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Chapter Text

“High School is the best time of your life.”

That’s what people had always told her. 

Veronica would play these words over in her head as she witnessed Ram Sweeney slamming a tray out of a poor Freshman’s grasp and laughing like some sort of evil hyena. Or when Heather Duke would spread horrible, awful, life-ruining lies that simply weren’t true, and the victim would endure so much torment, that they had to transfer schools.

Or when Heather Chandler had just exploded at Veronica for not sleeping with some frat boy, and then Veronica puked all over her shoes and legged it, just after she had called Heather a bitch or something. She couldn’t quite remember, her brain was fuzzy from the alcohol and adrenaline.

Something she did remember, however, was the malicious snarl on Heather's face as she had promised Veronica total humiliation come Monday. She wasn’t sure she’d ever forget it; the way her heart plunged and her blood ran cold as she realised that as rewarding as it felt to actually stand up to Heather... maybe it wasn’t the most thought-out plan of her life.

No more ‘Reindeer Games’. Great.

Now she was here. Stumbling through the dark, hallowed streets of Sherwood, shouting expletives at the rocks deciding to jam into her feet as her heels were tightly in her grasp. Heather had bought them for her. She wouldn’t be surprised if Heather took them back and shoved them down Veronica’s throat at school.

And so the joy of rolling with the Heathers and looking like Hell on wheels had lasted for a grand total of 3 weeks. For 3 whole weeks, Westerberg wasn't the worst school in the world. 

But of course, she’d had to mess with the Demon Queen, which was rule number one on "things not to do if you want to survive at Westerberg". Apparently, Veronica had missed that class.

Heather had an unfathomable amount of power. People would either cower in fear or stare in awe as she strutted past, being closely followed by her yellow and green counterparts, Heather McNamara and Heather Duke.

The wind suddenly picked up, so ice-cold that it knocked the air out of Veronica’s lungs. She stopped and gasped for a minute, taking the opportunity to actually reflect on where the hell she was going. She couldn’t go back home, no way. In this state? Her mother would destroy her worse than Heather Chandler would on Monday morning. 

Betty’s? She hadn’t spoken to Betty in a while, since ditching her for the Heathers. It seemed a bit scummy for Veronica to completely ditch her, and then the moment she messed up, go running back to her with her tail between her legs, begging for forgiveness. Plus, her pride was roaring in defiance at the mere thought.

Well then, who else did that leave? The whole school now hated her. She was a laughing stock. She needed someone who didn’t give a shit about school, or reputations, or the Heathers.

...Jason Dean! That sexy mysterious new kid she saw at school and then 7/11. He was attractive and seemed into her. She could go over there and… well she didn’t really know what. All Veronica knew was that she was incredibly drunk, incredibly bored, and stood outside a good-looking guy’s house.

A light was on in the upper window, so Veronica assumed that could be JD. She picked up a stone and threw it. No answer.

She tried again. No answer. 

Groaning in anger and exasperation, Veronica slumped against a tree, wondering what the hell she could do now. She was about to just bite the bullet and head home when a low rumbling sound came from around the corner and a dark figure slowed to a halt beside her. JD, on his motorbike, gave Veronica a once over, raised an eyebrow, and held out his hand.

“You look like hell.” He stated bluntly, motioning his head towards the town. “Let’s go get a slushie.”

_____________________________

“You know, Veronica, I see this as a good thing!”

Veronica frowned at JD over her raspberry slushie, drumming her fingers on the greasy white counter. The 7/11 lights were blinding, but at least they weren’t giving her too much of a headache. The brain freezes had definitely sobered her up, to say the least. JD seemed to be an expert on hangover cures, and Veronica wondered just how much she didn’t know about him.

“Excuse me?” She questioned giving him a pointed look.

“Seriously, just look at the good that will come of this!” JD assured her, giving a small smirk that made Veronica’s heart flutter slightly.

“What good could possibly come of this?”

“Hey, call me an optimist.” JD said, shrugging his shoulders and taking another sip, “Now you don’t have to bow down the swatch-dogs and diet-coke heads.”

At this, Veronica sighed, leaning forward against the counter and resting her chin in her hands. “It’s not that easy. I pissed off Heather Chandler in front of everyone. She’s gonna destroy me. Nobody will come within 10 feet of me.”

He gave her a reassuring smile, tilting his head to the side slightly so his jet-black hair fell over his beady, bloodshot grey eyes. “You’ll still have me, Veronica.”

Veronica felt a slight heat rise in her cheeks and she looked away quickly. “Thank you, JD.” She said sheepishly. 

It took her a moment to recover and then reality hit her once more and her mood dampened again. “This really sucks though, I can’t believe she acted like that purely because I’m not a slut like her and I didn’t fuck some guy I’ve just met at a college party.”

JD scowled, his eyes narrowing as he glared at the counter, his hands balled up into fists. “She’s insufferable!” He spat viciously, “I despise her. I reckon there isn’t a single person who could get through to her, reach her heart, she loves herself far too much and she’s far too evil.”

Veronica pondered for a moment. “Well, I don’t think that’s true.” She commented off-handedly, “She may not seem human, but believe it or not: she is. I’m sure there’s someone who could get through to her. Maybe even win her heart.”

JD gave a low grunt in response as he lifted the colourful cup to his lips, evidently not sharing her view. Suddenly, he slammed it back down on the table with wide eyes. Veronica gave a start and shot him a questioning look.

“You said nobody could get through to her, right? Wanna prove it?” JD had a mischievous glint in his eyes as he leaned forward with a toothy grin. “I bet that you can’t get Heather Chandler to fall for you and ask you to prom within three weeks.”

Taking a sip of her drink at that time turned out to be a mistake as now the contents were spilt all over the counter and Veronica was having an uncontrollable coughing fit. She wiped her mouth and shot the cashier an apologetic look, as he stared disdainfully at the mess he would have to clean up later.

“Are you insane?” Veronica shot back incredulously once she had got her breath back, “Where did that come from? I said someone could do it, not me specifically!”

“Come on! It’ll be so fun! Besides, if you manage to get her to fall for you you can have power over her and get some sweet revenge!”

Veronica violently shook her head and gave JD a look as if he was stupid, which she was now thinking he might just be. “Seems like that brain freeze has really gone to your head, JD. We’ve just had this massive fight which means social suicide on Monday, and now you’re talking about trying to get her to fancy me? Besides, Heather Chandler is as straight as can be, it’s impossible.”

JD clicked his tongue and shook his head in mock disappointment, sighing quietly. “I knew you were too chicken, Veronica. I’m disappointed in you.”

“Shut up, you’re not funny.” Veronica insulted, rolling her eyes, “I can’t believe you’re actually serious about this. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

JD laughed. “Alright I’m sorry, but seriously, I reckon you can do it. She may not be straight…”

Veronica gave him a look.

“...Alright, she’s probably straight but still, it’ll be so fun. And just think of the rewards you can get from this. All you need to do is be nice to her and find out what she likes or whatever and you can literally have Heather Chandler wrapped around your finger.”

“You see, JD, you’re forgetting that she literally wants me dead.”

JD held up his arms. “A minor setback.”

Pausing for a moment, Veronica thought on the whole idea, before a question arose.

“Alright… so I’m not doing it, but if I was… what would happen if I won?” She asked, minor intrigue in her tone, though she tried to conceal it.

JD smirked, knowing that he was getting through to her. “I’ll be your servant for an entire year.” He explained casually, waving his hand for dramatic effect and internally relishing the way Veronica’s eyes widened at that, “Whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

Veronica knitted her brow together, studying him for a minute. She couldn't deny, that was a brilliant reward. Unfortunately, it obviously wouldn’t come without its price, and for a reward that good, the price must be atrocious.

“Alright.” Veronica began slowly, biting her lip, “And what if I don’t succeed?”

There was silence for a second. JD thought carefully about what his next words would be. He then looked back up at Veronica, giving her a playful grin and leaning back so as to play down his next words and make them seem less impactful.

“Oh nothing much, just confessing your attraction to Heather Chandler in front of the entire school and begging her to go to prom with you.”

She got up immediately at that. “OK yeah, no way goodbye.” 

JD sat up straighter at that, alarmed, as he watched her jump off her seat and begin to walk away. 

She threw her empty cup into the bin and spun around to face JD again. “No way.” She repeated sternly, “I needed your help, not for you to take the piss. I can’t believe I even thought about this whole thing. I’m going now, see you on Monday.”

She didn’t give him a chance to reply, she just marched out of the door. Sure, she could be seen as being rather rude, but he was insane! Not only was the bet itself potentially life-ruining, but the forfeit definitely was. There was no way in hell she was doing that and she hated herself for even considering it. Why was he even trying to make a bet with her anyway, they had just met. She needs consolation band support, why was he making a bet of all things?

Veronica shook her head, clearing her racing thoughts that were clouding her consciousness like a violent thunderstorm. She was far too drunk for this.

Trudging home and willing to bite the bullet and get grounded, Veronica had to momentarily slap herself to keep herself awake. Unfortunately, this whole journey took longer than usual seeing as she was a high school teenager who had just gone from drinking herself half to death, then single-handedly ruining her life, and getting in a very confusing situation with a mysterious bad boy, which, not surprisingly, left her in not the best state of mind. She was sure she had taken the wrong turn at least five times but, at last, she stumbled onto the driveway of the Sawyer Estate. Veronica silently celebrated the fact that the lights were all off, implying that her parents had gone to bed and may not hear her come in. She gently opened the door, slipped inside, and tip-toed up the steps to her room, making sure to close the door as quietly as possible. She fumbled about embarrassingly in the dark, trying to find the light switch, which she eventually did, and then, with a relaxed sigh, flopped onto her bed. The soft pillows and silky, welcoming bed sheets hugged her comfortingly and she scolded herself for ever choosing a stupid party over this. Sure, leaving her makeup and clothes on may not be the best decision but oh fuck it, that was the least of her worries right now. Her eyes began to close as she lulled into a peaceful slumber-

RING, RING

“Holy fucking shit!” Veronica hissed, bolting up and grasping the phone as quickly as possible, so as to not wake her parents.

With a weary sigh, she placed the phone on her ear and grumbled a “Hello?”

“Veronica! You’re home, thank gosh!”

“Betty?” Veronica inquired, sitting upright and frowning slightly.

The voice on the other end turned slightly withdrawn. “Sorry for calling so late. I know we haven’t talked in ages but I’ve just heard what happened at the party. Are you alright?”

Veronica checked her watch in confusion, which confirmed it had only been about two hours since the incident. She knew word travelled fast in Sherwood but this was ridiculous, they weren’t even all at school together. Although she couldn’t be too surprised, Heather Chandler was probably announcing Veronica’s little slip-up to the whole world right now. Veronica rubbed her brow and took a moment to collect herself.

“...Yeah, yeah, I’m ok. What exactly did you hear?”

“Oh! Um, just that you had punched some guy when he said you were pretty and when Heather tried to calm you down, you threatened to kill her and then purposely threw up all over her and then ran off.”

Ugh, of course, Heather would twist the story. That little bitch.

“Ok well, that’s not exactly what happened.” Veronica explained, bringing her knees up to her chest, “She got me with this gross college guy, and when he practically begged me to sleep with him, I said no, and then I walked out telling Heather I felt really sick, then she had a go at me, and then I threw up all over her shoes, then she basically said I was dead.”

Betty was silent for a moment taking it all in. “Gosh, Ronnie, that’s awful. I can’t believe she’d do that.”

“That’s Heather Chandler for you,” Veronica muttered bitterly, closing her eyes and wishing this could all be over.

They lapsed into silence for a moment, before Betty spoke up, a tone of confusion in her voice.

“Hold on…” she began slowly, “From what I heard, the party was at 2 am. But… it’s 4 am now. Surely it didn’t take you that long to get home?”

Shit, Veronica had completely forgotten the whole JD thing. She groaned internally, knowing exactly what Betty’s reaction would be.

“I was with Jason Dean-”

“Oh, that new kid? Oh my gosh!” Betty exclaimed excitedly, “I saw you making love eyes at him in the cafeteria, is something going on between you two?”

“Not… exactly.” Veronica said with slight uncertainty, “He made… this bet thing.”

Betty’s excitement diminished. “A.. a bet? That’s awfully strange.”

“Exactly.” Veronica agreed. “I don’t know where the Hell it came from, he just made it. He seemed really into it as well, he definitely wasn’t joking. It’s weird.”

“What is this bet, then?”

“In basic terms, I need to try and get Heather Chandler to fall for me so she’ll ask me to prom.”

“I… see. I presume you said no?”

“Of course!” Veronica affirmed loudly, before cringing and softening her tone to not disturb her parents “I’m not stupid. No way would I be doing that.”

“Good.” Betty said, relieved, “Good. You can’t play with people’s feelings like that, not even Heather Chandler’s.”

Truth be told, Veronica hadn’t even considered Heather’s feelings. She’d just thought about what possible impact it had on her herself. Though, could anyone blame her for not really putting Heather’s feelings at the forefront of her mind? They weren’t exactly on the best of terms.

“Yeah…” Veronica said, “Well, whatever. It’s over now. I’m home and I’m safe. I’ll have to see what happens Monday morning, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy life as it is. Thank you for calling, Betty. It’s been really great talking to you.

“You too, Ronnie.” Veronica could hear the smile in her sweet voice. “I… I really did miss you.”

Veronica felt a pang of guilt as she quickly replied “Me too. I’m sorry for everything. I guess now we’ll be hanging out a lot more, won’t we? I’ll even introduce you to JD.”

“I’d like that.” Betty gave a quiet yawn. “Anyways, we both need to go to bed, especially you after the night you’ve had. Try not to agree to any stupid bets or puke on anyone’s shoes again.”

Veronica laughed softly, stifling a yawn of her own. “I’ll try my best. G’night, Betty.”

“Night, Ronnie.”

The silence was deafening. It seemed for the very first time, she was in a clear-ish state of mind where she could truly process everything. Was she really dead on Monday? And how had this all spread so quickly? A small, silly part of her silently hoped the whole thing may just blow over, but who was she kidding? Veronica hid her face in her hands and groaned.

She was totally dead.

Her bedroom door opened slightly as her mother poked her head in, a stern look on her face. Veronica’s eyes widened and she scrambled to get out of bed quickly.

“Mom!” She exclaimed, running a hand through her hair, “I’m so sorry for coming back late, I just-”

Her mother held up a hand to silence her. “Save it. I said 12 o’clock curfew. Is it 12 o’clock, Veronica?”

Veronica swallowed thickly and shook her head in defeat, like a child who had just been caught sneaking a cookie.

“Exactly. You won’t be grounded, because I know you’re a teenager and you want to be ‘rebellious’ or what have you. However, you will be grounded if this happens again, and you’ll repay me now by going right now and grabbing some milk from that 7/11 down the road. We’ve run out.”

Veronica furrowed her brow. “What… now? But… it’s so late.”

At this point, Veronica was so sleep-deprived, that it overshadowed her drunkenness. She wasn’t sure whether the lack of sleep or the copious amount of alcohol would be the death of her, but it would certainly be one of them. Well, if they kicked in before her guaranteed death on Monday, that is.

“We need it now.” her Mom stated bluntly, shrugging. “Off you go. And be grateful you’re not getting more punishment. Oh, and please try to actually hide the fact that you’re drunk, it’s very obvious.”

Veronica had an inkling that they didn’t need it now and her mother was purely using this as punishment, but she knew better than to resist. Mrs Sawyer gave one last glare and left the room as Veronica let out a loud sigh she had been holding in. 

And so, with that, Veronica departed, and she prayed to whatever God that JD wasn’t still at 7/11.

_____________________________

“Greetings and Salutations!” Came a bright and cheery voice the moment that Veronica stepped into the cold convenience store. 

Veronica grumbled to herself about being the unluckiest person in the world that night. She breezed past JD and headed straight to the milk, not even making eye contact. JD, unfazed, let out a low chuckle and made his way over, much to Veronica’s dismay. He leaned casually against the fridge door and took a sip of his slushie, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“So,” he said, raising an eyebrow, “thought any more about my proposition?”

“Oh for fucks sake- no! I’m not doing it, I thought I made that clear. It’s dumb. And stupid. And- and I’m never doing it. Just drop it. Please.”

JD’s look of confidence never wavered, however.

“Come on!” JD pleaded, stalking after Veronica as she tried to leave. “I’ll change the forfeit if you’d like.”

Veronica stopped, sighing. Maybe it was her messed up state of mind talking, but she decided to humour him and hear him out.

“Ugh, what is it then?” She asked, exasperated. He perked up at her reply, knowing he had her on the ropes.

“You don’t have to ask her to prom, just take her somewhere private, doesn’t have to be in front of anyone, and just say you hate her. How easy is that? I mean, the worst that can come from that is that she gets pissed and… well she’s kinda pissed already.”

Veronica closed her eyes for a moment. She had the worst headache in the world. That forfeit wasn’t so bad. JD would never let this go. She really wasn’t ok right now.

“What… what sort of stuff would you being my servant include?” she inquired slowly, her eyes still shut.

She didn't have to open them to know that he was grinning broadly and brimming with excitement.

“Oh, anything at all!” He explained excitedly. “You need me to drive you somewhere at four in the morning? I’ll do it. The cafeteria food is shit, so you want me to go to McDonald's and grab you some food from there? I’ll do it. You want me to do all your homework for all of your subjects? I’ll do it, Veronica.”

Veronica had to admit… that did sound very tempting. Plus, JD was right before. If she succeeded, she could literally have infinite power over Heather Chandler and get some sweet revenge. Besides, telling her she hated her as a punishment? Well, she’d pretty much done that tonight so what was the difference? JD would literally never let this go if she didn't agree.

As Veronica weighed out the pros and cons, she came to a decision. Once she was sober, she would hate herself for it, but for now…

“Alright.” Veronica confirmed, looking at JD and smiling slightly, “You have a deal.”

“Yes!” JD cried, giving a little fist-bump.

“But only if you buy me a big gulp right now,” Veronica added, teasingly, biting back a smile at JD’s comedic face.

“But.. But… slushie…” he protested weakly, looking like Veronica had just kicked his puppy.

“Big Gulp’s better. No Big Gulp, no bet.”

Sure, it was kind of mean, seeing as the guy seemed to worship slushies, but he had just pressured her into making what would be a very silly decision, so she felt like she was allowed to have a little bit of fun with him for now. With a defeated sigh, he trudged back inside to fetch a Big Gulp, and when he brought it back outside, he seemed physically repulsed that he was even in contact with such a monstrous substance, holding it at arm's length from himself. Veronica happily took a sip as she perched on the edge of JD’s bike, looking up to the stars. She’d almost forgotten what an absolute mess she was in before JD turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Seriously, don’t worry about Monday,” he said encouragingly, placing an arm around her shoulders, “I’ll stick with you, ok? You're better off without being a part of the Heathers.”

Veronica just shrugged, fiddling with the straw and looking down at the cracks in the concrete. “Sure. I guess. Thanks for supporting me though, it means a lot. Anyway, I’d better head off now or else my Mom will kill me.”

JD quickly got up, clearing his throat and standing in front of her like a TV presenter. “Of course, Miss Sawyer, but first let us establish some rules.”

“Rules?”

“Yes, rules. For the bet. Some things you can and can’t do, I  don’t want to make this too easy for you, do I?”

“Like it was easy in the first place…” Veronica grumbled. JD shot her a playful glare before continuing.

“Alright!” He began, slightly melodramatically, “Rule Number 1: you are not allowed to tell Heather you have feelings for her or anything like that, or that will most likely prompt her to confess her own. Rule Number 2: You can’t tell her to ask you to prom or trick her into doing it or anything, it has to be true and from the heart. Rule Number 3: You can’t get any of the other Heathers involved. Finally, Rule Number 4: If you have to do the forfeit, you have to really make it seem like you hate her and you can’t tell her it’s a forfeit or anything like that.”

Veronica nodded her head slightly, confirming that she understood the rules. They didn’t seem too bad, just standard rules that Veronica guessed would apply anyway. She stepped off the bike and as she did so, JD smirked and looked into her eyes, holding out his hand.

“Let’s make it official then. You ready?”

Veronica hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and grasping his hand. “I sure am.”

They stood in silence for a moment before JD stepped back and mounted his bike, holding his helmet under his arm. He turned back to Veronica.

“You have 3 weeks. It is currently... about 4:45 in the morning on May the 11th, and the bet ends on Friday 31st May by... Noon.”

Veronica frowned, tilting her head in confusion. “Why noon?” she asked.

JD shrugged, smirking. “I’m spiteful and I don’t want to give you the full day.”

Veronica rolled her eyes, throwing her empty cup in the bin. “You prick. Like half a day is going to change it much anyway.”

Giving a low chuckle, JD put on his helmet, started up his bike and threw Veronica a subtle wink.

“Good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

With a quick rev of his engine, he shot off into the darkness, leaving Veronica standing alone outside of a 7/11 at nearly 5 am, not quite knowing what the foreseeable future would entail.

Veronica made a mental diary entry:

Dear Diary,

I have three weeks.

Oh shit.

Chapter Text

Veronica was already deeply regretting it when she woke up Saturday morning.

Why had she caved? Goddamn JD and his smooth-talking.

She wasn't sure which was worse: The impending doom or the head-splitting hangover. Once said hangover had finally lessened, Veronica actually began to make a plan of sorts. It took hard work and all of Saturday to come up with this fool-proof master plan that had zero flaws and was so intellectual and complex, that Einstein would be proud. What was this incredible plan, you may ask?

Ask Betty what the fuck she was supposed to do.

And so that’s exactly what she did. Bright and early Sunday morning, around 24 hours before her imminent death, she rocked up to Betty’s house in yesterday’s clothes and cautiously knocked on the door, hoping that Betty could do something and she wouldn’t think Veronica was too stupid. After a few seconds of painful waiting, the door finally opened to reveal a drowsy-looking Betty, rubbing her eyes, and then noticing Veronica and raising her eyebrows.

“Ronnie, hey!” She greeted, her confusion turning to cheerfulness. Only Betty could be cheerful this early on a weekend. “What’s up? You didn't call?”

Veronica breezed past her, looking around the familiar environment. It hadn’t changed much since she had last been here, although that was only about four weeks ago. God, it felt like so much longer ago than that. Family portraits covered the walls, each with happy smiling faces, each brightening up the place, each giving a sense of comfort to the area. Veronica vaguely wondered what Betty's Parents thought of her now. Of course, at one point she was like another daughter to them, but had Betty told them about how Veronica had ditched her? She felt her stomach drop at the thought, imagining their betrayed looks. She shook her head and gathered her thoughts. No time for that right now, she had work to do.

“Betty.” She began flatly, whirling around to face her friend, “I need your help. Like, now.”

Betty simply nodded slowly before leading Veronica to her room and perching lightly at the edge of her bed in anticipation as Veronica began to pace around the room.

“I… I did something..” Veronica began gingerly, twirling a lock of her dark hair.

“Ok…”

“You’re gonna think I’m silly.”

“Right… what is it then, Veronica?”

Veronica took a deep breath and turned to face Betty, grimacing. “I agreed to the bet.”

Betty’s eyes almost fell out of her head. She jumped up and clasped her hands over her mouth, looking at Veronica like a deer in headlights.

