1Fall slowly started to give way to winter. The last golden leaf fell to the ground. The residents of Riverdale woke up to the sounds of numerous leaf-blowers, upset at having woken up so early on a Sunday morning.

Betty climbed up the stairs of the nursing home slowly, humming a song to herself. She didn't really understand why people were so grumpy in the morning. The morning rays of the sun would always brighten her mood. She always preferred morning to night anyway. A cold breeze blew around her, making her shiver. She tightened her jacket around her closer as she opened the door of the nursing home.

Volunteering at the nursing home had always made Betty feel good about herself. She felt as comfortable here as she would in her own home. And the seniors residing there, so nice and friendly. People had this misconception about old people. That they're always grumpy, looking forward to the end of their lives, always depressed and not able to do things on their own. There was a time when even she herself thought so. That was the main reason she had volunteered in the first place. Wanting to help people who weren't as lucky as her. After almost a year, she now thought differently. She had them pegged all wrong. Old people had this... life in them. Though their faces may be etched with wrinkles and hands shaking, the wrinkles acted as a form of badge of achievement. They said that they were once teenagers too as Betty, went to college, got their first meaningful job, got married. They had children and grandchildren. They made mistakes and learned from them. They were so full of wisdom and knowledge.

But Betty realized all was not as happy and great with them either. The strong hands that once picked up their children so that they could see a baseball game better now shook with old age. The eyes that had seen their kids grow up were now squinted and would turn to the window every now and then, hoping to see their kids coming to see them.

Betty walked up to the front desk. Miriam, the receptionist, sat there doing a crossword puzzle. Miriam was an oversized lady, in her early forties. Her hair was cut short with a mop of red curls. "Hello, darlin'," Miriam drawled in her thick Southern accent. Her eyes squinted in a smile as she handed Betty a pen to sign in.

"Hi, Miriam," Betty said, signing in. Miriam's smile was very infectious.

"Lovely weather, ain't it?"

"Oh, yeah. At least it won't snow till another month."

"Ain't it the truth." Miriam sighed. "Now in the south, back where I lived we din' got to worry 'bout no snow."

"Miriam? How's Mrs. Watson doing?"

Miriam sighed again, more deeply this time. "The poor dear is just hangin' on, bless her soul. Ain't no family left to ease her pain, neither."

Betty nodded. She remembered Mrs. Watson's husband passed away two years ago due to leukemia and her only son had died many years ago in a war.

"But that boy, he's been comin' round almost every day now to cheer her up. Bless his heart," Miriam murmured, a sad smile playing at her lips.

Betty blinked. She didn't know anyone still came to see Mrs. Watson. "Really? What boy?"

"I reckon he's your age, hon. Can't remember his name... Ronald or Randy or somethin'. He's in there with her right now, though, if you wanna see who it is." Miriam winked. "He's a real looker, too." Miriam turned to her clipboard. "Today you're wanted in making lunch in the kitchen, Betty."

Betty smiled and nodded absently before heading towards Mrs. Watson's room. Opening the door slightly, she heard a soft chuckle. She blinked in surprise, seeing Reggie in a chair near her bed talking to her animatedly. As if sensing her presence, he looked at the door, just as surprised to find Betty there as she was to find him there. "Betty?"

"Hey, Reg," Betty walked to Mrs. Watson's other side and sat on the other chair. She took her small hand in hers. "How are you feeling today, Mrs. Watson?"

"Much better, dear. Thanks to Reggie," she said, beaming at Reggie. He smiled but not before blushing slightly. "Do you two know each other?"

"Yes, we both go to the same school. We're friends." Betty looked at him questioningly. Reggie just shrugged.

The three sat there chatting like old friends. An hour later, Betty looked at her watched and quickly rose to her feet. "Oops. Miriam told me I'm needed in the kitchen. And I totally forgot," Better gave Mrs. Watson a quick gentle hug. "I'll stop by before leaving, Mrs. Watson."

"I'd like that very much, dear."

"Hey, Bets," Betty turned to look at Reggie. "When, you're ready to go, I'll go with you. Maybe we could grab a soda or something from Pop Tate's?"

Betty smiled. "Sure, Reggie. I'd like that very much." She closed the door behind her.

Reggie stared at the closed door for a few moments before smiling sheepishly and turning towards Mrs. Watson. She was looking at him with a knowing smile on her face. "What?"

"Is this one of those situations where a boy like yourself is in love with a girl like Betty yet can't tell her?"

Reggie blinked. Was it that obvious? "Well, I..." He trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Mrs. Watson nodded understandingly. "I know how you feel, Reggie. I went through the same thing when I was your age." She looked out the window. Despite the trees swaying in the breeze, the sun was out. "Reggie dear, is it's not too much trouble, could we go outside? It is so terribly stuffy in here."

"No trouble at all." He helped Mrs. Watson into her wheelchair and helped put on her sweater, and bundled her with blankets so she wouldn't catch cold outside. As they headed out into the garden, Reggie wondered how she would have gone through the same thing.

