him and heads his way.

"Hey," she says, smile widening even through her nerves. "Whatcha doing?"

He barely looks up and shrugs at her. "Reading. Obviously."

Taken aback by his short tone she wonders if he's had a bad day. "You okay?"

"I'm fine."

His short answers are curt but she figures everyone has the right to an off day. Letting it roll off of her back, she works up all the courage she can muster. "So, I was thinking maybe we could-"

"I don't think so, Princess," he interrupts, not even bothering to look up.

Her mouth snaps shut in shock before asking, "What?"

"We turned our project in, right?"

Confused, she nods at him as she says, "Yes."

"Then what makes you think I want to hear your voice anymore?"

Betty is reeling at that. She'd thought they had become friends, actual honest to goodness friends. "I don't understand-"

"Of course you don't. Listen, thanks for the grade but we're done here," he tells her in a bored tone. "And no, I won't be going anywhere with you now or ever. The little crush you got? It's just sad."

Betty just swallows and bites down on her lower lip at the first tremble as she stands up and makes her way to the Blue and Gold office where she can lock herself in and cry in peace. She doesn't think she's ever been so embarrassed or hurt in such a short amount of time before.

How did she read the situation so wrong? Never once did she think he was just using her.

Wiping the tears off her cheeks, she looks into the mirror and sees her eyes are puffy and red. Great. Splashing a little cold water on her face she gives herself a second to get composed before heading back behind the counter.

Grabbing the hot coffee carafe, she heads over to what seems to be Pop's most regular customer for the last few weeks while she had been filling in for a waitress on maternity leave.

"More?" she asks, pot of coffee in hand and ready to pour at his say so.

He slides his almost empty cup forward. "Sure." Tilting his head, he looks at her. "You know, that guy seems like a real jerk."

"He's been acting like one lately, yeah," she confirms with a shrug of her shoulders.

Catching her eye before she turns to go back behind the counter. "You're too nice, you know. He must be an idiot."

"Why's that?"

"I can't imagine that anyone worth knowing that wouldn't want to know you."

A small sad smile flits across her face. "You're sweet."

"It's the truth."

And that's how the friendship between her and the boy who made her smile when she felt so sad begins. They start eating lunch together with a combination of their friends, she invites him to study with her in the Blue and Gold office, and to even to join the newspaper if he wants.

Declining, he tells her writing isn't really his thing. Cajoling, making promises, and even a bribe of homemade cookies handed over with a bright smile had no effect. His amused laugh takes the feeling of failure out of her recruiting attempts to round out her staff to an even number. Which would, to be honest, take it from one to two.

His company, the friendship freely offered with no strings, helps her to forget the burn of humiliation every time she sees the boy who had used her with seemingly no remorse. She avoids meeting his eyes in class or the hallways, she tucks the pain of heartbreak behind a Cooper smile and lets the soothing feeling of someone genuinely enjoying her company take away the hurt she's pretending she doesn't still feel.

It's not even three weeks later when he asks her on a date. Surprised but a little intrigued she accepts with wide eyes and a nervous stomach. No one's ever really asked her out before, not since Trev Brown did their sophomore year and that ended up being only one dinner at Pop's. He didn't even go for a kiss goodnight and he never asked her out again so in true high school fashion they did the traditional thing and just pretended it never happened. Sometimes, she figures, some things are better ignored than explored.

Wearing a pretty pink dress with a soft sweater over her shoulders and her hair hanging in soft waves down her back he picks her up five minutes early. Telling her how beautiful she looks, he hands her flowers, charms her mother, and promises to have her home by curfew. Dinner, a movie, a walk hand in hand down the quiet streets of Riverdale and it's one of the better nights she's had in a long time.

Thanking him shyly by her front door as they're saying goodnight he takes her by surprise, leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to her lips before making sure she made it safely into the house after promising to talk to her the next day.

She hopes he means it. Hopes there's someone in the world who mean what they say and lets their actions act as their honesty.

It ends up being a pleasant surprise when she finds out that he does mean it. They talk both Saturday and Sunday and come Monday at lunch he's making her blush and smile and she thinks that if she has someone willing to be seen with her, someone who wants to be her friend, wants to be more, then maybe she can finally let go of all the lingering feelings that whose only purpose seems to be a reminder of her hurt feelings.

