Three days passed and they didn't speak. It hurt. Betty would lie awake at night, turn her back to her bedroom window, and will him to appear there like he had once before, but he never did. More than once she scrolled through her phone to his number, but she couldn't bring herself to call. She didn't know what to say even if he did decide to pick up. She didn't want him to be a Serpent, to prove everyone else right, to affirm her parents' opinion that he was a loser, bad news. But she didn't want to lose him either. She thought in the beginning that maybe she could go back to the way things had been only a few short months before, to being alone. But by that third day she knew she couldn't. She knew it wasn't about being alone, but about being without him. So even though she didn't know how to reconcile the space growing between them, on the fourth day, a Tuesday, Betty hurried out of the high school as the final bell rang and crossed town to FP's trailer.

It was still cold, snow on the ground as it had been when she'd last been there, only now it had melted and refrozen so that the whole trailer park was like a skating rink. Betty had shuffle along with her hands out to either side to steady herself. When FP's trailer came into view, Jughead's truck was parked in front of it as usual. But parked beside it was an old maroon Cadillac with rust growing up the sides. She stopped dead where she was and thought about turning around, but she'd already come so far in the cold. She couldn't think of who might be there. She'd never seen the car before. Betty continued to pick carefully forward until she got to the car, and then she placed her gloved hands gingerly against its side and peered in the window. The backseat was full of trash, and the dash was littered with receipts and straw wrappers too. A single strand of black beads with a cross dangling from the end was twisted around the rearview mirror. Betty's breath clouded the glass and she had to smudge it away with the side of her hand. It was only upon looking in again that she noticed the clear tube of dark lipstick in the cup holder.

She realized then that she could hear low voices coming from the trailer and ducked down where she was between the two cars, turning one ear toward the door, straining to hear. One of the voices was Jughead's, to be sure, but the other was too hard to make out. She crept around the front of the Cadillac and closer to the door, but just as she was reaching the porch the voices became suddenly louder as the door was pulled open. Betty stopped so suddenly she almost slipped, the cold air hard in her throat, but steadied herself froze where she was by the corner of the porch. A girl was in the doorway with her back facing out. She had dark purple hair—almost black—that was shaved away on one side and braided up into a sort of mohawk. On the exposed skin of the shaved side, a snake had been tattooed curling around her ear. There were silver studs all the way up the outside of her ear. She was in a ribbed black tank top that gripped her body and dipped low on her chest. Around her hips was a thick black belt and she wore ripped jeans and biker boots. There was a black watch on her wrist and a ring like a snake on the hand nearest to Betty. Clearly she was a Serpent, someone Jughead had met at Southside High, most likely. She was rough looking, but not ugly. She had turned back into the trailer because Jughead was handing her something—her leather jacket. Betty felt her face reddening as she wondered why she was dressed in only a tank top in the dead of winter, and why there had been need for her to take her jacket off in the trailer. Still, her turned back gave Betty enough time to lunge back behind Jughead's truck so that when the girl got into her Cadillac and drove off—after exchanging waves with Jughead—Betty wasn't spotted. Her chest tightened uncomfortably when she looked up to Jughead standing in the open doorway, his hand raised to say goodbye.

She wanted to tuck herself under his already outstretched arm and burrow into his gray sweater and feel warm and safe like she had before. She wanted to wrap her arms and her legs around him as she had before and press herself against him and feel his heart beat against hers. But instead she stayed where she was, cold breath clouding in front of her, and when he turned back in and closed the door, Betty turned too and went home.

She ate her dinner in silence, with Polly shooting a few apologetic glances her way throughout as if to show that she could tell something was wrong. When Betty was on her bed later, books spread around her in a half-circle, Polly knocked timidly on her door.

"Betty?"

"Come in."

Polly stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She smiled her sweet smile and walked across the room to sit opposite Betty on her bed. Betty reached quickly to move her homework out of the way.

"Thanks," Polly said, and settled down with one leg still on the floor and her hands resting at the top of her pregnant belly.

"Betts, I'm worried about you. I can tell something is wrong. What is it?"

"It's nothing, Polly, really. Nothing to worry about."

Polly raised an eyebrow and reached a hand out for her sister's. "You know you can tell me anything. After everything you've done for me, the least I can do is listen. Besides…" she ducked her head to catch Betty's eye. "I've noticed that we haven't seen Jughead around for a few days. Did you guys have a fight?"

Betty laughed a little and looked down, shaking her head. "I guess I can't get anything by you, Polly."

"You never could."

"No, I never could." Betty took a deep breath and blew it out. "Yeah…we had a fight."

"What about?" Polly squeezed her hand and then pulled away.

"The Serpents, I guess. They came to FP's trailer after the anniversary celebration."

"TheSerpentswere there? That's scary."

"I dunno," Betty shrugged, "I guess so. They were there for Jughead, to let him know that they were going to take care of him while his dad's in jail."

"Woah." Polly's eyes were wide. Her hands rubbed lightly against her swollen stomach as if of their own volition, without her permission.

"Yeah," Betty agreed. "They gave him this jacket—a Serpent jacket—and he put it on and we got in this big fight because I don't want him to be like them and, I don't know, it kinda seems like he wants to be."

"Well they are kind of like family to him." Polly said gently.

Betty's head shot up and she looked hurt. "You too? You're going to defend them?"

"No, of course not. If not for the Serpents, Jason's death would have been solved much more quickly. But, Betty," she took her hand again. "Jughead must feel really alone right now. I know how scared I was when it felt like me and these babies were on our own with no one even caring what happened to us. I would have turned to anyone who showed even the slightest kindness—fortunately, I had you."

"Well Jughead has me, too! I just feel like he's pushing me away and embracing this thing I'm totally against."

"You and Jughead are complicated, Betts," Polly soothed. "You've always been a little mismatched, but in a good way. At some point, you were bound to come up against something like this. Only the two of you can decide if your differences are going to keep you from being together." Polly stood up and reached out to finger the end of Betty's ponytail affectionately. "All I know, Betty, is that if Jason were alive, nothing could keep me from him. Nothing ever did. Nothing but death itself."

Betty stood to give her sister a hug. "I'm sorry, Polly. I know you miss him."

"I do. And that's why it hurts me to see you throwing your relationship away over a Serpents jacket. He hasn't done anything wrong or changed in any way. He's just embracing a side of himself he hasn't before. That doesn't mean he can't continue embracing you, too."

Polly started backing toward the door. "Besides," she said. "I've seen him outside your window for the last three nights."

"What?"

"Dad moved the ladder or I bet he would've come up. But I've seen him leaning against the shed looking up at your window. He still loves you, Betty. And I know you love him."

Betty smiled, then laughed a little. "Why didn't you tell me that you'd seen him?"

"I'm telling you now! Besides, it seemed like something the two of you needed to work out on your own."

"Except that you came in here just now and got involved."

"Well, hey," Polly grinned at her sister. "No one's perfect."

Betty laughed again. "Polly…will you help me with one more thing?"

"Of course! What is it?"

"Well you've seen Grease, right?"