Last chapter! Hope you all enjoyed the story!
Somehow, Betty manages to put the incident at the pool party to the back of her mind for the rest of the weekend. Archie is pretty good at distracting her.
But Monday comes, and she can't avoid the truth any longer. She knows Veronica will still hate her, and probably Jughead, but she's kind of hoping else will have forgotten already and moved on to something else.
No such luck. It seems like word has spread around the whole school, and not one single person is taking her side. She and Archie walk in to school together, not even holding hands, just side by side, and Betty can feel the dirty looks and whispers as they walk by.
Archie notices to. "You okay?" he whispers.
Betty nods. "It's fine. I don't care what they think." She's only partly lying.
She keeps her head down in her first couple of classes, trying not to draw attention to herself. The last thing she wants is to make a scene. She's thankful she hasn't seen Veronica at all today.
At lunch, she finds Kevin sitting alone at a table and goes to join him. Even if everyone else is against her, surely Kevin will still be on her side. He frowns at her as she sits down across the table from him.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"Eating my lunch?"
Kevin huffs. He grabs his tray and stands up. Betty watches him, confused. He shrugs. "Sorry, Betty."
"Seriously, Kevin? Even you hate me?" Betty says, hurt.
Kevin shakes his head. "I don't hate you. But you're the one in the wrong, and I don't want anyone to think I'm on your side."
He leaves to find another empty table, leaving Betty sitting alone. Archie appears a minute later.
"Hey," he says, sliding onto the seat next to her, his hand brushing her back as he does so. "How was class?"
"Fine," Betty sighs. "But no one wants to be seen with me."
"I want to be seen with you," Archie says.
"Which is apparently why no one else does," Betty groans.
"You want me to leave?" Archie tilts his head.
"No! God, no." Betty rubs his knee. "Screw what they think, right?"
"Right."
It's easy to say in the moment. But then Veronica walks through the cafeteria doors and Betty's stomach sinks. Betty watches her, but Veronica doesn't even acknowledge her presence as she walks past. Cheryl, however does. She stops in front of Betty and Archie, hands on her hips, ready to cause a scene. Betty glares at her, daring her to try something. Archie tenses beside her.
"Well if it isn't the couple of the hour," Cheryl smirks. "We're all taking bets on how long you two will last. My bet is two weeks."
"Screw you, Cheryl," Betty snaps. "Don't you have someone else's life to ruin?"
"I think you're the one ruining lives, homewrecker."
"Leave her alone, Cheryl," Archie says coolly.
Cheryl turns to him. "Oh, you think you're off the hook, cheater?"
Betty opens her mouth to respond, but Archie places a hand on her knee, as if to tell her he's got this. He stands up. The whole cafeteria is already watching anyway.
"Say whatever you want about me, Cheryl," Archie says. "But I never cheated on Veronica."
Cheryl eyes him with amusement. "You really believe that, don't you?"
"It's true."
"Right, so, you never did anything with Betty while you were with Veronica that you couldn't tell Veronica about?" Cheryl asks. Archie looks uncertain. "Never… held her hand? Kissed her forehead or her cheek? Slept in her bed? Never wrote her song? Told her you loved her? Thought about her while you were fucking Veronica?"
Betty glances at Archie. His face is bright red. His jaw ticks. He's unable to refute any of Cheryl's accusations. Betty knows Cheryl is probably only guessing. But Archie's reaction tells Cheryl she's right, and she purses her lips, looking like a cat who got the cream. She's won this round.
"I thought as much," Cheryl says. "So, you never screwed Betty. There are plenty of other ways to cheat."
Betty swallows. Is Cheryl right? Had they been cheating on their partners the whole time, even by simply acknowledging the feelings between them?
"You're both despicable," Cheryl says. She flicks her long red hair as she stalks off to join Veronica and Toni. Archie sinks back to his seat.
As it turns out, Cheryl really is taking bets on how long Betty and Archie will last. There's a list stuck on Betty's locker after school. She stares at it a moment before ripping it off. But she can't stop herself from reading it.
How Long Will Archie and Betty's "relationship" last?
Cheryl Blossom – 2 weeks
Veronica – 1 week
Toni – idk probably like a day
Ethel – 1 week
Reggie – 1 month
Dilton – 2 weeks
Jughead – who the fuck cares
Fangs – 6 days
Sweet Pea – 5 days
Kevin – 2 and a half weeks
Betty stops when she gets to Kevin, her eyes welling with tears. Even fucking Dilton Doiley is on this list. Does everyone in this school think her relationship with Archie is just some dumb fling?
