Betty excitedly slams her locker door shut, approaching Archie, Jughead and Veronica with a mischievous look crossing her face.
"Ugh oh." Archie groaned, acknowledging the smirk. "What are you up to now?"
"That new arcade opened up on the Southside and I want first dibs on the new PacMan game." She excitedly reveals, folding her arms and leaning against the free locker. "Let's cut gym and go!"
"I'm in!" Veronica agrees, high fiving Betty before joining her side.
"I never miss an opportunity to cut PE-" Jughead began as he adjusted his bag over his shoulder. "But arcades really aren't my thing. I'm more of a comfort gamer." He adds smugly.
In the midst of their discussion on whether to skip class or not, their attention was suddenly drawn to a group of students whispering and gossiping and in deep discussion as they rushed down the hallway and around the corner by the masses.
If past experience was anything to go by, they were either scoping out a fight, a graffitied locker or a dead or passed out body.
Veronica's face beamed, her lips curling into a weirdly excited smile as she knew what was likely going on. "You think there's a fight?!"
The four teens followed the many students making their way around the corner, to what seemed to be the computer lab, coming face to face with a full on crime scene and constant chatter and flashes as the students stood in the hall took photos, gasping in disbelief.
"What the hell's going on?" Betty questioned as pure and utter confusion crossed her face.
"You didn't hear?" Cheryl mentioned rhetorically when she and Toni finally approached the crowd and stood behind them.
"Someone stole the new laptops last night." Toni interrupted with a mischievous smirk, finding the whole situation somewhat hilarious. "They think it was during the fake drill last night."
"Everybody make their way to their classes, now!" Principal Weatherbee bellowed as he removed the yellow tape from the door to get by. "There's nothing to see here." He returned back to room but joy before slamming the door to the computer lab, leaving the students befuddled and looking in awe.
Of course, not one of the students took heed of his order, and they remained in the hallway, continuing with their conversations, still being nosy and attempting to get the lowdown on this grand theft.
"I don't know why we're all pretending we don't already know what happened." Reggie announced loudly, holding the attention of the students in the hallway as they turned to face him.
"Oh please share, great philosopher Mantle." Jughead coaxed ironically.
"Something you wanna share with the class Betty?" Reggie smugly speculated as he leaned up against the near by locker, cockily folding his arms. "We all know you're light on your fingers."
Betty suddenly felt all eyes on her, watching nervously, her eyes shifting back and forth between the students on her left and right and just generally surrounding her in the hall.
She gulped, her mouth and lips priming in embarrassment as she feels herself become shrouded with shame. It was very rare that she was rendered speechless, she could normally mouth off with anybody and slay them with her vicious words in seconds flat, but this situation in particular just wasn't one of those moments.
She was well aware of her reputation and how people viewed her and her family, she knew she had a penchant for stealing and stirring up trouble, she hated authority and being told what to do, just like her mother and sister, it was in her genes, heck her mother grew up stealing and flipping the bird towards authority, but they all knew their limits. They did what they did for survival and to get by, her mothers only issue was the two of them being caught.
Hiding pricey groceries under their jackets was okay, stealing clothes from the store was fine, snatching wallets from rich unsuspecting men on public transport was acceptable, but robbing from a school just wasn't their style and it wasn't hers, so to be blindly accused didn't sit with her, especially as she was trying to change and moving to Riverdale had somewhat helped with that.
"I didn't take shit Mantle." Betty gritted through her teeth, not wanting to give him any satisfaction or even acknowledge him to begin with, but she wasn't going to let the accusations slide.
"Yeah right." Reggie chuckles lightly. "Sure you didn't, it's just a coincidence our wholesome and peaceful town is met with batshit craziness and harsh crime, on the Northside no doubt, the minute your family showed up."
"Alright drop it Reggie." Archie spat upon noticing Betty's face dulling with a slight combination of rage and hurt. "Go take a steroid break of something.
"Word is, Sheriff Keller found a pacifier at the crime scene." He reveals.
"That's a lie!" Veronica scoffs
"No, it's not." Kevin corrected with a twisted lip. "I heard my Dad mention it."
"And she's the only one here with a rugrat." Reggie added. "Who else is it gonna be?"
"There were lots of parents here with babies, it could've been anyone." Archie defends, finding his wild assumptions to be ridiculous. "You're grasping at straws."
Reggie shifts his gaze back towards Betty, pulling a look of mischief. "Your Mom might be hot, but not hot enough to wipe away a robbery charge."