As if on cue, she spoke again. "When I was in high school, I was crazy about Ned." Ned was Mrs. Watson's late husband. "There he was, this handsome football player. And I was just a wallflower. I couldn't muster up the courage to tell him how I felt. Then, one day, as I was finally about to ask him to a dance, I saw another girl, Mary-Anne, come between and ask him first. Now Mary-Anne was quite a pretty little redhead everybody liked."

Archie, Reggie nodded understandingly.

"So I thought I didn't have a chance and left without hearing his answer. My mother forced me to go to the dance and I ended up going alone. All my friends had a date. But I didn't." She chuckled.

"So what happened?"

"Well, I was sitting on a chair in a corner, looking at the floor. Trying to disappear. And I hear this deep voice saying, 'May I have this dance?' and when I look up, it's Ned."

Reggie smiled. He figured the story would somehow end this way.

"We became high school sweethearts. Got married after graduation and the rest, as you kids say, is history." They approached a nearby bench and Reggie sat down on it, facing Mrs. Watson. She took his hand in hers. "The point my dear, is that I got lucky. But you shouldn't wait for something to happen, hoping luck would be on your side. I can tell that you love Betty."

"I do." No sense in denying it anymore. "But I'm afraid she'll reject me. I don't exactly have a good reputation with women. I've done some pretty stupid things."

"Reggie dear, if she knows you like I do, she'll accept you."

"That's what I'm afraid of. What if she doesn't know that I'm trying to change? And even if she does know, what if she still says no?"

Mrs. Watson squeezed his hand. "Honey, if there's one thing I've learned it's that you can't go through life thinking 'What if?'. It's better to have tried and failed than to not have tried at all."

Reggie nodded his head. Mrs. Watson was right. He didn't want to live his life just wondering what if he had confessed to Betty of his love.


"Why couldn't I have gotten stuck with Dilton? He's so smart. This little project would have been a straight A."

"You mean by letting him do all the work?" Jughead asked.

"FYI, Juggie, I do my fair share of work too." Veronica rolled her eyes. Jughead opened the door to Pop Tate's for Veronica. She smiled appreciatively before letting herself in. Veronica found a booth and pulled out her notebook and pen while Jughead went to order up front. Hearing Jug order a low-fat smoothie for Veronica, she sat back in her booth satisfied. She was chewing on her pen thoughtfully when he came back with a tray full of food.

"Well, Bon apatite!" he said, reaching for his cheese burger.

"God, how can you eat that crap?" Veronica shuddered.

"The same way you can sip that sissy little smoothie of yours, I guess." Jug shrugged his shoulders casually before digging in.

"At least it won't clog my arteries and give me zits."

"Hey, you only live once you know. And besides, don't knock it till you've tried it."

Veronica looked at the little heart attack on a bun. Despite her better judgement, she reached tentatively for it. No matter how bad it was for her, she had to admit, it did look good. Better than her meager smoothie anyway. But at the last second, she quickly pulled her hand back.

Jughead saw this and snorted. "Are you sure you're not anorexic or something?"

She rolled her eyes. "First of all, anorexia is a serious problem. I don't have a serious problem. I just choose to live a nice, healthy life."

Jughead turned serious. "What's life if you can't enjoy it sometimes?"

He had a point. She supposed it wouldn't hurt to try just ONE measly burger.

"If you're worried about gaining weight. Trust me. One burger won't hurt you. Besides, you're way too skinny anyway. Don't you ever eat or something?"

Her eyes practically bulged out of their eye sockets. "Skinny! I am not skinny, okay!"

"Then I suppose you won't have a problem finishing this burger?"

"Not only will I finish it," she scoffed, "but I bet I can finish it before you."

"You're on!"

Ten minutes later.

"Oh that was so degrading! I can't believe you talked me into this."

Jughead leaned back into the booth and let out a loud belch, earning a look of disgust from Veronica. "How can you even walk after eating so much?"

Jughead looked at the fries Veronica was nibbling on. "You gonna finish that?"

"Oh my god! You eat like a pig!" she laughed disbelievingly as she threw a single fry at him."

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here, Archiekins."

Veronica's laughter stopped instantly as her head jerked up. There stood Cheryl, arm-in-arm with Archie. She wore a sneer on her face while Archie wore one of disbelief. Then he looked at Jughead who looked back calm and cool. "What are you two doing here?" Archie asked.

"Since when has that ever been your business, Archie?" Veronica replied instead.

Archie raised an eyebrow. "Since you started seeing Jug behind my back."

"FYI, Archie, I'm not doing anything behind your back. In case you don't remember or you're still in denial, we broke up," she sneered. "And secondly, Juggie's my friend. If he and I want to hang, what's your problem?"

Archie was silent. Cheryl smirked. "You've sunk to an all-time low, Veronica Lodge. Jughead Jones? Really, you can do better than that." She pulled Archie closer, much for Veronica's benefit.

