*Lovely Readers, for story of "The Break", Chapter 1 Prelude Part A and Part B were supposed to be the first chapters of the Dacey story, but as you will read below, the Lacey part in the Preludes was quite taxing to write in order to convey the depth of the betrayal she felt. Sooo, I wrote the Archie and Danny parts (Chapters 2 and 3) first while I completed the arc for the Lacey Preludes. Sorry for the out-of-order posting sequence but as you read below in Part A and then in Part B, the Preludes were the more challenging to write…Thank you for your patience and for your reviews. I hope you enjoy. DimplesValntina

Chapter 1 Prelude Part A

Lacey's morning….

When Lacey awoke that morning, she felt a little anxious. She didn't know why so she chose to dress in her most fashionable outfit, adorn herself with her favorite pieces of jewelry, have her mother fix her favorite breakfast (waffles), and blast her favorite songs in her car as she drove to school. She figured that if she set the right tone at the start of her day, then whatever was the source of this uneasiness, would go away. At least she was determined for that to be true…..

11AM at Green Grove High

Lacey is busy navigating the halls through the small remainder of students changing classes. The bell is about to ring but she is not worried. She has a hall pass which will allow her to skip Mr. Parkson's Computer class so that she can help the Green Grove Drama Department acquire the necessary set materials since the Macbeth production is running behind schedule. It helps that Mr. Parkson is dating Ms. DesLauriers of English/Literature since Ms. DesLauriers is also the Drama Department Head.

So, Lacey was allowed 'just this once' to skip Computer class to ensure the Drama Department would suffer no setbacks. Lacey smiles about that. She just has to find the school Maintenance manager to inquire about some materials Ms. DesLauriers has requested from his supplies. Unfortunately, Lacey's scattered thoughts didn't allow her to sense that someone was following her. She was unsuspecting as a hand grabs her arm and pulls her into the nearest supply closet. It was Danny Desai.

"Danny, what are you doing?" Lacey demands.

"Lacey, we need to talk." Danny looks determined to say whatever it is that is so important. He locks the closet door and stands in front of it to block Lacey's exit.

Lacey doesn't really have the time for this…especially since it is so hard to be in such close proximity to him…too close to look into his handsome face and those maple brown eyes of his. Lacey shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "Danny, I don't have time for whatever this is. I'm busy with errands for the Drama Department and we are behind schedule."

"You won't take my calls. You won't answer my voice messages or texts. You avoid me at school. You ignore my knocks on your window at night. You have Clara pretending you aren't at home when I come to your front door." Danny lists all the ways that Lacey has blocked his attempts at communication. "I don't think I have missed anything, right?" he sarcastically smirks. Lacey has foiled every step he has made to smooth things between the two of them.

"Nope, that sounds about right. So, why don't I continue that trend and leave…" as Lacey goes to step around Danny to try to unlock the closet door.

Danny blocks her physically as he shakes his head "Oh, na na na….we need to talk and this seems to be the only way I can get you to communicate with me." He is frustrated that Lacey has given both Jo and him the cold treatment the past couple of weeks since having to be involved with them during the drama concerning Charlie McBride and concerning his father's death. Lacey had been instrumental in bringing Charlie to justice and with clearing Jack's name concerning Vikram Desai's death. He thought those events would bring the trio (Jo/Lacey/him) back together. Lacey seemed determine to keep her distance.

Lacey sees that Danny is insistent on talking. She knows how stubborn he can be once he is determined to do something. Although a storage closet wasn't ideal to have a confrontation with him, she knew that this might be the only time to divulge all the heartache and disillusion she had been experiencing. She was tired of these feelings being bottled up inside her. She wanted to direct them at one of the sources of her pain. She reasoned that if she told Danny the full extent of her feelings, then maybe he would leave her alone for good.

"Danny, the reason I have been avoiding you and Jo is that right now, I am thinking of 'only Lacey'. I am concentrating on myself...rebuilding my life…preserving me… The best way to do that is to eliminate whatever or whoever stands in the way of that. I did the same thing 5 years ago and that is what I am doing now."

