Sunday night. Sleepover. Let's go!

I made a few minor plans about what to do when Heather McNamara called Veronica before I went over. I had to go with her, that was a given. I'd just need to make sure we took my car and that I kept my keys concealed. I'd have to wear my black jeans – the pockets weren't good, but my leggings didn't have pockets at all. The nights were getting cool (In fact, today was the first of October) and I'd need to bring a cardigan, so I picked out not my green one, long as it was, but a more shapeless one that was long enough to hide my pockets, a boring cream and bobbly with pilling. It never hurt to look a little less attractive and more modest to drunken horny men. Maybe I could convince Veronica to ditch the cool blazer and skirt for a night and dress in a way that didn't make her so tempting to them, but I couldn't rely on that.

My parents were at work most of the day, so I was left to myself. I called Martha to see how she was.

"To be honest, I'm not great," she told me. "I've been thinking over all that stuff from last week. How come Heather Chandler can make my life a misery, even when she's dead?"

"Maybe Veronica's learned her lesson," I suggested. "I think she's missing you. If she wasn't worth forgiving, she'd probably never have told you the truth."

I heard Martha heave a sigh. "It's not about making her learn a lesson, Ana," she insisted. "It's about whether I can still look at her and call her my best friend after she exploited something she knows about me in front of the whole school."

"She had her head turned by popularity and was afraid to lose it," I paraphrased. "I think she tried to make up for it at the party when she protected you. I mean, if you're not ready to…"

There was a pause.

"I want to forgive her," Martha said finally, "But I don't feel like I can right now. Maybe when I stop feeling totally betrayed. I will say I think she's tried to make up for it. It's just that I'm still having trouble getting over what she did at all. It took courage to own up to it all – but it doesn't all fade away just because she owned up. She said she understood why I wouldn't want to see her. Just…I can't have forgiving her pushed. Otherwise I might never be ready."

I dropped the subject and tried to redirect Martha, asking what she'd been up to that weekend (just shopping with her mom) before I said goodbye and hung up.

When it finally got to five and I drew up in front of Veronica's house, I was getting nervous about having to face the drunk jocks. I rang the doorbell tentatively.

Veronica was the one who answered. "Hi, Ana!" she said, sounding pretty positive. "Come on in." I noticed her looking at my cardigan, sort of confused.

"I know, horrendous condition, isn't it?" I said. "But it's cozy. I didn't take you as the kind of person to worry too much about clothes when we're not hanging out with your cool friends. It's not like you have to swap to looking scruffy just because I do."

Veronica laughed. "Well, I like the way I look now, but I have to confess, before this year, I almost always dressed frumpy. I covered up – it was a way to keep the attention off me. It's only when I joined the Heathers that they insisted on getting me to wear clothes like theirs, because then I was meant to stand out."

I was glad she told me. Maybe she'd sensed she didn't have to be cool for me to continue liking her.

We ended up ordering a giant pizza between us, half extra cheese (Veronica's pick) and half pepperoni with barbeque sauce (me). We also ordered two mini-tubs of double chocolate ice-cream.

We were just finishing off the ice-cream when Veronica asked me a question that I wasn't sure I wanted to answer. "So, what's with you and JD? I noticed you come to school together."

"Oh, that," I said guiltily. "We started dating last week. It just happened, so we decided to share rides to school and home and hang out when we're not in school. We just sort of decided not to hang out too much when we're at school, so I can balance my time between him and everyone else. Like not hide it, but not broadcast it. That's why we don't sit together at lunch or anything."

Veronica didn't look disappointed or anything, to her credit. She looked a bit envious, but more interested. "So what's he like?" she asked, her eyes bright with curiosity. "I've wanted to get to know him, but I only really got to talk to him once at Seven-Eleven."

I smiled. "Well, then you know he drinks a LOT of slushies. I think he has a hard time at home, without a mom. His dad's a bit of a nightmare from what he's told me. But the thing is, I get the feeling that's why we got so close so fast. I don't know if I could call it love yet, but he's a really good listener, always interested in me. You know how some boys just want to get you in bed? Well, he's not like that."

