Betty and Jughead

"Hey there, Juliet."

- Jughead appears at Betty's bedroom window

The relationship between Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper began as a friendship long before the start of the series.

Jughead, alongside Archie, grew up with Betty in Riverdale. They were friends, but it wasn't until recently that the two started spending a lot of their time together.

They shared their first kiss in "Chapter Six: Faster, Pussycats! Kill! Kill!", starting their romantic relationship.

The two even gave each other pet names,  'Betts'  and  'Juggie'.

Season 1
To further investigate what really happened surrounding Jason Blossom's death on the 4th July, Betty reopened the Riverdale High School newspaper The Blue and Gold and convinced Jughead, and his well-found journalist skills, to join her. Betty mentioned that there's one person no one had been talking about: Dilton Doiley and his scouts.

Jughead visited Dilton and asked him if he had heard the gunshot that morning. Dilton insisted that neither he nor his boy scouts heard anything unusual on that day. Jughead, upon hearing this, was not convinced. He noticed one of Dilton's scouts eyeing him from a distance and later on, sought out that same scout sitting at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe who confessed that the gunshot, in fact, originated from Dilton himself, while he was secretly teaching the scouts how to shoot. Once caught, Dilton was willing to compromise with Betty and Jughead. They were to leave Dilton out of the murder case and forget that it had been him who shot the gun, which in exchange, he offered them a better story— Dilton saw Geraldine Grundy's car by the lakeside early that morning.

With the Twilight Drive-In closing, Jughead was furious as the drive-in was very special to him and thought the residents should be trying to save it, which he tried to explain to Betty, Veronica, and Kevin at Pop's. Jughead struggled over which film he should play for the closing night, and he asked the group, who he had already invited to attend, for suggestions. He ultimately went with Betty's: ''"." ''That night while everyone was watching the film, Sheriff Keller's home is broken into and all the files on Jason Blossom's murder were stolen. Come morning it was revealed that Jughead was homeless and had been living out of the drive-in's projection booth, and his father FP Jones, was a member of the Southside Serpents.

At The Blue and Gold offices, Jughead, Betty, and Kevin reconstructed Sheriff Keller's murder board that had been previously destroyed. Unfortunately, the police had no suspects for the break-in, there weren't any fingerprints, and they had no leads. Their conversation was interrupted by Trev Brown, who had come by to confirm a date with Betty that evening, which made Jughead look very jealous. However, after Trev left, Betty said that the date was just a way to get more information on Jason, who had been close friends with Trev.

Betty reported back to Jughead, who wondered, “Why does a rich kid sell drugs?” and what would make him run away from his family so badly? Since they couldn't ask Jason or the Blossoms, they decided to use Jason's memorial as an excuse to dig around Thornhill for clues. Following an emotional eulogy from Cheryl, Jughead and Betty snuck away during the commotion and made their way to Jason's room. Unbeknownst to either of them, Rose Blossom, Jason's grandmother, who had been sitting in the dark corner of the room in her wheelchair, startled them. However, she mistakenly took Betty for Polly and unknowingly revealed to them that Polly and Jason had secretly become engaged.

As more secrets from Betty's family came to light, Jughead believed that her parents knew more than they were letting on and wondered how far her they would go to protect Polly. Whoever broke into Sheriff Keller's house wasn't at the drive-in, and coincidentally, Betty's father hadn't been there that night. With that being said, they added the Cooper family's name to the board and decided the time had come to find Polly.

In an attempt to find out where Polly was hidden away, Betty invited Jughead over for breakfast. Alice accused Jughead of being the reason that Betty was obsessed with the investigation of Jason Blossom's death. However, Betty quickly stated that it had been her idea to publish it in The Blue and Gold. After a look from Betty, Jughead then asked for directions to the bathroom, and as planned, Alice escorted him, which provided a long enough distraction for Betty to go through her mother's purse and take photos of her check book. At The Blue and Gold, after doing a little digging, Betty and Jughead discovered one of the checks were sent to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, a group home for troubled youths. During lunch, they quietly discussed Polly and their next course of action, which was catching a bus to the group-home to find her. They found Polly, and Betty was surprised to find that all the information her parents were telling her, was just to cover up for the fact that Polly was pregnant with Jason's baby. Unfortunately, Betty and Jughead were caught by Alice and were forced to leave.

