Recreating History, Repairing Mistakes

Part 18

Betty is there in a second, slidingdown the wall next to her mother, taking the woman in her arms. Shecan't recall ever having seen her mother that emotional, not evenwhen Betty had learned about her long lost brother, but then again,it's not every day that your boyfriend gets arrested for murder. OneBetty would swear her life on he did not even commit. She doesn'teven know what to say, so she opts for saying nothing, because emptyplatitudes and promises don't help anyone. She just holds her mother,while the woman doesn't even seem to care that she's having thismeltdown in a hallway of her daughter's school with an audiencepresent.

The audience, to their credit, try notto makes this even more uncomfortable by offering any words either.At least not to her. Jughead on the other hand is immediatelybombarded with 'I'm sorry's' and sympathetic looks from all aroundhim. He bears it for just that long, thinks about joining Betty incomforting Alice, after all he knows exactly how she feels, but allthe attention is getting to him. He doesn't need this, it's too muchfor him and so he turns on his heels and leaves as fast as he couldwithout actually breaking out in a run. What he needs now is spaceand piece and quiet to think about what just happened and not a bunchof people he, on normal days, mostly don't even interact with,telling him everything is going to be okay. Because it won't, he'ssure. He would maybe believe it, if Betty or Alice try to to convincehim of that, but then, the two Cooper women are the only ones in thatgroup who even have the right to such words. They are involved inthis just as he is, can't just turn their backs and go back to theirown life as soon as they are certain they did everything possible.

Betty lifts her head from her mother'sshoulder when she senses Jughead leave, catches nothing but a mereglimpse of him as he's already rounding the corner. She's tornbetween being there for her mother and her boyfriend and she feelsguilty over it. Her boyfriend has just lost the last family he stillhas and his whole life is probably going to come crash down aroundhim, she's sure he needs her, but her mother has just lost somebody,too. Her head tells her she needs to stay, this is her mother, buther heart is telling her to go after Jughead. The decision is madefor her, when Alice turns to look at her.

"Go" she says, urging her daughteronto her feet. At the girls' reluctance Alice tries a smile. Itdoesn't reach her eyes and it's forced and it's effect isovershadowed by the tears still streaming down her face. "I'll befine" It's a lie and Alice doesn't even have the strength to hidethe fact from her face.

But Betty is still not sure aboutleaving her mother. There's really no one here she would trust totake care of her right now. But then, there is no one she could sendafter Jughead either. Her father might not be that much of an asstowards his ex-wife that this situation would amuse him, or evenworse, not faze him at all, but that doesn't mean he wants to getinvolved any more than he already is. And he would probably not wantto comfort his wife over the guy she left him for. She can't rememberher mother being on good terms, or really * any * terms, with theother parents either, so that leaves only her as an option. But she'spissed with Archie and Veronica and Jug doesn't want to see themeither right now, which means they are out, too. The girl is stilldebating what the best course of action is when she realizes hermother isn't cowered on the floor anymore. Instead, she's leaningagainst the wall, looking not one bit better than five minutes ago,Mary Andrews softly talking to her.

It makes sense, Betty thinks. Archie'smother is the only one who hasn't been in town for a while and, asfar as Betty knows, the only one of them her mother hasn't clashedwith before all this happened. Maybe there * is * someone she canleave her mother with and with a quick talk with her father, the girlinforms Alice of her decision.