“What?!” She cried, eyes darting around Veronica’s face, “Why?! We talked about this, Ronnie! I-”

“I know!” Veronica interrupted. “I know! I'm stupid but I was tired and drunk, and it seemed like a bit of fun, kind of… and JD is great at convincing…”

Betty sighed, looking at Veronica with a touch of sympathy that calmed her down a bit.

“What do I do, Betty?” Veronica asked weakly, “I’m totally stuck here.”

“Could you… just call off the bet? Would JD mind?”

Veronica shook her head after a moment's thought. “No. There’s no going back now. This may seem hard but Veronica Sawyer is not a quitter. I’ve never quit before, I won’t start now. I agreed to this, I’m doing this.”

Betty shrugged dismissively at Veronica’s stubbornness, biting her lip and looking contemplatively into space before her face turned to one of determination and she stared into Veronica’s eyes.

“You know what? We can do this.” She assured her, going to grab some sort of notepad on her desk. “Right, so, I say the best option is to find out things from her. That’s how we’ll start and we’ll see how that goes. Just… talk to her. Find out stuff you never knew, like hobbies and stuff.”

“Alright…” Veronica agreed slowly, nodding her head and furrowing her brow. “Yeah, that seems doable. But… how? She won’t even look at me anymore. I’m dead on Monday.”

“Let’s kill two birds with one stone then. We’ll make it so she no longer destroys you and we’ll make it so you guys can actually get on with this bet.”

“Neat!” Veronica said expectantly, smiling slightly. “That sounds great! How do I do that?”

“Apologise.”

Veronica’s face dropped instantly as she tried to protest. “But- But-”

“I know, she was wrong,” Betty explained, placing a hand on Veronica’s shoulder soothingly. “And I know the last thing you wanna do right now is go kiss her aerobicized ass, but it’s the only way. So, can you swallow your pride just this once? There are bigger matters at hand.”

Veronica swallowed thickly and nodded. 

“Good.” Betty said, nodding also and taking a step back, “Now go over there and beg. You know full well Heather won’t give in easily.”

_____________________________

The gravel of Heather’s long driveway crunched beneath Veronica's boots as she nervously ran a hand through her hair. She’s been planning what she could say. She didn’t much like the idea of grovelling at Heather’s feet, really she didn’t like the idea of apologising at all, but she would do what had to be done. Betty knew best, after all. She reached the front door but was rather unsurprised to find it locked. Heather’s parents always went to the country club on a Sunday morning, but they wouldn’t even bother trying to drag Heather out of bed. And so, this left only one option: the window. Veronica coped out a sturdy enough looking drainpipe that led up to Heather's window. She decided it was her best option as she sighed and began to slowly and rather ungracefully make her way up. She nearly fell on multiple occasions and she was sure that everyone and their mothers heard her, but overall, she didn’t die and at this point, Veronica was taking any victory she could. She clumsily fell into Heather’s room, glad that Heather had a shitty lock on her window. She looked around the overwhelmingly red room to see no angry blonde waiting to kill her. She let out a low breath and turned around to close the window.

No sooner had she done so, when she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head that caused a shock to flow through her. She yelped and wheeled around to see a hairbrush on the floor and a wild Heather Chandler in a short red robe, breathing heavily.

“Did you just throw a fucking hairbrush at me?!” Veronica shouted incredulously, raising a hand to where she had been hit.

“You broke into my room, bitch!” Heather shouted back, lunging to grab the hairbrush and take another swing.

Veronica quickly grasped her wrist to stop her from doing so. “No, No, No, no more hairbrush assaults please, I just want to talk.”

“No. Fuck Off,” Heather stated flatly, pulling her wrist out of Veronica’s grasp.

Veronica groaned, rolling her eyes at the girl’s stubbornness and flat-out rude manner. “God, Heather, can’t you just listen for a second?”

“20 seconds. Go.” Heather ordered, fixing Veronica with a death glare which showed she was clearly unimpressed with her Sunday morning interruption.

“Oh! Right well, I just wanted to say that I think we both said a lot of stuff we didn’t mean-”

I changed my mind.” Heather interrupted, shoving Veronica back slightly. “You’re boring. Honestly, Veronica, I thought better of you than to just give some stupid apology, but if you were gonna do it, at least do it *well*. You fucked up a very important night for me so you shall be punished accordingly.”

Veronica couldn’t take it anymore. If she was going down, she wasn’t going down without a fight.

“You know what I think, babe?” She began coolly, narrowing her eyes and fixing Heather with a glare of her own, “I think you need to tone it down a bit and stop acting like such a self-righteous bitch.”

“Oh like I give a shit what you think-”

“I’m not finished.” Veronica bit back aggressively, causing Heather to actually look shocked for a moment. “You don’t fucking scare me, Heather, because I know you’re just a prissy little bitch with daddy’s credit card and an explicit God complex. You think everything revolves around you, but it doesn't. If I don't want to fuck some college guy, I won't. You can’t make me do anything, Heather. If you wanna destroy me, go ahead. As I said, I’m not scared of you.”

It wasn’t a lie. Veronica had never really been scared of Heather Chandler. Wary, sure. Maybe a bit of admiration sometimes, which made her not want to fuck up and disappoint her. But not scared. No… she was scared of Westerberg. Schools in general. Kids could be evil when they wanted to be. Heather was a prime example of this, but she wasn’t the worst of it. She would set everything off, and get the circuit running, but she wouldn’t specifically get her hands dirty.

No, that was left to all her ‘subjects’ who bent to her every whim. 

Veronica shook those thoughts out of her head. She had to deal with the task at hand, which was that she had just insulted the demon queen who she was already on thin ice with. If Heather killed her right then and there, would anyone find out? She probably had the best Lawyers in the country. God, how had it gone from trying to apologise to this? If she hadn’t signed her own death warrant before, she sure as hell had now. Well, less embarrassing than grovelling, she supposed.

Heather stared at Veronica, a whirlwind of emotions on her face, moving through the motions so quickly that Veronica couldn’t work out what on Earth she might do next. Finally, Heather stopped and had one singular look in her eyes that Veronica couldn’t quite pinpoint. It was unfamiliar, she was sure of that.

“...Fix me a Prairie Oyster and I’ll think about not murdering you.”

What the actual fuck?

Heather had been one second away from snapping, then Veronica insulted absolutely everything about her, and now Heather was ok? Veronica didn’t want to stand too long for Heather to change her mind so she rushed downstairs and attempted to create whatever murderous concoction Heather was willing to put herself through. Her mind was still reeling with endless questions. She knew she was lucky as hell, that was for sure. But why?

Once she was sure she was at least close to Heather’s order, she took the mixture up the stairs, praying that Heather hadn’t done a complete 180 like she tended to do. When Veronica cautiously stepped inside, Heather was inside reading a book of all things. 

The Bell Jar? Pretty heavy stuff, Veronica hadn’t expected it from Heather.

“I didn’t know you could read,” Veronica commented casually before she could stop herself.

Heather’s head snapped up, she clearly hadn't realised Veronica had come in, and her relaxed, thoughtful expression turned to one of distaste.

“I don’t remember asking, Sawyer.” She spat viciously, “Now bring that thing over here, and fuck off. Count yourself lucky.”

Veronica gingerly passed over the drink, as if Heather was a lion just waiting to pounce at any sudden movements, and quickly made her way over to the window.

“What are you doing?” Heather spoke up.

“Uh… leaving? Like you said?”

“Use the door, you fucking weirdo.”

Veronica gave a low chuckle and smirked. “And where’s the fun in that?”

Heather just rolled her eyes and went back to reading, showing that clearly she was done with the conversation.  Just as Veronica was climbing out of the window, Heather called a quick “I still fucking hate you!”

Now it was Veronica’s turn to roll her eyes. How sweet.

She had managed to hop to the ground with a slight air of dignity and walk home feeling slightly confident. Sure, Heather had said that she still hated Veronica, but she wasn’t actually sure Heather had liked her in the first place so no change there. Besides, Heather not absolutely annihilating her after that ‘apology’ was surely a sign that things were at least sort of ok, right? She gave a low sigh, absentmindedly kicking a stone beneath her boots. She would just have to pray hard and wait for Monday.

_____________________________

Walking into school on Monday was like walking into the den of a pack of hungry lions, and she was an antelope covered in seasoning. All eyes turned to her the moment she stepped foot inside, their faces filled with judgement, distaste, hidden respect, or even slight concern, although that was really just Betty. She even spotted JD lurking in the corridors as she walked past, fixing her with a reassuring smile before skulking away. Nobody dared make a move before the Queen’s orders. They just stood, waiting with bated breath for the moment they could pounce and feast.

And there she was. In all her awful, evil glory. The Demon Queen.

The students parted like the Red Sea as she almost glided along the floor and headed to where Veronica stood hopelessly. Now Heather was the lion, and boy was she frightening.

You could hear a pin drop at that moment. Nobody dared breathe in case it ruined the suspense somehow. The walk from Heather to Veronica felt like hours but eventually, she stood, towering over Veronica, who looked her straight in the eyes and willed herself not to flinch. Heather raised one perfectly shaped, thin eyebrow, raked her piercing blue eyes over Veronica’s body (It sent a chill down her spine, though she would never admit it), and then scoffed.

“God, I really need to take you for a haircut, you look like a tramp, Sawyer.”

And just like that, the school returned to normal and it was like the party never happened. They all went to their separate spaces and didn't spare Veronica another glance. It was all very interesting and Veronica would have grasped the opportunity to analyse it more, but she was already too focused on the fact that she wasn't fucking dead.

Before Veronica could even say anything, Heather grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to God knows where. Maybe this was all a trick. One last moment of blissful happiness before Heather took her behind the school and shot her.

Ok, that was macabre, but Veronica wouldn’t put it past her.

Turns out that no, there would be no shooting (For now, anyway), and Heather was pulling her over to a very stunned, but smiling, Mac and a slightly pissed-off Duke.

“Veronica learned her mistake.” Heather announced, finally letting go of her vice-like grip, “She is back in the group.”

Mac’s smile grew wider and she flung her arms around Veronica, squealing about how it ‘Just wasn’t the same without you, Ronnie!”. Duke, however, grew even more annoyed at Mac’s affection- which confused Veronica somewhat -and fixed Heather with a judgemental glare.

“Seriously? You’re just letting her back in?”

“Shut up Heather!” Heather commanded fiercely, making Duke recoil. “I make the fucking decisions here. If you have a problem, you can go cry about it over Moby Dick. Ok?”

Duke gulped and nodded solemnly, staring at the floor. “...Yes Heather”

Veronica felt a pang of guilt for a moment, but then Duke gave her an accusing side glance, acting as if it was somehow her fault. She ended up just rolling her eyes and turning away. As she did, she spotted a dark, hunched-over figure from across the room, fixing her with an accusing look of their own. JD gestured to Heather and gave a questioning glance. Veronica holds up a finger to tell him she’ll be over in a moment. She turned back to Heather and explained that she was going to go and talk to JD. Heather began to protest but Veronica ignored her and walked over anyway. Probably not the best idea, but her relationship with Heather felt different somehow. Like.. now that she had managed to be exiled and then forgiven had given her a sense of confidence and she felt like she wasn’t quite so below Heather. She reached JD, ignoring the fact that she knew three pairs of eyes were glaring at the back of her head. JD’s accusatory glare softened and he leaned forward to talk to Veronica.

“What are you doing, V? I thought you were done with the Heathers?”

Veronica sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “I have to actually be friends with Heather if I ever want her to fall for me, don’t I?”

His mood shifting to a more lighthearted one, and JD gave Veronica a joking look. “They probably tricked you,” He said, “I bet they’re going to murder you after school and make it look like a suicide or something.”

Veronica gave a quiet chuckle and playfully punched his arm. “Oh, shut up, dork.”

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” JD laughed. “But if you do mysteriously end up dead, I’ll know what happened to you. Anyway, I wanted to ask you to meet me at 7/11 after school. I didn’t like the thought of last time being our first date as we mostly talked about that stupid, red bitch, so I thought we should do it again.”

“Oh? So that was a date, was it?” Veronica asked teasingly, “Alright, I’ll meet you outside.”

JD gave a crooked grin that gave Veronica butterflies. “Sounds good.”

And then, she heard the clacking of heels behind her and had to suppress a groan. A thoroughly pissed Heather Chandler appeared behind her, quickly giving JD and disgusted look, and then turning to Veronica. 

“Hey, quit talking to Red Dawn and get your ass over here.” She commanded, staring down at Veronica.

Veronica was about to protest before JD shook his head and stood up, making sure to keep a safe distance from Heather. “I have to head off anyway. It was nice talking to you, Veronica, see you tonight.”

He paused, turning to look at Heather, and gave a curt nod. She didn't return it. He rolled his eyes and walked away, throwing Veronica another quick look over his shoulder. Heather spun Veronica round to face her and gave her a death glare that could melt through a wall.

“Listen, Sawyer, if you’re going to be part of the Heathers again, you need to stop drooling over Jesse James.”

“I was not drooling” Veronica insisted quickly, hoping Heather didn't notice her blushing. 

Heather stopped for a moment, silently studying Veronica’s features, before scoffing and strutting away without another word. They really couldn’t go two seconds without getting into an argument of some sort.

Veronica wondered how the Hell she was ever going to do this.

_____________________________

She went to talk to Betty during lunch. It was obvious where she would be found; outside on a bench under a tree, where she would scribble frantically in a small notebook that Veronica was absolutely banned from ever looking at, no matter how many times she asked. The weather wasn’t so nice today, and Veronica wondered if it was some form of pathetic fallacy, a way for the Gods themselves to get some amusement out of her situation. Despite the clouds and the cold, Betty was, as expected, huddled over a notebook on a park bench, a sweet knitted cardigan tightly wrapped around her. Veronica almost didn’t want to disturb her but she needed help, so she lightly tapped Betty on the shoulder and sat down beside her. Betty’s head shot up and she pushed up her glasses that were beginning to slide down her nose. She gave Veronica a quick smile and shoved her notebook in her pocket.

“Hey, Ronnie!” She said brightly, “What’s up? Enjoying being back in the Heathers?”

Veronica sighed. “I ignored Heather Chandler when she ordered me to come back to her and then I went to JD and Heather got pissed off but she didn’t destroy me what does that mean?” 

Betty blinked for a moment before giving a breathless laugh. “Woah, may wanna take a breath there, V. Alight, although you said that very quickly, I think I sort of understood. All I can say is that this is Heather Chandler, nobody understands her. Although the fact that she didn’t destroy you is a good sign! Makes the whole bet thing easier.”

Veronica sat in thought for a moment before turning back to Betty and tilting her head to one side. “You told me to get information, Betty, but how? And - like - what sort of information?”

“It’s simple, Ronnie! Just actually talk to her, no insults or arguments. Normal, everyday conversations. Believe it or not, Heather is a human being, she has likes, dislikes, hobbies and whatever.”

“Right…” Veronica said slowly, “Yeah I can do that… I think?”

Betty gave her a small smile. “That’s all I ask.”

Suddenly, her eyes narrowed and her expression turned teasing. “So… what’s going on with you and Mr Dean?”

Veronica was sure that she felt a hint of a blush and quickly hid her face. “Nothing!” She assured her, “He’s- he’s just a friend.”

Betty looked like she was going to push the subject further but, to Veronica’s relief, the bell rang, and she raced back inside before Betty could stop her. To further her luck, she didn’t have a lesson with any Heathers for the rest of the day, meaning she finally had time to breathe.

_____________________________

Unfortunately, Veronica wasn’t able to escape them for too long, as right after her final lesson, Heather swerved in front of her and blocked her path. Veronica prepared herself for whatever was coming next, remembering Betty’s advice on ‘no insults’ and ‘no arguments’.

“Veronica.” She greeted monotonously, checking her nails. “You’re coming to my house, we’re all hanging out after school.”

Veronica cringed slightly. “Uh… I’m sort of… meeting up with JD after school…” she admitted gingerly, rubbing the back of her neck, knowing that Heather would be none too happy with this.

Heather’s eyebrows shot up and she tore her eyes from her nails to stare right into Veronica’s soul.

 “No, the fuck you’re not.” She started aggressively, “You’re back on the team now, you need to show your loyalty and show people that this whole group is fine and back to normal, or else they’ll think we’re weaker than before. It’ll look suspicious if we have a major fight and then we let you back in the group but then we are seen without you. Come on!”

Veronica bit her lip and swallowed thickly. “Sorry, Heather, but I promised JD. We can go to the mall another day, it’s not a big deal.”

Heather took a menacing step close and leaned into Veronica so their noses were almost touching. She glared at her through narrow eyes and honest to God, Veronica swore her heart stopped beating. She could feel Heather’s hot breath and her face, and although it smelled like cherries, she really felt like this was some sort of invasion of personal space.

“Veronica.” Heather began in a low, patronizing tone, “Stop being such a fucking difficult bitch. You’re lucky you even got a second chance in the first place, let alone after that shit you pulled with that pathetic, sorry excuse for an apology.”

Veronica was about to bite back when, at that moment, JD swaggered over and threw his arm around Veronica’s shoulder, giving them a lazy grin. Heather recoiled, her face turning even more livid than before, and she stared at JD unblinking as if he had just killed someone in front of her.

“Hey, bitches!” JD announced in a mocking, high-pitched voice, drawing out the ‘es’ at the end, “That looked like a wonderful interaction there, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to steal this lovely woman right here. Veronica, are you ready to get going?”

“Unfortunately not, you Slushie-Shagging freak. She’s coming with me to the mall.” 

Mac and Duke cautiously walked up behind Heather, effectively creating a large stand-off in the middle of the hallway. JD looks like he’s about to say something else before Heather suddenly throws her hands up in the air in frustration.

“You know what, Veronica?” She began furiously, “Go fuck Jesse James, see if I care. I don’t even want you to come with us anyway, fuck you.”

She then marched off, a stunned Mac and Duke trailing behind her. Before Veronica could truly process what had happened, JD removed his arm from her shoulders and laughed loudly, doubled over and slapping his knee.

“Holy shit!” He wheezed, rubbing tears from his eyes. “That was the funniest fucking thing. You really pissed her off, V. Winning this bet is gonna be a piece of cake, you two can’t even have a proper conversation without ripping each other to shreds.”

Veronica broke out of her stunned trance and shook her head, running a hand through her hair. “No, No, it’s fine, I’ve still got this. I have just under three weeks, it’s all good.”

JD cleared his throat, finally done with his laughing fit, and sighed. “Yeah, sure, whatever you say, darling. Anyway, I have a shit ton of adrenaline after that, so wanna go now? I need a drive right now and my motorbike is calling to me.”

Veronica grinned, her mood already lifting slightly and (most) thoughts of Heather diminishing. “Of course, I have nothing else to do, so we can motor.”

“Hey… guys.” A timid voice said from behind them.

Veronica turned around to see Betty shuffling over, giving JD a few nervous glances. She never was very good with new people. Betty hadn’t really had any friends other than Veronica. Well, except for Martha Dunnstock, but nobody talked to Martha anymore, not even Betty. Veronica gave her a small smile and turned to gesture to JD.

“Hey, Betty, this is JD! JD, this is my best friend Betty.”

JD confidently grasped Betty’s hand, catching her off guard and shook it, giving her a polite nod.

“Wonderful to meet you, Betty, I’ve heard good things about you.” He commented, causing Betty to flush and look at the ground.

Knowing that Betty was probably out for the count, Veronica decided to end that interaction where it was. Luckily Betty was the one to change the subject anyway.

“So, have you talked to Heather again today? Did you take my advice?”

“Hey!” JD exclaimed, turning to Veronica, “I never said you could get help from anyone else.”

Veronica shrugged. “You never said I couldn’t, Anyway, Betty… Uh... not exactly… we-”

“They had another massive fight.” JD interrupted, his voice slightly gleeful, “She’s really pissed off.”

“Ronnie…” Betty said exasperatedly, giving Veronica a judgemental look. “What did I say?”

“Anyways!” JD said loudly before Veronica could reply, “I’m super sorry to interrupt but me and Veronica really need to get going, we should have left like 15 minutes ago. It was lovely meeting you though, Betty.”

“Alright, well sorry Betty but we really were just about to head off.” Veronica apologised.

“Oh, Uh, actually…” Betty stammered nervously, wringing her hands, “I… need a moment to talk to Jason, if that’s alright?”

Veronica and JD looked slightly taken aback but neither protested. Veronica, with a confused expression, said she would wait for JD outside on his bike. Once she was out of earshot, JD turned to Betty and raised an eyebrow in question.

“So,” He said, crossing his arms and studying Betty, “Is this one of those things where you grill me to find out if I’m good enough for Veronica? Because now isn’t a great time but I will absolutely do that.”

“No…” Betty replied slowly, tapping her foot and biting her lip, “But I do need to ask you about something.”

JD narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “....Shoot.”

Betty paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, before sighing and muttering something about ‘not being good at confrontation’.

“Why are doing this bet?” She asked plainly.

JD furrowed his brow, unfolding his arms and tilting his head. “I’m sorry what? What do you mean? It’s just a bit of fun.”

Betty gained a bit of confidence and stood a little bit taller. “I’m not stupid, Jason Dean. You have another motive here, don’t bother pretending. You’re super invested in this bet, you seemed adamant that Veronica accepted, even though you barely knew her at the time. it seems kind of weird, you practically just meet someone and you go and make some long serious bet with them for no other reason than “it’s fun”?”

Sighing, JD knew he was going to have to confess. “Fine. One of the reasons is to get Veronica to fall for me. We can spend more time together and bond during this. Plus, I get to hurt Heather in the process.”

He sighed again, frowning and clenching his jaw. “That’s not the main reason though. I knew Veronica would get back into the Heathers, I just knew it. They’re tainting her soul. But now, with this bet, I can… change things. I can make it so Veronica definitely loses the bet and has to go through social humiliation again and can stay with me and only me. It would have been better if the forfeit was to announce her feelings for Heather in front of the whole school, but Veronica wasn’t up to it, so getting Heather to hate her would have to do. And… if somehow she wins, which I’ll make sure she doesn’t, Heather will ask her to prom, Veronica will reject her, and it’s the same outcome. Social Humiliation. She’ll be kicked out of the Heathers for sure and it can just be me and her forever.”

Betty stood, petrified, her jaw practically on the floor. “That’s… that’s so shady, you can’t do that! You’re hurting people!”

“I’m hurting Heather Chandler.” JD clarified, rolling his eyes. “She’s not even a person, she’s a monster.”

“You’re hurting Veronica as well!

“So what? I’ll just be her shoulder to cry on, which also works well into my plan. I’ve got it all planned out Betty.”

“I’m… I’m gonna tell Veronica that you’re doing this just to put her through social humiliation!”

“Oh please, she won’t believe you.” JD laughed maliciously, “I mean… she says you tend to overthink things, doesn’t she? She always thinks you're just being paranoid. I have a way with words, Betty. You saw that when I convinced her to make the bet in the first place. I can turn her against you like that.”

He suddenly snapped his fingers in Betty’s face causing her to jump.

She hated to admit it, but he was right. Veronica always thought she overthought things. Besides, why would she believe her anyway? ‘Hey Ronnie, so you know that guy who’s super nice to you and you really like him? He’s secretly evil and is trying to ruin your life so he can have you all to himself and you never speak to anyone ever again.’

