He was lying in wait.
Neither of the two women who resided in the house next door were home, not a big surprise when it came to Betty's mother. Since they had entered high school, she often worked late, leaving her young daughter to fend for herself.
Sometimes, she could come over, they would do their homework together, eat dinner with his dad, and then spend the rest of the night playing video games.
It felt like forever since they had spent any time along together.
There was a distance between them that was only growing with each passing day. Either he did something to upset her, or she went behind his back to get rid of his...
He still didn't know what to call Grundy.
He'd begged Betty to stay out of it. Of course she hadn't listened.
Best friends weren't supposed to do things like this to one another.
He was trying to remain calm, to give her the benefit of the doubt, but with every passing moment that she had not returned, it was getting harder for him to maintain any sort of calm, cool and collected demeanor.
The familiar roar of a motorcycle echoed through the usually quiet streets of Riverdale.
Archie's eyes narrowed as the bike came to a stop, the girl next door perched on the back, a helmet covering her golden pony tail, her arms wrapped tightly around the torso of his former best friend.
"Betty!" He called, irritation lacing his tone. "What the hell are you doing?"
She noticeably stiffened, carefully dismounting. Jughead stood too, placing a hand on her shoulder. His brow furrowed at the contact.
What the hell was going on?
"Ms. Grundy is gone." He hissed, not bothering to wait for her answer. "What did you do, Betty? What the hell did you do?"
"Arch." Jughead warned, moving to stand between them.
"Stay out of this, Jug."
"Betty didn't get rid of Grundy." He said.
Archie stared at him. "Jug..."
"It was me."
No.
He couldn't believe that.
Jughead didn't care enough about him to make such a life altering decision on his behalf. Betty, however...
"I made her leave town." Jughead continued, shifting to block Archie's view of his best friend. "And I would do it again."
"Juggie-"
"Betts." He didn't look at her. "Shut up."
"Don't talk to her like that." Archie snapped, unable to stop himself from rushing to her defense.
"This is between you and me, Arch."
"Jughead-"
"Jug." Betty echoed, reaching for his arm.
"Betty." He hissed. "Shut up."
"Jughead-"
"She had nothing to do with it."
Archie scoffed. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"Yes." Jughead deadpanned.
He stared at the two in disbelief. How could they possibly be on the same side? Betty was his best friend, not Jughead's.
"Archie..." Betty began, nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "It was for your own good."
"Betts."
"Bull shit!" He snapped.
"Archie..."
"It was none of your business." Archie barked, his hand curling into a fist. Betty mimicked the gesture. "Jug, maybe you did the dirty work, but we both know who you really did it for. I told you to leave her alone."
"Arch." She scolded.
"And I told you to stay out of it." He seethed. "Jesus, Betty, do you even realize just how much you've screwed up my life?"
"Arch." Jughead warned.
"No!" His tone made Betty shrink back, slowly retreating to hide behind the Serpent. "You know what, B? Stay the hell away from me. Both of you."
Archie stormed inside, not sparing either of them a second glance.