CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE: Ripples On The Pond

In the late stages of her pregnancy and in the lead up to Emi's birth, Betty had attended a number of appointments with the school counselor and her teachers in order to discuss the avenues and options available to her in continuing her education after her daughter's birth. As a result and after a lot of consultation and a lot of discussion and a lot of deliberation over Betty and Jughead's situation, it had been decided for Emi to accompany her parents in their classes, at least until she is old enough to be away from Betty and is able to stay with Alice or another babysitter for the day.

Ultimately, their teachers just wanted to keep Jughead and especially Betty in school rather than having one or both of them feeling pushed into having to drop out of school in order to have to care for their newborn.

So, consequently, Emi was allowed to attend Betty and Jughead's classes on the proviso and under the strict condition that she is just like any other student in that she is not allowed to disturb the class. If she begins distracting their classmates or if she grows unsettled and cries, she needs to be taken out of the classroom and cared for away from the other students and until she's calm enough to return.

In juggling Emi with their classes, Betty and Jughead's timetables make for quite a mix. The couple have three classes they share, during which they'll be able to share the responsibility for their daughter at the same time. Then, both Betty and Jughead have three classes independently of each other, while there are another two periods when either Betty or Jughead have a free, enabling them to care for Emi without the pressure of the classroom environment.

However, even though it is the best outcome in a situation that is so far from ideal, Betty is still beyond nervous to face school and the monsters that creep around Riverdale High School with her daughter...

#

On her first day back to school and after Emi's five thirty wake-up that morning, Betty decides to stay up as her husband and daughter sleep on for a while longer. Betty's spending the time going over her checklists and double, triple, checking that she has absolutely everything she may possibly need for the day ahead.

It has not been all that long since her last day of school. However, in that short time, she has become both a wife and a mother. So, waking up, rolling out of bed and getting ready for school that morning hadn't been quite the same for Betty and she can't imagine it ever will be again...

Instead of just doing her minimal hair and makeup before checking that she's got her textbook for maths and her novel for English, she's now having to prepare for a whole world of alternatives that her baby may throw at her throughout the day. Not to mention, she also has to get a whole other person ready for their day ahead, too.

A couple of hours later, Jughead is up and doing his bare minimum for his morning routine, as usual. So long as he's showered, in a fresh 'S' shirt with his Sherpa jackets, jeans, a flannelette around his waist and with his beanie firmly fixed on his head, he's good to go. For good measure, he also checks he's got some spare paper and a pen in his bag.

While Betty's doing her hair and pulling back every tiny hair into her signature, tight ponytail, Jughead checks if she wants him to dress Emi, knowing their morning routine enough to know that that will be the task that Betty will move onto next.

So, after carefully selecting an outfit for little Emi's very first day joining them at school and getting Betty's tick of approval, he's standing across the room, busily changing the squirming baby. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room Betty is now fossicking with something in her school bag, moving it to Emi's nappy bag as Jughead muses jovially.

"She's growing up so fast, Betts. I mean, I just can't believe it's Emi's first day of high school already... It feels like it was just the other day when we were bringing her home from the hospital..."

Stealing her glance away from where she is busily going about her tasks, Betty looks up for long enough to roll her eyes at Jughead's dramatics, catching him put Emi's little booties onto her tiny feet gently across the room.

"I mean, people always tell you that they grow up quick, and even though you think you're making the most of every moment, but you're never really prepared for it..."

After he ensures Emi's little outfit is done up correctly, Jughead scoops the newborn up into his arms as he exhales a deep sigh, trailing off melancholically while Betty fails to suppress her giggle.

"You dork..."

Jughead just grins across the room, pleased with himself over the impact that his humour has on his wife. After all, it's the first thing that's been able to distract her from her mounting nerves and anxieties of checklists that she's been plagued by from the moment she got out of bed.