Ignoring the burning stare she suddenly feels as she turns to her lunch companion asking if he's going to be in the Blue and Gold later for studying after school as he reaches over to play with her fingers he smiles as he tells her yes, he'll be there.

"Just ignore him, Betty, he's just realizing what he let go," he insists suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere but she knows she must have caught stare she's been feeling since they sat down.

Smiling at his sweetness she replies, "That's sweet of you to say, but I think he made it more than clear what he thinks of me."

"I still think he's an idiot."

She sighs at him, not wanting to talk about the boy whose rejection is still a constant twinge at the edges of her heart. "Just ignore him, Jason," she tells him, repeating his own sentiment back to him. "Jughead Jones made his feelings well known."

Then

When they're paired up in English for an assignment he wonders if she's going to be as perky as she looks. She's far too polite as she moves to where he is, immediately giving her ideas for their project and can they meet at the library after school on Wednesday because every other day is bad for her but if he can't she'll see what she can move around to accommodate him.

It starts like that. He thinks she might be the most genuinely nice person he's ever met. When she asks him how he is, he learns she's actually interested. She truly cares how he feels.

It's less than a week before he's half in love with her. After that, he starts to talk to her, really talk to her like he's not wearing sarcasm as a shield and anger as armor.

The transition from Southside High hasn't been easy. Certainly not one that happens in junior year when everyone already has their groups of friends and no one is looking to change anything.

Unless, of course, you're Betty Cooper.

Introducing him to everyone she knows, showing no shame in who he is or where he's from, she acts proud to know him, like he's more than the part of town he comes from. Everyone is polite to him, no one calls him trash or tells him to go back to his side of the tracks. The consensus seems to be that if Betty Cooper likes you, you must be okay. It's unfortunate that that's not true in his case.

It takes him less than sixty days to fall in love and less than sixty seconds to destroy it.

Now

He's had to watch Jason Blossom flirt with Betty for weeks now and it's left him in a constant state of agitation. The fact he knowingly and willingly did it to himself doesn't help the sick feeling in his gut each time she laughs or smiles at someone the way she used to do for him. Every time he remembers her face that day in the library, he hates himself a little bit more.

Jughead doesn't think he's ever seen that combination of confused, hurt, and shocked before. She's so trusting, with Betty always thinking the best of everyone until they give her a reason not to, and even then she wants to give them the benefit of the doubt. The expression on her face as he was saying the worst things he could think of still haunts him enough to keep him up at night when he can't pretend it didn't happen.

He hadn't been aware of how she felt about him past friendship until a tense and uncomfortable conversation with her best friend and apparent self appointed guard dog, Veronica Lodge. Standing there being threatened by a girl wearing heels and pearls while a manicured finger pokes him in the chest with a promise of retribution if he ever so much as makes 'her Bettykins' frown wasn't something he had been expecting. Neither was the thrill that shot up his spine at the idea of Betty Cooper being interested in him.

If Jughead were being honest he'd say he was still waiting for Veronica to get revenge but she hasn't so much as even glanced his way since he and Betty stopped talking. She must have not told anyone the truth of what happened is the only conclusion he can come to. Getting to know her the way he did he thinks she told them the absolute bare minimum, something vague that leaves him a good light while she acts like she's fine. The worst part is he knows it was partly for her, so they'd let it go and partly for him, so they'd leave him alone.

It's ironic, he thinks, that she did that to protect him because his version of protecting her ended up with a broken heart and tears when no could see.

He wonders if she's cried over him, too.

Then

The day they turn in their project is the day he decides he's going to ask out Betty Cooper. The weeks spent in her presence had reminded him what it's like to feel like there might be some good in the world. Especially when the world he lives in is shaded in blacks and grays and she came into his life like a burst of pure white, making everything around him a little brighter, a little cleaner, and a little clearer.

He's flirted with her at lunch, making her turn shades of pink he didn't even know he liked until it was on Betty's cheeks, lit up by the sweetly bright smile she sends him while offering him part of her lunch she knows she won't eat. He remembers the moment he knows he's no longer interested in thinking about how in love with her he is and when he knows he needs to act on it.

Sitting next to her, listening to her talk about a book he's never read, thinking he should read it, he should buy it and memorize it just so he can understand that piece of her, is like a lightning bolt hitting his stomach. The sudden terrifying fear that she'll never love him back. The even more terrifying possibility that she will. And the realization that he's not sure he'll be able to breathe until he knows one way or the other.

