serpent ♔ juliet

She was clearly still visibly shaken, tears staining her cheeks and her usually pristine ponytail forsaken as blonde curls fell loosely and wildly around her face. Her body responded to a wide range of emotions, shock setting in as anger bubbled to the surface, but Betty was scared most of all. It had been one thing when she'd written an article in The Blue & Gold defending FP Jones, resulting in an anonymous perpetrator defacing her locker with pig's blood and accompanying voodoo doll. However, now with the Black Hood threat still at large, everyone was a target, and Betty felt as if a bulls-eye had been turned directly on her.

Pulling tighter on the over-sized zip-up she wore, it had been the first thing she could grab after coming across the message. It made the long-ago message of 'Serpent Slut' seem like child's play, and Betty had barely managed to capture the nearest pair of sweatpants and jacket before escaping room entirely, immediately Jughead's number not knowing what else to do. Betty burrowed against his chest, willing his tight hold to erase the horrid details still flashing behind her eyelids every time she closed her eyes. "How did he find me? How did he even know I was here alone?" There was no real evidence it had really been the Black Hood except for the vulnerable sensation of her privacy being completely violated. "Why is this happening to me?"

The messy state of her hair was easily and quickly forgotten as soon as she'd smoothed it over several times, tucking strands behind one ear. As the rest of her wavy locks fell in a half-partition to cover her face as she stared down at the pages Jughead had recovered from out from under her. Betty's eyes scanned over the familiar print on the title page, mulling over thoughts in her head as he reached up to press the button and bring the computer to life. She listened, stealing a glance at the stiffness in his tone but remained receptive and silent as he spoke and continued to give her feedback on her paper. Even as he scrolled through in search of somewhere to start helping her fix it and put together something better, something much more her. Betty took a deep breath, more for calming herself and her already frazzled nerves more than for his benefit as she watched him tape the pages on his knee. She finally gave him a firm nod, giving herself a pep talk that if he believed she could do this, then she should too.