So, what happens the day that started with murdering two jerk jocks? Thanks for reviewing, PrincessCrystalgem.

Tuesday wasn't as bad as Monday. Lindsay and Courtney still acted like they didn't want to know Gwen, but she ended up sitting alone in the cafeteria without harassment. The popular kids still eyed her with disdain, but at least they said and did very little. There were a few comments people made, but they were easy to ignore. Like in Math class, Scott, a grubby kid who'd been homeschooled until freshman year, asked her if she'd consider trying his sword sometime. And in English, Sierra, a so-called loser who worked on the school magazine, started pestering Gwen to tell her all about the "soft side" of the two football stars. But it wasn't as big a deal as it had been yesterday.

Gwen hated to admit it, but Chase and Ripper not being there took the edge off a bit. Maybe that was something Trent had thought of when he said good would come out of it. Still, she avoided him in the lunch room and didn't even look near the corner where he usually sat on his own.

Emma didn't sit with Gwen, either. She wouldn't even sit with her in history class, but Gwen caught her looking at her with a furious expression. She knew what was going on – she was angry at the idea that Gwen would even think about doing anything with her ex. It was totally against girl code. Worse, Gwen had agreed with Emma every time that Chase wasn't worth her time, so she was also starting to wonder if Gwen had been lying to reassure her. She did try slipping Emma a note telling her she didn't do it, but Emma only read it over once and then screwed it up and threw it away.

Emma didn't always believe gossip, even though she liked it, but this was different. It was coloured with her emotional perception of what everyone was saying, and that made her cross enough to believe it. It was hard for Gwen to take. Oh well. Maybe when the boys were found, the rumour would die down.

Still, it was a relief when Trent took Gwen's advice seriously and left her alone that afternoon. And the next, even though school was cancelled, since the men had been found and Wednesday was free in honour of the football team's star players.

Emma finally called Gwen. "I'm sorry about everything," she said finally. "I didn't really believe what everyone was saying about you, but I couldn't help listening to some of it. I guess after what just happened…" her voice trailed off for a moment. "I guess…maybe they were covering up or something?"

"Hey," Gwen said lightly, "No problem. Everyone believed it. I guess at least now people will know they were lying. I guess they were covering up their relationship with toxic masculinity or something. I mean, I know the football team would have made their lives hell if they knew."

"And you know that guy that watches the hockey team?" Emma said. "We talk sometimes. I reckon he'd give them a hard time for being closeted if he'd known, like there was something wrong with it. He's been out since freshman year. He's never gotten on with the football team, even though he's, like, the star of the basketball team."

"I guess ultra-masculine assholes are major cowards," Gwen said, shrugging, even though Emma couldn't see her. "So I'll sit with you at lunch tomorrow?"

"Sure. I'll see you then."

So Gwen sat with Emma on Thursday at lunch. On Friday, Lindsay invited Gwen to sit with her and Courtney again, and just to keep the peace, Gwen complied. Courtney acted the way Heather used to, controlling the conversation, but Lindsay was quiet. Just as Heather had done to Courtney, every time Lindsay spoke, there was a fifty-fifty chance of Courtney telling her to shut up. Lindsay didn't look angry when she did it, just hurt, but she echoed the meek reply of "Sorry, Courtney."

Gwen felt bad for not helping Lindsay, but she'd only just climbed her way back into the clique and after the beginning of the week, she was almost afraid to argue with Courtney for the moment. She promised herself she'd do it sometime, but not yet.

Trent didn't try to talk to Gwen until Friday night. Saturday was going to be the funeral, one the two boys would share. He called her. "I know you're probably still mad at me," he said hesitantly, "But are you going to Chase and Ripper's joint funeral?"

"Actually, I am," Gwen said flatly. "I think I owe it to them."

"Yeah, I feel the same way," Trent admitted. He was still convinced they'd done the right thing, but it didn't mean he didn't feel a little guilty, now that the rush was over. "I was going to go, too. Do you think we could sit together there? I might need some support to get through it."

Gwen couldn't find it in her to be mad at Trent any longer. She was still upset, but… "We should probably talk it through afterwards," she said, "Maybe at my house, but okay. We can support each other while we're there."

"Sure," Trent agreed readily. "I agree. We do need to talk."

