Monday morning. Well, Sunday night, I guess. Thanks, guest reviewer.

The last thing I had to do that night was to speak to Veronica and Martha and find out what went down. Veronica had done what I'd suggested and confessed everything to Martha. "I guess you were right," Martha had told me over the phone when I'd called to see if she was all right. "I know it's not easy to stand up to the Heathers, but…I still can't stand to think that she betrayed me."

"That's why she saved you at the party," I told her. "She wrote the note before the Heathers tried to make Ram give it to you, and since it didn't actually have your name on it, she didn't know it was intended for you until then. I think one of the other Heathers slipped it to you in the end." It depended on the blocking from show to show whether they actually got Ram to slip it to her or if one of the Heathers did it, but Veronica always made an attempt to stop them. Even the script varied a little (not including the teen version where most of the swears were cut out and "Dead Girl Walking" didn't include lines about taking clothes off and being on birth control – which I was going to start taking myself ASAP, since I knew JD was a fast mover in relationships and I didn't know if I'd even want to slow down).

"I know she wouldn't have hurt me knowingly," Martha said unhappily. "But I told her all about it when I first read it and she could have told me it was a fake then. I should have known something was up, because she looked over at the Heathers for a moment before she said anything."

"Are you ever going to forgive her?" I asked anxiously.

Martha paused. "Well," she said, "Probably eventually. I guess she did stand up for me in the end and tell me the truth. But not right now. I just want some space."

So I ended the conversation quickly and called Veronica straight after. "It didn't go well," was the way she summed up the confession.

"Martha will forgive you at some point," I reassured her. "You hurt her. She's not just going to get over that immediately. Just wait for her to come to you."

I could almost hear Veronica nodding. "Yeah, I was going to. It's the same every time she feels angry or hurt – if she wants to talk, she'll seek me out. She doesn't usually hold grudges for long."

She paused for a moment, and then said "I know you said I shouldn't, but I did try going to Heather's place to see if I could get back into the clique, or at least not get destroyed. I think I should tell you what happened before we go back to school tomorrow."

"Mm?" I hoped I sounded casual. I knew exactly what she'd found.

Veronica sounded very shaken as she spoke. "I had to call 911. She was lying on the floor, holding this mug of something blue, and there was a suicide note. Something seemed a bit off about it, but I couldn't figure out what. I mean, it sounded like her, and it was in her handwriting. The ambulance people said it was too late to pump her stomach. The poison had already taken effect – they said it had been taken over two hours before I found her. I wish I'd gone to her house earlier, then I could have stopped her, or at least called before it was too late to save her."

That was hard to listen to when I knew that I'd kept her from going to Heather's in time, and I was the first person to see Heather dead. It wasn't easy to force myself to sound like I hadn't known. "That's awful! Do you think maybe she'd just given one too many people a hard time and just wanted to stop?"

"I guess. Maybe." Veronica sounded distracted. "I'm going to find it hard to process."

"Well, at least you're off the hook," I said, still trying to sound serious. "If you want to eat lunch with the other Heathers tomorrow, assuming they still want you, I'm fine if you ditch me. My other friends will probably accept me back, since Heather's not going to come and ostracize them."

"You can do whatever you want," Veronica answered. "If you want to eat with us, I'm letting you. Why would I ditch you after you risked your own popularity for me? They might be easier to talk to now, and one day at our table might mean a rise in your popularity. Heather McNamara's only mean to people on the outside, so she'll leave you alone, and she won't argue if she knows I've given you permission. She's actually nice to people she likes, and friends of friends count. She even called me tonight so we can make sure to wear toning lip gloss – so I know she still counts me as one of them. Heather Duke barely dared to open her mouth except to purge, so maybe she'll actually have a chance to talk now. I don't really know what she'll think. She might be annoyed that I said you could sit with us, but that's okay – she'll get over it."

I wondered if JD would want me to have lunch with him. That gave me a few options. I'd check in with my group when I got to school. "I've got a few options," I said lightly. "I guess if my answer's yes, I'll come find you at break and let you know. If I don't, then I'm with someone else. But I'd like to hang out another time. Maybe out of school if not in."

"Sure!" Veronica said, sounding slightly better, and then we said goodbye and hung up. I felt a bit guilty for letting Veronica be the first person to find Heather's corpse, but at least she didn't know anything about it. She didn't have to feel bad and have her conscience take the form of Heather taunting her.

