Betty Cooper

"I do everything for everyone, everything! To be perfect; the perfect daughter, the perfect sister, the perfect student. Can't I do this one thing just for me?"

- Betty arguing with her mother

Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper is a main character on Riverdale. She is portrayed by Lili Reinhart.

Betty is a student at Riverdale High School and long time best friend of Archie Andrews, as well as Kevin Keller and new girl Veronica Lodge. She is also a River Vixen at Riverdale High. She is currently in a relationship with Jughead Jones.

Character Description
''Sweet, studious, eager-to-please and wholesome as apple pie with a huge crush on her longtime best friend, Archie. Tired of being the perfect daughter, student, sister, etc., she turns to her new friend, Veronica, for life advice — much to the consternation of her emotionally brittle mother.  ''

Early life
Betty grew up in Riverdale with her parents, Alice and Hal Cooper, and her older sister Polly. Her childhood best friend was Archie Andrews, and as the years passed, she grew to harbor romantic feelings for him, which she dared not reveal. Betty's family life was very tense, as her mother was extremely controlling, which led to her sister having a mental breakdown and being sent to live in a group home. Though her parents claimed this was caused by Polly's disastrous relationship with Jason Blossom, Betty knew better. As the only remaining daughter in the Cooper household, she was placed under immense pressure to be perfect in every way.

Season 1
At the Cooper house, Betty got dressed for an evening out with Archie at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, she was nervous, but at the same time believed that the time had finally come for her to ask him out. They discussed their summer activities as they sat in a booth at the diner, Betty loved her internship, but while pouring cement all summer was no fun for Archie, he did find a new passion, a love for writing songs. Betty then saw her moment to reveal her feelings towards Archie, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Veronica Lodge, who was picking up an order. On her first day as a sophomore, Betty's mother insisted that she do co-curricular and keep her guard up, as that year would be important for her college applications. Betty's mother also reminded her of the path that her older sister, Polly went down by getting involved with Jason Blossom, and how it ruined her life, Betty hadn't forgotten, she told her that Archie isn't Jason, so they shouldn't be compared.

Betty gave Veronica a tour of the school, it wasn't long before they were joined by Kevin, who made it evident to Veronica that despite the fact that Betty and Archie weren't together, they are end-game, this came up as Veronica spotted Archie in the hall. Later that day, Betty, Archie and Kevin were joined by Veronica, during which time Archie played them a sample of his music. Cheryl Blossom joined the table soon after, she invited Veronica to try out for the River Vixens, who then invited Betty to try-out as well. Cheryl coldly agreed, but not without taking a jab at Betty, saying that she already had so much her plate, alluding to the fact that Betty was not slim enough to be a cheerleader when she tried out last year. Betty had doubts that she'd actually make the team, but Veronica wasn't taking no for an answer, she encouraged Betty with compliments to her appearance and intelligence, then offering to assist her in preparing for the try-outs if that's what she truly desired.

In spite of their best effort at try-outs, Cheryl found their routine to be dull and boring, this prompted Veronica to kiss Betty in an attempt to save their routine. Sadly, Cheryl was not impressed, as she stated that lesbian kisses were outdated. Then came the interview portion of the try-outs, in which Cheryl pressured Betty into talking about Polly, more so Polly's relationship with Jason, Cheryl's brother. If bringing up her sister wasn't bad enough, Cheryl denied Betty a spot on the River Vixens, which led Veronica to come to her defense, she demanded that Betty receive a spot on the squad, or else she wouldn't join, with no other choice, Cheryl reluctantly agreed. After acquiring their River Vixens uniform, Betty asked Veronica why she defended her, as Betty was very much aware of the crowd that Veronica ran with back in New York.

Veronica's drastic change in character was due to the arrest of her father, they were verbally attacked through letters and emails, and what hurt the most was that everything that was being said about her family was true, so moving to Riverdale was a fresh start. Since Cheryl had previously brought it up, Betty decided to tell Veronica her about Polly and Jason's romance, it meant everything to Polly, but nothing to Jason, the relationship quickly grew to be toxic, which led to their mom turning on Polly. Jason may have hurt her, but it was their mother that broke Polly. Then moving on to their next topic of discussion, Betty was pressured by Veronica to ask Archie to the back-to-school Semi-formal but due to her lack of confidence, Betty ended up asking Archie to be her and Veronica's escort to the dance instead. Excited over Archie saying yes, Betty danced around her room, while wearing her cheer uniform, it was then that she was caught by her mother, who was angered by the fact that her daughter joined a cheer team led by Cheryl Blossom, as the Blossoms and Coopers had an on-going feud.

