As Lacey drove to school on Wednesday morning, her hair in a messy ponytail, she yawned sleepily. She, Danny and Jo had gotten home pretty late the night before and she hadn't slept well because there were all sorts of questions whirling in her head. How was it possible that Danny's father had been renting that apartment in Connecticut until just a few weeks ago? If he had wanted to stay incognito, why did he allow his real name to be listed clear as day: "Vikram Desai"? Did he have amnesia and forget he had a whole family? What was his connection to Regina? It was all very perplexing and nothing seemed to be adding up.
In algebra, the only class she shared with Jo, she purposely changed her seat to sit next to her. When Mr. Yates assigned some linear equation practice questions, she leaned over and said "Jo, we should talk. Can you meet me at the clubhouse this evening?" Jo didn't say anything but nodded her head. She looked as exhausted as Lacey felt.
Lacey felt like she was sleep-walking through her day and didn't even enjoy her student council meeting after school. Usually, she relished the opportunity to work with her fellow board members to create positive change. They were supposed to be planning a fundraiser for building an herb and vegetable garden on school grounds that could then be harvested and used for healthier school lunches. But she just wasn't into it. She let others dominate the conversation and simply seconded the decision to have a bake sale. It was only later that she realized it was a bit ironic to be selling fatty sugary treats to raise money for an organic vegetable garden.
After her meeting was over, Lacey wandered over to the soccer field where she was supposed to meet Archie after his practice. She watched him walk towards her, deep in conversation with Scott. He looked like a golden haired Adonis with magnetic eyes you could get lost in. But somehow she wasn't excited to see him. She was just going through the "good girlfriend" motions. Probably because she was just so very tired. "You hungry?" she asked as he came up to her.
"Hungry for those sexy lips" he replied, leaning towards her for a kiss. His grey sweatshirt had a large damp patch down the front.
"Come on Arch, you're all sweaty" said Lacey, trying to back away from her boyfriend.
'I'm sorry; I didn't realize I disgusted you so much" Archie flashed back, clearly a little hurt.
Before Lacey could protest , Danny Desai had walked up to them and interrupted. "Hi Lacey" he grinned "You come all the way out here to watch me practice?"
Archie immediately turned and snarled "Keep walking freak."
"I'm sorry" said Danny. "I was just being polite to your girlfriend. I didn't mean to upset you."
"Such BS" flared Archie. "You live to upset me." He venomously added "Psycho".
Something in Lacey snapped. Without thinking, she turned to her boyfriend and stated "Archie stop it." She glanced quickly at Danny before turning back to Archie. "Just, its enough. Enough with the psycho and the freak. Its all exhausting and kind of awful."
She could tell Archie was taken aback. "I'm going to wash off" he muttered "because I'm all so sweaty." he turned and stalked off towards the gym.
Lacey watched him go. She knew that Archie would be pissed. She knew that they would argue about it later. She shouldn't have embarrassed him in front of someone else. That was always an issue for him. He never liked to lose face. And what was Danny doing coming up to her while she was talking to Archie anyway? He had kind of instigated the whole thing.
She turned and looked at Danny. "Thank you for saying that" he said, gazing at her with intensity. Gone was the smirk and the slight edge of teasing he had used on Archie. In its place appeared to be complete sincerity. He looked genuinely touched that she had taken his side.
Lacey knew that what Archie was doing with his malicious name-calling was wrong. But didn't she owe loyalty to her boyfriend? And Danny should have known better than to try talking to her with Archie around; the two of them were pretty much enemies. What did Danny think would happen?
"Yeah, I'll see you later" she answered, and left. She was frustrated with them both and didn't feel like talking to Danny OR grabbing a bite with Archie. At this point the only thing that sounded good was a nap snuggled up under her down comforter in her bedroom. Unfortunately, she had told Jo to meet her at the clubhouse before dinner so she headed there instead.