Ms. Independent Part One
Betty Cooper sat on the couch in her family's living room. Again she looked at the clock. 7:45pm. She felt as if she was living her life stuck in a continuous loop, like a malfunctioning record player, playing the same sad song over and over again. Another Saturday night spent waiting for Archie to arrive for their date. She looked at the clock again. 7:47pm. And now he was 47 minutes late. This was a bad sign. She heaved a sigh and turned on the TV. She tried to reason where Archie might be. Car trouble? Well, he did drive that clunker. Grounded suddenly? No, he would have called before. Family emergency? Riverdale was a small town, if something serious had happened everyone would know by now. Abducted by alien? Weirder things have happened, but unlikely. Captured by pirates?
Betty shook her blonde head. No, she was going to stop trying to give him an excuse. The fact of the matter was he was probably in the company of a certain wealthy heiress who had the nerve to call herself Betty's best friend. Again Betty sighed. Really, she felt Ronnie was her best friend. They got fabulously, but unfortunately they had ended up sharing a certain red haired teenager.
"You know" Betty said to the cat jumping up on her lap "I think I'm being foolish. I need to do something about this situation."
She stroked Sam, her beloved tabby, and began think. Maybe she was being a fool. Look at me, home on a Saturday night waiting AGAIN for Archie. And he isn't showing up. I knew he wouldn't but still I let myself be lead on, and he just ignores me for HER. I really can't take this anymore. I can't just let Archie treat me just because I'm in love with him.
"Am I really in love with him?" She asked herself out loud. She was going to have to do something about this.
"Mom, I'm going out!" She called as she raced towards the front door.
"Is Archie here?" Her mother asked entering the hallway.
"No."
Her mother made a sad smile. "Oh, honey, I'm sure he's just had car trouble."
"Yeah, right." Betty rolled her eyes as she headed to her family vehicle.
***** The blue Ford pulled through the gates of Lodge Manor and towards the front doors.
Betty hesitated for a moment, but then decided she had had enough. She walk up to the doors and knocked.
Smithers opened the door. "Why Miss Betty, it sure is nice to see you!"
"Where are they?" Betty demanded and then meekly added "Please, could you tell me?"
Smithers drew a blank face. "In the game room," He then got a wicked grin. "Let me announce you miss."
Betty followed the Lodge servant toward the room where she and Veronica had spent countless hours hanging out. She shook her head yet again. I must be insane!
"Miss Cooper." Smithers said as he opened the door, gestured with Betty to go inside and gave her an approving nod.
"Bets!" Archie yelped.
"Betty, darling, what are you doing here?" Veronica asked, trying to look innocent but failing miserably.
"You two! It's you two I'm here about. You" She pointed to Archie "were suppose to pick me up an hour ago for a date. Did you forget?"
Archie began to turn the colour of his hair. "Shoot, was that tonight, 'cause I thought that was tomorrow, in fact, I'm sure it's suppose to be tomorrow."
"Oh," Betty began to back away "maybe I was..No. NO! This happens every time! We make a date you don't show up. This is a vicious cycle. And you aren't doing anything to help it!" She turned to Veronica.
"Betty, is it really my fault that he can't resist me?" Veronica pouted.
"Yes!"
"Now hold on a minute!" Veronica started.
"No, Ron, you hold on. I'm sick and tired of being the third wheel in this 'relationship' or whatever it is. Something has got to give because I don't want to hurt like this every time, it's not fair." Betty tired very hard not to cry, but she had to cover her mouth to stop the sobs.
"Betty, listen, I like you a lot, you're one of my best friends."
"And that's the problem." Veronica was shocked at her own words.
Betty would have smiled if she hadn't been so angry. "That's right. Make up your mind Archie... no wait.I'm not going to give you a choice. It's obvious who you'd rather spend your time with. I'm going to go home now, congratulations Ronnie, you won the war."
Betty ran out of the game room and back to her car. Just as she was about to get in she heard Archie behind her.
"Betty, please wait, we need to talk."
"I think we need some time apart." Betty found strength from deep inside her to face Archie, "I have to go and think some things over seriously."
