The Sad Breakfast Club // BUGHEAD + VARCHIE + KEVIN

QUATRE

"What do you care what I think anyway? I don't even count, right? I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference. I might as well not even exist at this school, remember?"

~ John Bender, The Breakfast Club (1985)

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BETTY

WHEN MR. WEATHERBEE TURNED around and exited the library, I whipped around on my seat, facing Jughead and seeing him slouching on his seat, a scowl on his face and his arms folded over his chest. "What the hell were you thinking?"She snapped at him, but he made no effort in showing her that he was sorry. Instead, he kept his gaze away from her—Jughead was sure that Betty's eyes were shooting holes into his face, and truthfully, he had always been afraid of her dark side.

Jughead was sure that he knew Betty more than anyone else in the school. It was a result of a decade of being each other's best friend. They have been best friends since he was five and she was four, and they drifted apart once Betty decided she wanted to become somebody in the school. And, individually, they have fallen to typical high school stereotypes, something they swore never to do—she as the princess, the perfect girl next door, and he as the criminal, the boy from the wrong side of the tracks.

"Leave it, Betts."Jughead spoke in a low growl, starting to breathe heavily as his chest heaved in rhythm with his breathing. Archie had turned around on his chair to watch the two of them, as well as Kevin and Veronica.

"Leave it?"Betty scoffed, now fully turning around on her seat, doing her best to keep her voice down while still maintaing a level of sternness in her voice, hopefully to convince him to get his act straight and pull himself together because the boy she witnessed earlier, standing up to Mr. Weatherbee, wasn't the Jughead she used to be best friends with. "I can't just drop this, Jughead! Maybe stop getting yourself into trouble and I'll drop it!"

"Why can't you fúcking drop this just as quickly as you dropped your relationship with me?"Jughead retorted, his eyes now filled with anger, most of it directed to her. It was like there was no one in the room, like it was just the two of them and no one else. They were so invested in their argument that they didn't noticed three other pairs of eyes and ears listening in on them, all of them aware of how quickly their conversation turned heated.

Betty's jaw dropped at his question, fists clenching tight. "Don't you dare go there, Forsythe."

And now it was Archie's jaw which dropped. He had been friends with both of them long enough to know that whenever Betty used his real name, there were only two reasons—either she was joking around with him and intentionally used his birth name to annoy him, or she was extremely mad with him. Archie doubts that it's the first reason which pushed her. Kevin and Veronica were just as shocked as Archie was, having no knowledge of Jughead's real name until it spilled form Betty's lips.

Jughead's teeth gritted together as he snarled, leaning forward and slamming his palm on the table. "But I'm already there, Elizabeth."Neither of them showed any remorse, and if looks could kill, both of them would have been buried six feet under seconds ago. "I didn—"Betty was cut short by Jughead's dark chuckle, which caused the blonde to glare at him. "How about you let me speak before you feed these scamps with your fabulous lies?"

"Watch your mouth, Jughead."Archie soon stepped in, but was only shot glares by both Jughead and Betty as their heads snapped to his direction.

"Shut it, Andrews."Betty told him.

"Stay out of this, Cherry."Jughead warned.

"You dropped me!"Jughead insisted, anger now laced in his words like it was venom. He has never talked to Betty about this, and finally letting his feelings out on her, it was like he couldn't control it anymore. Betty knew immediately that what he was about to say was two years worth of unspoken feelings, most of which is anger. And she knew it was towards her, she couldn't blame him entirely for that, and so she remained silent.

"You were the who left me, not the other way around! And guess what, Betty—it fúcking hurt. All I did was try my hardest to be the best friend you deserve, and let me tell you, it was hard!"

"You were slipping away from me! Every single day that led up to the ultimate finale, you started retreating back into your darkness!"

"No, Betty. It was you who was slipping away from me! You knew my father pushed me to involve myself with his stupid Serpents, and I told you I'd stay away for a while so you wouldn't get involved! I warned you, and you said you'd be fine! But guess what, when I came back, you weren't there!"

"That's not true! I was always there!"Betty had tears in her eyes by now, some of it falling down her cheeks. But Jughead, too wrapped up in his own head and in his own anger, failed to notice that he was already hurting her—hurting her by bringing up the past.

"Admit it, Betty! You hurt me, my feelings, everything!"

"You know, I have just as many feelings as you do and it hurts so much when someone steps all over them."

"For fúck's sake, Betty! For once in your life, handle the fact that someone's calling you a bîtch!"

"That's enough!"Archie was helpless to the two of them who now had tears in their eyes, though Jughead was able to get himself together and not a single tear rolled down his cheeks, though his vision was getting blurry with tears.

"I hate you!"Betty screamed at him, eyes now red and puffy from crying and her cheeks stained with tears. "Fúck you!"

"No, fúck you!"

"Jughead, that's enough!"Archie screamed, now getting both of their attentions. Kevin and Veronica were now shaking at the intensity of their fight, and the amount of hatred laced in both Betty and Jughead's words. Though deep down, everyone knew that they really mean that. "Take back what you said, man!"

"What does it matter to you?"Jughead spat at him. "Nothing I do or say matters in this world, remember? Because I'm just another piece of Southside scum who's not worth anyone's time, remember?"

Betty was weeping, her back now turned on him. She was sobbing softly, her head hung low and refusing to say any more in the matter. Archie didn't say another word and turned back on his seat. He stared blankly at the floor while Jughead stood up form his seat, pushing back his table harshly. Betty sobbed more at his action, more tears falling. "Now I don't think I need to sit with any of you fúckers anymore."

He stormed off further into the library, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake.

Truthfully for her, his words and emotions stung just a little bit. What she was crying about was the fact that she had lost a friend, her best friend. And not only did she lose him—she lost him to something she was very well aware that both of them had.

Betty Cooper let the darkness devour Jughead Jones.