"What…what are you talking about?" Danny is confused and irritated that she has verbally confirmed what his heart had wanted to deny – Lacey wanted to move on in life without him.

"I remember how much it hurt when you went away to Juvie. I would be strong for Jo and myself during the day at school because you were no longer there to protect us. Jo was the shy one – she had been your little puppy dog except then her leader wasn't there for her anymore. So, I was strong for a while for the both of us – at least during the daytime. However, at night, it was a different story. At night, I didn't have to be strong and didn't have to pretend everything was okay. In the safety of my bedroom, I would cry myself to sleep – every night." Lacey's eyes became to water as she remembered.

"I had to be silent when the tears came because my parents were arguing a lot at that time and I didn't want my crying…my missing my murdering friend…to cause yet another argument. So, I cried in silence. When that wasn't enough, sometimes, after school, I would go to our fort and scream over and over again in anger and despair until I became exhausted."

Danny's heart ached as he heard Lacey's confession. He could picture her 11 year-old self, scared and alone in her pain. He again hated that his father's crime cost him years with Lacey and Jo. He wanted to touch Lacey and assure her that their current circumstances didn't have to echo the past, but he remained silent although his eyes reflected the pain.

Lacey continued: "For that whole first year that you were gone, that was my routine….until one day, I decided I didn't want to continue to hurt any more. So, I took all of our pictures and little treasures we collected from my room and stored them away in a box in the garage instead, where I wouldn't be tempted to look at them every day….wouldn't be tempted to mourn what I deemed 'lost.' At that time, I decided to stop writing to you at Juvie. I figured if I didn't communicate with you…if I didn't have physical keepsakes to preserve the memory of you, then I could start my life over. I could be 'okay' – maybe not 'happy' but definitely not 'sad' anymore. However, Jo didn't want to start that new life if we were leaving everything about 'you' behind. Yet, I couldn't stay in that state of sadness…of mourning with her, so I made the hard decision to move on with my life…without her."

Lacey took a deep breath, exhaled and continued as she relived the recollections of her past. "Our trio had ended. I was able to start that new life where people forgot my association with the 'child killer'. Instead, they noticed me, Lacey, and people started to like me, invite me to parties, wanted to become my friend. A few years ago, Archie came along…a boy very different from you…the first boy I had really wanted to get to know better and he liked me…he made me feel special."

Danny inwardly cringed a little at the thought of Archie being able to provide support for Lacey while he had been trying to survive in his own personal hell. He also was jealous that Archie had been the only other guy, besides himself, that Lacey had allowed herself to become close.

Lacey continued: "With this new start, I had put these 'walls' around myself to block out the old life and embrace this new one instead. And I LOVED it; I felt free. I felt in control of my life. Then, you came back to Green Grove and you wanted back 'in' my life. You wanted to get the trio back together. You came knocking at my walls that I had so carefully built. Why did you do that?"

"Lacey…"

Lacey doesn't want to listen…she is so full of anguish and must release all the feelings that have surfaced over the past few weeks. "Why did you do that, Danny? I didn't want to open myself up to you and Jo again. But you kept on and on…then, I began to remember, to feel what it was like to be in your 'sphere' again – your humor, your charm…Although, you had changed physically, you were that boy I once knew. I would look in those eyes and just get lost in them. You made me want to believe in the three of us again." Lacey smiled sadly.

"Next, this electric spark happened between the two of us…I tried to resist it, but my memories came back of my girlhood crush on an amazing little boy – except now he was almost a man…someone who seemed to reciprocate these feelings that I couldn't suppress. I couldn't will them away even though I tried for my sake and for Archie's. But you wouldn't stop until you knocked down my 'walls'. You made me trust in you. You made me question what I truly felt for Archie." Lacey's eye were slowly filling with frustrated tears but she made herself look directly into Danny's eyes as she made her confession.

"I fell in love with you, Danny. I let you into my heart, deeper than I had allowed for Archie. I let down my guard for you. I sacrificed my safety of my 'new life' for you. Do you know how difficult and how scary that was?"

