Chapter Text
"Well aren't you the greatest thing to ever exist?
Oh, I care, I care, I care
Like ribbons in your hair
My stomach's all in knots
You've got the one thing that I want"
lacy - Olivia Rodrigo
- betty -
Betty groaned as she heard her alarm go off for the first time in two months. She tapped 'stop' after about 3 seconds of hearing it and rolled out of bed. She already prepared her clothes for the day 3 days beforehand, and also changed it 5 times, but now there's no point in figuring out what outfit screams I'm-fine-and-had-the-best-summer the most. Not like that's not true of course, because what kind of loser would spend their day stalking their ex-boyfriend's Instagram every second, right?
Anyway, to put it in retrospect, that's not ALL she did. After the ominous prom night, Rebekah, her best friend, gave her exactly 1 day to mope around the house all day looking like a zombie and scaring her little brother so much in the morning that he spilled orange juice all over himself. She texted, called and even tried to reach Betty's mom before knocking on the door unannounced and declaring to Betty's dad that it was an emergency. So, she stormed into her room and found Betty on her bed, lying on her pillow face-down, both airpods in, blasting Pheoebe Bridgers so loud that she didn't even realise that Rebekah was in her room until she threw a pillow at her.
Betty often thinks about how grateful she is for that day, and in general, for her best friend. Not once has she ever failed to be there for Betty when she needed it. That day, they held the most symbolic sleepover ever that they titled 'Fuck boys, we're gay for each other' and did every single thing they could find on Pinterest 'sleepover stuff' boards. The next day, it was a bit worse, because no matter how much fun they had the night before (and technically that day too because they were up until 3am), the reality was still there, existing. James wasn't in town, and he wasn't going to call Betty, text Betty, or ask Betty on a date. He was gone with a random girl from school, and according to Inez, he's gone for the whole summer. Not that Betty cares, of course, it's just what she was told.
So the next day, she woke up, remembered, and cried. And Rebekah was there for all of it. The hours when Betty completely shut down and kept saying the most unimaginably rude things to Rebekah and her family members, when she told Rebekah that she doesn't care what he ddi, she just wants him back, the minutes of rage when she wanted James to come back to her just so that she can slap him, and even the times when Rebekah quite literally had to take Betty's phone away from her because she had multiple paragraphs typed out to send to him. So yeah, it was a rough day. And the next one. And the one after that. Until Rebekah spent so many nights over that her parents started to worry that Betty's family was holding her hostage.
But after 5 days, Rebekah had enough and made Betty properly take care of herself. She made Betty take a long, hot shower, curled her hair, made her put on some mascara, light blush and lipgloss, then put her in a cute pink-white summer dress, making her look completely different. Walking down the stairs from her room, Betty's parents looked at their daughter, shocked, then quietly thanked Rebekah for however she managed to achieve this progress.
Betty's mom was always really good at handling whatever emotion Betty was battling with. She was so grateful for the kind of family she had, and Betty always viewed it as the part in her life that's always going to stay steady. Her little brother, Stephen, was the most adorable little kid in the universe. He was 10 years old, obsessed with LEGOs and Harry Potter, and could definitely be nicknamed as the 'golden boy' of their whole town. Everyone in Shelbyville knew and loved him for the happiness he brought with him everywhere he went.
Meanwhile, Betty's dad was the stereotypical American dad. This description always made Betty's friends chuckle, only because it was so fitting. He loved to go golfing, watch sports with his friends and hold grill nights every weekend for his family and invited the neighbours over. And next to all this, he was the most supportive person Betty could ever ask for, with the perfect amount of strictness in him to even out Betty's mom.
So, when Betty came downstairs looking not like a zombie for the first time in 5 days, her dad could finally retreat to his peaceful, un-worried bliss about what boy he's going to have to talk to about mis-treating her precious daughter. He was also relieved because he really liked James. Heavy on the past tense of course, after Betty's mom talked to him about the vague idea of what happened at prom.
After the 'transformation', Betty and Rebekah then proceeded to spend the day making Betty's life completely un-James-d. Not only did this include throwing out any and all gifts he has ever gotten her, the removal of anything that even reminded her of him and the buying of refreshers for her room and any clothing item she ever let James wear as a joke, but also (and worst of all), the burning of The Cardigan. Yes, capital letters.
Ever since James gave it to her, it's been apart of every second outfit Betty has ever worn. Often, she wore it so much that the cardigan's state got so critical that her mom had to resolve in stealing it from her room to put it in the washing machine. Betty threw a fit about not being able to wear it in the morning every time, or even if it dried, she hated that it didn't have James's smell.
During the burning of the Cardigan, Betty cried. Betty was single-handedly the cause for the deforestation of The Amazon Rainforest with the amount of tissues she used up in a week, Rebekah thought sometimes, but she kept that to herself. However, the burning happened, and neither of them could do anything about it. So, that's that.
