Chapter 3: The Slip Of Paper

I didn't know what to say to Archie Andrews, now that I was up close and personal with him. Was I supposed to hate him based on Jughead being tied up to a flagpole? Or should I be indifferent since I didn't know him at all? I wasn't the type of person to judge someone. But at the same time... what kind of guy ties a person outside naked in winter?

I made myself stop chuckling, shame coursing through me. "It sounds to me like you kind of deserved to have your hair dyed pink."

This made Archie roll his eyes. The bell rang again and I began to walk towards my next class. "I have to go."

Archie kept pace with me. "Miss Obenauf in English lit?" He asked.

"Yes," I answered. "Let me guess, you're headed the same way and we should walk together."

Archie gave me a blindingly bright smile. I could see why he was popular now. Why wouldn't he be? He was charming, handsome in that typical boy next door type of way. He was the complete opposite of Jughead, who had a dark, mysterious beauty about him. I guess you could say they were two sides of the same coin, in a way. I found myself wondering what had happened to have made them hate each other so much, enough to physically hurt one another. All stories had to start somewhere, didn't they? And I knew now that Jughead wasn't the sharing type. I knew getting the backstory from him would take time, if he told me at all.

It was so odd. I found myself wishing it was Jughead standing in front of me, instead of the pink haired boy now. I turned my head, glancing back to the corner I'd turned, wondering if Jughead had followed. He hadn't.

"I'm that obvious, huh?" Archie grinned.

I shrugged, squeezing the books to my chest "Honesty? Yeah, you're kind of an open book." I told him, looking down at my shoes as we strolled by classrooms. This school was such a maze, I was easily going to get lost here.

"But you're not into that, are you?"

My head snapped up so fast as I looked right at him in shock. I could feel my cheeks growing so red I could feel my skin burning as we stopped walking altogether.

What did he know?

"What do you-"

"You like the loner types,'' he continued ''Particularly with bad hair, and even worse social skills."

I started walking again, rolling my eyes. I definitely did not feel like talking to this guy about my feelings, towards anyone, let alone Jughead Jones.

He wasn't phased by the change though and followed me down the hallway as I began to try to see the numbers above the doors.

234, 235, it's gonna take me forever to find 248.

"Listen, I don't know what you think is going on here, but-"

"I think you're a nice girl is all."

"Thank you."

"But naive."

I stopped again and faced Archie, narrowing my eyes as anger raged inside of me. I could feel my fingernails digging into my skin, the pain piercing through my palms, keeping me in check as I spoke. "Excuse me?"

"Jughead Jones. I saw you try to talk to him in the cafeteria." Archie rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture that showed off his bicep

"Since you're new and don't know anyone, I think you need some guidance here."

I scoffed. Who did this kid think he was? Telling me I needed some guidance? He clearly needed therapy for tying someone to a flagpole. I mean, who does that to another person? Over pink hair of all things. Not only that but he seemed to have this entire school thinking Jughead was some sort of illness that you could catch just by speaking to him. It was ridiculous, if not childish. And I'd be damned if he thought he could rope me into the cult. I wasn't the conforming type. He had the wrong Cooper on his hands if he thought so.

"Listen, Archie, right? You don't know me, and yeah, I'm new here. But I'm not the kind of person who needs help on how to pick out friends."

Archie raised his eyebrows. "Aren't you?"

I was growing more and more annoyed with Archie Andrews the longer I talked to him. I was beginning to understand why Jughead dyed his hair pink. The asshole definitely deserved it.

"I clearly just said I was not."

"To be frank, you don't know him like I do."

"And how well is that?"

"Very," he clarified, anger sparking in his brown eyes. "He seems charming now. Funny, easy going. It's an act. He'll stab you in your sleep if you're not careful."

Dramatic, much?

"Aw, and you're just doing the decent thing and warning me, right?"

"Exactly." Archie beamed, his teeth blinding me again. Seriously, were those things radioactive?

"Consider me warned," I shoved past him. "Thanks."

