Three Years Later

"Here's to our senior year!" Cheryl toasted, raising her glass.

"Here here!" Kevin called, without really thinking about it.

Betty patted his arm across the table, a grin on her face.

They were buzzed at best, with the exception of Reggie, Jason and Moose, the designated drivers for the evening, but Kevin, for reasons only known to himself, had doubled his usual intake of alcohol. He'd been singing Dolly Parton songs in the car on the way to Pop's, much to her amusement, and Archie's annoyance.

They had scored a invite to a recently graduated senior's end of the year party, obviously, and after three hours of loud music, bitter beer and bizarre drinking games, Betty had left when a former River Vixen broke out a Latin textbook and demanded that anyone playing either had to conjugate the verb correctly, or take a shot, she had managed to collect all of her friends, and convince them that they should probably take the time to sober up before returning to their respective homes.

That was how they had ended up at Pop's, Betty grateful for their late night hours. It wasn't uncommon to see teenagers drinking shakes and eating burgers at two or three o'clock in the morning.

The gang was all there, Cheryl, her twin brother Jason, Chuck, who though she secretly despised him, stuck with him because Archie saw some redeeming quality in him that everyone else was blind to, Reggie, who she might have been closer with had he and Veronica not been dating up until two months before, and as her best friend, it was Betty's job to remain slightly distant from Veronica's ex, Moose, Archie, Kevin, Veronica and herself.

They were almost a mismatched set of friends, Cheryl the bitch, athletic but quiet Jason, Chuck the creep, the asshole, Kevin, the theater geek, the director and costar of every Riverdale production since the ninth grade, Reggie and Moose, typical jocks, Archie, the musician, Veronica, the trendsetter, and Betty, the resident good girl, but they had stuck together since freshman year, through the good, the bad and the ugly.

"Oh my god!" Cheryl quipped, drawing the attention back to her for the hundredth time that night. "You guys will not believe what I heard! I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you!"

Veronica and Kevin, even in his drunken state, leaned forward, clearly intrigued.

Archie slumped back in his seat. Somehow two and a half beers always left him feeling irritated, even with her. Chuck nudged Reggie with his elbow. "What is it?"

"Well, as you know, Josie's mother is the mayor."

Betty resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Cheryl often tossed around her connection to Mayor McCoy through her friendship with Riverdale's semi-famous band's lead singer Josie like she thought it would impress the rest of them somehow. Betty liked Josie, but being the daughter of the Mayor, especially in a town as small as Riverdale, was nothing to brag about.

Moose blinked, waiting for the punchline. "Yeah, and?"

"They've decided to close down a certain... High school." Cheryl announced, her lips forming a thin line in disgust.

Chuck mimicked her expression. "Don't tell me."

"Unfortunately." She responded. "It looks like our precious, prestigious institution is going to be tainted next year."

"Yeah." Reggie agreed, his teeth clenched. "By the Southside Serpents."

Betty dug her nails into the soft part of her palm.

It didn't even have to be his name anymore that brought on the agonizing feeling of guilt over a lapsed friendship that she'd once thought would last a lifetime.

Betty cast a quick glance at Archie to gauge his reaction, but he was deliberately avoiding her gaze, pretending to be interested in Veronica as she explained her hair regimen to Kevin for the four-hundredth time.

He didn't want to remember, she couldn't forget.

Kevin stood up suddenly, nearly knocking Archie from the booth in the process.

"It's a shame about Jughead." He declared loudly.

Out of the three remaining members of their once close-knit clique, he was the first one to mention his name in years. It had always been an unspoken promise not to.

Veronica shot Betty a sympathetic look, while Cheryl stared her down, as if challenging her to come to her former friend's defense. A few months before, the red headed cheerleader had drunkenly let it slip that her secret pet project was to toughen Betty up, to make her more like Cheryl herself, but Betty wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.

Sometimes, she disliked her status as a cheerleader, as one of the most popular girls in the junior, senior at the stroke of midnight class. Sometimes, she resented her friends.

Sometimes, more than anyone would probably ever know, she detested herself for becoming exactly who she was.

Kevin looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe we could be friends again."

His eyes landed on her.

"Betty!" He called, so loudly that Pop himself emerged from the kitchen to give them a warning glare.

Moose stood up.

"Betty!" Kevin said again, grasping her hand a little too tightly. "Betty, you miss him, don't you? You want to be friends with Jughead again, don't you? You two were always so... Close."

