I said Ana would go to the boys' funeral. Of course she wants to go. She can say goodbye and wait and see if their ghosts show up later.

For the rest of the week, I sat with Veronica and Martha at lunch. Martha was very quiet, probably because of Ram's death. It was clear she was still not over him, like Veronica had said. For all I knew, she'd start asking me for JD's locker combination to look for evidence, so I'd already made plans. I'd just tell her that Ram was probably bisexual and maybe make up something to convince her he wasn't quite over her but thought she was the one who wasn't interested. I could be kind enough that she wouldn't start thinking she should kill herself, but I'd have to hurt her. Oh well, at least Ram couldn't break her heart and she had a reason to move on. The thing was, I knew for a fact that JD didn't have any evidence in his locker, but there was no way I wanted him to find Martha looking for it.

She went to the funeral, though. Kurt and Ram had a joint funeral that Saturday. As I mentioned, JD had decided not to go, but I planned to. I kind of wanted to see their dads hook up like they had in the musical (they didn't disappoint). However, I would have enjoyed it a lot more if Heather Chandler hadn't decided to show up and taunt me again. She didn't actually come inside the chapel – "You don't want people to think you're homicidal and schizophrenic", she said – but she insisted on needling me while I was driving there and was waiting for me when I came out. At least she left me alone that evening.

We didn't get a song, of course, but I did get to hear Bill Sweeney giving Paul Kelly a hard time over calling their sons "disgusting" and telling him those kinds of comments were what their boys died for. He also said the immortal line "I love my dead gay son!" I had to hold back a giggle, especially when he started getting on Paul's case about denying their own fling. And then they kissed in front of everyone.

Did I feel guilty? I wasn't sure. I had felt a little guilty over Heather, but that's because she hadn't actually done anything to me yet. These two had destroyed my reputation because I wouldn't put out for them or cheat on my actual boyfriend. I felt stressed and harassed, with a nervous tingle in my stomach, irritating me, but that might have been because I was dreading the aftermath – that I might be seeing them as ghosts soon. Heather had been taunting me about how they were definitely going to be ready to show themselves to me, and probably it wouldn't be too much longer now.

When it came time to pay my respects, I looked down at them, and again, sent my thoughts to them. "Well, guys, I can't say I'm sorry you won't be harassing girls any more, but I'm sorry this was the only way to stop you. Same as with Heather, really. I suppose I'll be seeing you two in my future, since I set you up. I hope you can hear my thoughts, because Kurt, if you hit on me again, I'm calling the Ghostbusters and asking them how to drop cold showers on ghosts. And Ram, I'll be wanting some answers from you about if you even remember your kindergarten girlfriend."

I didn't see the boys that day, thank heavens. I had to ask Heather a really embarrassing question when we were in my car and I could talk to her without anyone hearing. "I don't want to ask this, but have you ever actually spied on me…you know, when I'm not...decent?"

Heather pretended to throw up. "Gag! Why would I even want to do that, freak?"

"Because if those two come back as ghosts, I think they'll try to," I mumbled, not looking at her.

When I looked up again, Heather's expression became more of a schadenfreude smile. "You're right," she said smugly. "They will. If you wanted me to stop them, maybe you shouldn't have killed me."

"Give me a break, Heather!" I pleaded. "I said I was sorry that was the only way to get you to not kill Veronica and I as far as our social life goes. I don't even care about being high up, I just want to get through high school alive!"

Heather laughed. "Yeah, tell me that again when your boyfriend snaps."

That got to me. I didn't believe JD would ever try to kill me. He'd almost wanted to kill Veronica when she dumped him, but he made it very clear that he loved her too much to go through with it, which is why he went after the rest of the school instead of her. I didn't want to break up with him, even after he'd killed three people. I'd knowingly helped him, wanting those people out of my life. But surely this could be where that part of the story ended?

I didn't worry too much about it that night. I'd told JD I was part of a girls' night, and he'd been okay with it. "I'll come over on Sunday," he'd suggested. "Then you'll have time to tell your parents about me and I can meet them when we go home. We'll do something."

"Can we act like seventeen-year-olds in movies for an afternoon and do something totally generic?" I'd suggested, remembering this was around the time the song "Seventeen" was in the musical. "We could go bowling or something and then have chilli fries as a snack."