I asked myself for a second if I really thought that, or if my reasons for sparing Veronica's guilt and involvement was really just selfish. If I was to be honest, I thought it was about fifty-fifty. I knew for a fact that the guilt was eventually what caused her to break up with JD and cause his total breakdown where he tried to blow up the school. It had to be better that they never got involved with each other in the first place. But that didn't mean she didn't still have a thing for him, considering it had started when she was watching him fight the jocks. Yeah, I only wanted her out of the way so I could have JD for myself, which was selfish, but it probably meant things would work out better for her. I wasn't quite as forgiving as she was, and I wouldn't mind killing a few people – as long as they deserved it. But JD never went after anyone who didn't deserve it, so I didn't have to worry about that. It was really just like execution, except it wasn't mandated by some middle-aged figure in a wig. I didn't even know if I felt guilty about killing Heather. Maybe a little. Not as much as I thought I should have, though. Mostly I just felt relieved that I didn't have to worry about her anymore, and that the cops were so incompetent that all they did was read the note and decide that the case was over.

As it was, I didn't worry about anything when JD showed up to pick me up that morning. I was glad my parents were already at work, because there was no way they'd approve of their daughter climbing on the back of a motorcycle with no helmet and zooming off.

As I discovered, I rather liked the rush. But it also made me feel almost breathless, and the cool air aggravated my asthma. I was gasping a bit by the time we got to school, and JD noticed it as soon as the sound of the motor wasn't masking it. "Are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned.

I got out my inhaler and took a few puffs. "Think it's the cold air," I managed to say. "It makes my asthma worse. I liked the way it felt, but I think the car's safer."

JD put his arm around me as we started to walk to the school. "Fair enough. I'm not going to be responsible for something happening to you."

Just before we went in, I added "I'm not sure where I'm going to sit at lunch today. Now that Heather's gone, my friends will probably let me sit with them. But Veronica's also invited me to sit with her. And I was wondering if you..."

JD held up a hand. "I'm not one of those jealous types that try to take their girlfriend away from her friends. If you're already torn between two groups, I'm not going to make things harder for you by demanding attention."

As it was, I never got to decide. My friends treated me like Saturday night had never happened. I did run into Veronica, but we only got the chance to exchange a smile and move on.

That's because, in homeroom, we were suddenly informed that all anyone was talking about was Heather Chandler, and they'd decided to cancel school for the day in her honour. So I wasn't eating lunch with anyone that day.

Ms Fleming did what she did in the original show, getting as many people sat down and getting them to read copies of the suicide note I'd written to "feel" Heather's alleged anguish while the buses were being refuelled (and now I knew I would have to take the bus home). Unlike Veronica, I didn't start laughing or crying. I just rolled my eyes and pretended to listen like I wasn't hearing people paraphrasing my own writing.

JD headed off as soon as he could, so he wasn't with me at the time. I'd just had enough time to remind him "My parents won't be home until ten tonight," before he nodded at me (I couldn't see his face from the helmet) and zoomed off. On the other hand, the other Heathers were both there. Heather Duke didn't seem to be listening properly, but Heather McNamara looked like she was holding back tears. I'd always thought she was closer to the other two Heathers than they were to each other, so I wasn't surprised. But did Duke really care so little? I knew she'd blabbered on multiple TV news stations about remembering the good times, but I'd always wondered if that was just her way of covering up.

Either way, just as we were let go, I went to talk to them. "Heather, Heather?" I said softly. "I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm sorry you've lost your friend."

Heather McNamara smiled timidly, like she didn't actually mind that I'd dared to talk to her, but she said nothing. Duke seemed to have no expression at all, but she said "We don't need your sympathy or advice. Just because you think you've had a lucky escape doesn't suddenly make you one of us."

I scowled. "Just trying to be nice to someone whose friend died. I'm not angling for an invite into your clique." As I stalked away, I muttered "Make that cult."

I was pretty glad we'd be back to school tomorrow, though, despite the Heathers. I really wanted to get back into a routine, even though I'd also have to attend Heather's funeral on Saturday.

We do have more to get through on Monday. I mean, if you're out of school when it's hardly started and your parents aren't home…well, what would YOU do? Also, a note on Heather Duke – is she really bulimic, or does she have purging disorder? Bulimics always binge first. We never see her binging, so it's possible she only has purging disorder – and that seems to go away once Heather Chandler is out of the picture, so at least that's something.