Betty balanced a tray of coffee and donuts precariously in one hand, trying to keep her backpack from slipping off her shoulder with the other. She knocked, as best she could, against the open classroom door. "Good morning," she called out as she entered the room.

"Morning," Jughead answered gruffly without turning around.

"I hope you like coffee," Betty smiled as she crossed the room, setting the tray of coffee down in front of him, then the donuts. "I just got black, but there are creamers and sugar packets in the donut box." She set her backpack on the floor in front of her. "What, what's that face?"

Jughead was looking up at her quizzically. His face looked puffy, as if he had had little sleep the night before. "This is for ...me?"

Betty laughed and took a seat across from Jughead, then took her coffee from the tray. "Well, this one's for me," she said playfully. "I just wanted to apologize again for yesterday." She paused for a second. "You're here early."

Jughead leaned forward and grabbed his coffee from the tray. "It's the best time for me to work on the Blue and Gold," he explained, taking the lid off his coffee to let it cool. "I wanted to catch Mr. Kandinsky, too."

"You did?" Betty smiled.

Jughead nodded. "You're on the team."

"I am?" Betty exclaimed. "Thank you, Jughead."

Jughead returned her smile and took a sip of his coffee. "I think I made a good decision," he laughed, motioning toward the empty tray and box of donuts. "Especially if this is how you like to start your mornings."

"I can't promise donuts every morning, but I can definitely be your coffee supplier." Betty cocked an eyebrow. "You take it black?"

Jughead nodded, took another sip and sighed. "God, this is good. Where did you get it?"

"Rise and Grind," Betty answered, tapping the logo on the donut box, where a smiling sunshine was hugging a coffee bean. She checked her phone for the time and stood, grabbing her backpack.

Jughead stood too, grabbing his coffee as he did so. "Thanks again," Betty smiled. She closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed. "I'm so excited about this."

Jughead winced and inhaled sharply as Betty pressed against his back, his ribs a throbbing reminder of yesterday afternoon.

"What's wrong?"

"I fell in the bathroom yesterday," Jughead explained as he furthered the distance between them.

Betty nodded and gestured to the open box on the table. "Don't let those go to waste."


Instead of heading to the Blue and Gold at lunch, Betty made her way to the cafeteria. She slid her tray along the metal rungs in front of the glass displays, a grey haired woman staring down at her as she looked at her options. She decided against the hot lunch and made her way to the refrigerated section, choosing a greek salad, a fruit tray and a bottle of grapefruit juice.

She looked around when a waving hand caught her eye. She saw Veronica's perfectly manicured fingers and smiled as she waved Betty over.

"I'm so glad I caught you," Veronica smiled as Betty sat across from her. "How was detention yesterday?"

Betty laughed as she opened her container of fruit. "Typical detention, scrubbed the floor with a toothbrush, shined Mr. Howitzer's shoes, cleaned the chalkboard." She joked. "The best part of my day."

"Don't give him any ideas, he is a fan of cruel and unusual punishment." Veronica stabbed a piece of watermelon from her tray. "So, what prompted the move to Riverdale?"

Betty shrugged. "My mom lived here until she was a teenager, moved away after graduation, met my dad. My grandpa passed away and left us the house, and my parents…" Betty paused, trying to decide how much information she should tell someone she just met. "They decided to spend some time apart. My sister is studying at NYU right now." She speared a piece of pineapple. "Have you lived here all your life?"

"Nah, Ronnie was our new recruit about four years ago, but we've accepted her as one of our own," a red haired boy said as he plopped down beside Veronica.

"Betty, this is Archie Andrews. Archie, this is Betty."

"Nice to meet you," Betty smiled.

"You too, Betty." He paused for a moment. "Do you live at 125 Turner Lane?"

"Leave it to you to stalk the hot new girl, Andrews," Reggie Mantle guffawed, helping himself to the seat next to Betty.

Veronica winced and offered Betty a small, apologetic smile. "Betty, this is Reggie."

"I guess you didn't get the pleasure of meeting me yesterday." Reggie smiled and grasped Betty's hand, his mouth kissing the top wetly. "You're going to love me, Betty, everyone does."

Betty snatched her hand away in disgust. "No offense, Reggie, but I think I'd sell you to Satan for a Diet Coke." She stood and grabbed her unopened bottle of grapefruit juice. "I'll see you in English, Veronica."


Betty spotted Jughead sitting in the classroom alone. "Hey," she smiled. "Great minds think alike; no more detention for us." She was backpack-free now, only text- and notebooks in her hand, a pen tucked into the spiral binding.