"But Bets, what does this all mean? What can I do to make it up to you?"
"Nothing. Just give me my space." Betty got in the car and drove away leaving Archie standing in the driveway.
*****
The whole thing felt like a nightmare to Betty. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling. When she had arrived home she had immediately stormed up into her room and tore all the picture she had of Archie off her walls. She looked over at the garbage bag sitting in her doorway. She had done this a few times before. Swore she would never see Archie again, but later she had recanted. Put the pictures back up lovingly, saying she had almost made a big mistake. She could see now that the mistake was putting those pictures back up. How could she love someone who treated her so badly? That's the problem, Betty thought I'm in love with him. And it's tearing me apart.
There was a soft knock at her bedroom door. Betty sighed and turned on her side.
"My poor baby, if there was one thing I wish I could protect you from, it would be your feelings. They can gnaw you up inside, make you feel like you're crazy." Her mother stroked her hair. "But then again, you wouldn't be able to feel that free-falling excitement that is true love, you wouldn't be able to enjoy any of things you love. Betty, sometimes things hurt us, people hurt us. We have to deal with the hurt, but at the same time we have to be able to move on. Everything that happens helps make us better people and your broken heart will heal in time."
Betty hugged her mother. "Thanks mom."
"If you need anything, I'll be downstairs."
Betty lay back down. It was going to be a long night.
***************
Betty twisted and turned. Her dreams were filled with anger. She broke things. She threw things. She could feel the anger seize inside her. The colours red and black floated around in the background. Betty finally gave up on sleep. She got up from her bed and rummaged around in the drawers of her desk. Finding what she wanted she turned the light over the desk and sat on the chair. Cracking the spine of her trusted companion, Betty did the only thing she could think to do, she wrote.
Dear Diary- Today has been a day unlike any other. My life has finally come to a head and I have realised that a difficult decision must be made. Too long I've been treated like a third wheel in the whole Archie & Betty & Veronica thing. I need to have more respect for myself. Mooning over some BOY who just treats me like dirt sometimes.the other times, the good times cannot just make up for it anymore. How could I have put my heart out on the line for so long? How could I have let myself be treated like this? Do I really love Archie? I don't know anymore!!! There's anyways been something else in the back of my head saying that it wasn't right to give my heart away to someone who didn't.feel the same way BACK! This is going to be for real this time. I have to give Archie up. Okay, so that's it. No more Archie. Ever. I can do this. I really can. I deserve it! I deserve it! I deserve..
Betty had to put her pen down as she began to sob. She couldn't believe her life had come to this. As she began to regain her composure she closed her diary and returned to bed. She was going to need a good night's sleep, tomorrow was going to be one of the hardest day's of her life.
******
The sweet aroma of buttermilk pancakes crept up the stairs of the Cooper household and into the bedroom of the youngest Cooper. Her nostrils flared slightly at the comforting smell. Betty opened her blue eyes. At first she was going to hop out of bed, but then she remembered all that happened last night. Her gut reaction was to wish it all away, but she had promised herself she wouldn't.
Her father was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of steaming coffee. He didn't look up when Betty sat down, but cheerily wished her good morning. Mr. Cooper actually was not sure what to say to his younger daughter. Pam had never had such 'boy problems'. He made a conscious decision not to say anything about what had happened until Mrs. Cooper did. The two of them had talked about it the night before; they had decided that they would support their daughter, whatever she wanted to do. She had been in fights with Archie before, but she had never taken such drastic steps, and from her emotion return home last night, the last thing they wanted to do was cause Betty more pain.
"Good morning sweetheart, did you sleep?" Mrs Cooper asked placing three pancakes on a plate in front of Betty.
"Yes, a little bit."
The three ate breakfast in silence. The phone rang, making Betty wince. Mrs. Cooper rose and answered it. Betty felt relief when she heard her mother greet one of her bridge club members. The hardest part of having such a clear moment in your life was having to deal with it the next day, and those who had been around.
As her mother chatted Betty looked to her father. "I suppose I should talk to them."