However, the sweet little moment is over far too soon as Betty realises that she has reached the end of her to-do list for preparing for school, forcing her to face the fact that she'd been running from and attempting to keep her mind off by staying busy.

Noticing the sudden change in Betty's mood followed by her deep sigh, Jughead looks up and over to her from across the room with concern.

"What's up? Do you need a hand with anything?"

She knows they need to get a move on and that they don't really have too much time to stand around chatting before they need to head off if they're going to make it in time for school. However, Betty can't stop herself from delaying for a moment, biting her lip, glancing over to her husband and daughter and then looking down to the ground.

"What if we, you know..."

Jughead's face scrunches up, a little smirk quirking on the corner of his lips.

"What if we, you know, what? I like to think that I know you well and I can read your thoughts, but there is a lot of different ways that sentence could go, Betts..."

"What if we see certain classmates? What if we see him?"

Crossing her arms in front of her, Betty's nerves only grow as she bites onto the corner of her lips and her voice lowers, getting to the real point as she looks over to her daughter.

"... Chuck. I don't like my chances of being able to avoid him completely, but I don't want him to see her. I don't want him anywhere near her."

Jughead exhales a sigh. His face drops as he nods, looking to the same little girl that she is.

"We will cross that bridge if we come to it. But, it doesn't matter what he might try and do or what he might say. I'm right here for you and Emi. Besides, I can't imagine him trying to own up to being Emi's father. It would only implicate himself. Honestly, I'm sure that he's just as keen to leave things as they are as we are."

As she nods at his reassuring words and logic, the smallest of smiles flickers on the corners of Betty's lips as she strides across the room, over to her husband and bounces up on her tippy-toes to press a quick kiss to his lips. Their peck is followed by one to their daughter's forehead from where she's wriggling around in Jughead's arms, before Betty speaks up again, with far more confidence this time.

"Love you both. Let's do this."

Then, Betty returns to madly carriving out the final things she needs to do for the day ahead as Jughead rocks Emi, offering to help her as he follows her manic footsteps, racing here and there and everywhere frantically as her nerves continue to rise over the day ahead...

#

Betty's first period of the day had been a free, giving her a chance to prepare herself and Emi mentally and physically for the day ahead given that she is taking the big step of returning to school and bringing her newborn with her for the very first time.

Then, with Betty waiting outside Jughead's classroom for as soon as his first lesson ended, their daughter was handed from one parent to the other like a little baton with Jughead having a free period while Betty had to race off for her first class the day.

During the first break of the day, Betty had to feed Emi between lessons before she and Jughead both had a double of English together, with Emi sleeping through like a dream.

However, while Emi herself had been well-behaved and easy to manage for the majority of the day thus far, her presence on her first day at school had caused more of a stir seeing as her parents classmates hare developed a sudden interest in her questionable paternity.

By lunch time, the rumours had began coming in thick and fast, circling around the school as more and more people met and saw little Emi for the very first time...

As a result, the wagers and whispers had begun between Jughead and Betty's classmates with Trev Brown, Chuck Clayton, a student from Greendale and Pop Tate's slightly older nephew, Finn being raised as potential fathers... Basically anyone other than Jughead.

However, Trev had been pinned as the most likely candidate and strongest possibility according to their classmates after a couple of then noted that they'd remembered catching him on a date with Betty at Pop's several months earlier. From there, the speculation had spread like wildfire with more and more classmates chiming in and adding to the story, saying how tense they looked and in hindsight, someone is sure that they heard them discussing a baby heatedly.

Poor Trev was barely aware of the sudden rumours encompassing him before it had spread throughout the school that he was strongly suspected as Betty's baby daddy.

However, while most people were keeping their suspicions hushed and whispered, there is one person in that school who faces it head on, blazing up to the table of one group in particular.

"Well, well, well Betty Coops... I never took you for such a bike. So who's the daddy?"