She grabs her things and marches out of the school, tears blurring her vision.
"Betty!" she hears Archie call. She doesn't stop. She walks faster. She doesn't want him to know about this.
He doesn't catch her until they're a block away from school. Probably on purpose. She's sure he could have caught her sooner if he'd tried. He grabs her arm and she turns to face him. As soon as she does, the dam breaks and she starts to cry. He immediately pulls her into his arms.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," he says. But it's not, and Betty doesn't feel like being comforted right now. She pushes him away. "What's wrong?" he asks.
Betty shoves the list in his face. "They're all rooting for us to fail!" she sobs. Archie takes the list and his eyes scan over it. He looks back at her, scrunching the list into a ball.
"They're idiots," he says.
"But what if they're right?" Betty asks desperately. She probably sounds hysterical. "Maybe we should just end it now, before anyone else gets hurt. At least Cheryl won't win the bet."
"No," Archie shakes his head. "Betty," he says. He places his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me." She does. "What's done is done. I know it's hard right now, but they're all going to get over it eventually. Just give it time. And in the meantime, I need you. I need you to make this all worth it, because I love you and I refuse to listen to what they say. They're wrong. They're wrong, okay?"
Betty nods, though she's still crying.
"Remember what you told me? We deserve to be happy. We have to stop feeling guilty for choosing our own happiness."
Betty nods again. "Okay," she says.
"Okay?"
"Okay. I love you."
Archie pulls her back into his arms and this time she lets him, because she needs him and he's the only thing in her world right now that makes sense.
After another day of people avoiding her, whispering behind her back, or just flat out calling a homewrecker, Betty takes refuge in the Blue & Gold office. Though she's pretty sure no one will even read the stupid paper now. Neither Kevin nor Jughead will write for her now, and though she tries to write something herself, nothing feels genuine. She's about to give up when there's a knock at the door. Betty looks up to see Veronica standing in the doorway. Betty eyes her nervously, unsure if she's about to get chewed out or if this is an olive branch.
"Hey, V," Betty says softly.
Veronica glares at her. "Don't call me that. You've lost all best friend privileges and that includes nicknames."
Not an olive branch then. Betty swallows. "Why are you here?"
Veronica shuts the door. "I just wanted to hear it from you. Why you did it. What excuses you could possibly give me for betraying your best friend."
Betty opens her mouth, but she's at a loss for words. "I'm sorry," she says lamely. "I really never meant to hurt you."
"Well you did. God, how could you?" Veronica says, angry. "You knew how much I loved him. That I'd never loved anyone else before. Did our friendship mean nothing to you?"
"Of course not."
"You thought you could have everything, didn't you? The guy, the best friend. I don't know why I'm surprised. You only ever think about yourself, Betty."
Betty says nothing. Veronica stares at Betty with contempt.
"Just so you know, he's never going to love you like he loved me. He's going to wake up one day and realise that. And then it will be over, and you'll be left all alone because you alienated all of your friends. It might be tomorrow or it might be a year from now, but trust me on this. Archie doesn't know what he really wants."
Veronica turns to go, but Betty calls out after her. "I loved him first, you know."
Veronica turns back. "What?"
"You can sit up there on your high horse all you want, but I loved him first. I never loved anyone before him either. I loved him for years before you came along," Betty says.
Veronica stares at her, as if she can't quite believe Betty is actually standing up for herself.
"I know I hurt you, and I hurt Jughead, and I know what I did was wrong. But you knew I loved him, and I think you knew there was always a chance he loved me back. I know you're mad at me. But I think you're just as mad at yourself," Betty shrugs.
Veronica snorts. "Whatever, Betty. Have a nice life," she snaps, and then she storms out of the room.
Betty's heart pounds. She doesn't know if Veronica will ever forgive her. But she had to say it. Archie was right, they can't go around feeling guilty forever. They can't let the demons at this school dictate their happiness forever.
She finds Archie at his locker after school. She marches up to him and he barely has time to give her a smile before she grabs him and drags his lips to hers. His arms circle around her and he kisses her back. Her shoves her up against the locker, devouring her like no one is watching. Betty forgets they're at school until someone yells, "Get a room!" and Archie quickly pulls away, his face red.
"Whoops," he says. "I got carried away."
"It's okay," Betty laughs. "Me too."
"What was that for, anyway? I kind of thought you wanted to stay inconspicuous at school."
Betty shrugs. "We're happy. Let's rub it in their faces."
Archie grins. "Okay," he says. And then he's kissing her again, and they're tuning out the rest of the world, because in the end, they only really need each other.