Veronica smirked. "So, if that's the case, how much time have you two spent in bed?" She laughed out loud when I blushed. "Don't worry, I get it. So, what was it like? The Heathers said whenever they did it, it was mainly just boring and they only did it to stay on the guys' good side. They said all they did was just have to lie there, let them take what they wanted and hope the condom didn't break."

"Did the Heathers ever do it with anyone with a shred of sensitivity in their nature?" I quipped. "He's really gentle with it. Experimental, but gentle, unless I ask him not to be. I told him I was new to most of this and he said I could always stop him if I wanted to, and I felt totally safe. Even out of bed, he's super affectionate – you know, innocently. It's how I know he's not always trying to get that from me, that he can just hold me without it always having to be about that. I almost like it more. I think he doesn't really have anyone else to be affectionate with, so I got lucky."

Veronica's expression became even more envious. "Sounds amazing. I'm so jealous!"

I laughed a little. "Don't be. Even if you don't find anyone this year, you're smart and funny and pretty, and you're nice with it all. When you go to college, you'll probably have ten offers from super-cute, super-smart and super-sensitive guys within the first month."

Right on cue, the phone rang. Veronica picked it up. "Hello?...What's wrong?" She listened again. Then she put the phone down and turned to me. "That was Heather Mac. She said she's at Layman's Farm and needs help. Some kind of emergency."

"We can take my car," I offered. No way was I letting go of my keys, but Veronica didn't know what was going on and didn't have any pockets in her skirt, anyway. As soon as the Heathers were off the hook, I'd grab Veronica and we'd just walk off and lock ourselves in my car before zooming off.

Sadly, things weren't quite that easy. I mean, we took my car and I tucked my keys deep into my jean pocket, a pocket which barely showed underneath my cardigan. That part was fine. I never lost my keys. But I really underestimated the power of drunken men.

When we found the two girls, they explained what was going on. They'd been out with Kurt and Ram, meaning to go to Heather's gravestone and pour her favourite drink on it, but the boys had spotted cows in a field and insisted on drunken cow tipping, and they had the car keys. We could hear them a few feet away, laughing as they shoved the cows down. Yep, that was I'd thought.

I scowled at them. "Well, why did you call Veronica? You don't want a ride home, so don't bother telling us that you do. I think I know what it is you want, so let's just hear it."

Veronica gave me a confused look, but I just nodded towards the two girls.

Heather McNamara looked a little guilty. "Well, Ana," she said in a perky tone, "You could go home if you want, although you might want to stay. You see, Veronica, we made a deal with the guys. If we got you to show up here, they'd give Heather and me the keys so we could go home. Of course, Ana, you're welcome to stay too. If you want. The guys might want you to. Kurt's been talking about you – at least, I think he means you. You hung out together at the party last week, right?"

I gave a sigh. "Neither of us are interested in standing in for you. Either of you. Can't we just ditch the guys and give you both a ride home?"

But it was too late. The guys lurched forward out of the darkness. "Hello, ladies!"

"The cows are down, and the chicks are up – for grabs!"

I could barely tell which was which. All I really knew is that Kurt was a little taller than Ram.

Heather Duke spoke up. "Okay, so Veronica is here, so, we're going. Plus she brought a friend with her. Car keys, now."

"A deal's a deal!" McNamara chipped in.

We practically begged the girls not to leave us with them, but they just walked off happily the second Kurt gave them the keys. We were left alone with the boys. I was just glad for my pocketed keys.

Ram's eyes were fixed on Veronica, but Kurt's weren't. He was looking from her to me, like he was interested in both of us. I could see where this was going, and I started wishing I hadn't ever gotten involved, even if it had been the right thing. Slowly, he turned to me.

"Hi, honey," he said in a flirty tone. "I don't think I ever caught your name."

I scowled at him. "My name is I-don't-like-men-who-don't-know-that-no-means-no, and you are going to go away and leave both of us alone. And FYI, it's Ana to you."

