There was a knock on the front door, and David opened it. Betty opened her mouth to speak, but upon seeing who it was, she frowned.

"Is Archie still home?"

David widened the doorway to let her in. "Are you walking to school with us?"

Betty nodded as she walked into the house, just as Archie came down the staircase.

"Betty?" Archie asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. He woke up a little after his alarm, and he still wasn't fully awake.

"Arch, did you hear?"

"No I didn't, whatever it is. I also didn't hear a 'good morning' from you."

David scoffed at Archie's lack of filter as he closed the door and walked into the kitchen. Uncle Fred handed him a glass of orange juice and put a plate of eggs in front of David. Betty sat at the table with Archie as David set the eggs and sat in his seat.

"The carnival is coming to town next month. I think I'm going to sign up for volunteer hours," Betty announced.

David put sausages onto his plate and gave Betty a look. "Wait, you came here all excited to tell Archie that?"

Betty shrugged. "It's a good experience. I think Archie should sign up for something, too." She turned to look at Archie again, but he was already shaking his head as he stuffed a forkful of eggs into his mouth. "Oh, c'mon Arch!"

"I don't think he's up for that." David offered Betty a strip of bacon, which she took and chewed on methodically whilst glaring at Archie in disappointment. David ate his breakfast as Fred offered Betty some, but she declined and continued to pester Archie to change his mind. "What are you signing up for?" David asked, hoping to distract Betty long enough to give Archie some peace while eating.

Betty took a moment to genuinely think about an answer. "Well, I'd like to work the face painting booth, but it's random assignment. Why? Do you want to sign up?"

David shook his head. "It'd be fun to swirl cotton candy, but they'd most likely put me as janitor."

Betty shrugged, sitting back to wait for the boys to finish so they could walk to school. David cleaned up his dishes and started wondering why Betty hadn't iced him out. He expected her to at least pretend like he wasn't there, for Cheryl's sake. However, she was talking to him, and not even in a spiteful tone. David was giving Betty skeptical looks as he made his way to grab his things, but she was looking at her phone. She furrowed her brows at something and shared it with Archie. They exchanged the same worrisome look.

Archie took this as a signal to turn and say, "Bye, dad!"

"Have a nice day at school, boys and Betty." David waved as they left the house in response to Fred.

"What do you think this means?" Archie asked Betty, the moment they hit the cement.

"I think this means she's coming back."

"Wait, why'd she leave in the first place?"

Betty shrugged. "I don't really remember, but it was something she jumped at immediately after the break up."

"I mean, it was a pretty ugly break up."

"I know, I remember."

"I'm sorry," David interrupted from behind the two, "but who are you guys talking about?"

Betty looked over her shoulder and said, "Toni Topaz."

David furrowed his brows. "Who the hell is Toni Topaz?"

Betty shared a look with Archie. "She's, um ... she's Cheryl's ex."

David stopped walking. "Cheryl dated a girl named Toni Topaz?"

Archie nodded, and also gestured for David to keep walking. David, however, didn't budge as something else crossed his mind.

"Wait, why was the break up 'ugly'?"

Archie sent Betty a look, but she ignored it. She surprised everyone present as she actually gave David her full attention and answered him in a calm way; "Don't tell Cheryl I told you, but it's better you hear from me rather than anyone else once we get to school." Betty took a deep breath before continuing.

"Toni and Cheryl had been going steady for a while, so much so that people thought they were a solid forever. But then ... Toni admitted to wanting a more open relationship. Cheryl would have eventually been okay with it, had Toni not told her she liked Veronica. Cheryl figured that keeping her friendship with Veronica was more important than her relationship with Toni, so she broke it off. Toni got a little carried away, saying Cheryl was deceitful and jealous. It didn't go down as well as Cheryl tried to make it. They both said some pretty disgusting things to each other.

"Soon enough, Toni jumped at the chance to be elsewhere for a while, and I was left to dry Cheryl's tears. Cheryl didn't talk to Veronica for a long time - actually, she didn't talk to anyone for that time. Besides me, but I basically forced her to talk to me."

David soaked in the information, Archie stared at Betty in shock, and Betty looked between the two as she waited for someone to speak. David slowly started walking again, this time walking between the two. Archie kept sending looks in Betty's direction over David's head, but she didn't return any of them. David looked over at the blond, and she gave him a look that said, "Are you going to talk or not?"

"I don't know why you decided to tell me all this, but I'm glad you told me everything."

Betty nodded. "Are you going to do something?"

David scoffed. "Like what? Beat Toni up?"