Gosh, even she didn’t believe herself.

Should she even try and tell Veronica anyway? Veronica clearly liked JD. He makes her happy. And would Veronica being kicked out of the Heathers be such a bad thing? They treat her like shit. Sure there are nicer ways to do it than humiliate her. Would Betty be ruining this for everyone if she told Veronica and Veronica somehow believed her?

She snapped back to reality and looked back up at JD.

“If you don't stop this right now,” She began, desperately trying to sound confident, “I will tell Veronica.”

Great idea, get JD to call the whole thing off and nobody gets hurt, humiliated or tricked.

JD didn’t take the bait. He only sneered at her, his eyes boring through her. This is not how she had planned for this interaction to go.

”You're playing with fire, Betty Finn.” JD warned in a tone that was low and dangerous. “And you know what happens to little girls who play with fire?”

He leaned in so his face was only inches away, an evil grin on his face. He whispered so quietly that Betty could only just tell what he was saying, but it shook her nonetheless.

“They get their fingers burnt.”

Betty could have burst into tears right there and then. In all honesty, she almost did, before she heard the noise of footsteps down the hall. JD almost jumped away from Betty, his face turning neutral, and he turned just in time to see a worried Veronica standing at the end of the hallway.

“Are you guys ok?” She called hands on her hips. “It’s been ages.”

“Oh yeah, we’re great!” JD replied cheerily, nothing at all like he was a few moments ago. “We were just talking about a history assignment. Your friend is so sweet, Veronica!”

Veronica grinned broadly, oblivious to the obvious tension and the fact that Betty was fucking shaking.

“Awe I’m so glad you guys are getting on well! Anyway, Let’s go JD, I need a slushie. See you tomorrow, Betty!”

As JD walked away, he turned his head and gave Betty a little wink and a menacing smile before turning the corner and disappearing, leaving Betty almost lifeless, stood in an empty hallway, totally numb.

This was bad.

This was really, really bad.

Chapter Text

Friday night was always Movie Night. 

It had been since they were kids. Veronica would go over to Betty’s, or vice-versa, and they’d put on some crappy video they had rented and poke fun at it, or they’d find one that they genuinely enjoyed and they’d cry about it for hours. Overall, it was tradition, and tonight was no different.

Veronica sat cross-legged on Betty’s plush carpet, wondering what they were going to watch tonight. She needed a break from everything and she hoped Betty had found something good to rent for this week. However, Betty didn’t seem to be making any move to turn on the TV or talk to Veronica about the film she had picked. Instead, she was fumbling through her bag, searching for something, as she held a pen in her free hand.

“Uh, Betty?” Veronica questioned curiously, craning her head to get a better look at what her friend was doing, “What’re you doing? Aren’t you gonna put a video on?”

Betty simply mumbled something inaudible in response and continued searching before pulling out her notepad with a flourish. She practically raced back over to where Veronica was sitting and watched her expectantly.

“So,” she began, hovering her pen over the page. “What have we got?”

“Um…” Veronica replied dumbly, eyes flicking between Betty and the notepad, “What do you mean?”

“What have you learned about Heather so far?” Betty clarified impatiently, “In a few hours, it’ll be a whole week since the bet began. That’s a third of your time! Yes, you messed up when you went with JD instead of her on Monday but you made up for it by apologising… again. Surely you’ve found out some good info to use the past few days?”

Veronica laughed nervously and averted her eyes. “Oh we… haven’t… really spoke…”

Betty threw her notepad on the ground in frustration. “For Heaven’s sake, Ronnie! How many times do you need to be told how important this is?! If you want to actually win this and not have your life ruined, you can’t keep ditching Heather for JD!”

If she had any venom in her voice when she mentioned JD, Veronica didn’t seem to notice. She simply groaned and held her head in her hands.

“I know, I know.” She muttered, taking a breath and lifting her head, “Does it really matter though?”

“Yes!” Betty cried, possibly a bit louder than she had expected.

Veronica narrowed her eyes and gave Betty a suspicious look. “Why do you care so much about this? At first, you were adamant about me not taking the bet, now you’re acting as if it’s a matter of life and death.”

Betty froze, not quite knowing how to respond. It had been 4 days since the whole incident with JD and Veronica hadn’t suspected anything, but Veronica wasn’t stupid. She knew when something was up. What could Betty say to stop her from analysing any further?

“Because… like JD said, there are so many positives to winning this bet. I realise that now. And… I don’t want you to have to go through the forfeit. I’m sorry if I’m pushing you too hard on this, I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

It wasn’t a lie per-se. There were many benefits to winning and Betty felt an urge to help her closest friend. However, she conveniently left out JD’s little plan. She hadn’t truly figured out what to do about that yet.

Veronica, luckily, accepted that and sighed, scrunching her eyes shut. “Don’t worry, you don’t need to apologise. I really do need to get this done, and I do appreciate all your help. So… what do you think I should do?”

Betty’s reply was instant. “That’s easy.” She stated, standing up. “Go to Heather’s house. Right now. Crash that sleepover, apologise, and for the love of God, give me something to write on this darn notepad!”

Veronica gave a toothy grin and stood up as well, picking up her bag. “You got it. I’ll get on Heather’s good side, get some info, and I’ll let you know as soon as possible.”

Once they had grabbed everything Veronica needed, they both raced downstairs and ran to the front door. However, when they opened it, there was a figure standing there, his face all too familiar at this point. JD’s charismatic smirk wavered when he spotted Betty, but he quickly recovered and addressed Veronica.

“Oh, hey, V!” He greeted warmly, eyes flickering to Betty every so often. “What… what were you two talking about?”

By the slightly panicked look on his face, Betty knew exactly what he thought Betty might have been telling Veronica about. She secretly enjoyed seeing him squirm and worry that his cool-guy facade had been seen through and that he had been revealed to be the manipulative asshole he really was.

“We’ve just been working on the bet.” Veronica replied calmly, not noticing his demeanour, “Betty convinced me to go to Heather’s house. What’re you doing here, anyway.”

JD’s shoulders visibly relaxed and he laughed softly in relief. “Actually, that does bring me to the reason that I’m here.” He explained, leaning against the doorframe, “Ditch Heather, come to the movies with me. We can go see some trashy film, eat popcorn, and when it's done, we’ll ride my motorbike. How does that sound?”

Veronica bit her lip in contemplation, the offer clearly appealing to her. Betty just knew she was going to cave.

“Uh, actually-” Betty interjected quickly, “She really should be going to Heather’s. Remember what we said, Ronnie.”

Veronica shook her head, coming out of her trance, and hoisted her bag up to her shoulder. “Sorry, JD, but she’s right. I gotta get going, we should totally do that another time though. See you guys!”

And with that, she scurried away, leaving a disappointed JD and a relieved, yet slightly wary, Betty. She hugged herself against the cold and lifted up her chin to appear confident.

“I know why you were acting that way before.” She clarified, gaining JD’s attention. “But don’t worry. I haven’t told her about your little scheme. However, rest assured I am going to ruin it for you, mark my words.”

JD stared at Betty with a neutral expression for a moment, eyes darting all over her face. Then, his expression softened, he raised an eyebrow and gave a condescending smirk.

“Well played, Betty.” He said in a low voice. “Well played.”

He turned on his heel and a second later, he was gone as if he had never been there at all.

_____________________________

Veronica pondered whether she was going to die.

Honestly, getting kicked out of the heathers, getting put back in, ditching them twice, and then turning up with some cheap vodka two hours late was a death wish if she had ever seen one.

Still, Betty was right. She needed to get her head in the game, she couldn’t afford to lose this bet.

As she reached the front door of Heather’s house, she skipped knocking and decided to just enter, as it would give her an element of surprise and give her the upper hand if they were preparing her sacrifice. She crept into the living room, vodka tightly in her grasp and timidly looked up to see three girls staring at her in shock and confusion. Heather, to no surprise, was the one to speak first.

“Well, you can fuck right off.”

“Ah Heather,” Veronica replied with mock admiration, “You always did have a way with words.”

“Ronnie,” Mac butted in, attempting to prevent any sort of fight, “What are you doing here? I thought you said you were hanging out with Betty Finn tonight?”

Veronica grimaced, embarrassed, and rubbed the back of her neck. “I… felt bad, so I thought I’d turn up. Better late than never, huh?”

She chanced a glance at Heather, who had a stone-cold expression, as always. She caught Veronica’s eye and furrowed her brow slightly.

“I’m still pissed.”

“I brought vodka?”

“I’m less pissed.”

Veronica grinned, giving a small chuckle, and placed herself on the blanket next to Heather, who stiffened at her arrival. Veronica glanced at her in the corner of her eye and noticed Heather was staring at her. She raised a questioning brow but Heather just mumbled something and turned away. Sighing, Veronica turned back to the other Heathers, knowing she wasn’t going to get anything out of Heather.

“So…” she began, “what did I miss?”

“We were just playing truth or drink!”  Mac exclaimed excitedly, clearly having done more drinking than telling, “Now we can use your vodka!”

Veronica grinned mischievously, knowing that these girls were already way further gone than her sober self. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

_____________________________

It took about two hours for Mac to finally give up and allow everyone to stop playing. For a girl of such small stature, she had an incredible alcohol tolerance. Veronica, slightly tipsy, but nowhere near as bad as anyone else, stumbled into the kitchen. She thought back on the game with a smile. Duke had managed to get some dirty secrets out of Heather, Mac had drunk on even the easiest questions, and Heather… had actually gone easy. There were many times when she could have given Duke the most horrible, personal questions, but she chose not to. Instead, she asked simple ones that were very un-Heather-like. She didn’t want to think about it too much, it gave her a headache. She grabbed a glass and began to pour some water in from the tap when she heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She wheeled around to notice Heather, leaning forward on the island and rubbing her forehead, her eye screwed shut. Veronica glanced at her water and decided that Heather was far more in need than she was. She placed it down in front of Heather and gave a reassuring smile before turning back around and making another drink. Neither girl said anything for a good few moments before Heather, having already downed the water, finally spoke up.

“Seriously, why did you suddenly decide to turn up?”

Veronica looked up to face her and studied her for a moment. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Her lips, rather than her usual blood-red shade, were a light pink, and her light freckles were now visible, scattered around her nose and cheeks like little constellations. She almost looked human at that moment.

“As I said, I felt bad. We’ve got into a few fights recently, and I know I should try harder at being a part of this group. So I’m making up for it. Coming here was the least I could do.”

Heather seemed to accept that and nodded, looking down at her empty glass between her slender fingers. Veronica could see her mind whirring before she lifted her head back up.

“Do… you need a ride home in the morning? I know it’s close enough to walk but… you don’t need to, I don’t mind taking you home.”

Veronica felt her heart stop at Heather’s words. Heather Chandler being considerate? Going out of her way to help someone? Was she broken?

Veronica smiled sincerely and nodded. “Yeah, that’d be great. Thank you, Heather.”

Heather paused. “..No worries, loser.” She said slowly, before quickly getting up and putting her glass in the sink. 

Veronica bit her lip, dying to ask a question that had been plaguing her mind for the past week. Well, Heather was drunk and may not remember this in the morning, so what better time to ask? She swallowed thickly and leaned forward, closer to Heather, gaining the taller girl’s attention.

“Are you still mad at me after the Remington Party?”

Heather’s response was automatic. “Veronica, please don’t bring it up.”

Veronica shrugged, realising that was what was to be expected. Heather turned to leave but as she did so, Veronica remembered her original reason for even coming here in the first place.

“Wait!” She called, “What’s your favourite film?”

Heather turned slowly, confusion etching her features. “Excuse me?”

Veronica smirked. “Pretty straightforward question, Heather.”

Heather scoffed. “It’s a pretty weird question, loser. Why are you suddenly asking me that?”

“I feel like we don’t know each other that well. We should know each other's favourite film, seeing as we’re best friends.”

She didn’t even mean to say that last part. It just slipped out. However, it didn’t feel… wrong. Were they best friends? Or enemies? Both? 

Heather narrowed her eyes at Veronica’s words before rolling them and stating “I’m not telling you my favourite film, you weirdo.”

Veronica was nothing if not persistent.

“My favourite is Beetlejuice.”

Heather laughed and sneered accusingly. “It’s a weird-ass film and it suits you.”

Veronica laughed lightly at that, which caused the corners of Heather’s mouth to twitch slightly. 

“You know you kind of look like Lydia,” Heather commented. “Maybe it’s because you're both freaks.”

“Oh, I’m blushing.” Veronica joked, in slight disbelief that she and Heather were actually joking with each other. “Any other insults? Go ahead, kick me while I’m down!”

Heather smiled, actually smiled, and said “Oh yeah, and I bet you have a crush on Beetlejuice. If you were drooling over school-shooter-kid, you clearly like creeps.”

“I was not drooling.” Veronica insisted, pouting slightly.

Then Heather laughed. A full-on, real laugh, showing off her dazzling, pearly white teeth. She looked so happy and carefree, Veronica couldn’t help but laugh as well. Then, she seemed to notice she had laughed and immediately reverted back to the cold Heather Chandler everybody knew.

“Anyway, shut up and grab some popcorn.” She ordered, strutting out of the room again, causing Veronica to process her sudden change.

Veronica shook her head, gathering her thoughts, and then heard Heather’s voice in the doorway once more.

“Dirty Dancing.” She said over her shoulder.

Veronica frowned, having no idea what was going on or how Heather was feeling. “Huh?”

Heather looked at Veronica as if she was stupid. “My favourite film, you pillowcase. My favourite film is Dirty Dancing.”

Veronica smiled, pleased with herself that she had managed to get something out of Heather. “It’s a great film,” she agreed.

Heather simply scoffed, turned, and left.

Veronica quickly pulled out some paper from her pocket and a pen. She scribbled down: Favourite film: ‘Dirty Dancing’.

Staring at the words on the page, she smiled, feeling as if a door had just been opened.

_____________________________

Betty tapped her nails on the desk impatiently, head in her other hand. She really needed to think about this. Gosh, how on Earth had she been dragged into this mess? It seemed like she had gone from being a nobody to being a main part of everyone’s problems and/or evil schemes.

She couldn’t tell Veronica JD’s plan, that would never end well. JD was smart and cunning, he had it all planned out. He knew exactly what to do and would somehow throw it all back in her face. Who’s to say Veronica would believe her anyway? JD was right, Betty had always been one to overthink things. To add to the whole dilemma, JD quite literally threatened her, and his voice made it clear they weren’t empty threats. He wouldn’t… hurt her, would he? 

That was beside the point. Overall, telling Veronica was a bad idea, so she had to think of something else. She had to do this on her own. The basis was that Veronica needed to win this bet. It was still a problem, as she would have to reject Heather and upset her, but it was the best option here.

JD may have been working to make Veronica lose the bet but he didn’t take into account Betty fricking Finn! She needed to help Veronica and Heather. Heather wasn’t exactly the nicest of people, but Betty would not just stand by and let people get hurt.

And so, she would make it so Heather fell so hard she just had to confess!

Veronica will win the bet, JD will get to spend time with her like he wanted (And he hopefully won’t be too mad, as he seemed impressed at Betty’s attempts earlier), Heather won’t get as hurt and pissed off, Veronica won’t know a thing, and everyone can be happy.

Betty looked up with a face of determination and a plan of action.

Heather Chandler,

Be ready to fall.

Chapter Text

Veronica sleepily opened her eyes against the blazing sun that was filling the room and surveyed her surroundings in confusion for a moment. She suddenly remembered she was at Heather’s house and groaned at the pain in her back from sleeping on the hard floor. She had nobody to blame but herself, really. She should have packed a sleeping bag. She silently cursed herself for the thousandth time about it, and took another, less dozy, look around.

Everyone else was asleep, all except for Heather. She was staring at Veronica, sitting upright and leaning forward against her knees, her very short shorts clearly showing off her long legs that Veronica sometimes stared at for a bit longer than normal - although she would never admit it. Veronica gave her a weak smile, still not totally back in the land of the living. Heather didn’t return it. Veronica frowned, thinking that perhaps Heather was simply not a morning person. She probably had a killer hangover too.

“Good Morning.” Veronica attempted, as brightly as she could, “You doing alright?”

Heather simply grunted and turned away. Veronica grew angry, sick of this constant change in mood for no apparent reason. It affected everyone else badly as well. It was selfish, although what else could be expected from Heather Chandler?

“Jesus Christ, Heather,” Veronica mumbled wearily, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s too early for this. Stop being so Goddamn resigned and cryptic for once.”

“I’m still pissed!” Heather whispered harshly. “You’re not taking this seriously! You embarrass me in front of everyone, Give me a half-assed apology, miss our plans to go fuck Jesse James, and you just don't seem to care. Do you even want to be a Heather?”

“Are we still going on about this? I said I was sorry a million times, I thought you were over it! It’s not even that deep, just calm down and stop being such a bitch for once. I am sick and tired of these fights, Heather! It happens almost every day and it’s stupid!”

At Veronica’s loud voice, Mac began to slowly stir and looked between the two pleadingly with heavy-lidded eyes.

“Guys, can we please not fight right now…?”

“Go fuck yourself, Sawyer.” Heather spat viciously, as she got up and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her so aggressively that the house shook.

Veronica held back a scream of frustration as she threw her head back against the pillow. This was starting to get boring.

“Are you alright, Ronnie?” Mac asked tenderly, giving a sympathetic look.

Veronica just shrugged, standing up and beginning to gather her belongings in silence. Mac just watched her, a face of disappointment in the place of a usual beaming smile. Once Veronica had everything, she looked back at Mac.

“Tell Heather I’m walking home and I don’t need a stupid ride anymore.” 

Mac looked down at the floor. “But… I thought we were all hanging out today? Can you join us? Please?”

Veronica smiled sadly and shook her head apologetically. “I’m sorry Mac, I need to go. See you on Monday.”

Mac watched helplessly as Veronica crept out of the room, leaving her alone to her thoughts, as somehow, through all the commotion, Duke was still sleeping like a log. She didn’t have long, however, as Heather took this moment to walk out of the bathroom again, a hint of makeup now on her face. She noticed that there was one less member in the room but didn’t say anything.

“Veronica went home,” Mac explained quietly, avoiding eye contact. “She seemed really affected by this, Heather.”

Heather scoffed maliciously, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “Like I give a shit. Now wake up the green bitch and let’s go to the mall. Veronica wouldn’t wanna come anyway.”

Mac frowned, knowing that she had to do something about this. Their constant fighting was becoming nothing short of ridiculous.

_____________________________

Why couldn’t she just be a friend? Why did she have to be such a mega-bitch? 

Veronica answered her own question:

Because she could be.

She really thought she was getting somewhere. She thought that they were making progress. But, of course, Heather ruined it all. No surprises there exactly.

But they had made progress! Veronica had managed to get Heather to tell her her favourite movie, which was a big leap indeed. If only they could have stayed at that pace. Thinking about the movie situation actually reminded Veronica that there was someone she needed to talk to.

Veronica briefly thought it may be a tad bit too early in the morning to just turn up at Betty’s house, but she seemed like one of those people who woke up early and meditated or some shit.

Having my life together? No thanks, I prefer ruining my life with stupid bets.

As to be expected, Betty was - only just - awake, as she opened the door and looked at Veronica through tired, heavy-lidded eyes.

“Ronnie?” She questioned, “It’s a bit early, what’s up? Shouldn’t you be at Heather’s?”

“Sorry Betty, but I need your help… again.”

Betty smiled warmly and gave Veronica a teasing look. “This seems to be a recurring theme. Anyway, you’ll have to be quick because I was just about to get ready for work, my shifts are way earlier now.”

“Alright well, I found out her favourite film is Dirty Dancing!” Veronica said, making Betty grin.

“That’s great!” Betty exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “So why do you look so down?”

Veronica gritted her teeth and looked away, letting out a disgruntled huff. “We… had another fight and now we’re back to square one.”

Betty stared at Veronica with pure disappointment. “You know, Veronica, one of these days I’m going to do more to you with my mallet than just beat you at croquet.”

Veronica laughed slightly, running a hand over her face. “I’d rather you didn’t assault me, seeing as it wasn’t my fault. I’m sick of it Betty, I’m convinced Heather just hates me and wants to make me miserable.”

“Right.” Betty said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, “Why don’t you ask her over to your house to have a movie night so you can watch Dirty Dancing together?”

Veronica looked at Betty as if she’d grown an extra head. “Where did that come from? Did you not listen to the part where I explained that she sort of hates me right now?”

“Veronica, you need to start bonding,” Betty explained, exasperated. “We are now over one third into this bet. You don’t have time to keep fighting, and frankly, I’m bored of it now. So go and pick up the phone, ring Heather, say whatever you need to say to get her back on your side… again... and watch that damn film. And maybe, just maybe, if she starts closing up, be calm and talk to her. Don’t be all dry and sarcastic like you normally do, be sympathetic and patient. You have to do that or else you don’t stand a darn chance!”

Veronica was taken aback, Betty could be very commanding when she wanted to be. She was right though, it was getting ridiculous now. She kept assuming that the fights were never her fault, but what if she was able to prevent them by actually talking with Heather? It would be bonding and fight prevention. Two birds with one stone!

“You know what Betty, you’re absolutely right!” Veronica exclaimed with a smile.

Betty grinned back at her. “No surprises there, then.”

“Thank you, Betty,” Veronica said sincerely, hugging her best friend. “For keeping me on track with this whole thing and… for always being there for me.”

“Always, Ronnie,” Betty murmured into Veronica’s shoulder, smiling appreciatively. “Always.”

They pulled apart and said their goodbyes as Veronica headed home and Betty was about to close her door and go back inside to get ready. However, the low growl of a motorbike could be heard getting closer and louder until a black bike pulled up right in front of her.

Of course he was here. Of course he was.

“I admire the way you’re attempting to help our Dear Ronnie.” He shouted over the sound of the engine, before deciding to turn it off and leaning forward on the handlebars with a smirk. “But it won’t work.”

Betty rolled her eyes and stepped back slightly, the overwhelming stench of petrol filling her nostrils and making her eyes water. “What do you want? I thought I had made it clear that I wasn’t your biggest fan.”

“I’ve got it all planned out,” JD said with a sinister grin. “It’s my move, Betty Finn.”

“Seriously, JD?!” Betty snapped. “Why are you trying to scare me off like this? I told you that I would stop you, and I am not backing down, so don’t bother. I’m trying to help Veronica.”

“So am I!” JD roared suddenly, his face turning slightly desperate, and his hands gripping the handlebars tightly. “We were meant to be together! You can still back out now, Betty. Just let fate run its course and don’t bother wasting your time trying to prevent the inevitable.”

“So that’s what this is? You really are trying to scare me away? Well, it won’t work because I’m determined to stop people from getting hurt!”

“How many people have been hurt because of Heather Chandler?” JD barked angrily, beads of sweat already forming on his brow, “How many people have cried because of Heather Chandler?  I have been through ten high schools, Betty, and everyone is the same. Girls like her need to be knocked down a peg. Surely you understand?”

He had her there. She was stopping Heather from being hurt, but was that doing more harm than good? Did she need to be knocked down a peg? Then, Betty realised that JD was succeeding here and was getting into her head and she grew annoyed.

