"What?" She demanded, when she finally answered.

"Took you long enough." He glanced over his shoulder.

It wouldn't have surprised him to find Betty trailing along behind him, notebook in hand. Just like Nancy Drew, she was always unpredictable when it came to sleuthing. In the seventh grade, she had started going undercover for their junior high paper and he had often tagged along on those outings just to ensure nothing happened to her.

"For the record, Jug, five phone calls is more than enough." Toni warned. "What the hell do you want?"

"She remembers!" Jughead blurted out, smacking his hand against the cool metal lockers in frustration.

The line went silent for a moment.

"Toni?"

"Jughead, what the hell are you babbling about?" Toni asked.

"She remembers."

"Who?"

"Betty."

"Oh."

"Oh?" He restated, his irritation, anger and the secret fear he would never let anyone else see getting the better of him. "That's all you have to say? Oh?"

Toni sighed, clearly just annoyed. "Walk me through it one more time."

"Would you pay attention?"

"Would you quit freaking out?" She retorted. "Why are you freaking out?"

"Because." Jughead hissed. "She remembers, and that is the last thing any of us need right now."

"Who remembers?"

"Betty."

"Oh."

"Toni..."

"What exactly does she remember, Jughead?" Toni questioned.

"She remembers you talking about a body in the woods behind Sweet Water River. Why the hell would you bring that up?"

"Don't you dare blame this on me. We don't even know if she heard us."

"Then why did she just ask me about it?"

Now, Toni sounded amused. "You talked to her? Where?"

"In the Blue and Gold office."

"Why were you there?"

"I stopped her from..." Jughead trailed off quickly. "Why is this relevant?"

"I thought you were going to stay away from her." Toni teased.

"Sidelines." He corrected. He couldn't imagine ever staying away from Betty Cooper, even after everything they had been through. "I said I was going to stay on the sidelines."

"Because you can't stay away from her?"

"Toni, can we please focus here?"

"I'm just trying to understand." She told him. "Jug, you do realize that to her, you're the enemy, right?"

"A Serpent is always the enemy of a Northsider." Jughead agreed.

"But is the Northsider always the enemy of a Serpent?" She challenged.

"Not Betty."

"No?"

"No."

"Why?" Toni asked, and he didn't think he had ever had such a deep talk with her.

"I don't know." Jughead confessed.

He really didn't.

Shouldn't Betty Cooper have been in the same category as Archie Andrews in the life of Jughead Jones? Someone he thought about, not often, but enough? Someone he had both good and bad memories with, and for that reason alone, he could never truly hate that person?

Probably, but she wasn't.

No, Betty Cooper was something else entirely.

She had tried.

Freshman year, she had tried to keep the three of them together. She had sat with Jughead during lunch when it was permitted, she had called him, they had texted back and forth during the nights neither one of them could sleep, which had been often, but as her schedule had gotten busier, with the River Vixen's, joining the Blue and Gold, the only freshman journalist, Jughead had been so proud of her, her time for him had become less and less, until any free moments she did have were spent exclusively with the people she now called her friends.

"You care about her." Toni said.

"Always." Jughead admitted.

"So, what does she remember?"

He smacked his forehead in frustration. How could he have gotten so distracted?

"Damn it, Toni."

She laughed. "I just wanted the confirmation that I was right. So, what's the matter?"

"Betty remembers you talking about a body in the woods behind Sweet Water River." He grumbled. "She called you out by name."

"Oh."

"Please stop saying oh."

"Well, what do you want me to say, Jug?" Toni demanded. "So, she heard me say something about a body. Big deal. She was so out of it. She had no idea what was going on."

He took a moment to process her words. In a way, she was right, she was usually right, and that had reminded him so much of Betty when he and Toni became friends. Betty had been out of it, calling him Juggie like they were still fourteen, telling him that she thought Kevin was good enough to be a Dolly Parton impersonator.

He was praying that the concussion was enough to keep certain memories at bay for a little while longer.

"You don't know Betty." Jughead argued.

Toni snorted. "And you do?"

"Better than she thinks I do."

"What are you thinking?"

"That I wish I was a better liar." He said.

She stopped laughing. "Damn it, Jug."

"Now do you see the problem?"

"I do." Toni replied evenly. "What do you want to do about it? Do you want us to take care of her?"

"Toni."

"Kidding." She offered. "You say you know this chick, right? How well do you really know her, Jug?"

"Well enough to know that if she doesn't get the answers she wants soon, she'll go all Nancy Drew on me."

Toni paused.

"Is she going to be a problem?"

"No." He answered, but he wasn't sure if he was being truthful. Betty Cooper was nothing if not determined.

"Jughead, no one can know about-"

"Don't you think I don't know that?" Jughead shot back. "Shit, Toni, we made a promise."

"Always united." Toni recited.

"I'll handle it." He promised.

"What if she doesn't believe you?"

"Then I'll handle that too." Jughead declared, adjusting the weight of his backpack against his shoulder. "But no one is going to touch her. If they do, they'll deal with me."

"You know, some people don't like you looking after a Northsider."

Jughead scoffed. "Screw them. You protect the people you lo-"

He could practically hear the grin in her voice.

"The people you what?"

"The people you care about." He corrected, carefully emphasizing his second choice of words.

"Jug?"

"What?"

"What are you going to do when this girl goes away to college?" Toni questioned, still sounding amused.

Jughead turned the corner, passing the main office, where he had spent several minutes after being caught by Principal Weatherbee at lunch. Close by was the music room, a place he had never dared to enter due to his tone deafness. He had tried playing the clarinet in the fifth-grade band, though he had given it up quickly at Archie and Betty's insistence.

Normally, he wouldn't have given the classroom a second though, but a flash of familiar red had him backtracking, glaring through the blinds.

"Jug?"

"Hope she carries pepper spray." Jughead replied distractedly. "Toni, I have to go."

He hung up, shoving the phone back into his pocket.