My middle school friend grew up alone She raised her brothers on her own Her parents hated who she loved She couldn't wait to go to college She was tired 'cause she was brought Into a world where family was merely blood

Does she know how proud I am she was created With the courage to unlearn all of their hatred We don't talk much but I just gotta say "I miss you, and I hope that you're okay"

Betty all of a sudden felt as like she was being pushed into a corner, and she bristled at the list of alternatives as her defensiveness rose up inside her without her will. She snapped, more harshly than she'd intended but feeling every bit at the end of her rope, which Betty was sure the other one understood, though she flashed an apologetic glace her way nonetheless. "I don't try to be perfect, I'm not trying to be anything!" she yelled She took a deep breath, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled slowly as she focused on the expansion of her chest and the rise and fall of her shoulders. This helped her to calm her nerves and control the irrational anger that had arisen in her as a result of being taunted while she was merely attempting to assist. "Would any of that really be so bad?" Betty's voice became softer, revealing some of her deepest-seated concerns as she asked the question.  Betty shrugged, shook her head, and was unable to pinpoint the shift precisely, but so much of it was tied to the revelation of truth-telling from Jason's murder. "Not opinion pieces, but a life here. I wanted as a little girl, this town, my home that I believed in until suddenly all at once everything feels to mixed up and upside down," Betty said. 

The following question that was asked of her was far more difficult; it forced the blonde into contemplation and left her feeling as like she had no true answers to provide. "I don't know..." Her words were as unsteady as her resolution seemed: unexpected terror lighting up in her eyes as she glanced to the other in frantic desperation. "I don't know..." Her words were as wobbly as her resolve appeared. Betty rolled her eyes as she realized that the single decision she'd ever made for herself paled in comparison to the questions of character, purpose, and moral fortitude they debated now when it was a matter of going out for the cheerleading squad. "I don't do anything for myself, except join the Vixens," Betty said.   Was that, in fact, all that Betty Cooper could be so quickly and readily reduced to? She was familiar with all of the stereotypes and titles for the kind girl who lived next door, but she had never previously considered them to be so pertinent to her life until now.

"Nobody is without flaws..." It was the same recorded loop on repeat that had always been pounded into her skull, only this time it seemed as if it were being spun in reverse. The phrases repeated over and over again in her head like a record being played on repeat. Perfect, wasn't that how Betty was cast in every part she ever played throughout her whole life? It had never seemed to her that she had made a deliberate decision; rather, she was just according to norms and order, doing what she was instructed to do as a responsible student, daughter, and even citizen of Riverdale. She lived her life according to a strict set of guidelines, and she never took any risks or deviated too far from those guidelines.

There were some people along the road who had glimpses of her, something meaningful when others had passed her over, judging her worthless or inconsequential. Along the journey, there were some who saw her. Even Jughead, Cheryl, and Veronica were among the few who were able to recognize Betty Cooper for who she really was, in contrast to Archie and the other characters, who were unable to do so. "So much has gone wrong in this town, and everything was shaken up along with it. We're in high school; we're supposed to be worrying about grades and Prom, graduating, and deciding which colleges we want to go to, not our safety and survival," Betty said as she cast a sideways glance in her somber reverie.   "Perhaps it is the reason why I don't have an answer; what kind of a future can we actually anticipate when we are always on the lookout for the next unexpected?"