Riverdale: Betty X Jughead

Chapter 3: Safe

  Betty's POV:

  I make it home by 9am and I try to walk inside as casually as possible.
  My mom is sitting in the living room waiting to pounce.
  "Where have you been all night, young lady? No call, not even a text to tell me where you were? What were you thinking?"
  "I wasn't thinking, mom... I'm sorry..." I look down.
  "You still didn't answer the question... Where were you?" She asks quietly.
  "I was at Veronica's... We were watching a movie and I just fell asleep."
  "Funny, because I called Veronica's house this morning and her mom said you weren't there.  Said you hadn't been there at all.  So I'm going to ask you one more time... Where.  Were.  You."
  My nails press into my palms.  "I was with Jughead..."
  That seems to unhinge her.  "I already have one pregnant daughter, I'll be damned if I have another!" She shouts.  She stands up close to me.  "I don't want you seeing him ever again."
  "You can't tell me not to see him... You can't tell me to do anything anymore.  You've kept one too many secrets... I don't trust my own mom.  What kind of a life is that?  You were a serpent, mom?  And yet you talked terribly about Jughead and F.P.  because they were?  You have so many double-standards, how do you possibly keep them straight?"  Tears are running down my cheek now as my nails press harder.
  Before I can register what is happening, she slaps me right across the face.  The pain makes me see spots and I struggle to keep my balance.  My ears ring and I know that she is screaming at me, but right now I can't register the words she is saying because they are all so disgusting.  When she tells me to go to my room, I do so quietly, only because I know what I'm doing next.
  I lock my door and stuff a bag with as much as I can carry, and then I climb out my window and never look back.
  By the time I make it to Jug's trailer, my lips are blue from the cold and my tears have nearly frozen.  I knock on his door shakily, noticing the blood on my hands while doing so.
  I hear him shuffle around for a minute before answering hesitantly.  When he sees it's me, his eyes widen with shock.  "Betty-"
  "I can't go back," I say through tears.
  He starts to pull me inside but then notices my face.  "Oh my god... What happened?"
  He shuts the door and sits me on the couch to examine it.  My head is swirling.
  "It was my mom... She hit me..." I say quietly.
  I see him freeze, his eyes widen.  "Betty, tell me exactly what happened..."  He takes my hand and holds it up, showing the blood from my nails, as well as something I hadn't noticed before:  bruising on my wrists in the perfect shape of hands.  A memory surfaces of her gripping my wrists while screaming those horrible horrible things at me.
  I take a deep breath.  "I got home and she was waiting for me...  She asked where I had been and I told her I spent the night at Veronica's.  She said she called and I wasn't there, and I had to tell her I had been with you.  She didn't even wait for an explanation.  She said she wasn't going to have two pregnant daughters, and I told her I knew about her being a serpent.  She hit me and then started screaming..." The words she said swirl around in my head.  "She called me a slut and a whore...  She held my wrists so tight they bruised... She pointed to my bleeding hands and told me what a mental case I was and how she should have checked me into a hospital years ago... She told me I could never see you again and I just- I didn't know what to do, Jug... I had to leave... I need to leave," I sob.
  He pulls me into his arms and I feel his own tears drop silently onto my shoulder.  "Let's go.  Let's leave.  We can get our own place somewhere... I'll go wherever you want... I just want to protect you, okay?"
  I nod and cry more.
  "I'll keep you safe... I swear."