Izzy didn't know a lot about Betty Cooper, just the fact that her parents owed the town newspaper and that Cheryl couldn't stand her on most days; as Cheryl described her as 'practically a Stepford wife in the making'. The last known fact about Betty was that she had been dating her best friend for a couple of months now- three months to be exact.
She really didn't have any preconceived notion about the girl as she took everything both Jughead and Cheryl said about Betty with a grain of salt; with Jughead being in love with her and the relationship being so new she was assuming that they were still in the 'honeymoon' stage of the relationship and with Cheryl being the queen of snark and shade she knew whatever description she had gotten from her would be at least eighty percent wrong.
While Izzy was more than happy to keep a separate group of friends from Jughead's but she knew that Betty meant a lot to her friend and he would most likely want the two of them to at the very least be friendly with each other.
While everyone got situated in the living room Archie went upstair to help make sure that his dad was as comfortable as possible; he had taken to making sure that Mr. Andrews was as well looked after as he had been in the hospital. It was as if the spirit of St. Camillus de Lellis himself had possessed Archie, nothing was too big or too small a task when it came to Fred's comfort and safety.
"So how did the self proclaimed loner and the school's social butterfly become friends?" Veronica asked taking apart of the two seater couch in the living room, leaving the other half for Archie to claim whenever he got back down.
"Many, many moons ago-" Jughead began dramatically throwing his hands over Betty's shoulder pulling her into his side while relaxing into the other couch.
"-About ten years to be exact" Izzy interrupted getting comfortable in the one man armchair she had move to claim after Mr and Mrs Andrews had gone upstairs.
"As I was saying" Jughead continued throwing Izzy a fond look at her interruption. "Crazy Pants and I both wanted the-"
"I'm sorry Crazy Pants? Should I be worried?" Veronica interrupted wondering what brought about the nickname.
"No, no. She just put itching powder in a couple of guys pants when we were kids, I thought it was a crazy thing to do and the name sort of stuck around." Veronica's question caused him to reminisce about the day he truly knew that he would forever be friends with Izzy Tate.
Izzy had overheard some of the boys at school starting a rumour making fun of Jughead for living in a trailer claiming that he must be riddled with all types of bugs and so she had used her pocket money to buy itching powder and waited for the earliest opportunity she had to use it, which turned out to only be a few days later while everyone was enjoying P.E class Izzy had asked to be excused to use the bathroom and had sneaked into the boys changing room to dump said itching powder on all their regular clothes.
Seven year old Izzy had bought enough itching powder to keep going for months but since she wasn't sure which clothes belonged to which boy she ended up using her entire supply in the locker room that same afternoon leaving Jughead as the only unaffected boy in their grade.
It was that single but extreme action taken on his behalf that made Jughead vow to always be a friend to Izzy Tate; sure it was a crazy thing to do but Jughead couldn't help but feel happy that he had someone who would go to such extreme lengths for him.
The "Afternoon of the itching boys" was what made Izzy become a best friend, it also made Jughead vow to himself to always be there for Izzy, which was why he hadn't said anything when he saw the ungodly amount of itching powder wrappings stuffed in her school bag after realising she had just punished every boy in their grade in order to get a select few on his behalf.
"Don't worry Vee, nicknames are strange, my mum gave her the nickname of Hurricane Tate a couple of years ago." Betty added sharing one of the few facts she had learnt about Izzy.
"Cause she leave devastation of broken hearted men behind or..." Veronica trailed off. She could quietly admit to herself that if she was a less secure person she would have been jealous of the brown haired beauty in front of her; Izzy was what you would call a classic beauty, tall, amazing skin, hair to die for (even when tied up in a bun like now) and a smile so sweet in nature when you saw it you couldn't help smiling back, even looking as tired as she did Izzy still radiated beauty.
Jughead decided to once again explain the meaning behind the nickname "It's more like she is a force to be reckoned with and she doesn't care who or what is in her way one she sets her mind on something she basically bulldoze everything and everyone until she runs out of steam. She is literally the most stubborn person you would ever meet in your life" Jughead proudly stated.
"And that's how I got Fp to take us to our first midnight screening so you better start appreciating me and my stubbornness" Izzy ribbed sticking her tongue out.
"Back to the story, Izzy and I both wanted the same dvd from the library but neither one was willing to give it up so after she kicked me and I pushed her my mom and Pops decided that it would be best for us to watch the movie together, so we went to the Tate house where mum put in the DVD, Pop made popcorn and by the time we had finished watching Mulan we had fallen in love with movies and badass heroines."
"But it kept happening, me and Jug would both try to reserve the same film or when one of us wanted it the other would already have it so after weeks of having to watch movies together we became friends. The sacred movie tradition continues about once a month with him coming over or me going to his to watch a movie unless he becomes interested in investigating murders and abandons me" Izzy said wiping a non existent tear from her eyes.
x.x.x.x
Archie slowly walked back into his living room after going upstair to check on his dad to the sound of an age old argument once again being debated between Jughead Jones and Izzy. He barely spent time with Jug when Izzy was there but he had been around both of them enough times to know what was going on even before his foot hit the bottom step.
