Betty, Interrupted - Bughead

19

The anger swept through her, boiling blood and rising her temperature. Betty tried to calm herself down and resist the urge to head into Polly's old room, ripping down pictures and throwing her things to the floor. Fight the urge to throw everything in a pile on the ground and torch it, seeking solace in the flames. The worst kind of love was one that you were born with, where you had never lived without that person by your side. Shared experiences meant nothing, countless hours spent talking about the future, about the bond they shared in blood and with their last names. It was all meaningless as Betty realized she truly hated her sister in a way that seemed unfathomable.

She had avoided Polly's room for a long time now. After she was sent to Sisters of Quiet Mercy it had just become a tomb, treated as sacred and hallowed ground. When she returned from the internship she had sometimes lingered outside the door, remembering a time when she could knock on the door and be let in just as simply. It was harder to now to figure out when things had gotten so complicated. Before the internship or after? Once Polly dated Jason or once she joined the River Vixens? Where had the rift opened up that tore Betty in two, grieving the loss of a sister who still breathed..

Betty pushed the door open now, still dripping on the carpet from her wet hair, relishing in the familiar squeak of the hinges as it gave way. The room was still perfect, a snapshot of the person she had believed her sister to be. No clothes scattered on the floor, everything orderly and tidy. The only indication of the hasty way Polly had left was dresser drawers hanging open, looking just as empty as Betty felt now. She couldn't get over the sense that she was trespassing, breaking the unspoken rule of privacy between the sisters.

She searched the bookcase first, looking for any sign of a diary hidden among the teen drama titles lining the shelves. She moved from bookshelf to closet, pulling out boxes and belongings. As the day grew darker and shifted slowly into the afternoon, she was no closer to finding what she needed. Instead trapped in her nightmare of her own making surrounded with pictures of herself and Polly, all smiling without any idea of what the future held.

It was only as she sank down to the floor, lying on her back to stare at the green plastic stars coating the ceiling that she caught a glimpse of the baggie taped to the underside of her sisters desk. Taped haphazardly with a mass of transparent tape was a bad filled with white powder. It didn't take long for Betty to recognize that it was drugs her sister was keeping hidden. She pried the tiny bag down, feeling the light weight of it in her hand and feeling the lurch of her stomach as she reminded herself to breathe.

Betty felt claustrophobic in Polly's bedroom, so innocent with rose petal wallpaper and the scent of cotton candy perfume hanging in the air. Her chest was seizing with anxiety and dread.

"Betty? Are you home?"

Her dads voice called up to her and she reached for the desk drawer, throwing the bag inside and slamming it shut. This would crush her already devastated father and she couldn't talk to him about it now, after they had just recently cleared the air between them. She stepped into the hall and quietly closed the door behind her to hide the mess from him. She rushed down the stairs to where he stood in the kitchen, a bag from Pop's in his hand.

"I didn't mean to startle you, just thought you might want to share a late lunch together! Is everything okay.. you look pale."

"Yeah! I'm doing good! I'd love some onion rings!"

Her voice sounded to high to her, too sickly sweet and false. He didn't notice and started to unload the greasy food onto the counter, reaching for plates and glasses. He searched for a drink in the fridge while she choked down some food, it all tasted like sandpaper in her mouth.

"..Betty, why didn't you tell me it was completely empty in here? I could have brought you over some food."

"It's okay, I've just been over at a lot of friends lately. Dinner at Veronicas or Pops with Jughead. They've been really supportive."

"Well, your clothes are looking kind of loose kiddo. You have to make sure you're taking care of yourself."

She tried to wave him off, a fry coated in salt perched by her mouth. Betty placed it back down on the plate, thankful to see her phone lighting up with Veronicas name. She barely let it ring before she picked up.

"Hey you!"

"I feel like I haven't heard your voice in a thousand years. Believe me, school is dull and empty without you. I don't know how I'm going to survive another day without my partner in crime.. So, with that note.. you wanted to do a girls night?"

"Uh, yes. Exactly. I am dying for pizza and movies."

She was all too aware of her dad eyeing her as she paced the kitchen, seemingly calmed by the idea of Betty eating a pepperoni pizza. She figured out the details with Veronica, promising to see her shortly.

"Dad, are you staying at the house tonight?"

"Yeah, I mean I kind of have to now that I know you've been living off a slice of toast here and there. You need some groceries, and I need to come to terms with everything.."

"I should have just rescheduled the sleepover. I know I should be here to support you."

"No. You're still a normal teenage girl and you deserve to have some fun. I don't want any of what's happened to take away from that."

She was almost lost for words standing in front of him, there was no way to explain that nothing would ever be the same. Based on what she knew and what sat in Polly's desk drawer upstairs, there was a distinct possibility that everything could in fact get worse. None the less she nodded and smiled at him, heading up the stairs to pack.

For half a second she considered leading him up the stairs with her, showing him the truth, but the thought of watching him lose it in the childish bedroom kept her mouth from opening. As he waited in the car to take her to Veronicas, Betty mumbled that she had forgotten her cell phone charger and headed back inside, backpack in tow.

She could see him out the window, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to a beat she couldn't hear, while she poured the drugs into the toilet, flushing away what possibly turned her sister into a stranger. If he sensed she was nervous on the drive over, he kept it himself, instead focusing on the trip they would take in the summer. Betty stared out the window and wondered how she would make it to the summer without losing her mind, slipping into the rabbit hole that had become her life.