The rest of the week flew by and before we knew it, Sweet Pea and I were waiting with Mrs Andrews and her friend Brooke at the El Royale. I hadn't wanted to be here, but it was either come up with a good excuse not to or tell Mrs Andrews what was going on.
Sweet Pea had opted out of setting up a match of his own, but we were hoping Fangs would want to hang out afterwards. Since joining the Farm, he'd essentially himself off from us all. Currently, he was up in the ring, practicing throwing punches.
Brooke checked her watch again just as we heard the outside door open and shut. "Veronica, where's Archie?" Mrs Andrews demanded.
"Yeah, I'm going cold in here," Fangs called down.
"Mrs Andrews, Counselor Rivers, I presume," Veronica greeted. "I"m sorry to have kept you waiting, but Archie is not gonna be able to make it."
My hand tightened on Sweet Pea's. I knew how much Archie wanted this, how important it was for his mother to see that. The only reason he'd be backing out now would be if his competition at the Regional Classic had been tougher than expected and he physically couldn't do another match. There was a very slight chance that Veronica had Archie tied up in the back of the car, but considering when she and Cheryl had me help kidnap Cheryl's mother, I was the one doing all the hard work, I highly doubted it.
"What?" Mrs Andrews asked. "Why not?"
Veronica glanced at Sweet Pea and I for the first time, her face free of emotion. He'd tried to talk Archie out of this madness but obviously it hadn't been enough of an effort in Veronica's opinion. "He's feeling under the weather," she replied, turning back to the pair in front of her.
"Since when?" Mrs Andrews pushed. "He was fine this morning."
"We think it's food poisoning," Veronica said. "I'd love to reschedule."
"She's lying," Sweet Pea muttered, quietly enough that only I could hear.
"No shit," I whispered back. "But why?"
Fangs was still in the ring, dodging an imaginary opponent, waiting for someone to tell him what was going on. Brooke looked down at the notepad in her arms disapprovingly while Mrs Andrews looked between her and Veronica's sickly sweet smile in confusion.
"I can fight. I can fight," Archie called, stumbling down the hall from the locker rooms. Even from across the room I could see the fresh bruises on his face and body. "I can still do this."
"This isn't going to be good," I said, pulling away from Sweet Pea to stand by the ring. "Fangs, you've gotta call it. Say you won't fight Archie like that."
He looked down at me in confusion, still bouncing back and forth. "What? No, I've been prepping for this all week."
"Seriously? Just look at the guy," I snapped, gesturing to where Archie stood talking to Veronica. "A tap on the fucking shoulder would bring him down."
"I"m fine. I'd like to show you what I can do, ma'am," Archie called, brushing past Veronica. "Fangs, you ready?"
"You see, Abigail, he's got this," Fangs growled down at me. "Yeah, let's do it," he added to Archie.
I turned away, running a hand through my hair as Archie walked towards the ring. Why couldn't Veronica have held Archie off just one more minute? I could have gotten through to Fangs with that little extra time. But now they were planning to go at it like a normal match.
"You tried," Sweet Pea said softly, coming up to me. I could hear the worry in his voice. "It's all on him now."
As if in slow motion, Archie climbed into the ring, Fangs moving back and forth on the other side. The rope sprang back up, catching Archie's ankle. It was just enough to throw him off balance, sending Archie crashing face first onto the mat where he lay motionless.
"Archie!" Veronica and Mrs Andrews cried out at the same time. The two women sprang forward as Fangs stared down in shock.
A short time later, Fangs and Sweet Pea helped move Archie to the couch in the office while Brooke made her excuses and left.
"He's going to be okay, Mrs Andrews," Veronica said reassuringly. "Archie's going to make a full recovery."
"I don't understand," Mrs Andrews cried. "What happened?
"From the looks of it, Archie got his ass beat at his earlier match," I said.
"What earlier match?"
"The Regional Classic," Veronica cut in. "Abigail took it upon herself to forge your signature on the application and convinced Archie to lie to me about it. I was under the impression you'd been happy to sign."
"And yet you did nothing about it when you learned the truth," I snapped.
Mrs Andrews looked at me, a mix of shock, anger, and hurt on her face. "You forged my signature? How could you?"
I shrugged. "Yours is a fairly simple signature to copy. I was ready to sign Mr Andrews' name but Archie said it had to be yours since he was out of town."
"Abigail," Mrs Andrews sighed.
"I only did it to help a friend," I said. "Archie wanted you to see how important boxing is to him, so I signed the application for the tournament when it was still taking place on Saturday. At some point it got changed to today and Veronica decided her new career as a boxing manager was more important than Archie risking his life by being in two fights in one day."
Veronica glared at me, struggling to keep her emotions under control. "At least I tried to stop Archie from starving himself and exercising excessively all week. You didn't do a thing about that."
"At least I'm not the one who watched him get beat before driving him here for another fight." I replied coldly, barely holding onto my temper.
