I edited this myself so I apologize for any errors.

Thank you so much for all the love this story is getting. It's so wonderful.

I get a little feminist in this chapter and there are spoilers for Gone Girl and East of Eden in this chapter.

Enjoy!

Betty was forty-five minutes late. She had two missed calls and three text messages from Jughead, no doubt reminding her of this fact.

She flew into the library, her coat undone, two coffees in a tray teetering in her left hand as creamers and sugars tumbled to the floor.

"You're late!" Jughead reprimanded.

"I know, I know, cheer practice ran over." She let her backpack fall to the ground while placing the coffees on the counter. " I think Cheryl is doing it on purpose to get me in even more trouble here." She shucked off her coat and went to retrieve the coffee condiments which had been lost in her haste. She was still in her uniform.

"Wow, its good to know your friends don't discriminate; they just treat everyone like garbage." He mumbled sarcastically.

"She just bored and ignored at home." Betty defended her friend absentmindedly. "She doesn't know how else to behave."

"Still doesn't change the fact that she's not a very nice person." Jughead toyed with the idea of mentioning his own home life but decided against it.

Betty shook her head and handed him a coffee. "To say I'm sorry for my tardiness, I made myself even more late and stopped to get you a coffee. I have no idea how you take it so I got a lot of everything." She smiled, pushing all the sugar, milk and honey towards him before she wrangled her own coffee out of the recycled paper tray.

"Well, just don't let it happen again." He said with false sternness in his voice and a grin on his lips. He poured in three creams and started counting the sugars.

"Wait," Betty said grabbing his hand. Jughead realized that this was the first time she had actually touched him. "How do you take your coffee?" She motioned to the packets.

"I take it three creams and eight sugars." He shrugged as he began to dump the white powder in.

"That's disgusting," she shuddered and pulled the lid of her own coffee.

"How do you take your coffee, Miss. Perfect?" He asked putting his fist on his hip.

"Black." Her eyes went dark and she smirked. "Black like my soul."

"You're the weirdest person." He shook his head and stirred everything together.

She laughed at his reaction before she remembered the book. "Oh!" Betty exclaimed, turning to fish it out of her bag. A moments later she turned with East of Eden in her hand. "So, I finished it."

"You read it quickly." Jughead noted impressed.

"Well, I had a bet to win and I wasn't going to lose because of a time limit." She put her coffee down and fanned through the book.

"And?" Jughead asked expectantly.

Betty tried to keep her face as neutral as possible while she decided if she was going to lie or if she was going to tell the truth. "And… I hate you." She went with the truth.

A smile spread across his face. "Yes!" He pumped his fist once in celebration. "I knew you would like it."

"I loved Lee and what was wrong with Cathy? I mean she's amazing but what a crazy bitch!"

"Did you ever read Gone Girl?" He asked sitting down, proving his meeting up on the counter.

Betty took a seat as well. "No but I did see the movie."

"You should give it a read. I found a lot of similarities between Cathy and Amy, at least the way I way I interpreted it."

"What do you mean?" Betty took a sip of her coffee and leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand and her elbow on her knee.

"I mean they are two women in two different times, limited and oppressed in different ways by the men in their lives and instead of just going out guns-a-blazing they play the long game. They exploit and manipulate the patriarchal systems that the men they are trying to destroy set in place and benefit from. They take what they think is theirs after years and years of having everything taken from them or being put in their place by shame and stereotypes. You almost want to root for them." He scratched his head through his beanie.

"That's a cool idea but they are still murderers, they aren't nice people."

"Of course they aren't, they're monsters but they are incredible monsters and that's why they are so amazing. When female villains are well written they are just as good as any male villain but we don't look at it like that. Women need to be soft and sweet and kind and when they do anything ugly, especially to men, we crucify them for it while men are heralded and labeled anti-heroes, edgy and badasses. Its bullshit."

"That was a lot of opinion all at once." Betty said looking at him. She didn't know a single person she could have a conversation like this with and not a single man that would have brought up feminist theories. She was trying to think of something to say, anything, to continue the conversation but after years of being asked about parties, outfits and if she thought certain celebrity couple would 'make it', she couldn't form something intelligent to say. So she brushed it off. "I think I need to let it set in a bit more before I can make an analysis like you just did but I did really like it. Thank you for recommend it to me."

"You're welcome and if I'm remembering correctly, I get to recommend something else now."