Betty tensed. David gulped, remembering the nightmare he had over the weekend. He could see the doubt and fear creeping into her eyes.

"I'm not that stupid. I'm only going to do my best to keep her away from Cheryl. If she gets anywhere near hurting my cherry girl again, she better start praying for mercy because I won't let her walk away a second time around."

Betty raised her brows at him. "That literally just sounded like you're going to beat her up. Archie, did that not sound like he's going to beat her up?"

Archie was at a loss for words for a moment. He was still surprised Betty was talking to David as if they were all friends. "Yeah ... um ... that definitely sounded like you're going to beat Toni up."

David rolled his eyes. "There's other ways to get revenge. Like ... emotional sabotage."

Betty shuddered. "That sounds so evil."

"Exactly."

"I don't know. Maybe I did make a mistake in telling you."

David shrugged. "Your problem, not mine."

Betty scoffed and walked around him so that she could walk beside Archie instead. "Your cousin is impossible." Then she looped an arm through Archie's. "So, are you or are you not going to consider volunteering for the carnival?"

Archie sighed. "Betty-"

"At least submit an application! You might not even get selected."

"Gee, what a motivation," Archie said. David snickered at Archie's reaction as Betty groaned in defeat.

"Ugh, fine."

David was still a little taken aback by the sudden friendliness from Betty, but he had to admit that he didn't mind it. Besides Uncle Fred's kindness, Betty's newfound kindness was helping him feel more welcome in town.

* * *

Cheryl didn't find out until Vixen rehearsal. Veronica had been avoiding her all day, and she knew why the instant she entered the gym.

The Vixens were surrounding someone, except for Veronica, Josie, and Betty; the trio stood far off from the group, talking amongst themselves. They looked up when Cheryl entered. Betty moved to join her cousin, but Josie held her back. Cheryl could barely make out the words 'no don't, just wait' by reading Josie's lips to the best of her abilities. The group of girls in the center finally parted, and Cheryl stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hey Cheryl."

Hey Cheryl ... as if everything was alright between them. As if she hadn't left Cheryl in a crying mess before her departure. As if she hadn't said all the mean things to her that pushed her to officially break it off. Just ... 'Hey Cheryl'.

Cheryl averted her attention to the rest of the team, announcing, "Vixen rehearsals are canceled for today. Sorry for wasting everyone's time, now go home. All of you."

Cheryl walked away from Toni, barely saying a word. The smile dropped from Toni's face. She had really missed Cheryl, and was thrilled to see her again. Cheryl looking as though she didn't not reciprocate any of it stung.

One of the other Vixens approached her with a sympathetic look. "Glad you're back, Toni."

Toni sighed. "You're not just saying that?"

"No, I swear. You were one of the best on our team, and some of us would use you as an example to push ourselves to do better. With you gone, we kinda slacked off."

Toni scoffed. "Thanks? I guess."

The girl smiled, nodding. Before she could walk away, however, Toni reached out and stopped her.

"Can I ask you a quick question?" The fellow Vixen nodded again. "Do you know what's been up with Cheryl?"

A sudden look crossed her face, as if she were caught red handed. "I don't -"

"Don't even try lying to me. Based on that look on your face right now, something is obviously up."

The girl gulped. "It's just ... it's all rumors, really. I don't like saying anything unless I know things are facts."

Toni crossed her arms and gestured for her to continue. "Tell me anyway."

"For starters, I know she basically lives alone now. But she's mostly been getting crankier ever since David came to town, and apparently they have some kind of history. He's been very attentive towards Cheryl and kind of won't stop bugging her. He's also, like, really cute, and some of the other Vixens have tried to hook up with him, but it's like his priority is Cheryl no matter what. Like he's obsessed! And-"

"Okay, slow down!" Toni's eyes were widened from the overwhelming amount of information. "Backtrack; who's David?"

"Oh, David Andrews is Archie's cousin. He's staying with Archie and Archie's dad - obviously - and he's enrolled for the remainder of the year."

"Right. And what's this history he has with Cheryl?"

"No one knows, except for him and Cheryl. And so far, none of them have shared with anyone else. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure we'd all know by now."

Toni nodded and stepped closer to her. She flashed a smile and gently lay her hand on the girl's arm. "You mind walking to class with me tomorrow and pointing out this David dude?"

The girl smiled. "I don't mind."

Toni scrunched up her nose in mock excitement. "Great!"

The two exited rehearsals together, with Toni now determined to search for this David Andrews.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yay! An update!

Hope you guys enjoyed it!