I heard JD laugh. "Sure," he said. "I haven't done that since I was a little kid, so I'll probably suck at it, but why not?"

I giggled. "I'm always hurling gutter balls," I told him, "And it's been forever since I went, too." When I was thirteen, in fact. "Some bowling alleys have barriers if we request them, so then we can throw the balls at an angle and still bowl strikes. Maybe we can get those."

JD laughed again. "Maybe. See you then, Indie. Around eleven?"

"Sure," I said, then hung up. I was getting ready to veg out (more Eighties slang) and watch a musical.

As it was, the three of us all had a different reaction to the movie I'd suggested. Veronica had rented it and we shared around the Jiffy Pop. I'd seen the movie before, of course, so I knew it all. Martha seemed to like the budding romance (no pun intended), but reacted pretty badly to Orin abusing Audrey and didn't seem to mind too much when the plant devoured his body. As it was, she jumped when the plant first started talking. The same couldn't be said from "Suppertime" onwards, but she liked the happy ending. The abuse towards Audrey didn't seem to bother Veronica too much – she just had the same uncomfortable reaction anyone would – but she seemed very unnerved as soon as the plant opened its mouth and Levi Stubbs' voice came out, demanding fresh blood. That part just made me giggle. I could see her unease growing throughout. She didn't even seem settled when the plant died.

"It was sentient," she explained when I asked her. "It knew what it was doing. I know it was supposed to be evil and taking over the world and everything, but it was still a living being."

I sighed. "I think that's something to do with the message," I admitted. "There's this one song that got cut short, I think. It's basically the idea that the meek shall inherit the earth, you know? The moral is that if someone like Seymour can help kill for fortune and fame, even if it was just because he was desperate to get out of Skid Row and have enough to get Audrey out, too, then just about anyone could do the same."

Martha shivered. "I know you said it was supposed to be a comedy, Ana," she said, "But I think that's about as close to horror as I can take."

"Be glad you never saw the stage musical," I said wickedly. "That didn't have as happy an ending." I hadn't ever seen the stage musical, but I knew about the alternate ending. It had been restored to some versions of the movie, but that was sometime after I was born.

"How could it be any worse?" Veronica asked. "Let me guess – it succeeded when it went for Audrey."

I nodded. "It got Seymour, too. I think he was trying to destroy it from the inside because it was too strong to get from the outside. I saw a blooper reel once where Rick Moranis was yelling something about a sequel during that scene, messing around. But then people get cuttings of the plants and a lot of them do the same thing. The plant starts taking over the world, and there's a song called 'Don't Feed The Plants'."

The blooper reel comment made the girls laugh. I sighed, though. "I guess my pick for movie night was pretty selfish in the end. Sorry. I'll let you guys pick the next one."

"It's not a big deal, Ana," Martha said in a gentle voice. "You just wanted to share a favourite you had. I do the same. I'm guessing The Princess Bride wasn't your thing, but you watched it when I picked it."

"It's not like we all have to like the same things," Veronica added. "Like we don't dress identically either." We all giggled.

But looking back, I realized the implications of that musical, now that I was living in another one that also featured a murderous character. After seeing that movie again, the idea that anyone was capable of murder, whether it was desperation or anger, or just thinking it was only fair, made me realize that I really was no different to those people, either. JD was as important to me as the good fortune Audrey II brought to Seymour was.

I'd always been into the villains of media. The misunderstood villains, the sad ones, the ones who had plenty of good traits despite the problems. But if I'd attached myself to the nerdy, sweet ones instead, if those were my type…

I couldn't think that way. But maybe, deep down, I was starting to realize something I hadn't thought about before.

If you haven't seen Little Shop Of Horrors, you still know that I don't own it. I should explain that it's a variation on the Faust legend. Audrey II, as the evil plant alien is dubbed, is using fame, fortune and love, as well as Seymour's desire to get out of this poverty-stricken ghetto, to convince him to kill people, because it only feeds on human blood. It eventually attacks Audrey and that's the last straw. Ana has killed people. Not on her own. But she did it, mainly for her own benefits She has to learn that "I love someone and it was their idea" isn't a good excuse.

Fun fact: The blooper reel I mentioned is real. You see Rick Moranis being eaten by the plant while he screams "The sequel, what about the sequel?"

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