"Look, Arch," Jughead began. "It's not how it looks. We were just working on our Science project, and thought this was a good place to start so -"

"Save it, Jug." Jughead felt a stab of pain in his heart at Archie's bitter tone. How could he misjudge his own best friend? He had always stayed away from Ronnie, only for Archie sake. Archie turned toward Veronica. "And as for you," he began with an arrogant smirk. "I've always loved Cheryl, not you. Or poor little Betty for that matter. You think you're all that don't you? You're just a frigid little -"

"Oh, Archiekins," Cheryl said soothingly. "Why waste your time on her? It's so obvious she doesn't care what you say. I'm sure she's heard plenty of similar comments from others, considering her reputation with men." She looked at Veronica, her eyes narrowing to slits. "Frankly, I don't see why the men go for her anyway. She's just a little slu-"

Veronica stood up, picked up her strawberry smoothie and dumped it on top of Cheryl's head, all in one fluid motion. Cheryl yelled out a shriek of rage. Some of the other teens dispersed in Pop Tate's snickered silently. Jughead looked at Cheryl in shock then turned to Veronica with an amused smile of admiration. His amusement was short-lived as suddenly, with what sounded like a war cry, Cheryl pounced on Veronica and toppled her to the floor.


"Reg?"

"Hmm?"

"I didn't know you came to volunteer here. That's really sweet of you." Betty said. Betty was done with her community service and with a quick goodbye to Mrs. Watson, they decided to head over to Pop Tate's for a soda.

"Oh, no, I don't volunteer. It's just that when I was little, Mrs. Watson used to baby sit me. She was also my neighbor. She's kinda like my grandma, you know?" He said, with a sheepish smile.

Betty nodded. She still thought that was very sweet of Reggie to keep her company in her old age. It was weird. She never really took the time to get to know Reggie. And now that she finally did, she realized that there was so many things about him that she could never have even possibly guessed.

As they neared Pop's, Betty could see a huge crowd gathered there. "Wow. Profits are really up today for Pop's, huh?"

"Yeah," Reggie muttered absently. He opened the door letting Betty pass through first. He remembered Mrs. Watson's advice. "Hey, Bets, if you're not doing anything tomorrow, do you wanna -"

"Oh my gosh!" Betty gasped before quickly darting into the crowd.

Reggie looked at Betty's retreating form disappearing into the crowd before seeing what made her react. There lay veronica, and a very messy Cheryl covered in pink goo rolling on the floor. Cheryl was pulling onto Veronica's hair while Veronica bit into her arm. Cheryl screamed before letting go of Veronica's hair. They both scrambled to their feet and leapt towards each other for another round before Jughead grabbed Veronica and Archie held back Cheryl. The crowd around them started yelling 'Catfight!' and encouragement.

"Arch, I think you better take Cheryl out of here," Jughead said as he tightened his hold on the struggling Veronica. Wow, she's stronger than she looks, he thought.

Suddenly, Cheryl stopped struggling and Archie let her go. "You'll pay for this, Lodge. You'll pay for this big time!"

"You know what? All you do is talk. You can't do a thing to me. You or this new pet of yours," Veronica gestured towards Archie.

Archie had enough of the insults. He raised a hand to hit Veronica before it was stopped in mid-air. He saw a pale slender hand wrapped around his wrist and looked to find Betty.

"Don't you dare, Archie Andrews."

"Get your hands off me, Betty. I'm warning you." Betty let her hand go, prepared if he would try to strike her or Veronica again. He didn't. "Listen to me, Archie. Don't listen to Cheryl. Start a new life but please, not with her."

"Sorry, Betty. If you think I'll come back to you now, think again. Cheryl's perfect for me. And I'd watch my back if I were you," he said menacingly.

Betty let out an exasperated sigh. "Archie, look. Cheryl is just taking advantage of you. Can't you see what she's doing to you?"

Archie was about to retort something before Pop Tate made his way through the throng of people and pulled at his hair. "Look at what you kids did! Look at this mess! Archie, Cheryl, Ron and Jughead, I forbid you to come to here ever again."

"But... but, Pops! What did I do!" Jughead wailed.

"Sorry Jughead but if you can't follow the rules, you might as well not come here."

Reggie could almost see Jughead's eyes water and bit back a smile.

"Fine by me, old man. C'mon Archiekins. Let's blow this lame joint." Her nose sticking up in the air, she walked out of Pop's. Archie gave both Betty and Veronica a hard glare before following her out. Cheryl stopped at the door, giving Reggie a once over. "Trust me, Reggie," she said in a low voice so that Archie wouldn't hear. "You can do so much better than Betty. You have my number. Give me a call sometime." And with that she left. Archie looked at her and then at Reggie venomously before walking out.

"Okaaaaaay..." Reggie muttered aloud. He walked towards the girls and Jug. The crowd started disappearing quick, no doubt to go and tell their friends about the cat-fight between the two most desirable girls at Riverdale High.

"C'mon, Ronnie. My place isn't too far from here. Let's get you cleaned up." Veronica muttered something incoherently under her breath as Betty looked back towards Jug and Reggie, offering them an amused smile and a quick wave.

"You heading home too, man?"

"Yeah," Jughead began, almost tearfully. They headed out the door. "You think Pop's will break down and let me in here again?"