A/N: I edited this myself so there are probably errors.
Secondly, some of my characters are in character but some or out of character. So if you want the characters from the show turn away here! I like changing characters and making them my own. Also, if you adore Archie this is not the story for you. He's not very nice in this.
I've also upped this to an M rating. These characters are going to curse more than I originally intended and there may be some sexy times later on. Sorry if anyone just wanted a sweet wholesome story but it's still going to be mainly slow burn romance, not full on smut or anything.
Enjoy!
The first day back at school after winter break was long and boring but Betty would have gladly sat through hours of it to get out of going to the library. The days immediately following the prank Betty did feel terrible about what she had done but now that time had passed and the shame had worn off she thought the punishment was harsh and unreasonable.
The Riverdale Library was old and gross and working with Jughead was going to be a nightmare. They had only hung out briefly right after Betty and her family had moved to Riverdale at the beginning of high school. Betty's father took over the town paper, The Register, when its former owner died and he could not pass up the opportunity to run his own newspaper. The only downside was he hadn't realize how boring Riverdale was and instead of writing hard hitting articles, he was writing stories about how many cats were stuck up trees that week.
When her family first moved into the house Betty still lived in, her longtime crush and on again, off again flame Archie Andrews still lived next store. At that time Archie and Jughead were still best friends and when Betty wanted to hang out with Archie, Jughead just always seemed to be there. Everything changed when Archie's father, Fred Andrew's construction business took off and they moved to the 'rich' part of town. They grew apart after that and developed an intense and palpable hatred for each other.
And now Betty had to spend 21 hours a week with him.
"So Betty, are you excited to spend all your time with loser boy?" Cheryl Blossom asked absentmindedly as she reapplied her cherry red lipstick on her plump lips. It was a shade similar to the one Betty was wearing that day, she had gotten in trouble and everyone knew it, so she didn't see any problem with wearing a daring lip colour.
They were sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria. "Ugh, please doing remind me, it's going to be awful and I have to do it for six months." Betty put down her fork, not hungry anymore.
Cheryl giggled. "Yeah, that so sucks, you really shouldn't have gotten caught." She slammed her compact closed and tucked it into her Prada purse. "Like what are you even going to do there?" She asked, smoothing down her fiery red hair. Other than Betty's sister Polly, Cheryl was the closest thing Betty had to a best friend.
Betty shook her head. "I don't know, sign out books or die of boredom or something."
Archie, who was sitting beside Betty, decided to join the conversation. "Watch yourself around Jughead, okay? He's a weirdo and a whiny little bitch and I don't want that rubbing off on you." The tall, stoic ginger didn't even look up from his phone. He was looking at football highlights and memes like he did almost ever lunch hour.
"He just seems like he has this chip on his shoulder and he doesn't like me at all. I'm scared he's going to make things really difficult for me." Betty sighed and nervously ran her hand over her curled blonde ponytail looking towards where Jughead was sitting with his friends, Veronica Lodge and Kevin Keller.
Betty didn't know much about either of the people Jughead ate lunch with everyday. Kevin was tall with perfectly cut brown hair. He had a cute face with grey eyes and a smile that made you want to smile too. He always wore a blue, black or grey sweater which fit his body to a T and favoured dark blue jeans. He was Sheriff Keller's son and he was gay.
Veronica Lodge was the only daughter of Hermonie and Hiram Lodge, the owners of an incredibly successful real estate company situated in New York. They moved to Riverdale around the same time Betty's family did because Veronica was getting into too much trouble in the city. The Lodge's were the wealthiest family in town and Cheryl and Archie hated Veronica for it. They hated that she denied an invitation to hang out with them in freshman year even more.
Veronica had long wavy black hair and she always wore black. Today she was wearing a long, strapless, black chiffon dress that showed the corseted boning in the bodice and had a high slit showing off her long, tanned legs. She was wearing black suede lace up boots with a sizeable heel and flat circular sunglass that hid her eyes. Her lips were a dark black-red, her skin was flawless and she was distractingly beautiful. Betty was secretly jealous of how unattainable Veronica always seemed to be. She would give anything to be like that.
Archie looked in the same direction as Betty. "I mean look at those freaks. Wednesday Adams, the fag and the fuck up. Jughead can't afford new clothes so everything he wears belongs to his father. That's why he looks like he walked out of the seventies, that jacket is so ugly and Kevin, don't even get me started on him. He came on to me at the spring formal last year, that's why me and Reggie had to kick the shit out of him, remember that?" He looked at Cheryl who nodded but didn't look up from the fashion magazine she was thumbing through. "And Lodge , she had the chance to hang out with us and she turned it down? I mean what is wrong with her? All that money is wasted on that loser. Everything about her looks so cheap."