I finally arrived at 248 as the late bell rang overhead. Thank god. I hoped this meant the end of the conversation with Archie. But as I walked in and found a seat in the front row next to a girl with pale skin and fiery red hair, Archie followed and sat behind me.

A smirk formed across his face as he waved a notebook at me.

Shit, I had forgotten he was in this class as well. When would the torture end?

The girl next to me must of sensed I was annoyed because she put down the bright ruby shade of lipstick she was applying on her lips

"Leave her alone, Archibald." She had a commanding voice, the voice of a girl who was definitely not afraid to speak her mind."This may come as a shock to you, but she's clearly not interested."

"What do you know, Cheryl? I'm just being friendly. Giving Elizabeth here some tips."

"Doesn't look like she needs it."

"I really don't." I said as I dug in my bookbag and took out my blinder.

Cheryl whipped her hair around and looked at Archie with a knowing gleam in her brown eyes.

Looking at her, I wondered if maybe they were related somehow. Jughead did say Archie was a redhead too, naturally. What were the odds I'd be sitting by two redheads? Wasn't that a recessive gene?

"See? She doesn't need you." Cheryl muttered as the teacher came in and told us to hush.

The class went by super slow, but I think it was because of how badly I wanted to get away from Archie. I usually would be excited about a writing class as it was one of my passions. But now I realized I found a reason to dread this class everyday. Everytime I turned around, Archie would be there, grinning innocently. It was so frustrating. By the time the bell rang, I was already out of my seat, heading towards the door.

Not seeing where I was going and trying to get the hell out of dodge, I ran smack into something solid. My books flew everywhere. I went to pick them up, I looked up and froze.

I was met with familiar green blue eyes and raven black hair hanging over them.

My breath caught.

"Jughead…it's you."

"It's me and it's you. We have to stop running into each other like this, Betts." His lips quirked into a small smile. "One of us is bound to get hurt." He bent down and picked up my lit binder, handing it to me.

My heart melted in my chest. I smiled at him, fighting the urge to laugh. What was this effect this boy had on me? It was making my stomach flutter.

"Well, I think this time it's your fault."

"Is it? How so?"

"Clearly you saw me coming and just-"

"Didn't move out of the way?" He finished, mouth spreading into a smile that did nothing for the butterflies in my stomach.

"Exactly. You wanted me to run into you." I reasoned as people walked past us. I hardly noticed though. My focus completely on Jughead Jones. He was so unlike anyone I'd ever met, I was coming to realize.

"Did I? You sure it wasn't the other way around?" He responded with a wicked grin.

I bit my lip and stood up with my books. My face was definitely pink now. I tried to use my hair as a curtain.

"Why? Do you want me to want you to run into me?"

"Was that even English?" Jughead asked with a puzzled look on his face.

I laughed despite myself. But the joy withered and died when I felt a hand lay across my shoulder.

"Foreskin Jones, look at you being friendly. I didn't know you had it in you." Archie sneered.

I looked at Jughead and I saw the light fade quickly from his lovely eyes as they focused on the hand on my shoulder. I shrugged his hand away and turned to Archie as Jughead spoke.

"Nice hair, Frenchie," he quipped. "It's a pretty shade on you. Makes your eyes really pop."

Archie's smile grew almost sinister. "How's Jellybean doing, Jug? Haven't seen her in awhile."

Jughead pressed his lips together, his eyes narrowing angrily. I saw his fist clench at his side. I knew that gesture well enough to know that whatever Archie had just implied was infuriating Jughead to his core.

Jughead looked at me and his eyes screamed a silent apology. Then, without a word, he turned and stalked away, his shoulders tense.

"Wait!" I called out but got no response from him. I looked at Archie and glared. "Seriously? What's the deal with you?"

Archie's brown eyes turned back to me, his smile dropped from his face as his eyes met mine. "If you only knew the whole story-"

"You know what? I don't care!" I snapped. "Just leave me the fuck alone."

I turned around and stormed off, brushing past people as I ran to the nearest bathroom. I dropped my bookbag and leaned over the sink. I tried to even out my breaths but my chest felt so tight.