Mr Cooper looked grim. "Betty, I'm afraid I can't give you any definite answers. But I will give you some advice, talking never hurt anyone. Wars, strikes and the like have been avoided by such means. But you have to ask yourself" He moved in closer to his daughter, keeping an eye on his wife "what is it that YOU need. What is it that you want."
Betty nodded.
"We, " he pointed at his wife and then himself "are here for you, whatever you want, we will be there."
Betty smiled. "Thank you daddy." She got up and gave her dad a hug.
"I am so proud of you." He whispered into her ear. Betty pulled away from the hug and gave her dad a quizzical look. He merely smiled at her. "Now, there's some chores to be done outside."
Betty nodded. "Okay Daddy. I understand."
Betty's mother returned to the table. She looked at both her husband and her daughter. "What's going on?"
"Mom, I love you." Betty kissed her mother on the cheek. "I'm going to have a shower and then," she paused, "I don't know yet."
*****
The shower seemed to wash all the discomfort of last night away. Betty felt refreshed and alive again. Until she thought about what was coming up for her today. For the second time in twelve long hours Betty returned to her outlet.
Dear Diary- I survived the night. I guess that can say a lot about how I feel. It's new and exciting but at the same time I just want to, well, die. But suddenly life seems like it's renewed. A plan of action is what I need. First, I need to figure out how I feel and like my dad said, what I want. Well, this should be easy, uh, I want. Well, maybe this isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Okay, starting again. I, Betty Cooper, want to be happy. To be happy, I need to be happy with the situations I put myself in. I want to love and be loved. I want to be respected along with loved. I want to be friends with Veronica. Wow, it was so easy to just write that. I really want to be friends with Ronnie, her and I have been through so much, I don't want to throw all that away. So, I need to talk to her. And then there's Archie. What do I want from him? I don't know. But I need to talk to him too. Okay, so I have a plan. I need to talk to both of them. This is going to be so hard.
Betty closed her diary. There weren't going to be any apologies, well, unless they wanted to, just the facts. Overnight everything had suddenly changed, a few words between friends had ended one chapter of her life and the next was soon to begin. All she had to do, was tell them what she wanted.
Betty Cooper sat on the couch in her family's living room. Again she looked at the clock. 7:45pm. She felt as if she was living her life stuck in a continuous loop, like a malfunctioning record player, playing the same sad song over and over again. Another Saturday night spent waiting for Archie to arrive for their date. She looked at the clock again. 7:47pm. And now he was 47 minutes late. This was a bad sign. She heaved a sigh and turned on the TV. She tried to reason where Archie might be. Car trouble? Well, he did drive that clunker. Grounded suddenly? No, he would have called before. Family emergency? Riverdale was a small town, if something serious had happened everyone would know by now. Abducted by alien? Weirder things have happened, but unlikely. Captured by pirates?
Betty shook her blonde head. No, she was going to stop trying to give him an excuse. The fact of the matter was he was probably in the company of a certain wealthy heiress who had the nerve to call herself Betty's best friend. Again Betty sighed. Really, she felt Ronnie was her best friend. They got fabulously, but unfortunately they had ended up sharing a certain red haired teenager.
"You know" Betty said to the cat jumping up on her lap "I think I'm being foolish. I need to do something about this situation."
She stroked Sam, her beloved tabby, and began think. Maybe she was being a fool. Look at me, home on a Saturday night waiting AGAIN for Archie. And he isn't showing up. I knew he wouldn't but still I let myself be lead on, and he just ignores me for HER. I really can't take this anymore. I can't just let Archie treat me just because I'm in love with him.
"Am I really in love with him?" She asked herself out loud. She was going to have to do something about this.
"Mom, I'm going out!" She called as she raced towards the front door.
"Is Archie here?" Her mother asked entering the hallway.
"No."
Her mother made a sad smile. "Oh, honey, I'm sure he's just had car trouble."
"Yeah, right." Betty rolled her eyes as she headed to her family vehicle.
***** The blue Ford pulled through the gates of Lodge Manor and towards the front doors.
Betty hesitated for a moment, but then decided she had had enough. She walk up to the doors and knocked.
Smithers opened the door. "Why Miss Betty, it sure is nice to see you!"
