It's almost time.

I look down at my phone in case of a text from Ronnie.

Any minute now, I'm going to go out into the hall and try and give the best performance I can give. I have to go out there and get into a big fight with a girl I actually like. God damn do I really like her. I didn't think I could like anyone as much as I like her. I mean, Juggie was my first. He will always be important to me. I'll always love him on some level, but what is going on between me and Ronnie is so much more than that. It's like the universe is forcing us together or something. I don't know any other way to explain it.

I check the burner phone I have just in case our stalker hacked into our regular phones, seeing if she sent me something from hers.

The problem is that I really don't want to do this. I don't want to go against the universe even if it's the only way to draw out our stalker. Doing that has a pretty terrible track record in this town.

My phone beeps and I pick it up to read the text.

'I need to talk to you.'

That's the cue. Our plan is in motion, she's on her way.

I look up to the door of the Blue and Gold and it's never felt so far away.

I may not want to do this, but I have to. This is the plan we agreed to and I can't back out now. We've been setting this up for weeks and if we don't do it, we might never know who our stalker is.

I stand up and walk to the door. I stop and take a deep breath before putting on an upset look and walking out. Looking down the halls, I see Veronica charging down it with a purpose toward me.

Is it wrong that I find her sexy right now?

"Where the hell were you Betty?"

I look around and the other people in the hall are wondering what's going on.

Good, that's what we want.

"Calm down V."

She takes that cue from me that everything is a go.

"No, I asked you to be there and you weren't. I really needed you."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just... have a lot going on right now."

"You have a lot going on? My dad's in the hospital."

I feel bad using her dad's near death experience for our fake break up, but it was her idea and she insisted.

"How is he?"

"Maybe if you had shown up like I asked you to, you'd already know."

"I'm sorry but, my mom kinda cornered me and I couldn't get away."

Which is actually true. She got a box in the mail filled with weird pictures of us and asked me about it. Probably our stalker trying to get us to admit it to our parents. Thankfully I talked her down.

"So? When is your family not getting in your way? Seriously Betty, when are you going to stand up to them?"

"Me? Your family is constantly at Defcon Lodge. I can't keep up."

Her anger falters for a second and I can see her concern.

I didn't have time to tell her about my mom. But I can't let her give up on this plan.

"I have my own stuff going on Ronnie. My dad's a serial killer, my sister's part of a cult and is trying to recruit my mom. I can't spend every waking moment making my life about you."

"How about at all? We've barely seen each other the past few weeks. It's like we're not even together."

At least publicly anyway, part of our whole plan. We've actually spent a lot of time together. Mostly planning our break up.

"Well maybe if you weren't so self centered and selfish, I might want to spend more time with you."

She pretends to be shocked at that.

"Selfish? When was I ever selfish?"

Okay, here we go.

"You know when."

She watches me for a long moment and I can't help but find the angry look on her face sexy. Eventually she gets offended.

"What are you talking about? I've always been a very generous lover. Just ask-"

"Archie? Well I guess he would know better. I mean, since you're still seeing him."

"Don't you bring him into this."

"I'm not the one who brought him into this."

"I can't help who I'm dating B."

I feign shock at the admission.

"So you admit it then. You're still dating Archie."

"When did I ever deny it? And like you're so innocent. What about Jughead?"

I look at her angrily.

"What about him?"

"I don't remember hearing about you breaking up with him."

"That's because we never talked about it. How is that my fault?"

"Maybe if you'd broken up with your precious Juggie, I might have broken up with Archie."

"Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?"

"What?"

"I could say the same about you."

I wait a couple seconds to give Ronnie a chance to fume for those watching.

"You're just waiting for it, aren't you?"

"Waiting for what?"

"For things to fall apart between us so you can go back to Archie."

"That's crazy."

"You are... what even is this to you? Am I just a little something on the side to you?"

She waits to answer, just like we planned.

"What if you are?"

I up the anger in my glare.

"I mean you're hot Betty but come on. This wasn't much more than an FWB thing. I thought you knew that. Isn't that why neither of us broke up with our guys?"

There's a silence between us to make it look like I'm trying to process the supposed revelation.

"Well if that's the way you really feel..."

"I just said it, didn't I?"

"Then consider yourself cut off from these benefits."

She acts upset for a moment.

"Fine... Archie's better at it anyway."

She turns to leave but I grab her by the arm and force her back towards me. We watch each other for a moment before I raise my hand and slap her across the face. It makes the crowd gasp around us. A look of shock registers on her face and I'm not entirely sure whether it's fake or not.

"I'll tell you what, let's call the fact that I don't slap you right back the last 'benefit' you get out of me."

She pulls her arm out of my grip and walks away.

"Fine! That's fine with me."

I watch her leave for a second before turning around and heading back to the Blue and Gold, slamming the door behind me. I take a deep breath.

God that was intense. If I didn't know we were acting, I would've thought we were actually breaking up. Which is hopefully exactly what everyone else who was watching thought. If it did, it'll get back to our stalker and make her come after us.

It's risky, but it's the only way.

My phone beeps and I check which one I'm getting a message from.

It's the burner.

Picking up the burner, I read the message.

'You were fantastic.'

Something about that makes me smile. My fingers type back... 'You were great yourself.'

I should probably ask her.

I type... 'I hope your face is okay. I didn't hit you too hard, did I?'

The text bubble starts moving.

'No it was perfect.'

She keeps typing.

'I actually thought it was kinda hot.'

For some reason that makes me smile. I start typing 'Let me know and I'll do the other one... or anything else you might want.' but I immediately regret hitting send.

What the hell am I doing? Flirting by burner phone text?

It isn't long before her response comes back.

'I just might take you up on that. 🍑'

Did she really just send that?