Author's Note : Okay, updates will not usually happen this quickly. I was feeling kind of inspired this weekend. I'm enjoying tinkering around with Riverdale, I hope you're enjoying it too. Please let me know either way. I truly welcome all feedback. If you like where I'm going, let me know. If you think I got something wrong, let me know. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

Chapter Four Song : 'breathin' by Ariana Grande

Disclaimer : Don't own the characters. Just really like them.

CHAPTER FOUR :

The bell above the door to Pop's gave a cheerful ding as Kevin pulled it open and held it for Betty and Veronica to enter, arm in arm. Betty took a deep breath, inhaling the wonderful scent of grilling onion and frying potatoes. It was amazing how quickly this diner, with its red vinyl seats, neon lights and comforting food smells had become like home to her. Reggie spotted some teammates in a far booth. Betty recognized this only from their blue and yellow letterman jackets and not because she knew any of their faces. After a quick kiss to Veronica's temple, Reggie darted over to go talk to them. Kevin caught Veronica's wrist in one hand and Betty's in the other and hurried them into a vacant booth at the other side of the diner away from the football team.

"Okay," Kevin said, casting a glance over to where Reggie stood laughing with the group of fellow Bulldogs, "while we have a moment alone, guess who propositioned me in the bathroom at open house. I'll give you a hint, his name is Moose but a certain appendage is more horselike."

"Oh, my God," Veronica hissed, leaning in close, "Moose!"

Betty instinctively leaned across the table as though in on the conspiracy, though she had no idea who they were talking about.

Veronica's forehead crinkled in confusion, "Wait, isn't he dating..."

"Midge!" Kevin finished for her, "I know. Adorable little beard."

"So," Betty interjected, "does she know she's a beard."

"Definitely not. Sweet girl. Little bit stony." Veronica explained.

"What's stony?" Reggie asked, sliding into the booth beside Veronica while simultaneously succeeding in wedging Kevin against the window. This left the spot beside Betty vacant...for Archie she supposed.

Pop appeared with milkshakes and a large plate of cheese sticks and two smaller plates of fries. Betty didn't hesitate to grab fry a pop it into her mouth. It burned her tongue and lips, but as the salty flavor hit her taste buds she easily decided it was so worth it the brief flash of pain.

"The quarry," Veronica said in answer to Reggie's question.

For what may have been the first time in his life in Betty's brief, but confident estimation, Reggie got to feel like the intellectual superior. "Well...yeah." He said.

The bell above the door chimed and Archie's voice rang out not a second later, "Betty, I want you to meet somebody."

Still chewing, Betty's head began to swivel just as a familiar voice sent a deep, horrified shiver down the center of her spine. "Betty?" The voice asked.

She inhaled, pulling half chewed French fry down her larynx. She choked, coughed and sputtered and finally managed to catch her breath before forcing a smile to her face and turning to look over her shoulder.

It took every bit of will power in her being to keep from letting that smile fall as she rose to her feet from the booth, just this side of unsteady and stood to face the two boys who had just entered the diner together. Archie stood there like a conquering hero and by his side was none other than Jughead Jones. He was wearing the leather jacket he had been wearing in the car the first day she had seen him. He wore it well. His thick dark hair was mussed and standing in all directions, in need of fingers to comb through it. Betty's chest ached at the sight. The half smile on Jughead's face was sardonic as those green eyes darted back and forth between herself and Archie. It felt like that first moment again, as though everything had slipped into slow motion.

"Jughead Jones," Archie said, resting an easy arm around the other boy's shoulders, "my girlfriend, Betty Cooper."

The word went off like an alarm blaring in her head over and over and over. Girlfriend? When had she agreed to that? They had kissed. Once. And really, if you wanted to break it down into semantics, he had kissed her. Her participation had been minimal. When and how did that equate to being someone's girlfriend? Her chest constricted and it became increasingly difficult to pull oxygen into her lungs. The look on Jughead's face was somewhere between resentment and resignation.

"Betty, this is Jughead, my best friend."

Betty wanted to throw up. Of course Archie was Jughead's best friend.

Jughead looked to Archie with a slightly raised brow, "This is your girlfriend." It was a statement, not a question. He had a way of doing that; of taking something most people would turn into a rhetorical question and lay it out flat and bare for all the world to examine. When those green eyes swung back in Betty's direction, she wasn't smiling anymore. "Of course you are. That...makes total sense."