"I suppose you do."

"Come on." He shot up and strolled past her in over to the teen section.

"Seriously? YA fiction?" She asked pretending that she was too good for these kinds of books, pretending she hadn't read the Twilight series twice and still had a Team Edward shirt shoved somewhere deep in the back of her closet.

"Well, we are teenagers and since you just read a doozy of a book, I thought an easier read might be nice." He grabbed a novel off the shelf and handed it to her. "Its kind of like The Hunger Games meets X-Men meets Lord of the Flies."

Betty took the book, Gone, in her hands and looked at it. "You liked this?"

"Yeah, I mean for what it was. It's a weird series and really different from a lot of the YA stuff out there." He was rubbing the back of his head again, a nervous tick Betty noticed he had when he was afraid he was about to be shot down.

"Do I only have a week to read this one too?" Betty questioned.

"No, you can take your time with this one but if you happen to finish quickly, it's the first in a six part series."

"What! Seriously, what happened to writing one book?"

"Money, I think people like money."

Betty laughed and nodded her head. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

He laughed along with her and they stood there, his hands in his back pockets as she gripped he book. They were still awkward with each other, for all the progress they made they still had miles to go.

Their attention was pulled away when they heard the door open and Archie yell, "BETTY!"

"Archie?" Betty took a few steps forward, turning her back on Jughead, before her boyfriend appeared at the head of the row she was in.

"Hey beautiful," he pulled her in for a kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck, the book hitting his back. He was wearing his letterman jacket and she breathed in his scent of sweat, leather and his Axe body spray.

"Where's the little bitch?" He asked when they parted.

Betty's brows furrowed in confusion. She turned to find a completely empty row. She looked around like Jughead might be hiding on one of the shelves and when she came to the conclusion that he was gone, she turned back to Archie. "I honestly don't know."

"Reggie and I are going to the abandoned cabin tonight to get drunk, you in?" He asked as they approached the counter. Reggie was playing with the barcode scanner, shining the light in his eyes. He was tall with broad shoulders and thick solid muscles; he made Archie look small. He was a good looking guy with narrow brown eyes, dark brown hair, full lips and a strong jaw line.

"Don't do that." Betty scolded snatching the device from his hands. "And while the idea of drinking in a freezing cabin on a school night sounds amazing, it's going to be a hard pass from me." She made a pouty face as if she was really upset to be missing out. "But you can come and take me home first so I don't have to walk home in the cold."

"For sure, babe." He kissed her on the cheek and then looked past her, his eyes lighting up. "There he is! I knew you had to be lurking around here somewhere. Did you want to see a peep show, freak?"

Betty felt Jughead's presence before she saw him pass him and stand behind the counter.

"Oh hey Archie! It's so wonderful to see you in here! Are you finally taking the steps to learn how to read?" Jughead grinned and took a sip of his coffee. "The kids section's that-a-way."

Archie made a motion as if he was going to attack the boy behind the counter when Betty stepped in. "Out!" She started pushing him towards the door. "Pick me up at 9:15."

He nodded and pulled Betty in for a kiss longer than before. It was more passionate, sloppier and showy. Archie was marking his territory and Jughead noticed. He looked away in annoyance feeling more uncomfortable in Archie's presence that he thought possible.

"Stay in that uniform, I like looking at you in it." Archie instructed before stepping towards the door. "Later loser, " he spat at Jughead while Reggie knocked a pile of books on the carpet.

"Reggie! I have to clean that up!" Betty chided in disbelief.

Reggie's face fell and he looked like a scolded puppy. "Oh, sorry," he bent over to place all the books on the counter.

"Bye Archie!" Jughead sang in the most cheerful voice he could muster watching them kick open the front door and disappear out of sight.

Betty sighed and looked over at Jughead who slowly turned his attention towards her. "Well, he is just delightful." His voice was filled with sarcasm.

"I'm sorry, he's just-" She was cut of.

"An asshole? A dickhead? A roid fuelled disaster? A privileged piece of shit? I can keep going." He had his false shit eating grin on his face.

Betty deflated in disappointment. "Jug." She drawled and stepped behind the counter, plopping down in her spot. "Why do you guys hate each other so much?"

Jughead's squinted at her. "He didn't tell you?"

She shrugged. "He told me his side but that's never a full story."