"I'm pretty sure the dress she's wearing is Elie Saab." Cheryl commented tugging at her own clothing hoping it measured up. Betty wasn't sure what brand it was but the skin tight green dress looked expensive and amplified all the assets Cheryl had that Betty lacked. Cheryl made her feel under dressed in the blue jeans, sheer black top and bralette she was wearing.
"Also, I heard that she's a dyke, Jughead attracts the gays, man. They probably get together and fuck each other in weird gay orgies or something." He shook his head in disapproval.
"I'm pretty sure if that's not how homosexuality works." Cheryl chimed in. Cheryl was the only person that ever corrected Archie or told him what to do. Her money was old money and trumped his new money and that meant she was in charge.
Archie ignored her. "I need you to resist Betty because I cannot lose your incredible mouth to Veronica Lodge." He turned to face her, the leather on his letterman jacket creaking as his brow skewed in confusion. "Speaking of your mouth, what the hell do you have on it?"
"What?" Betty's hand flew up to touch her lips self consciously. "What's wrong with it? I wanted to try a new colour."
"Red is definitely not your colour, red is a whore colour for girls like Cheryl."
"Watch yourself Andrews." The voluptuous redhead threatened.
"You're a good girl Betty, stick to what know." Archie lectured. "Kay babe?"
Betty nodded swallowing hard.
"I'll see you after your shift tonight?" He asked as he stood.
Betty nodded again.
"Cool." He bent down and kissed her on the lips and then looked up at Cheryl. "Let's go." They both had english next period and always walked to class together.
"Bye Bets," Cheryl smiled and blew her a kiss before getting up and leaving Betty alone.
Betty dug a tissue out of her bag and began wiping her lipstick off. She sighed and looked at Jughead's table to find he was already looking at her. Her eyes darted away from his and her cheeks flushed. She dragged the tissue over her lips a few more times until no colour appeared when she saw the three of them get up and leave the cafeteria out of her periphery.
She had no idea how she was going to handle the next six months with Jughead, she couldn't even look at him. "Shit." She muttered to herself as the bell rang. She grabbed her bag and headed to her next class.
No matter how much Betty wished that it wouldn't come, the school day did end and she begrudgingly headed over to the library. It was a rectangular brick building that was about as old as the city was. She went inside to find Jughead already behind the square counter which sat just at the entrance. The room had rows of shelves that held hundreds, if not thousands of books. The stacks eventually gave way to the colourful kids corner which curved into pre-teen and young adult section. The walls were a terrible yellow colour and the fluorescents that hung over head were dimmed in every section except the kids corner making the whole building feel even older and dirtier than it actually was.
Betty took a deep breath and approached the counter, deciding to bite the bullet. "Hi," she said to him and smiled out of habit. 'No one likes a frown,' her mothers words echoed in her head.
Jughead looked up at her through his lashes and the anger that wasn't present the night she received her punishment was now darkening his green-hazel eyes. "Hey."
"I'm reporting for duty, I guess." She tried to laugh but it sounded forced and she knew that being nice for the sake of being nice was not going to get him to like her.
"I guess I'll give you a tour or whatever." He motioned for her to come behind the counter which she did. He was about as tall as Archie and he was wearing a burgundy henley and black jeans. She saw the cotton lined denim jacket Archie was making fun of earlier hanging over a chair behind the desk. His jaw was clenching just like the last time she saw him at the library but this time she noticed how defined his jaw made his face look. Her eyes lingered there taking in the three beauty marks on left cheek that would form a triangle if lines connected them.
"Betty?" Jughead snapped her out of her daze and her face flushed when she realized how weird she must have looked just staring at him.
Betty placed her backpack down and Jughead showed her where people dropped off their books when the library was closed. He showed her how to process late fees and how to check out a book. He showed her where to sign in at the beginning and end of her shift and how to file the books back on the shelf. "If you want to take a break or eat something, the back room is a place to do it and the bathroom is back there as well." He turned to face her. "The library closes at nine so if you start your homework around seven you'll be able to put a good dent in the organization. The stacks can get a little unruly and everything needs to be put in order. Start there and move towards the kids section." He pointed at the far right and motioned to the other end of the room.
"You want me to make sure all these books are in order?" Betty angled her head towards him like he was joking.
"Pristine order." Jughead sang cheerily.
"Are you serious?" Betty cocked her eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips.
"As a heart attack." He wiggled his eyebrows as a grin spread across his face.
"Are you enjoying this?" Her tone was accusatory as she crossed her arms over her chest and her mouth skewed into a tight line.
"Um, I get to be in charge of a girl who treats me like shit at school and then vandalized the place where I work, so yeah, I'm enjoying this immensely." His smiled grew even larger.
Betty wanted to retort with a snide comment but a wave of guilt washed over her. He wasn't wrong, she had said horrible things to him. Archie really hated Jughead and Betty was willing to do anything to get Archie's approval including calling Jughead names, pointing out the fact that he was poor, putting rotten fish in his locker and even cheering on Archie the rare times he decided kicking the shit out of Jughead was a good idea. Betty wondered if she was a good person but her train of thought was broken by her new colleague.
