"Well, are you just gonna stare at my butt or actually follow me?" 

"Romeo and Juliet. Star-crossed lovers who died for each other. Anyone knows how the story goes?" The teacher asked, as Betty read the name of the second British play write they were going to learn about; Shakespeare. 

She sighed, Rome and Juliet was a classic, everyone talked about it and Betty was tired of hearing the same kind of story over and over again.

"Well," one girl raised her hand, "Romeo was a Montegue and Juliet was a Capulet and their families didn't like each other, so their romance was forbidden. But, like all love, they were destined to fall into it. Besides, there was something alluring about the bad boy Romeo to the perfect girl Juliet." 

The teacher smiled, "right, Romeo and Juliet were opposites." 

Betty knew this stuff already. She knew about William Shakespeare and his best plays, how he influenced drama and brought a new perspective on love and sacrifice. No one knew as much as she did when it came to English, or any other subject for that matter. But, Betty Cooper wished she didn't know. 

Someone else raised their hand and the teacher pointed to the student, "what if Juliet was just a broken 13 year old who was tired of her family and Romeo took advantage of that?"

Then someone else added, "but never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

"Romeo is a dick."

"Juliet was weak."

People had a lot of different opinions on this classic, especially with a new wave of empowerment that was prominent in her school. Betty couldn't listen to them anymore, they were just disagreed because it was a classic play written a long time ago therefore it had to be filled with something the modern world should not accept.

"What if," Veronica said, "Juliet and Romeo were both messed up, and what if they just fell in love because they just did. Why are we dissecting this story when we already know what this story is about, tragic teenage love."

The teacher laughed, "you have a point miss Lodge, let's continue talking about Romeo and Juliet."

When the bell rang Betty quickly got up and started to pack her notebook. The teacher walked up to her. 

"Betty, is everything okay? You stopped raising your hand in class and answering all the questions. You know all of this, and I know it," she seemed genuinely concerned, as if not raising her hand in class was the strangest thing in the world. 

Betty smiled, "everything is fine, I just wanted to give someone else the chance to answer." 

"That doesn't seem like the Cooper way." The teacher laughed and brushed it off. The Cooper way. The way of snatching everything from everyone while you can. That is why Betty's mother wanted her to participate in everything. The Coopers were known for their perfection and anything less than that was unacceptable. 

Remembering that she had cheerleader tryouts to take care of after school and also that she promised to meet Jughead, she was perplexed. It was either her future or happiness at stake. As if making the decision for her, Veronica Lodge grabbed her hand. 

"You didn't forget about the tryouts did you?" She led Betty to the gym. 

"No, of course not! I was just thinking," she couldn't tell Ronnie that she was meeting Jughead after school and was already late for that, even though Ronnie was her best friend. "When will tryouts end?" 

Veronica smiled, "why, you have other plans? They will at least take a few hours." 

Shaking her head and feeling guilty, Betty quietly said, "no." 

To her luck they had to pass the school parking lot to get to the gym and Jughead was already there, sitting on his favorite curb, waiting for Betty. She glanced at him and he took in her sorry expression. He could tell that she was being unwillingly dragged somewhere. Mouthing him a sorry, Betty pretended to listen to whatever story Veronica was telling her. 

"Betty are you even listening?" Veronica turned to look at her friend at the wrong time. She noticed Betty's stare and was interested as to who caught her best friends eye. "Well would you look here, and what charming young man has caught the eye of Betty Cooper-" she was in shock as she turned around to look at Jughead Jones; the schools outcast. 

Veronica glared at her best friend. She tightened her grip around Betty's wrist and walked faster to the gym. Jughead noticed her reaction, but that wasn't anything new to him, everyone tired to avoid him. 

"Betty, what the hell?!" Veronica asked, pushing Betty to the cold brick wall of the gym. 

"Ouch," Betty rubbed her arm, "what are you talking about?" 