"I know," Danny whispered. Danny is equally touched by her confession and floored by the realization of what loving him had cost Lacey.

"Do you? I trusted you with my heart. Does it even register with you how big it was to have faith in you..in us? How much that meant when I saw my own parents' love disappear. I trusted you to not hurt me like how my dad hurt my mom. But what did you do? You lied continuously about things – only to confess when you had no other choice. All you ever do is lie or omit things. Now, I believe everything you ever said about us is a lie, too. You lied just like my dad."

"Lacey, you know that is not true. I am not like your dad." Danny is hurt by her accusation regarding the emotional intimacy they once had.

"Aren't you? My dad lied about his feelings for years. You lied about Tara, which I can now understand since you were covering for your father. However, you also lied about having the necklace that Regina wore. You even lied about your dad's death. You and Jo kept Vikram's death a secret from me…from me, your girlfriend. Did you two enjoy keeping me in the dark? Did you feel any guilt about lying to me…lying straight to my face?"

"I'm sorry…" Danny's voiced cracked. "I wanted to protect you…"

Lacey was too incensed to listen to his excuses: "That's what hurts the most, Danny, your lying to me when I had come countless times to your aid – making Archie/Scott confess to Cole's poisoning to clear your name, helping Chief Masterson with evidence to free you from the suspicion of Regina's murder. I have been trying to move any obstacles that threatened to hurt you. I did all of this for you – for us to have a chance to start anew with our relationship with no one passing judgment on you. What makes me so angry is that NONE of that matters to you….NONE."

"It does, Lace. I can't begin to express how much gratitude I have for everything you have done for me…" Danny tries to come closer and look deep in Lacey's eyes to convince her of his sincerity.

"No, don't bother, okay? Your audio doesn't match your video." Lacey scoffs at his statement because his recent actions have proven otherwise.

"Lacey, I was thoroughly grateful to have you on my side whenever I was in trouble. But this time, I was trying to protect you from this new nightmare."

Lacey asked the question she had been wondering all this time: "Whose idea was it?"

"What?" Danny asked perplexed as to what direction this question was going.

"Whose idea was it to keep the secret of what really happened to Vikram?" Lacey was certain she knew the answer but wanted verbal confirmation.

"Well, Jo and I thought…" Danny began.

"Yeah, Jo….your actions were to protect you and Jo instead. Jo, who ratted on you to her mother when you were on the run after the murder weapon, that killed Regina, was found. Jo, who didn't even tell her dad I needed to speak with him about some evidence I had found about the shady female detective who was trying to frame you. Jo, who hated our "lies"when we kept our relationship from her, but now willingly chose to keep this much larger secret." Lacey became angry at the Jo, with whom she thought she had begun re-connecting recently at Homecoming and during class elections.

"Lacey, don't blame everything on Jo. This has been hard on her, too."

"Oh, I don't blame everything on Jo. You equally share the blame. You, who seemed so moody and upset the past few weeks for no apparent reason. You who would say in once instance that you wanted to be with me 'more than anything'…that you would 'love to go to Homecoming with me'…that I 'had to know that.' Yet when you seemed upset and sad, you would deny anything was wrong. I would ask; you would steadily deny. I would beg you to let me, your girlfriend, inside whatever was troubling you so that I could help you. 'Girlfriend'…yeah, what a joke. I was just someone to play with, right?"

"No, Lacey…" Danny denied as his eyes began to tear.

A tear, then another began to fall down Lacey's cheeks as she recounted the injustice of what had been their relationship. She took a shuddering, shallow breath. "No - let me finish – I need to finish this. I was just someone pretty to kiss, to make out. You shared your kisses, your hugs, your smiles, and your endless gazes but I didn't know you were still were holding on to a major part – you held back your heart." She ended that last sentence on a small sob, which she couldn't stop escaping.

Danny denied what she was saying. "Lacey, you do have my heart, believe me." He grabbed onto her arms to try to force her to pay attention to the words he was saying.