"It's not a very amazing reason it's actually a really stupid reason. We were childhood friends and then we started high school, he became what some would say is attractive and I didn't. He got into sports and I didn't, he was interested in girls and I got into art but the biggest reason was money. His father came into wealth and moved to the other side of town and I stayed in the trailer park. When those are your priorities a poor, artsy, emo kid isn't really the type of pussy magnet wingman you want."

Betty nose crinkled at his choice of words. "He doesn't like you cause you're poor? I'm poor."

Jughead tilted his head and took a deep breath in. "Come on Betty, you aren't stupid, you know why he hangs out with you." Betty started at him not saying anything and waited for him to continue. "First off, you're not poor, you're just not rich and you're beautiful, the kind of beautiful that makes people believe that at his core, Archie is All-American and that boy wants the scholarships and that NFL career. You are good for business."

She looked down as she picked at the end of the sleeve of her uniform as her face flushed for two reasons. He had called her beautiful and it made her feel embarrassed like she had just overheard something she wasn't supposed to and secondly, it made her angry that he was insinuating that Archie was only with her to better his image. Archie loved her, he told her so.

"That's a really hurtful thing to say." She muttered hoping it encompassed everything she was feeling without having to argue.

Jughead sighed. "I'm sure he cares about you but there's something about your relationship that seems sinister to me." He shrugged. "But what do I know? I'm just an outsider."

They were silent for a moment while they both waited for the other to say something. Betty for Jughead to talk about her relationship which he knew nothing about and Jughead for Betty to chew him out for what he had said. Neither of them spoke.

"I should probably go get change and get going on my organization. I'm finally at the kids sections." She smiled again visible relieved that the former conversation was put to bed for the time being.

"Oh, you don't have to do that anymore. I finished the organization last night. I figured you suffered enough." Jughead cursed the flush he knew was creeping in cheeks.

"Jug, that's so nice. Thank you so much, you didn't need to do that."

"I know you hated it."

"I was starting to kind of like it actually." She laughed running her hand over her ponytail. "But I'm still going to go change." She grabbed he backpack and hurried to the back.

When she returned she completed all the homework she hadn't managed to finish at school while Jughead went through a playlist he had made that featured everything from David Bowie to Elton John to M.I.A to Marilyn Manson to Bastille. He told her why he liked each song, which elements made it a good song and why he was happy that she hadn't won the bet because he wasn't sure he could handle what she listened to. He was trying to make sure the mood stayed light after their earlier conversation. He hated that he couldn't censor himself sometimes and said whatever was on his mind.

Betty listened while she started reading her newest recommendation and Jughead realized that this was going to be his life for the next five months. Reading books, listening to music and hanging out with Betty Cooper in an abandoned library only kept open because the city was required to have one.

There were worse things.

They closed up, gathered their belongs and headed out into the brisk January evening.

Archie pulled his truck up to the curb, some heavy metal song was blasting from the speakers. "Betty, lets go!" He yelled at her through the passenger side window.

Betty looked behind her at her buffoon of a boyfriend and then back to Jughead. "I had fun tonight. I'm glad we don't hate each other anymore." She smiled.

"Me too," he smiled back.

"Good night, Jughead."

"Night, Betty."

She turned and walked the few steps it took her to get to the truck. She hopped in and he watched her lean over and kiss the quarterback.

Just before they tore off down the street the back window opened and Reggie was sitting there, a take out cup in hand which he threw, as if it were a football, at Jughead. It him right in the chest and covered him in white creamy liquid. His eyes widened and he took in a sharp breath out of sheer shock.

The first thing he heard was Betty screaming at Archie and then he heard Reggie.

"You like being covered in white cream don't you, loser!" He shouted.

"Fag!" Archie yelled.

Betty tried to get out of the truck but it was moving too fast and the door slammed shut. The vehicle took off and left Jughead standing alone, covered in milkshake that was starting to seep into his clothes and freeze in the frigid air.

He sighed. "Fucking perfect," he muttered to himself before he turned and started walking home.

Betty was furious. "What is wrong with you?" She shouted at Archie, smacking him on the arm.

"Why are you freaking out?" Archie brushed off her anger.

"Cause he is my boss!" She yelled. "And you, you stupid idiot," she turned in her seat to start slapping Reggie.

"Stop!" He called trying to shield his body.

"Arch, let me out!"

"What? No! What for?"

"Because I have to go fix the mess you just made. Now stop!"

"No."

"Fucking stop the car, Archie!" She was screaming at him.

