Regina caught her phone on the fourth ring. "What? I'm busy. Who's this?" She rudely answered.

"It's me," Archie said still clutching his stomach a little. He gritted his teeth.

"Oh, I don't have you in my contacts. What do you want?" Regina said with a yawn.

"I want to wipe the floor with that asshole, Desai. That's what I want. He sucker punched me just now in Johnny Cakes in front of Lacey and she just stood there staring. I think she's cheating on me."

Regina stopped feigning like she was busy and listened intently. "Is that a fact? Listen very carefully Archibald Campbell. I will dig some info out of Lacey and see if she's hooking up or not with Danny. In the meantime, you stick to Lacey like glue. You don't let her out of your sight. You join that dumbass drug awareness skit that Phoebe is in charge of and you stick with it. I don't care how much you hate it."

Archie only huffed totally pissed off and humiliated that he let Danny best him in front of his girl and Lacey just stayed seated there like nothing happened.

"Ok, fine but you better make sure whatever plan you have works.

Regina smiled knowingly. "Oh, I know what I'm doing. It'll work. Just let me handle everything."

"Ok, Jo can you and Rico handle audio and visuals with Sarita and Leo. Go find Doug and Elisa, please. They are my co-directors and I need you guys to help run this little video filled with angst and teenage goodness. Lacey, you and Danny follow me over here. Lacey you're over here seated and Danny walks in…"

"Do you need any more help?" Archie sauntered in with Scott and Brendan in tow interrupting Phoebe giving instructions.

"Oh!" Phoebe said excitedly. "Sure!" "I need some props to be moved for the party scene. Perfect, thanks Archie."

"Hey, Arch. I thought you were writing the essay?" Lacey said as Archie walked over and kissed her quickly on the lips.

"Well, I decided that I wanted to take an active part in this year's drug awareness campaign. So, here I am."

Lacey raised her eyebrows. "Archie, that's a nice gesture, but are you sure this has nothing to do with Danny being in the skit?"

Archie looked over at Danny who looked him over with a smirk. "Of course not. This is about you and me and how I know that I don't spend enough time with you. I'm sorry about last night by the way. I shouldn't have disrespected you like that."

Lacey was so surprised. "Okay, thanks. I appreciate that. I just want everyone who I care about to get along. Danny isn't your enemy. He is my friend and he may never be your favorite person but let's try to get along, ok?"

Archie plastered on a fake smile and kissed Lacey quickly again. "Sure, babe. Whatever you say."

"Hey Desai!" Archie called with a wink and smile. "No hard feelings, eh?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "None at all, Archie."

Archie kept smiling as he walked away with his boys in tow to move some tables that Phoebe needed.

"So, things with you and that Desai dude are just squashed just like that?" Scott said in a hushed tone.

Archie's face turned sour. "Hell no! And they will never be squashed. But, I can't let Lacey think otherwise because she's mine and she's staying mine." He looked over at Brendan. "Brendan, does your sister still do a little office work for Principal Randolph during fifth period?"

Brendan looked at Scott and then back to Archie. "Yeah, why?"

Archie smiled mischievously. "I'm going to need her to pull Desai's file for me. It's time that we found out who he really is."

Brendan swallowed audibly. "I don't want my sister getting caught, Archie. She helped us avoid detention once or twice by losing paperwork but if Danny's file goes missing they aren't going to let that one slide."

Archie petted Brendan on the shoulder. "Naw, she doesn't have to steal the file and bring it to us. She can make a copy of it and give it to me. No one will suspect that she did a thing."

Brendan nodded with a grin. "Sure, Arch she can do it. I'll text her right now."

"Hey, Scott. I need you to do me a favor too," Archie said suddenly getting another idea. "I need you to hustle it on down to the main library and find whatever articles you can find on that Desai fire five years ago. Find out where that asshole went off to. He probably really did kill his aunt and made it look like an accident. I don't put nothing past him. He's sneaky. Something about him ain't right."

Scott nodded. "Ok, no problem. I'll go afterschool."

Archie fell back into the shadows to watch Danny and Lacey undisturbed. Something was settling between them. An ease of movements and lingering glances. A touch here or there. A look. A secret smile. Lacey responded with ease to whatever Danny was saying and her look was one he had never seen before. It looked like…Archie gulped…strangely like love.