“This is about more than just Heather.” She hissed accusingly. “You’re an evil man and you don’t scare me.”

JD shrugged, unfazed. He seemed to have regained his composure. “If that’s your decision, then I have no more business here. Have fun for the next two weeks, Betty. It’ll be hell after that.”

He sat up probably and the engine roared to life. He sent Betty a condescending wink.

“Say hi to my darling Veronica for me!”

The tires screeched along with the concrete as JD shot away at the speed of light like a bat out of hell. Although Betty would never admit it out loud, she was downright petrified of what JD would do next.

_____________________________

Shopping with Heather was hell anyway, never mind when she was as pissed off and hungover as she was now. She marched through the sea of people, not really caring if she shoved over a little boy or made a poor old lady lose her balance. It was a struggle for Mac and Duke to keep up. Still, they managed to and eventually, they reached the food court, their arms practically dropping off from the weight of the bags stuffed full of expensive designer clothing. Shopping was a sort of coping mechanism for Heather, a way to take her mind off things. That’s why Mac would always come with her, always carry her bags and never complain; because shopping was the most important thing to Heather, and Mac wanted to respect that.

This was a little bit ridiculous though. She knew that Duke was at the end of her tether and would snap any second, which would cause even more issues than the awful heap they had now. It seemed like, for some reason, Heather and Veronica’s relationship had totally blown up since the Remington Party, and now they either fought all the time or acted civil and got along well for all of three seconds. It saddened Mac somewhat. She knew, she just knew, that Veronica and Heather could work as friends together, they just needed to sort their shit out.

Duke muttered something about needing the toilet and swiftly scurried away before even waiting for a response. Mac knew it was just an excuse to get away from the situation and she was annoyed she didn’t think of it first. She glanced at Heather, hoping that by some miracle, she was feeling happier now. She wasn’t. She caught Mac’s eye and frowned, narrowing her eyes in an accusatory manner.

“Why are you looking at me?” She asked directly, deliberately putting pressure on Mac so she would panic.

“I’m not!” Mac squeaked quickly before turning away in fear, not wanting to deal with Heather in this mood.

“That's bullshit, you’ve been glancing at me all morning, what gives?”

“It’s… seriously, it’s nothing.”

“Mac,” Heather said in a louder tone, looking down at her friend. “I order you to tell me what’s wrong.”

“It’s…” Mac began timidly, “It’s about Veronica.”

“Never mind, I don't want to hear it anymore.”

“Heather, please!” Mac begged quietly, grabbing Heather by the arm “Try to be nice to her! You need to stop fighting. Seriously!”

“It’s her fault!” Heather insisted, pouting like a toddler throwing a tantrum and turning away. “She’s the one who is being a bitch for no reason. I should honestly just kick her out.”

Mac raised an eyebrow and gave her a knowing smile. “I think we both know you would never kick Veronica out.”

Heather snapped her head towards Mac and flared up. “What’s that supposed to mean then?”

“Nothing!” Mac assured her, holding her hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just saying that you ought to be a bit nicer with Veronica, actually make an effort. And don’t go all ‘mood-swing central’ on her. I’ve dealt with you since kindergarten so I’m used to it, but Veronica can’t properly understand it yet and she takes it personally, as any normal person would. Why don’t you try and hang out with her?”

To her surprise, Heather didn’t refuse or snap. Instead, she looked to the ground and sighed deeply. When she spoke, there was actually a hidden hint of sadness in her voice that was threatening to break through. “She clearly doesn’t want to hang out with us, you know that.”

“I meant just the two of you.” Mac clarified, placing a hand on Heather’s shoulder. “Rent a movie, or go to the movies, or… other stuff not involving movies!”

Heather pondered the idea for a moment and looked like she was about to comment when Duke came back and rejoined the table. Heather simply muttered something about needing a smoke and a break from everything, and strutted outside, leaving Mac and Duke on their own. Mac sighed in defeat and ran a hand through her bouncy blonde curls. Duke raised a curious brow at her.

“What was all that about, then?” She asked, gesturing to where Heather had just exited. “Please don’t tell me we’ve been here for four hours and the moment I go for a few minutes, there’s actually some interesting drama?”

Mac laughed softly, making Duke smile slightly. She then turned serious again and stared sadly at the floor. “I tried to convince Heather to be nicer to Veronica.”

Duke raised her eyebrows and scoffed, giving an empty laugh. “I doubt Heather knows the meaning of the word nice. Besides, Veronica isn’t interested in being Heather’s friend anyway.”

Mac’s face fell as she opened her mouth to try and deny it, but Duke quickly continued.

“The thing about you Mac is you look at things through rose-tinted glasses. It’s a quality I personally like about you, but it also makes you come across as slightly naive. You see two people who are similar and could be great friends. Two people who secretly do care for each other, and they could work together to be great. Everyone else sees someone who just joined the group for popularity and someone who uses that person for hall passes. That’s all it’ll ever be.”

She couldn’t form a response. Duke was completely correct there. She probably was just being stupid as always. She felt herself shrinking inwards and all her previous determination to help out vanished. She should have just left it alone. She was being naive. She was acting like a child.

“Veronica doesn’t deserve Heather’s friendship anyway.” Duke continued spitefully, glaring daggers at the table in front of her. “It’s unfair that she got us out of detention once and got accepted when I gave up everything to be here. She isn’t like us. Being part of the Heathers is a dream for everyone, and she just waltzes in here and acts all high and mighty. It’s terrible and unfair.”

Mac placed a timid hand on Duke’s forearm. The brunette's gaze moved to the action as a slight frown etched her features before she turned her gaze upwards to look into Mac’s eyes. Mac gave a small smile in response and took a slight step closer.

“Why are you so cynical, Heather?” Mac queried jokingly. “It can be a great aspect about you and I personally think it’s actually one of my favourite things about you, but it does sometimes mean that you take everything the wrong way.”

Duke studied Mac’s face for a moment before chuckling. “You look at the world too brightly and I look at it too darkly. What a pair we are.”

Mac laughed as well, already feeling much better than before. “We are a pair, aren't we, Heather? Heather and Veronica are a pair and then you and I are a pair!”

Duke rolled her eyes affectionately and picked up her bags. “Yes, Heather, we’re a pair. Now, I’m gonna go check out a cool shop I noticed down the left side. Wanna join?”

Suddenly, Mac was reminded of the original reason she was here: to make Heather and Veronica be friends. Now that seemed practically impossible. She bowed her head and shook it slowly. Duke smiled sadly and placed a comforting hand on Mac's shoulder.

“I’m sorry you had to be told all that, Mac.” Duke apologised in a gentle tone. “But it’s the honest truth. Just… leave them alone, yeah?”

She walked away and Mac revelled in the time alone she now had. Duke was right, what was the point in getting involved? Heather and Veronica would just never get on and that was something she needed to accept. She absentmindedly reached into her bag and pulled out a small yellow purse with a cute embroidery of a bumblebee on it. It was her favourite, she’d had it since Kindergarten. Duke had gotten it for her and she remembered throwing her arms around the girl in green and declaring it was the nicest present she had ever received, making the other blush slightly. She smiled fondly at the memory.

Opening it, she emptied out all the photos inside that she’d get out when she felt down and looked at them closely, the memories all flooding back to her. One was a picture of all four of them in Heather’s garden, taken a few weeks ago. Mac was linked arms with Duke, which had made her smile widely. Duke was also genuinely smiling more than Mac had ever really seen. She turned her attention to Heather and Veronica. Heather had her arm draped over Veronica’s shoulders and Veronica had her head rested on Heather’s shoulder. It was cute and she remembered Duke teasing them both for days. They would, of course, retaliate by pointing out Mac and Duke’s linked arms. Mac smiled fondly at the memory. They all looked so happy and carefree, and Veronica and Heather clearly had a close friendship, as it was shown in that very photo.

Ruffling threw a few more, Mac spotted a strip of photos that Veronica and Heather had taken in a photo booth. There’s one of them looking into the camera, one of them pulling an angry face at the camera, and one of them in fits of giggles. Mac smiled, remembering that Heather put a copy of these in her locker. Another example of their potential as a friendship. As Mac gazed at the photos, the doubts vanished from her mind, and she stuffed her purse back into her bag with a face of pure determination. She had changed her mind.

They clearly did like each other, despite what anyone said. They just needed a helping hand or two.

If Veronica, Heather, and Duke wouldn’t help, she would go to the one person who could.

Betty Finn.

Chapter Text

Why the heck was Heather Mcnamara standing at her front door early on a Sunday morning?

“Heya, Betty Finn isn’t it?” She greeted brightly, eyes twinkling with excitement, “Nice to meet you, I’m Heather McNamara, but you can just call me Mac! Sorry for, like, the mean-ness and stuff in the past!”

“I… know who you are.” Betty confirmed slowly, surveying Mac through narrow eyes, “What… are you doing at my house?”

Mac’s grin never wavered, despite Betty’s less than friendly response. “I’m here because I need your help, Betty.” She explained dramatically, leaning forward slightly to add effect. “I need you to help me to get Heather and Veronica to be friends!”

...What?

Betty didn’t even have time to process the proposition, let alone give an answer. Mac steamed ahead, more excitable by the second.

“You see, I’m Heather’s best friend and you’re Veronica’s best friend, so who better to understand them than us? If anyone can fix this mess, it’s us. Now, I know you may not agree, but I just know that they can and should be friends! It breaks my heart to see them fight all the time because I know how much potential they have! We can get them to like each other! So… what do you think?”

As utterly bewildering and out of the blue this whole thing was…. It was possibly the best chance Betty had been given yet. With Heather Chandler’s best friend effectively in her power, there was no way she couldn’t get Heather to fall for Veronica. This was absolutely the perfect opportunity and she thanked God that this had literally been handed to her. Of course, she absolutely could not tell Ronnie, she would never agree. This was technically breaking Rule Number 3: ‘No Heathers Involved’, but also technically not. JD said that Veronica couldn’t get any Heathers involved, not that Betty couldn’t. If Veronica didn’t know… well it wasn’t hurting anybody was it? Besides, this was far too good to just throw away because of some stupid rule. Betty could do this on her own. 

She absolutely couldn’t tell Mac the real reason she was agreeing either, that would just be stupid, she’d go blabbing to Heather in a heartbeat. No, she would play along with Mac’s little game, and nobody would be any the wiser. She had someone else on her team now, giving her the upper hand.

“You know what, Mac?” Betty began, feigning contemplation. “I totally agree with you. They just have… a connection, don't they?”

They didn’t.

“Exactly!” Mac squealed loudly, jumping up and down with joy. “This is amazing! We can do this, Betty. You seem totally cool, I think we’re going to get along great!”

Betty couldn’t help but smile at this human version of a puppy. She had a certain distaste for the Heathers after everything they did to people, but she couldn’t help but feel that what she saw at school wasn’t even the half of it. This was a perfect example. At school Heather McNamara would tease and snicker and go along with whatever evil schemes the other two cooked up. However, here, Mac was just an excitable teenage girl who just wanted the best for her friends. It was equal parts unnerving and refreshing. Betty tried hard to not dwell on it too much and get on with the task at hand. A very large chunk of the time was up already so they needed to be quick and smart and not fret over the little details.

Mac quickly glanced at a photo behind Betty, of her and her family at a farm when they were younger. Betty was hugging a large pig and smiling brightly as the pig tried to trot away in discomfort.

“Is that a chicken....?” Mac asked slowly, eyes half-shut trying to identify the animal in the photo. 

“Uh… no, it’s a pig.” Betty explained in confusion, wondering how the hell she could’ve got the two mixed up and why she was even caring about the photo anyway.

“Oh. I thought chickens were fat and pink like that? Oh well.” She shrugged before continuing. “By the way, you’ll probably be the brains in this operation.”

Betty didn’t doubt that for a second.

_____________________________

“Alright, so here’s the plan…”

Betty and Mac had spent the last hour or so noting down some ideas on how to approach this. Betty had to admit, it was nice to have someone working on this with her who wasn’t always whining about how much Heather annoyed them or how they’d rather just go hang out with a crazy manipulative asshole with greasy hair. Talking about nobody in particular, of course.

So far, they had come up with an idea and rolled with it, eventually leading to a plan of action for tonight.

“I’ve told Veronica she needs to hang out with Heather alone sometime, so we do that today. I’ll call her up and convince her to make plans with Heather. You go to Heather’s house now, and when Veronica rings Heather and makes plans with her, you try to really convince Heather to be nice and to go. Got that?”

“Sounds perfect to me!” Mac agreed enthusiastically, standing up to go, “Thanks Betty! We’ve totally got this.”

Betty stood up as well and gave a kind smile, looking at Mac through her large glasses. “We sure have. Good luck!”

“You too, Betty. Let’s hope they don’t kill each other, hey?”

“Hm, wishful thinking.”

Mac giggled before waving goodbye and leaving. Betty sighed contentedly.

Take that, JD.

_____________________________

Veronica was lazing about on her sofa when she heard the phone ring. She groaned and reluctantly got up, glad that seeing as she was currently not on talking terms with Heather, it wouldn’t be an order to go to the mall for hours. She answered it and wasn’t exactly surprised to hear Betty’s sweet voice on the other end.

“Hey, Ronnie!”

“Hi, Betty. What’s up?”

“You need to ask Heather if she wants to come over and watch a movie this afternoon.”

Veronica threw her head back in exasperation.

“Listen here, Betty.” She said, her voice stern yet slightly worn. “I get the importance of this bet now, I really do. You’ve explained many times. But I’m tired. For the love of God can we talk about something else for a change?”

There was silence for a few moments.

“I totally understand where you're coming from.” Betty said softly. “But you really need to do this now. You guys have just fought and you need to have it fixed now because it’s the final day of the weekend. You’ll have less chance to do these things during the week with school and stuff, and by time next weekend comes, you will only have about a week left of the bet. So, as I said, you need to do it now or never, Ronnie. I promise we don’t have to talk about this all the time, but you can see why I need you to do it today, can’t you?”

Betty’s logic was flawless, to be fair. This was her best chance. This week would be too hard and next weekend would be too late. Besides, as Betty had stated, they had just fought, so it was better to make up now rather than let emotions simmer for longer than needed.

Veronica sighed, finally caving in and agreeing, albeit reluctantly. “Alright, you’re right, I’ll call up Heather and ask her if she wants to watch a movie tonight. We can watch Dirty Dancing or whatever.”

“Perfect!” Betty replied happily in relief, “exactly what I was thinking. I’ll leave you to it then. Sorry for being so in your face about this, I’m just trying to help.”

“I know you are, Betty.” Veronica said understandingly, reassuring her. “See you tomorrow!”

She put the phone down and prepared herself to kiss some ass and bury her feelings. She would just ask Heather to come over, they’d talk about anything, watch a dumb film and then that would be it. Hopefully, that could be the start of something, and they wouldn’t fight anymore. She didn’t really believe that, though, it was just her being hopeful. She picked up the phone again to ring Heather as she gritted her teeth.

The phone rang once. No answer

Once again. No answer.

By time it had got to the fifth ring, Veronica was ready to just put it down and call it a night but eventually Heather did answer, her voice sounding pissed off even though she didn't know it was Veronica yet.

“What?” She barked bluntly, catching Veronica slightly off guard as she nearly dropped the phone.

“Oh- Heather, hey-”

“Ah, the local traitor. Can’t say it’s nice to hear your loser voice.”

Veronica was about to retort when she heard another voice in the background, seemingly begging, and Heather pulled away from the phone for a second to angrily whisper something inaudible to the source of the voice before coming back and clearly waiting for Veronica to say something. Veronica shook her head and continued, ignoring the other voice for now.

“Listen, I’m sick of us fighting, Heather, so I want to truly make it up to you so we can get along better.”

“...Are you being held hostage?” Heather said after a pause, her voice unsure.

Veronica laughed softly. “No, I’ve just been thinking about stuff. I know you don’t like us fighting so we should hang out, just me and you at my house, four o'clock. What do you say?”

More whispering came from the other side and Veronica was slightly uncomfortable that she was being eavesdropped on by someone whom she didn’t even know. Heather once again whispered back but this time her voice was slightly nervous rather than angry. Veronica wanted to assure her that this would all be fine., and to convince her that she absolutely should take Veronica’s offer.

“We can watch Dirty Dancing…?” Veronica added playfully with a smirk, which earned a sigh from Heather.

“I forgot I told you that.” Heather grumbled wearily before sighing once again. “I’ll think about it.”

And with that she hung up without another word and Veronica was feeling rather optimistic. It obviously wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic yes. Hell, it wasn’t even a yes. But Veronica had a good feeling about this. And she hoped that maybe whoever Heather was with could convince her also. 

Deciding that yes, Heather would most likely be coming over, Veronica began to prepare, grabbing drinks and snacks and making sure that there would be corn nuts, or else Heather may just murder her.

_____________________________

“You should totally go!” Mac assured Heather, arms flailing about wildly as Heather paced the room. “She was right about you two needing to spend some time together.”

Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Is this part of your little idea to get us to ‘play nice’ or whatever?”

“This is the perfect opportunity!” Whined an insistent Mac, “She even remembered your favourite film.”

“I’m suspicious though…” Heather confessed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Why is she suddenly doing this? Why is it that she’s suddenly decided she does want to turn up at our sleepovers, and she does actually want to hang out with me? Is there some reason behind it that’ll come to bite me in the ass?”

Mac assumed it had something to do with a certain Betty Finn, but she hid a mischievous smile and didn’t comment. She just sighed and looked at Heather sympathetically. Heather shook away the previous thought and continued with her rambling excuses, still pacing the room.

“We’ll just fight again, like we always do.” Heather said, her voice actually sounding rather disappointed and miserable. It was almost as if she was acting like this was a great burden for her and she wasn’t actually the one who caused most of these fights, but Mac stayed silent about that.

“Well, this is different. It’s just you two! See how it goes and let me know, so we can move on from there. It’ll go well, I promise.”

Heather nodded, finally caving in, and began to get all her stuff together. She turned to Mac again and gave her a small nod of appreciation. Mac knew that was the best she would get out of Heather, so she grinned back and gave a thumbs up.

The plan was in motion, and in that moment, Mac knew this whole friendship plan with Betty would all go very smoothly in the long run.

How wrong she turned out to be.

_____________________________

She knew it.

She knew Heather would come.

Veronica gave a smug grin when she opened the door to see Heather Chandler in a plain white blouse and a short red skirt, wearing her signature bold, blood-red lipstick. Heather just scoffed dramatically and silently breezed past Veronica straight into the living room. Veronica hit back any snide remarks, remembering that she had challenged herself to get through this without any verbal massacres between the two of them. She carefully closed the door and spun around to follow Heather, a voice in the back of her mind telling her that she would need to keep an eye on the girl in red just in case. This was Heather Chandler, messing up people’s houses was most likely a weekly occurrence for her, and Veronica’s mother would be none too pleased with that.

Heather made a beeline straight for the mantlepiece with a bunch of photos on them, one recent and some from a very long time ago. Heather’s eye was instantly caught by a photo of a young Veronica hugging a small black cat with piercing green eyes. 

“I had a cat when I was younger.” Veronica explained, moving next to Heather and smiling at the photo. “He was a sweetheart. I named him JFK.”

Heather sent Veronica a judgmental look. “That’s a stupid name.” She insulted, flicking her glossy blonde hair and moving on to the sofa.

“I had a cat when I was younger as well.” She mentioned as she carefully perched herself on the arms of the sofa. “Her name was Princess.”

Veronica snorted, joining Heather at the sofa. “Of course you would fucking name your cat Princess, I bet you were such a brat.”

She still was, but Veronica didn’t want to piss her off even more so she kept quiet.

“You named your cat after a US president, shut up.” She growled, crossing her arms and pouting. Veronica was about to retort but decided against it to keep the peace.

Heather’s mood lifted slightly when she realised that Veronica wasn’t giving any sort of comeback, and she regained her confidence. “Get us drinks then, loser. Now.”

Veronica would have sighed, but she was used to this by now. She bit back any insults and reluctantly stalked away to the kitchen to pour some beer that Heather liked for them both. She could do this. She could totally do this. As much as she wanted to smack Heather round the face most of the time, she needed to keep her cool. Take any insults she was given. Just be nice and polite, get Heather to fall for her, win the bet and then it’ll all be over. Simple as that.

She picked up the drinks and went back into the living room to see Heather staring absentmindedly at her long red nails - that were more like talons to be honest - with her legs curled up beneath her. The usual spiteful eyes were now calm and relaxed, and her face had none of its usual sneer or mockery. Veronica almost smiled before thinking that was a bit weird and Heather would call her a perv or something. She regained her focus and flopped down next to Heather, handing her the beer. The relaxed expression vanished as she snatched the drink and her face hardened once more. They both took a sip in silence that was verging on awkward. Veronica decided that at this point they should just start the movie and get this over with as neither was interesting in conversing.

Veronica turned on the TV and the film began to play, as she had prepared and inserted the video earlier. The opening scene played and Veronica caught the ghost of a smile on Heather’s face that became more and more clear. It was… nice. To see Heather genuinely enjoying something which wasn’t ruining the life of a fellow student.

“You love this film, don’t you?” Veronica spoke up, grabbing Heather’s attention, her smile dropping. “Don’t blame you, it’s a good one.”

She wasn’t sure why she was trying to create some sort of conversation when they could just watch the movie in silence, but Heather didn’t seem too mad about it. She just nodded in agreement and took another sip of her drink.

Veronica made the decision to continue. “I bet you fancy Patrick Swayze.” She teased, her eyes glinting in amusement.

Heather looked like she was about to say something before simply staring at Veronica and biting her lip. Veronica felt her heart jump slightly at the motion as her gaze flitted to her lips. She quickly pulled them back up to her eyes and prayed that Heather didn’t notice. She had always known Heather was attractive, anyone with eyes did, but something about the way Heather stared into her soul as her teeth grazed over her plump lower lip…

Ok this was getting weird.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Veronica continued, trying to take her mind off that very strange feeling she just got.

“I don’t blame you, he’s pretty handsome. However, I think I prefer Jennifer Gray, she’s absolutely gorgeous.”

To Veronica’s initial confusion, Heather’s eyes widened slightly at that as she gave Veronica an unfamiliar look. Veronica wondered why she would react that way before internally screaming at herself for the fact that she could’ve just possibly outed herself. The only person that knew she was bi was Betty, and it would stay that way. If Heather knew… she would start rumours before she was even out the door. She’d be humiliated for sure, nobody would dare go near her. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of her sexuality, not at all. Luckily, she hadn’t grown up with any of the usual conservative Ohio ideals. However, that didn’t mean anyone else would be the same. Certainly not Heather Chandler.

Heather opened her mouth to say something before deciding against it and closing it again and turning away, her eye still staring at the screen but less intense and focused than last time. They glazed over lightly, as if hert mind was somewhere else and she was in her head rather than watching the film. Veronica decided to continue watching the film also, holding back a sigh of relief due to the fact that - hopefully - she wasn’t dead and Heather hadn’t properly caught on to what Veronica was saying.

“I think Jennifer Gray is pretty too.” Heather mumbled quietly, as if she didn’t actually want Veronica to hear her.

“Not in a dyke way or anything, obviously!” She added swiftly, glancing at Veronica.

Veronica barely stopped herself from flinching at the slur. “Just watch the film Heather. They’re about to meet each other for the first time.”

