Say My Name

Chapter Nine

They were back in the truck, only this time, Betty had her arm wrapped around Archie's shoulders, clinging tightly to him as he softly moaned in pain. Jughead was the one driving this time, and there were no other passengers. It was difficult finding spots in the car to rest her eyes on because everything around her was so dark. She was sitting in the middle of the backseat and found comfort from the warm heat flowing out of the air vent connected to the head unit upfront.

Jughead had one hand on the wheel and the other placed on his lap. His eyes showed up in the rearview mirror, and they gleamed enough for her to be drawn to them. She squirmed, trying to adjust herself on the seat due to the unsettling tone raying from them.

His eyes were contagious.

Maybe she favored the way they were a mystery to her--toxic, but endearing in an underlying sense.

Maybe she was intimidated by them, so she found it best not to look away.

Jughead kept alternating from the road to her, staring back at him in the mirror. She was surprised he hadn't grown tired of her longing stare, but then again, this was a guy who threatened to kill her just a few hours ago. He was most likely keeping his eyes fixed on hers to assert some type of dominance over her.

A minute had gone by, and Betty recognized the street he turned onto. She leaned forward, trying to get a closer look at the destination right in front of them. Jughead pulled over quickly, slamming on his breaks. "Get out," he said, and Betty looked through the passenger side window to get a better look at where they were. The high school was noticeably about a mile up ahead, and there was no way he was about to make them walk the rest of the way.

"No, what? You can't just make us walk. Archie can barely mov --"

"I don't care." He cut her off before she could finish. "Get out before I change my mind and drive back to the warehouse."

Betty paused, then turned her head to Archie. "Can you make it?"

Archie let out a breath like he had been holding it in for a few seconds. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Betty scooted across the seat and got out of the passenger side door. She walked around to Archie's side of the truck and opened the door for him. He slowly shifted himself, and Betty could tell Jughead was growing impatient.

As soon as Archie was out, she shut the door and turned to walk away, but was stopped by a hand grabbing her upper arm. She whimpered in response and jolted her body towards the arm extended out of Jughead's window. "Ah," she let out and walked closer to him so he would loosen his grip.

He reached into his back pocket with his other hand, pulling out her phone. "I really don't wanna have to do this again," he said in a low, soft tone so Archie wouldn't hear. He handed her the phone, and she took it before taking a deep breath and nodding slowly, and the two of them exchanged a last-second glance at each other. Jughead let go of her arm, and she backed away from the car. She watched him roll up his window, then sped off, leaving her and Archie stranded on the side of the road.

She waited until he was nowhere in sight, then turned her phone on. As expected, her phone was busy with numerous calls and texts from not only her mother but Veronica, as well. She hesitated to call her mom because she knew she would bombard her with a bunch of questions Betty wouldn't know how to answer. After a moment of thought, she decided to call Veronica.

She put the phone up to her ear and listened to it ring.

It went to voicemail, and she sighed. "Crap, Veronica."

"Did she not answer?" Archie asked, holding his side in pain.

"No, she didn't." The school was about a mile up the road, and she knew it was going to take them a while to get to. "Do you think you could walk the rest of the way?"