I said more was to happen, right? Thanks for reviewing, Princess Crystalgem.

The week passed rather peacefully. School didn't seem to have totally recovered from Heather's death. No one had stepped into her place. It was like everyone was still sitting shivah, like in Jewish culture. Gwen still sat with Courtney and Lindsay at lunchtimes and talked to Emma on the phone as much as she could. Still, that wasn't much, as Courtney and Lindsay still expected to be invited over or wanted her to come to her house.

On Saturday, the girls finally left Gwen alone. It was Heather's funeral, so they both went. Gwen pretended to be sick so she could spend the morning with Trent and the girls didn't call her afterwards, so she finally managed to invite Emma over for a movie night. Since she felt so guilty about missing it so many times, she let Emma choose – 10 Things I Hate About You, which was on Disney+– and they scoffed popcorn – buttery for Gwen and icing-sugar for Emma.

"Any ideas about what you want to do about the note and Chase?" Gwen broached tentatively.

Emma shrugged. "Not really. I just think about it and I get so angry I can't think what to do. But I wish I knew who wrote the note. They're the ones that I really should blame. I already knew Chase was a major jerk and an idiot. I can't believe I thought he might have accepted he was wrong. Not after the time he painted my room while I was asleep in there!"

Gwen remembered that. Chase had known how much Emma liked a shade of yellow, so he'd used a pressure-blaster to paint her room, without bothering to move the furniture or even wake the poor girl. It took several showers before her skin went back to pink, and even then, it took another week's worth to get rid of the yellowy tinge.

"I wondered if it might have been one of your group," Emma went on, "But I figured you wouldn't have let them do that to me. Then I wondered if it might have been one of the other girls. Maybe Julia?"

Julia's social circle wasn't as popular as Heather's had been, but she was second-tier popular, high enough for Heather's group to treat her civilly but not allowed to sit with them, and she made fun of Emma regularly. But then, she would pick on just about anyone lower than her. She was a YouTuber like Chase, which was what kept her popularity up, especially since she was gorgeous with her wide violet eyes and long thick hair. She was just the type to trick people with notes for her own amusement.

"Maybe," Gwen said non-committally. There was no way she was going to admit to writing the note unless she had to. As long as Emma had nothing that pointed to anyone in particular, she was safe.

The girls talked about Trent for a little while. Gwen hadn't told Courtney or Lindsay about him, but they messaged each other every night with long conversations, as well as spending that morning together. Trent had even brought his guitar and sang a rough version of the song he was writing about her, talking about seeing her surface side in the school cafeteria, and seeing another side of her at the store, and then finally a third side when she came through his window, and how he just wanted to know every side of her, in every situation.

"That's super romantic," Emma sighed wistfully when Gwen told her about the song. "Even if Chase hadn't cut my brakes, writing a song about me wouldn't have entered his mind. And if he had, he would have made it all about him."

Gwen remembered Emma's seventeenth birthday when Chase had registered a star to be named after Emma, except he called it "Chase's Girlfriend", planning to have Emma legally change her name to match.

"You were so right to dump him," Gwen commented lazily. "You deserve someone that actually treats you like they care about your life. At the very least."

But Sunday night wasn't so much fun. Around eight, Gwen's phone buzzed and Lindsay's name came up. Gwen gave a sigh and answered. "Hi," she said, slightly suspiciously.

"Gwen?" Lindsay's voice was small and scared. "Um, I'm out at Hatchet's Farm. Can you come and meet me? It's an emergency."

Gwen gave a sigh, but agreed. "I'll be right there." She had no idea what Lindsay was doing at a farm almost twenty minutes away, but she didn't mind giving her a ride home, or whatever she wanted.

As it was, Lindsay didn't need a ride home. She was standing there with Courtney, next to Courtney's Jeep. It was clear there was nothing wrong with it.

"We were out on a date," Lindsay explained. "I was with Chase and Courtney was with Ripper. We were supposed to go to Heather's grave. We had her favourite drink to pour all over it. But the boys drank it all, and then they stopped out here."
"Why?" Gwen asked. "There's nothing out here but…" Realization dawned. "Please don't tell me they came out here for something that stupid."