After this, they went to the mall and bought Betty a completely new closet with a more downtown-girl style, contrasting her pastel-themed closet from before. They even managed to find an insanely cute, slightly high-heeled brown boot that matched all of the outfits they got her, and also her remaining normal clothes at home. Neither of them said it, but they both knew that Betty needed a new 'I'm-wearing-this-with-everything' item. Well, if you ask Rebekah, boots are much better than cardigans anyway.
After the first week, it gradually got easier. Rebekah was there with her constantly in the first month, stopping her from checking James's or Augustine's Instagrams. She also planned hangouts to basically everywhere in their state. They discovered so many new spots, such as a long trail leading to a beautiful but old castle, a small stream of water leading to a cave (which had the perfect conditions to hold the creepiest-sounding karaoke nights ever) and also a magical-looking forest that's a 20 minute walk from Rebekah's house. It had a small clearing with 2 swings hanging from branches high above them. Just to add to the whole aesthetic girlhood summer with a massive amount of side quests, one time when walking back to Betty's house, they got caught up in a hammering downpour and had to climb a tree and stay there for 30 minutes to not get absolutely soaking wet because they forgot to bring an umbrella. All in all, Rebekah was very good at distracting Betty from the real world.
However, one weekend, Rebekah had to go see her grandparents with her parents, and Betty was left alone with her airpods, Taylor Swift's Red album and a very inviting Instagram logo. Safe to say that Rebekah's pep talks didn't last for long in Betty's head...
She opened the app, scrolled past a whole month of summer posts from everyone she knew at school, looking for someone in particular. It took her a while to realise that Rebekah blocked James on Betty's account. However, Betty also figured out that Rebekah couldn't be bothered to find the Augustine girl, so her account wasn't blocked.
It didn't take long for Betty to find her because even though they've never spoken, the girl seemed to have some connections to Shelbyville. After about 10 minutes of looking through lists of followers and following, she found her account: @augusts.dearest. She had 154 followers and 4 posts. Obviously, Betty started looking through them immediately.
The oldest one was from her birthday last year (August 17), it was a slideshow of her having a party with her friends in a large, fancy-looking house. Oh god, Betty did not need a reminder of how gorgeous she is, especially when she's smiling.
The second oldest one was from New Years 2025; it was a video of her with her family on a beach with cinematically beautiful fireworks shooting up behind them. They were all holding cocktail-looking drinks, so Betty assumed that Augustine must be 16 or so already.
Then there was one dump from a vacation in The Philippines in May. This one was a longer slideshow, with 17 perfectly shot photos of either the view from somewhere high above, flowers, the beach, a sunrise or Augustine. Every single photo she was in, she wore a perfect outfit, showing off her perfect body, perfect jewellery and had perfectly styled hair. If lacy by Olivia Rodrigo started playing in Betty's head every time she saw a picture of her, then that's no one else's business but her own, alright?
And then there was one that was posted 4 days ago, with a very familiar person tagged in the caption. It was a slideshow, 5 pictures. The first one was a photo of the sunset on a beach. The second one was a Pinterest-worthy picture of a picnic blanket in the sand, chocolate strawberries, croissants and a glass of orange juice on it. The third one was her from the back on the same beach. She had long, straight brown hair, she wore a beautiful blue hat and a matching short, light blue dress and sandals. The fourth one was her holding a small white kitten inside a beach house. She was looking down at the cat with a look of adoration on her face. Betty couldn't fully see her profile, but she could still tell that she had an exceptionally perfect side profile. Something Betty will never have. And then there was the fifth image, which made Betty's heart clench. It was Augustine and James, skateboarding down an empty street towards the sunset, holding hands. Augustine was much shorter than James, so he was looking down at her, but oh, the look on his face... Betty knew that look. It was the look he'd given her on their first date. It was the look he'd given her when she got excited about anything that he got her or told her. It was also the look that he'd given her that day, before destroying everything.
The caption was: "chill summer in North Carolina. loving the view ;) @james.likes.jam <3". Betty felt the tears swelling in her eyes, but still, she opened the comments. One of her friends was hyping her up, leaving multiple comments, but there was one that Betty wished she hadn't read: "GIIIIRL THE 5TH SLIDE? Keep himmmm he is a GORGEOUS". And Augustine replied. "@bella.williams13 planning on it". Oh, but that's not even the worst part.
She tapped on James's tagged account to unblock him, because she wanted, no, she needed to see if he commented on the post. She tapped 'unblock' once his profile loaded (their internet was glitching out a bit). She then went back to the post and refreshed the comments. It went from 24 to 26. She opened them while taking a deep breath, already knowing that she's going to regret this. Betty didn't even need to scroll: there it was, a pinned comment, from @james.likes.jam. One red heart, with AUgustine replying to it with two. Simple, but still says everything. And like, okay. Betty didn't know what she was expecting, and she knew that this is probably her own fault. However, she would've appreciated if the only thing she found out is that James is coming home single. Whatever.