The air had changed around them. It was stagnant and thoughtful. Neither one was properly concentrating anymore and they were both thinking over what they had or hadn’t revealed about themselves, although neither knew of this fact. 

Veronica didn’t even seem to notice when Heather glanced at her every so often and instinctively shuffled an inch closer.

_____________________________

As the final scene came to a close, and the credits began to roll, Veronica turned to look at Heather through tired, heavy-lidded eyes. Heather seemed to actually have glassy eyes brimming with tears and her the corners of her lips were turned up into a warm smile that Veronica has never seen Heather Chandler wear. Veronica felt herself smile too at this and commented that Heather seemed to have enjoyed that. Heather quickly wiped her eyes and tried to keep up her bitchy facade, but it was to no avail, she had unintentionally brought her walls down, even just for a moment.

They cleared up and collected everything Heather had brought, making idle chatter and commenting about the film. It felt awfully relaxed and even domestic and Veronica wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it. However, they seemed to have gone the entire time without a fight and that brought up Veronica’s spirits somewhat. There was also a part of her that genuinely had enjoyed the evening, but she would never tell Heather that.

And so there they were, Heather stood on Veronica’s porch as Veronica leant against the wall, wrapping her arms around herself to battle the cold. Neither girl spoke for a good moment, and instead they just studied each other, eyes unblinking and unwavering. They properly took each other in. It was a stand off of some sorts, yet… not aggressive or even malicious really.

Heather finally let out a loud sigh, her breath coming out as a cloud, just proving how bloody cold it was and how much Veronica wished to go back inside. Heather gave Veronica a look that raked over her body, making the latter shiver slightly, although she told herself it was due to the temperature. 

“This… wasn’t terrible.” Heather said somewhat distastefully, as if saying the words caused her physical pain.

Veronica gave a small giggle and nodded her head in amusement. “I agree, you can be truly horrific sometimes but tonight you were actually bearable!”

Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Shut up loser, I’m trying to give a compliment.”

“I know.” Veronica admitted sincerely, “Thank you, genuinely. And sorry again for everything.”

That seemed to catch Heather off guard slightly. She blinked a few times, her face showing a feeling of shock and confusion.

“Right…” She said slowly and unsurely. “Well, no worries... and all that. Oh and by the way, we should watch Beetlejuice together some time, seeing as you love it so much.”

Heather actually taking the time and effort to remember a detail about someone? Her actually being the one to make plans? Her inadvertently admitting that she wanted to do this again? If Veronica wasn’t there to witness it, she wouldn’t have believed it.

“Heather, is this you saying you want to hang out with me again?” Veronica said teasingly, tilting her to the side and smirking. “I’m flattered.”

“Ugh shut up, loser.”Heather groaned, pulling a face at Veronica. “Don’t ruin it.”

Veronica laughed. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I would love to watch Beetlejuice with you, Heather.”

“You’re lucky I’m even offering.” Heather said, “I hate weirdo films like that, horror and stuff. It’s creepy, I don’t see how anyone could like it. Rom-coms are where it’s at, especially Grease. I love that one too.”

Veronica smiled mysteriously. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Heather sneered and called Veronica a weirdo before giving a lazy wave and walking away to her Porsche, not bothering to look at Veronica again. Once she had tore off down the empty road, Veronica stood where she was for a little while longer, staring into the night. She could get closer to Heather, she knew it. This was going so well, and it could go even better. They could get to know each other, hang out some more, and Veronica would win this bet easier than anyone would have expected. She was getting through to Heather, even if it was just a little bit, and now she had just under two weeks left. She was all set.

Veronica smiled, ready to tell Betty how they actually got through without fighting once.

They were making steady progress, and Veronica was ready for anything else that was going to come her way.

The next two weeks were bound to be fun.

Chapter Text

“This really isn’t good enough, Ronnie.”

Betty and Veronica stared at the notepad, the former frowning and rubbing her chin in thought.

So far, the list consisted of:

- Favourite film is Dirty Dancing (already used this)

- Likes Rom Coms and Dramas

- Had a cat

- Doesn't like horror films.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of you guys for watching that movie earlier and not fighting, but you didn’t get much more information out of her. “

Veronica hummed in response before offering “Maybe we could add the things I already know?”

Betty’s head shot up at that. “You already know some information? I didn’t think you guys knew anything about each other.”

Shrugging, Veronica replied, “I went to her house all the time, plus we spent pretty much the whole day together, at school and afterwards.”

“Alright then,” Betty said, her pen at the ready in her hand, hovering over the page, and her face expectant, “What have you got?”

Veronica sat in thought for a moment, mulling over what she actually knew. “She’s scared of spiders, she has glasses, she used to live in Boston, she loves baseball and she’s great at baking. Can we do anything with that?”

Betty’s eyebrows had shot up and she was furiously scribbling down everything Veronica had said. “This is great, some of these are super useful! Why didn’t you mention anything before?”

At this, Veronica’s eyes narrowed as she shook her head. “I… guess I didn’t realise how much I actually knew about her. I didn’t realise how much we had talked to each other.”

Betty didn’t notice Veronica’s strange, almost guilty, tone and continued on, eyes still glued to the paper in front of her as she chewed the end of her pen. “Well… I’d say we focus on the baking and the baseball, as they’re hobbies and they’re most useful to us.”

She paused for a moment before seemingly getting an idea.

“Hey, if she used to live in Boston, she may support Boston’s baseball team, or whatever it’s called.” She suggested, finally raising her eyes to meet Veronica’s. “You should research it and pretend you support them too.”

Her expression unsure, Veronica didn’t seem to be totally on board with the idea. “Doesn’t that seem a little bit excessive?”

“Not at all!” Betty assured her, shuffling closer. “It’s Monday tomorrow, Ronnie. Your perfect chance to talk to her again at school. You have about a week and five days, at this point nothing is too excessive. She may be developing a bit of a crush but we are almost halfway through and she’s nowhere near to even thinking about asking you to prom.”

“Fine, fine.” Veronica gave in, nodding in agreement. “You’re right. I think my Dad likes baseball so I can ask him if he knows anything about Boston. If he doesn’t I can at least learn the basic rules and ideas of the game.”

“Great!” Betty confirmed, writing down some more notes. “Now, what about baking? You can go over to her house and whilst you’re there, suggest that you guys bake a cake or something and just tell her she’s really talented to flatter her.”

“Woah, Woah, Woah,” Veronica hastily stopped her, holding up her hands. “One thing at a time, Betty. I’ll sort out the whole baseball thing first, then we can move on from there. I hope she does support Boston or whatever.”

“I’m sure she will,” Betty confirmed confidently, placing the notepad in her bag.

“I really should hang out with JD, though,” Veronica muttered, biting her lip, causing Betty to freeze. “Wait! He moves around a lot, he might have been to Boston at some point! I bet he’ll be awake, I can go over now.”

“Yeah… sounds good,” Betty said slightly awkwardly, but Veronica stayed oblivious to the reaction. 

They parted ways as Veronica headed to JD’s house. Once she was gone, Betty grabbed the phone to quickly call up Mac and inform her of the situation. Mac picked up promptly and answered as chipper as ever.

“Hey, Mac, it’s Betty.”

“Hiya!” Mac greeted warmly. “Did you tell Veronica what I told you about Heather supporting the Boston Red Sox?”

“Sort of…” Betty explained, “Luckily, she already knew that Heather used to live in Boston and that she liked baseball, so when I suggested that she supported the Red Sox, it seemed like just a calculated guess. She didn’t assume anything. Thanks for your help, Mac.”

“That’s awesome!” Mac said excitedly before her voice turned to one of curiosity. “But why don’t we tell Veronica and Heather what we’re doing? Why do we have to be all secretive?”

“They would never understand.” Betty lied, the main reason being because of the bet’s rules, “We’re doing just fine on our own anyway.”

“Good point.” Mac agreed, dropping the subject instantly.

“Anyway, I’ve told Veronica to research the team and stuff so when she starts talking about it at school tomorrow, don’t be surprised. Did you tell Heather what I told you?”

“Yep! I ‘accidentally’ let it slip that Veronica likes hiking and wants to be an English teacher and Heather seemed to take note of it. Thanks for letting me know!”

“No worries, thanks for your help,” Betty said kindly, twiddling the phone cord in her fingers. She paused for a moment before speaking in a quiet, soft voice. “Mac, what is Veronica and Heather’s relationship actually like?”

“Oh!” Mac squeaked in surprise at the sudden shift in mood, but quickly recovered and answered as honestly as she could. “It’s kind of weird. They clearly do care about each other, they just… fight a lot. Nobody else can see it, but I can! I can see when Heather and Veronica sometimes joke with each other, and Heather pretends to be angry when Veronica makes a jab about the poll or something but she’s smiling slightly. Or when Heather will stand up to Kurt and Ram if they try to advance on Veronica, and Veronica looks at her with a lot of respect and appreciation. They aren’t perfect, but they have so much potential.”

Betty was totally speechless. Here she was thinking they had a deep hatred for each other topped off with an unhealthy rivalry. However, they apparently secretly liked each other? Her confusion turned to happiness once she realised that this would certainly make the bet easier. Really, they were seeming closer recently, that was possibly a by-product of the bet plus this apparent deeply-buried friendship they had.

“Well,” Betty began, a confident smile spreading across her sweet features “with us two helping, this should be a piece of cake.”

_____________________________

Veronica didn’t know shit about sports, let alone baseball.

No, the most interacting she’d ever had with sports of any kind was during gym when she was forced to partake in cross-country or various other utterly humiliating activities that she got teased for by Kurt and Ram in the past. Now they just drooled over her whilst she ran. Gross.

The funniest thing was… she had assumed Heather was the same. One of those people who would never take part in anything as barbaric and ‘un-lady-like’ as sports. The thought of Heather Chandler trying to swing a bat around and knocking herself in the head made Veronica snigger.

And so, it was a surprise to find out how wrong she was. To find out that Heather loved baseball, supported a team (Boston Red Sox, she had discovered), and then actually told her. It was confusing. Useful as hell, but confusing.

A knock from her door pulled her from her thoughts and she went to go answer it. JD stood there, shoulders hunched and hair as greasy as ever. He really needed to shower. He gave a casual grin and stepped inside, slipping off his combat boots and hanging up his trenchcoat on the stand. Veronica led him to her living room and they slumped down on the sofa.

“Thanks for coming so late,” Veronica said, turning to him. “I know it must have been annoying.”

“Pshhhh, you think I sleep?” JD joked before giving a genuine smile. “It didn’t matter anyway, I really wanted to talk to you. We haven’t hung out in ages.”

“Yeah…” Veronica agreed awkwardly, realising that he was very right. “I’ve just been so caught up in this bet, and there isn’t a lot of time left so I’m spending all of my time with Heather and-”

JD held up his hand to silence her and gave an understanding look. “I get it, you don’t need to apologise. How are you doing with the whole bet thing anyway?”

Veronica shrugged. “Alright, I think. With Betty’s help, it doesn’t seem so difficult. In fact, we even had a movie night without fighting! I nearly came out as bisexual to her though, that could have been awkward as hell!”

She gave a good-natured chuckle, not noticing JD’s sudden change in mood. Then she realised.

“Oh shit.” She whispered, clasping a hand over her mouth and staring at him in shock. “I… haven’t told you yet, have I?

JD slowly shook his head, his jaw clenched. 

He then spoke hurriedly. “I accept you, don’t worry! Obviously I’m not big on bullying and all that, so… I won’t judge you or anything… it’s just a shock is all.”

“Uh… thank you. It- it doesn’t matter though, it’s no big deal.” Veronica stuttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and avoiding eye contact.

“So… you also like girls?” JD asked sheepishly, unsureness in his tone. “You could… potentially fall for a girl?”

“Yeah…?” Veronica replied, before waving her hands in front of her face and shaking her head. “Let’s just leave it though, it’s not important.”

JD said no more on the matter, but he had a slightly worried look in his eye that Veronica couldn’t quite understand.

“Anyway…” He spoke up after a moment. “How’s Betty?”

Veronica was relieved for the change in subject. “Betty’s good, yeah. As I said, she’s been a life-saver with this whole bet. Oh and I’m so glad you guys get along!”

“Indeed, we get on super well.” JD lied, smiling slightly. “Well, I dunno exactly how she feels about me, but I’m pretty sure she likes me. I certainly like her anyway.”

“That’s great, JD. Betty’s been my best friend since Kindergarten. When I joined the Heathers, I sort of stopped hanging out with her, even though she was a true friend. I’m trying to make it up to her now. She has a heart of gold, she really deserves the best in life.”

JD nodded quietly, not really feeling much guilt. Veronica shook her head and sat up straighter.

“Anyway, I’m sure you don’t wanna hear me blabbing on about my friends all the time. There’s actually something I needed to ask you.”

“Fire away.”

“Have you ever lived in Boston?”

JD thought for a moment before confirming, “Yes actually, I lived there a couple of years ago, why?”

Veronica grinned and leaned in closer to properly pay attention. “Know anything about the Boston Red Sox?”

“I went to a few of their games, they were good so I researched a little bit about them.” Veronica beamed at that. JD continued “Let’s see… I think my favourite member of the team was Roger Clemens, he was one hell of a pitcher. He still plays now, I believe, even though that was back in ‘87. Oh, and they got their name because they wore red socks, but that name wouldn’t fit properly on the jersey so they had to change it to Red Sox. That’s all I know.”

“That’s brilliant!” Veronica exclaimed excitedly. “Now I just need to get some info from my Dad and then I should have enough!”

JD raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. “Why did you want to know all that anyway? I didn’t know you were into sports?”

“I’m not!” Veronica commented, giving a cheeky grin. “I’m pretending to be so I can talk to Heather about them. Apparently, she likes the Red Sox or whatever. Thanks for your help.”

Grimacing, JD realised he had just accidentally helped Veronica and let out a sigh. Then, he got an idea.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think she does.” He said casually, folding his arms and resting back against the sofa. “I actually overheard her saying that she hates Boston and everything about it, that’s why she moved here.”

Veronica rolled her eyes, not taking the bait. “Sure, whatever. That’s bullshit and you know it. Besides, if Betty tells me something, I’m going to believe her over anyone else.”

At this, JD’s mood shifted. He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, his eyes dark. “Are you sure you can actually trust Betty?”

Veronica was shocked. “What an earth do you mean?” She asked incredulously.

“What I mean is… why would Betty be helping you so much? Why does she want you to win? What if she’s got some sort of secret plan? What if she’s getting Heather to fall for you but not enough to confess, just to break her heart when you say you hate her, or… something like that? I mean, think about how much Heather has hurt you, and hurt her. She’ll want revenge, and this is a clever plan. I just don’t think you can really trust her.”

At that, Veronica’s face grew red, her eyes burning fire into JD’s own beady little ones.

“How fucking dare you.” She hissed, angrier than JD had ever seen.

JD’s dangerous persona faded instantly. “W-what?” he choked, recoiling slightly.

“I literally just told you that Betty has a heart of damn gold. The fact that you’d even insinuate that she’d do anything like that is awful! You don’t know shit about her, and you need to fucking back off. Not everyone is out to stab people in the back, JD. Don’t ever talk about my best friend in that way again.”

JD was completely silent. It may have been the shock or the shame, but he simply didn’t have an answer. He just stood up and awkwardly pointed to the doorway.

“I… should go.”

Veronica didn’t even look at him, her breathing still slightly uneven. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

JD let out a sigh and said “I’ll see you at school.” before leaving in silence.

Veronica groaned, more calm than before. She slumped back against the sofa and stared at the ceiling.

School was going to be awkward as hell

_____________________________

She headed straight to Heather when she stepped into school on Monday morning. The girl was leaning against her locker, absentmindedly staring at her nails and totally oblivious to the usual attention she was attracting from around the school. Veronica had to stop for a second and really look at her. How could someone look so good on a Monday morning? Her hair was curled perfectly with soft, silky locks cascading down her back like a golden waterfall. The rays of light beamed onto her face, her piercing blue eyes stood out from miles away. Feeling heat rise to her cheeks, Veronica quickly shook her head and continued on. Heather looked up at Veronica and gave a look that had never been seen before when seeing Veronica.

She smiled. A genuine, clear smile. Veronica swore she must have been dreaming, because Heather was known for her unfriendly, resting bitch face and she never gave Veronica so much as a sneer, let alone a god damn smile. It had to be because of the movie night, where they had actually interacted like real friends. Veronica knew that would work.

She smiled just as brightly back, leaning against the locker next to her. Heather had now gone back to a neutral expression, but Veronica kept her light attitude.

“What’s got you so happy, loser?” Heather asked, looking her up and down teasingly.

Veronica shrugged, smirking. “Just happy to see you of course!”

Scoffing, Heather replied “Well that’s a fucking lie.”

Veronica smiled conspiratorially and walked on, Heather having to speed up to catch up with her. This was when Veronica decided to put her plan into action. She had spoken to her Dad and found out that the Red Sox had won last night. A perfect conversation starter.

“The Boston Red Sox won last night.” She stated, not looking at Heather. “One hell of a game. That home run was very .”

Heather stopped, causing Veronica to stop too, and stared at the brunette in confusion. “...You watch baseball?”

“Of course! Go Red Sox! Roger Clemens is an absolute legend, best pitcher ever if you ask me. Sorry, I know you probably don’t want me rambling on about baseball stuff.”

Slightly bewildered, Heather said “No, no that’s fine, I actually like baseball myself. Boston, too.”

“What? No way! I had absolutely no idea.”

“Me neither…” Heather said slowly, still surprised. “How long have you supported them for?”

“My whole life!” Veronica explained, marvelling at how well this was going. “My Dad used to live in Boston when he was younger and so we’ve supported them forever. You used to live in Boston too, right? I think you told me that once.”

“Yeah… I- I did.”

Heather Chandler stuttering ? Veronica almost beamed with glee, but stopped herself and pushed on. This was going so perfectly well, this had pretty much flipped everything upside down. She had gone from worrying about the two-ish weeks she had left to being completely sure that that was more than enough time. She was pretty sure Heather was feeling something anyway, but by finding out more stuff she liked and talking to her about it… Heather would be head over heels in no time at all. Who knew it could be this easy? Veronica had achieved the impossible: she had got the Demon Queen to like her, and all it took was a bit of talking!

Then, Veronica felt… almost sad. Was that really all it took? Was Heather so desperate for someone to talk to, for someone to take notice of her, properly take notice of her, that she would fall for them when they did a basic friendly thing?

Veronica shook the thoughts from her mind. No time for an analysis on the enigma that is Heather Chandler, she needed to keep up this momentum. She had priorities.

“I seriously can’t believe you like baseball, that’s really cool!” Veronica said, looking at Heather and tilting her head. “We should talk about it more often.”

Then, for whatever reason, Veronica felt brave. She decided to bite the bullet and take a plunge into the ice-cold water of the deep end. She took a breath and put on her best flirtatious face she could possibly muster. She bit her lip seductively - trying not to think about it too much - and let her eyes roam down Heather’s body and back up again, to lock their gazes. To top it all off, she slowly and purposefully ran a hand through her dark curls and gazed at Heather through heavy-lidded eyes.

Saying that Heather short-circuited would be a gross understatement. She honest to God looked like a bright red fish, her mouth opening and closing comically and her eyes wide and alert. She audibly gulbed and Veronica could almost see all the thoughts rushing through that head of hers. She tried to remain composed, a laugh now would ruin the moment, but it was just too funny.

She blatantly ignored the part of her that wanted to make Heather act that way again, and the butterflies she got from making Heather Chandler blush .

Then, Heather’s mood totally shifted. Her posture straightened, her shoulders squared, her mouth closedquickly and her eyes turned sharp and narrow as they focused on something over Veronica’s shoulder. Veronica was confused at first before she heard a familiar deep drawling voice from behind her.

“Hey, ladies, looking positively radiant as always!” He complimented brightly, however the look he gave Heather showed that he was really only referring to one member of the pair. “May I steal Veronica for just one moment please?”

He didn’t stick around for an answer. He steered Veronica away and as he did, Veronica threw a smile over her shoulder at Heather and gave a quick “Bye, Heather!” in an unnaturalistically sweet voice that would rival both Mac and Betty. If Heather gave a reply, Veronica didn't hear it. Once they were out of earshot, Veronica turned on JD, folding her arms and giving a glare to say that she hadn’t forgotten about last night. JD faltered and wrung his hands nervously. 

“Listen, V, I’m sorry about the whole Betty thing…” He apologised slowly, “I crossed the line and I had no right to do that. Just because I don’t have a ‘best friend’ and I don’t really trust people, doesn’t mean I should force those same ideals on you and assume that you’re the same as me. You’re not, you’re so much better. I know Betty is totally trustworthy, not that my opinion matters. I’m just… I’m sorry.”

Veronica sighed, loosening up slightly and dropping her arms. “It’s alright, thank you for apologising, I know you won’t do it again. Let’s just forgive and forget, hey?”

JD gave a relieved smile and nodded gratefully. “I’d like that. Oh, and it looks like Heather does support the Red Sox, I saw your whole interaction. Well done.”

“Ah, thanks, it did seem like it worked. You tried to throw me off, but I’m just too smart for you.”

Giving a quiet laugh, JD humoured her. “Of course, V. However, you’d better watch out because I really don't want to be your servant so I’m gonna be trying to sabotage you some more.”

Veronica responded with a laugh of her own, giving a teasing look. “Oh I don’t doubt that for a second.”

Suddenly, JD caught Heather’s death glare directed at him.. She had clearly seen the interaction between Veronica and JD and was positively seething with rage. JD grinned broadly, a lightbulb going off in his head, and turned back to Veronica excitedly. 

“I have an idea.” He said bluntly, causing Veronica to raise an eyebrow at the sudden statement. “A really good idea.”

“...Right?” Veronica returned apprehensively.

“I have a plan to help you. Meet me at the 7/11 straight after school, I’ll explain everything there. All you need to do in the meantime is continue what you were doing. You know, the falsely sweet voice, the flirty gaze, all that.”

“Oh, did it look like it was working?” Veronica asked hopefully, intrigued as to what game JD was playing here. 

JD glanced at Heather’s still livid form.

“Oh yeah.” He said smirking, eyes never leaving Heather. “Like a charm.”

_____________________________

All through school, Veronica kept up the act, and to her credit, it didn’t seem too suspicious. Nothing over the top, of course, just little things.

When Veronica was aware of Heather staring at her in class, she turned around and gave a teasing smile. Heather’s eyes would always follow the movement, settling on her mouth for a moment before quickly travelling back up. They’d have a staring contest for a few seconds before Heather would mutter something about Veronica being a pillowcase, and would look down at her desk, pretending to be unaffected. The red blush on her cheeks would say otherwise, though.

Or when Veronica would offer to carry Heather's books for her, and Heather would act suspicious at first, but would eventually let her and would genuinely seem a little bit grateful.

Or, of course, when Veronica would give a random vague complement and Heather simply wouldn’t know how to act. Veronica would tell her she looked extra nice today, or her blazer looked so very , or her hair just seemed to have a natural glow. Heather would pause, scrutinise Veronica, and then go back to whatever she was doing without another word. The confused, yet slightly flustered, look wouldn’t leave her face for the rest of the class.