First day of school and I was already stressed to the max. What hell had my Mom moved us into? Things were supposed to be different here. Easier. But I felt like I was right back at my old school.

I looked up at the girl staring back at me in the mirror. This girl looked completely different than the one back in Miami. She would of had her hair in a ponytail. She would have been wearing the same pink sweater her mother picked out this morning. She would have looked pristine. She would have been happy and cheerful that a boy like Archie Andrews spoke to her, much less walked her to class. But now?

I looked tired. I felt like I'd aged in a matter of months, and ponytails were a thing of the past. Instead of wanting people to see my face and notice me, I didn't give a damn anymore. I wanted to hide.

Except when it came to Jughead Jones.

It was so weird how he affected me with just a handful of moments together. He normally wouldn't have been the type of guy that I'd be interested in.

Normally, I was into guys like Archie Andrews. And guys like Reggie Mantle.

Reggie was the first guy I had ever really had a huge crush on, and he was the complete opposite from Jughead from what I could tell. He thrived from attention and came to life in a crowd. I could remember the first time I met him.

My parents were wanting me out of the house, so they forced me to attend a football game. Reggie was the on the field drinking a sports drink, and running his fingers through his sweaty black hair, making it stick in all kinds of directions. I was sitting in the front row with my best friend at the time, Josie, when he turned around to grab a towel off the bench and looked directly at me. His chocolate brown eyes staring right into me.

"He's checking you out, girl!" Josie said, beaming as she nudged me slightly. I groaned. And rolled my eyes.

"He is not," I said, picking a piece of lint off of my blue sweater.

I peeked up beneath my lashes to find Reggie still watching me. He smiled, winked once, and walked away. I felt my cheeks burn.

I'd had a crush on Reggie for months now, and for months he'd never once looked my way. And why would he?

I was Betty Cooper. It was Polly who was the outgoing and pretty sister. Polly, who never did not have a date on the weekend. Polly, the captain of the cheerleading squad. Polly, who would look good wearing a paper bag. Polly, who my father would never stop comparing me to.

But Reggie hadn't smiled at Polly that night, hadn't winked at her.

He winked at me. He noticed me.

That alone should have sent warning bells off in my head. But at the time all I could think about was how damned happy I was that the most popular guy in school winked at me.

I would never be that naive again.

"You'd be good for him." I looked up in the mirror and saw that behind me stood a beautiful, petite girl. She had light brown skin and she had pink highlights in her wavy brown hair and wore ripped black jeans paired with a fitted dark tee shirt.

I turned around, very confused.

"Good for whom?"

"Jughead," she clarified. "He needs a friend like you. I saw what happened out in the hall while I was waiting for my girlfriend to come out of class."

"Whose your girlfriend?"

As if being called, Cheryl, the pale redheaded girl who sat by me in class and defended me against Archie, walked in. She gave me one glance and then back at the tiny girl. Cheryl gave her a smile and a peck on the lips. She then whipped her head and red hair around, and looked at me, grinning.

"I'm Cheryl."

"Betty." I said, picking up my books and bag off the floor. Cheryl reached for the tiny girl's hand and introduced us officially.

"This is Toni, my girlfriend. She lives next door to Jughead Jones. They kind of grew up around each other, more or less. Their dads work together.

I nodded, wondering what that had to do with me. I also wondered what she meant just moments ago when she said she thought I'd be good for Jughead. Was I thought obvious in my flirting? I really needed to chill out then. I barely new the guy. Didn't want what happened in Miami to happen in Riverdale.

"That's cool, I guess."

"Jughead smiled at you. I haven't seen him do that since...well, ever." Cheryl raised her eyebrows. "Plus, anyone who can blow off Archie is cool in our books."

I looked at Cheryl in surprise. "Aren't you guys like related or something?"

"Why, because we're both were blessed as earth's roses?" Cheryl said, running her fingers through her long curls.

I shrugged, clearly I was assuming wrong here. "Sorry, my mistake."

Cheryl waved a manicured hand. "We've been mistaken for relatives since kindergarten."