"Me. Now get lost" Jughead hisses with a scowl, speaking up and defending his wife who he can sense is feeling uncomfortable under the pressure and unwanted attention, looking away and fidgeting with the sleeve of her sweater.

Reggie Mantle then turns his focus to Jughead this time, lowering his voice as though Jughead isn't sitting at a crowded table.

"Yo, Wednesday Addams, I'll shout you a DNA test. Call it a bro helping out a bro... I think your missus might have something to tell you."

Jughead ignores his classmate, laying one hand to the small of Betty's back, reassuringly, from where he's seated next to her, silently reminding her that he's still right there, beside her. Then, from where he's holding her in his free arm, Jughead presses a kiss to the very top of his newborn's head. It's as if he's compensating for his classmate's slanderous words and even though they would mean nothing to his infant daughter, he just wants her to know... He wants her to always know.

Then, this time it is Archie who pipes up and comes to his friend's defence.

"Leave it, Reg. She's Betty and Jughead's baby, spread the word."

Glancing back to the newborn in Jughead's arms, Reggie scoffs incredulously, shaking his head in disbelief, muttering something under his breath as he walks off.

However, even after he's long gone, Reggie's question leaves an uncomfortable silence that remains, shrouding the group. After all, despite their own strong suspicions, their friends still don't even know the answer to the question that is now on everyone lips...

#

After lunch and for the final double period of the day, Jughead has psychology while Betty has a health lesson, taking Emi with her. As the girls enter the classroom and settle in, Emi is fast asleep in her mother's arms and Betty is hoping that all going well, she should stay that way after her lunchtime feed.

Nearing the end of one, long day, Betty can just about see the finish line. The family of three have almost made it through their first day, victorious.

The end is in sight...

However, Betty had not counted on the presence of the tall, buff man that has just walked through the classrooms doorway as confident and arrogant as ever, just after the class begins. After all, for the majority of the year, Chuck has been tied up with training and extracurriculars that had coincided with this period and study line, meaning that he was almost always absent from the class only returning regularly while she'd been away from school over the last month.

Despite his air of arrogance, as he catches sight of his classmate in the middle of the room and, more so, the sleeping pink bundle in her arms, it makes Chuck skip a beat, proceeding to catch him off guard as much as it does her. In fact, if you are standing close enough to him in that moment, you'd be able to hear the way Chuck's breath hitches and the way he swallows before he continues on as normal, eyes locked on Betty and the baby in her arms.

As the jock walks past Betty's seat, he slows his pace down to look down at the two of them for as long as he can, as discreetly as he can, while he is making his way back to his seat. His lingering steps leave Betty holding her breath uncomfortably.

Then, even though he is sitting two rows behind her and her daughter, Betty still can't shake the way Chuck's presence makes her skin crawl. So, distracting herself, Betty pours all her focus onto the teacher standing in front of the whiteboard, though the words feel blurred and the noise sounds distant. She's just focusing on pulling through and steadying her shallow breathing as she pats Emi's back rhythmically, soothing both herself and her daughter.

However, despite her best efforts to turn her focus away from the one man in particular sitting behind her, Betty can't shake the feeling of being watched. Several times she turns around and glances behind herself, just catching Chuck as he looks away or quickly shifts his focus. So, she holds her little girl closer and tighter in her arms, feeling the instinctual maternal defensiveness in her, despite her own distress as her heart pounds -deep and heavy- from within her, each thump a constant, persistent reminder of her fear.

However, she fights through it, she pulls through and each moment feels that little easier... That is until a single hand goes flying up from a few rows behind her, not stopping for permission to speak before he talks over the teacher, disrupting the class.

"Sir. Excuse me, sir. I can't see the board. I need to move closer to the front."

The teacher rolls his eyes and waves a hand, signalling for Chuck to do as he has asked, taking the path of least resistance with the troublesome student. So, with a grin of victory, Chuck quickly gathers up his bag and notepad that he hadn't touched from where it sat on the desk like a decoration before he makes his way a few rows closer to the front, quickly dumping his stuff as he claims the spare seat beside Betty.

