"Why did Sheriff Keller bring you in and not me?" Betty asked.

A little while later, they lay together in Betty's bed, Jughead on his back, Betty's head on his chest, their legs intertwined. His hands idly ran through her blond hair.

"We have a murder board," Jughead said. "It's a little suspicious.

"Yeah. We. The murder board belongs to both of us."

"You're not a troubled kid," Jughead explained. "You don't get bullied."

"Who's picking on you?" she asked. She sat up and clenched her fists.

"Are you going to fight them all?" he asked. When she nodded a yes, he chuckled at her and pulled her back down to him. "The majority of the football team has it out for me. Jason Blossom was the worst offender. We got into a few fights. Weatherby told Keller about it when he came into question me."

"Jason was a jerk to you? That surprises me."

"Why? He's a Blossom. Being an asshole is in their DNA."

"That's not what I meant. Archie is on the football team, too. Why hasn't he ever done anything to stop it?"

Jughead sighed. "Archie tried in the past, but last year . . . we had a falling out, I guess you could say. We tried to reconnect this summer by taking a road trip, but he ditched me last minute to fool around with Ms. Grundy. I understand the appeal of feeling up a beautiful woman." He palmed her breast and they shared a smile. "But ever since then, there's been this rift between us."

"Do you want to fix it?" she asked. Betty had been Archie's best friend since they were six, but that didn't blind her to who he really was. Archie had his good qualities, but loyalty wasn't one of them.

"I have to. I know that I'm not as important to him as he is to me, but he's one of my oldest friends. That matters to me."

"Archie loves you like a brother," Betty said. Jughead's eyebrows knitted together in concert, like he didn't believe her. "He just has a hard time showing it." She placed her hand on his shoulder. Jughead tensed beneath her touch and she wondered if she had said something wrong.

"I don't want to talk about Archie anymore, not tonight," he said.

"Me either."

She laid back down and snuggled up against him again. A small silence passed between them, and just enjoyed just the simple fact that she got to be here with him like this, but then her mind wandered. Polly would never again get to feel Jason laying next to her or smell his scent, but Betty was certain Jason never loved her sister. Polly would spend the rest of her life aching for him, but if he would have lived, Jason would have only continued to break Polly's heart.

"Jason Blossom was a jerk, to you, to my sister, to just about every other decent person in Riverdale," she said, returning to their original topic of conversation.

"Agreed."

"I'm glad he's dead." She rolled her face into his chest. "Does that make me a bad person?"

"No, it makes you human."

She let out a breath, relieved that he hadn't judged her for saying that about Jason. It wasn't just because Jughead hated him, too, but because Jughead didn't expect or want her to be the good girl everyone else thought she was. Jughead wanted her, the flawed, imperfect Betty, not the ideal. With him, she could always be herself. It was refreshing, freeing.

"But should we maybe pause our murder investigation?"

"What about The Blue and Gold? We have to write this story, and if we solve this, we'll be the talk of the town. Hell, the whole country. Having notoriety of being the guy who pinned the story would get me into any college I want, a publisher, a book deal even."

"But it could also get you thrown in jail."

"Nah. I don't think so. Keller has nothing on me. Nothing. Everywhere I've been, you've been."

"And we've got the murderer running. We're digging the right places," Betty said. "It's just a matter of time until we figure it out."

"Who do you think did it, by the way?" he asked.

"At first I thought it was Cheryl."

"Some sort of creepy twin, insectuous jealousy killing?" he asked.

"How did you know?" she asked, laughing a little at just how closely he'd followed her logic.

He shrugged. "Twins are weird." He smiled at her for a moment before adding his own theory. "I think it was another Blossom."

"Mom or dad?"

"Grandma actually."

"She's half-blind and in a wheelchair."

"So? She's still scary."

Betty frowned dramatically. "Poor Juggie," she said, teasing him. "I hope she doesn't give you nightmares tonight."'

"Hey! She creeped me out."

"I know. You were cowering behind me."

"I wasn't cowering," he said.

"Oh, yes, you were."

"I'm the one who walked you home the other night to protect you from a dangerous killer." He flexed his bicep. "These muscles that you like so much aren't just for show."

She rolled her eyes as she picked up her pillow and whacked him with it. He tried to take the pillow from her, and it turned into a tickling, wrestling match. Within thirty seconds, they were both laughing and breathless. He had rolled her onto her back, stacked her hands together, and with one of his big hands, encircled both her wrists. She giggled and squirmed as his mouth over her neck, nipping her gently on her shoulder. He kissed each of her breasts through the fabric of her tank top. She whimpered a protest when he left them.