And that crude comment alone regarding her mother was the straw that broke the camels back. Betty's slow bubbling rage finally took control over her after that very comment was spouted, and before she knew it, her fist was making contact with his jaw, leaving everyone around the completely spellbound. She barely had time to react before she was being called into the principals office, leading to a very unimpressed Alice picking her up early, and Polly too by default.
"A weeks, suspension." Alice groaned disapprovingly. "Seriously?!" She hissed as they all stepped into the house.
"Mom-" Polly practically scolds in a warning tone, spinning around to face her with wide blue eyes. "Go easy on her alright."
"Yeah, I will, once she tells me what the hell is going on."
Betty remained stoic, twisting her lips uncomfortably as she glared at the ground and refused to make eye contact with her mother.
"I'm waiting Betty." Alice expressed, folding her arms seriously and awaiting Betty's response.
"They're all blaming me." The young girl croaked, slowly darting her eyes.
"For what? Blaming you for what?" Alice questions in confusion as her eyes narrow and her lips tilt sideways.
"For the laptops getting stolen." She cried out, taking her mother by surprise before running up the staircase.
They hear her slam her door from the end of the stairs, Alice looking on in concern before speaking. "Why would they be blaming her?" Alice questions in slight disbelief.
"Blaming her for what?" Brody asks casually as he strolls through the living room with a lot cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
"Could you go check on your sister?" Alice mumbles to Polly. "I'm gonna get the first aid kit for her hand."
Polly followed suit and made her way up the stairs, leaving Alice and Brody alone.
"What's going on?" He asked once more.
Alice darted her eyes towards him, narrowing them slightly as she tapped her car keys into the palm of her hand and pursing her lips in thought. "Those new laptops at the school were robbed."
A rush of guilt and surprise surged through Brody's core at Alice's revelation. His eyes gaped as he screwed his lips suspiciously. "Oh God! That's crazy." He exaggerated feigning surprise. "They know who did it?" He was darting glances at anything around the room besides Alice
She remained stoic, her eyes staring blankly at him in distrust. "They think Betty did it." Alice added sternly as she held her gaze onto him, looking a little more fierce than before as she thought back to the prior night, and Brody's suspicious unexplained disappearance during the very convenient drill. The growing feeling of concern in the pit of her stomach just increasing further the longer she stared at his shifty face.
He stared downwards, nodding his head in guilt. "Oh right." He mumbles, placing his hands into the depths of his back pockets. "That sucks but surely things will turn out okay, right?"
Alice sighed deeply in frustration and anger, holding her hands tight against her hips as she spun around in a huff before chuckling in disbelief as she ran a hand down her face.
"Are you kidding me right now?"
Brody's lips tightened anxiously as he watched her face switch from annoyed to hurt. "What do you mean?"
"Your daughters's, the number one suspect you piece of shit!" She roared as she threw her keys his way, stunning him immediately and causing him to flinch. "She's just been suspended, she could be arrested, they could involve social services, this isn't petty theft, this is grand larceny, and you're still lying to my face?"
And as she suspected, her gut feeling was correct and yet again her judgement had been clouded by another man in her life and her daughter was in the crossfire. She wanted to trust him, she wanted to believe in him, believe that he had changed but a leopard never changed its spots.
"I- I don't know what you're talking about Al-" He denier before being cut off.
"The laptops!" She yelled. "You stole the laptops during parents night, didn't you?"
"Yeah, FINE! I DID! That what you wanna hear?!" Brody bellowed in a frustrated rage as his face turned crimson red. "I needed the money alright? I didn't think Betty would get the blame, the plan was fool proof-"
"I'm such a fucking moron." Alice mumbled to herself before taking a deep breath. "What for?"
"What?"
"What did you need the money for?!" She reiterated furiously. "Actually, scratch that, who do you owe? What shit have you gotten yourself into this time?!"
"Some, gang leader, alright?" Brody reluctantly revealed with a hint of embarrassment pacing his voice. "He did me a favour to get me out early and I owed him a lot. I wasn't going to resort to this, but once of his came here demanding the money-"
Her eyebrows raise in disgust and shock as she spins with such quickness her long dark locks fall over one side of her shoulder. "Wait, he was here? Under my roof?! Where my kids are-"
"And that's why I didn't tell you!" Brody screeched as he approached her, reaching his arms out towards her shoulders and attempting to shake her into understanding. "I knew you'd react like this and I was handling it."
