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The new kid was mysterious, attractive, and probably dangerous. The whole package. He’d pulled a pretty severe stunt during lunch, but Veronica didn’t mind. Hell, she’d thought it was hot. If he was her boyfriend, he could stand up for her, fight for her, save her from the Heathers. Maybe he could make the world beautiful, in color.
“Veronica, the bell just rang. Veronica!”
Speak of the devil.
“Ok, yeah, ok, I got lost in my thoughts.”
“Sure, you totally weren’t thinking about the psycho kid from the caf.” Heather Chandler snapped back.
“She totally was, Heather, I mean-”
“Shut up, Heather!”
“Sorry Heather.”
Poor Heather Duke. She can’t catch a break.
“I’ve gotta motor if I want to be ready in time for the party tonight, so bye guys.”
“Whatever, just be ready for me to pick you up at 5:30.”
She really had plenty of time, but Veronica just wanted to catch a break from their crap, and maybe look for the dark horse new kid in the parking lot. What kind of car would he have? It’s probably dark. No, definitely dark. She pushed through the crowd of kids walking too slowly towards the door, and into the sunlight. As she scanned for a trench coat or a car she’d never seen, she wondered how much easier this could be. If only this whole mess was in color. He’d be so much easier to spot. Wouldn’t that be nice. She knew it’d happen eventually, but she’d already lived 17 years of her life without color. Heather McNamara said it wasn’t as exciting as it seemed, but she didn’t believe her. There was a whole part of life that she couldn’t see, because she hadn’t kissed the right person yet. Stupid. It’s so stupid.
When Heather had called her hysterically screaming about some girl named Tiffany, Veronica had been shocked that one of her friends had actually found their soulmate so young. She was only one of 3 kids at Westerburg who had, and she was worshipped even more than before for it, to the point where her power rivaled Chandler’s. Chandler had been pissed off to a new degree Veronica hadn’t known was possible, and had been even meaner since. The nicest thing she’d done for Veronica since was invite her to the homecoming party she didn’t even want to go to. And invite was more like drag her along without giving her another option.
Maybe new kid will be at the party. No, it’s Kurt and Ram’s party. Never mind.
Her time in Drunk High Schooler Hell would probably be miserable.
“Plain or BQ?”
“BQ!” The whole of Sherwood could probably hear Heather’s screaming.
Damn, I get it. No plain.
Veronica swung open the door to the 7/11, and listened to the little sound of the bell announcing her presence. She surveyed the area, looking for a display of Corn Nuts, but found something infinitely more interesting.
It’s him. What do I do?
Before she could come up with a plan of action, the mystery kid turned away from the slushie machine and noticed her.
“Greeting and salutations. You want a Slurpee with that?”
“If you’re nice, I’ll let you buy me a Big Gulp.”
“How about a Coke Slurpee? A nice compromise?”
“Deal. But at least tell me your name first.”
The kid smiled and pushed his hair out of his face. Cute.
“JD, although I’m formally known as Jason Dean. But don’t call me that. And you’re Veronica, right?”
Veronica was a little taken aback by him already knowing her. What if he’s heard about some awful thing I’ve done with the Heathers, or some dirty rumor about me, or-
“Sorry, that was weird. I heard a few kids say your name. Pretty popular, aren’t you, hanging with the Heathers and all?”
Oh. So he had her about her. But it didn’t sound bad. I hope it’s nothing bad. Stupid Kurt and his stupid rumors.
“I’m Veronica. Veronica Sawyer. I’m only popular because of my friends, but I sort of hate them.”
“That’s funny, I sort of hate your friends, too.”
The mystery kid, now known as JD, turned back around to face the Slurpee dispenser.
“One Slurpee coming right up.”
He grabbed the biggest size they had and popped a lid on it. He makes that look easy. In one swift move, he aligned the opening in the lid with the nozzle and pulled the handle. The ice (Heather had told her it was brown) fell out and landed directly in it’s target a foot below. How did he even do that? After sticking one of the funny little spoon straws in it, he turned back towards her.
“Do you pour a lot of slushies?” He nodded. “I can tell.”
I wonder what colors his eyes are.
“I like this place. It’s the only thing that stays the same no matter what town, what school I’m in. I move a lot for my Pop’s company. Big Bud Dean, you’ve seen the commercials.”
Then he pulls the handle and everything blows up. I’ve seen that!
“That’s your dad?”
“Sure is.” His expression turned the slightest bit sad. “Always moving schools. They’re all the same, too, but not in a comforting way.”
Before she could reply, there was a loud honk and a voice she hated screamed her name. Oh shit, Heather’s still waiting.
“As much as I hate to end this little rendezvous, I should probably go.”
“You probably should.”
Veronica thought she might be closer to seeing the world in color than ever before.
“Bye, JD.”
