Spider Of Fate For Tangled Hearts

Chapter 2 - A fresh start, leaving the past behind

For Archie, New York University represented everything he had dreamed of, an opportunity to grow, to learn, to become something more than the small-town boy everyone in Riverdale knew him as. He had always wanted to escape the shadow of his past, to prove to himself and others that he could succeed on his own terms.

As he walked through the crowded streets with his suitcase in hand, Archie took it all in with wide eyes. The chatter of students, the vibrant mix of cultures, the constant hum of the city, it was intoxicating. He could hardly believe he was really here, standing on the threshold of a new life, with the chance to reinvent himself.

"This is it," he thought, his heart pounding with anticipation. "A fresh start."

As the redhead crossed the lobby of NYU, he felt a sense of freedom he hadn't experienced before. There were no expectations, no lingering glances from people who knew too much about his life. Here, he was just another student, one of thousands, and he liked it that way. He was eager to dive into his classes, to meet new people, to embrace everything this new chapter had to offer.

But as much as he tried to focus on the excitement of being at university, there was a shadow hanging over his happiness. Betty Cooper.

No matter how hard he tried to push it away, the thought of Betty still gnawed at him. She hadn't spoken to him since prom night, and the silence between them was deafening. They had been best friends for as long as he could remember, inseparable since childhood, but all of that had come crashing down the night she found out about him and Veronica.

The memory of that night was a dull ache in his chest that he couldn't shake off. He could still see the look on Betty's face when she'd seen him with Veronica near the locker room, the way her eyes had filled with pain and betrayal. It was a look that haunted him, a look he'd seen over and over again in his mind, trying to understand how things had gone so wrong.

Archie knew he'd made a big mistake. He'd tried to protect Betty by keeping his relationship with Veronica a secret, but in the end, all he'd done was make things worse.

This thing with Veronica hadn't been planned. He'd been really determined not to have a relationship during his senior year.

Many complicated things were on his mind that prom night. The high school year was over, and thanks to Betty he was going to be able to apply to college. As Betty had assured him, it was certain that a university would give him a favorable answer, given how good his results had been this year. He was dying to celebrate. And that night, Veronica was the one who was there.

The truth was, he had hidden away in the locker room to drink alcohol with her in the first place. Since her best friend was too busy spending her perfect night on the arm of her perfect boyfriend.

Maybe his relationship with Veronica was the result of a bitterness he felt that night.

Or maybe he'd just been attracted to the brunette all along. He was confused with himself.

He sighed, running a hand through his messy red hair as he walked toward his dorm. The excitement of starting fresh was still there, but it was tainted by the knowledge that he had lost one of the most important people in his life.

As he reached his dorm and checked in, Archie tried to shake off the melancholy that had settled over him. This was supposed to be a new beginning, a chance to move forward. But moving forward was hard when the past refused to let go.

He collected his key and headed up to his room, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the distance and the new surroundings would help him find a way to fix things with Betty. Or at the very least, help him come to terms with the fact that she might never forgive him.