Betty Cooper could count the number of times she'd truly felt her heart drop into her stomach on one hand. The first was when she was 7 years old and her parents informed both her and her sister that their grandfather had passed away. The second was earlier this year when she came home to find Polly, her possessions, and all traces of her sister erased from her home. The third and most recent time was after the dance, when she'd confronted Archie about her feelings for him and the devastating aftermath that accompanied his confession.

The fourth time was when she opened up her phone to see a photo of Veronica, her best friend, looking stunning as ever aside Chuck Clayton, save for the glop of maple syrup that had been edited on to her face. Her heart fell straight through her chest and must've banged every organ on the way down because by the time it reached her stomach, a thick pool of dread had already formed. She slammed her locker shut, earning Kevin's attention. He glanced up from his own phone – he had yet to scroll deep enough to see the picture – and raised his eyebrows at his blonde best friend.

"Betty? What's happening?" He asked inquisitively as he watched her shove her remaining books into her bag and take off down the hallway.

"Later," she called out over her shoulder.

The blonde raced through the school ignoring the probing looks from all her classmates, including Cheryl Blossom, and quickly arrived at the River Vixen's locker room. It was her best guest as to where her friend would go seeing as the room was locked and vacated during school hours. As a member of the squad, Betty had the code to the door's lock. As she was standing just outside the door, the blonde took a moment to catch her breath before entering. Veronica could be in any kind of mood, maybe she wasn't affected by it; after all, the raven haired girl probably didn't even know what a sticky maple was. But before her positive thinking could escalate too much, the familiar dread pool rose up a little higher in the stomach and threatened to make itself more known. She just had a feeling that something very, very bad had happened.

Before any more hesitation-inducing thoughts could enter her mind, Betty punched in the 4 number code and quickly rushed into the locker room. The door closed behind her with a booming slam, costing her any element of surprise.

"Veronica?" Betty called into the black space. She frowned when she heard nothing in response. No crying, no sniffles, not even the sound of breathing filled the room. She turned to her left and quickly flipped the switch, flooding the room with light. To her own disappointed, the room was empty.

She sighed, flipped the switch off and reentered the hallway. She glanced around the small Riverdale High hallways and noticed that her shorter friend was not among the many faces in the crowd.

The warning bell sounded, signaling that she needed to get to her second class of the day, one she shared with Veronica. She pulled out her phone and sent the other girl a quick text, asking her where she was and if she was okay. She trudged on to her next class and took her usual seat next to Kevin. The stylish boy was wrapped up in a conversation with Moose, who was currently leaning on the table in front of her friend and murmuring in the other boy's ear. Kevin was laughing quietly and didn't even notice the vixen take her seat.

"Alright class we've got lots to cover today so we're going to dive right into it…" their teacher began, firing up her staff computer. Betty tried desperately to copy down notes and pay attention to the lesson but no matter how hard she tried; one thing dominated all her thoughts.

Veronica never showed.

Betty walked through the rest of her day like a zombie, completely glued to her phone and only speaking when spoken to. By this time she was beyond worried; Veronica had replied to none of her texts, calls, or voicemails. As the day drug by, more and more buzz about Veronica had become apparent and by lunch time, everyone knew Chuck's version of his latest conquest in the form of the former New York socialite.

She restlessly glanced at the clock again, only 15 more minutes before she could get out of here and find her girl.

"Your girl?" Betty thought incredulously to herself. "Last month you were heartbroken over Archie Andrews and now all of the sudden Veronica is yours?"

The blonde quickly brushed those thoughts off; now wasn't the time for an internal gay panic. As she preemptively began packing her stuff, Betty was pulled from her internal conflict by the ginger boy himself. He nudged her gently with her arm and cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Are you okay?" he mouthed, his warm eyes studying her for a hint of what was causing the distress.

She nodded before the question even registered in her mind, as her Mother had taught her to. The boy looked unimpressed with her answer and simply raised his eyebrows at her. She sighed.

"I'm fine. Just worried for V," she mouthed back, mindful of her teacher still lecturing in the front of the classroom. Understanding flooded Archie's features and nodded in solidarity. "Me too," he murmured, returning his attention to his phone where she guessed, he was probably trying to reach the Latina too.

Betty was sure she'd never been gladder to hear the end of school bell as she was on this particular Thursday. She threw her bag over her shoulder and darted out of the front of the school so quickly she was sure she'd attracted more attention. She quickly unlocked her car, slid in, and zipped out of the parking lot, like a heat seeking missile to Veronica's apartment.

The blonde must've broken nearly every traffic law there is trying to get to her friend faster but luckily the police were so engrossed in their investigation, finally something she could thank the Blossoms for, to notice her poor driving. Only minutes later she arrived at the parking lot; she threw the car in park in the first spot she saw and jumped out of the car, barley remembering to lock it on the way out. She nearly tripped up the steps and immediately starting ringing the apartment's doorbell.

"Ronnie!" she called, banging gently between rings. "I know you're in there I just want to make sure you're okay."

She was met with silence.

The older girl huffed, she knew that Veronica could be stubborn when she wanted to but she was guessing the brunette didn't realize just how stubborn she could be.

"I'm not going anywhere until I see you," she promised. "Seriously I can stay out here all night."

More silence.

"God I hope I don't have to though, it's getting really cold and I don't have a jacket with me," she trailed off, trying a different approach.

To Betty's – and to be honest Veronica's too – shock, the door swung open to reveal the raven-haired girl leaning against the doorframe; the room was as dark as it could be considering the sun was out and her face was hidden in the shadows.

"Finally! Jesus V, I've been worried sick about you. Why haven't you been answering your phone?" Betty fired off.

"Betty…" Veronica croaked out, taking a step backward to ensure her face remained hidden as long as possible.

The blonde faltered. She'd never heard the other girl's voice so hoarse and defeated, not even during her apology or attempts to win her friendship back after the Archie closet incident.

"Ronnie what's wrong? What happened?" she asked, urgency creeping into her tone.

"You said you wouldn't leave until you saw me. You saw me. Now please, just go," the younger girl pleaded, retreating more as Betty stepped further into her living room.

"Not until you tell me what the hell is going on. What happened last night with Chuck? Why weren't you in school today?" She said fiercely. The blonde was frustrated by her friend's lack of willingness to clue her in. Did Veronica not trust her? Were they not as close as she thought?

"Nothing happened," she said hastily. "I just wasn't feeling well today so I stayed home and my cell's probably dead. I forgot to charge it last night."

"You're lying to me," Betty accused. "Why are you lying to me?"

Without giving the shorter girl a chance to respond, she reached out with her left hand and quickly flipped on the light switch, and ignoring the twisting feelings in her gut that told her she might not want to do that. Light bathed the room and Betty inhaled sharply, shock overtaking her system completely.

"I'm going to kill him."

Hi so I've been reading a lot of Betty/Veronica stories and I thought I'd try my hand at my own. It seems like in most of them, Betty is in trouble and Veronica is there for her so I thought it would be fun to try the opposite. Full disclosure, I'm only on the 6th episode of the first season so if I say something that isn't entirely correct and something that is different than the first season, that's why. SO if you would be interested in reading more of this it would be super cool and nice of you to leave a review with thoughts, comments, suggestions, whatever you want. Thanks for reading!