Now

He's not following her. He's not. The fact that he happens to be three or so people behind her is a coincidence, a total chance of circumstance not at all engineered by careful planning and walking the opposite direction of where he needs to go. Jughead Jones doesn't follow people, he's simply still new and gets easily lost.

Three months is hardly enough time to adjust to his new surroundings.

It's this lucky chance of circumstance that allows him to overhear the conversation between Betty and Cheryl Blossom, a girl he's almost certain whose humanity is at least partly made up of at least ten percent red lipstick and twenty percent of other people's tears.

"Halt, Little Cooper. Hmm, I guess I should say Youngest Cooper instead shouldn't I? You're certainly not the littlest," he hears Cheryl tell Betty, stopping her from walking forward with a pointed finger to her shoulder.

Jughead watches Betty stand a little straighter, pull her shoulders back, clench a fist behind her back and smile as she says, "Hello Cheryl."

Cheryl seems to be considering her, looking her up and down. "If you think that you can use my sweet JJ to get over your misguided infatuation with-"

"I'm not infatuated with Archie anymore, Cheryl," Betty quietly responds. "That was over years ago and your brother asked me out, by the way, I didn't-"

Archie Andrews? Really?

"Oh I know that much, Jason told me. He also asked me to be nicer to you. So I think we should save ourselves a lot of trouble and you just...I don't know, shoo away from my brother before it has to get ugly."

Tilting her chin up, Betty is firm in her reply of, "Why do you care, Cheryl?"

Cheryl, crossing her arms and meeting his eye, smirks before looking back at Betty. "Because, Betty, my brother isn't an understudy. He's the starring role and I won't allow him to get hurt because your fragile ego needs stroking."

"I told you, I don't have feelings for Archie-"

"Oh, I know. I wasn't talking about Archie," she says, pointing past Betty to where he's standing. "I'm talking about him."

Betty spins around so quickly her ponytail whips around and hits her in the face. Making direct eye contact for the first time in weeks, he sees her eyes are wide and fearful while she's looking at him. There's a little part of him that dies at the knowledge she's probably afraid he'll embarrass her again.

"I'm not-" Betty stutters out, turning back to face the self-satisfied red head. "I don't-"

"I might be even be convinced to make an exception for you with the Vixens if you stop leading my poor JJ on," Cheryl interrupts.

"Jason is nice to me, Cheryl. Why are you doing this?"

Jughead knows he shouldn't still be standing there but he's not even sure he's capable of leaving at this point. Hearing about how Jason Blossom of all people is the person who's currently being the nicest to Betty stings.

You made your bed, he tells himself.

Cheryl's voice pulls him out of his thoughts. "Truthfully? Because I can. And, let's be honest, Jason is too good for you."

He has to bite his tongue hard to keep himself from saying something truly nasty to Cheryl in Betty's defense. It's almost certain to make things worse for her if he steps in and he's already done enough damage.

Betty opens her mouth to respond but Cheryl is already walking away, hitting him with her shoulder as she passes him. "If you weren't such a disgrace to have walking these halls, I'd be almost impressed with how you took down sweet little Betty Cooper."

Looking over his shoulder, watching Cheryl's red hair swinging as she walks he wonders if he should be concerned that she cursed him when she touched him.

Note to self, look for signs of witchcraft later.

Betty's already started walking away by the time he looks for her again. Letting his head fall back and staring at the ceiling in the hallway for a moment he thinks about how it all came crashing down on him.

Then

Stomping through the door of the trailer he throws his bag down on the sofa, irritated with himself. He'd worked up the nerve all day to ask Betty out but when it came down to it, he choked. Telling himself that tomorrow is a new day, he flops down next to his bag, picking up his laptop, flipping it open and turning it on.

As it boots up he hears a knock at the door. Groaning to himself, he gets up and throws open the door with a gruff, "What?"

Hearing the, "Aww, Baby Snake, is that any way to talk to your good friend Penny?" coming out of Penny Peabody's mouth makes his entire body freeze up in dread before he remembers himself and brings his anger with her to the surface.

"What do you want, Penny?" he asks in a hard tone.

She smiles at him, pushing herself past him and forward into the trailer, leaning against the counter as she smirks at him. "You owe me, Jones."