But she wasn't disappointed for long. He released her wrists and hitched his thumbs into the elastic band of her panties, but just as he started to drag them down her legs, a door slammed shut down the hall.

They both jolted off the bed. Betty placed a finger over her closed lips, signaling for him to be quiet. She pointed to the closet, and Jughead understood what she wanted him to do. He picked up his hat and t-shirt from the floor and hid amongst her hanging button up tops and cardigans and sensible shoes.

At foot of the bed, Betty stood there, stunned into stillness. If her mother found Jughead in her room, Alice Cooper would probably call Sheriff Keller and have him arrested for trespassing, and then send Betty to the home for troubled youth. Thankfully when she poked her head out into the hallway, she saw her dad stumbling out of his room and toward the bathroom. She breathed a sigh of relief and eased the door closed and locked it. Jughead came out of her closet.

"Who was it?" he whispered. His eyes were wide. He was just as afraid of her mother as she was.

"Just my dad. He went to the bathroom and is headed back to bed."

"Good," he said. He glanced at Betty and back to her bed. He had his crown cap on again. "I guess I better get back to Archie's before we push our luck too much and your mom catches us."

"And we both need a good night's rest." She came to him and adjusted his cap, straightening it. She pulled his face down so she could kiss his forehead.

"And thanks to you and your skilled hand, I'll be able to relax enough to sleep tonight." He moved his arms around her, pulling her into a hug and lifting her off the ground for a moment.

"So you liked it?" she asked. She'd gone purely off of instinct. Before Jughead, the farthest she'd gone with a guy was letting her summer internship boyfriend feel her up at a book release party. But everything she did with Jughead last night felt natural and right.

"Hell yes, I liked it. Why are you worried?"

"I've never done it before," she said, burying her face in his chest.

"Well, it was perfect, literally the best thing that has ever happened in my life."

"Okay. Good," she said, biting her lip. Right now, she wanted to touch him again. To do more, go farther.

"What about you?" he asked. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

She looked down as she felt her cheeks turning pink. She was a little embarrassed at how she writhed around beneath him, begging for more. Polly had been known for being a slut, while Betty was the prude. Betty had always tried so hard to keep up that pure image because she'd seen what Polly's reputation had done to her. Polly said if she was a man, she wouldn't be ashamed for enjoying sex. Betty understood that now. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be with Jughead, with someone she . . . cared about.

"It felt amazing. Better than anything I've ever experienced."

He tilted her head up so that she had to look at him. "I think getting you off is the second best thing that ever happened to me." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and backed away. "To be continued, Juliet." Then he climbed out the window and slipped away into the darkness.

She watched him as he walked back to Archie's. He waved to her before he went inside. Even though sunrise was only a few hours away, Betty lay awake for a long while, thinking about Polly and her baby, about Jason, and then Jughead. At first, she thought up ways she could help F.P. get himself back together enough so that he could again provide a stable home for Jughead. But she had to admit that the idea of Jughead living next door was appealing. It would be convenient to have her boyfriend at such a close proximity.

Boyfriend. Was that what he was to her? It was such a simple word with so many complications. Why didn't he define what they were the other night when he walked her home after the search party for Polly? She could tell that he wanted to put a name to what he was to her, but something stopped him, and she wasn't sure what. Either he was nervous that she didn't feel the same way, or he didn't like her as much as she liked him. What if all this was was a long of heavy making out? She sighed and turned over to her side so that she could face her window.

At 5:30 a.m. sharp, Alice Cooper knocked on Betty's bedroom door.

"Betty!" Alice voice was far too chipper for this early in the morning, but Betty knew her mother was anything but please with her at this moment.

Alice would have normally walked right in, but after she and Jughead were disturbed last night by her dad's midnight bathroom visit, she decided it would be safer to lock the door. But locked doors were not allowed in the Cooper house.

Suddenly afraid Alice would somehow know what she and Jughead had down in her bedroom last night, she bolted off of the bed and looked around for evidence that needed to be hidden, but there was nothing. Betty grabbed her shorts, slipped them on, and put on a sweatshirt and pulled in on, too, just in case he left some sort of mark on her that Alice would recognize.

Alice's knocking had turned into pounding by the time Betty made it to the door. "Yes, Mother?" she said letting her in.

