Chapter Text
Reggie stared blankly at the blonde in front of him. An apology formed and died in his lips.
Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, but she smiled at him.
“I- I honestly should have seen it coming since it’s you, Reg!” she tried to laugh it off.
It stung.
He looked down at the joy-buzzer in his hand. It was meant for Carrot-top. He had rigged it to make the shock a bit more powerful than usual. Betty had just come by to call him for some reason and tugged at his hand when it went off on her.
It came as a shock –quite literally- and she yelped in a mix of surprise and pain. She actually got a cut from a cooking accident the other day. The shock served to increase the pain, but Reggie wasn’t aware of that. She wouldn’t hold it against him.
The cut re-opened and blood dripped off her palm. Reggie’s face turned white as a sheet.
“B-Bets” he started.
“Oh, this?” she tried her best to seem okay “This isn’t your fault, Reg! I just cut myself earlier haha,” and then her face darkened “But who were you actually going to use that on? You never change, do you, Reg?” she shook her head disapprovingly. And then remembering why she called him “Oh yeah! Ms. Grundy was looking for you!”
Having delivered her message, she went off to the nurse’s office. How do you manage to cut yourself on the palm anyway? She internally chided herself. No, the one she should have been mad at was Reggie. Why was he always such a child? She just couldn’t understand his thought-process, she sighed.
“Betty! I heard you hurt yourself?” a concerned voice broke her out of her thoughts as a brown-haired boy peeked his head through the door of the nurse’s office.
“H-hey Adam,” she smiled weakly, waving with her bloody hand.
“By Gosh Bets!” he exclaimed as he rushed over to her. “Do we have a doctor in the house?! It’s an emergency!” he exclaimed in mock urgency at no one in particular.
She giggled. “I’ve been waiting here for ten thousand years!”
“Then I shall wait with you, my lady!” he sat down beside her.
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“You were looking for me, Ms. Grundy?” Reggie’s mind was elsewhere. It lingered on the face smiling through tears. She looked so adorable that time. It was bleeding... of course it would hurt! But she was putting on a brave front and he felt even worse.
“Ah, yes. It’s about your last essay-” Ms. Grundy took one look at Reggie. “Are you with me, boy?”
“Yes ma’am!” he gulped.
But he wasn’t really.
A gut feeling told him she would be at the nurse’s office. He casually took the route close to it, even though it would make him late for his next class. As he expected, he heard her melodic voice from the room. She seemed almost happy. He peeked in to see her chatting away with Adam Chisholm, who was bandaging her hand. He could almost see the stars in his eyes as he gawked at her. Disgusting , he sniffed. He waved away the sudden burst of annoyance that rose up in his stomach. It was probably because he wanted to get his apology over and done with. But he felt that he or his apology would not be welcome in the scene at that moment.
"I’ll just leave those two lovebirds to themselves for now," he thought as he suddenly felt that he were the most generous man on the planet. He also felt supremely annoyed.
After a long day of classes ended, Betty couldn’t wait to go home and take a refreshing nap! She actually stayed back a while to finish up some work and the place was nearly empty. She stopped short at the entrance to the school building.
Leaning against the door, with his hood up and earphones on- a dark haired boy softly hummed to whatever song he was listening to. He pulled his earphones off when he noticed her standing there
“Hey, Bets…” he said meekly.
“My, my, Mr. Mantle,” she raised an eyebrow. “And what are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you.” he smiled.
Upon seeing both eyebrows rise at that point, he decided to get on with it. “Bets… about today… I’m really sorry. You know I didn’t mean to-”
“I know Reg,” she smiled back, “don’t worry about it.”
Good old Bets. She never held anything against anyone. She really shouldn’t always be this nice. He almost wished she’d be madder. He felt guiltier at her niceness.
“Let me make it up to you at least!” he pleaded.
Reggie really turned into a completely different person when he felt bad. “And how are you going to do that?”
“Anything you want. Pop Tates. On me.”
“Sure!” she laughed pleasantly and he smiled.
They were walking back to his car when she suddenly asked. “When are you going to grow up though, Reg?”
He shot her a tired look.
