Happier

Chapter 2

Archie Andrews has always been the type of guy to laugh problems away instead of really facing them. When his parents divorced, he laughed instead of talking about it. When his grandma died, he kept playing football and writing songs and going to school without shedding a tear. He'd always have that smile upon his face. That charming smile that had every girl swooning over him. No one could break through his facade. Not even Lacey. She'd never been able to break the wall around his heart completely. She'd tried. Multiple times. But after a month, she gave up. It was no use anyway. He'd never tell her how he truly felt. But maybe she's okay with that. Because maybe that meant she didn't have to tell him how she truly felt. 

"Stace, you ready to go?" Lacey shouts from the bottom of the stairs at her younger sister. Stacey is sixteen and goes to the same high school as Lacey. Ever since the older sister got her license, the younger sister demanded to be driven to school. If you don't know the Goldbergs, you'd think Stacey and Lacey are twins, but they're really not. The blonde hair and brown eyes are a family trait. Both of the girls get asked a lot if they're twins. They've grown used to it by know, but some people still earn a little eyeroll. 
"Yep, ready!" Stacey shouts from upstairs as she opens the door and rushes out. The two of them rush out of the house, saying their parents goodbye, and hopping into Lacey's mint Fiat 500. Or as they call it 'The Mini Machine'. As if on automatic, Stacey reaches for the aux cable and puts on their 'morning commute' playlist to wake up a little with a couple of sing-along-songs. The second Ed Sheeran's 'Shape of You' chimes out her car radio, the two sisters start to sing along. Most of the time, this is Lacey's favourite moment of the day. Just driving her car with her sister by her side and some music playing. She refuses to admit it, but Stacey is and always will be her favourite person on earth. No matter how much she loves her friends and her Archiekins. Stacey is always number one. 

When Lacey arrives at the school yard, she finds her boyfriend sitting on a bench with a guitar in his lap and Violet sitting next to him. They're laughing about something, and for some reason, it makes Lacey smile too. With that smile still plastered on  her face, she makes her way towards the two.
"What are you guys laughing about?" she asks and sits down on the other side of her boyfriend. "Some lyrics Violet suggested to put in my song," Archie giggles, and so does Violet.
"Let me guess, it had something to do with food?" Lacey guesses, making Archie and Violet laugh even more as they nod their heads. Now Lacey lets out a chuckle as well.
"I'm really excited to hear your song once it's finished, Archiekins," Lacey tells him. The corners of Archie's mouth curl up into the sweetest smile Lacey had ever seen. A fluttery feeling wells up in Lacey's stomach and it almost feels sickening. But she has had this feeling before. Many times. It's that feeling of love and pride all mixed up into one and she can't do anything else besides kiss him. So that's what she does. She leans in for a sweet, but passionate kiss, Archie immediately kissing back.
"Ah, swoon," Violet breathes out, but neither of the love birds can hear her. They're too caught up in the kiss that everything and everyone around them just dissapears. A giggle escapes Violet's mouth as she decides to leave the two at it.
"Am I going to see you at lunch?" Archie asks his girlfriend once they've pulled away from the kiss. Neither of them have noticed Violet's sudden absence. Lacey's smile dissapears from her face as she shakes her head.
"I think I'm going to skip the last couple of hours of the day to go and check up on Melanie," she explains while playing with the hem of Archie's shirt, her eyes focused on her fingers.

"What?" Archie's voice sounds rough and angry, nothing she's used to, "Lace, you can't just skip school. It's senior year, what about your diploma and Harvard? You want to go to Harvard so badly, baby," the nickname catches her off guard for a second and she glances at her boyfriend for a millisecond, but she quickly recomposes and focuses back on her fingers.
"It's just a couple of hours, Arch. And Harvard is something my parents want for me. It's not what I want," she explains calmly. Archie shakes his head dissaprovingly and sighs.
"Fine, it's because I care about Melanie," he gives in and Lacey looks up at him, the smile reappearing, "And that's why I'm also going with you." Those are the words she needed to get that sparkle in her eyes back. That's all she needed to hear. Because in those words, somewhere, is an 'I love you' and an 'I care about you'. It makes her remember how much she loves him.
"Yeah, okay," she then says. Their lips meet again for another kiss when the bell rings. Both of them get up and walk to their class together. First period on Wednesday is Lacey's favourite as it's one of the only classes she has with Archie. It's English, which really means talking about Trump, LGBT+ and books they didn't read. Somewhere, in the corner of the classroom, is the dark haired boy with the beanie. For some unknown reason, he always wears the same beanie and it only just hit Lacey now when her eyes fall upon the little mystery. She wonders who he is, but she also doesn't really care. She's the queen of this whole school, she's not supposed to care. Or that's what they've always told her, at least. 

At lunch break, Archie and Lacey get into Lacey's car and drive off to Melanie's home, stopping at McDonnald's drive-thru for some lunch first. Lacey knows Melanie's parents aren't home and she also knows her way around this house like it's her own. The couple goes through the backdoor and upstairs where they find Melanie in her bedroom, listening to the same old song she always listens to when she's going through a breakup. 
"There's nobody like you" Melanie whales along with the radio, tissues surrounding her. The girl is still wearing the same joggers and sweatshirt and looks like an absolute wreck. Lacey looks at her best friend and tries to hold back her own tears. She hates seeing her best friend like this. After inhaling a deep breath, she opens the door completely, making Melanie jump.
"Okay, that's enough," Lacey says sternly and turns off the music, "No more sad songs, no more crying. It's been a week, Mel. It's about alright. Yeah, he broke your heart, but you can't let that douche ruin your whole senior year," Lacey goes to sit next to Melanie on the bad and grabs her hand in hers, "The Roosevelt Roses miss you, I miss you. I need my best friend back, okay? My happy-go-lucky Melanie. Can you do that for me?" Melanie had stopped crying by now. Her red, puffy eyes looking up at her best friend. Lacey bites her lip, hoping to get the answer she wanted. Instead, Melanie starts crying again and shakes her head. Her body fails completely, her arms flailing around Lacey slim body. Loud, obnoxious sobs exit her body. It makes Lacey wonder why she came here in the first place. This is hopeless. 
"We thought you'd say that," Archie chimes in and walks towards his girlfriend whose body is completely invaded by the ugly cryer, "We got you some comfort food. You up for that?" Archie tries, squatting in front of the two. Melanie hoists her body, looking at the Justin Gingerlake in front of her. He's holding a bag of McDonnald's and soon enough, the smell of the contents fill up Melanie's nose.
"Chicken nuggets, large fry?" she questions while whiping her runny nose with the back of her hand. A smile appears on Lacey's face and she nods. Melanie suddenly full-on stops crying and grabs the bag from Archie's hands. That's all Melanie really needed: comfort food and some of her best friends. What else do you need to recover from a heartbreak? 

When Lacey can't sleep that night, she starts scrolling through her cameraroll on her phone. Lots of selfies and photos Violet has taken of her for Instagram. Some of them are random views, some are of all her friends. But most of them are Archie. Her and Archie. Or just Archie. She's undeniably in love with him. And now she's trying to find the words to tell him how she feels, show him that it's real. Instead, she texts him the picture, with nothing but heart-eye emojis. That'll do. For now.