But not far away, there was the sound of drunken boys and pained mooing. The boys really had wanted to go cow tipping for some reason.

"Chase wanted to video it," Courtney explained. "Not as a part of his livestreams, but just something to tide the fans over until the next one. You should have heard him introducing Ripper to the camera! He's hot and all, but he'll flirt with anything when he's drunk. Practically making out with the SmartPhone."

"But why do you need me?" Gwen asked. "Do you need a ride home, or what?"

Lindsay looked uncomfortable. "Not exactly. We kind of…made a deal with the guys. Like, if we got you to show up here, they'd give Courtney her keys back and we could go home. Chase has them."

Gwen scowled as she realized what was going on. "So…you escaped date rape…by volunteering me for date rape?"

Courtney smiled sweetly. "Come on, Gwen, don't be a prude," she said brightly. "We're giving you the chance to have your first time with the hottest guys in school! Anyone would be lucky to have them."

"So lucky you're running away from them," Gwen deadpanned. She didn't even add that they heard her tell Heather not to set her up with either of them specifically, or that she'd already had her first time with someone she liked a lot better. But even if she hadn't, she'd rather go out with someone who wasn't even into girls than these two idiots – at least they wouldn't just want to get into her panties.

At that moment, the guys finally arrived back, having finished with the cow field. It was clear just from their tones that they were both extremely drunk. Ripper spoke first. "Well, the cows are down! And I see you got your friend here!"

"Yes, we did, and that means we're going home," Courtney declared. She held out her hand. "Chase, give me the keys back, now."

Chase reached into his hoodie pocket and dropped the keys into Courtney's outstretched hand.

Gwen made a last-ditch effort. "Wait…please, you can't just leave me with these two!"

But the two girls weren't listening.

"Hey, look, more keys!" Before Gwen could react, Chase had her keys in his hand, and was playing keep-away with them, tossing them over Gwen's head to Ripper.

"Hey, give those back!" Gwen yelled, trying desperately to reach them. Chase wasn't much taller than her, but Ripper was. He easily kept them away from her when she made a grab for them.

"Come on, girl!" Chase wheedled. "You had to expect us to want you. You're superhot now. If you didn't want this, why did you bother dressing up? You have to expect us to get you dressed down."

Gwen scowled. He was so unintelligent that he didn't even understand what that really meant. At least she knew what he wanted to say.

"Like you were a total nerd and so weird and creepy-looking before," Ripper chipped in. "But now you're good enough for us. Just quit trying to get your stupid keys. You'll get them back. Once you've had the two best experiences of your life."

"I'd rather sleep with the cows than with either of you," Gwen shot back, trying to keep her anxiety concealed. She wasn't going to yell at them or beg them not to do it, because that would just make them want it more, but she couldn't resist a little sarcasm.

It took some time for Gwen to figure out how to get her keys back. She had to stall while she was trying to come up with a plan, but at last she got there. The ground was full of cowpats, some pretty fresh and sloppy. She had good balance, but the boys were so drunk they could barely stand. She smiled sweetly at them while they were still blabbering on about how she shouldn't have been wearing a miniskirt if she didn't want them, so they weren't prepared when she gave them both a little push, enough to make them slip and the keys land on the grass (thankfully, a clean patch). The boys, however, weren't quite as clean. Gwen picked the keys up immediately and made a run for it.

The boys cat-called after her. "Hey, we can still make it good for you!"

"It's just our clothes – we don't need them, they'll just get in the way anyway!"

"No thanks and you're welcome!" Gwen yelled back. "I don't like shit-stained hair, either!" She started her car and booked it out of there.

This was kind of a fun one to write. You know what they're going to do to Gwen for not giving them what they want, right? And I managed to actually write lines that these two were more likely to say. I also played up the idea of the meaning of the West End song's title "You're Welcome", that being that they think they're doing her a favour.