Jughead stepped forward and held out his hand to shake, "Nice to see you again, Betty."

Archie didn't miss the word choice, "Again?"

"Yeah," Jughead said as he stepped back and shoved both hands into the pockets of his jeans, "We met briefly at open house. She's gonna come write for the Blue and Gold."

A gasp sounded behind her and Betty looked over her shoulder to see Veronica, shameless eavesdropper that she was, clapping her hands together and smiling ear to ear. Kevin was grinning at her as well. Reggie was eating French fries.

"That's awesome!" Archie exclaimed, sounding so genuinely happy that Betty felt a knot of guilt tighten in her belly and her fingers, of their own accord, curled in on themselves. Archie moved away from Jughead and closed the distance between herself and him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and kissing her quick on the lips. Like a habit. Like they had done it a million times before. At least, she was certain that that is what it would look like to an outsider. To Jughead. But they hadn't! She wanted to scream it at the world. They hadn't kissed but one other time! All of this was wrong!

"Okay," Jughead said, giving her and Archie and the others at the table a quick wave, "you kids enjoy your burgers. I'm out."

"Where you going, Jug?" Archie asked, "You're not staying?"

"Nah, I'm supposed to meet Sweet Pea and Fangs in ten."

"Oh," Archie nodded, "Well, you should all come back and hang out."

Jughead gave a thoughtless, absent minded nod, "Yeah, maybe. Let me see what they were stressing about on the phone earlier. See you all on Monday!"

And just like that he vanished. Betty couldn't stop staring at the door, even as Archie guided her back into sitting in the booth she had risen from. Her mind was swirling with the encounter, making her nauseous and dizzy. She needed to latch on to something to calm and steady herself. So, she picked Jughead's words and went with them.

"Sweet Pea and Fangs?" She asked no one and everyone at the table.

"Oh," Kevin was the first to speak, happy to share gossip, "Jughead is the leader of the Southside Serpents."

"Their Serpent King," Veronica said without a beat skipping between the two.

"Technically, the Serpent Prince, but the heir apparent in any case. He's destined to take over when his old man steps down." Kevin continued, "They're kind of a gang."

"He's a member of a gang?" Betty couldn't keep little tremble of fear out of her voice. That's what it was. Fear. Not arousal. Not the bad boy fantasy induced lust. Fear.

"Well, yeah, but it isn't really as bad as it sounds." Archie defended his best friend.

"That's true," Veronica said, "Most of the serpents are just kids who formed what Jug likes to call a community. Somewhere to belong."

"The others...well..." Kevin searched for the correct word, "they're..."

Reggie supplied it for him, "Criminals."

"But Jug is trying to put a stop to all of that," Veronica was fast to say, "He's smart."

"Scary smart." Archie added.

"And really," Kevin said, not knowing the gravity of the words he was about to utter, "it is just a matter of time before Jughead gets his way."

Betty couldn't stop her gaze from drifting to the window, just in time to see the singular taillight of a motorcycle make a hard right out of Pop's parking lot a speed off down the road. Where would he go, she wondered. She had seen the confusion on his face when Archie had introduced her, followed quickly by...disappointment? Her heart beat faster at the idea that maybe he had been disappointed at the thought of her being with someone else. Was that conceited? After all, they had only just met. But in that brief encounter, she had felt something almost electric crackle in the air between them. There had been a connection. She had't imagined it. And the look in his eyes when he found her in the diner told her that he had felt it too.

Dammit.

Archie's arm dropped heavily around her shoulders, like an anchor pinning her in place. She fought off the almost overwhelming urge to shrug out from under the embrace. To shove him away and tell him to never touch her again. He didn't deserve her scorn or even her resentment. He was only acting on feelings that he believed to be shared between them. He had no way of knowing that she didn't return his enthusiasm for their 'relationship' because she had led him to believe that she did. On the left was the rock, on the right was the hard place and sandwiched smack dab in the middle was one Betty Cooper.

The four people around her continued excited conversation about the upcoming school year, dances, football games and catching the performance of some cat band they all gushed over. Betty couldn't focus on what they were saying. It was Kevin who finally broke the easy flow of conversation.

With one last, noisy slurp of his straw, Kevin finished off his vanilla milkshake. Then he cast a glance down at his watch, "Love to continue but I've got a rendezvous to keep at Sweetwater River!"

Author's Note : Okay, that's it. I know it was brief, but it was important. As I will always ask, please review. Please let me know what you think. That's all I ask. Thanks!