"Kev." Archie mumbled, speaking for the first time in what seemed like hours.

"Kev." Moose echoed, pulling him away from her. "Maybe I should take you home."

Kevin glowered at him. "Why would I want to go with you?"

For reasons only known to himself, and probably Kevin had he been sober, a pained look crossed Moose's face.

"Okay, boys, easy." Cheryl teased, also rising. "No need for a lover's quarrel. Kevin can just come with us. Ready, JJ?"

Jason nodded, already pulling his keys from the pocket of his Varsity jacket.

Archie mumbled a goodbye to the rest of the group, catching hold of Betty's elbow to pull her along behind him, and she wasn't sure why the sudden contact had occurred in the first place, but it no longer sent shivers down her spine, or doted her arms with goosebumps, even in the hottest of temperatures, the way it once had.

"B!" Veronica ran after them.

She was pulled into a too-tight embrace, nearly chocking on the familiar scent of Veronica's favorite Channel No. 5 perfume.

"I'm going to miss you." Veronica gushed, squeezing her again. "Don't forget to call."

"I won't." Betty promised, hugging her back just as eagerly.

They were all going their separate ways until August; Kevin was off to a theater camp in North Carolina, Reggie's parents were taking him to Alaska, Moose was going to visit his aunt in Seattle, while both Veronica and Chuck were going to New York, though she had already made it clear that the two would not be crossing paths even one time. Betty had an internship lined up for her in LA, Chic had already agreed to let her stay with him, and she could visit Polly on some weekends. That just left the Blossom twins and Archie behind in Riverdale, and what their plans were, she had no idea.

"Have a good summer, Ronnie." Archie said.

Veronica merely smiled at him in response, following Reggie towards his beat up jeep. Despite the breakup, and all the awkwardness that was still ensuing, they still lived close to one another, and when there were group outings, he still made sure she got home safely.

Jason unlocked the door of the prized convertible he'd had since sophomore year, the very car he had never let his sister drive, and pushed the front seat forward to let the three of them, Kevin slumped between her and Archie, to crawl into the back.

"It's going to be a great summer." He muttered, low enough for only her to hear.

Betty blinked, trying to quickly regain her composure.

In the three years they had been friends, mainly because they hung around the same people, she could count all the conversations she'd had with Jason Blossom on one hand. He was the quiet type, odd for his reputation as a typical jock, but he laughed at the same jokes the rest of them did, was a straight-A student, and was well-liked by Riverdale's student body despite his tendency to disappear inside himself.

"Um..." Betty replied awkwardly. "Yeah."

He still grinned at her.

On the way home, Kevin moved into singing his favorite show tunes, and even Betty was happy when Jason pulled up in front of her house.

Archie climbed out first, offering her a hand. She took it without hesitation, still feeling nothing when they touched.

"B!" Cheryl called, blowing her a kiss. "Remember-"

"If I see any celebrities, I'll be sure to get you their autograph." Betty finished. She'd already made the promise a hundred times since announcing her summer plans.

"Any worthy celebrities." Cheryl corrected. "See you in August, bitch! Ciao!"

She waited until the car had turned the corner to roll her eyes at Archie, and for the first time all night, he cracked the faintest of smiles.

"Have a good summer." He told her, pulling her into a quick, but tight hug. "And don't work all the time, B, have a little fun, for once in your life."

"I have fun!" She defended. He just chuckled and started heading towards his house. "Arch, wait."

Archie turned back around. "Yeah?"

She wanted to bring up Cheryl's bombshell. Now that they were alone, it was safe to, but something stopped her. Something held her back. Maybe it was Archie's ignorance, pretending the first fourteen years of their lives hadn't happened, maybe it was the fear that he would lash out at her, or cut her off too.

Maybe it was a reminder that sometimes, the past was better left in the past.

"Never mind." Betty mumbled, avoiding his gaze. "I'll see you in August."

"Yeah." Archie replied, his tone even. "See you."

She ascended the first step leading towards her house.

"Betty?"

She stopped immediately. "Yeah?"

"It's gonna be okay." Archie promised her, before jogging to the front door.

"Archie!" Betty called after him.

He was already inside, well out of earshot.

She stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out what, exactly, he had meant by that. The rational part of her mind told her that he was talking about going to LA for the first time, and all the people she was going to meet during the duration of her internship, but her subconscious, or what was left of it after years of being friends with Cheryl, told her that it was something else entirely.

She just wished she didn't have to wait three months to figure out which part of her was right.