"Great minds," Jughead agreed. "Do you remember what kind of donuts you picked this morning? They were incredible."

Betty laughed. "You ate all four?"

"No, just two. The box is in my locker," he smiled. "But one of them had this amazing yellow stuff in the middle, and -"

"That one was probably the pineapple jam. Sounded good."

"Pineapple! That's it. I couldn't put my finger on it. The other tasted like a Krispy Kreme."

A few students started filtering in the room as the warning bell sounded.

"Have you thought about what my first story should be?"

Jughead chewed on his lip. "Well, there's always the football games that I never want to report on. We have school dances quite often. Sometimes we have special reports."

"I could start an advice column," Betty mused as more students walked in, followed by Mr. Howitzer. "Or a movie review."

"You need a date to the movies, baby, I'll be your man." Reggie smiled as he walked past Betty's seat to his own.

"Reggie, you interrupt one more of my conversations, I swear to God," she said, turning in her chair to face him.

"What, you'll punish me?" He raised his eyebrow and smirked.

Betty ignored him and turned around to face the front of the class. The last thing she needed was to get in trouble by Mr. Howitzer again.

Before class ended, Mr. Howitzer announced a project worth twenty percent of their grade. Their partners were their seatmates, and they were due next month.

"Between this and the Blue and Gold we'll be spending a lot of time together." Betty smiled.

"You poor thing," Jughead murmured as he gathered his books in his hands.

Betty ignored him. "We should probably get started on the project soon. Are you free after school?"

Jughead thought for a moment, then nodded. "I have to go home after school, but we could probably get together around four?"

"Perfect." She balanced her notebook in her hand and scribbled her phone number. She ripped the page from the book and handed it to Jughead. "Text me around four and I'll send you my address."


Betty had an episode of Friends playing on the television in the living room. Her laptop was on and open on the table in front of her, next to a bowl of chips and her History textbook.

The doorbell rang and Betty padded down the hall in socked feet to answer it. She opened the door wide and stepped back, letting Jughead brush past her. She noticed he was in the same clothes he wore to school earlier, while Betty had changed into an oversize sweater and leggings, her hair pulled into a bun.

"Nice place," Jughead said softly and pulled his mouth into a smile.

"Thanks," Betty laughed softly and tilted her head toward the living room. "This way."

Jughead followed her and slipped his backpack off his shoulders.

"I didn't know if a TV show would bother you while you study, or what you usually do, I hope this is okay." Betty sat on the couch and grabbed a potato chip from the bowl.

"I usually study in the library or in my room with music on. This is fine, though, really." Jughead sat at the other end of the couch and took his notebook out of his bag. "So, we were assigned Dachau, right?"

"Yeah," Betty scooted her legs underneath her and opened her textbook onto her lap. After a moment, she looked up. "There doesn't seem to be much about Dachau specifically in the textbooks, it just mentions concentration camps in general. I guess we'll have to search the majority online."

Jughead nodded. "May I?" He asked as he picked up her laptop.

"Of course," Betty smiled and stood. "You want something to drink?"

"Sure, whatever you're having is fine."

Betty retreated into the kitchen only to come out a moment later with two bottles of Gold Peak iced tea in her hands. She handed one to Jughead who had pulled YouTube up on the screen.

"I know these aren't specific to Dachau, but I figured watching some testimonials from people who had survived the camps might give us better insight."

"That's a really good idea, Jughead." Betty said as she perched on the arm of the couch to better see the laptop screen.

It was only after they exhausted all their options on YouTube that they realized how long they had been sitting there, watching video after video of concentration camp survivors.

"Jesus, I'm starving. How about we pause for some food?" Betty suggested. "I'm thinking pizza."

"I can't let you do that, Betty, you brought me coffee and donuts this morning."

"My Mom left me money for dinner anyway, Jughead, and I won't be able to eat it all by myself."

He looked at her for a moment - his mother shouldn't be off work until ten anyway - and agreed. "Okay, sure. We haven't really done much studying anyway."

"Is there anything you don't like?"

"I don't eat pineapples on pizza. Anything else - and I mean anything else - I'm good with."

"What's the best pizza place in town, Jug?"

"There's this little place on the south side of town that has the best buffalo chicken pizza. But if you don't like spicy, their pepperoni is delicious, too."

"I love buffalo chicken!" Betty smiled. "You want breadsticks, too?" She asked, picking up her phone.

"Sure," He shrugged, trying to hide his amusement. "Their dipping sauce is good, too."