“Bye, Veronica.”
“I know who I’m eating lunch with on Monday. Do you?”
Heather’s words hurt more than getting shot. Veronica was about to be the unnoticed, friendless, boring girl sitting in the corner by herself again. Not even Betty would eat with her now. My life is over. The reputation and image she’d worked so hard with the Heathers to perfect had been ruined by the one who had wanted to create it. She brought me into this life, and she just took me out of it. Heather was in charge of this school, and she was about to make her life suck. At least I threw up on her.
The last thing she wanted to do was stay a deer in the headlights under Heather’s gaze, especially with Heather and Heather standing menacingly behind her. As she slowly turned around, the whole school, no, the whole world, began to mock her.
“She never was pretty anyways. And she was such a slut. Did you hear what Kurt and Ram were saying about her?”
“That bitch deserves what she’s getting.”
“She’s such a goody two-shoes. She wouldn’t make fun of Martha Dump truck. Who does she think she is, Mother Teresa?”
“Finally, they get rid of the ugly one.”
“Veronica just wasn’t good enough to fit in with them. She wasn’t hot enough. We all knew it would happen eventually.”
She was alone.
She had no one.
Standing in front of the house, she could hear the sound of an engine, but not exactly a car.
I don’t own a motorbike. Wait.
A motorcycle rounded the corner, headed in her direction. The rider had on a long jacket and no helmet, so she could instantly tell who it was. Her mystery boy, her knight in shining armor, JD, had arrived. He pulled up right next to her, and she took a step closer to him, making sure she wasn’t hallucinating.
“Well, what do we have here? The life of the party, leaving the party?”
“Very funny. Actually, Heather’s going to kill me. We both had too much to drink and said some stuff we didn’t mean. And, I threw up on her.”
“What a bold move.” He sounded genuinely impressed.
“It wasn’t on purpose. Now I don’t have anywhere to go or a way to get there.”
“Hop on.”
Veronica pulled out her best sarcastic tone. “With no helmet? That’s dangerous.”
She swung a leg over, slid up next to JD, then hesitantly put her arms around his waist.
“Heather’s going to kill you anyways. What’s the damage in it?”
“Right. I’m already a dead girl walking.”
JD started the bike and took off. Veronica looked back at the house, and to her surprise, saw the Heathers standing in front of the house. Chandler looked… What’s that expression? Not angry. Is she sad? Duke looked amused and McNamara looked worried, both probably feeling their respective emotions because there was a chance she’d get hurt riding a motorcycle. She turned back towards JD, and held onto him a little tighter. He picked up speed and the party vanished from sight.
This is it.
JD had driven to the edge of the town, where he led her to an ancient-looking gazebo that probably hadn’t been used in years. It was pretty, and honestly pretty romantic, more than she would have expected from him, and the best part was that no one was going to bother them. They sat down on a bench with no more than an inch of space in between them, and she just soaked up his presence for a few minutes.
“If you haven’t been in Sherwood long, how’d you find this place?”
“I went for a drive my first night in town, and I thought it might prove to be useful in the future. Evidently, it has been.”
He’s definitely into me.
“Well, I’d say it’s been useful, too.”
She paused and leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I don’t know how I’m gonna deal with Heather.” Her voice came out more desperate than she wanted it to, and more worried than she wanted him to know.
“Well, there’s always a way to get rid of her. Depends on how far you’re willing to go.”
“Like I’m gonna kill her. Very funny.”
“Worth a shot.”
“I could try to stage a revolution or something. Yell ‘Off with her head’ and hope for the best.”
“If you cut of her head, another will grow back in its place. Maybe literally, in this situation.”
“If Heather Duke took over the lip gloss gestapo, that’d be chaos.”
“Chaos is what killed the dinosaurs, darling.”
Her stomach was doing little summersaults. He was so perfect. Literally Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome.
“Oh, so I’m darling now. How very.”
“How very?” Is he teasing me? What could that possibly mean?” He’s teasing me.
“How about greetings and salutations? What are you trying to do, give me a Bible or sell me a vacuum?”
“Both.”
“You must be quite the charmer then, to pull that off.”
She looked into his eyes, trying to find any sort of color in them. I’ve heard eyes are pretty. His eyes are probably pretty.
“I think you’d say so.”
He slowly started leaning towards her, and a thousand thoughts raced through her head.
He’s going to kiss me. He has to be my soulmate. I can finally escape this stupid black and white world. I wonder what color everything will be? I wonder what color his eyes are?
It was everything she could have wanted in a first kiss. Gentle and passionate at the same time. It felt like little fireworks were going off in her brain. It was perfect. Her eyes were closed tight, and when they pulled apart, she kept them closed for just a second.
It’s gonna be beautiful.
Life can be beautiful.
She opened her eyes.
Everything was the same.
Just not today.