Rapunzel hung around after practice on Saturday until everyone had left, except Helga.

"Helga, can I talk to you?" Rapunzel asked.

Helga sighed. She dropped her bag on the floor and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Make it quick."

Rapunzel was terrified of Helga and everything inside her was telling her to just leave. But, she needed to confront Helga.

"Helga, I think your behavior..." Rapunzel paused. No, that was too nice. "You're a bitch, Helga."

"And you're an airhead. What's your point?"

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes. "What has gotten into you? First you steal Hercules from Meg. Then you're...mean to my best friend and push Meg down the bleachers. And now you're telling everyone you hooked up with Gaston when you didn't. Why? To ruin his relationship with Vanessa? To hurt her? To make him unhappy?"

Helga picked up her bag and started walking away. Rapunzel grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"I'm not done," Rapunzel stated. "I want to know why you're doing these things. Did Meg and Vanessa do something to you? Are you just jealous of them? Or does it make you happy to make other people miserable?"

"Why do you care?" Helga asked.

"Because what you're doing isn't right. You can't treat other people like this," Rapunzel replied. "You're giving the rest of us cheerleaders a bad name."

Helga nodded. "I see. So, this is all about your reputation."

"No-"

"You don't want everyone to think you're a bitch like I am," Helga continued. "You don't care about Meg or Vanessa."

"I care-"

Helga laughed. "No, you don't. You're just like me. But, it's okay. Only the strong make it through high school, Rapunzel. You gotta do what's necessary to survive."

"You're wrong. I've made it this far without having to bring anyone down," Rapunzel said.

Helga slowly shook her head. "You'll see that I'm right soon enough. I bet that boy toy of yours doesn't make it to graduation. He has 'suicide' written all over him. What's his name? Thomas?" She shrugged. "He should just get it over with. Put himself out of his misery and do the rest of us a favor."

Rapunzel's eyes grew wide in anger and before she could think it through, she slapped Helga as hard as she could.

Helga smiled at Rapunzel. "You're the second girl who's had to stand up for him. He's too weak to defend himself."

"Listen to me, Helga Sinclair. You can say or do whatever you want to me, but you leave Thomas alone," Rapunzel demanded.

"All right, Rapunzel. For starters, you're off the squad. And I will personally make sure you don't get on it next year, either," Helga said.

Helga pushed passed Rapunzel and Rapunzel was left alone. She sighed and sank down to the floor. No good deed goes unpunished...

Rapunzel had been working so hard to be head cheerleader senior year and now that had all been taken away from her. She should have known Helga would do something like this. It almost made Rapunzel think twice about standing up for other people. But, Rapunzel believed in karma and she knew Helga would get what was coming to her eventually.

XXX

Meg walked slowly through the cemetery, looking around. It was dark, but she found Vanessa pretty easily. She was kneeling on a grave holding a small candle.

"Vanessa?"

Vanessa looked up and Meg could see tears glistening in the dim glow. Meg glanced down at the grave marker, but it was too dark to read the name on it. When Meg looked back at Vanessa, Vanessa was still staring at her. Meg didn't know what to say.

Vanessa looked down at her candle. "Gaston sent you."

"He didn't send me," Meg said. "He just told me where to find you."

"I want to be alone."

Meg turned around, contemplating whether or not to leave. She took a deep breath and turned back towards Vanessa. Meg knelt down and put her hand on Vanessa's shoulder.

"Vanessa, what happened?" Meg asked.

Vanessa looked tired and beaten down. "This is my sister's grave."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"No one knew. She was my twin sister. Her name was Ursula," Vanessa said. "My dad knocked up my mom, but refused to marry her. He wanted us, though. When my mom gave birth to twins, they split us up. My dad took Ursula to New York and I stayed with my mom here. We were just babies then and I never really got to know Ursula. We wrote each other all the time and talked on the phone, but never actually met. Around freshman year Ursula became more withdrawn. I started to hear from her less and less, until I just stopped hearing from her altogether. Then this past Halloween I got an email from Ursula. She said our father had been sexually abusing her since she was thirteen and he said that if she told anyone he would hurt our mother and me. So, she stayed quiet. But, Halloween our dad threw a party with some of his friends and he let each of them rape my sister. Ursula couldn't take it anymore. She went up to her room and slit her wrists." Vanessa wiped a tear off her cheek. "My mom and I went to the funeral in New York, but my mom wanted her body here so she'd be close to us."

"Vanessa, I'm so sorry," Meg whispered.

"I know you are. Everyone said they were sorry, except the man who was actually responsible for her death," Vanessa said. "They arrested my dad and he admitted he did it, but didn't feel guilty about it."

Meg wrapped her arms around Vanessa and pulled her close.

"I should have been there for her. She shouldn't have to go through this alone," Vanessa said. "I mean, that could have been me. If my dad had taken me instead of Ursula, I would have been the one they found in lying in bed with my wrists slit open. And it'd be my body lying cold in the ground right now. Ursula was completely alone and the only time she ever felt relief was when she cut herself. That's why I started cutting myself and trying to push people away. Ursula was a better person than I am and looked what happened to her? Why do I deserve to be happy?"

Meg felt Vanessa sobbing in her arms. "Do you remember Katrina Van Tassel?" Vanessa didn't say anything, but Meg knew she remembered her. "We were at one of Eric's parties at the beginning of the school year. But a bunch of college guys crashed it, so we left. We were walking down the beach when we saw Brom Bones trying to rape Katrina. He had her pinned down and she was screaming and crying. We rushed over there and you kicked his ass. Brom went to jail and you saved Katrina."

"But, I couldn't even save my own sister," Vanessa said.

"Vanessa, there was nothing you could have done to help Ursula. You didn't know what was going on," Meg said. "But, you saved Katrina. If it hadn't been for you, the Van Tassels would have had to bury a daughter as well."

"But, being happy makes me feel guilty."

"It shouldn't. Ursula would want you to be happy. How do you think she'd feel if she could see you like this?" Meg asked.

"I'm not trying to kill myself," Vanessa said, quietly. "I don't even like the pain. I do it for her."

"Everyone has to grieve in their own way," Meg said. "But this has gone too far. You have to stop. And if you won't stop for yourself, or Gaston,or me, do it for your mom. I know she's not strong enough to lose both of her daughters."

Vanessa gently pulled away from Meg. "You're right. I never even thought about my mom."

"Vanessa?"

Both girls turned around to see Gaston standing over them. He sat down next to Vanessa and she threw her arms around his neck. Gaston hugged her tightly. Meg decided she should leave them alone and got up. She started to walk away, but Vanessa came after her.

"Thank you for being here for me, even though I was pushing you away," Vanessa said.

Meg smiled at her. "Real friends can't be pushed away."

Vanessa shook her head. "Real friends don't try to push their friends away. Megara, I'm sorry."

"I forgave you a long time ago, Nessa."