She scoffs in disbelief, horrified that her patronise her this way when she knew how he operated. She pushed his arms off of her and stormed over to the other side of the room. "Bullshit!" She spat with a furrowed brow. "You did this for you, because as usual you're always looking out for number one."
Feeling purely betrayed and heartbroken, she shifted her gaze from Brody. She could barely look at him let alone be int he same room as him in that moment. "I can't do this again." She croaked out as she ran her hands through her dark locks. She had screwed up once before due to a useless male presence in her life and she'd be damned is she made that same mistake again.
"You need to leave." She told him sternly through her subsiding tears.
He huffed, picking up his duffle bag and swinging it over his shoulder. "Fine, I'm sure there's room at the Shady Palms." He answers referring to the towns motel.
"No." She interrupts firmly. "You need to leave town, for good, and don't come back. You're not bringing trouble to my door and the kids aren't gonna suffer, or be out in danger because of your fuck ups." She spat.
Brody scowled, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Are you actually thinking of the kids now? Or is this just your stupid female pride getting in the way? How do you think they're gonna feel knowing you kicked me out?"
"I really don't give a shit, Brody." Alice hissed smugly. "Just get out!" She screamed once more, pointing a finger towards the door.
He didn't respond, his face just immediately drooped as he adjusted his bag over his shoulder. He surely didn't expect for this to get out of hand, but unfortunately things never went his way.
"What about the laptops?" He questioned once more, curious as to what would now happen with them.
"I'll deal with it!" Alice snaps, watching as he walked out of the door, hoping to never see him again. She had worked too hard and risked too much for the life she and the girls were not accustomed to, and she wasn't going to allow Brody or any man for that matter, to drag her down into that dark place she had spent years trying to escape. Those days were long gone, and she was all about stepping into the light.
•••
She clasped a warm mug of piping hot chocolate in her hands as she made her way down the hall towards Betty's bedroom.
She stood by the door, peeping through the small open gap and listening in to Tyler and his babbling as Betty lay on her bed, quietly reading a magazine.
She knocked twice before entering, twitching her red painted lips into a faint smile.
"Figured you could use some sugar, calm yourself down?" She suggested, gesturing towards the cup as she walked over to Betty's bed.
The young girl sat up as she smiled, resting against her head road to make space for her mother.
Alice placed the mug on her bedside table and made herself comfortable.
"Thanks." Betty whispered as she crossed her legs.
"You're more than welcome." Alice said softly as she ran her hands through Betty's blond locks. "Tyler okay?"
Betty nods, watching the tot grip onto the netting of his playpen and pulling himself up. "Am I in trouble?"
"Now that I know the full story, no, you're not." Alice confirmed.
"I know I shouldn't have hit him, at least not on school grounds anyway, but he just kept talking shit-" Betty defends before being cut off by her mother.
"Hey? You don't have to explain yourself to me baby. Come here." She speaks, coaxing Betty into a hug.
She wrapped her arms around her mothers waist and Alice pulled her head into her bosom and ran her hands up and down her arms, resting her chin on her forehead for added comfort.
"I didn't do it Mom, I swear. You believe me don't you?" Betty pleaded, already feeling doubtful.
"Of course I do!" Alice affirmed strongly before kissing her forehead.
"You might, but nobody else does." Betty mumbles against Alice's shirt. "What if they find some bullshit evidence and a way to pin it on me?"
"Well you don't have to worry about that." Alice promised her firmly as she stared blankly at a photo of a young Betty and Polly on Betty's desk, reminding her that it was the two of them she was fighting for, everyday. "You and your sister are my world, and it doesn't matter how old you both get, I'll always protect you."
•••
Still reeling over his argument with Alice, Brody took heed of her advice, and was truly on his way out of town. He had been desperately trying to hitch a ride out of town until making the decision to walk towards Rockland County train station, finally making it on foot.
He planned to get on the first train out of town and go wherever, whether it be New York, DC, Ohio, he didn't care, he just wanted as far out of Riverdale as possible. It was for the best.
He approached the traffic lights opposite the station entrance, preparing to cross until a black car with tinted windows pulled up beside him. He thought it was suspicious, as well as odd, especially as nobody got out or rolled a window down.
He ignored it, assuming it just a regular stranger, walking back towards the entrance but nothing prepared him for the sheet of chloroformed paper being attached to him mouth from behind, causing him to pass out almost immediately.