It gave Veronica a kind of thrill. She felt like she had power over Heather, and could play with her for her own satisfaction. And there was nothing more satisfying than Heather Chandler losing her cool at your flirting.

Everyone else had noticed too, which wasn’t a surprise by any means. Mac would give a knowing smile (and a wink at Betty, which Veronica never noticed), Duke would give Veronica sceptical looks, though she didn’t say anything, Betty would give reassuring smiles and thumbs up, and JD would be grinning to himself in the corner of the cafeteria, winking at Veronica every now and then.

By the end of the day, Veronica felt rather proud at what she had achieved. She was making strides, that was for sure, and she wouldn’t stop now. She said goodbye to everyone, giving a special little goodbye to Heather, and made her way to 7/11 to see what cunning plan JD had cooked up now. He said it would help her, so she wasn’t overly worried, but you never really knew what to expect when it came to Jason Dean. Just as she was leaving the car park, Betty ran up to her, panting slightly.

“Hey!” She greeted. “Where are you heading off to?”

“Oh, I’m going to 7/11.” Veronica said. “JD said he had a plan to help me.”

Alarm bells immediately started going off in Betty’s head and before she could stop herself, she was saying “I’ll come with you!”

“Really?” Veronica said in surprise. “You don’t have to. It’s just 7/11…”

“If we’re working together in this, then I need to be in on whatever plans you’re working with!” Betty insisted, knowing that wasn’t the full reason. She wanted to be there to make sure Veronica didn’t get roped into one of JD’s evil schemes again and that Betty could be there to advise her if need be.

Veronica shrugged, accepting that, and motioned for Betty to get into the passenger seat, which she did. They set off and Betty wondered what the Hell JD was up to this time. One thing was for sure:

Whatever it was, it certainly wouldn’t be good.

Chapter Text

“Alright, here’s my plan!” JD announced, clasping his hands together and rubbing them conspiratorially, a wicked glint in his dark eyes.

Betty simply looked at him somewhat apprehensively, whilst Veronica took a slurp from her slushie and motioned for him to continue. Sipping slushies at a 7/11 with JD as he comes up with a plan about a bet? Veronica was getting some serious Deja Vu.

“Veronica, you’ve been doing some really great work today,” JD said, smiling at her, to which she did a joking bow. “But why don’t we take it up a notch?”

“Take it up a notch?” Betty echoed, the worry clear on her face, “How do you mean?”

Smirking, JD leaned forward on his elbow and looked between Betty and Veronica. “With what you’re doing, Veronica, I reckon Heather will definitely develop a slight crush- if she hasn’t already. Now, we need to make Heather jealous so that she actually takes notice of these feelings and acts upon them, because she won’t be too happy about anyone else taking what’s hers.”

“That all sounds good…” Veronica said slowly. “But how do we do that?”

“Simple.” He replied, shrugging. “You flirt with me.”

Veronica’s eyebrows shot up as Betty’s eyes narrowed. JD quickly continued.

“Seriously, it’ll be perfect. You spend the next few days laying it on thick, making sure that there’s no doubt of Heather falling for you. Then, you suddenly pretend to get close to me. Flirting, teasing, touching, you know the drill. Heather despises me, that’s no secret, so if she sees you with me after she’s fallen for you, she’ll be aware of her feelings, will act upon them, and will finally reciprocate just to keep you away from me. It’s brilliant!”

To this, Veronica nodded and smiled. “You know what, that’s actually a super great plan! It’ll help loads.”

Betty, however, was not convinced. She knew there was more of a motive to this ‘fake flirting’ than just helping Veronica to win. Although, as much as she hated playing with people’s emotions, she couldn’t deny that this was a good plan and would help Veronica a lot. Because of this, she kept her mouth shut and allowed the plan to go ahead. Veronica finished off her drink and sent JD  a questioning gaze.

“This is going to be great and everything, but why are you helping me? You’re supposed to be wanting me to lose.”

‘Because he wants Heather to fall for you, and he wants to get close to you.’ Betty thought to herself, but again, she stayed quiet.

A genuine smile appeared on JD’s pale face as he explained, “I want to help you. I know that this bet has probably been stressful so helping you win is the least I can do.”

“Aw, thanks, JD, that’s so sweet of you!”

Betty had to physically bite her lip to stop herself from speaking out because she knew that he was lying through his teeth and he isn’t at all as nice as he seems. She could tell that he noticed this and he even sent her a discreet wink when Veronica wasn’t looking. 

Prick.

_____________________________

As they left the shabby 7/11, and Veronica gave a small wave to JD over her shoulder, Betty kept her eyes firmly glued to the cracked concrete below. They walked in silence, not uncomfortable per-se but it wasn’t comfortable either. There were words left unsaid, everted eyes and loud, ear-filling breaths. Eventually, Veronica spoke up, running a hand through her hair as she often tended to do.

“The baseball thing worked.” She commented casually. “She actually seemed so grateful that someone actually noticed her interests and her lifestyle.”

“Maybe you could organise that baking-hangout thing soon,” Betty suggested, her tension alleviating. “Strike whilst the iron’s hot, y’know?”

“Sure… but do you reckon that Heather will notice that something’s up. Like, the fact that I’m suddenly taking so much interest in her compared to when we kept our lives completely separate.”

Betty shrugged at that and said, “Maybe she’ll think you’ve decided you want to be good friends with her.”

Veronica gave a disbelieving snort and shook her head. “That’s very unlikely.”

Betty frowned. “Is it really?”

“What do you mean?”

“Actually… you guys get along better than you think. You’re more similar than you think. It’s like with you… Heather has finally met her equal.

Veronica’s eyes widened comically. “Equal?” She repeated in shock, laughing. “I think if Heather thought I was even close to being her equal, she’d murder me and hide the body! Where’s all this coming from, anyway?”

Shrugging, Betty returned “This stupid bet has given me a new perspective on everyone really. Maybe you should take notice too.”

Veronica pondered for a second. “No… I don’t have time for that. All I care about is winning this bet. Nothing else.”

Betty glanced at Veronica but said nothing. 

That wasn’t true at all, and secretly, deep down, Veronica knew it too.

_____________________________

The light was beginning to fade as the orange glow from the sunset settled upon Sherwood. People were home from work now, the old street lamps that needed replacing were revealing their pathetic beams of flickering light onto the pavement below, and Veronica was briskly walking, hands stuffed in her pockets, to her home. She had just dropped off Betty and was now fully ready to slouch around until the moon rose and she could curl into bed and forget her worries.

There were very few people about or cars on the road, so when a bright yellow Mercedes began to slow to a crawl beside her, “Name Of The Game” by ABBA blasting through the stereo, she could hardly miss it. She turned to see a beaming Heather McNamara, motioning for Veronica to get in.

“Ronnie!” She all but squealed, “what are you doing out here? A Heather should never have to walk home alone this late in the evening, hop in!”

Veronica didn’t try to protest. It might have been the middle of May, but for some reason, the weather was trying to spite her tonight with its nipping ferocity. She clambered in with all the gracefulness of a new-born giraffe, and soon they were speeding through the streets. Surprisingly enough, Heather McNamara was a great driver. Not as great as Duke, of course, that’s why the girl in green was the designated driver for all mall trips, but she was certainly better than the speed demon named Heather Chandler. 

By all accounts, everything was fine, except for one little thing that was bugging Veronica. Mac kept glancing at her. She couldn’t tell if the blonde’s face was one of suspicious, knowing, malice or mischief. It could very well have been a mixture of all, but Veronica would never find out if she didn’t ask.

“Is something wrong?” She inquired after one too many side-eyes.

“It’s about today,” Mac said simply. “It seemed like you were trying to… achieve something with Heather. I’m not the coolest tool in the shed, but I notice things.”

“First of all, it’s ‘Sharpest tool in the shed’.” Veronica clarified, making Mac roll her eyes good-naturedly. “Second of all, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Veronica decided that feigning ignorance was the best course of action. It seemed to do the trick as Mac didn’t press the subject any further. However, Veronica couldn’t miss the small knowing smile that was offered from the small blonde. After a moment, Mac decided to disrupt the silence that had bestowed them.

“So… Heather brought up the baseball thing. I didn’t know you liked baseball.”

Another knowing look. Did Mac know something that Veronica didn't? No, there was no way, Mac wasn;t smart enough to be playing someone like Veronica. She felt mean for thinking it but that didn’t make it any less true. In addition to her… less than impressive wit, Mac was awful at keeping secrets. If she had any idea about the bet or what Veronica was trying to achieve, it would have been super obvious. This was probably just classic Mac, trying to stick her nse in things and find out gossip. It was her specialty really. Duke would get secrets by abusing her power as yearbook leader, and Mac would get secrets by seeming innocent and innocently pressing people until they gave in. These all of course ended in blackmail and peer pressure, and Veronica really didn’t want to go down that route, so she kept herself as inconspicuous as possible.

Veronica just shrugged, not wanting to give anything away, but then got an idea.

“What… what else has Heather been saying about me?” She tried her best to appear nonchalant and casual, looking out the window and speaking slightly cautiously. If Mac got whiff of anything, it would be over. She was Heather’s best friend, she’d reveal everything and Veronica would be ruined. She needed to be tactical here.

Mac bit her lip and mulled over her words for a moment. “She never usually spoke about you unless she was mad at you. Today, though, she just basically said you were acting kind of strange.”

Deflated, Veronica mumbled out a half-hearted ‘Thank you’, disappointed that it wasn’t anything interesting. Suddenly, Mac perked up again.

“Oh wait! Actually there was something. She spoke about you taking interest in her all of a sudden and she seemed kind of… happy about it? I think she was even blushing!”

Veronica's mood lifted significantly at that and she couldn’t help the way the corners of her mouth began to lift up ever so slightly. She was just… happy about the impact on the bet, that was all. Not at all happy that Heather was blushing over her. Nope.

“That’s, t-that’s cool.” Veronica stuttered out clumsily, “I’m… glad she’s happy, I guess?”

God, she was a bumbling mess, she needed to get her head screwed on. A slip up of any kind could be devastating here, and right now, she wasn’t being at all discreet. Mac didn’t  give off any air of suspicion, however, and simply smiled wider.

That’s when it clicked for Veronica. 

She didn’t need to worry about Mac at all. Of course she didn’t have any idea what was going on, Veronica was silly to even assume such a thing. The reason why Mac was giving such cryptic smiles and was trying to pry was because she wanted Veronica and Heather to be friends. She would just be seeing Veronica's actions as building a bridge of sorts and she would just be pleased about it and want to get involved to help, she wasn’t catching on to the real situation or anything. Veronica let out a sigh of relief and immediately felt a weight lift from her shoulders. Heather McNamra was out of the equation, Heather Chandler was too shocked by it all to truly try and work out what was going on, which just left Duke. Duke was good at getting secrets out of people, but she didn’t care for Veronica enough to even bother with how she was acting. 

In summary, Veronica was safe and back on track, with no Heathers to worry about and JD’s plan to focus on.

They pulled up to Veronica's humbly-sized home - compared to the Heathers’ mansions, anyway - as Mac gave one last look at Veronica.

“Heather used to have a horse when she was younger.” She claimed, eyes never leaving Veronica’s. “Did you know that? She used to ride it all the time. I think she still does to a bit of riding with the stable’s horses, but it’s, like, a private thing. She’ll never admit it.”

Veronica stood dumbly, frowning and narrowing her eyes in confusion. “Right… and where did that come from?”

Mac shrugged and revved up her engine again. “Just felt like it could be… useful to you. See you at school, Ronnie!”

After the car was out of sight, and Veronica was left alone on the pavement, she gave a tiny smile. Mac was definitely just trying to get Veronica to be friends with Heather. Not only did that get her off her trail, but it also aided Veronica. Who better to help her than Heather Chandler’s best friend?

So, Heather likes horse riding, huh?

She could work with that.

_____________________________

Knock, Knock, Knock.

Veronica glanced at her old battered watch. It read ‘ten past seven’. It couldn’t be her parents, they were away. It was probably JD wanting to hang out and talk to her about the plan some more. Or maybe Betty, trying to come up with more clever little techniques.

Oh who was she kidding? It was definitely Heather, that girl had a habit of always ending up with Veronica, no matter where they were.

Guess it’s just meant to be, she thought sarcastically, moving to open the door.

Wow. What a surprise.

“Heather!” She greeted with fake shock, “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

As always, Heather scoffed at Veronica’s mock-charming introduction, and Veronica would be lying if she said it didn’t produce a warmth in her chest whenever she did so. However, despite the blunt and bitchy attitude she was sporting, Heather also seemed… dare she say awkward? Unsure? Nervous ? Ring the church-bells, it’s a christmas miracle!

“I… thought the movie night was...ok.” She said slowly, as if the very words left a bitter taste in her mouth. “So I wondered if you’d like to hang out again. I would’ve called but... i wasn’t sure you’d say yes so I thought if I just turned up… well you couldn’t exactly say no.”

Veronica’s brain short-circuited. So many emotions were whirling rund her brain, it was making her feel claustrophobic. Heather, the usual cocky, confident, self-centered Heather, was now a shy Heather, an apprehensive Heather, a ‘I wasn’t sure whether you’d actually have me’ Heather. At first Veronica assumed she had to be drunk but… the girl in red seemed totally sober. It was crazy, to say the least, Veronica was finding Heather’s alien demeanor almost.. Sweet. No, no, no not sweet . The demon queen couldn’t be sweet. It was more endearing, really.

This was good. No, more than good. This was perfect. This proved that Veronica’s plan was working. Heather actually being the one to initiate the plans, and go through with them, just proved that Veronica was having an effect on her, and she wanted to spend more time with her.

That didn’t mean she was going to relax, though. She could take this a step further.

“Aww, you sweetheart!” Veronica said, grinning and tilting her head. She purposefully placed her hand on Heather’s arm, to which the latter’s eyes darted down to the action and a red blush rose to her cheeks. 

“If you‘d have called…” Veronica continued, biting her lip and looking at Heather through heavy lidded eyes. “I would have prepared something special for you.”

She topped it off by raking her eyes over Heather’s body and giving a little smirk.

If Heather was taken aback before, she was out for the count now. She froze, the breath catching in her throat. The way her eyebrows shut up and her eyes widened caused Veronica to have to hold back a laugh. Although, she wasn’t totally unaffected herself. Heather’s reaction had caused Veronica herself to go weak at the knees and swallow thickly. Heather quickly shook her head and took a small step back, breaking the tension.

“It’s fine!” She squeaked, before clearing her throat and lowering her voice embarrassedly. “It’s… really it’s fine. You didn’t - you know - need to do, like, anything.”

This. Was. Fucking. Incredible.

Heather Chandler, the queen of composure and stability, was an absolute mess. All because of Veronica. Her chest swelled with pride and she gave herself a mental pat on the back for being so damn good at this. This bet just got easier and easier every day. She definitely had Heather on the ropes now. She just needed JD’s plan for the KO.

Heather breezed straight past her, obviously deliberately avoiding any physical contact, and made a beeline for the sofa in the living room, where they had sat during their previous hang-out. It was almost like a lightbulb appeared above Veronica’s head as she got a great idea. It was as if the stars were aligning for her, everything was linking together oh so perfectly.

“Do you like baking?” She asked off-handedly, examining her nails.

Heather’s face lit up like a kid on christmas morning. She didn’t bother to hide the excitable, toothy grin that broke out as she quickly jumped up and clapped her hands together.

She looked so.. Normal. So human. Sometimes, when Heather was ruling over the school with an iron fist, obliterating anyone in her way, and doing whatever she could to make people’s lives hell, it was easy to forget that Heather was just a normal Seventeen year old girl who enjoyed normal past times and could actually show some sort of human emotion, no matter how sparingly it was.

Of course, as quickly as it came, it was gone. Heather caught herself and the face dropped, as did her arms. She gave a cough to mask her awkwardness and shrugged. “Uh, yeah baking seems cool. I guess we could try that.”

They both knew it was all an act, but neither said anything. Veronica just gave her a look and motioned for Heather to follow her to the kitchen. It was nothing special, just your ordinary kitchen, but Heather didn’t take notice, despite having her own kitchen being the size of a damn house. Veronica cleverly acted dumb, knowing that being the one to take the reigns would make Heather feel superior, whilst simutaneously being better than Veronica. It was an ego-fueller, to be honest, and it worked with Heather. As if she needed any more fuel for her ego.

“I’m pretty bad at baking.” She lied, trying to her best ‘damsel in distress’ impression, and giving out a sad huff, “Are you any good?”

“I’m fucking amazing at baking obviously. I feel like making a chocolate cake, so chop chop, loser, let’s get to work.”

Veronica rolled her eyes affectionately, yet it made her happy to see Heather proud of herself for something as mundane as baking. If Heather cared about baking, Veronica would use it to make Heather feel really good about herself.

Wait no, she’d use it for the bet of course. Pfft, why would she want to make Heather feel good? The only reason why she was even hanging out with Heather in the first place was for the bet. She didn’t enjoy it. She hated Heather, they were enemies, she’d made her life hell ever since she joined the Heathers. She was conniving, manipulative, bitchy, unempathetic… but she was sometimes nice. When she wanted to be. And she was always super generous, buying Veronica anything she wanted and more whenever they went to the mall. And she could make Veronica laugh super hard whenever she would try - and fail - to defend her silly lunchtime poll questions. 

Shit on a stick, Veronica, what is wrong with you today? Where’s your focus gone? You need to be worrying about what you’ve been told to do, not about whether or not Heather Chandler is a demon from hell or an acceptable human being.

Veronica once again put up her dumb facade as Heather wasted no time gathering all the ingredients they needed. She didn’t even seem to need a recipe. Heather was already at work, assigning Veronica to tasks and doing some odd jobs herself. Veronica continued to play dumb, seeing jsut how far she could take it.

“Heather!” She whined, staring at the flour in front of her. “This is so difficult, I need help!”

Heather let out an annoyed huff and made her way over. Veronica expected her to just talk her through it, so she nearly had a heart attack when Heather pressed herself against Veronica’s back and began guiding the brunette’s hands with her own. She whispered softly in Veronica's ear, talking her through the steps whilst carefully working with her movements. Veronica’s mind was off in fucking Neverland for all she knew and she swore she forgot how to breathe. Heather was so close and she was literally pressed up against her! Her hot breath tickled Veronica’s neck and served as a constant reminder of their proximity. The words being uttered were not harsh or demanding, they were patient and reassuring. Warmth spread all throughout Veronica’s body as her heart beat out of her chest and static clouded any logical thoughts. Heather’s expensive perfume was overwhelming as the aroma filled the enclosed space and her words went right through one ear and out the other. She was vaguely aware of Heather ceasing the talking, realising Veronica wasn’t really picking any of it up, and instead she continued to just do the work herself, still firmly holding Veronica’s hands. Heather’s hands were incredibly smooth and soft, and Veronica found herself daydreaming of holding one of them in her own as they strutted down the school hallways together-

No.

No, no, no, fucking stop right there. That’s dangerous, that’s so dangerous, thoughts like that are what ruin lives. You’re just… processing the sudden closeness and your brain is thinking all sorts of crazy things. 

As Heather eventually pulled away, after what felt like eternity, Veronica’s mind certainly cleared a bit, but she secretly missed the warmth of the contact. Heather, unperturbed, simply went back to her job as Veronica desperately tried to get her thoughts straight and regain her bearings. That was unexpected and weird and also kind of nice but mostly fucking WEIRD. 

This needed to be changed. Veronica was supposed to be the one in the right headspace, making Heather feel all weird, not the other way around. How could she get Heather to be less closed off and more open to Veronica’s games? 

Then it hit her like a train.

Alcohol!

It would make the night more fun, Heather would enjoy it, and it meant they could let loose a little bit.

“Listen, Heather.” She spoke up, dusting the flour off her hands. “I’m not cut out for this, so how about I help some other way?”

Heather let out a small noise to let Veronica know to continue, not even looking up from her mixture that she was vigorously stirring. The concentration on her face and the effort she was putting into this was impressive to say the least. Veronica grabbed a bottle of red wine from the cabinet, praying that her Mum wouldn’t notice, and poured two glasses.

“Let’s get hammered, bitch!” She exclaimed excitedly, causing Heather to look up with a raised eyebrow and chuckled quietly to herself.

She handed the glass to Heather, who took a tentative sip before apparently deeming it acceptable, and taking a larger swig. Veronica’s grin grew wider as she began to top up Heather’s glass and took a large gulp or two of her own. The fuzzy feeling began to bubble inside of her and she began to feel slightly more light and free. Veronica stopped after one glass, knowing that any more would mean she would lose the control over Heather. Speaking of Heather, she had already got through the entire bottle and was now opening a second. Luckily, her drunkenness did not affect the cake as it was already made and in the oven. Heather downed the glass in one go and offered Veronica a woozy sort of gaze. 

“Hey, loser. Do- do you think the… the cake is ready?” She slurred out, clutching on the counter as she swayed slightly. Heather wasn’t a light-weight by any means, but she wasn’t as good with alcohol as she made out to be. Of course, a whole bottle of wine would have an affect on anybody, and now she was going for the second.

Veronica shrugged and decided to get the cake out to look. Heather wasn’t kidding when she said she was amazing at baking. Taking into account the cat that Veronica did some shit work at the start, and Heather was tipsy by the ended, this cake was pretty fucking good. Heather looked at it with pride as Veronica smiled at her.

“It’s amazing, Heather.” She complimented genuinely, looking back at the cake. “You’ve really outdone yourself here. 

Heather looked delighted at that as she smirked to herself and took another sip of her drink. After a few more minutes of small talk, they both decided to rest in the living room, tired from the work and feeling the affects of the alcohol - Heather mainly, Veronica was sober enough to not trip on her coffee table and call it a “piece of junk more worthless than my fucking dad”. Not aimed at anyone in particular. Once they had both sat down, in one piece, thank God, Veronica inconspicuously placed her hand on Heather’s thigh, still fully intending to take advantage of the situation as much as she could. It didn’t go unnoticed and it certainly didn’t go unmentioned. Heather glanced down at the hand and frowned, letting out a sigh and looking up at Veronica with a look of what seemed like resignation. 

“Alright, that’s it.” She sighed, slightly more put together than a moment ago. “What exactly is going on here?”

Veronica acted as if she was unaware of what Heather was talking about and was about to protest when Heather regained some of her usual fire and sat up straighter.

“No, stop right there.” She commanded fiercely, “Don’t play games with me Sawyer, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

The use of her last name felt like a real slap in the face and she instinctively recoiled, pulling her hand away as well.

“You go from constantly arguing with me and not wanting to hang out at all, to being all touchy-feely and stuff, and... I don't know... this . What are you playing at?”

“I- I just like you, Heather.” Veronica attempted, all of her bravado vanishing, “I want to be your friend. No funny business I promise.”

“You better not be up to something. You better not be playing with me, Veronica.”

Heather’s voice cracked a little bit, revealing an inner sadness and fear that Veronica didn’t know existed. She felt guilty. More than guilty. She was torn betweening doing the right thing and doing what helped her the most. She didn’t truly realise how she was affecting Heather. But… she couldn’t stop now, she just couldn’t. It was too far gone and there was too much at stake. If people had to get hurt… then that was life. Veronica couldn't ruin herself in front of everyone, she just couldn't. Heather would do the exact same thing in this situation, veronica knew that full well. It eased the guilt somewhat, but she still felt like she had to be at least a bit reassuring, if only for her own benefit to not feel like such an awful person. God damn Heather Chandler for actually showing emotion.