"I already had the DVD in my hands" Izzy defended to both Betty and Veronica trying to make them understand her point of view.
"And like I said before I had already reserved the movie over the phone with the librarian" Jug countered looking at his girlfriend
"Well, old Miss Crow hadn't set it aside for you, it was still on the shelf free for any and everyone to take so it's not my fault. Mulan belonged to me."
"No, it was mine; you can't punish me for something someone else didn't do when they were meant to" Jughead argued with a massive grin on his face.
This was the first actual indication Jughead had gotten all week long that
Izzy might just manage to come out of the shooting and be okay.
"Possession is nine-tenths of the law you heathen" Izzy laughed out. It felt good to go back to their routine.
"Heathen? Has someone been spending too much time with the Ice Queen cause that was nearly an insult"
"Oh bite me Jones" Izzy snapped feeling the grin spreading across her face.
"Enough arguing about that damn movie already; I heard it all when we were six I don't need to hear it when we are sixteen or so help me god I am kicking you both out of here" Archie joked.
This was good.
She felt good.
Maybe she should have gone to see Fred days ago, she knew that coming here today wasn't going to be a magical cure for her nightmares and fears but seeing and talking to Fred had really help her.
When she thought of Fred he was no longer bleeding out while she frantically tried to stench the flow of blood now when she thought of Fred he was sitting in this living room next to his wife expressing his concern about how she was.
x.x.x.x
By the time the street light came on outside Izzy was already making her way home, she had the rest of the 'cats coming over to spend the night.
Although she could admit to dreading going to the Andrews' house in the afternoon by the time she left she felt a lot better, mostly because she had seen Fred looking alive and well but she did enjoy the company provided by the other teens.
For being a relative stranger to more than half the group they all managed to spend three hours laughing, joking and talking without any awkward pauses or silence.
Jughead clearly had good taste in friends.
Izzy found it sweet the way Jughead and Betty came out to see her off, as far as first introductions goes Betty didn't seem like such a bad person.
x.x.x.x
Now was the time Betty had to talk to her boyfriend while they had some privacy watching as Izzy drove off back down the road. They had been playing phone tag all week and his attention was else where this afternoon.
"We haven't had a chance to talk all week and I know I shouldn't even be thinking about this not with everything that's going on but the other night Jug. You wearing the jacket, what does that mean?"
"Nothing Betty, it meant that there was a bunch of my dad's friends outside my trailer wanting me to wear his jacket so I wore the jacket" automatically down playing the incident to his girlfriend, he had seen the mixture of fear and disapproval on her face when he had worn that jacket over a week ago.
"But it fit you like a glove Juggie, like you were made for it. It's only been a week and I already feel like I am losing you to them. When was the last time we went so long without talking to each other." Betty pushed worried that her boyfriend might be tempted into the snake life-style now that his link to the Northside has been cut to only the relationship he kept with her, Archie and apparently Izzy.
"It's okay" Jug tried to reassure her. "It was a jacket that happened to be my size, with everything that has happen with the shooting, Archie any Izzy struggling to cope and my dad being in jail I am not planning on stressing over wearing a jacket especially if it gives me some protection in the Southside. I get that we need to find a way to stay in touch now that we can't just see each other at school but that has nothing to do with being a Serpent; we just go to different schools now and we need to adjust to that. "
"Protection? Is everything okay?" she questioned even more worried than she had been before.
"Everything is fine there is just a rival gang on the Southside who wants to haze the new kid, the jacket just makes them know I have the Serpents protection"
"Look can we pick this up later? I am too distracted right now to be having this conversation" he snapped.
Betty stood feeling slightly hurt by the dismissive attitude Jughead was throwing at her. "What conversation? The one where your girlfriend is worried about you?"
Sighing and taking a moment to calm down Jughead pulled her in for a quick kiss as a way of apologising for being snappish with her. "I didn't mean it like that. I just want today to be about Archie and Izzy, I have been feeling out of the loop all week being in the Southside and I just feel like I am playing catch up. I am going to see Mayor McCoy tomorrow if you want to come with me and we could go to Pops afterwards and talk about me, my dad and everything else." He stated walking Betty over to her house.
The evening was all but wrapping up, he figured Archie would enjoy a few minutes alone with Veronica before he came back to begin their own version of male bonding during the night, it was a good thing that today was a Saturday as Jughead knew he and Archie had a lot to catch up on as well.
x.x.x.x
Author's Note:
1- St. Camillus de Lellis is the patron saint of Nurses and one of the first male nurse according to google.
Thank to my new followers and reviewers. Each review and comment does bring a smile to my face. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and we now know how Jug and Izzy become friends and what she did to become a best friend.
Also she is a MENACE, I know I am the one writing this but how the hell is she punishing everyone to get like 4 boys. This character has a will of her own I am telling you.