As he lowers himself into the seat beside her that is far, far too close for comfort, Betty's entire body grows tense as she instantly shifts her daughter from one shoulder, before propping Emi up against the other, instinctively, further from Chuck. The young mother is holding her daughter as far away from her biological father as she possibly can in that moment as she clutches her from where she's nestled against her shoulder, laying one gentle hand to the back of Emi's head.

Protecting Emi from Chuck's view, Betty doesn't want him to see her... She doesn't want him to see her big, beautiful, brown eyes. She doesn't want him to see her full, ruby-red lips. She doesn't want him to see her adorable, rosy, chubby cheeks. She doesn't want him to see any part of Emi at all, ever, doing everything she can to keep her from his sight, from his touch, from everything.

Once she has ensured that her daughter is safe and away from the man beside her, Betty then focuses on the fear that is pulsing through her veins at the predicament that she is in, firmly lodged between a rock and a hard place... After all, she's safe in the middle of the classroom filled with their fellow students. Despite how uncomfortably close they are to Chuck, they're safe. However, if she responds to her natural inclination to get up and get out of there by mustering up some excuse about needing to change Emi or settle the already sleeping baby, not only will Betty be giving in to him in the power play, but she'd also be exposing herself to the possibility of him following them out and into the empty corridors.

Consequently, needing to make a tough decision, Betty decides to stay there in her seat deciding to try and ride the storm out, holding her daughter protectively with her mama-bear mode in full force as she keeps her eyes fixed straight ahead, trying to appear as though she is not perplexed by Chuck's presence at all, despite her heart pounding within her.

Then, after a few minutes of Betty remaining strong and focused, out of the corner of her eye she notes the boyish scrawl etched on the corner of the pad of paper that is being pushed towards her deliberately in order to catch her attention.

Do I need to sign anything? Birth certificate or something?

Betty's eyes quickly glance down for just a moment, long enough to simply get the gist of the note before she once again turns her attention away from him, fixing it firmly on her teacher standing at the front of the classroom.

Betty does not say a single thing about the fact that no, he doesn't, and that 'Forsythe Pendleton Jones III' is already printed on the birth certificate of little Emilie Elizabeth Jones. So, instead of saying or doing a single thing in acknowledgement of Chuck's note, Betty does her best to turn her attention away from him, attempting to seem disinterested as she focuses on her keeping her nervous shaking as inconspicuous as possible.

Then a dark hand wielding a blue pen returns to the corner of the paper as it scrawls for another brief moment before exposing it for her to see once again.

I know she's mine... Can we talk?

Chuck gives it a few moments, waiting for some response or some acknowledgement that he never receives as Betty maintains her strong ice queen stature and gaze, looking away from his words.

Then, once again, the same hand returns to the paper for just a mere moment before being shifted closer to the young mother to see.

She's beautiful Betty

Betty's stomach churns. She fears that she's at risk of losing her lunch from the three, simple, and completely true words.

She struggles to believe that without the monster beside her -the object of her nightmares- she wouldn't have the perfect, innocent baby girl who she loves with all heart, in her arms right now, if it wasn't for him... How can something so wonderful come from, as a result of, something so, horribly awful?

Betty's heart continues to pound. Now, she's doing everything in her power to block the man beside of her out and away from her mind, feeling increasingly nauseous as she sits there, fighting every urge that she has to get up and leave as fast as she can. So, she focuses on Emi, she focuses on the teacher, she focuses on the tiny dot of black marker on the corner of the whiteboard that hadn't been wiped off properly. Betty focuses on absolutely anything she can that will steal her attention away for even just a second.

Before entering that class, Betty was optimistic and hopeful and the end of a long, first day back was in sight. But, now, Betty cannot wait for that moment to come. She cannot wait for the bell to mark the end of the day and she cannot wait for the moment to come where she can slip out and follow the flood of other students, carrying her away from her attacker safely...

