Friends Become Lovers

Secrets and Lies

Much to Betty's relief, Alice was away for the weekend at a Women In Journalism conference. She had been asking her mum about what happened to Polly, but every time she asked she got shot down. She was determined that she wasn't going to put up with that from her dad.

She went into the garage and saw that her dad was working on a car, something she would usually help him with. She said: "dad, can I ask you something?" Hal replied: "of course". So Betty said: "every time I ask mum about Polly she shuts me down, can we please talk about it?"

Hal was clearly reluctant to talk about it but he felt that Betty deserved to know the truth, which was easier with Alice not around to interfere. He explained how one day Polly and Jason had a huge fight, he wasn't even sure what about. Then when he came home he saw the bath water running- Polly was trying to drown herself.

Betty was shocked by what she heard but Hal explained that they felt they had to send her away as they were scared she would try to lull herself again. As hard as it was for Betty to hear, she appreciated her dad being honest with her and finally telling the truth.

Later on Betty asked her dad why her and mum hated the Blossom family so much and were so against Polly and Jason getting together in the first place. He explained that it dated back to his great grandfather and Clifford's great grandfather founding the maple syrup industry that Riverdale was founded on.

He added that when Grandfather Blossom decided he didn't want to share the profits any more he murdered Grandfather Cooper in cold blood. Betty was shocked that the whole thing was due to a blood fued that dated back to before any of them were even born.

It was a lot for Betty to take in and decided to seek comfort in the only person she felt she could turn to- Veronica. As always the brunette was more than happy to lend her support to her best friend as Betty explained everything her dad had told her earlier in the day.

Veronica gave Betty a hug and assured her that she would always be here for her no matter what. Betty said: "I need to see her, I need to make sure Polly is OK, but I have no idea where she is". Veronica held Betty's hands and said: "I'll help you look for her. Between the two of us we'll track her down".

As she did in a lot of situations, Betty felt better knowing that she had Veronica by her side. Even setting aside the fact she was secretly in love with her, if ever there was a time she needed the support of her best friend it was now.

Veronica loved Betty as both a friend and more than that, so she hated seeing her so worried and upset and she would do anything to help solve what was upsetting her. First they had to decide where to start looking for clues as to where to find Polly.

Betty's first thought was her parents' laptop. Her dad was at work so there wasn't any danger of them being disturbed. Naturally it was password protected but Betty managed to guess the password and log in. She also managed to get into the e-mail account as she felt that may give them a clue.

Veronica said: "I am very impressed by your computer hacking skills. I never knew you had it in you". Betty smiled and replied: "when you have parents as shady as mine you develop tricks of your own". Shady parents was something Veronica definitely knew something about.

When they opened up the e-mail account Veronica said: "right, when was Polly sent away?" Betty replied: "4th of July, the same day Jason went missing"- something that definitely sounded suspicious to someone investigating Jason's murder.

The girls scrolled back to late June to look for clues and found what they were looking for- e-mails between Hal and a place called 'The Sisters Of Quiet Mercy'. Veronica pointed out a link to their website so they looked on there to find out about it.

The Sisters Of Quiet Mercy describe itself as 'a refuse for disenfranchised youths'. Seeing the pictures of what the place was like made Betty upset that her parents had allowed Polly to be sent to a place like that and she began to cry.

Without Betty even needing to say anything Veronica pulled her into a hug as Betty broke down in her arms. Veronica softly placed her hands on Betty's face and, while wiping away tears, said: "we're gonna go to see Polly and we're gonna get her out of there. I'm with you every step of the way"