Blood of My Blood, Flesh of My Flesh (Bughead)

11. Oogie Boogie Song

Things got quiet after that. For awhile, it's as though the investigations had hit a standstill. For most of the town, everyone just held their breaths, waiting for the new news to shake the town, as it had been doing weekly and consistently before.

For Betty, this meant more time to focus on her two skills; journalism and witchcraft.

She threw herself into the Blue and Gold, churning out anything worth printing. Even if it was just that the soccer team had won a match against their rivals or that the Robotics club made a robot that would slice bread, Betty was writing about it. As invigorating as it was to have hard-hitting articles like Chuck, or Jason, the school existed in other forms too. Plus, it was good to remember the small things Riverdale High took pride in last year and all the years before. Betty knew when a story would hit, she'd be on top of it, but for the moment she spread herself out to churn out a couple articles every three days or so.

After Dilton's confession, there hadn't been a lot of talking about what he'd said. Betty had taken down in detail what he'd claimed to have seen, before Cheryl shoved it into the water (apparently, but with Dilton, who knew what it really was) and they'd told him they appreciated his honesty. Once alone, Jughead had quickly offered to take the Grundy side of the story, and Betty had just been about to suggest she take Cheryl's.

Dilton might have seen what he said. He was right about the wolves, that was for sure, so it wasn't unbelievable. There were just things Jughead didn't know yet. But, his quickness to offer to take the Grundy side, just as Betty had been already jumping to cover the 'blood sacrifice' made Betty wonder if he had secrets too?

Whatever they were, it was, ultimately...high school problems. And, even if it transcended that (because, frankly, it was illegal what Archie and Grundy might be doing) it was still just a human concern, whereas Cheryl's could be otherworldly.

And...Betty had thought that would be it. At least, in terms of her and Jughead's interactions with the Blue and Gold, since she'd only ever asked him to investigate Jason. In her mind, Jughead would go off, scouting his story, and come back when he had something new. However, despite his resistance to the idea, he was spending increasingly more time in the office with Betty. He'd ghostwritten a couple of the fluff pieces, proofed some of Betty's work, offered up possible articles for her to do, wrangled an interview or two, even supplied coffee and companionship when Betty spent late hours working on all the kinks and little things, either at school or via text at their separate abodes.

Betty hadn't been so close in friendship to Jughead in a long time. And, she seemed doomed to always fall for her friends, because by just a week of Jughead's constant presence...Betty had a crush.

She'd never seen Jughead as a potential romantic partner, not until now. Maybe now that her head was clear of Archie, she could see other people. Maybe it was that Jughead was different now than when they were younger. Maybe it was a lot of things that Betty didn't know, but she did know a couple of facts; her heart sped up when he was near, she'd begun to associate his smell of old books and black coffee with a happy feeling, and whenever he was around she could feel her magic start to thump deep in her chest. She wasn't sure if he reciprocated; he might be moody, but Jughead was always kind. He might be doing these things because he was a generally decent person.

And, after the whole Archie debacle, Betty was afraid to confirm or deny otherwise.

So, she was content (mostly) with the two of them hunched over spreads of articles, Jughead with some kind of food (he was always eating) as they worked in modestly silence, their elbows almost touching.

It made her feel really normal, which was a strange feeling these days. It was only when Jughead mentioned that Sheriff's Keller's knocking on doors, near frantic searches, and frustrated questions felt like the Salem Witch trials, a witch hunt, that Betty was so very much reminded of the rest of her life, the one that was so much bigger than a high school newspaper.