Betty refused to remove the uniform, tired of being the perfect daughter, sister, and student, she will not quit the cheer team as it is the one decision she has made for herself. Before leaving, she informed her mother that she would be attending the school dance with Archie and Veronica. As planned, Betty, Veronica, and Archie attended the semi-formal. She asked him if there was a chance they could ever go on to become a couple, unfortunately, Archie could not see such a future for them. Despite their current situation, they went to the after-party at Cheryl's house, where they played "", much to Betty's dismay, Archie and Veronica were up first, Betty abruptly left the party considering both of them had betrayed her. Archie went to meet Betty at her house in order to clear things up, she asked if he had romantic feelings towards her, but he didn't, Archie never wished to pursue a romantic relationship. The following morning, Betty stood at the shore of Sweetwater River as Jason Blossom's body was brought in.

Sunday night, following the discovery of Jason Blossom's body, Betty received a text from Archie, though she wasn't interested in talking. The subsequent morning, before leaving for school, she had a brief chat with her mother, who reminded her that people like Archie, Veronica, and Cheryl are not her friends, and that their recent betrayal is only further proof of that. Despite telling her mother that she would no longer seek friendship from Archie, Betty did the very opposite by asking him to walk her to school. She needed time to process the situation, to separate what she wanted from what her mom wanted, and what she wanted was to be friends with Archie. Betty was taken by surprise with Veronica's apology, one that included her being gifted with flowers, cupcakes and manicures.

Although Betty accepted the apology, she did so while under the impression that Veronica was simply being shallow, and that she'd latch on to someone else eventually. Betty, Kevin, and Veronica joined Archie at lunch, while he worked on his music. At Veronica's request, he played one of his new songs, which overwhelmed Betty, and she ran away from the table as her eyes filled with tears. Archie caught up to her, wanting to talk, Betty explained that she felt safest and most herself whenever she and Archie were at a booth at Pop's, but after the events that took place that weekend, she no longer felt that way. Later, at cheer practice, she and Veronica got into an argument over Archie, her informing Archie of her true feelings towards him, and the awkward tension now between them because of it.

To get back at Veronica, Betty invited Cheryl to get manicures with her, but it backfired when Cheryl again drilled Betty with questions about Polly and Jason's relationship. It escalated when Cheryl accused Polly of being the person who murdered Jason, having enough of Cheryl and her vindictive ways, Betty told her to get out the house otherwise, she'd kill Cheryl. At school, Betty admitted that Veronica was right about what she said pertaining to Archie, sometimes it's hard to admit things to yourself, Betty said. That night at the Pep Rally, Betty was shocked to see Archie's bruised eye after his fight in the student lounge with Reggie. Following a performance by Josie and the Pussycats, Cheryl took off the stage in tears with Betty and Veronica behind her, Betty watched from a distance as Veronica consoled Cheryl. Seeing this with her own eyes, Betty realized that she had been wrong about Veronica's motives, so they reconciled with malts at Pop's shoppe. Unexpectedly, Archie and Jughead entered the diner soon after, so Betty invited them to join her and Veronica.

Hoping to find Polly, Betty invited Jughead over for breakfast at her house, with her mother. Jughead 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 made out 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. Betty found Polly in the Garden of Deliverance, and the two reunited after months apart, she immediately noticed that Polly was pregnant with Jason's child, she's happy for Polly, but sad that she didn't come sooner.

From Polly, Betty learned that she and Jason only broke up because his parents forced him to, but after he learned of Polly's pregnancy, he was overjoyed, the two of them had planned to run away together on the 4th of July, but their parents found out and she was sent away because of it. Betty then realized that Polly had no idea that Jason was murdered, as she began rambling on, so Betty was forced to tell her the truth. She was then taken to a room and kept there until her mother arrived, Alice explained that she's notified by the sisters whenever Polly receives a visitor. Before leaving the facility, Alice had a run-in with Polly, who confronted her over Jason's death, Polly is pulled away by two orderlies, but not before Betty told her that she loves her, and that she would get Polly out of there. After returning home, Betty was lectured by her parents, but she defended her actions as Polly needed to know the truth, however, she didn't find what she was looking for.