After she returned from the institution, Betty was alone in her room when Jughead knocked on her window after climbing up a ladder. She smiled and opened the window to which he quipped, "Hey there, Juliet", before climbing in. After a brief conversation, Betty confided in Jughead about her feelings towards her parents, sister, and even herself. He calmly helped her through it and told her that she is not her family. Jughead then kissed Betty, to which she smiled, before remembering that earlier Polly had told her about a car Jason had kept for them out by an old maple farm sign on Route 40 and it might still be hidden there.

That night, they found the car, hidden under a tarp and filled with Jason's things, including his varsity jacket, as well as plenty of drugs. They took pictures and alerted Sheriff Keller, all the while as they were unknowingly being watched by someone hidden in the woods. The authorities arrived only to find the vehicle had been set on fire. Jughead and Betty then raced to rescue Polly from the group home but found that her room was empty, the window broken and blood coated the glass.

After being forced out of the drive-in, Jughead secretly moved into Riverdale High, taking over a small forgotten closet under a staircase, where one morning he dreamed a strange 50s style dream in which he is married to Betty, Jason Blossom is alive and the Coopers are loving parents who approve of both their daughters relationships. In the dream, the family as well as Veronica and Archie, were sitting down to a big turkey dinner and as Jughead started to carve the bird, the knife disappears from his hand. Archie then walked up and calmly asked, "Dude, why'd you stab me in the back?" before turning around, the carving knife embedded between his shoulder blades. That same morning his living situation is found out by Archie. Jughead then asked him not to tell anyone, especially not Betty, which confused Archie who wondered why Betty would care.

Later on, the gang met up in the student lounge and discussed Polly’s escape from the group home. Betty became stressed and clearly worried about how Polly could be hurt and how the person who killed Jason could be after Polly too. To comfort her, Jughead put his arm around her shoulder and Betty reached to hold his hand, which surprised Veronica and confused Archie. Archie caught up with Jughead in hall afterwards and asked if there was something going on between the two of them and Jughead hesitantly replied that they may have had a moment. Flustered, Archie cuts him off and changes the subject, clearly not happy with the answer he got. At the other end of the hall, Veronica also asked Betty about Jughead and Betty smiled and gushed that Jughead had really been there for her through the trouble with her family the past few days. Veronica was excited for her and gave her approval.

To find Polly, Jughead and Betty organised a search of Eversgreen Forest together, which was interrupted by the Blossoms and ultimately unsuccessful. As Jughead walked her home afterwards, holding hands, he struggled to define their relationship. Betty was upset that there was no luck finding Polly and worried that she should not have told Polly about Jason’s death, that Polly could be hurt because of it. Jughead reassured her she did the right thing, that it was her parents who were the ones in the wrong for keeping the truth from Polly. Betty then told him how Polly once ran away before when she was nine after a big fight with their mother, which led to her realising where Polly had gone to hide. Excited, Betty kissed Jughead and said goodnight before quickly rushing home, as Jughead smiled all the while. At the Cooper House Betty found Polly hiding up in the attic.

Later that night, Jughead, Archie, FP Jones and Archie's dad went to dinner at Pop's and Archie brought up Jughead’s work at The Blue and Gold with Betty. Jughead’s father asked if Betty was Jughead’s girlfriend, which Archie looked very interested to find out the answer to, but Jughead swiftly changed the subject. Archie then looked taken aback and a bit jealous.

The next morning Jughead was brought to the Sheriff Station by Sheriff Keller as a suspect for Jason's murder. His and Betty’s fingerprints were found on Jason’s torched car as expected, but Jughead had a surprising juvie record from six years prior when he almost burned down Riverdale Elementary School, which, according to Jughead, was an accident; he was just playing with matches. Sheriff Keller unfairly suspected him as the killer due to his background and being from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’.

Betty was allowed to speak to Jughead alone after his interrogation, and held his hand while she reassured him that she believed him, that she knew who he was. Betty promised him that she would not let anything happen to him. She also told him that his father had been called but no one knew where he was. Jughead was released after Fred Andrew’s lied and told Sheriff Keller that Jughead was tearing down drywall for his construction company on July 11th, which Fred and Archie later falsified a time card to prove.

Jughead’s father showed up to the station just as everyone was leaving and caused a scene in front of Fred, Archie and Betty. Jughead convinced him to let it go and before he left, FP promised he would get his act together and that they would have their family back, it would just take some time. Jughead looked angry and resigned as he told his father he believed him. Betty placed her hand on Jughead’s cheek and comforted him as they left the station and once again Archie looked jealous. In the end, Jughead went to live at the Andrew’s house.