"You've all known each other that long?"

Toni chuckled. "This is Riverdale, Betty. Everyone has known everyone going back generations.. I'm pretty sure mine and Cheryl's parents went to school with your mom."

"Mine did," Cheryl confirmed, reapplying a layer of red lipstick to her mouth. "Daddy says Alice Cooper is a spitfire."

I laughed. "Well, he's not wrong."

Toni's mouth curved into a small smile. "What about you, Betty? Are you a spitfire?"

I blinked, shrugging again. I definitely had a touch of that Cooper woman spirit, but I didn't consider myself a spitfire. "I'm just trying to survive my first day here."

"Well, I'll be honest, toots, giving Andrews the cold shoulder is not the smartest move if you want to survive socially but you've sure got this reject's approval." Toni said.

"And the notorious reject?" I dared ask, hating myself for asking it.

Toni's eyes sparkled mischievously. "Jughead? He certainly doesn't hate you."

I tried to ignore how pleased I was to hear it and instead said, "I don't get why everyone hates him."

Cheryl and Toni shared a glance that told me they knew the entire messy history but wouldn't tell me because it wasn't their story to tell. I respected that.

"Stick around long enough and I'm sure you'll get the gist of it," Toni said with a shrug, pulling a black notebook out of her backpack along with a pencil. She scribbled something onto it and ripped off a corner of the paper, extending her arm to hand it to me.

I took the piece of paper, confused, and looked down to see a phone number. "You're giving me your number?"

Toni shook her head. "Jughead's number," she said simply, zipping her backback up and swinging it over her shoulder.

I gawked at her, looking back down at the piece of paper. "Why?" I could only ask.

"Because I know it would take forever for him to do it himself," she said. "And because like I said before, he can use a friend like you."

"You don't even know me. I could be a terrible friend."

Cheryl laughed, a light melodious sound. "You can't be any worse than his old friends, believe me."

"Watch it, I'm one of his old friends." Toni nudged her in the side.

"But you aren't anymore?" I asked.

Toni shrugged. "It's not for lack of trying on my end. But things are complicated."

Clearly. They seemed mega complicated. Why was I involving myself in this mess?

I pictured Jughead's smile, heard the sound of his laugh in my head. The way he had made me laugh. Damn it. That's why.

I had no idea why these girls cared so much and were seeming to put their blind faith in me, but I was grateful to find two other people here that seemed cool.

I slipped the piece of paper into the back pocket of my jeans. I had no idea what I was going to text him. But I'd obsess about that later in the privacy of my own bedroom.

"C'mon, we're late for class." Toni took Cheryl's hand in hers and the two of them began to make their way out of the bathroom.

"Thank you." I told them awkwardly.

Cheryl and Toni looked back to smile at me. Cheryl's was wicked bravado and Toni's was something softer, kinder, a flicker of understanding perhaps, what it was to be lonely and rejected.

"Catch ya later, new kid."

The rest of the day passed by pretty quickly. I didn't see Jughead again, but I did pass by Veronica Lodge again in the hall. She narrowed her dark eyes at me before turning away to say something to the person she was walking with. Yeah, I still wasn't sure what the hell her problem was.

When the final bell rang I was practically running outside and was relieved to see my mom waiting in our car in the parking lot.

"Thank god it's fixed," I said by way of greeting as I shuffled into the car, savoring the warmth.

"Well, maybe. I called the school today. You'll be taking the bus from now on, just in case the car decides to act up again."

I sighed. Bus it was.

"So?" She asked, pulling out into the street. "How was it?"

She glanced at me and the worry was etched into her eyes. It made me feel guilty.

This past year had been hell for her. Finding out about my dad's affair, the whole bullying thing.

And the Polly situation.

"Betty?"

I started. Mom placed her hand on mine.

"It was okay," I told her. "Interesting."

"Oh? Interesting how?"

I went on to fill her in on the bare essentials of the day, completely skimming over the naked guy tied to the flagpole and the guy with the pink hair who'd been responsible. I did tell her I met a couple of nice girls, though.