Betty then accused her father of not only breaking into Sheriff Keller's house, but possibly murdering Jason as well. Alice accused Betty of sounding just as crazy as Polly, but she insisted that her sister wasn't crazy. The next day, Jughead came through Betty's window with a ladder, she told him about her worries concerning her parents, Polly, and possibly herself being crazy, Jughead calmed Betty down and reassures her that they are not their parents, then he kissed her, to which she smiled, right before remembering the car Jason had stashed out by an old maple farm sign on Route 40 that Polly was rambling on about. That night, they found the car, hidden under a tarp and filled with Jason's things, like his varsity jacket, as well as an abundance 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 coating the glass.

Betty first appeared in Jughead's dream, which he described as some kind of idealized, make-believe version of the American dream, where the two of them were engaged. Outside of the dream, Betty told her friends about the current situation with Polly, and her "condition", which is how her parents referred to Polly's pregnancy. Betty's mom and dad didn't want anyone to know that Polly had escaped the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, so they neglected to tell the police. Her parents were worried that with Polly's escape, people would assume she burned Jason Blossom's car, and if she did, she could be the killer, trying to cover her tracks. Just as Betty began to worry about Polly, and the killer possibly going after her next, Jughead put his arm on her shoulder to comfort her, which both Archie and Veronica couldn't help but notice.

Archie suggested that Betty go against her parents' wishes and tell the authorities about Polly's escape, which Kevin seconded, as they could go to his father, who would be far more discreet. However, Sheriff Keller had to answer to the Blossoms, who are the last people that Betty would want to know as they would twist the situation around and demonize Polly. Immediately following their exit of the student lounge, Veronica confronted Betty on her newly found relationship with Jughead, to which Betty explained that Jughead was there for her when she was feeling down. That day, she and Jughead orchestrated a search party throughout Eversgreen Forest for Polly, they headed East, that being the directed she would've headed if she was looking to leave Riverdale undetected. During the search, Archie apologized for not being there to help with her sister, which Betty instantly forgave him for, as he was there in that moment.

Subsequent to a brief altercation between Betty's family, and Cheryl's, Alice decided it was best to get ahead of the situation while they still could since Polly's escape was no longer a secret. Betty stood along side her mother and father as they announced that Polly was pregnant with Jason's child. On the walk home, Betty blamed herself for Polly running away from the group home, she then recalled an incident from years ago, when Polly was nine, and she ran away from home after a huge fight with their mother. The whole neighborhood was out looking for her, but it turned out that she was in the attic the entire time, which proved to be true with this situation too, as Betty returned home to find Polly hiding in the attic once again. However, she couldn't stay long as their mother and father wanted her to give the child up for adoption.

Betty insisted that the stigma of her pregnancy was a thing of the past, but Polly wasn't so sure. At that moment, their parents returned home, Betty asked for a few days to find Polly a safe place to stay because she didn't want to lose her again. The next morning, Betty asked her parents if Polly would be staying with them, and where the baby would sleep. Alice claimed that Polly decided to give the child up for adoption, however, unbeknownst to Alice, Betty had already spoken to Polly about the child, and she knew her mothers' claims were false. In the student lounge, Betty struggled to come up with a solution that would best benefit her and Polly. Veronica suggested that she ask her mother for assistance, but Betty refused, as they had their own problems, then she and Veronica were interrupted by Cheryl, who wished to help Polly and the baby.

Reluctantly, Betty revealed that Polly needed money for a place to live and medical supplies, to which Cheryl responded that her parents would be more than willing to help. That night, Betty met up with Cheryl and her parents at Pop's shoppe, where they assured Betty that they could assist Polly with emotional and financial support, all Betty had to do was trust them enough to tell them where Polly was. The next day, Jughead was taken into custody as a suspect in Jason's death, Betty sat with him in the interrogation room, she knew he wasn't the killer, saying that the evidence was circumstantial. Later that night, Betty, Polly, Archie, Veronica, and Jughead awaited the Blossoms arrival, however, Cheryl came alone to warn them of her parent's ill intentions. With no place else to go, Veronica and Hermione allowed Polly to stay with them.

