Rivals and Roses Betty X Jughead

Jughead's POV

  I tried to catch up to Betty as best as a I could but gave it up. It's over, I blew it. She will never want to see my face again. I was about to head home but wanted to see if she at least made it home safe.

   I drove to the Coopers house and rang the doorbell. Betty's mom opened the door, her face flooded with tears.

"Woah, Mrs.Cooper are you alright?"

She started to cry again and I gave her a hug.

"Is Betty home? We got into a fight and she sort of ran off."

"Yes, but I don't think she wants to see anyone."

"I need to make this right."

She nodded and let me in. I went upstairs to her bedroom and saw her perfect pink room completely obliterated.

"What have I done?" I whispered to myself.

I heard sobs come from the bathroom and I knocked.

"Betty? Look, I'm really, really sorry. I should have never have said those things. You have a purpose. I was just frustrated."

It was silent, I didn't even hear her sobs anymore.  I knocked again.

"Betty? Oh my god Betty, your scaring me, please open the door!"

I still heard nothing.

"Mrs. Cooper! You need to come!" I yell.

I heard her footsteps running up the stairs.

"What's wrong Jughead, What happened!"

"I think Betty's trying to hurt herself!"

She moved passed me and started banging on the door.

"Betty! Betty please open the door!"

"We have to knock it down." I tell her.

Warning ⚠️: this part contains self harm

She nods and stands back. I break the door down and see Betty, lying there in a pool of her own blood.

"OH MY GOD!" Alice let out a blood curdling scream.

"Call an ambulance!" I yell.

"Betty, Betty, please stay with me." I say, but it was quite difficult since I was crying so much.

"I- I called the ambulance they said they'd be here in 5 minutes."

She kneeled down and put  her hand to her neck.

"She still has a pulse, we just need to stay calm."

I put my hands on my head and start to cry even more.

Eventually the ambulance showed up and took her away. Me and Alice stayed close behind. When we left the front door I saw the whole neighborhood was out of there house, watching, including Archie.

"Dude, What the hell happened?! We couldn't find her the whole night and now she is being taken to the hospital." He said, crying.

"It's my fault. I said something that I really shouldn't have and she-"

He gave me a look of disappointment and hurt.

"Come on Jughead, we need to go to the hospital!" Alice told me.

"Wait! I'm coming too." Archie said and got into the car with us.

The waiting time in the lobby felt like forever. It was silent, and some strangers there helped calm us down.

"Elizabeth Cooper?"

"That's us." I say while getting up.

"We have a lot of patients here that slit there wrists, but she has lost a significant amount of blood. We need to have a donor donate some."

"I'll do it! It's my fault she's here."

"That's awfully considerate of you, but I'm afraid she has a very rare blood type. We will need to get it sent here from another area. The bad thing is, it will get here in 3 days and that's as about as long as she has left to live without more blood pumping through her body."

I turn to Alice and she is staring at the floor  with a tissue covering her mouth.

"I'm so, so sorry." I say while sitting next to her.

"Jug, we need less apologies and more explanation." Archie said.

"Umm, there isn't really a way I can sugarcoat this so. Betty and Trev got crowned homecoming king and queen and I got, I don't even know, jealous? Mad?"

"My baby got homecoming queen?"

"Yeah." I say while putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Uh then I stormed out and she chased after me. I basically called her oblivious and said she had no purpose."

"Woah, that is pretty hard."

"I know, she ran off but I couldn't catch up to her so I came to her house to see if she was alright."

"Yeah, and she clearly wasn't." Archie said, getting pissed at me.
I turn to Alice and she is still staring at the floor.

"Mrs. Cooper?"

"It's not your fault." She said.

"I have always expected to much from her. Whenever I would get frustrated with her I would always scream and ask her why I couldn't have another daughter like Polly. A normal daughter. I remember we were all at my mothers house and she asked her dad why he hated her so much. Things got worse and worse from there and he told her to go kill herself. I can tell she never got over that day."

More tears started to replace the dry ones as she spoke.

"I'll never forgive myself for what I said and for what her father said. I never show her love or appreciation for what she already is. I just keep demanding more and more."

I can't believe I'm actually about to say this but, hearing Mrs. Cooper talk made me grateful I had a dad that never expected anything more of me.

I didn't sleep at all that night. This whole time I thought she lived the perfect life. I thought that just because she had the perfect home, what you would think the perfect family, and the perfect reputation, that she should be happy. I should've listened that day at the register. She opened up to me and all I could think of was the stupid homecoming dance that caused all this.