Little Elizabeth Cooper smiled, giddy excitement only a child could encompass warmed her from head-to-toe with the thought of her father, Hal Cooper, returning home, bringing Baroness Blossom with him. Alice Cooper, Betty's mother, had tragically passed right after she was born, leaving Hal to be the one to raise Betty for the first eight years of her life. She loved him and, in her opinion, he could do no wrong. It came as little surprise to Betty that she was apprehensive about The Baroness and her two daughters, if Betty remembered correctly, infiltrating their life, undoubtedly, about to cause some changes.
Still, Betty was happy her father was bringing someone home for him to marry. He needed love too. Just then, she heard yelling and looked down, glaring in aggrievance at her best friend, Sweet Pea Connor, a young boy who's father was their stableman.
"You look like a girl, Betty!" Sweet Pea cried, tone filled with incredulity and disgust.
"That's what I am, you halfwit!" Betty yelled back, but Sweet Pea shook his head.
"Yes but today you actually look it! Bet you couldn't even fight today," his tone was goading, which Betty knew, but it still didn't stop her from flying away from the window she was leaning out of and running down the stairs and out of her home, chasing Sweet Pea down the road until she flung her body on top of his as she pushed him into the pig pen. Roughing around with each other, it wasn't until she heard the clomping of horses hooves and Maurice, her father's most entrusted driver, calling to the horses to remain steady, did Betty stop fighting. Looking up, Betty pushed herself off her friend and ran towards Maurice and the horses; ultimately ran towards her father – her biggest defender.
"Papa!" Betty cried, tone one of excitement and mirth as her father held open his arms and caught her when she took a running leap as she jumped into them. "I've missed you!"
Hal Cooper smiled down at his one and only daughter warmly and Betty reveled in the safety her father's expression alone made her feel. She knew, with one hundred percent certainty, that her father would always keep her safe; that the three new people he was bringing into their home would like Betty because there was not another alternative. Hal would never marry someone who didn't like her. As if sensing both her thoughts and trepidation, Hal squeezed her shoulder gently as he placed her back on the ground and stood up straight, turning to nod at Maurice. "Betty, darling, meet The Baroness and her two daughters."
Betty's eyes flicked towards the woman first. Tall with red hair and eyes so unlike her father's. Haughty and ice-like, were the two words Betty would use to describe them. Her smile seemed forced and stiff and even her voice lacked any type of warmth to it as she introduced herself, eyes trailing over Betty's muddy frame with a certain disdain. "Penelope Blossom, child. These are my two daughters, Midge and Cheryl."
Betty watched as two, pixie-like young girls came forward and curtsied before her. She had no idea how to do that in return and just tried her hardest, hoping to not look like a fool in the process. Based off The Baroness's scowl, Betty did not succeed in the slightest. An uncomfortable feeling of dread settled like lead in her stomach and once more, Betty was profoundly grateful she had her father to rely on to help her through this transitory period in her life.
XXX
Waking up, a startled 18-year-old Betty Cooper blinked, eyes squinting against the streaming sun shining through the rafters in the farm she had yet again fallen asleep in the night before while she had been reading Utopia, the last book her father had ever gifted to her before he died a few days later after introducing The Baroness and her two new stepsisters to her. The Evil Queen seemed like a far more fitting name for her and the spoiled princess for one of her daughters, Midge, at least. Cheryl, luckily, wasn't terrible. Just a young girl trying to please her mother and do right by everyone. Somehow, along the way, Betty, and her, earned friendly enough terms with one another, and Cheryl was never as cross with Betty as Midge was.
Midge was a nightmare.
An absolute nightmare. There was no denying that; no way to make it sound like anything other than the ugly truth: she was a never-ending thorn in Betty's side. Someone she could never shake off her when Midge was in the mindset of nagging Betty. Which, Betty mused as she stood up and stretched, that was every single moment of any given day. Sighing, Betty gave her head a little shake to rid it of the negative thoughts; there was absolutely no use in having negative thoughts this early in the morning – of having negative thoughts any time of day, really. Her father, God bless him, had always been a positive man. And, while it was certainly unfair that Batty had seen tragedy twice at far too young an age, she wasn't so self-centered she believed to be the only one who experienced pain in their life.
Betty began working on her morning chores – something The Baroness had insisted she help her with once Hal had suffered his stroke. However, Penelope had forgotten to mention that she hadn't actually planned on helping her stepdaughter or having her own daughters help her out with the house and yard work either; leaving Betty feeling entirely alone. A feeling, sadly, Betty had grown to become accustomed to. Expelling a soft sigh, Betty gave her head another little shake, reminding herself there was no use in dwelling on what was past; nothing good ever came from it and she just continued on her way out to their apple farm where she began to pick the ripest ones she could manage to find.
After picking around two dozen or so and piling them all into her apron holder, Betty leaned back on her knees, surveying the rest of the farm, before hearing thundering hooves and glanced up in alarm before spotting the Kings' men rushing past her on the wild creatures. Sighing softly at the fact that she or the house wasn't under any sort of attack, Betty fell back to doing one final check. Yet again, she was interrupted by another set of hooves. Now what? The thought filtered through her mind unbiddenly as she looked around once more, spotting a lone figure riding another horse. One of her father's horses. "Oh no, you don't." It was muttered underneath her breath as she stood up, apples scattering like leaves across the field as she bent down and picked one up, clutching it between her hands as she took aim and let it fly through the sky. "Think you can still one of my father's horses and get away with it? Think again!"
Betty kept throwing apples until one hit it's mark and struck the thief against his ankle bone. Hard. The impact caused him to stumble and the horse made a ran for it as he slipped off him, groaning as he hopped around on one foot and caused his hood to slide off in the process. Betty gasped as she immediately fell to her knees upon recognizing who she had assaulted: Forsythe Pendleton Jones II.
"My Lord, I did not see you there!" Betty cried, knowing there was not much, if anything, that would spare her a beheading but she had to try. "If you wish to use one of our horses, there's far faster ones." Betty kept her head down out of a display of respect and she felt the man, who really wasn't much older than her, shift as he paused in thought.
"I wish to escape my cage," he muttered and Betty nodded, unsure of what to say in response. Unsure if she was allowed to say anything. Then, "Here. Take these in exchange for your silence about this morning." The clinking of golden coins hitting one another sounded out into the early morning air and Betty kept her eyes down until she was certain that Prince Forsythe was gone. Looking down at the coins, she bit her lip and smiled. It was going to be a glorious morning after all.
Author's note: As many of you was on tumblr, I decided to start an Ever After/Bughead crossover. One or two things here: Cheryl is not going to be type cast as the evil stepsister and I did not make Veronica her other stepsister for that exact same reason. Clifford is dead and Midge is their other child. (We'll pretend Clifford had brown hair for the sake of the story). Anyways, enjoy! Thoughts lovely per usual! Xxx