Betty, Interrupted - Bughead

0.1

In a town where every person had their role, where image was everything - Elizabeth Cooper knew her part to play. Always smile, be kind, be happy and never let anyone know the truth. Not your friends, not your family.

Betty stood in the bright pink bedroom, checking her reflection for the millionth time that morning. Her outfit was simple, the floral blouse and light blue jeans hiding her insecurities. She felt the well of anxiety spring within her stomach. 'You look stupid. Everyone is going to see right through you." She thought. The loud sigh that seeped out of her mouth startled her, and punctuated the silence of her room.

Her attention shifted to finding the right button up sweater to hide herself in. She searched through sweater after sweater, all of them in identical hues of pink and baby blue, she finally settled on. 'Better. Half decent. Now just to make it through the day. Keep my head down. Paste a smile on.' Almost on reflex she reached for the bottle of pills on her dresser and flicked the bottle back and forth, listening to the rattle of the pills against the lid.

Maybe just skip them today.

Click.

You're fine.

Click.

In control.

Click.

You don't need them.

Before she could wipe the worried look off her face, her mother burst into her room. "Betty, you're going to be late, what are you doing? Did you take your medication and have breakfast?" Her brain had barely caught up to the many questions before she answered. " Yes and yes. I'm leaving now."

Betty grabbed her bag and pushed past her mother in the doorway, heading down the stairs, avoiding the bright kitchen where the sickening sweet smell of pancakes seemed to call out to her. "See you later mom!" She called out but the echo of a door shutting upstairs was her only response.

Another grey day awaited her outside. She exhaled, barely realizing she was holding her breath. Everything about her mother seemed so stifling, with the whole day on schedule and monitored. Betty missed the warm days of summer, her internship placing a welcome distance between her and her mother. Where she answered to no one and spent long sunny days wondering what was taking place in the town she had left behind, if only temporarily.

Kevin and Archie had sent her a handful of messages back and forth, always informing her that Riverdale was the same old town it always had been, at least until the death of Jason Blossom. Betty tried to push the thoughts out of her mind. It was difficult. Life was so much harder since Polly rejected the remainder of the Cooper family. Hal had never come back after Alice demanded him out, even after Betty informed him that Polly had gone to live with the Blossoms. He was so busy ranting and raving that Polly had turned her back on the family that he barely heard Betty when she asked if he was coming home.

He merely brushed her off like even the question was an annoyance, muttering some excuse before showing her the door, claiming he would speak to her again soon. That was weeks ago,  it seemed that her family was crumbling around her with her mother only around to order her around and bemoan the loss of 'Perfect Polly' in the time that followed the baby shower.

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of Riverdale High, willing the ache in her chest to stop. Her cellphone chimed and illuminated a message from Veronica. 'B. You walked right past me!! I have coffee for you xx.' She turned around to see a few feet back was Veronica. Pushing a smile on her lips, she ran back towards her.

"Hey! The coffee is a complete godsend. I am so wiped out from this week." Veronica smiled back but a trace of worry remained in her eyes. "You sure you're alright? You've barely responded to any of my texts this week and I really did need your opinion on whether this fall weather would ruin my flats. Even Jughead messaged me asking me if he had seen his girl. He is too cute B." Betty felt guilt wash over her.

She was an awful girlfriend. Brushing off every text and phone call, to sit alone in her room, and trying to number her overwhelming feelings. The ever present sense of dread while she listened to her mom argue with her dad, or watch her mother hanging up the phone on Polly again. She knew all too well that he was standing in Archie's room, willing her to walk to the window and flash him that hundred watt smile, to beckon for him to be with her through another movie or silent company while they did homework. But that hundred watt smile had become harder and harder to find.

"Betty? Hello in there? I know my monologue on the men of Riverdale is not that interesting, but humor me, please!" Veronica waved a perfectly manicured hand in her face to snap her back to reality. "I'm so sorry Ronnie, but I have to go. I completely forget I have to meet Juggy in the Blue & Gold office." The coffee seemed increasingly hot in her hand as Veronica squeezed her shoulder. "It's okay. Get going, your prince charming awaits."

Betty pushed through the front doors and got enveloped in the loud crowds of teens populating the halls. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other, telepathically willing no one to speak to her. The Blue & Gold office sat in front of her and through the frosted glass door she could she the familiar silhouette of her favourite person in the town.

One hand on the doorknob she willed her racing heart to slow and took two deep breaths. She needed to pull it together. He would see right through her. "Hi." "Hey." She crossed the distance between them in an instant, reaching for a hug. She felt like she need the smell of his t-shirt and the feeling of his arms around her to hold together, in order to keep from bursting into tears. He didn't move and inch but whispered into the top of her head "I missed you."

She pulled back and giggled "You can't miss me too much when you're able to spot me out the window to catch a glimpse. " His serious look was back and he caught her eye. "Isn't the same thing by a long shot." Betty faltered for a second, caught off guard. Was she messing this up as bad as the rest of her life? Pushing away the only person she felt clearly cared about her?

"Just a busy week Juggy. It took me forever to get caught up on homework, Mom's been in an awful mood with everything going on.. Let's not talk about it now. Let's just get to class." She watched the visible relief cross his face. Reliable Betty. Never shook, always strong and doing the right thing. He walked her to her first class, but as he sat in his spot during English he couldn't help but start to wonder.

Usually he would be absorbed by whatever book they were discussing, eager to have something new to read. Today he was completely unable to get the thought of Betty off his mind. How often had she been there for him over the last few months, with a smile and a warm embrace? Through the stuff with his father, through moving into Archie's, through comforting him during his arrest. Thinking back he struggled to remember when he last saw an honest smile on her face, where she didn't look worried or preoccupied. She felt miles away from him lately, with the distance growing by the day. All he could do was hold on for lunch, in the hopes that he would be able to get some answers from her then.

As the bell rang to signify the start of lunch, Betty lingered in front of the open window in her Algebra class gulping in fresh air with her eyes closed. She could hear the sounds of everyone packing up around her but it seemed so far away. She had never felt so suffocated by the expectations of everyone , to be that sweet girl that everyone wanted, even as she was drowning in her own self doubt. She was so damn tired.