"No." Jughead simply replied. "There's no way I'm going to let you even be in the same room as him, let alone talk to him."
Betty walked towards the board, writing Chuck's name. She sighed as she clicked the lid back on to the pen.
"It's not like I'll be alone. I'll be with you, and we can bring Moose along. We'll do it now. Nothing's going to happen whilst we're at school." She hastily reasoned.
Jughead placed his hand on her face, cradling her cheek. The bruises were mostly faded now, and the cut healed, but he could still remember their demanding prominence.
"Betts. I can't stand him, I don't know how I'd handle being in the same room as him. I want to kill him for what he did."
"I know." Betty covered his hand with hers, breathing in contently. She felt safe beneath his touch. "But we have to. For Reggie."
☾
Jughead gripped Betty's hand tightly, like he was afraid she would disappear if he let go. She walked slightly in front of him, following Moose. Jughead was beginning to regret agreeing to talking to Chuck as he felt his blood boil in his veins.
When they reached outside the door of the lounge area they'd been informed Chuck was in, Betty came to a halt.
Jughead peered down at her, concern lacing his features.
"Are you okay? We don't have to do this."
Before Betty could respond, Moose barged past them in irritation, determined to find his friend.
The lingering couple swallowed and hastily walked through the door after Betty made a small nod of approval.
As soon as they stepped in, she spotted him.
Chuck sat perched on the arm of the lounge's sofa, laughing obnoxiously at something his jock friend was saying. The creases near his eyes seemed threatening and vicious. He stopped when his eyes drifted to the dramatic entrance of Moose.
"Everything alright, Moose?" Chuck questioned his teammate with a raised brow. Betty's breath hitched at the sound of his voice. Even when speaking normally, he seemed malicious and manipulative.
As he moved his head to the side, she noticed a large bruise near his eye, and smiled slightly in satisfaction. She vaguely recalled Jughead mentioning something about one of the older Serpents having a go at the teenager, but hadn't really cared during her time of... grief.
Most of the Serpents had gone on a hunt to find Nick and Al, claiming the path of "an eye for an eye" needed to be followed. However, they were nowhere to be found. And even though they were thugs, the Serpents hadn't laid a finger on the other football team members that had taken part, choosing to take more passive choices like leaving dead animals on their doorsteps or threatening messages through their letterboxes. Betty had no doubt that they would have ended each and every one of those teenagers that had been there that night if she hadn't told them to leave it, not wanting to cause more pain and conflict. She also argued that most of them probably didn't even want to be there, and had just given into peer pressure. But there was a fine line between the Serpents getting even and respecting Betty's wishes.
Chuck had been a different story. Since Nick and Al seemed to be good at playing 'Hide and Seek', there had been no one for the police to prosecute. They couldn't arrest the teenage boys because they all backed each other up, claiming to be each other's alibis, along with Chuck. Betty and Jughead both knew the Sheriff hadn't pushed prosecution because everyone saw Betty as more of a Southsider now, associates of the menacing, lethal Serpents, and that wasn't anything compared to a worthy Northsider like Chuck and the varsity team. He'd simply said there wasn't enough "evidence", disregarding the visible bruises that had scattered Jughead and the blonde. So, the Serpents had taken justice into their own hands.
Betty didn't normally condone violence, but seeing this bruise on his face sure was moderately pleasant. If you asked Jughead if he felt the same way, he'd object, stating Chuck's body should be at the bottom of Sweetwater River along with Nick and Al's for what they did to his Betts.
She felt Jughead's thumb stroke across the back of her hand as Moose approached Chuck. He was telling himself it was to comfort her, but he knew it was an anchor for himself to not give in to the rage and murder Chuck at that very second.
"Reggie's missing." Moose spat, his hands balling into fists. This only caused the cocky footballer to laugh carelessly and divert his attention away from him.
"Good," Chuck huffed, "why would I care about that snitch?"
He then noticed the movement of a blonde ponytail and a tall figure wearing a beanie. His smile widened into a sickening grin.
"Guys," Chuck's eyes rolled over Betty's body as he brought his attention from her and her boyfriend to just her. "Betty. How's life? You look good."
She felt small and violated by the way he was looking at her, and Jughead's arm snaking around her waist and pulling her close hadn't helped. But she wasn't going to let Chuck and his words win, so she buried those emotions deep down into her core and shot daggers at him, stone cold features hard and threatening.
"Funny. Shame I can't say the same thing about you." The brave girl spat out, gesturing to his bruised eye and ignoring the slight tremor in her voice.
Chuck's face darkened as he fully stood up and took a step towards Betty. Jughead noticed this and also moved so he was partially in front of the girl. Chuck chuckled at the gesture.
"You couldn't stop me before, Jones. What makes you think you can now?"
Instead of replying, Jughead suddenly lunged at the boy in front of him, causing them both to topple onto the floor. Chuck attempted to hit Jughead, his beanie flying off in the process, but Jughead rapidly straddled him. Jughead raised his fist and brought it down, hard onto Chuck's face. A loud crack was heard and soon Betty could spot blood gushing from Chuck's nose. Jughead didn't stop there, he continued punching Chuck in the face, blood splattering out along with his cries of pain, rage covering their features.
Jughead only stopped when he heard Betty's reluctant cry for him to stop; this wasn't helping them find Reggie.
"He's not telling us anything." Jughead simply growled, anger still evident in his eyes. He clearly still wasn't fully satisfied with Chuck's state.
Jughead reached down to grab his beanie, and something else that Betty couldn't quite see, before getting off of the bloody teen and grabbing her hand, leading her tenderly away from the guys. They vaguely heard Moose mumble something to the rest of the shocked varsity boys about the Serpents doing much worse to them than Jughead if they said a word about that to anyone.
As soon as the door shut behind the couple, Betty burst into tears. All the emotions she'd suppressed during those moments came spilling out. Jughead wrapped his arms tightly around her, resting his chin on the top of her head as he engulfed her.
"I'm so proud of you, Betts." Jughead whispered, rubbing her back soothingly. "You just faced your literal demons, and you were so brave."
They stayed there holding each other, with Moose standing nearby but giving the pair their space. After a few minutes, Betty pulled away, sniffling.
"Now we're never going to find Reggie." She whispered, staring down at the floor.
"Of course we are," The blond could practically hear the smile in Jughead's voice, causing her to look up in confusion, "because, now we've got this."
He brought the hand that wasn't holding his beanie towards her. It held some sort of miniature, black cuboid. Betty frowned.
"What's that?" She gently took it from his hand, squinting slightly. Jughead smirked smugly.
"Chuck's phone, of course."
