I didn't get to see Betty until the next day. To anyone who didn't know Miss Cooper, they never would have realized something was wrong. Of our gang of friends, Veronica was the only other person I expected might pick up on it. Her eyes shone with a mischievious glint. She threw her arm behind my back and we walked side by side into the oncoming storm.

Almost immediately Cheryl Blossom came up to us. "Consider this your notice. You are no longer welcome as a Riven Vixen. If Veronica doesn't like it, then she can be let go too." She spun and took off, red hair like flames behind her. She was the head cheerleader with an unwarranted chip on her shoulder and she usually took it out on Betty.

But that wasn't the only news with Cheryl today. She held strong but apparently the word broke some time after Betty and I decided to play hooky. Jason Blossom was missing.

Jason was to high school sports what his twin sister was to cheerleading. When I thought back on the previous day, it all clicked in. He was the only jock other than Archie not there, starting a fight with me. It definitely wasn't because he was above all that since he was brothers in arms with Chuck. So what happened to Jason? As much as I disliked them all, and not just because they were rich jocks, I was intrigued. I would have investigated further if Betty and I weren't knee deep in our own mysteries.

According to Betty, her mom was angry at her for skipping school and was livid when she found out Betty suggested she had gang members in her family. Alice asked who told her that and she narrowed her eyes. Betty also said she tried to forbid her from seeing me since she had a suspicion the teller was me. Of course, she wasn't really wrong. Her anger wasn't going to stop me from seeing Betty, though. We went to the same school. Oh and to top it all off, she was grounded for 2 weeks. I was almost surprised Alice didn't make it the rest of Betty's natural life. That woman scared me.

So the rumour mills were obviously whispering about that, too. Betty, the golden girl, was just a wolf in sheeps clothing or some crap like that. I held on tight in an effort to protect her from the comments I had long since grown accustomed to. Nothing could prepare us for what happened next.

Upon entering the hallway that housed Betty's locker, we saw a group of people, including one Chuck Clayton who happened to be grinning from ear to ear like some schadenfreudean nightmare. It would have been enough to scare the Cheshire Cat.

I held Betty back.

"Let me go, I have to wipe it off, I have to wipe it off."

In Salem, they burn witches. In Riverdale, we hang them. Die, snake harlot. Below the text was a crude drawing of a girl with a leather jacket hanging from a tree with a fire beneath her.

After getting a full view I was too stunned to keep a grip on Betty and she got out of my hold. She rubbed her hands on the words and images, willing them to wipe off like chalk on a chalk board, but sharpies were marketed as permanent markers for a reason. She was crying and her arms were raw. Chuck and a bunch of other laughed at her while everyone else just watched in probably a mixture of horror and amusement. People always liked playing witness so they could later tell everyone I was there.

I grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into me. "Let's go." We walked away to the student lounge and I glared so hard that I cleared the room. I would have chosen the Blue and Gold office for the sake of privacy, but I needed access to running water. I wet down some paper towel and gently wiped down Betty's arms that were covered in raven black ink and crimson blood. My heart broke while I did this but somebody had to.

Minutes later Archie, Veronica, and Kevin showed up. The latter trailer behind a bit.

"Are you a serpent, Betty?" Archie sounded concerned.

Her voice was a bit shakey, but at least she was among friends. "Relax Arch, I'm not. My family has a past with gangs but the only gang I have is our group of friends. Right Jug?" I felt constricted as I realized I still had my matching jacket in my backpack from when they sprung me from the coop.

"Yeah, of course. None of us are gang members. Betty just stood up to me yesterday and now Chuck is going a bit Clockwork Orange on us. Not something I wanted to drag Betty into, though. Glad it didn't get ultra violent."

"Jeez do you read every book on the recommended reading list?" Kevin spoke. I just kind of rolled my eyes. I liked connecting my life to piece of fiction, be it movies or books or even the occasional song. Sue me.

"That is just awful, Betty." Veronica rubbed her friend's shoulder in support.

"Oh right, and this morning she was kicked off of the cheer squad so you might be on thin ice now, Veronica. Just a heads up. You too, Archie. You play on Chuck's team. Sooner or later he is going to demand loyalty from you. As for you, Kevin, just don't scapegoat us when your secret comes out and you'll be fine."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He sounded as nervous as he looked but I already knew he was lying.