"Where are they?" Betty demanded and then meekly added "Please, could you tell me?"
Smithers drew a blank face. "In the game room," He then got a wicked grin. "Let me announce you miss."
Betty followed the Lodge servant toward the room where she and Veronica had spent countless hours hanging out. She shook her head yet again. I must be insane!
"Miss Cooper." Smithers said as he opened the door, gestured with Betty to go inside and gave her an approving nod.
"Bets!" Archie yelped.
"Betty, darling, what are you doing here?" Veronica asked, trying to look innocent but failing miserably.
"You two! It's you two I'm here about. You" She pointed to Archie "were suppose to pick me up an hour ago for a date. Did you forget?"
Archie began to turn the colour of his hair. "Shoot, was that tonight, 'cause I thought that was tomorrow, in fact, I'm sure it's suppose to be tomorrow."
"Oh," Betty began to back away "maybe I was..No. NO! This happens every time! We make a date you don't show up. This is a vicious cycle. And you aren't doing anything to help it!" She turned to Veronica.
"Betty, is it really my fault that he can't resist me?" Veronica pouted.
"Yes!"
"Now hold on a minute!" Veronica started.
"No, Ron, you hold on. I'm sick and tired of being the third wheel in this 'relationship' or whatever it is. Something has got to give because I don't want to hurt like this every time, it's not fair." Betty tired very hard not to cry, but she had to cover her mouth to stop the sobs.
"Betty, listen, I like you a lot, you're one of my best friends."
"And that's the problem." Veronica was shocked at her own words.
Betty would have smiled if she hadn't been so angry. "That's right. Make up your mind Archie... no wait.I'm not going to give you a choice. It's obvious who you'd rather spend your time with. I'm going to go home now, congratulations Ronnie, you won the war."
Betty ran out of the game room and back to her car. Just as she was about to get in she heard Archie behind her.
"Betty, please wait, we need to talk."
"I think we need some time apart." Betty found strength from deep inside her to face Archie, "I have to go and think some things over seriously."
"But Bets, what does this all mean? What can I do to make it up to you?"
"Nothing. Just give me my space." Betty got in the car and drove away leaving Archie standing in the driveway.
*****
The whole thing felt like a nightmare to Betty. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling. When she had arrived home she had immediately stormed up into her room and tore all the picture she had of Archie off her walls. She looked over at the garbage bag sitting in her doorway. She had done this a few times before. Swore she would never see Archie again, but later she had recanted. Put the pictures back up lovingly, saying she had almost made a big mistake. She could see now that the mistake was putting those pictures back up. How could she love someone who treated her so badly? That's the problem, Betty thought I'm in love with him. And it's tearing me apart.
There was a soft knock at her bedroom door. Betty sighed and turned on her side.
"My poor baby, if there was one thing I wish I could protect you from, it would be your feelings. They can gnaw you up inside, make you feel like you're crazy." Her mother stroked her hair. "But then again, you wouldn't be able to feel that free-falling excitement that is true love, you wouldn't be able to enjoy any of things you love. Betty, sometimes things hurt us, people hurt us. We have to deal with the hurt, but at the same time we have to be able to move on. Everything that happens helps make us better people and your broken heart will heal in time."
Betty hugged her mother. "Thanks mom."
"If you need anything, I'll be downstairs."
Betty lay back down. It was going to be a long night.
***************
Betty twisted and turned. Her dreams were filled with anger. She broke things. She threw things. She could feel the anger seize inside her. The colours red and black floated around in the background. Betty finally gave up on sleep. She got up from her bed and rummaged around in the drawers of her desk. Finding what she wanted she turned the light over the desk and sat on the chair. Cracking the spine of her trusted companion, Betty did the only thing she could think to do, she wrote.