Veronica rolled her eyes, "I saw the way you looked at him, this isn't the first time you know!" 

"Him?" Betty raised her eyebrow, trying to hide the fact that she knew exactly who Veronica was talking about. 

"Drop it," she said, "Jughead, the creep, ring any bells?" 

Betty felt shame. Then she felt anger. Tired of all the rules everyone said she had to stick to. She had to be perfect. Had to participate in everything. Take daily meds. Couldn't talk to or even look at Jughead. Turning away from Veronica, Betty made her way to the gym door. 

She turned around and looked at her friend, "you know everyone hates him. I don't know why, I don't think anyone knows why." 

Veronica stood there, thinking for a while. It's true that Jughead was hated and it was true that no one knew why. She guessed it was because his father had a reputation, and he himself was just a quite person. When you're quite no one likes you, not out of anger, but out of fear. 

The tryouts ended. Betty was finally done evaluating many girls who were desperate to be on the team, and so was Veronica. Her life was going in the exact direction her mother wanted it to go in to. It was not Betty's choice anymore, and it made her resent cheerleading. While the rest of the girls made plans to go to Pop's and have some milkshakes, Betty tried to slip out of the dressing room unnoticed. 

Making her way down the pathway to the parking lot she noticed Jughead, sitting in the same position, headphones in his ears. The sight of him put a smile on her face, and she was afraid of that. Betty skipped towards him and sat down next to him on the curb. 

"Well would you look at that, she's alive," Jughead joked and took the earphones out. 

Betty shook her head, "what are you still doing here?" 

"Waiting for you princess, now let's go!" He got up, but then noticed that she wasn't doing the same, "oh what you want me to extend you a hand your pink highness?" 

His joke wasn't funny to her, "I told you to not call me princess," Betty refused his extended hand. 

Jughead sighed, "I will when you stop acting like one." 

This was a challenge. Exactly what Betty wanted was to stop being treated like she was perfect, and the way to prove that was to stop acting perfect. Standing up, Betty picked up her bag, unbuttoned the top two buttons on her cardigan, and started walking as Jughead watched her, a bit surprised. She turned back around to look at him. 

"Well, are you just gonna stare at my butt or actually follow me?"

Smirking Jughead started walking towards her until Betty ran into him and pulled him down to the ground by his arm, covering them behind a car. Jughead watched from the corner as some cheerleaders walked out of the gym making their way towards Cheryl Blossom's car.

"Have any of you seen Betty?" Veronica asked looking around.

No one answered.

"Your blonde best friend skipped past everyone who was trying out when we were done in the locker rooms. If you ask me, Betty never liked our diner dates," Cheryl Blossom said, starting her car. Veronica had no other choice but to get in and be forced to endure time with Cheryl and the rest of the cheerleaders without her best friend.

Betty closed her eyes behind the car as if her invisibility depended on what she saw. Jughead smiled when he noticed her scrunched up nose and scared expression, even though she was just scared to be seen with him. The sound of a car driving away distracted him from her and he checked to see if the coast was clear. Sure enough there was not a single person in sight.

"They're gone," Jughead whispered and watched Betty open her eyes.

She quickly stood up and brushed dirt off of her jeans, "sorry about that."

"Don't apologize, I also wouldn't want to be seen with me," he was joking, but behind that jerk he was concealing a sincere hurt by her actions.

Betty stopped him before he could walk off, "it's not that, it's just I don't want any unnecessary questions. You know how it is when teenagers see a male and female interacting."

Jughead raised his eyebrows, "wow, so it's not just bad to be seen with me, worse is when they think you're dating me?"

Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth, "no that's not what I-"

"It's fine," he snapped, "let's just keep going before you say something worse."

Although she followed him in silence she didn't understand how he could go from being so carefree to actually seem offended. Jughead was not like Archie where all his intentions were written out on his forehead, she had to actually see beyond the surface to understand Jughead. Betty didn't understand. Not one bit.