“I’m supposing you get that a lot?” she smiled sympathetically.
“Twice from you, today,” he frowned.
She giggled. “But seriously though, Reg. I don’t think I’ll ever understand you! Why do you keep messing around with people like that?”
“That’s just who I am, Bets.” As though that sufficed as an answer.
“That’s not all of who you are…” her words drifted.
“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow, amused. “So, there’s more to me than meets the eye?”
“You just have your moments, that’s all!” she said, shutting him down.
He laughed heartily. “Well Bets, I don’t understand you either, y’know?”
“Me?” she gave him a quizzical look, “I’m the simplest most easy to understand non-complicated person I’ve ever met!” she frowned in a confused way.
“No… I just meant...” he tried to find the right words “You’re… how to say it? Waaay too nice!”
Betty raised an eyebrow at him.
“No! Seriously! You’re too nice to people! Even those who don’t deserve it! Like today!” He was looking straight into her eyes, “You shouldn’t have just forgiven me like that! You should’ve let me have it! Like, sucker punched me across the face and told me you’re getting super tired of my shit!”
Betty burst out laughing. “I’ll remember that next time!”
Reggie let out an exasperated sigh, “See? This is what I mean!”
“It pays off,” Betty smiled thoughtfully.
Reggie shot her a questioning glance.
“Being good to people pays off. It also makes you feel good about yourself!”
“What’s so great about being taken advantage of?” Reggie pouted.
“What’s so great about pranking people and getting ostracized?” Betty countered.
“It’s the thrill, babe!” the edge of his lips turned up a notch.
Betty rolled her eyes. “Let’s just agree to disagree.”
Reggie held the passenger side door of his car open for her and then went around to the driver’s side and got in.
“See? You can be a gentleman at times!”
“Only to the ladies,” he grinned.
“You should try being good,”
“You should try being bad. ”
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Reggie put the thought in his own head and he couldn’t seem to get rid of it. He tried to imagine a bad Betty. He glanced over at the girl sitting opposite to him, sipping a milkshake. “Yes?” she asked, upon noticing him staring at her.
“Bets, have you ever tried being like- mean to anyone? Or pranking someone? Or not being so good in general?”
“Not that again, Reg! What? Are you trying to recruit me into your badboy club?”
“Maybe I am,” he gazed at her. “How about it? Try something new?”
“What?” Betty seemed a bit clueless as to what he was hinting at.
“I can’t imagine a bad Betty for the life of me.” He scratched the back of his head and then looked at her. “How about showing me one?”
“Interesting...” Betty took another sip of her drink. “What’s in it for me?” she smiled coolly at him.
“The thrill, babe. And… experiencing something new, I guess?”
“I’ll try it.” she picked up a fry.
“You will?” He hadn’t expected her to agree that easily.
“Sure, but only if you try being nice,” she pointed at him with her fry and gave him a smug look.
“So we pull the ol’ switcheroo, eh?” he snickered. “That sounds interesting!” It in itself sounded like a great prank.
Betty was starting to feel nervous about the entire thing. She wondered what exactly she was getting herself roped into.
“S-so… what exactly do you want me to do?” she asked, a bit unsure.
“It’s simple, Bets,” he took a few fries and stuffed them in his mouth. “You be me and I be you,” he said as he chewed.
“Right now you’re being Juggie,” she pointed out his lack of manners and he laughed.
“So just do what you think I would do and act how you think I would act,” he explained the plan. “Shouldn’t be hard considering how long we’ve known each other.”
She thought back. They had known each other for a very long time. Since they were just kids.
Still, she felt unsure. “I don’t know Reg…”
“No pressure Bets” he smiled.
She smiled back.
“It can’t be helped if you’re a big chicken.”
She stopped smiling.
“I mean… I am the great Mantle and I would never back down from a challenge! But of course I can't expect the same of others! No one is as daring as me! Especially not widdle miss sweetiepie~” he flashed all his devilish teeth and his narrowed eyes were almost slits.
He wasn’t just sending her a letter of challenge. No, he was marching straight up her courtyard and painting it on her walls with blood. It was on.
