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Archie was sitting on a bench outside of school as he waited for David to exit. He was going to walk home with him after school, but he was beginning to hate suggesting it.

     After giving the name of David's old school to Betty, he started to feel somewhat responsible for his cousin. He thought if he showed David some kindness, it'd give him an opportunity to open up about anything his records may contain before they were discovered. Archie was all for Betty's investigation; even though it won't clarify anything David had with Cheryl in the past, it might just shed some light onto what brought David back to Riverdale.

     The doors opened, and Archie looked up to see a rather somber looking David Andrews walking out of the school.

   "Why're you so late?" Archie asked. "We were supposed to walk home together."

    David looked his cousin up and down. Gesturing to Archie's letterman, he said, "Didn't you have football practice?"

    Archie shook his head. "Which is why I offered to walk to and from school today."

    David sighed. "What about Betty?"

     At this, Archie rolled his eyes. "Betty has other means of transportation besides walking with me."

     David smirked. "Does that make you jealous?"

     Archie narrowed his eyes at David. "You are avoiding my question; why'd you come out so late?"

    David groaned, "I don't want to talk about it. Besides, I'm sure your pal Mantle will fill you in soon enough."

      This confused Archie as the two of them started heading home. "What does Reggie have anything to do with this?"

     David scowled. "Well, since you're not going to drop the subject, I'll tell you."

     Archie almost wanted to laugh; what made his cousin late isn't exactly the information he wanted David to spill, but this made him hopeful. If Archie can manage to get him to open up about something minor, he might just squeeze out other secrets.

     "He and his basketball team were having practice, and I was hoping I could still squeeze into the team, even though I've missed their initial tryouts."

     "I didn't know you liked basketball."

     "I don't. I'm just good at it, and it helps to let off steam."

      At the last part, Archie gave his cousin a quick glance. He started wondering what kind of steam it was that David particularly needed basketball in order to let it off. Anger? Sexual frustration? All of the above?

     "Also, I was on the team at my last school. Anyway, I made a bet to beat his team and get at least one shot into the hoop in order to make it onto the team. So the whole team against me. I managed to get one shot, only for Reggie to tell me it was an unauthorized practice."

     Archie nodded. "The coach wasn't there."

     David nodded. "Exactly. And because of that, the whole thing didn't work out the way we made the bet on."

    Archie glanced over at his cousin, trying to gauge what was going through his head. He seemed genuinely upset about being tricked like that. David always struck him as the type to lash out when angry, however he was just disappointed, and not even acting on it.

    "Did you fight Reggie?" Archie asked.

    David scoffed. "No."

     Archie noted this and prepared the next question. "Did you ... want to?"

     To this, David laughed humorlessly. "Of course I wanted to! The first thought that went through my head was to break his nose."

     Archie nodded; this sounded a lot like the David he was expecting. "I'm glad you didn't hurt my friend, but — I mean — that situation would've made me mad, too. Knowing Reggie, he'd sass me and then I'd just kick his ass. We might be friends, but he sure knows how to piss someone off."

    "Tell me about it," David said half-heartedly.

     "No offense, but I'm pretty sure I've got more self control than you."

    "None taken; this is a given about us."

     "Then what made you not hit Reggie?"

     David sighed. "Well, for one, that Veronica chick pushed us away from each other. But even if she hadn't, I wasn't about to go too hard on Reggie. Cheryl was right there; I didn't want her to see that."

      Archie stopped walking in shock, but then quickly recovered so that David wouldn't notice and begin to clam up. Archie had him talking, and that's exactly what he wanted.

     "Cheryl? Wait — what were Cheryl and Veronica doing there?"

     David scoffed, "Long story. I'd like to think it was because Cheryl just wanted to see more of me, but she just wanted to watch me lose."

      Archie's brows furrowed; should he comfort David, or change the subject?

     "She didn't realize till afterwards that having her there only motivated me to do better."

     Archie now gulped. Where was this conversation going? Why was David opening up like this?

     "I don't want to tell you what our history is, if that's what you're hoping for."

    Archie shook his head absently, still questioning the direction of the conversation.

    "Good. However ... I do want to just say that Cheryl always brought out the best in me, and ... I brought out the worst in her."

      Archie's mind stopped racing momentarily in order to throw a concerned glance in his cousin's direction. David was walking as if he was unaware of it. He seemed distracted, like he pictured himself elsewhere reminiscing alone rather than telling all to Archie.

     "No offense, David, but practically stalking Cheryl won't get you on her good side."

     David rolled his eyes. "If I was stalking her I'd be waiting outside of her house every night. All I'm doing is trying to get her to notice me while at school. Maybe seeing me a lot will have her get used to me again." He turned his head to look at Archie. "The plan was to get her to come running to me, remember?"

     Archie sighed. What should he do with the conversation now? "As much as I want to keep asking about Cheryl, I know you're not going to give me any straight answers. I guess I'll try something else then."

    David shrugged. "Go for it."

    Archie took a deep breath. Here goes nothing, he thought. "Why did you come back to Riverdale so suddenly?"

    David was looking at his feet as they walked. Archie noticed him clenching and unclenching his jaw. His cousin seemed to be seriously considering his next words carefully.

    "Honestly?"

     "I wouldn't have asked a question I didn't want an honest answer to."

     "Smart ass," David muttered, before sighing and glancing at his cousin. "I came back to get away from my dad."

    "Why?"

     "That's a long story. But he doesn't know I'm here, and I want to keep it that way. I told Uncle Fred the same thing, and as far as I know he's kept his promise." David stopped walking and reached out a hand to stop Archie as well. Archie adjusted his bag on his shoulder as he turned in order to face his cousin more. "I don't want to tell you the whole story of why I'm here. Like I said, it's a long one and it's also something I'm not a fan of getting into right now. And whatever you do, don't call up my dad and tell him where I am, got it?"

     Archie remembered the last time he even saw his Uncle Oscar; he was having a fight with his dad. At the end of it, he had grabbed young David and forced him into the car before they left. Archie still didn't know what the fight was about, but he remembered thinking his uncle looked like someone he didn't want to cross. Fred Andrews looked like a hero to him because he was brave enough to go toe to toe with the man.

"Frankly, your dad is the last person I want contact with," Archie replied honestly. "I may be his nephew, but something tells me he wouldn't be very warm towards me."

David started walking again. "You got that right."

Archie started walking as well, but stayed a pace behind his cousin as he pondered over the conversation. David said a lot more than Archie expected. Sure, his questions weren't entirely answered, but it was a start. He fished his phone out of his pocket, about to text Betty and tell her to call off her investigation. Before he even started typing, he received a text from her instead.

Betty:
We're calling his school today. I'll let you know everything we have once we have it.

Archie hesitated; he still wanted to tell her not to, that it wasn't necessary. He glanced up at the back of his cousin's head, who was walking with his hands in his pockets. David's shoulders were tense and rigid, like he was prepared to spring into action at any moment. Seeing the guarded and defensive demeanor, Archie got his answer.

Archie:
Whatever we find out stays between us. Good or bad, none of it gets out.

Betty:
What if it's all bad? At least Cheryl should know. Or maybe your dad.

Archie:
Maybe Cheryl. Otherwise NO ONE

Betty:
Ok

"C'mon, slowpoke. I think Uncle Fred is making chili today."

Archie pocketed his phone and jogged to catch up with David as they entered the Andrews home together.