After spending Friday night with Danny, she felt even more guilt lying to him about the party. It wasn't that she didn't want him there, but she knew Regina, who was still bitter about Danny rejecting her would be there. She just didn't want any troubled stirred up, because her main focus was protecting him. The less trouble he stayed out of, the better; he could stay in green grove—with her. The guilt grew heavier when he presented her with a gift that left her speechless; it was an antique bracelet that belonged to Karen's grandmother and she advised Danny to give it to Lacey. He'd actually wanted to give her a necklace that belonged to his mother, but she said she'd given it away after his dad died. It made him angry to think his mother could give away something so valuable even if she was trying to move on. He told Lacey the necklace was very special, because it was a mother's day present from both him and his dad. Lacey felt sick; because Danny made last night special and here she was prepping for a party she didn't invite him too.

She was dragged away from her thoughts by her mother and sister who joined her downstairs. They were headed out to spend the weekend at her grandparent's house. Her mother promised if she spent the day with her and Clara, she could have the house to her herself for her party.

"Lacey sweetheart are you sure you don't need me here for crowd control or something. I don't want you here alone."

"Mom I turned 17 today, I'll be fine. Besides I spent the whole day with you and Clara. A deal's a deal."

Clara was looking at all the good foods set out and she grew angry look on her face. "Mom, why can't I stay for the party? I'm not a baby."

"Clara this party is for Lacey and her grown up friends and your grandparents are excited to see you, that's why."

Clara smacked her teeth. "I never get to do what I want. Nobody listens to me around here. I wish dad we're still alive." Clara ran upstairs to her room. Judy was going to go after her, but Lacey went up instead. She found Clara hugging her teddy bear with her head held down.

"Clara, what's wrong?"

"I miss dad. When he was here nobody made me do anything I didn't want to do." Clara had her lips poked out as she wiped a tear.

Lacey took her sister's hand. "Clara no one is making you go. You love Nana and Poppa. And I bet Charlie misses you." Charlie was her grandparent's dog, who they'd had since Clara was a toddler. She was really close to Charlie, so when her grandparents moved away; Clara was sad.

Clara smiled. "Well it has been awhile since I've seen Charlie."

"Exactly, I'll tell you what next Friday we'll have a girl's night in, a party of our own. We'll watch movies, eat good food, paint our nails and tell stories. How does that sound?" Lacey could admit that she rarely spent alone time with her sister, but she never wanted her to feel like she didn't love her.

Clara's face grew with excitement. "That sounds like fun! But you have to let me pick the movies."

"Deal, now get downstairs and at least start pretending like you're excited about this trip."

"OK. I'm going."

"Hey Clara, I love you. Never forget that, ok."

Clara came back to give her sister a hug and said, "I love you too Lacey." She ran downstairs to tell her mother she was ready to go and Lacey followed her. She walked them outside and wished them a safe trip. She assured her mom everything would be ok and that she would see them tomorrow night.

Lacey went back inside and checked the time. She had two hours to prepare for a party that she wasn't really in the mood for. Today was supposed to be a happy day, but guilt was getting the best of her.

Danny had talked to Lacey and he was happy she had gotten to her grandparent's house safely. He thought it would be pretty lame of him to spend his Saturday night inside, especially since his mom had plans of her own. He figured Jo would be free to hang out, so he called her. He got no answer so he figured Rico would answer and he did on the 2nd ring.

"Hey Rico where's Jo, I was calling her to see if you guys wanted to hang out tonight, maybe catch a movie."

"I'm headed over to Jo's now so we can head to Lacey's for the party. I assumed you'd already be there."

Danny wasn't sure what party Rico was talking about. "Party— at Lacey's house?"

"Yeah man, it is her birthday, but I'm sure you knew that, being her boyfriend and all." Besides Jo, Rico also knew that Danny and Lacey were secretly dating.

Danny was too angry and lost to try and continue this conversation with Rico any further. "Rico I have to go, but I'll see you guys at the party." He had a feeling that Lacey had lied and thrown a party and she didn't invite him. Worse than that, she had dragged Jo into her lie as well. He didn't know Lacey's reasoning for lying but he wasn't sure any of them would mean anything. He only knew that he was going to the party to find out what was going on.

Lacey was enjoying her party, despite feeling bad about lying to Danny. Her best friends were there and Jo and Rico seemed to be enjoying themselves. Who she didn't invite was Archie, who in the corner with the soccer dudes drinking beer, which she promised her mom would be absent from the party. She had to go tell Archie to get rid of the beer or get out.

"Archie you can't have alcohol in my house, my mom would kill me."

Despite Lacey's serious look, he laughed. "Oh come on Lacey, don't be such a buzz kill."

"Archie I mean it, Get rid of the beer or get out. I didn't even invite you here."

"You didn't have too. Everybody's knows you're still mine. Why do you think no one has asked you out, huh?"