“Oh no, I was just worried about whether you could stomach being a decent human being for a day,” she said uninterestedly, doing her best to hide the heated anger in her stomach.
Reggie felt as though he had flipped some switch in her. Interesting indeed.
“I think I can manage,” he assured her. “Do you think you can stop being Mother Teresa 2.0 for a day?”
“You’ll just have to see, won’t you?”
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The next day Reggie picked Betty up for school. “Remember the plan?” he asked as she slid into the passenger seat.
They’d planned the whole thing out via text the night before.
“Yep,” she said. “Basically- play our parts, don’t tell anyone about it, and loser does whatever the winner wants for a week.”
“That’s my girl,”
“I’m not your girl,” she snapped, punching him lightly on the arm.
“Woah there, Tiger,” he patted her head. “Save all that energy for the act.”
As they walked from the parking lot to the school building, Betty spotted Archie. Just as she was about to call out to him, she remembered the situation and internally hoped she wouldn’t run into him the rest of the day. She wanted to kick Reggie as he called out to him instead.
“Yo Carrot-” he started but stopped. Clearing his throat, “Good Morning, Archie~ Pleasant weather we’re having right?” he chirped.
Was he batting his eyelashes? “I don’t do that!” she whispered loudly to him.
Archie seemed to ignore it. “Hey Reg! Hey Bets! Unusual to see you two coming together.”
“Not as unusual as your face!” Betty shot.
Reggie burst out laughing.
Betty kept a poker face as she tutted and walked on ahead. She didn’t want to stick around and mess with Archie any more than necessary. She hoped for the life of her he didn’t think too much on it. She suddenly felt an arm around her shoulder pulling her close.
“Didn’t think I’d let you go that easily, did ya?” Reggie caught up and narrowed his eyes at her.
“What are you even saying?” she struggled in his grasp.
“We gotta stick close today so I can observe you,” he pulled her even closer. “Up close and personal,” he smiled flirtatiously.
She felt her heartbeat quicken and she pushed him away. “Don’t you trust me at all?” she asked, looking away so he didn't notice her blushing.
“Of course I know that Betty Cooper, of all people, would keep her word. I just wanna see it happen, that’s all!” He put his hands in his pockets and walked beside her. “But damn, that was something!” He started laughing. “Are you in elementary school or what?”
“Well, I’m sorry I couldn’t meet your expectations,” she sniffed coldly.
“Aww” he looked at her as though she were a kid. “Ish dat aw you gawt?” he batted his eyelashes at her.
Her lips twitched in irritation. “I’m just getting started. That was a warm-up.” She strutted away, bumping into people intentionally, as she walked.
He chuckled as he watched her.
She spent the day sniffing at people or glaring at them. That wasn’t Reggie, though. She knew he wouldn’t be satisfied with just that much. She needed to do something more Reggie-like or else she'd lose the bet for sure!
"What does Reggie do?" She rubbed her temples in intense concentration. "Let's see... terrorize people, flirt around, pull pranks, flirt more... arghh exactly am I supposed to be doing?"
The bell rang and she snapped out of her thoughts. It was time for lunch.
At least during classes she didn't have to interact with anyone. What would she do now? As she walked out of class and towards the cafeteria, she saw a girl bump into someone and drop a ton of flyers she was carrying. Flyers began floating here and there. Betty was just about to go and offer the distraught girl some help when she realized that she wasn't supposed to do anything nice currently. She looked at the helpless girl teeter about here and there trying to gather them all together but failed and dropped more as she tried to pick them up.
Just as she was about to walk away, she saw a familiar dark haired boy swoop in and pick up a bunch of them at once. He flashed an uncharacteristic angelic smile at the girl and helped her organize her papers. The girl looked up in awe and gratefulness as she thanked him many times.
He simply waved his hand and said it was nothing, as he walked off. Then, he made his way over to Betty.
"How was that, huh? Easy peasy!"
Betty rolled her eyes.
"And what have you done today?"
"Day's just getting started," she said, noticed someone down the hall and gulped at the thought of what she was about to do, "and now if you'll excuse me." She pushed Reggie to the side lightly, and strode casually over to Adam Chisholm.
