So we've arrived at the last chapter. War is over. But this story isn't yet!

When Gwen arrived at the gym, there was no cheering or shouting, like there had been at every other pep rally. Everyone had heard the bomb outside, and it had drained the pep out of it completely.

Lindsay ran up to Gwen, breaking out of formation. "Where have you been?" she asked, concerned. "And what was that sound out there? I was hearing rumours that you killed yourself!"

Courtney sidled up behind her. "It looks as if you tried to. Is that it? Did you fail at death like all the other losers trying suicide? I'm surprised you even have the nerve to show up here if you did. What's wrong with you, wearing no makeup, dressed like a circus freak, and how did the clothes get so sooty anyway? It really looks as if you've just visited hell."

It was true that Gwen's skirt was stained with ash. She'd been out of range for the bomb to do her any harm, but it had splattered her dress.

"Yeah, I did," Gwen snarked. "I got back, like, one minute ago. And it's time for you to stop making regular life hell for everyone else." She made a grab for the scrunchie, tugging it out of the short ponytail. Courtney's shoulder-length hair fell back into its old style.

Courtney's cheeks went red with fury, matching her outfit. "Excuse me?! What are you trying to do?"

The rest of the school was silent, watching the by-play. And as that happened, the gym doors opened again. As it did, a girl, leaning heavily on a pair of crutches with a bandaged leg and neck brace, slowly limped in. It was totally silent as she arrived.

It was Emma. Badly hurt, but alive and conscious.

Gwen turned to address the whole school, putting the scrunchie on her wrist. No way did she want to wear it in her hair. She wasn't going to be a queen bee. "It's time we all moved on with life. We're all scared and damaged, but that doesn't mean people have to kill themselves. They don't. It's time we stopped copying popular people and started being ourselves. And I'm starting by doing what I should have done a month ago."

With that, she stepped up to Emma, and addressed her directly. "I'm really, really sorry, Emma. I know I don't deserve another chance with you, but I really miss having you as my friend. And – I don't know, are you free tonight? We could choose a good movie. Some romcom with a happy ending?"

There was a long pause. The two former best friends locked eyes, Gwen's dark blue to Emma's light.

Then, finally, Emma's face broke into a tremulous smile. "I'm free. And I miss you, too. We still need to talk, but…a movie night sounds like a good start. But I'm not sure happy endings exist anymore."

Gwen managed a small smile. "Well, I can't promise that there's not going to be a posse trying to ruin our fun. It's high school. That doesn't end. But I'd be honoured to be friends with you again. Once we've talked it through. Lindsay, do you want to come?"

Lindsay gave a squeal and rushed over to join them, hugging Gwen, then Emma. "I'd love to!"

Emma stiffened when Lindsay unexpectedly pulled her into a hug, but then her face relaxed. She couldn't hug Lindsay back because the crutches was all that was keeping her upright, but when she let go, both girls were smiling.

Gwen looked at the current queen bee. It was a hard look, but there was a silent plea in it too. For the last few weeks, Courtney had been a nightmare. But Gwen still remembered the sick, hurt girl that had been Heather's punching bag. She'd been as badly abused as any of them. Maybe she deserved to start over too. She was ready to accept her – if she was ready to accept them.

Courtney couldn't meet her eyes. There were tears in her own. Something about losing the scrunchie just took away all her power, making her look more pathetic than anything. She looked around for a moment, then ran out of the gym, trying her best to hold back the tears.

Even though Lindsay had done almost the same thing a few days ago, Gwen didn't worry this time. Courtney wasn't a suicide risk, but she'd need some time before she adjusted to how life was going to be from now on.

Once again, Gwen looked at the rest of the school, and continued her little speech.

"It's time we stopped trying to be people that we don't want to be. We've suffered some great losses. One queen, two sports stars. But that's the thing. Life is short. We're still teenagers. One day, we might change the world, but for this short time before school is over, we should kick back and act like teenagers. We'll never be kids again after this. This is our final chance to be fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen. We should try to make it beautiful."

She stopped, and the kids in the gym all turned and started talking to each other about what she'd said.

Lindsay had tears in her eyes. "That was so beautiful, Gwen!" she said in a wail.

Emma managed a grin. "I guess the last few weeks have meant a lot of changes to all of us. I don't feel like a child anymore, but I'm sure as hell going to make sure I can experience things like a child."

"Good," Gwen said, smiling. "But the first thing I'm going to do this weekend is go to the salon, get my hair dyed back to how it was, and replace all the goth makeup I lost."

Lindsay opened her mouth to protest for a moment, but then looked at Gwen, makeup-free and in her gorgeous gothic dress, and instead said "Maybe we could shop tomorrow for some more clothes to replace the ones we threw out? But, um, just something you might want to know. Blue suits you better than green. You should get more of it. You can rock a goth look, but you should keep blue your colour."

Gwen shrugged. "Sure. I still like blue. I just miss my old style."

Emma spoke up. "So, for the moment, shall we just get out of here? We need to comb the streaming sites and find a good movie."

"Oh, I think I know of the cutest romcom that's on Netflix!" Lindsay chirped. "You'd love it, Ems. Can I call you that?"

Gwen smiled fondly as the two blondes started talking. And, as the first day for the rest of her life began, the three girls walked away from the high school, not once looking back.

That's the ending! There wasn't much left, so this ends a little after the musical does. Also, some versions show both Heathers being friends with Veronica and some show only Heather McNamara depending on the blocking from show to show, so I went for middle ground. You can decide if Courtney joined their friend group eventually or not.

I hope you liked this retelling! Let me know – and if you did like it and haven't seen Heathers, the movie is on YouTube under "Mean girls but it's 1989 and there's blood" at the time of writing (just don't expect to find JD as sympathetic as I portrayed Trent to be – he's based on the more sympathetic musical character), and there are some versions of the musical under "slime tutorial", as well as the entire soundtrack, both off-Broadway and West End, on Spotify.