"I don't owe you anything."

"It's cute that your dad thinks sending you to a different school, keeping you out of your Serpents jacket, and taking away that motorcycle of yours is going to keep you off of my debts to be paid list, but alas, no such luck for the Serpent Prince," she says, her face a mask of poorly suppressed fury.

Trying to keep his breathing even he insists, "I don't owe you anything, Penny."

"You can keep telling yourself that but until I'm the one who believes it, it doesn't really matter what you think, does it?"

"I'm not doing anything for you. Never again. So, sorry to disappoint-"

"Pissing me off, Jones, is a bad idea," she interrupts, crossing her arms as she glares at him.

He scoffs at her. "Tell me again because I forget but which one are you again? The Wicked Witch of the East- oh wait, that's the one the house landed on- so you must be the one from the West, then?"

"I know you think you're funny but we'll see who's laughing when I'm done with you."

"And what are you gonna do, Penny? If you come down on me, my dad is going to come down on you so why are you even here?"

She stands up straight, walking closer to him, whispering in his ear, "I know you, Jones. Are you dumb enough to think I haven't been watching you?"

The fear those words cause send shivers through him instantly and turns his blood cold. He can feel her walk past him to the door when he hears, "She sure is pretty, isn't she? That charming little blonde you're suddenly so interested in following around? It'd be a real shame if something happened to her."

Jughead's stomach drops. Closing his eyes and swallowing back the nausea he simply asks, "What do you want?"

Now

He's been grudgingly allowed to ride his bike on weekends, since it's unlikely he's going to run into anyone he goes to school with while riding around the Southside. And, even if he did, he doubts anyone would know it's him, he doesn't wear his Serpent jacket or ride the bike to school. He's been good at staying out of trouble at Riverdale High so far and his dad wants him to keep it that way.

Trying not to kick the tire of the motorcycle that had slowed down and quit working altogether on the side of the road on a barely still warm Saturday morning he pulls his phone out to call someone for a ride when he hears a car stop behind him. Hoping it's not a cop, especially while he's wearing his Serpent jacket, he turns and jerks in surprise when he sees Betty Cooper standing there with shocked eyes next to her open car door.

Schooling her features, she steps past her door and quietly asks him, "Do you need any help?"

God I'm such an asshole, he thinks, looking at her carefully neutral face. He does need help but if he takes her help he's worried he's going to say or do something stupid and if he tells her no he's going to make himself look even worse in her eyes and he'll still be stranded anyway.

"Uhm," he mumbles before clearing his throat, "sure, I guess. I don't know what's wrong with it, though."

Nodding her head at him, she quickly walks past him, looking at the bike and messing with things he doesn't even know the name of, much less that they do.

Don't look at her ass, don't look at her ass, do not look at her ass, you moron, it will make you an even worse person than you already are-oh my god, why is it always so perfect-ugh, I'm such an idiot.

He rips his eyes from her backside as she stands up to face him, scrunching her nose while wiping her hands on the legs of her overalls. Fuck, she's wearing overalls. She's adorable, his inner idiot is screaming at him. Oh great, you're a moron and you're using words like adorable. Fantastic.

"Your battery cable was loose and I don't think you were going fast enough for the stator, that's sort of like an alternator, to keep a charge going to the battery, making it cut out. You just need to tighten the cable and you should be good," she tells him, her eyes staring somewhere past his shoulder. "I have some tools in the car, I can do it for you really quick if you want."

Mouth hanging open slightly he just nods at her. She's a total gearhead. Of fucking course she is, it's not enough she looks like some Grace Kelly lookalike wet dream on a daily basis, oh no, today she's also got to be wearing adorable fucking overalls and knows how to fix engines. Just shoot me now.

Telling him that he probably needs to keep tightening the cable or to replace it she heads back towards her car, saying she'll wait to make sure the bike starts back up, just in case.

Before putting his helmet back on and starting the bike up, he spins around, staring at her with quiet intensity. "Thank you, Betty."

She just bobs her head up and down while giving him a soft and sad smile before getting back into her car, waiting for him to leave first.

Revving the engine, he takes back off down the road toward Sunnyside and he thinks about two things; one is that he needs to deal with Penny Peabody once and for all.

The other is that he's going to get his girl back.

That she was never technically his girl is a detail he thinks he can work around.