Between the night of homecoming and now, Lacey really was fed up with Archie's crap and she was ready to tell him off until Jo came over and practically dragged her to the kitchen where Rico was.

"Jo what—what's going on?"

Jo had a look on her face as she turned towards Rico. "Tell her Rico; tell her what you just told me."

Rico had a scared look on his face but he spoke anyway. "Danny called me earlier looking for Jo and I told him I was headed to get her, so we could come here for your party. I'm sorry Lacey, I thought he knew."

Lacey's dropped her head in her hands. "Oh my god this night can't get any worse."

Jo put her hand on Lacey's shoulder. "What do you want me to do Lacey?"

"There is nothing you can do. This isn't Rico's fault, it's mine. I shouldn't have lied to him. I need to go to his house and explain things. Can you and Rico keep an eye on the house for me?"

"Yeah sure, we can—" Jo was stopped by the sudden appearance of Danny standing in the middle of the living room looking around with angry face. He spotted them just as Lacey was turning around.

"Danny I was just coming—" Lacey couldn't finish her sentence because Danny shot off at the mouth.

"I can't believe you lied to me Lacey." He turned to Jo and added, "And you too, how could you lie to me?"

"Danny calm down, Jo was just doing what I asked. If you want to blame someone, blame me. If you let me explain, it'll all make sense—please."

Danny saw the look in Lacey's eyes and he figured he could give her a chance to explain. "Ok, I'm listening."

"Not here, let's go upstairs." She grabbed his hand but was quickly stopped in her tracks by Archie, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere."

"Well, well what do we have here? A socio walks into a party and—finish the joke Lacey; I'd like to know what happens next." Archie had a smirk on his face and it was clear he got a high off of tormenting Danny.

Danny was already angry, so he wasn't taking any of Archie's shit tonight. "You really want to move out of my way, because I'm not in the mood."

"Or what… Huh? You think we're all supposed to be scared of you, because you went to jail. Big freaking deal, all of us have a little killer in us. Difference is; you're the 11 year old freak who decided to act out your fantasy."

By now mostly everyone had caught on to the altercation between Danny and Archie, so they all stood around waiting to see what would happen.

Jo trying to stop the situation from escalating stood in front of Danny and begged him to come with her. She was trying to help both her friends from having their relationship blown up before it even started.

Archie couldn't stand that Danny chose to walk away from the situation, so he made sure to say something that would really piss him off.

"That's right leave, Lacey's not going to be a slut for you and roll around in bed with a serial killer. She knows—"

Archie was unable to finish his sentence, because Danny had punched him in the gut and tackled him to the floor. He got a few punches in, before the soccer team pulled Danny off a visibly bloody Archie; who appeared to be fearful of Danny coming back for more.

"That's it, everybody out. I want you all gone by the time I come back downstairs."

She escaped upstairs for a needed moment alone, and she looked out the window to see people getting in their cars driving away. Not only had she managed to throw the worst party ever, she wasn't even sure what her relationship status was after tonight. Even if Danny was no longer mad about her lying, she was mad at Danny for playing into Archie's hand. This is exactly what she was trying to avoid, but she was starting to think a relationship with Danny without trouble was unavoidable.

There was a knock at the door and thankfully it was Jo, because she probably would've turned anybody else around.

"Hey I'm sorry you party didn't go as planned, but you have presents and empty house waiting for you downstairs. I had everyone leave, and I had Rico make sure Danny calmed down and gets home safely."

"I can't even look at Danny, I'm so mad at myself for lying to him and he still got attacked. I just—this is all too much." Lacey was feeling like a bad friend and a bad girlfriend on her own birthday.

"Lacey cheer up, Danny will recognize why you lied and he'll forgive. You have to believe that all of this means you have to fight harder for him. You can't just give up. I won't let you—either of you." Jo hugged Lacey.

Lacey was grateful for Jo's presence, and she was beginning to realize how good it would be to have her back in her life. "Jo you're the best. I mean it. Can you call your parents and stay over with me tonight. I can give you clothes; I just don't feel like being alone."

"I wasn't going anywhere. Let's clean up and have some birthday fun. The night's not over yet. Come on Lacey."

Lacey smiled and followed Jo downstairs. She really was glad to have her there to help, and it was starting to feel like the good days when she and Jo had sleepovers. Like her and Danny, she wondered how long the good times between the two of them would last.

Hey Lovelies, just want to thank everybody for their reviews and follows so far! I'm enjoying the writing process! I'm trying to do something that I think twisted writers and creator are having a hard time, keeping the focus on every character and creating goodness about them. I'm making a good Jo in my story, one who supports Dacey. S/O to TWISTEDART for recognizing that! I think it would be so much better on the show if Jo tried to help Dacey. I'd love that. I love you guys and thanks for reading. More troubles coming for Dacey in the form of Regina and Archie, but whoever said love was easy. Ok, Peace!

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