Hey! I'm back with another chapter. I don't really have an update schedule since I post as soon as the chapters are finished, but I'll try to post a chapter every two-three weeks. Please let me know what you think of this chapter in the reviews.
Chapter two ~ Old friends
"Call 911!" she can hear her mother scream as she is trying to push the couch in front of the door to block it. Even if she can see and hear her mom, she isn't able to move. She can just watch her panicked mother trying to keep both of them safe in their house. She can also hear someone banging on the door. She knows it is her father, trying to get inside and talk to his wife. "Betty, he is coming inside!"
She can feel her mother drag her body with her in the kitchen. There is no way they could be safe upstair, without any issues out, but maybe the kitchen would have something inside to keep them safe. Betty hears the door being forced open with violence. She can see herself type some text to someone. Oh, it's for Archie, her neighbor. "Please call 911 for my house. Dad is inside the house. We're in danger." Yes, good idea. He can help them. She gets a reply in seconds. "Ok. Do you need us to come?" No Archie! It's dangerous! She doesn't even have time to answer. She feels her mom pushing her into the pantry.
"Please don't say anything. Stay quiet. I'll try to make him leave." Her mother closes the door and everything seems to be in fast forward after that. All she hears is her short, panicked breath as she watches the scene in front of her like in a movie. Her father, in a state of rage, storming into the kitchen. Her mother backing off, as far as she can. Her father, with a red face, screaming. Her mother, tears streaming down her face, trying to escape him. Her father who starts to strangle her mother, who is trying to grab something to push him away. Her mother hitting him the back of his head with a bowl, making him back off a little. Her father grabbing a knife and, with a fast, violent move, slicing her throat. The police sirens can be heard in the distance as Betty's whole world shatters as her mother falls onto the floor.
Betty woke up in a jolt, her throat tight and tears in her eyes. For a moment, she believed it is a nightmare. A horrible, awful and cruel nightmare. But it is not a nightmare, it's her cruel, horrible reality. In her spacious new bedroom, Betty took a look around her for a moment. The room is rather simple : white wall with nothing on them, a desk with some old books on it, a bedside table with a lamp on it, a closet and her bags on the floor. She really needed to personalized her room a bit, she thought as she stood from her king size bed. She walked to the bathroom to get a glass of water. On the clock in the bathroom, Betty saw it was only 3 AM. She really needed to sleep some more. After she drank her water, helping her throat to be less dry, she got back to her bedroom. Seeing she couldn't find sleep, she took her phone and send a text to her best friend.
"Hey V. You're probably asleep, but oh well," she send her quickly. "I met Rose's granddaughter and some of her friends, they're fine, I guess. They're Serpents, so maybe they'll help me integrate the school. Want to go grab a milkshake later? Or maybe tomorrow? Tell me when you're free. Feel free to invite Archie too."
As she was closing her phone, she heard a small, barely noticeable, knock on her door. "Betty?" she heard someone whisper.
"Yeah?" she answer. Her door opened to show Cheryl on the other side, two mugs in her hands.
"I thought I heard you being up and wanted to make sure you were okay," she explained as she came closer to her. "I brought you some warm milk. It personally helps me when I can't sleep."
"Thank you Cheryl," Betty said, a warming smile on her face, as she took the mug. "You didn't have to do that."
"I know what it's like to go through something terrible. I may not have had to live something as terrible as that, but I know what you may feel like." Cheryl took a sip of her own mug and Betty, for a moment, seemed to saw a flash of pain in her eyes. If it hadn't been the middle of the night, she would have clearly asked about that. Maybe, if the opportunity went later, she would ask her about all that. "If you ever need to talk or anything, just know that I'm here. We're all here for you," Cheryl said with a small smile, before heading back to the door. "I'll let you sleep now. Goodnight Betty."
"Goodnight." And like that, Betty sipped her warm milk, questions invading her head about this girl she barely knew but seemed to share so much with her, until she fell back to sleep.
~.~ .~
"Hey B! I can't today, family stuff, but tomorrow at 3? I can't wait for you to tell me everything. Love you!" Betty smiles at the text from her best friend as she is walking to the kitchen. No one seemed to be awake yet, so she just made herself a cup of coffee before going outside on the porch. It was a hot summer morning and the young woman needed to enjoy this while it lasted. She was still in her pajamas, a pair of baby pink short and an oversize t-shirt from an old band, and sat on the stairs outside, listening to the silence of the morning. The Southside was a place where people were generally night owl. In the night, it was loud and very much alive, but you mostly couldn't see a soul before noon. It was very different from the other side of Riverdale.
"You're an early bird," a voice said, making Betty jump from the surprise. In front of her, a couple of feet away, was standing a young man, about her age. He was almost menacing in his dark clothes and his leather jacket. How could he wear a jacket in this heat, Betty asked herself mentally. Even though everything about him screamed like danger, but she couldn't help being hypnotize by his soft eyes.
"Yeah," she confirmed, not really opened to a conversation with this man she didn't knew in this morning. She didn't want to talk about why she was here, about her family and about her dead mother, not this early in the morning.
"You haven't changed a bit."
"Do we know each other?" she asked, startle by his comment.
"We used to. Jughead Jones, I used to come hang out with Archie Andrews when we were young," he explained and memories came back to Betty. They were very young at the time, but Archie, Jughead and her were close at that age. Jughead's father was an old friend of Mr Andrews and her mother and often would drop his son at the Andrews. His visits suddenly stopped when they were about eight years old. She never saw him after that really, but she kept a good memories of this friendship.
"I remember," she said with a smile. "You, on the other hand, really have change."
"I sure hope it is a good thing" he commented with a small laugh.
"Yeah, I would say so," she could help answer with a playful smile. "You want a cup of coffee or something?"
"No thanks, I'm only waiting for Toni," he explained shortly. "But I may take that offer later. I think we have a lot to catch up on."
"Oh, only eight years of our lives, I guess?" she said and they both laugh. They were soon interrupted by Toni coming out of the house.
"Well, well, well… It looks like you two are getting along well," she pointed, with a smile. "Anything I need to know Jones?"
"We're old friends," Jughead simply commented. "Come on Topaz, we have to go. I'll see you later Betty?"
"See you later Jughead," she said before taking a sip of her coffee to hide her smile.
"Old friends, huh?" Betty could heard Toni asked as they were getting away and going inside a car. She couldn't help but smile at all of this. Strangely, she was happy, even though her world was completely upside down lately.