"Come on, girl, don't be like that!" Kurt said in a whiny voice, trying to wrap a possessive arm around my shoulders. "You'll hurt my feelings – you don't want to do that, do you?"

I could hear Ram talking to Veronica in the same tone, but I was too distracted to help her out. Still, I felt duty-bound to at least say something in her favour.

"Get your hands off me and tell your buddy to leave my friend alone too, or you will both learn that black and blue balls are much worse than just blue ones!" I threatened. "If you both want relief so bad, the solution is simple – go buy some toys!"

Kurt didn't let go – his arm tightened and he angled himself so he was side on and partway in front of me with my legs behind him, so there was no way I could move to a position where I could kick him in the balls. Clearly he was sober enough to take the threat seriously. Worse, this position meant his face was a lot closer to mine. "You can't just leave! Not when you're this hot! Come on, stop hiding it!" I almost gagged. I could smell his breath, and even though it didn't obstruct my breathing, it made me feel sick. What had he been drinking – alcoholic urine?

I scowled. "How can you even tell what I look like? And why are you going after me, anyway? Last I checked, I wasn't even that popular."

"Come on, I know you're hiding that bod for a reason," Kurt insisted, tugging at my cardigan briefly, even managing to undo a button. "And you know those eyes and hair are teasing me. I've had my eye on you for a while. That's how I know what you really look like under those thick layers." He pulled a stray lock of my hair, straightening it before pulling harder. I'd liked the way it felt when JD did it, but the same action from Kurt made my skin crawl. Had he really been watching me for a while? Is that why he'd danced with me at the homecoming party? Had he just noticed me there, or only made the first move there? I wished now I hadn't let him.

He managed to undo another button on my cardigan. "Like I thought," he murmured. "Underneath that cardie is a hot as hell girl just dying to show off her wild side. Stop playing hard to get – come on, let's have some fun! I promise you'll like it. Just give me a chance to show you how good I am. I can take it slowly if that's what you want."

I struggled against him again. "Let me go, now! I'm not interested in you or your idea of fun, fast or slow, not when I already have a boyfriend who actually knows how to take no for an answer. Don't you have a girlfriend who just ditched you because you wouldn't do the same for her? How come you can't learn from that?"

"Come on, baby," Kurt wheedled, "At least let me get something out of having you out here. I'll make it good for you, honest I will. Your boyfriend doesn't have to know." He even tried to lean down to plant a kiss on my neck, but he never actually managed to get there.

I finally wrenched myself out of his grip. "I told you, asshole, no means no! Either you and your buddy let us leave, or we kick you both in the balls and let the local opera group know that they have a couple of male sopranos in town."

Veronica wasn't having much more luck than I was, although she managed to get Ram off her. We exchanged glances as the boys continued to advance on us, and I slyly pointed down, to all the cowpats on the ground. She nodded. At the same time, she accidentally-on-purpose swept her leg over, causing Ram to slip and fall. I, meanwhile, did what I'd been threatening, kicked Kurt as hard as I could exactly where I'd said and then gave him just a little push that caused him to fall while the pain distracted him.

"You're welcome!" Veronica and I sang out as we walked back to my car. They called after us, but didn't actually manage to get up and follow us.

"I'm glad I'm staying over with you," I said, shivering. "After what those two tried, I wouldn't want to be on my own with my thoughts."

Veronica shuddered as we opened the car doors. "Me neither."

I chose Kurt to be the one to pick on Ana because…well, in the musical, he gets paired with Heather McNamara, who I always imagine as a blonde. That's why they danced together at the homecoming party, just so I could establish that he'd noticed her. I've checked the original version of the musical that had "Blue" in it, which shows Ram trying to cling to Heather Duke while McNamara is telling Veronica about why they called her there. And yes, both songs are referenced here. And yes, I do know that in the movie, McNamara went out with Ram and asked Veronica to step in so Kurt had a partner, but the two guys provide the same purpose, so I guess it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.