She closed the app, put in her airpods, put lacy on repeat and went for a LONG walk in the nearby forest to think about ways in which she'll survive seeing him on September 1st.
All of this has led up to the present, in which Betty is now in a new homeroom with people she doesn't know at all. But it's better than seeing James every single morning while he's probably on his phone texting his beautiful, skinny, rich, brunette girlfriend, right? Well, that's what Rebekah said. And she's always right.
Therefore Betty steps out of her room 20 minutes later with freshly curled hair, a bit more makeup than usual (a bit of blue eye-shadow, bronzer and highlighter next to her usual mascara + blush + lipgloss combo), and her favourite outfit: brown tights, denim skirt, dark blue shirt with lace on the edges and a comfy brown sweater. Plus, of course, the boots. She also put on some gold bracelets and a simple pair of gold hoop earrings, a necklace with a B on it plus she put her sunglasses in her bag because the salty summer air was still lingering around.
She walked downstairs, quickly ate breakfast then made herself a sandwich for lunch, drank a cup of coffee then left the house. She knew it was really early and she could've slept in for 20 more minutes, but the first day of school adrenaline was getting to her so she decided to take the long way to school and listen to music.
She was 5 minutes away from school when Rebekah called her, so she paused Gracie Abrams and answered the phone.
"Hey, where the fuck are you, I went to your house so we can walk together and your mom said you left early" she began.
"Oh fuckkk, I'm so sorry, I forgot we said we'd walk together." Rebekah scoffed. "I'm actually a couple minutes away from school, where do you wanna meet up?" I ask, genuinely sincere, because Rebekah hates being stood up. Even if it's not on purpose.
"I'm near Inez's street, should we go to the bakery? I'm not craving the sandwich my mom made me, and she won't give me money for the cafeteria."
"Sure, I'll be there in 5!" Betty said. She was kind of glad for the suggestion actually, because she loves that bakery's pain au chocolates.
"Alright, see ya." Rebekah replied, then hung up.
Betty turned around and started walking towards the bakery. She was scrolling through Pinterest on her phone when she heard some guys having a very loud conversation. She looked up and almost dropped her phone from surprisement. It was James's friend group, the ones who she's hung out with so many times they know her better than her own friendgroup in some topics. She absolutely loved being with them 24/7, she even got invited to their camping trip in spring break that was originally bros only. It was the best group ever, no one had a secret crush on her to cause drama, and no one secretly loathed her.
But now they were here, and they haven't spoken in two months, and Betty was terrified of what they're going to say to her. James wasn't with them, thankfully, but she still did not want them to see her. Especially talk to her. So she crossed the street quickly and turned her head away from them in the least attention-seeking way possible. Luckily, they seemed to be really invested in their argument, so they didn't notice her. Betty's heartbeat slowly started steadying as their group moved further apart from her, until she felt safe enough to cross the street again and make the turn she was meant to make before the group showed up.
She got there quickly without any obstacles after that. She stepped inside, smiling at the familiar ring of the bell above the door. Rebekah was already standing in the line, so she joined her while fishing out her wallet from the bottom of her bag.
"I love the fit by the way" Rebekah says, looking her up and down. "I knew you were gonna wear this."
"Yes, well, gotta let him know I don't care anymore and that I've changed, right?"
"Mhm, you didn't have to bring him up into the conversation, but yes, I really can't wait for his reaction. I bet he expects you to show up in that old white shirt, jeans and the cardigan." We both giggle a bit at that, because yes, my old style was so horrible, I have no idea how anyone let me show up to school every day looking like a coquette girl cosplayer every day.
"You know what else this means though? New you, new boys on the horizon. Seriously, I love you, but you spent the whole Hot Girl Summer single. We gotta make up for it. Anyway, my mom's flying in her bitch pack friends from the City soon, and you know how they love to ask about relationships. It's awkward if you don't have any." Rebekah said jokingly.
Before she could reply, the customer in front of us has finished ordering, so it was their turn. She let Rebekah go first, who ordered a ham-spinach sandwich and a coffee to-go. After she paid and put her food in her bag, Betty got herself the pain au chocolat then stepped outside with Rebekah.
They walked to school together, discussing the probability of boys in our class having a glow-up or a glow-down. Once they arrived, they both showed their ID cards at the reception, then walked inside.
"Yeah, I did NOT miss this". Betty mutters under her breath after stepping out of the bathroom. The soap dispenser doesn't work, the toilet paper got even worse quality over the summer, and the smell of paint almost suffocated her in the cubicle. Rebekah laughs with her, then gives her some of her hand sanitizer. Betty gladly accepts while walking out of the disgusting toilets. She heard the first bell go off, and looked at Rebekah sadly. They're in different homerooms, so they need to go their separate ways for the day's first hour. She hugs Betty goodbye then walks away towards B block, while she makes her way to E block.
The door is open, and Betty can already see some people inside. Thankfully, not all boys, so she takes a deep breath, and steps inside.
'Here we go', she thinks as she pushes the door open a bit wider.