#

The second that that school bell goes, Betty is up and out of her seat, carrying her daughter out of that door as fast as she can. She's holding Emi close and tight as she glides her way through her classmates, ignoring the calls of her name behind her. If Chuck really wanted to catch up with her, she knows he could have and she knows that he's fast enough to catch up to her. However, after she's made her way out into the school corridor and after turning the corner to head for the front doors of the school, the voice behind her comes to a stop as he seems to surrender in his attempts.

Still, Betty keeps her pace up, carefully rushing through the school, ignoring all the looks from her fellow students that she is getting for carrying her baby around. Betty keeps on walking and she keeps on ignoring, until she sees her saving grace in the comforting sight of a woolen crown beanie where she had agreed to meet her husband out the front of the school to walk home.

Taking a deep breath, Betty adjusts Emi in her arms, allowing her to swipe at her damp, glassy eyes with the sleeve of her sweater before she marches over to Jughead who spots her when she's just a few steps away. His face just lights up at the sight of the two girls, pressing a kiss to Betty's lips and offering to take Emi's nappy bag that contains Betty's schoolbooks, too.

"How'd you girls go?" Jughead checks as he peers down at the little pink bundle in Betty's arms. Emi had started waking up in the last ten minutes of the final class of the day, waking gently after just a few whimpers. Seeing her big brown eyes looking around hazily as she blinks slowly from within her mother's loving arms, Jughead can't resist his smile at seeing Emi's sleepy disposition. Then, the new dad reaches out to gently touch and stroke the newborn's plump cheeks with the pad of his thumb. Judging by her routine so far, Jughead expects that they'll probably get another few minutes of peace from Emi before she'll get her afternoon grumps and be looking for more food.

"Fine..." Betty says simply, not quite winning Jughead over with her unconvincing answer. He gives her a once-over, looking at her a little more intently with a furrowed brow.

"Betts? What's wrong? Did something happen during class?"

Betty suppresses the sigh that she wants to exhale. Instead she just shakes her head, looking up to the boy who is standing beside her, watching her closely.

"We're fine."

Despite her words, Betty can't help the way that her eyes grow a little more serious, just as Jughead's do, too... He's not quite sure that he believes what she's telling him. After all, her words aren't convincing him and the look on her face is doing little to reassure him either. So, Jughead's eyes narrow with concern as he questions her reassurance with an incredulous glance.

"Betts?"

Betty attempts to tell Jughead the very same thing once again, enunciating one word in a manner that does nothing to alleviate her husband's growing concerns.

"Everything is fine..."

So, what started off a little light and fluffy took a pretty strong turn. Not only has Chuck seen Emi, but now Betty knows that he definitely knows she's their daughter. And, it's only going to get more complicated with their classmates growing suspicious over Emi's biological father, which their closest friend's certainly haven't forgotten about either. I hope that Betty & Jughead managing with school comes off as realistic. Although it's an unusual situation, I knew of one girl in the year below me in high school who brought briefly before going to a specialist school for teen mums. I just didn't think that Riverdale the demand for a specialist teen-parent high school was that high, haha...

Also, exciting announcement! In the lead up to the upcoming mystery, I have made another video trailer to tease what's ahead. There's a big few chapters coming up with the mystery beginning to kick off in about three chapters time. To see the trailer, either visit the link on my profile, search 'The Secrets Deep Within Times Up Story Trailer' or visit my tumblr (riverheadCF) to see the video.

Thank you to flowingwiththeriver, violet1429, hopelessromantic618 and 2x guests for reviewing the last chapter. Also, to the guest who left the idea in their review - thank you! I love that suggestion and I'll definitely be weaving that into an upcoming chapter.

Next chapter: Chuck turns the tables on Betty in a power play that doesn't stay between just them, leaving her completely stunned...