Dear Diary- Today has been a day unlike any other. My life has finally come to a head and I have realised that a difficult decision must be made. Too long I've been treated like a third wheel in the whole Archie & Betty & Veronica thing. I need to have more respect for myself. Mooning over some BOY who just treats me like dirt sometimes.the other times, the good times cannot just make up for it anymore. How could I have put my heart out on the line for so long? How could I have let myself be treated like this? Do I really love Archie? I don't know anymore!!! There's anyways been something else in the back of my head saying that it wasn't right to give my heart away to someone who didn't.feel the same way BACK! This is going to be for real this time. I have to give Archie up. Okay, so that's it. No more Archie. Ever. I can do this. I really can. I deserve it! I deserve it! I deserve..
Betty had to put her pen down as she began to sob. She couldn't believe her life had come to this. As she began to regain her composure she closed her diary and returned to bed. She was going to need a good night's sleep, tomorrow was going to be one of the hardest day's of her life.
******
The sweet aroma of buttermilk pancakes crept up the stairs of the Cooper household and into the bedroom of the youngest Cooper. Her nostrils flared slightly at the comforting smell. Betty opened her blue eyes. At first she was going to hop out of bed, but then she remembered all that happened last night. Her gut reaction was to wish it all away, but she had promised herself she wouldn't.
Her father was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of steaming coffee. He didn't look up when Betty sat down, but cheerily wished her good morning. Mr. Cooper actually was not sure what to say to his younger daughter. Pam had never had such 'boy problems'. He made a conscious decision not to say anything about what had happened until Mrs. Cooper did. The two of them had talked about it the night before; they had decided that they would support their daughter, whatever she wanted to do. She had been in fights with Archie before, but she had never taken such drastic steps, and from her emotion return home last night, the last thing they wanted to do was cause Betty more pain.
"Good morning sweetheart, did you sleep?" Mrs Cooper asked placing three pancakes on a plate in front of Betty.
"Yes, a little bit."
The three ate breakfast in silence. The phone rang, making Betty wince. Mrs. Cooper rose and answered it. Betty felt relief when she heard her mother greet one of her bridge club members. The hardest part of having such a clear moment in your life was having to deal with it the next day, and those who had been around.
As her mother chatted Betty looked to her father. "I suppose I should talk to them."
Mr Cooper looked grim. "Betty, I'm afraid I can't give you any definite answers. But I will give you some advice, talking never hurt anyone. Wars, strikes and the like have been avoided by such means. But you have to ask yourself" He moved in closer to his daughter, keeping an eye on his wife "what is it that YOU need. What is it that you want."
Betty nodded.
"We, " he pointed at his wife and then himself "are here for you, whatever you want, we will be there."
Betty smiled. "Thank you daddy." She got up and gave her dad a hug.
"I am so proud of you." He whispered into her ear. Betty pulled away from the hug and gave her dad a quizzical look. He merely smiled at her. "Now, there's some chores to be done outside."
Betty nodded. "Okay Daddy. I understand."
Betty's mother returned to the table. She looked at both her husband and her daughter. "What's going on?"
"Mom, I love you." Betty kissed her mother on the cheek. "I'm going to have a shower and then," she paused, "I don't know yet."
*****
The shower seemed to wash all the discomfort of last night away. Betty felt refreshed and alive again. Until she thought about what was coming up for her today. For the second time in twelve long hours Betty returned to her outlet.
Dear Diary- I survived the night. I guess that can say a lot about how I feel. It's new and exciting but at the same time I just want to, well, die. But suddenly life seems like it's renewed. A plan of action is what I need. First, I need to figure out how I feel and like my dad said, what I want. Well, this should be easy, uh, I want. Well, maybe this isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Okay, starting again. I, Betty Cooper, want to be happy. To be happy, I need to be happy with the situations I put myself in. I want to love and be loved. I want to be respected along with loved. I want to be friends with Veronica. Wow, it was so easy to just write that. I really want to be friends with Ronnie, her and I have been through so much, I don't want to throw all that away. So, I need to talk to her. And then there's Archie. What do I want from him? I don't know. But I need to talk to him too. Okay, so I have a plan. I need to talk to both of them. This is going to be so hard.
Betty closed her diary. There weren't going to be any apologies, well, unless they wanted to, just the facts. Overnight everything had suddenly changed, a few words between friends had ended one chapter of her life and the next was soon to begin. All she had to do, was tell them what she wanted.