The funeral was actually a lot less heavy than they expected. Ripper's dad was waxing lyrical about how ashamed he was of his eldest son for being gay. Two of his brothers were sitting in the front pew, with the second youngest at the end in his wheelchair. He was said to have cerebral palsy, although it was rumoured his parents had just dropped him on his head a few too many times.

Chase's dad, in contrast, insisted that the relationship the boys supposedly shared had nothing wrong with it, stating very loudly and tearfully "I love my dead gay son!"

"How do you think he'd deal with an alive gay son?" Trent whispered to Gwen. She didn't want to find it funny, but she did. At least she managed to keep her expression to a half-smile.

There followed a long eulogy about how the boys were probably happy in heaven with Judy Garland and rollerskates and Jesus stating that same-sex relationships were cool. Even Ripper's dad came around when Chase's dad pointed out they'd experimented a few times. Together.

The funeral ended with a lot of good feeling in the air, and even Gwen felt herself relax a little bit as they drove back to her house.

"You see what I mean?" was the first thing Trent said. "School's been so much easier this week. No freshmen getting picked on for being fourteen, everyone accepting their relationship. A day off. Those parents promoting acceptance. They'll be painting rainbows on their old lockers next."

"Yeah," Gwen said flatly. "Whatever. You were right about that. It doesn't mean what we did was right, though. Three people are dead because of us."

Trent shrugged. "I guess. But every crusade has casualties. It doesn't mean it's not worth it all in the end. We're making the world a better place for the people that deserve it. What happened this week just proves it. So, the question is, who's next?"

"What?!" Gwen's head jerked. She stared at Trent, her eyes wide with horror. "Did you just say we should continue killing people?"

"What about Courtney?" Trent went on. He opened his coat briefly, showing Gwen that his revolver was tucked into an inner pocket. "She was the one spreading the rumours. I know just from looking at her table that she's bullying Lindsay. We talked about dealing with her."

"You also said you'd leave the method to me," Gwen reminded him, still staring at him with the same expression of terror. "I'm not killing anyone else! Why are you even carrying that thing around?"

"Self-defence," Trent said immediately. "I'm not hurting anyone by keeping it. It's a dangerous world out there. It's got the safety on, anyway. What's wrong?"

"You're literally planning to kill people is what's wrong!" Gwen said, her voice wild. "Self-defence I get, but we didn't kill anyone in self-defence before. I can't face another murder. I won't forge another suicide note or help you kill anyone else. And if you're going to, we're over."

There was a long pause.

"You'd do that?" Trent said, a tremor in his voice. "You'd just throw us away? This is special. I love you. And I know you love me. Our love is God, like I said last week. Or Heaven. Something more than a normal relationship. I don't want to lose you."

Gwen's face softened. "I don't want to dump you," she said gently. "I agree. I don't want to lose you, either – and I'll stay with you if that's what you want. But I can't kill anyone else. I just want to be normal. Be seventeen." She looked at the ground.

Trent gently tipped her face up to lock eyes. "Then that's what we'll do. We'll be normal teenagers. We can go out on dates, join clubs at school, watch TV, bake brownies, maybe go to prom together or something. How about we start with a date tomorrow night? A proper date. I'll take you to a movie or something. You like horror, right? I'll find something good."

Gwen relaxed, just a little. She didn't know if she fully believed it, but she wanted to so much that she convinced herself she did. "Sure. Let's start tomorrow."

And then they kissed and, for a moment, Gwen truly, deeply believed it. They were going to put this behind them and things would be okay.

Oh, Gwen…you don't really believe that, do you? Okay, okay, I'll leave it to Heather to taunt her. And as a note, if you didn't catch it, I referenced Bowie and Emma's canon friendship, because Emma mentioned in this chapter that she talks to him sometimes. They're not really friends here, but maybe they have some classes together or something. Similarly, Ripper mentions having three brothers in canon, all of who got dropped as babies and "two of us are fine". That's why one brother is physically disabled. Additionally, they were partially inspired by the scene in the movie where when Veronica laughs and a little girl in the front pew turns to look at her.

Also, if you're wondering, I am a major Gwent supporter, so please don't think that just because the canon characters are in a toxic relationship that I don't like Gwent. I just couldn't see anyone but Gwen as Veronica.