More tears flowed from Lacey as she sadly shook her head. "Nope, you held back your heart, your love…while I fully gave you mine." More tears flowed from Lacey as she sadly shook her head. "I sacrificed everything for you, Danny! What did you sacrifice for me?"

"Lacey, I'm sorry." Danny insisted: "I would never want to hurt you. It's the last thing I would ever want to happen." Danny tries to hold her.

Lacey struggles against his embrace. "Why, Danny? Why did you let us get back together again? It seemed like we were starting over…an honest start this time. When you lied before, you eventually confessed, but this time, I had to make you confess, Danny. Who keeps lying to someone when they know trust is so important? Who does that?" Lacey hits against his arms to free herself since she is exasperated and doesn't want his touch.

"Lace…" Danny struggled to say the words to try to convey the 'why' behind his recent actions.

"I will tell you who – someone who doesn't love that person." There, Lacey had finally said what convinced her of Danny's true feelings.

Danny was shocked at her statement. He stuttered as a tear escapes down his cheek: "I do…I do love you, Lacey. I do." He wants Lacey to believe him. He tries to reach for her again.

Lacey denies him: "Screw yourself! You only love your mother and yourself and it seems like you love Jo, too, since she knows all the big secrets in your life."

"It wasn't like that!" Danny exclaims.

Lacey was tired of everything. She just wanted this conversation to be over. "You know what? Save it. Screw you and screw Jo Masterson. I wish you two never came back into my life."

Danny was stricken with dread…he had heard similar words from her before and those words cut even more now. He shook his head. "You don't mean that." He hoped she didn't mean those words.

"Well, let my actions back my words. Regarding you and Jo, don't call me. Don't speak to me at school. Don't come to my house. I want nothing to do with either of you ever again. We aren't friends; we aren't enemies. You two are nothing to me. Let the past rot in the past."

"You can't mean that. I'm miserable without you." Danny implores to Lacey with his intense gaze as he let down his guard to state that last telling statement. He would be lost with no contact with the girl he loved. He feels the enormity of how miserable he handled recent events concerning Lacey.

"No. Just leave. Get out of my sight. Go after your little puppy. You can both be miserable together. I am starting my life again without you. Just go."

Danny is uncertain how to fix this damage that he has caused. He doesn't want this to be the last conversation he has with Lacey. He knows she is unwilling to listen to anything more he has to say today. His emotions are too scattered in order to say the 'right' words that will convince Lacey to be his again.

So, he resigns himself to partially honor her wishes. He takes a deep breath while wiping his hand over his forehead and back over the top of his head as he forms the words that may ease the situation. "Okay. I'll go but I won't let you build those walls again." He shakes his head. "I can't let you do that…I won't. I know you're hurt. I know that hurt was caused by me and it is up to me to fix it. I won't stop until I fix it."

Lacey states: "Don't bother."

Danny replies: "You're not the only one here with a broken heart."

Lacey says softly: "You don't have one to break."

Danny leans down slightly to look at Lacey as her eyes widens at his proximity. Danny sadly smirks: "No, you really don't believe that. You can't believe that. Your eyes clearly say those words are not true."

With that statement, Danny turns to leave. As the storage door clicks closed, Lacey allows her body to lean back against one of the walls to the storage closet. Lacey feels the exhaustion from this release of the emotions she had been feeling since their breakup.

She takes several breaths to calm down as she wipes all traces of her tears from her face. She has to compose herself to finish the errands for the Drama Department. She can't breakdown now. She has to control herself – just until she gets home. She internally coaches herself that when she gets home, she can cry or punch a pillow to release any frustrations.

Although she has stated everything that she wanted Danny to hear, she doesn't feel the satisfaction she thought she would feel. She had wanted to make him hurt as much as she hurt…feel the overwhelming pain that she felt. Consequently, she now realized that her wounds were deeper than she had thought and healing would take a much longer time. Her mind may be fixed on starting this new life without Danny but her heart hadn't gotten the message yet.

DimplesValntina Next continuations of "The Break" are Chapter 1 Prelude Part B, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3