Betty, Veronica and, Hermione sat in on Polly's statement to Sheriff Keller on the days leading up to the tragic event of Jason Blossom's death. In the student lounge the following day, Betty, Veronica, Archie, Jughead, Kevin, Cheryl, and Valerie discussed how to approach Polly's steadily worsening predicament, where Betty's parents wanted Polly but not the baby, while the Blossoms wanted the baby but not Polly, an impossible situation, Betty remarked. Veronica corrected her, saying that it was merely an annoying situation, one in which she had a solution for in the form of a baby shower. Before she could answer, Alice showed up at the school, and demanded to talk to them privately about how they were hiding Polly at The Pembrooke, which Betty commented was better than an insane asylum. Betty reminded her mother that it wasn't her choice as to whether or not Polly would give up her child for adoption, Betty informed Alice that her choices consisted of being a loving mother and grandmother or staying away.

The next morning at breakfast, Betty and Veronica shared their baby shower proposal with Polly and Hermione, which Polly was initially against, but after thinking it over, decided it would be best if they went through with it. Much to everyone's surprise, Polly wanted the Blossoms to attend the shower as well. Having sent out the invitations to Polly's shower, she asked Betty and Veronica if Alice would be attending, to which they replied, she had been invited, but Betty would not allow this to ruin Polly's big day as she comforted her older sister. At that moment, Polly found it best that she announce Betty as her child's godmother; if anything were to every happen to Polly, the only person she'd trust is Betty. After learning from Jughead that Moose had been attacked at the SoDale site by two thugs, she wondered if he was okay, to which Jughead responded with "his name is Moose, he's fine".

Just then, Archie entered Pop's shoppe to inform Jughead of the plan to find the Southside Serpents that were potentially Moose's attackers, which Betty was against as they were dangerous drug dealers. That night, the baby shower had finally come to fruition, Betty kissed Jughead and thanked him for attending the shower along side her. Surprisingly, Alice decided to attend the event, which both Betty and Polly were thrilled over, however, the Blossoms weren't far behind, which forced Betty to assist in keeping her mother's attitude in check. Archie came storming into the shower shortly after the gift giving portion of the shower began, from him Betty learned that Jughead's father was a Serpent. Alice's frustrations had finally toppled over as the Blossoms invited Polly to stay with them at Thornhill, which Betty couldn't do anything about except watch, and stop Cheryl from making the situation any worse.

After the shower, Betty insisted that her mother make up with Polly, which they did, but not before Polly revealed that their father offered to pay for an abortion appointment before she was sent away, which left both Betty and Alice speechless. Once Polly fell asleep, Betty decided it was time to talk about Jughead's father, and the fact that he was a Serpent, she understood that Jughead was ashamed, but if they were going to be together, she wanted to know everything about him. Betty then suggested that they have a talk with FP since he could know something about Jason; at the Sunnyside Trailer Park, where FP stayed. Betty and Jughead questioned him on his drug dealings with Jason Blossom, and if the Serpents had anything to do with his death, to which FP denied any and all allegations. Outside the trailer, Betty asked if Jughead believed his father, and while she wasn't sure if she believed FP, Betty definitely believed in Jughead as the two shared another kiss.

The following day at the Pembrooke, Betty assured Polly that their mother had no idea about the appointment and that she had kicked their father out. Alice meant what she said when she invited Polly to return home with them. Unfortunately, Polly took the Blossoms up on their offer to stay with them at Thornhill, which left Betty and Alice in tears. In spite of all of Betty's effort, she still failed

Physical Appearance
Betty is an attractive young woman who has full lips, long blonde hair that she always ties in a ponytail and has pale skin. Her eyes are a soft washed out green that compliment her pale skin. She has a very casual attire consisting of jeans and a top.

Relationships

 * Betty and Veronica
 * Betty and Archie
 * Betty and Jughead
 * Betty and Kevin
 * Betty and Cheryl
 * Betty and Alice
 * Betty and Hal
 * Betty and Polly
 * Betty and Trev

Trivia

 * Betty's literary hero is Toni Morrison.