Her mother was in full makeup, hair fixed, business suit on. "What took you so long and why is your door locked? You know my rules. Locked doors mean you have something to hide, and having something to hide means that your door comes off it's hinges so i can see in at all times." Her tone was so sickeningly sweet, but Betty knew Alice Cooper was mainly made up a venom. Alice wasn't bluffing. Polly had spent her entire freshman year without a door on her bedroom.

"I have nothing to hide, Mother. I simply forgot to unlock it when I got dressed after my shower last night."

Alice looked her over, trying to find a flaw in what Betty had said. Betty froze. What if her mother could sense Jughead had been in the room? She couldn't pick up Jughead's scent. Her mother wasn't a bloodhound. There was no way she could know what happened here on Betty's pink bed.

Alice sighed. "Fine. But do not let it happen again. Get up, get dressed, and get yourself to school on time. You have a busy day."

"Yes, Mother," Betty said. After Alice left, she shut the door behind her mother, but didn't lock it as she changed into her school clothes. After showering and eating a tense breakfast with her parents, Betty grabbed her lunch and backpack, and left the house.

Jughead was waiting for her at the end of her driveway. He didn't notice her at first, so she took a moment to admire the tall, lean frame that she'd had her hands on last night, that she couldn't wait to get her hands on again. Maybe during lunch, she would pull him into that closet again.

"Hey, Betts," Jughead said, when he noticed her staring. "What you thinking about?"

She stepped up beside him and took his hand. "You," she whispered.

He smiled one of those rare Jughead smile's that reached his eyes, permeated his soul with joy. "I had some great dreams about you," he admitted. "About what I still want to do with you."

She leaned into him. "Oh, and what do you still want to do to me?" she asked. Her breath caught when he faced her and positioned his hand between them so he could slip his fingers past the elastic of her panties. "I want to know what you taste like."

The breath she released resounded in the quiet stillness of the Riverdale morning.

"Hey, guys!" Archie called.

They both looked to the front porch as Archie jogged down the stairs. They broke apart. Jughead moved his messenger bag to cover the front of his jeans and he waved at his best friend. Betty's heartbeat was erratic and she'd started sweating through her light knit sweater.

"Archie doesn't like us together," Jughead whispered.

"What did he say to you?" she asked.

"Nothing. I can just tell."

"Why does he care? He rejected me."

"In Archie's mind, you'll always be his girl, even when you're not."

That wasn't fair, but sounded exactly like Archie. Selfish, insecure, needy-all opposite of the attributes Jughead, who was always kind and selfless and independent.

"Ready for school?" Archie asked.

"Yep," Jughead said as he fell into step with Archie.

"Morning, Betty," Archie said, and then he turned away from her and kept his attention on Jughead the entire way to school. Both boys were lost in their own private conversation, as Betty walked with them, but not really with them.

A few times, she thought about trying to engage them both, but decided against it. From the moment Archie stepped off his front porch, it was like she'd turned invisible to Jughead. She knew that Jughead was keeping his distance to try and spare Archie's feelings, but she didn't want Archie to dictate how Jughead treated her. It wasn't fair.

Maybe Jughead didn't want Archie or anyone to see them together. Maybe Jughead really didn't want to be her boyfriend. Archie and Jughead could both go to hell! If Jughead wanted to ignore her, fine. She could ignore him, too. As far as she was concerned, there would be a blind spot in the exact same shape and height as Jughead. Once they reached school, Jughead stopped at the front doors, and Archie went inside without them.

Jughead turned to Betty, but she walked right past him and into school. He called her name, but she ignored him and marched down the hall without looking back. She spotted Veronica and pulled her friend away from the others and huddled together next to their lockers.

"Hey, B. What's up?" Veronica asked.

The other students rushed around them, trying to get to their homerooms. Betty ignored them all. "I don't think Jughead likes me," she whispered, not wanting anyone around them to hear her business.

"That's ridiculous. Jughead is your boyfriend. Of course he likes you."

"He's never said that he was my boyfriend." Betty shook her head, suddenly realizing just how much she wanted to be Jughead's girlfriend. "He ignored me this morning."

"Betty!" someone yelled, but she recognized the voice.

Both Betty and Veronica's attention was drawn down the hall, to the boy who shouted her name. Betty's eyes met Jughead's as he rushed to her, pushing his way through the crowd. Archie was a few feet behind him, staring after his best friend.

When Jughead reached Betty, he grabbed her, encircling her in his arms, lifted her up, and kissed her in front of Veronica, Archie, and the entire student body of Riverdale High.