Her redheaded boyfriend slammed on the breaks. "Fine, get out!" He leaned over her and opened the door.

"And don't call me for a while." She spat at Archie and hopped out, heading back in the direction they came from while the truck sped away in the opposite direction. She started to run heading to the library and trying to track him from there. She knew his father lived in the trailer park but he hadn't headed in that direction. The only homes in the direction he went were that of the Blossom's, the Andrews' and the Lodge's and she assumed maybe he was going to hang out with Veronica.

Betty finally caught up to Jughead as he rounded the corner and headed down the street Cheryl and Archie lived on. "Jug!" She called running to close the space between them.

He turned to look at her with a perplexed look on his face. "Betty? What are you doing?"

She took in what the milkshake had done and the anger she felt before grew ten fold. He was covered in it, his coat, pants and shoes, it had even splattered onto his hat and face. "I came to see if you were okay." She shook her head and sighed. "I'm so sorry they did that, I had no idea."

Jughead shrugged. "Meh, same shit, different day, you know."

"No, I don't and you shouldn't have to either."

"You don't have to worry about it Betty. Nothing is going to change at the library, I'm not going to make anything harder for you or anything. This was him, not you. There was no way you could have stopped him."

"Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" She asked. "I feel terrible."

Jughead looked surprised by her offer and took no time to take her up on it. "Actually, there's a theatre in Clinton that plays double features and this Friday they are playing The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles. Kev, Ronnie and I usually go but it would be cool if you could come too. Veronica would be ecstatic, she's been planning your girls night since she met you." He looked at her gaging her reaction. "So you in?"

Betty smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm 100% in."

His smile was one of relief, the smile of someone who had heard no to almost every request he asked. He fished his phone out of his pocket and stared intently at the screen.

"What are you doing?" Betty asked.

"Getting you a taxi," he said as if it was a no brainer. "There's no way you are walking home alone and I'm in no state to walk you anywhere."

"Thanks, that's really nice of you." Betty looked around and counted the three driveways that led to the most beautiful homes in Riverdale. "What are you doing up here? Going to hang out with Veronica?" She wondered if they were dating.

"I live with Veronica." He didn't elaborate further as he brought the phone to his ear and began speaking.

She couldn't believe that he lived with Veronica. She knew that his father wasn't the most responsible person but she had no idea that it had gotten so bad they couldn't live together anymore. She had so many questions but asked none because it was none of her business.

He hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket. "It'll be here in 3 minutes."

"Cool, thank you." She put her hands in pockets trying to keep warm.

They stood in silence as they waited for the taxi to arrive. They looked at each other when the faint sound of feet pounding against pavement could be heard. Out of the darkness of Veronica's driveway came Cheryl. She was smiling wider than Betty had ever seen and right after her came Veronica, holding a phone with a lit up screen.

"Cher!" Veronica shouted, neither of them noticing their best friends standing on the cusp of the shadows.

Cheryl stopped, turned and reached out for what Betty could only assumed was her phone. After sliding it into her pocket the stunning redhead threw her arms around Veronica and kissed her was such fervour that Betty would have looked away if she wasn't so stunned by what she was witnessing; the street light above them illuminating the scene as if it was practiced.

And just as quickly as they had appeared, the two beauties separated and ran up their respective driveways vanishing from sight.

Betty turned to Jughead, eyes wide and mouth agape.

He was already looking at her with a nervous smile. "Yeah, so that's a thing," he laughed uncomfortably. "Veronica would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone." As if on cue, the cab pulled up and he went to open the door for her. "Oh look! Your taxi is here."

"Holy shit!" Betty exclaimed. "You knew about this and didn't tell me?"

"Well, up until last Saturday we didn't really even like each other, so no, I didn't think to mention one of my best friends biggest secrets." He pushed her into the car like he was a cop. "In you go."

Betty unrolled the window to continue to talk to him. "I cannot believe this." She brought he hand up to her cheek in disbelief.

"Now you know and while you shouldn't tell anyone, if Cheryl is being a real pain in the ass you have something to use against her." He smiled smugly. "I think your cheer practices aren't going to run late anymore." He looked over at the cab driver and handed him money. "Take her home."

Betty told the driver her address and smiled softly at Jughead. "Thank you and good night, Jug."

"Night, Bets." He said quietly as he stepped away from the car as it drove away and out of sight.

Reviews are appreciated.