"I'll be at the main desk if you need anything." He smirked for a final time and turned to go back to his book.
Betty huffed and set to work. She had three and a half hours until seven and she assumed she could get most of it done in that time.
This was not the case.
Nothing was in order. Books that should have been in non-fiction were in fiction, children's books were spliced in everywhere, there were books from every corner of the library that should not have been there. This would take weeks to organize.
"Jughead?" Betty stomped towards the front counter.
"Yes, dear?" He looked up from his book like her was excepting her.
"The shelves are a mess; nothing is where it should be." She threw her arms up in frustration.
"That's right," Jughead shit eating grin returned and Betty wanted to smack it off his face.
Her eyes narrowed at him. "Did you go through the stacks and mess up the books so I would have more work to do?"
"I sure did." He couldn't hide he look of satisfaction on his face.
"How long did this take you?"
"My entire shift last night."
"And every stack is like this?" Betty spat through gritted teeth.
"Yep." Jughead let the 'p' pop.
"Why?" Betty asked even though she knew the answer.
Jughead closed his book and leaned towards her. "Because you need a reminder of how hard it is to put something back together after you tear it apart." He let his gaze linger on her for a while. It was piercing and she felt incredibly vulnerable just standing there. He finally he opened his book and settled into his chair. "And because karma's a bitch."
Betty stood there, her mouth open in disbelief as her fears about Jughead making her time there a living hell came true. "You're a real asshole you know that?"
"Well, we all have to be good at something." He didn't even look up at her. "And I would hate to tell Mr. Williams you aren't being cooperative. A felony charge of vandalism and breaking and entering wouldn't look too good on those college applications of yours." He reached over and pushed play on an iPod dock beside him and some old Green Day started to play. "Run along Cooper, those books aren't going to organize themselves."
Betty growled and turned quickly, wanting to get away from him as fast as possible before she shouted things she might regret.
They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the shift unless she found an oddly coded book and didn't know how or where to file it. She silently fumed and thought of all the things she wanted to say to Jughead; stupid self-righteous Jughead.
They didn't speak when Betty came behind the counter and began doing her homework. They didn't speak when they shut everything down and closed up. They didn't wish each other a good night as he headed in the opposite direction of where Archie had parked his snow covered truck in front of the building.
Betty hopped in throwing her bag in the back and gave Archie a quick kiss. "How was he?" Archie asked as he looked in the direction Jughead had headed. He had changed out his school clothes into a blue polo shirt and khaki pants.
Betty let out a sound of frustration as she shook her head. "He was horrible. He messed up the order of all the books so I would have more work to do and he was so rude." Betty grabbed the elastic holding her ponytail up and pulled it out of her hair causing her blonde curls to bounce around her shoulders.
Archie nodded his head and pursed his lips like he wasn't surprised. "That sounds about right, he's such a little bitch. This is why we stopped being friends. He thinks he's better than everyone else."
"I can't believe this was just the first shift. Do you know anything about him that might help me? Something I can talk to him about to distract him from being such a dick?" Betty was practically pleading with him.
"Sorry Bets, but the last time I talked to him our main interests were Pokemon and cheeseburgers, I'm pretty sure his tastes have changed." Archie started the car. "Why don't you swap period stories?" He suggested with a laugh.
Betty rolled her eyes.
"Did you see what I did there? Cause he's such a bitch he probably has his period." Archie continued to laugh as they drove off to a lookout over the Sweetwater River.
Betty looked over at her long time crush and took in how beautiful he was. His dark eyebrows, his strong jaw, pouty lips, deep brown eyes and perfect roman profile. It hurt her to look at him sometimes and then he would say things like that and she wondered if her interest with him was superficial. Her mother loved that her daughter was seen around town with the rich, high school quarterback, girls at school envied and hated her and she couldn't deny they looked good together but she wasn't sure he was still the boy she fell in love with all those years ago. She supposed it didn't matter anymore. School would be over in six months, she would go to Harvard, he would go to whatever school his father threw enough money at and they would drift apart. The thought made her chest tight and it was this feeling that solidified that no matter what came out of his mouth she would follow him to the ends of the earth. Superficiality didn't make you feel like that.
"You're okay with doing it in the car again right? I don't want sex smell all over my bed." He asked as he pulled off onto a dirt road that would lead them to their final destination.
"Yeah that's fine, I just want to be with you." She linked her fingers with his.
He looked over at her and flashed her his million dollar smile that made her melt. "You're my best girl, Coop." He winked.
Once they arrived they hopped into the backseat of the truck and began to undress, kissing each other passionately. Betty tried to lose herself in Archie's touch but no matter how hard she tried her mind wandered and would always end up focusing on the same thing; three beauty marks that would form a triangle if lines connected them.
Reviews are appreciated.