Betty nodded and dialed the number she found on Google. "Hi," she said into the phone. "Can I have a large buffalo chicken pizza, an order of breadsticks and a dipping sauce please?" She paused, then added "garlic, please." She recited her address and then ended the call.

"They'll be here in thirty minutes. Did you want to keep taking a break, or should we get back to it?"

"We should probably get back to it, then take a break when we're eating."

Betty nodded and rounded the coffee table to take a seat on the couch.

"Where's your washroom?" He asked, standing. He put the laptop in Betty's hands.

"Up the stairs, second door on your left."

Jughead waltzed up the stairs and closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath and pulled his hoodie over his head. The Cooper household was kept warm, he discovered, and he was sweating through his shirt. He peered at himself in the mirror, examining his bruises. He knew he couldn't keep his hoodie off - where his mother had gripped his forearm yesterday was now a deep purple bruise, outlined with fingernail shaped wounds. He splashed himself with cool water, put his sweater back on, relieved himself, then made his way back down the stairs.

"Find any more information?" He asked as he entered the living room.

Betty sighed. "Yeah. It's so depressing. Why did he choose concentration camps as our project topics?"

Jughead shrugged as he sat on the couch. "He's a sadist. So how are you liking Riverdale High so far?"

Betty placed the open laptop on the coffee table and turned to face Jughead. "It's okay. One girl in my English class has been pretty nice to me, but not that many people have been talkative. How long have you lived here?"

"Pretty much all my life," Jughead sighed. "Most people at Riverdale High are stuck up or in their own world. I wish I went to Southside High School, but my Mom made sure that we lived on the border between the north side and the south side to prevent that."

"Why do you wish you went there?"

"That's where my friends are. Granted, I don't have that many, but Fangs, Sweet Pea and Toni are good people."

"More nicknames?" Betty guessed, picking up her bottle of iced tea.

"Yeah," Jughead laughed. "At RDHS, though, I'm pretty much alone."

"You're not alone," Betty shook her head. "You have me."


As Jughead walked home, his stomach full of pizza, he thought of Betty. She wasn't like anyone else in Riverdale. She was nice to him instantaneously, the moment they met she was warm. He thought of the way she tucked her hair behind her ear, how her laugh made his stomach feel hollow, how bright green her eyes were.

He turned to walk up the front stairs to his house, too swept up in his thoughts to realize the living room light was on.

He unlocked the door and dropped his backpack in the hallway, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw his mother perched on the dingy couch, a mug clutched in her hands.

"Honestly, Jughead, what is up with you lately? I don't ask much of you, son. Where the hell have you been?"

"I didn't think you'd be home this early." Jughead stammered.

"So what, you run around behind my back misbehaving? I have to be home every second of the day to make sure you're doing what you're supposed to?"

"No, Mom, I was working on a history project with a girl from class."

"Are you talking back to me? The dishes are in the sink, go do them." She spat.

"Yes ma'am," Jughead murmured.

"So, a project, huh? How are you doing in your classes, Jughead?"

"Most grades aren't out yet," Jughead said quietly. "But on my last Geography test I got ninety-two percent."

"What about math?" she asked as Jughead entered the kitchen.

"Math grades aren't out yet," Jughead responded quietly as he shoved his hands in the cold dish water.

"You better not be failing again."

"If I were allowed to stay out and study instead of -" Jughead caught himself and whipped around, facing his mother. "I -"

Gladys narrowed her eyes at her son. "What did you say?" She gripped her coffee mug tighter, then released it against the cupboard next to her son's head. "Don't you dare blame your failing grades on me."

Jughead turned and lifted his hands out of the water, staring at the shards of broken mug around him. "If I can't study, how am I supposed to-"

Gladys hit Jughead with a force that knocked the wind out of him; he slipped on the water left on the floor from his hands and ended up on the kitchen floor. "You're pathetic." Gladys hissed. "I'm going to the Wyrm."

Jughead clutched the side of his face, waiting until he heard the close of the front door until he let out a frustrated scream.


The next morning, Jughead trudged down the school hallways with his hood up, head down. He entered the office of the Blue and Gold as he did every morning and fired up one of the computers.

He started his piece about Mr. Smith retiring, checked the Blue and Gold's email and looked at his phone a few times until he heard the slap of footsteps entering the classroom. He kept his head down until the feet bounced toward the chair next to his. He looked up as Betty set down a cup of coffee beside him.

"Oh my god, Jug, what happened to your eye?"