“Please Heather, you have to trust me here, I’m just trying to… get you to like me, I guess.”

It wasn’t a lie. She was trying to get Heather to like her, just for… immoral reasons. She felt a bit scummy but she tried to remember all the bad things Heather had done and, somehow, use it to justify her own shitty actions. 

In that moment, Veronica felt more like a Heather than ever before.

Heather narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. Instead she just groaned and clutched her head, the alcohol really beginning to take its toll. She shook her head in defeat.

“Ah, well, probably won’t remember this in the morning.” She admitted, giving a humorless chuckle.

They sit in silence for a moment. Veronica had a question that had been plaguing her for some time now, but she’d never fund the right moment to ask it. She felt like, as Heather was more likely to give a truthful answer now, this was as good a time as ever.

“Why didn’t you destroy me?” She whispered, hoping that heather wouldn’t actually hear and she could pretend she never asked it. Heather did hear, though and she raised her eyebrows at the question.

“I didn’t give a very good apology.” Veronica clarified, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

Heather sat up straighter, eyes darting all over Veronica’s face. She was serious now, so much so that you couldn’t even notice that she was pissed out of her mind. She spoke with certainty and truth, her face betraying no emotion.

 “Because I don’t just let anyone into the Heathers, you have to be special, so it’s hard to kick them out again. You were my friend, Veronica. You are my friend. I wouldn’t have given you a moment’s thought if you weren’t.”

Veronica felt a lump rise in her throat as she pushed down the tears that were pricking at her eyes and let out a water laugh. “I didn’t know the Heathers were friends, to be honest.”

At this, Heather looked surprised more than anything. “Bitch I've known Duke and Mac since elementary school. They get on my nerves sometimes but… we’re there for eachother.”

Veronica nodded, not really knowing what to say to that. It seemed that tonight was a night for showing true feelings and beginning to properly understand each other. Heather went quiet once more before shuffling closer to Veronica and taking a deep breath, obviously preparing herself for what she was about to say next.

“At the party… sure you pissed me off but that wasn’t the main problem. The problem was that… you weren’t doing as I said. And… you know, as the ‘Queen’ and all that, I’m not used to it.”

Biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut, Heather willed herself to go on. “And after the whole thing, I got so mad at you because sometimes… you made me feel unwanted. You would take any chance you could get to ditch us and I hate being the second choice so it sucked when I became yours.”

“You’ll never be my second choice, Heather.”

She didn’t really mean to say it. Not like that anyway. She just couldn’t stop herself, the words fell out immediately, an attempt to rectify the situation however she could. The words didn't feel untruthful, though. As much as they fought sometimes and they didn’t always get on, Heather was technically her best friend and they cared about each other. The fact that Heather was so upset at Veronica not putting her first said as much. 

But was that really the reason why she was so intent on letting Heather know she cared about her?

Heather froze up at Veronica’s statement, and Veronica had a sneaking suspicion that the queen’s rosy cheeks weren’t just down to the alcohol. She shook her and waved her hands in dismissal.

“Oh, well.” She said, trying to act calm but her unsteady voice betraying her, “It doesn’t matter anymore. Don’t even know why I brought it up.”

“You really show your emotions when you’re drunk, don’t you?” Veronica remarked, failing to hold back the teasing smirk. Heather, her cheeks less flamed up now, gave a small chuckle at that.

“Yeah, don’t get used to it. Sober me is going to be so mad when she remembers this. Actually, scrap that, I seriously won’t remember anything in the morning. Nothing specific anyway.”

“Won’t you?” Veronica asked, interested. That could be fun.

“I drank two bottles of wine, you loser. I am fucking smashed right now.”

She really was. Veronica was even having a hard time working out what the girl was saying, due to her unclear and slurred words.

“Hmm, well in that case…” Veronica trailed off, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Before Heather could ask any questions, Veronica surged forward and kissed her on the cheek. It was bold, possibly stupid even, but Veronica had seen the chance and taken it. 

Heather didn’t even look at Veronica, her eyes stayed glued and the wall in front of her as she looked like a deer in the headlights. Without another moment passing, Veronica jumped up, threw a blanket over Heather, gave a sweet and innocent “Good Night!” and walked right out the room. Once she was sure she was in her room and out of earshot, she laughed gleefully and clapped her hands together. Oh my God, she just totally did that. She just kissed Heather fucking Chandler on the cheek! 

Heather had said that she wouldn’t remember anything specific right? She’d remember that something happened, and it’ll mess her up. Make her think that Veronica did something to insinuate she likes her back, without actually knowing what she did. Heather will feel like she has a chance with Veronica whilst also being confused and in the dark! She may even go as far as to be spurred on to confess her own feelings and ask Veronica to prom, truly sealing the deal.

Of course, she did sort of maybe kind of enjoy the little kiss on the cheek. It was an action that was so small yet so big at the same time. Significant in it’s insignificance. 

Veronica would never admit it out loud, though.

She just needed to keep this up and the bet was as good as won already, with about twelve days to go! There will be no public humiliation, JD will be her servant and Betty will be able to stop worrying so much about this! Veronica will just reject Heather and piss her off to finally get her sweet revenge and bring Heather down a peg!

She paused.

...That didn’t sound as great as it used to.

She couldn’t deny that she had fun tonight, and at that movie night. And not too long ago she was just thinking about how she cared for Heather and wanted to make her happy. 

She shook her head, the sleepiness beginning to take over.

It would all be fine in the morning.

_____________________________

As Veronica’s alarm began blaring like a foghorn, Veronica aggressively smacked it and groaned. It was a Tuesday, a school day, she actually needed to get up. 

Veronica suddenly bolted up.

Heather Chandler was in her house. 

She had totally forgotten that Heather had stayed over. She got dressed as quickly as possible and raced downstairs, praying that Heather hadn’t broken anything or trashed the house in any way. Her parents were coming home this afternoon and they specifically said nobody could come round whilst they were away.

Veronica let out a sigh of relief when she got downstairs and saw the house completely spotless and Heather leaning against the kitchen counter, already dressed and ready to leave, drinking a prairie oyster and rubbing her temple.

“You’re up.” Veronica pointed out, walking over. “Those don’t look like your clothes? Except for the blazer of course.”

Heather looked up and gave a pained smile, putting down her drink. “Morning. Yeah I didn’t bring any spare clothes so I came up to your room earlier to grab a blouse and skirt. They’re nowhere near as nice as my stuff, but they’ll do.”

Veronica laughed and rolled her eyes, grabbing her keys as Heather downed the rest of her prairie oyster and walked towards the doorway. “It’s fine, no worries. Plus, you have enough to worry about with that nasty hangover you’re sporting.”

Heather grumbled an unintelligible response, before frowning and looking at Veronica with an odd expression.

“Something wrong?”

Heather shook her head. “It’s nothing, it’s just… did I say something last night. Did anything happen?”

“No, nothing out of the ordinary.” Veronica lied, her face totally neutral. “Just you bitching about Courtney and talking about Hot Probs.”

Heather seemed to accept that and carried on walking to the door, her face no longer contorted into one of confusion.

“Why do you ask, anyway? Is there something you’re afraid of me finding out?” Veronica teased, standing next to Heather and giving her a knowing look.

“No!” Heather insisted quickly, looking away. “I just kinda… you know …. When I’m drunk.”

“You’re a lightweight?”

“No, Veronica, I’m not a fucking lightweight-”

Veronica laughed loudly, opening the door and stepping outside, Heather following after her. “I’m kidding, don’t get your panties in a twist. You were understandbaly drunk after drinking two fucking bottles of wine. I’m blaming you for that if my Mum asks, by the way.”

Heather just rolled her eyes, as she always did, and walked down the driveway, slouching as she did so, due to the killer hangover. Veronica smiled at her. This was going to be so fucking easy.

She sauntered ahead to her car and opened up the passenger door for Heather, giving a boy and a “M’lady” in the most posh voice she could muster. 

“Dork.” Heather quipped, but she was obviously smiling, “Besides, what are we doing over here?”

“Getting into my car? So I can drive you to school?” Returned Veronica confusedly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“No way, we aren’t going in that piece of junk. Come on, I brought my Porsche last night.”

Veronica sighed but didn’t protest. She slammed her door shut and walked over to the driver side of the gleaming red porsche. Again, she got a strange look from Heather and let out an exasperated huff.

“What now?” She drawled, throwing up her arms.

“I’m not letting you drive my Porsche.”

“Heather, come on, just give me your keys.”

“Fuck off, no way!”

“No, you are not driving in that state! You could barely walk properly, you’ll kill us both! I don’t want to die, Heather, so stop being stupid and let me drive.”

“Sounds like a personal problem to me. Besides, I’m not that hungover. If I’m good to go to school, I’m good to drive.”

And so Heather, like the stubborn little toddler she was, plonked herself into the driver’s side and crossed her arms in victory. 

“Heather…” Veronica said in a warning tone, glaring at her.

“Alright, that’s it.” Heather esponded in finality and turned on the engine and began to drive away.

Veronica stared in shock as Heather began to crawl along the lane before braking and reversing back in front of her with a cheeky grin.

“Look at your face!” She mocked, letting out an uncharacteristic giggle. “I’m only joking, but get in before I do actually leave your boring ass here.”

Veronica decided to not take the chance, knowing that Heather wasn’’t one to make empty threats, and begrudgingly got in the passenger side, allowing herself to be driven in the death-machine. No words were exchanged for a good while, Veronica just day-dreamed, as she always did, and Heather concentrated on the road. She seemed to be slightly on edge, now Veronica thought about it, as she absentmindedly drummed her long claw-like nails on the steering wheel.

“Something the matter?” Veronica asked curiously, causing Heather to bite her lip and cease the drumming.

“I heard you like dumb hiking shit…” She said slowly, wondering how best to approach the subject. “So would you, like, wanna do that sometime?”

Veronica’s big smile was genuine as she deliberately didn’t answer the question. She liked to have a bit of fun, so sue her.

“How did you know I like hiking?” She said, scrutinising Heather.

“Because I… pay attention. Anyway, you’re avoiding the question, loser.”

Veronica smiled and turned to mysteriously look at the window. She vaguely wondered how long she could draw this out as Heather kept giving side-glances in her direction. Eventually deciding to be nice and put Heather out of her misery, Veronica turned back away from the mirror.

“That sounds really nice actually. Thank you, Heather. Also stop staring at me and focus on the road, I meant it when I said I didn’t want to die.”

Heather quickly turned forward, muttering an embarrassed “I was not staring, shut up.”

Yet again, Heather was making the plans. Moreover, if she was paying this much attention and finding out what she liked, she was clearly interested in Veronica.

She totally didn’t get butterflies from that.

Anyway, this was good. More plans being made, more strides being taken. Then, Veronica remembered the piece of information Mac had given her yesterday as she had gotten out the car. She knew it would come in handy.

“Oh, and I heard that horse riding is a thing you like.” She offered, “We could do that sometime as well if you’d like.”

Heather was taken aback by that. “Oh… nah I don’t really do that anymore, it’s- it’s dumb.”

Veronica knew that was a lie, if what Mac said was anything to go by, but she didn’t press the subject anymore. They just weren’t at that place yet it seemed. 

But they would be. Soon.

Heather only spoke one more time after that. “Are you sure nothing happened last night?”

No, Veronica thought.

“Yes.” Veronica said.

_____________________________

Thanks to Heather being an absolute maniac on the road and thinking that a speed limit of sixty meant she could go one hundred and twenty, they arrived at school in record time. As they entered the hallowed halls of Westerberg Highschool, they noticed that Duke and Mac were already there, chatting idly against their lockers. Heather nudged Veronica and explained she needed a word with Mac for a second. She marched over and dragged Mac away, where they couldn’t be heard, and rounded on her.

“Did you do something?” She whispered ferociously, eyes darting back to wear Veronica and Duke were.

Mac, slightly shaken, sent back “What? What do you mean? What’s going on?”

“You were the one that was talking about me and Veronica trying to be nicer a few days ago.” Heather recalled, stepping back a bit, but not losing any of her fire, “Now, Veronica’s acting as if we’re best friends and she keeps… I don’t know, just being a certain way with me. All touching and complimenting and teasing.”

“I never told Veronica to act that way. “ Mac announced, shrugging.

She wasn’t lying, Heather knew that. It would have been obvious if she was.

Heather let her tense attitude drop and her commanding look turned to one of confusion and… hope?

“Really?” She breathed, eyes trained on the floor. “So… she really is acting that way because she wants to?”

She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and her beginning to pound, and she wasn’t sure why. Veronica was always making her do that recently. She didn’t miss Mac’s knowing look and she felt herself tense up again. She despised the idea of someone knowing something about her that even she herself didn't know.

“We should get back to Ronnie and Heather.” Mac said simply, walking off before Heather could confirm or deny.

Heather followed after, willing her heart rate to slow.  Once they got back, Duke properly scrutinised Heather, as she did with everyone, and shot her a suspicious look.

“Those aren’t your clothes.” She noted. “Well, the blazer is the same, but the blouse and skirt looks different.” 

Damn Duke for being so good at remembering things and being so observant. It was really useful when she was doing it for you, but definitely not when she was doing it against you.

“They’re some new ones. Any problem with that, Heather?”

Heather made her voice dangerous to assure that Duke wouldn’t continue. Duke didn’t look convinced at all, but she simply shook her head and turned away. When she was sure nobody was looking, Veronica sent Heather a discreet wink. Heather couldn’t help but smile and wink back.

Then, Veronica made eye contact with JD. JD smirked and gestured to Heather. Veronica smiled back.

Just keep flirting.

_____________________________

It was the fourth period, and the Heathers and Veronica were in the bathroom, not really feeling up to maths at the minute. One thing was for sure, with Veronica’s forgery skills, all of their attendance was plummeting.

Heather was gently applying lipstick in the mirror and Veronica, from the back of the bathroom, was very intently and very obviously staring at her. Heather of course noticed and raised a questioning eyebrow, pulling her small hand away from her mouth.

“I just thought your lipstick looked lovely and you’re looking exceptionally gorgeous today.” Veronica explained, giving a sweet smile. 

Heather turned red, but acted aloof and scoffed. “First of all, I always look exceptionally gorgeous. Second of all stop being so fucking weird.”

“You love it.”

“You wish.”

Despite saying this, Heather was very clearly trying - and failing horribly - to hide a smile. Veronica looked proud at herself for this and smiled as well, continuing to sneak glances at Heather in the mirror. It was as if Mac and Duke weren’t they and the two were in their own little world.

Mac, who had been examining the whole exchange, suddenly gasped loudly and clasped her hands over her mouth. Heather, Duke and Veronica all turned to look at Mac in confusion.

“Nothing!” Mac squealed nervously, eyes still flicking between Heather and Veronica. “I… just saw a spider. It’s gone now, though.”

Heather and Veronica just gave each other a look, shrugged, and went back to normal. Duke, however, continued to eye Mac suspiciously. Mac knew she wouldn’t be able to hold Duke’s killer glare, so she deliberately avoided eye contact, opting to fiddle with her hands and the hem of her skirt instead. After a few more minutes of silence, Veronica spoke up, moving over to the doorway.

“I need to go talk to Betty now. See you guys at lunch!” She gave Heather a flirty wink as she left, to which Heather raised her eyebrows and smirked. 

Veronica found Betty straight away, and greeted her brightly.

“Hey Betty! Just thought I’d find you to speak to you. I have some things to tell you.”

“Hey Ronnie,” Betty said, speaking rather hurriedly. “Try and make it quick because we’re both skipping right now in the middle of a hallway, so we can’t be here too long.”

Veronica hadn’t really thought about that to be fair. “Alright, I’ll make it as quick as possible. Basically, Heather came round for a sleepover last night and it went super well. I’ll give you all the specifics later, I promise.”

Veronica then sighed and stared off down the empty hallway. “You know I actually really enjoy flirting with Heather. I’m actually seeing a new side to her. Seeing her so happy when she’s doing something she loves like baking, and not having to put up a mask for the world… it was so refreshing. Who knew there was more to Heather Chandler? But seriously, when she gets all flustered and nervous when I give her a compliment, or a smile or a wink… it just makes me really happy for some reason. And - I actually can’t believe I’m saying this - when I make her happy, it makes me super happy as well. It’s weird, but we’re getting on really, really well, Betty, and I’m loving it.”

Something must have clicked in Betty’s mind because her eyes suddenly widened and she stared at Veronica in shock. 

“Oh no…” Veronica said with concern. “Your eyes widened. I’ve known you long enough to know that when that happens it means you’ve suddenly had some sort of big relaistion.”

Betty shook her head trying to act as normal as she could. “Ah, no, it’s not0 it’s not that, I’m just… glad that this is going so well!”

Veronica didn’t notice Betty’s unusually high pitch voice and nodded, smiling. “Oh it’s going well, alright. She definitely has a crush on me already. She’ll be handing me a fancy formal prom invitation laced with red ribbon in no time. I’ve already won, Betty, and there’s still eleven days to go. We aren’t even half way through yet! Heather Chandler is mine.”

Veronica sighed and walked away, humming to herself. Betty could only stare, frozen in shock. This… this was crazy.

She heard someone running up behind her and turned to see a frazzled Heather McNmara, looking to be in shock just like her.

“I’ve just realised something.” She choked out, breathing heavily.

Betty nodded slowly. “I’m fairly sure I’ve just realised the same thing.”

They spoke in unison.

“Veronica and Heather are falling for eachother!”

Chapter Text

“This is insane!”

Mac wasn’t wrong there. Betty still hadn’t truly processed it yet and they’d been stood thinking in silence for a good few minutes now. Saying this was a curveball would be a criminal understatement.

“It all makes sense now.” Mac breathed in awe. “I always thought that Veronica was just a touchy, flirty kind of person. Now I see that Veronica wasn’t acting like that to get Heather to be her friend, but because she has a crush on her and wanted her to like her back!”

Of course, Betty knew about Veronica getting Heather to like her, but Veronica reciprocating the feelings was something she had never anticipated. It had not crossed her mind, and could anyone really blame her? Heather Chandler and Veronica Sawyer… what a pair.

Unfortunately, this did throw a wrench into the plans somewhat. One major problem being that Veronica, being incredibly witty yet stupendously oblivious, was none-the-wiser to her feelings. From… past experiences… Betty knew that Veronica tended to do stupid things when she wasn’t fully aware of everything that was going on, this whole bet being a prime example. Should she tell Veronica and make her aware? Honestly, there was no use. Veronica was the most stubborn person she knew, one to rival even Heather Chandler. She’d never accept it, she’d deny and deny and deny, and just thinking about that was exhausting Betty.

“So what’re we gonna do, Betty?” Mac spoke up, breaking Betty from her thoughtful trance, “I mean, they clearly work together!”

Betty looked at her as if she’d grown another head. “They… do?”

“Well of course!” Mac beamed optimistically, “Just think about it. Whenever Veronica gives Heather a compliment, even a tiny one, she has a small smile on her face for the rest of the day. Oh! Or when Veronica will laugh at something Heather says and Heather’s whole face will light up! And of course when they tease each other and they both just end up either laughing or pretending they aren’t about to. It’s so nice to see, Betty. Heather’s never been like that with anyone before.”

Mac’s voice had a twinge of sadness with that last statement, her eyes seemingly drifting to empty space. Betty recognised the look. She was reminiscing. And Betty wasn’t fond of the idea of trying to work the implications out just yet.

“Right…” Betty began slowly, turning Mac’s attention back to her, “Well, this is certainly a… surprising situation.”

Seriously, if Veronica ever realised her feelings, she’d go crazy! Plus, what would JD say?

Oh, God. JD.

She had completely forgotten about him. He loved Veronica an unprecedented amount, and he hated Heather all the same. If he found out they were falling for each other… well she didn’t want to stick around to find out what he’d do, that was for sure. He got possessive of Veronica when Heather hated her, what about if Heather liked her, and worst of all, if Veronica liked her just as much?

There was only one way to solve this.

She couldn’t let Veronica get with Heather. Not under any circumstances.

She only got involved with this to stop Veronica or Heather getting hurt, now it’s totally backfired in the absolute worst way possible. Yet, Mac stayed positive and Betty needed to sort this out first.

“Oh, I’ve just had a total lightbulb moment!” Mac exclaimed excitedly, clasping her hands together. “There’s a big party this Friday, this could be the perfect opportunity for them to finally admit how they feel. I mean, parties are where people get drunk and confess things they’d never say sober!”

“Parties are also where Veronica pukes on Heather’s shoes and gets kicked out of the group.” Betty pointed out, gaining a huff of disagreement from Mac.

“It’s going to be different this time! Heather’s putting Veronica on a drinking ban, though she doesn’t know that yet, so nothing can go wrong in that department. Besides, Veronica clearly doesn’t need alcohol to reveal her true feelings, as we’ve seen. They can dance together and stuff, oh it’ll be so romantic!”

Mac squealed with glee and began bouncing on the spot, causing a small laugh to escape Betty’s lips. She was really into this, wasn’t she? It was a shame she had no idea what was really going on behind the scenes. Betty shooed away the guilt as she regained her focus. Before she could comment, Mac swiftly barrelled on.

“I’m going to do some matchmaking at the party, some work behind the scenes, you know?”

Betty was concerned. No offence to Mac of course, but she didn’t seem like the type to be able to come up with a detailed, in-depth, sneaky plan in the span of a few days and then pull it off flawlessly. However, that could potentially work in her favour. She didn’t want Heather and Veronica to get together anyway, and she didn’t think she had much to worry about with Mac’s ‘Matchmaking Plan’, so that was a weight lifted from her shoulders.

And so, clearing her throat, Betty confirmed “Totally on board. I’ll see if I can help at all, you know, getting information and that sort of thing.”

Mac gave another signature squeal and threw her arms around Betty in joy. “Yes! This is going to be so great! They are a total match made in Heaven!”

Betty gently untied herself from Mac’s vice-like cheerleader grip as the girl in yellow went bounding off down the hallways. Letting out a loud sigh, Betty closed her eyes and rested her head against the locker.

Heather and Veronica like each other….

Either Veronica loses the bet and has to tell Heather she hates her, and that's now going to destroy both of them, or she wins the bet and accepts Heather’s prom invitation... which sounds great unless you remember that JD exists. He's going to go nuts, the love of his life has now fallen for his worst enemy! And the whole ‘making Heather Chandler jealous’ thing Veronica and JD have planned is bound to end in tears if they both like each other.

That’s not even taking into account the possibility of Heather finding out this was all a bet and being utterly heartbroken, as will Veronica.

The only thing Betty was certain about here is that Heather and Veronica getting together would really flip things on its head in the worst way possible. She had to just hope Mac’s plan didn’t work or else there would be Hell to pay, JD would make sure of it. Betty groaned, covering her face with her hands.

How on earth did she manage to get herself into this mess?