We were pulling into our driveway. Damn, the drive seemed a hell of a lot shorter than it had this morning.

I was getting out of the car when I heard Mom ask, "what's this?"

I turned in horror to realize she was picking up the piece of paper with Jughead's number written on it. It must have fallen out of my back pocket.

"Oh, just one of those girls' numbers," I lied swiftly.

She sniffed out the lie immediately like a bloodhound. "Why did you sound panicked when you just said that?"

"Because you're freaking me out and acting accousitory over a cell phone number," I snapped, snatching the piece of paper out of her hand.

Her eyes narrowed. "What's this girl's name?"

"Uh, Toni. I don't know her last name."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Antoinette Topaz?"

"God, everyone really does know everyone here. What, did you like, go to her Christioning years ago before you moved? How do you even know her full name? That's creepy."

She rolled her eyes. "I was friends with her parents, thank you very much. They sent me a picture when she was born and called her Toni, but by that point I'd already moved away from here."

Weird. "Well, it's her number. She seems cool. And her girlfriend, Cheryl."

Now her eyes narrowed. "Cheryl who?"

I threw my hands up in the air. "Mom!"

"Alright, alright," she held up her hands placatingly. "Just be careful."

I fought the urge to snap at her that maybe I was sick of walking on eggshells but forced myself to nod. "I'm gonna go change."

I trudged up the stairs to my bedroom, wincing when I realized I'd kind of slammed the door to my room shut and half expected to hear her shout up the stairs to lose the attitude. Mercifully, she did not.

After I changed into my pajamas I pulled out my phone and the slip of paper. With shaky breath, I typed in the number and blanked on what the hell to text.

Hey-

No.

Hi, this is Betty Cooper-

No, too formal.

This is Betty, you know, the girl who untied you from the pole this morning-

Seriously? Like he needs a reminder of that. I scowled at my phone and exited out of the message thread. If I can't stay anything cool and collected then I didn't need to be texting Jughead at all.

Besides how do I explain I got his number? Didn't that seem stalkerish?

Look back at my phone, my eyes snagged at Polly's name at the end of my text threads. I glared at the screen. Polly had been ignoring my every attempt I made to reach out to her. She wasn't even trying. And it made me so angry. Impulsively, stupidly, I tapped her name and was about to begin messaging when I heard a sharp knock at the door.

"Betty!" I jumped about a foot into the air, the phone temporarily flipping out of my hand. "Dinner's almost ready."

"Okay, thanks."

She left and I picked my phone back up, resuming my message.

Hey, thanks so much for all of your support. Today definitely wasn't difficult at my new school and not at all awkward. You know, maybe if you'd quit ignoring all of my messages (as if I were the only one who fucked up) I could tell you all about it - like the naked guy in the snow whose life I saved today. But ah well. Hope your baby daddy is doing swell and not being a total creep.

Blinking back angry tears I pressed send and tossed the phone away on the bed.

I hated that I missed her. Hated that I wished I could ask for her advice. I threw myself on my bed, and laid my arm over my face. What a hell of a first day. What would tomorrow bring, I wonder? More flagpole drama? Would Archie's hair be blue? I wouldn't be surprised. The school was on a hellmouth like Buffy or something. Evil lurked there. And I was just going to have to bring myself to attend everyday and deal with it.

"Betty, it's getting cold!" my mom yelled from down stairs. I groaned.

"Coming!"

Before I got up to walk down stairs, my phone chimed. I picked it up, wiping my face as I walked down the steps, I stopped before making it to the bottom. My eyes grew wide as I read the incoming messages.

I have so many questions.

First of all, how dare you?

My baby daddy deserves more respect.

Also please elaborate on the naked guy. I need deets.

I froze in absolute terror.

It wasn't Polly's number who'd replied.

But the number I'd copied down from the slip of paper.

Jughead's number. I just texted Jughead by mistake and not my sister.

"Oh god." I whispered.

Author's note: We hope you liked this chapter. Please leave us a review! They make us happy. :)

xoxo Cee and Tiff