"Oh come on, Kevin. You've been busy lately, and it hasn't been with hanging out with your four friends. I saw you at the Bijou." The colour drained from his face.

"Okay okay. There's this guy. His name is Joaquin, and he may or may not be a Southside Serpent, but I'm not judgemental and beggars can't be choosers when so few gay guys are out. With the red scare still pretty fresh in the collective consciousness, I don't even blame most of them. We really like each other okay? Just don't tell my dad, he would throw a fit."

"Relax Kev, we're your friends. I'm just getting prepared so you don't throw us under the bus because of your boyfriend. We're either in this together or we're not. That's all I'm saying."

Shortly after the bell rang, we all met up to hang out together at Betty and I's shared space of the Blue and Gold office. She ran it and added me on to help write and work as an advisor. She curled up in my arms, drinking a hot chocolate I skipped class to get for her.

"Ohmygosh B, did it finally happen? Are you and Riverdale's very own Henry Tilney a thing now? Swoon!" I rolled my eyes.

"I think so," she looked up at me for some sort of verification.

"Whatever you want, Betts."

She played with the loose threads of my sweater with her free hand. All of her stuff was in here as her locker was cleaned up. Apparently it takes a lot of effort to make something that's supposed to be permanent, impermanent. We stayed as close together, creating a sort of protective barrier for Betty until the end of the day.

After the 3pm bell, the footballer and the cheerleader went off on a date so I told Kevin he didn't have to trail behind us. I walked Betty home and she asked me to sneak in. She wasn't ready to be alone with her family or her thoughts so we decided I would come in through the window like last time.

She had left it open for me so I just stepped in and captured her in s kiss I had been holding in all day. We ended up making out against the wall when I noticed how disarray her room was. We broke apart.

"Betty... What happened in here?" Looking around, I was frazzled by knocked over chairs and crooked paintings but also the room seemed more small and more intimate now that we were going steady.

"I don't remember much of it but after that conversation with my mom last night I just kind of lost it. I guess I threw some sort of temper tantrum, but I blanked out for most of it." Her hands tightened around my sleeve. My Betty was extremely vulnerable around me and I felt humbled that she trusted me with that.

"It's okay Betty, we all get mad some time." I grumbled as I awkwardly patted her hair. We jumped as we heard the sound of glass smashing.

"You're ruining this family, Alice, with your tainted blood. I don't know why I even betrayed my family by associating with yours. And now what, our oldest is pregnant and her boyfriend conveniently happens to go missing? And our youngest is this close to joining that greasy gang I rescued you from decades ago? This is just great."

"You wouldn't even know my family had anything to do with the murder of your grandfather if I didn't tell you in confidence!"

They were yelling so loud that Betty and I just sat there on her bed, frozen, listening. The pieces started to come together. Kathlyn covered up the murder of Cooper Blossom. Kathlyn was involved with the murder of great grandpa Cooper.

I looked down at Betty who looked up at me. She looked absolutely disgusted, but I knew she wasn't really looking at me, as greasy as I was. "I'm a Blossom? Wait that makes Polly..." We were interrupted by loud footsteps up the stairs and the door being thrown open.

"Let's go Betty, we aren't wanted here." Alice was putting up a tough act but I could tell all this drama was breaking her up inside. She looked over at me without skipping a beat. "You, too."

We got in the family's car and took off. Soon we were at Sunnyside, and I squeezed Betty's hand. I didn't know where Alice intended to go once she dropped me off. But we passed by dad's trailer and went on until we hit the abandoned one that I hadn't seen anyone so much as step a foot inside my whole life. Greaser kids always said it was haunted. When we stopped, Alice put on a smile.

"Welcome home, Betty."

A/N: Another chapter for the one-week-versary. I have an image on here called Darkness Becomes (named so because it accompanies a scene from this chapter) if you want to see what the vandalism would have probably looked like. Also been trying to maintain a balance of borrowing from the story while also being a completely separate entity. I like my tie ins here and there. The Salem witch reference is in here as a nod to Sabrina.