The Lipstick Incident: in issue 4 it's revealed that Archie and Betty had a perfect summer romance which culminated in Betty making Archie promise that things will always be like this. A few days later, Betty is convinced by a bunch of girls who don't want Archie—the most popular kid at Riverdale High— upset with them, to dress up more when going on a date with Archie. Betty is awkward and uncomfortable in the girly outfit, hyper aware of messing up her dress or makeup. Archie gets upset at seeing his childhood friend and noted tomboy dressed up like a "lady" . He acts very stand-offish and angry during the date, which, combined with Betty's nervousness about her new look, led to a massive fight were he accused her of breaking their promise, and she accused him of having a double standard regarding girls who wear make-up, who he ogles all the time, but at the same time, never allowed himself to imagine Betty as one of them. The fight culminates in Betty slashing Archie's face with her new lipstick and leaving in tears.
In issue 5: Archie calling out Betty and Jughead for trying to sabotage Veronica, making it doubly sad this is the first real interaction between Betty and Archie since their break-up.
Veronica's attempts to win over Archie's parents in issue 9 by bringing over her service staff and buying a lot of gifts; unfortunately, she and Archie overhear his parents talking about how there's too many people coming in and out of their house now that it's impossible to enjoy being attended to. The look on Veronica's face is heart-breaking.
She tries to make up for this by doing the groceries but, as she's never been in the supermarket before, she fails to find anything on the list.
Issue 10:
Mr. Collier, long-time Chemistry teacher, Betty's uncle, and Mr. Lodge's rival in the mayoral campaign, loses his temper on Archie after another accident in the Chemistry lab. Veronica records this and accidentally gives it to her father's campaign manager, leading to a smear campaign against Mr. Collier. This leads to half the school despising Veronica.
Archie's attempt to fix the mess has him secretly recording Mr. Collier for an ad showing him as a good teacher. However, when Archie goes to show him the ad, Mr. Collier immediately tells him that he knew Archie was recording him all day but believes that it was for more footage for negative ads. Dejected, Mr. Collier tells Archie to tell his "master" that he's won, and drives out of his house, which he's put up for sale.
Mr. Collier: (quietly) I thought you were a good kid, Archie.
During the Lodge rally, Betty sadly confronts Archie about how Mr. Collier called her mother and cried for an hour. Their latent issues about Veronica quickly rises leading Betty to desperately ask him what he sees in Veronica, to which he responds:
Archie: Look at her! She has confidence! Yeah, she tries to fit in — but she ''knows' who she is!
This leads to a callback of the Lipstick Incident, which Archie immediately realises. However, as he tries to apologise, Betty angrily tells him not to touch her and she tearfully leaves.
Jughead issues seven and eight have a couple for Archie and Judhead's friendship.
In seven Jughead feels like he and Archie haven't been spending enough time together (in part due to Archie's girl craziness) and convinces the latter that they should go camping together. Unfortunately any effort to enjoy themselves is ruined by the Mantel family reunion. In a last ditch effort to make the trip worthwhile Jug suggests they go hiking. They get a bit lost and as they're talking Jug realizes that the only reason Archie came was for a chance to ogle at the women in an all teen-girl campsite. Feeling betrayed and fed up with him at this point Jug actually tackles Archie and they both end up rolling down a hill, getting even more lost, and getting into an argument. While the argument is brief it's still sad, and seeing the two boys lost and frightened in the woods at the end certainly doesn't help.
In eight they're found by Mr. Weatherbee (who happens to also be camping.) As the man does his best to lead them back to civilization Archie and Jug begin arguing again... and Archie accidentally insults Jughead over him being an asexual. Just the look on Jughead's face is heart wrenching.
To make it worse Archie realizes what he just said and immediately tries to apologize, only for Jughead to coldly brush him off. Jughead, the resident "cool" guy who usually brushes off every foul word thrown his way, who is completely comfortable in his own skin, is shown to be genuinely insecure about his asexuality in this moment. In a universe that provides a ton of friendship moments between the two it's absolutely gut wrenching to see them fall to such a low. Sure they eventually make up but it doesn't make the moment any less of a tearjerker.
Reggie and Me Issue 2, the flashback Betty calls out Reggie for accidentally pushing Archie, and Reggie fills his part by saving Archie and Betty after she jumped down to save him. Talk about being an Ungrateful Bastard!
There's always something in the universe that is trying to tear Veronica and Archie apart. Her father, Reggie, their class differences, and even Archie's own friends at one point. They genuinely care about each other so seeing how hard it is for them to stay with each other can be rather hard to read.
Jughead ruining an afternoon out with Sabrina because it's a date and as an asexual, Jughead doesn't do dates, so much so that he didn't realize it was one until too late to back out. He even admits that he really should have told her that he doesn't think of anyone that way instead of repeatedly trying to bail.
Issue 20 starts a 3-part story arc that has Betty at Death's Door.
Issue 22 ends with Betty waking up... and finding out that she can't feel her legs.