"I'm sorry, I actually try to help those I care about when I can, even if I think it's wrong," Veronica replied. "It must be your criminal background that makes you think that way."
"Abigail, Veronica, enough!" Mrs Andrews shouted. "I will talk to both of you later. Right now, I'm going to be with my son." Wiping tears from her eyes, Mrs Andrews walked to the office, shutting the door as soon as Sweet Pea and Fangs were out.
Without a word, Veronica turned on her heel, stalking away. So much for caring about Archie, she didn't even wait to ask if he'd woken up or anything.
"Abigail, I should have–"
"Save it, Fogarty," I snapped, cutting him off.
"Please, I just want to apologize," Fangs tried again, taking a small step back as I turned my glare on him.
"Now's not the time, just go, man," Sweet Pea said, patting Fangs on the back. Fangs nodded, sadly before making his way towards the locker rooms to change.
Sweet Pea sighed, wrapping his arms around me, the anger beginning to melt away almost instantly. "Forget about Veronica, you did what you thought was right."
"Can we just go home and forget about all this for tonight?" I asked. Sweet Pea nodded, leading me out to his bike.
The next day, I continuously asked Sweet Pea what he had planned. "Just wait, Abigail," or "It'll be worth it," he'd say each time, refusing to even give me a hint.
For the time being, I'd given up, the two of us laying on the bed watching a movie. "Hey, shouldn't you be getting ready?" he asked, looking down at me.
"I should," I replied, looking at the time. "That means I have to kick you out now."
"What? Why can't I just get ready in here when it's time?"
"Because I have a lot to do to be ready and it'll be a lot easier without you interrupting."
Sweet Pea smirked at me, pulling me closer. "You never complain about being interrupted any other time."
"That's because those are normal days. If I'm going to Prom with you, I need to look better than ever. Now, out." I watched as Sweet Pea moved around the room, gathering his things.
"Where am I supposed to get ready?"
"I don't know, Archie's room, or Mr Andrews' room?"
With the room to myself, I started getting ready, doing my hair and makeup. More than once I wished Toni were here to do them for me like she'd done all that time ago when Sweet Pea took me on a real date. So much had changed since then, for the good and the bad. Forcing myself to keep moving, I carefully changed, struggling a bit with the zipper. Seriously, why do dresses always have to have the zipper on the back where no one can get to them alone?
"I already told you, Sweet Pea, if you forgot to take it with you, it's your loss right now," I called when someone knocked on the door.
"Actually, it's me," Mrs Andrews replied. "I just wanted to see if you needed any help."
I sighed, opening the door for her. "Uh, yeah actually." With the zipper pulled up fully, I turned around to face her.
"I'll admit, I was a little confused by the Renaissance theme, but you've made it work," Mrs Andrews said with a smile.
"Thanks, but Toni was the one who found the dress. It was either this or something from the costume shop."
"Well, I'll let you finish getting ready. But you and Sweet Pea can't leave until I get a picture of you two. Fred's sorry he couldn't be here."
I finished getting ready, carefully making my way down the stairs to where Sweet Pea stood waiting. "What, no costume?" I asked, standing in front of him.
Sweet Pea shook his head, not taking his eyes off me. "I'd rather not be mistaken for the Gargoyle King by looking like royalty."
"Who said you had to be royalty? I was thinking of the Black Knight."
"I guess that would be a worthy escort for the Serpent Princess."
I grinned, pulling him down to press my lips against his.
"Okay, okay, are you two ready?" Mrs Andrews called, coming down the hall. "Archie already left with Jughead to get Betty and Veronica. I need pictures, then you need to go or you're going to miss all the fun."
That done, Sweet Pea and I made our way outside, turning at the sound of someone shouting behind us.
"Hey, boy," FP called. "You better not be thinking of taking your bike."
"No, we're taking the truck," Sweet Pea replied.
"Then I guess it's a good thing I took it earlier and got it cleaned up for you," FP said.
"FP, you didn't have to," I started before he stopped me.
He shook his head with a smile. "I know I didn't have to, I wanted to. Now, Jug told me what y'all are planning for the Gargoyle King. Sweet Pea, take care of our girl," he added.
Sweet Pea nodded seriously. "I do my best."
"I don't always make it easy on him," I said quickly, seeing the look on FP's face.
"That you don't, Babygirl," FP laughed. "You look beautiful, by the way. Try to have some fun tonight, okay?"
Sweet Pea helped me into the truck before climbing into the driver's seat. The truck was spotless, FP had really put some effort into this.
"Abigail, you look..." he paused, staring at me. "I don't even know what to say."
"You could finally tell me what you have planned after this," I said.
"It's still a no on that."
"Fine, then let's get this thing over with," I pouted.
Author's Note: This chapter was a lot better in my head but I'm trying to write in between dealing with my ex and trying to find a new job so my mind is a bit all over the place right now. Hopefully the next chapter will be better.