Sitting at her bedroom window, Betty couldn't avoid looking from the empty page of her journal to the view below. The front stoop of the Andrews' house was perfectly framed, Veronica Lodge at its foot in a deep blue cape. Archie practically hopped down the wooden steps, his arm slipping into his letterman jacket as he stumbled to meet her. They stood close - too close to fool anyone into thinking them 'just friends' - as they covered the distance to a sleek town car parked at the curb. If Betty watched them any longer, she would undoubtedly see Archie pass a glance over the perfect curves of Veronica's body as he opened the door for her, then smile at how lucky he was to be taking out such a beautiful girl.
Her best friend and her… Archie. There was no better way in her mind to describe him than hers. They had lived next door to each other all of Betty's life and Archie once said he would marry her in grade school. She had long wanted to be the beautiful girl he coveted, to see his deep brown eyes shine the way they did the day Veronica walked into Pops' and into their lives. Telling him as much as they swayed awkwardly to the clichéd love songs of the Back-to-School Dance had done nothing more than clear his path straight to Veronica. It felt as if she had pushed them together and herself into a corner.
How was it, she'd wondered, that Archie was not good enough for her - as he claimed that night - but was perfectly fit for her best friend? The insult to each of them made Betty's temples throb and her hands ache as she clutched her pen. She couldn't be angry because that made her petty… and 'anger didn't suit her,' according to her mother. And who could she blame? Veronica, who was nothing short of a true friend in all other cases? Archie, who was just following his heart? It wasn't his fault it didn't lead to her.
Her eyes slid away and across her bedroom as her computer screen lit up with a blinking chat request.
Abandoning her journal on her nightstand, she moved slowly across her room. The familiar name that popped up didn't make her smile, but the distraction was a welcome one. A short, black wig caressed her palm a she lifted it from a drawer before settling into her desk chair and clicking on the request.
A young, male face came into focus. Square jaw, dark hair. Nothing like Archie, she thought. Which was precisely what she needed at the moment.
"For a second, I thought you were standing me up."
Betty's head tilted, her fingers trailing the line of her neck. "I wouldn't do that. I like talking to you."
The boy on her screen smirked, the nerves she'd seen in previous chats completely melted away. "I like looking at you."
"Mmm..." She loosed the collar button of her light pink blouse, the next two following in slow succession. "I'll show you more if you'll play along."
As she watched the boy - he went by the handle slicksnake - strip his shirt away, her lips curled into the slightest smile.
More than an hour had passed when the brass knob of Betty's bedroom door jangled, insistence on her opening the door following swiftly.
Slamming the laptop shut, Betty stashed the wig and wrapped her mostly naked body in her pink bathrobe before wrenching the door open. The force of it almost pulled Alice Cooper into her daughter's room, her sharp blue eyes scouring the space for any hint of wrongdoing.
"What are you doing in there that requires a locked door?"
Betty shielded herself with folded arms, hoping that her mother would not notice the warm flush of her cheeks or the tousle of her blond locks caused by the wig. "Talking to creepy guys online, obviously."
"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated, Elizabeth. You know I don't like locked doors in this house."
"I was about to take a shower, mom. That's all. I didn't want you barging in while I was getting undressed, since you have no concept of boundaries or privacy."
Alice, never the kind of mother who let anything go, snapped her shoulders back and leveled Betty with her disapproval. "If you gave me reasons to trust you, I would. But you constantly defy me when it comes to the friends you keep and the disrespectful attitude you show me."
Turning her back on Betty indicated that the conversation had ended, Alice neglecting to close the door behind her as she went.
Betty wanted to slam it, then scream into her pillow. Why couldn't she have a normal mother, one who listened to and supported her? Maybe then she wouldn't have to confide in strangers on the internet with who she really was or the parts of her she didn't always like.
Lying across her bed, Betty stared toward the window again. She felt lonely knowing that she couldn't text with her best friend about everything, Veronica more than likely enjoying her taste of Archie's lips in a booth at Pop's. Kevin was equally inaccessible at a time like this, Betty not wanting to challenge his allegiance to Veronica. What else would she possibly talk to him about? Kevin wasn't the judgmental sort but he would want to know everything, which was too much when it came to her online alter ego or the darkness that fueled it.
No one was left, her only other confidante being locked away like some degenerate.
Betty forced herself to forget about her own issues and focus on Caroline and her great escape from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. An escape that Betty would orchestrate.
Sitting up, Betty grabbed her journal again, opening to a fresh page and started working on a plan.
