Bughead: What Would I do Without You?

Chapter 7

The next morning Betty woke up to her alarm going off. After she had turned it off she went back over to her desk and noticed that she hadn't finished her homework! She couldn't believe she had fallen asleep without finishing! If she didn't get that done before class and get it turned in on time she knew her mom would beat her again. She looked over at her mirror and noticed that she hadn't even changed her clothes before she went to sleep last night. She changed her outfit and put her homework in her backpack. She didn't have that class until after lunch so maybe she could get it done during lunch that day. Betty went downstairs to eat her breakfast and went out to the car to go to school. She was so grateful that her mom wasn't home so she wouldn't have to lie about having her homework done. When she got to school and started heading toward her locker she noticed a certain raven-haired beanie-wearing boy right next to her locker.

"Good morning Bets, how're you feeling this morning?" Jughead asked Betty smiling.

"I'm a little tired but that's nothing a latte can't fix." Betty semi-lied to Jughead. She couldn't tell him that her mother had beaten her because she had seen the two of them together.

"Well, I might just grab you a latte to wake you up." Jughead told Betty with a debonair smile.

"You'd do that Jug?" Betty was beyond happy with Jughead.

"Anything for you Bets." Jughead smiled even brighter.

"You're the best Juggy." Betty wrapped her arms around Jughead's neck but winced in pain from her cuts.

"Are you alright Betty?" Jughead asked concerned about her.

"I'm okay. I'm just a little sore from P.E. yesterday." Betty lied. She couldn't tell him the truth. She didn't want him to worry about her.

"Are you sure Betty?" Jughead was a little skeptical of what Betty said.

"100% positive Juggy. I gotta get to class but maybe I'll see you at lunch later?" Betty asked.

"Sure." Jughead was still a little suspicious of Betty and he was worried about her but he decided not to push it right then.

Time Skip

Betty was sitting at lunch waiting for Veronica because they always sat at lunch together. She was the only one besides Archie who knew about her mom constantly beating her. She desperately wanted to tell them what happened yesterday with her mom but then Jughead came over to the table and sat down directly across from her. She immediately knew that she couldn't talk about what happened yesterday with Jughead around. She took out her phone and texted Veronica and Archie that something had happened yesterday but she couldn't discuss it at lunch today.

"Anything wrong Betty?" Jughead was still concerned about Betty so he thought he would try asking her again if she was okay.

"Nope. Nothing's wrong Juggy. Everything is perfect. Except for the fact that I fell asleep doing my homework last night and I didn't finish one piece of homework last night so I need to get that done now." Betty still didn't think she could tell Jughead the truth right now so she just got out her homework and finished it while she ate.

"Hey, guys." Veronica called as she walked over to Betty and Jughead and sat down.

"Hey, V." Betty smiled at Veronica and hoped that she could act like nothing was wrong.

"What's up, guys?" Archie sat down across from Veronica and next to Betty.

"Nothing." Jughead glared at Archie. He didn't want Archie laying a finger on Betty. Let alone, sitting right next to her after what happened yesterday.

Archie could feel the glare and guiltly looked down at his food.

Jughead saw something red out of the corner of his eye and looked over in that direction. He noticed that Betty's arm was bleeding. He really needed to know what was happening.

"Bets, what happened to you? Why is your arm bleeding?" Jughead was really scared for Betty right now.

"What?" Betty looked down at her arm and noticed that her cuts were bleeding through the bandages she had put on last night. "Crap. It's nothing Jug. I'll deal with it." She desperately didn't want to tell him that she had cut herself last night or that her mom had beat her last night.

"This isn't nothing Betty. Can you please tell me what's going on? This is why you winced earlier when you put your arms around my neck earlier isn't it? You're not just sore from gym class." Jughead was getting really scared now.

Betty didn't want to tell him the truth but she knew she had no choice now.

"They're cuts. I forgot to change the bandages this morning before I left." Betty half-lied.

"Who did this to you?" Jughead thought he knew the answer but he didn't know if he wanted to hear it.

"No one." Betty desperately didn't want to tell him the truth.

"Betty. Did you do this to yourself? Please don't lie to me." Jughead could feel the tears flowing down his cheeks and could see the tears streaming down Betty's face too.

"You want the truth?" Betty said between sobs.

"Yes." Jughead said. Neither of them cared that they were crying in the cafeteria for everyone to see.

''I cut myself. Okay? Do you want to know why? My mother is fucking abusive to me. If I get a 99% on a test or if I stay out too late or... Even if I have a boyfriend she'll slap me knocking me to the ground and then she'll start to kick me until I have the wind knocked out of me and I black out." Betty couldn't control her tears.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jughead pulled her into his arms and let her sob into his shoulder.

"I didn't want you to worry about me. We were having such a good time and I didn't want to ruin that. And when you asked if I was okay I didn't want to tell you the truth so I said I was sore from gym class." Betty said into his ear while crying.

"So, instead you lied?" Jughead wanted to be mad at her but he understood now where she was coming from.

"I didn't know what else to do." Betty just held him and cried into his shoulder.

"It's going to be okay. It's alright. It's okay. I'm here. I'm going to protect you no matter what. It's okay." Jughead continued to say comforting things to Betty and rubbed his thumb up and down the back of her neck.

Betty started to calm down and started being able to breathe properly. Her breath was just shuddering now.

"Thank you, Juggy." Betty said as she pulled away.

"I'm always going to be here for you no matter what Betty. That's a promise." Jughead looked down into her eyes.

Betty just leaned into his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso. And Jughead wrapped his arms around Betty.