Lunch wasn't over when I last checked.

The girls and I had moved on to talking about the party and what snacks we'd be picking up (since I had my own car, I had to drive them, so I offered to pick up the snacks by myself – I could always go early just in case I managed to run into JD and maybe even get my own slushie) when another integral part of the musical happened. I hadn't realized that I'd forgotten why I knew JD was around at this point in the musical and why he got Veronica's attention.

I mean, I was still glancing at JD a little, so I noticed when he got up and said something to Veronica, obviously telling her how he didn't approve of letting the Heathers humiliate Martha with the forged note. And if he was talking to her now, that meant that…yeah, I'd forgotten about the bit where the jocks got on his case. Still, as I turned my attention back to the girls, pretending I hadn't been looking at him, I couldn't help humming a bit of "Candy Store".

"What's that song, Ana?" Steph asked. "I don't recognize it." She was the biggest music buff in our group of friends. It came in useful when we wanted the popular kids to think we were up-to-date.

I thought about ignoring her, but then I thought about it. The songs weren't going to show up in this world, where the musical was real life, and real life didn't have random people breaking out into song. I would have noticed if the Heathers had performed a musical number right now. Real life just didn't work that way. Worst luck, I sometimes thought.

So I sang the chorus for my friends. "Honey, what you waiting fo-or? Welcome to my candy sto-ore!

Time for you to prove you're not a loser anymore…"

At first, they looked confused, but then Holly nudged Lisa, Stephanie noticed, and they all collapsed into giggles when I sang the last words, "Then step into my candy store."

I guessed what they thought the song meant (something a lot less innocent) and added "Whatever you're thinking, that's not what it means!"

Holly smirked. "So it's not about, um…sweets?" All the girls were practically rolling all over again.

"No," I said, poker-faced. "It's about being popular. You know, you have to prove you're cool enough to be in the group. Then once you're in, life might be as sweet as candy, but it could also rot your teeth."

The girls calmed down. "I guess that sort of makes sense…" Stephanie admitted slowly. "So who released that song? And how did you get to hear it before me?"

I had to think about that again for a moment, but I came up with a name "Jessica McCartan," I lied, combining the names of the original off-Broadway actors playing Heather C and JD. "She's a…British singer. I heard of her when I went to the UK last summer. But she's not very famous anywhere else. I don't even think she has tapes or CDs over here. So that's probably why you've never heard the song before – she's still in high school, I think, and it was her first single."

It was a weak explanation, but my friends just accepted it and moved on. A good thing, too, because that was around the time I saw, out of the corner of my eye, Ram and Kurt approach JD. We all started watching the fight.

"Still like the new kid?" Stephanie whispered to me. "I hate it when boys fight in public, like one of them has to prove they're better than the other."

I rolled my eyes at her and said "They started it, Steph. Didn't you hear what they were saying, making out he was gay? They only went for him because he didn't wither under their stare and talked back. He's only going on offense to defend himself. If he ends it, he's a keeper. If he doesn't end it, then he'll still be pretty when he gets patched up."

Steph smiled slyly. "Did you just call a guy pretty?"

I felt myself blush. "Well, bookworms who can fight can be pretty. Pretty hot."

The fact that JD could hold his own against two guys, even though I knew from the musical that he could, was all the confirmation I needed.

I glanced around for Veronica. Yep, she was staring at JD too. Oh well, I couldn't stop her from doing that. Or talking to him at the Seven-Eleven tomorrow night. I just had to make sure she didn't break into his house at two in the morning. Although if she defended Martha and threw up on Heather, then I couldn't and didn't want to stop her doing that. Maybe I'd need to wait to intervene until after she left the party.

Martha called me that night, bubbling over with excitement. "I got this sweet note from Ram today, inviting me to his homecoming party!" she squealed. "Remember you said I shouldn't continue waiting for him? Well, this proves there's still something there!"

I had to think about my answer. I knew where the note came from. "Are you sure it's from Ram?" I asked carefully. "You know, it's pretty easy to fake handwriting. For all you know, the Heathers felt like humiliating you and forged the note." I didn't incriminate Veronica, but the Heathers were fair game.

I heard Martha's hesitation, but I wasn't sure what to say. I felt her disappointment and slight resentment towards my well-meaning warning coming down the receiver in her silence. "I don't mean to be unsupportive," I told her finally, "But I'm scared you're going to get hurt. Just…if you come to the party, be careful. Ram might deny any knowledge of the note."

Martha answered at this point. "Okay. Thanks. But I can take care of myself. I'll see you at the party, maybe."

"Yeah, maybe," I echoed. "See you!"

As it happened, I did share one class with JD. It was just Math so there was basically no discussions or interactions possible, but I did give him a little wave when I saw him enter the room and he sort of nodded at me, so at least I'd made my presence known without being too intrusive.

Either way, for most of Friday night, I made sure my plans were defined. I knew that even if I got to the right Seven-Eleven at the right time, JD might not be there. I could easily go too early or too late. In that case, it would be even more important to make sure Veronica didn't run straight to him out of the party. My only way to make sure she didn't go there is to stand up to Heather, tell her I wasn't afraid of her (lie) and Veronica did know who she was eating lunch with on Monday. Then I could follow Veronica out and invite her to stay over at my house and we'd figure out a plan together. Whatever happened next depended on what we came up with. At least, even if my friends did dump me, which I personally wasn't sure they would, considering they'd risk adopting the new kid, I'd be able to make friends with Veronica. She'd make a good friend, but as I justified to myself, she and JD did not have a healthy relationship and she'd probably, on the whole, be happier if she never got with him.

Now I just had to figure out what to say to JD when I did see him. I mean, it might have to be the most boring thing if I didn't see him tonight, but maybe I'd have to read up a little on (more) classical literature or saxophone songs. JD might have been musical-verse and I knew both versions of him had a weakness for the classics in both music and books, but the saxophone was only mentioned in the movie. Still, the musical didn't deny anything, so I was pretty sure he still played the sax. I could take an interest in both, but I'd rather make out my interest started before I knew of him.

Like it or hate it, JD's relationship with Veronica was actually pretty abusive and manipulative, doing more harm than good. Ana knows deep down that she's just trying to justify sabotaging their relationship and is relieved it's easy to do so, but she's actually more right than she realizes. As for me saying JD plays the saxophone, during the lunchtime poll, he talks about rowing to the middle of nowhere with tequila, his sax, and some Bach, so apparently he owns one, although we never see any evidence of it.