CHAPTER THREE: Confrontations & Bluffs
From across the room, Betty jolts as soon as she sees the man who has just walked in.
...The man that is most certainly not her boyfriend, who she had been expecting to see.
"Chuck. Get out!" Betty attempts to say firmly, but she can't control the quiver of fear in her voice.
Quickly, Betty stands behind a desk on the side of the room. There isn't much furniture in that old room, but she just has to find something to steady her trembling body and to protect herself against Chuck, like she hadn't be able to on the horrific night that she has agonised over mentally reliving each night since.
Betty can't let her guard down. She can't let him get to her. She can't let him win... again.
However, unfortunately for Betty, she also can't control her subconscious jolts and shakes; the raw, lingering scars from the damage that had already been done.
"Have you told Jughead anything?" Chuck asks with an urgency in his voice as he whips his head around just to make sure that they really are alone.
Betty simply scoffs, equally stunned at the irony of the situation and the audacity that Chuck has to ask her that question. In fact, the irony of it provides a welcome distraction for her as she tries to maintain a strong composure against him.
"Seriously? You seriously have the nerve to ask me whether or not I have told my boyfriend that you assaulted me? That you raped me?! Go to hell, Chuck."
"Look, Betty, we both know that it wasn't like that..." Chuck tries to reason as he gestures with an arm out in her direction while he takes a few steps closer towards her.
Tears prick Betty's dilated eyes, but she remains determined to stay strong, calm and determined not to let Chuck win, again.
"What? It wasn't like you went from hugging me to restraining me? It wasn't like you ignored the word 'no'? Oh, we both know that that's exactly what it was like... So, let's go back to your question, shall we? Does Jughead know? Maybe I've told him, maybe I've told more people than just him..."
As she speaks, Betty finds a surprising slither of strength to stand up against her attacker, crossing her arms in front of her to strengthen her body language and turn the games back on him.
"Because, why stop at Jughead? Wouldn't you like to know who else I have, or have not told? ... My friends, perhaps? Your parents? Your little sister who idolises you? How about Sherriff Keller? I'm sure he'd be interested. Or, your adoring grandmother, maybe? Oh, wouldn't she be so proud of you? ... Or, maybe I could just tell them all, one by one..."
In that moment, Betty feels empowered speaking up against the man on the other side of the room, feeling like the tables are turning just a little as she takes charge of the situation.
"You see, that is the question isn't it, Chuck... Who else knows what heinous thing you did? Who else wouldn't want to be left alone with you? Who else is disgusted as soon as they hear your name? Well, I hope you enjoy having no clue as to who may or may not know what you did. Because, now, every time you meet someone new, every time you see someone flinch when they hear the name 'Chuck Clayton', you can agonize over whether or not they've heard about you, whether or not they know... Whether or not Betty Cooper told them."
There is a fleeting moment of weakness in Chuck's eyes, before it passes over with a wave of confidence as he attempts to degrade Betty's own self-confidence.
"No one will believe you... You're just a crazy Cooper."
"Huh. Is that right? It would make no sense to believe someone who says they have been raped by someone with priors for sexual harassment... No sense at all, right?"
Betty's response only maddens Chuck as his eyes tighten in an intense glare towards the girl on the other side of the room.
Despite how empowered she's feeling in that moment at seeing the fleeting glimpse of Chuck's own weakness, Betty is grateful not to know what would have followed after that glare from her attacker, when the door swings open again.
From the second he opens the door of the newsroom and from the moment he catches a glimpse of his girlfriend across the other side of the room, Jughead instantly feels uncomfortable. He can feel the palpable tension in the room and while might not be that obvious to the untrained eye, Jughead can sense just how uncomfortable his girlfriend is right now.
"Betts...?" Jughead asks cautiously, immediately making his way over to the other side of the room, to be with her as he looks for some explanation as to why his girlfriend and Chuck are alone together and what's propelling the obvious tension between the two.
Although he can't quite tell what is happening in this room, or why, what Jughead can sense is that despite her ferocity and strength in this moment, he can tell that Betty needs some support. Only Jughead knows her well enough to recognise that beyond her facade and deep within, she's not okay.
"Are you really still hung up on Betty for helping those girls get justice? Build a bridge across Sweetwater River and get the hell over it. Actions have consequences, knucklehead. Leave her alone."
Just seconds ago, Chuck had not been pleased by Jughead's presence when he entered that room; a fact that was only made perfectly clear by his demeanor and the glares in his direction.
However, as soon as Jughead speaks up, referring to the book of conquests and his own surprise party, a smug smile ripples across Chuck's lips.
In his well-meaning intentions to defend Betty, Jughead has just revealed the fact that he doesn't have a clue behind the greater meaning of the tension in that room, that there is more to it than just 'justice for Ethel'.
Unintentionally, Jughead has just sabotaged Betty's threats of who she has or has not told, revealing the fact that the man closest to her doesn't have a clue about her attack... That it was just a bluff.
"Mm. Right just those other girls" Chuck smirks, looking straight at Betty, both of them knowing her threats had been for nothing and knowing that her bluff has just been called. "You're right. I should just get over it. After all, no one really believes it anyway..."
Jughead just rolls his eyes at the oozing arrogance of the man on the other side of the room who has zero repentance for the book of conquests that had been revealed.
He's grateful as Chuck takes a few steps backwards, chuckling to himself about something that is anything but funny, as he shakes his head and finally, walks out.
After Chuck leaves, it takes Jughead a moment, before he can feel Betty's hyperventilating breathing as he holds her and it takes him a moment to realise that she is really not okay.
The second after her attacker left the room, Betty's strength and her ferocity that she had managed to maintain for the entire confrontation suddenly comes crumbling down in front of Jughead.
All of it.
After all, the moment she had seen that it was Chuck, not Jughead, who had entered the newsroom just ten minutes earlier, Betty had immediately focused on pouring every ounce of strength that she has into making sure that she didn't let her guard down and making sure that she didn't let him win.
Now that he's gone and now that Betty's left with the security of her boyfriend's arms, her mask and her facade of strength against him is torn off and ripped away.
As her heart pounds from within her, Betty's breaths become shorter and shorter, her body growing warmer and warmer as she shakes, trembling, trying to steady her breathing, calm her thoughts and reassure herself that he's gone, all at once.
Jughead feels as though his attempts to comfort his girlfriend during her panic attack are feeble and he hates that he feels like there's nothing that he can do to help her. However, he is all the while preoccupied with one pounding question that he is unable to ignore after feeling the tension in room he walked into just minutes ago...
Does he really know all the facts about what went down with Betty and Chuck?
Thank you to everyone who read & reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate it!
Next chapter: As he comforts her through her panic attack, Jughead's suspicions grow.
P.S. Bring on the season final! From what I've read about it so far, I am getting a little worried about Bughead... And I'm very worried about how I'm going to cope between the break of this season and next!