He smiled upon noticing her and she stamped a hand on a wall behind Adam and stood pinning him against his locker. She looked flirtatiously up at him. "Hey," she said in a voice, a few octaves lower for seduction purposes.
Adam was surprised without a doubt, but he went with it without missing a beat. "Hi, yourself." He tucked some strands of her blonde hair behind her ears.
Betty blushed, but tried to keep her cool. "How about joining me for lunch, you big hunk?" She screamed internally at her lack of seduction vocabulary.
Adam brought his face down a bit closer to hers and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Sure babe,"
Betty straightened up and pulled out of his embrace. "Cool," she said as she looked away.
Adam laughed. "I'll catch up with you in the cafeteria? I have to run a small errand for Professor Flutesnoot."
"See ya there, hot stuff!" She said as she finger gunned away from the scene. Betty wondered if she could ever convince Adam this encounter was just a dream he had and that it never actually happened. She was vaguely aware of the familiar faces watching the scene with some form of awe, Reggie Mantle's being one of them. She wondered if that bet was worth this embarrassment.
Reggie watched the scene, initially with some amusement. But there was a side of him that felt slightly irritated. "Curse my playboy habits!" He cursed internally. It didn't occur to him that the situation could take this kind of turn.
He paced the hall and caught up to her. Putting a hand around her shoulder again, he forced out some laughter. "That was a good one, Cooper."
She seemed distracted, and didn't even bother to move his hand.
"Earth to Betty!" he said into her ear and she finally swatted him away.
"What?!"
"You did good," he said, thoughtfully, "I'd say that was about 15 points so... with that, and all the-" he laughed "-bumping into people, and oh! How could I forget that little jab at Archiekins! I also noticed how painful it was for you to hold off on helping that kid with the fliers..." He seemed to be calculating in his head. "With all that, I'd say you have about 55 points."
"You... are keeping score?"
"Well, sure!" He said, as though that were super obvious.
"You sure are taking this seriously." She nodded her head slightly.
"Yep! And by the way, I have around 48 points."
"How did you get that much?" She reflected briefly on the peculiarity of the number. Just how was he assigning the scores?
"Well," he started and thought for a while. "I helped Svenson mop up some drinks some kids spilled, and also cleaned up the litter outside the cafeteria with him. I carried Haggly's books for her to her office and I complimented some guy from our team for his mediocre play during morning practice. Then, I helped that kid pick up her flyers, amongst some other small things here and there so..." he counted on his fingers, "around 48, I guess."
"Wow," Betty wondered how he did all those things and only got 48, while she did so little and got 55. Well, she wasn't going to argue with his scoring system when it was in her favour. But still she said "You've done more than I normally do... or would do."
"Hmm," Reggie contemplated. "I thought so too... Think I can bump it up to 50, right?"
Betty wasn't listening properly. She was thinking about how childlike Reggie seemed throughout the whole thing. He was like a kid, playing a game and taking it very seriously. She stifled a bit of laughter. It was nice to see him like that. It was kind of cute.
She came back to her senses to realize that he had asked her a question but she had no idea what it was. "Uh... sure?" She took a shot in the dark.
"Cool, I'll meet you at the entrance after school then."
"Mm," she nodded her head absentmindedly.
"What's the matter?" His old devilish smile was back. "Lost your spirit, already? Wanna raise the white flag? We both know I'll win either way!"
She punched him on the arm. "Like hell you will!"
"We'll see," he chuckled. "Shouldn't you get going for your little date?"
"Oh yeah! See ya later, Reg." She walked ahead of him to the cafeteria.
Reggie didn't follow. He wasn't particularly hungry. He thought he'd go find an empty classroom and finish up some homework so he could play video games all day after going back home.
He stopped short when he heard a girl crying around a corner, and he peered from behind a wall.
It was a gorgeous blonde girl, and she was crying and yelling at someone. He peered further to see whom she was throwing all her fury at.
It was Adam!
Reggie couldn't hear exactly what the girl was saying but he heard words along the lines of "broke my heart" and "jerk".
Didn't he say he was running some errands? Did Flutesnoot ask him to go around breaking hearts?
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Interesting," he muttered as he walked away.