_____________________________

Mac was skipping happily down the large, empty hallway when Duke rounded the corner, spotted her, and made a beeline for her. Mac gave bright smile, which made Duke falter for a millisecond. She had a habit of doing that: bringing down Duke’s walls she’d spent so long building, with something as simple as a glance in her direction, a smile, or her generally sunshine-ish persona. Duke shook her head and continued forward until they came to a standstill in the middle of the pearly white linoleum floor. Duke folded her arms, trying to look as threatening as possible, determined to squeeze the truth out of Mac.

“What happened back there? In the bathroom?” Duke questioned bluntly, narrowing her eyes. At this, Mac’s smile tightened ever so slightly, and her eyes widened a millimetre in alarm.

“Oh, yeah I just saw a cockroach it’s totally fine, just scared me!”

“Really? Interesting, I thought you said it was a spider?” Duke countered, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow at Mac’s slip-up.

She already knew that Mac was lying – the girl wasn’t very good at hiding it – yet she still wanted to get as much information as she could. Maybe it was a habit from all the blackmail and gossip she did to keep the Heathers in control. Nevertheless, Mac was on the ropes and Duke wanted the knockout. There was something going on here, she was sure of it. Veronica, Heather and Mac were all acting strange, especially around each other, and Duke hated being left out. Hated not being in the know about everything. If there was a chance that she could get a hold onto any type of moderately interesting information, she’d do just about anything for it.

“Oops, yep – sorry, it was… I just… totally forgot. Let’s go!”

Before Mac could move, Duke placed an arm to block her path and took a threatening step forward. It was the best technique in her book, and it worked on just about everyone, including Heather McNamara.

“Hold on.” She commanded forcefully as Mac tensed up at the tone. “You wouldn’t have anything to do with Veronica’s strange behaviour, would you? I mean you preach about how Heather and Veronica could be ‘best buddies’ or whatever, and then Veronica suddenly starts acting as if she’s in love with Heather and starts openly flirting with her? Like some kind of dyke? What’s going on, Heather?”

“First of all,” Mac began, keeping her voice level and her chin up in an attempt to seem confident and unaffected. “Don’t be homophobic, Heather. Second of all, I swear to you, I did not say anything to Veronica to make her act this way.”

It was the perfect thing to say because factually, it was true. Mac hadn’t said a word to Veronica about acting this way with Heather. That didn’t mean she didn’t indirectly have anything to do with it though. This way, she could appear truthful and not be betrayed by her worst weakness: she was awful at lying and everyone knew that. It was why the Heathers sometimes wouldn’t let her in on secrets in fear that she would unintentionally spill them.

Duke scrutinized her through narrowed green eyes before she sighed in defeat and relaxed her shoulders. “Well, you’re clearly not lying. That’s so strange, I was sure you were behind this.”

Mac held back a breath of relief before her small bubble of hope was popped as Duke asked a final “Are you sure you don’t know anything about why Veronica and Heather and being like this?”

Damn it. She could find a loophole in that, because if she said no, she would, in fact, be lying. Duke could already tell that the question had caught Mac out, it was clear in the look of interest she was giving. Consequently, there was simply no way of trying to wriggle out of this one. She calmly placed a small hand on Duke’s shoulder, which made her flush slightly, and spoke in a low, pleading tone.

“Just… trust me. I know what I’m doing, I promise, so you don’t need to get involved or worry.”

Duke pondered this for a moment before eventually letting out a low sigh and nodding. “Alright, I trust you. I don’t know what the Hell you’re up to but… I won’t stand in your way.”

This made Mac grin widely and extract her hand – Duke sort of looked disappointed at this, but she may have been mistaken – as she stepped away.

“Thanks, Heather! This is all going to be fine!” Mac assured her confidently as she walked past her and continued on her way. “Bye!”

Duke turned to watch her with uncertainty, swallowing thickly.

“Oh, Heather… I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

_____________________________

Working with Heather Chandler on a project was like torture.

She had spent more time fixing her hair and lipstick than drawing diagrams. Veronica had literally given her the easiest job: copy the pictures in the book and use some colouring pencils to make it look nice. Heather couldn’t even be bothered to do that.

Luckily, there were some positives, one mainly being that she enjoyed spending time with Heather, as infuriating as she tended to be. Although Veronica loathed to admit it – out loud, anyway –Heather was great to talk to. They could banter, tease, gossip or sometimes they’d even have in-depth conversations about things Veronica assumed Heather didn’t even know the meaning of.

Exchanging book recommendations with Heather Chandler was something that Veronica hadn’t seen coming, that was for certain. Who knew the Demon Queen had read philosophy? She had called it “pretentious” and “oppressive”, which had made Veronica both laugh at the irony and hypocrisy, and then cry because she was a nerd who had a soft spot for Heidegger. Still, it was pleasant and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t get a strange feeling in her stomach when Heather had called her “smart” and “pretty cool”.

God, she was a mess.

“Earth to Veronica,” Heather said loudly, snapping her fingers in front of Veronica’s face. “Having an existential crisis again?”

Veronica shook her head and laughed good-naturedly. “Something like that.”

“Well no time for that, darling. you need to get on with why the Romans bathed in piss or whatever.”

“That’s… that’s not even remotely correct.” Veronica returned sarcastically, trying to cope with the fact that Heather had referred to her as ‘Darling’, “They used it as a mouthwash, though.”

Heather rolled her eyes, as always, and went back to looking into her compact mirror. “Whatever, loser. Anyway, there’s something I need to speak to you about.

Veronica grabbed a pen and went back to her work. “Sure, go ahead.”

“There’s a party this Friday, at Ram’s house, his parents are out for the whole weekend. I’ll come to pick you up at 8, don’t look like total dogshit or else I’m leaving you behind.”

Looking up, Veronica questioned in surprise “I’m invited?”

That received a scoff from Heather as she snapped her mirror shut. “Well obviously, it would look shady as fuck if you didn’t come along. Oh, but you will be on a drinking ban.”

“Seriously?” Veronica groaned, resting her chin in her hand.

“It’s not my fault you can’t handle your alcohol, now stop complaining.”

“Fine,” Veronica grumbled reluctantly. “So this Friday, right?”

“Yeah, don’t forget.”

With that, the bell rang and the pair hastily packed up their things, wanting to get straight to lunch. As they were doing so, JD swung by their table and rested forward on his hands, deliberately directing himself towards Veronica and not even glancing at Heather.

“Hey, V, you fancy hanging out sometime soon? My Dad’s away on work business for a while.”

Heather, displeased with his presence, spoke up. “Fuck off, Dean-“

JD held up a hand to silence her, giving her a bored, nonplussed expression. “Wasn’t talking to you sweetheart.”

Heather’s eyed filled with rage and fury as she sneered and stood up straighter, glaring daggers into him. He wasn’t fazed and stood up straight too, fixing her with a glare of his own. Sensing the tension that was brewing, Veronica quickly cut in before there was a brawl of some kind, with words or fists she didn’t know.

“I’m super sorry Heather, but it’s about our History homework and I really need JD’s help.”

At Veronica’s voice, Heather let out a breath and relaxed slightly, tearing her eyes from JD to look at Veronica.

“Like I give a shit, just don’t let people see you two together, they’ll think we’re lowering our standards.”

Giving a smirk, Veronica picked up her books and moved to JD’s side. She sent Heather a sweet look and was about to say goodbye when Heather perked up suddenly and sent a discreet mischievous look to JD.

“Hey, Ronnie…” She started in an alluring tone, enunciating the nickname, “do you maybe wanna go on that hike tomorrow? I know you enjoy it and I’d love to spend some time with you. Just us.”

She looked at JD again to see that he had an amused expression but she could tell he was hiding a secret annoyance, which made her want to laugh. Was it petty? Sure, but she just hated him with a passion so who could blame her? Veronica was aware of exactly what she was doing and had to hide a laugh of her own. Still, she tilted her head and gave Heather a wide, agreeing smile.

“Aw, absolutely! I’d love that, I’ll call you later so we can talk about times and whatever.”

Heather bit her lip, smiling in success, and sent JD a dirty look as she walked away. Once she was out of earshot, JD cackled, slamming his hand on the desk.

“God, that was amazing!” He said gleefully, “If she couldn’t even stand that, she’s going to explode when we put our plan into action.”

Veronica shook her head and picked up her bag. “I really don’t know how she’ll react. Oh hey, by the way, there’s a party this Friday and I’m going with Heather. Think that’ll help me at all?”

JD shrugged, “Well, it seems like a great chance to take advantage of the fact that Heather’s drunk and won’t be as on guard as she is at school.”

“Well, whatever happens at the party, happens. It’ll probably be just like the last one. Alcohol, drugs, terrible dancing, sweat, vomit, boys who can’t take no for an answer… the usual.”

With a look of disdain, JD shook his head in disbelief. “You know, I really don’t get why you affiliate yourself with that crowd. Well, I suppose ‘he who thinks great thoughts often makes great errors’.

“Heidegger,” Veronica noted with a smile, recognising the quote instantly. “I’d call you edgy but I’m just the same. Anyway, I kind of need to associate with the Heathers and those sorts of people if I want to get closer to Heather and win the bet. I thought you were supposed to be smart, Mr Dean?”

“You know, that’s a fair point. You got me.”

A brief silence came upon them before JD suddenly got an idea and turned to Veronica in excitement.

“Why wait?” He said cryptically, a smile threatening to appear on his pale face.

“Excuse me?”

“Why wait to enact the jealousy plan? Let’s do it tomorrow. We already know what we’re doing and it seems smart to capitalise on the party, and that means making sure she definitely likes you by then.”

Veronica paused, frowning. “I don’t know, JD.” She admitted apprehensively. “this whole plan… it feels mean. Like we’re playing with her feelings for entertainment.”

“…Veronica we literally made a bet all about playing with her feelings for entertainment, why is this any different?”

“If I’m being honest, this whole thing feels mean, the bet included. It’s dawning on me now. I don’t feel the same way towards Heather now than I did after that party. I’ve realised that I’m not sure about this anymore.”

JD surveyed her with concern before leaning down and looking at her reassuringly. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble or anything, V, but it’s a bit too late to back out now, don’t you think? Might as well go all the way. Besides, don’t tell me you actually care about her feelings. She sure as hell doesn’t care about yours, I can promise you that. This is all just a bit of fun.”
Veronica nodded slowly in agreement and acceptance. “I guess you’re right… like you say, it’s just a bit of fun, I’m sure Heather won’t care that much.”

“Exactly!” JD cried, pointing at Veronica. “Now, tomorrow morning, just act as you are with Heather, all that gross flirting stuff, and then when you see me, I’ll give you the signal and then you come up to me and give me a hug or something. Just act differently with me, but not too different. We don’t want Heather being sceptical, so we’ll start off slow. If Heather asks why you’re acting this way, be really cryptic. Pretend to get flustered and we’ll act as if something happened tonight that changed everything between us and now, we’re in a relationship sort of thing. Sound good?”

Veronica gave a quick thumbs up. “Sure thing, I know what to do. You’ve really thought this thing out, haven’t you? Well, I’m sure it’ll all go fine, I’ll just follow your lead.”

JD shrugged his trench coat tighter around himself and pulled out the keys to his motorbike. “Perfect. Well, I have to head out now. Go home, wait a few hours before having any contact with Heather and pretend that we’ve hung out this evening. Oh, and have fun on that hike thing or whatever, try not to murder her.”

Veronica gave a chuckle and shook her head, turning away from JD.

“I’ll try my best.”

_____________________________

True to JD’s word and being acutely aware that he, in fact, knew best, due to his meticulous planning, Veronica waited two hours after getting home before calling up Heather. Beforehand her heart was racing and it felt like if she wasn’t careful, it might fly out of her chest at any minute. She just couldn’t understand why. This was Heather for crying out loud, when had she ever been nervous to talk to her? Heather didn’t have the same effect on Veronica than everyone else because Veronica could see through her façade, and knew that Heather, underneath, was a girl who cried at Dirty Dancing, had a soft spot for cheesy rom-coms, was a total Baseball nerd and loved giving gifts to people.

That didn’t do anything to help the butterflies, though.

Heather picked up after the fifth ring and Veronica wasn’t surprised, Heather would have rather died than seem desperate.

“Hello?” She answered in a calm, bored tone, though she obviously knew exactly who it would be.

“Hi, Heather! It’s Veronica.”

“Veronica, of course, how was your date with Freak-Show?”

Veronica rolled her eyes as she hugged her pillow and slumped back against her bed. Of course Heather would go straight to that.

“First of all, he’s my friend, Heather.” Veronica scolded, “So don’t call him that. Second of all, it wasn’t a date, I told you it was just about History work. Anyway, we should talk about this hiking thing.”

“Yeah, yeah sorry.” Heather apologised half-heartedly. “Anyway, I was thinking that we should do it straight after school tomorrow. I’ll come to yours, you can lend me some of your loser-ish hiking shit and we can go. Not for too long, though because my feet are too pretty to be walking for more than three hours.”

“You seem to do just fine when you walk around a mall for three hours.” Veronica teased, gaining a scoff from Heather. “Anyway, are you sure your ego isn’t too big? Hiking gear isn’t too pretty, your majesty.”

Heather brushed over the nickname. “As long as nobody sees me, we should be fine. If they do, I am suing your ass, Sawyer.”

“Please, you could probably make hiking gear look good, anyway.”

She didn’t mean for it to come out like that, and the compliment didn’t go unnoticed. She could hear Heather’s voice catch in her throat as they sat in silence for a few seconds.

“Hey, Veronica?” Heather whispered unsurely as if saying the wrong thing would cause her to drop dead. “Are you absolutely sure nothing happened when I came to your house and got drunk?”

Back to this? Heather definitely knew.

“I’m sure, Heather.” Veronica lied, “Why do you ask? What do you think happened?”

Heather didn’t answer for a second before her voice came through again, sounding worn out and tired. “I just thought that you… never mind.”

Veronica smiled to herself. “You probably just need some rest, you sound super tired.”

On cue, Heather let out a quiet yawn and murmured in agreement. They said their farewells and soon Veronica was left alone again to dwell.

She stared up at her white ceiling, not a sound in the house.

There’s a fear inside of her, growing side by side with the dark feeling of guilt also beginning to invade.

It’s a fear that maybe the fact that she’s excited to talk to Heather and excited when Heather gets flustered isn’t really because of the bet at all.

She shook her head, releasing the thoughts as quickly as they came.

Clearly, she was the one who needed sleep.

_____________________________

Heather sat on her plush red bed, one leg draped gracefully over the other as she gazed at a photo of her and Veronica playing croquet. Mac had sneakily taken it a few days ago and had handed it to Heather with a mischievous wink.

The photo depicted the two of them stood close to each other, grinning widely and seemingly laughing at something the other had said. Heather remembered it clear as day. Remembered the way her heart has skipped a beat or two when Veronica had ran a hand through her dark hair, or when she swore she nearly fainted when Veronica had rested the mallet in over her shoulders, bit her lip suggestively and sent a little wink towards Heather as she tried to make her shot.

Heather had made an observation recently: she always had a good time and felt a little lighter when she was around Veronica.

Veronica was a pretty good friend.

…Wait no, that didn’t sound right. That didn’t sound right at all.

Why doesn’t that sound right?

When Heather feels a warmth flow through her when Veronica does that dorky laugh, it’s because they’re friends.

When Veronica gives that wide, goofy smile and Heather can’t help but smile too, wishing that Veronica’s smile would never waver, it’s because they’re friends.

When Heather receives one of Veronica’s sudden compliments, the reason she blushes and her mind turns to fog, it’s because they’re friends.

None of that sounds right.

Why does none of that sound right?!

It couldn’t possibly be anything, dare she say it, romantic. A boy has never made her feel this way, and boys are the ones you’re supposed to feel this way about. So, the way she feels around boys must be romantic, and the way she feels about Veronica must be something else entirely.

Although… all that stuff with Veronica sure sounds romantic.

Heather wasn’t stupid; when she was younger she’d read fairy tales and romance novels all about girls blushing at random compliments, and getting butterflies when their romantic interest enters the room.

Maybe… the reason why she feels differently about Veronica than she does boys isn’t because Veronica isn’t a romantic interest, but rather because boys aren’t a romantic interest.

Oh, God.

Oh, Fuck.

Oh no, no, no.

Heather tightly squeezed her eyes shut, forcefully shoving any thoughts or emotions down, like she always did. She pelted it into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind her, and splashed some ice cold water on her face, hoping it would wash away whatever was going on right now. She desperately searched her mind, hoping to feel something, anything, other than dread and fear. She reluctantly dragged her eyes up to stare at her own reflection in the mirror. Beads of water were trickling down her face as her own wild eyes stared back at her.

In that mirror, she didn’t see a powerful demon queen. She saw a pathetic, terrified girl who was frightened to death because oh God she might be a dyke and oh God she might have feelings for her best friend.

Suppress, suppress, suppress. Shove it down, lock it away, throw out the key.

She’d questioned her sexuality before and got through it, why was this time any different?

Maybe because this time… she had a way to prove the truth in her doubts about her sexuality. She had Veronica.

It’s just that... boys don’t give her butterflies. Boys don’t make her feel wanted. Boys are rough and greedy.

Heather sunk down to the cold tiled floor, her knees curled up, her head tucked in them, bitter tears of disappointment and sorrow streaming down her face.

When she imagines herself with someone, it’s a girl with shoulder-length wavy brown hair, deep, caring, brown eyes, a dorky laugh and a particular affiliation with the colour blue.

Heather groans.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Heather Chandler’s face, when Veronica had innocently walked into school, was one that the brunette certainly wasn’t expecting.

She couldn’t say it was welcoming, either.

When Veronica had managed to weave through the sea of students without getting knocked over and had finally found her locker and a certain girl dressed in red stood by it, she had given a wide and true smile. However, when Heather turned to her and gave her that look, one that could turn her to stone, Veronica couldn’t help but stop dead in her tracks and become guarded. Heather seemed… thoughtful. Not in a good way, however. It was as if seeing Veronica had given her bad memories, and brought pain upon her, something that Veronica couldn’t understand nor accept. She reminisced on the night before when she had been on the phone to Heather. She had seemed totally fine then, so it couldn’t have been anything that happened yesterday at school. Veronica couldn’t remember saying anything wrong in their late-night conversation either, so it must have occurred afterwards.

What on earth was Heather dwelling on? And why was it apparently such a painful memory?

“Are you alright?” Veronica asked cautiously, sauntering up to Heather and surveying her through concerned eyes.

That seemed to bring Heather back to earth as she jolted slightly and shook her head confidently. “Yeah, totally fine, don’t worry about it.”

Veronica knew better than to keep pushing, especially as Heather wasn’t quite ‘with it’, it would almost certainly do more harm than good. Instead, Veronica gave a small nod, and placed her books inside her locker, continuously sneaking glances at Heather. She would have to keep working on her to find out what was wrong. Instead of staying on the issue, Veronica changed the subject as she turned back around and spoke in a more playful and light-hearted tone - an effort to lift Heather’s spirits.

“So… you still up for hiking this afternoon? Not getting cold feet yet?”

That, apparently, was not the right course of action, as it sent Heather into another little frenzy. She tensed up, her shoulders rising and her arms, folded against her chest, tightening around herself. She took a slight step backwards, and it was like she was somehow trying to shield herself up from Veronica as if she wanted nothing more than to put a 2-feet thick brick wall between them. She bit her lower, deep red lip and averted her gaze to her shoes, trying to choke out some sort of coherent response.

“Uh…”

Before she could give her pathetic attempt at words, she was interrupted by JD swaggering over, as was custom at this point, and propping his elbow against the locker and giving Veronica a charming smile. Despite her unusual demeanour and attitude, Heather was still spurred by his presence to become more like her usual self as she glared at him with the gaze of a thousand burning suns.

“I don’t remember inviting you, creep.” She spat, a face of pure disgust on her pretty features.

JD’s grin only grew wider, always up for a challenge and fuelled by her displeasure. “I don’t remember caring, sweetheart.”

He threw Veronica a discreet wink and all questioning thoughts left Veronica’s mind. She needed to put this plan into action now, or else it would be too late. Heather’s sudden problem probably wasn’t even that major, maybe she just ruined a pair of expensive shoes. Now, Veronica had more pressing matters to handle. She smiled seductively at JD, delicately placing a hand on his leather-clad arm. Being this close to him caused her to be overloaded with the strong aroma of cigarettes and slushies, and she fought the urge to gag from the sheer pressure of it all. It certainly wasn’t as pleasant as Heather’s flowery, expensive perfume.

“Hey, Jason…” She purred, looking up at him through her long, dark lashes. It wasn’t easy, it felt extremely wrong and embarrassing and every bone in her body was telling her that this didn’t feel right at all, but she resisted. It was necessary to lay it on thick to get the true effect.

JD evidently wasn’t feeling the same unsettling effects as her, as he displayed his cat-like grin which showed off all his sharp, crooked teeth, and his dark, bloodshot eyes filled with glee as they bore into her own, slightly nervous, brown ones.

“We totally need to hang out again.” Veronica continued in a low voice, leaning even closer and batting her eyelashes at him. “Last week was… fun.”

Heather was seething so much from beside her that Veronica could practically see steam coming out of her ears. She looked as if she might tear off JD’s head at any minute, and Veronica could clearly see that her hands were balled up into fists, proving her anger at the situation. JD bit his lip slightly, signalling that he was trying to stop any laughter escaping. Whether he was happy at what Veronica was saying or how Heather was handling it was yet to be confirmed, but Veronica had a sneaking suspicion it was most likely both.

“Totally.” He drawled in an obviously deeper voice than his own. “We need to do some more… bonding.”

It took all of Veronica’s willpower to not burst into a fit of giggles right there and then. She could see JD trying to regain his composure and Heather stiffening even more, taking a deep inhale and looking at JD as if she wished nothing more than for him to drop down dead in that very moment. This time, however, she didn’t stand back and let the conversation continue. She conveniently placed herself in the small gap between the two and scowled at JD with a face of thunder. Although he tried to hide it, some of JD’s bravado left him, as his smile wavered ever so slightly. As much as he would loathe to admit it, Heather Chandler was pretty damn scary.

“Do you maybe want to bother someone else?” Heather uttered in a clear, cutting tone, tilting up her head and leaving no room for a response. “Just being around you, smelling you, is making me want to hurl. So maybe take your disgusting, greasy-ass hair, your sweaty loser trench coat, and your creepy stalker personality, and go bother some people who don’t actually have standards. What, you think you’re so woke because you dress like shit and think that that makes you quirky and special? No, it just makes you look like a tramp who shits all over himself. What are you going to do, call your Dad to come blow me up like the psycho he is? Runs in the family I suppose. News flash, he doesn’t fucking scare me and neither do you, because the worst you could do to me is wrongly quote obscure phrases from some book you found in a dumpster and then laugh because nobody knows what the fuck you’re on about and you think that makes you better than them. I don’t give a shit about you and neither does any else, so, in conclusion, fuck off before I rip your balls off, stuff them in your mouth, and use my heels to pierce your hollow heart and high kick you into next week, you scrawny little prick. Oh, and have a shower once in a while. You smell like my grandma and she fucking died three years ago.”

Forget being on the floor; Veronica’s jaw was practically in the underworld at that point. Even JD, aloofness personified, seemed taken aback, letting out a small, baffled laugh and constantly glancing between Veronica and Heather, making sure he hadn’t been imagining things and Heather had genuinely said all of that. Heather held her chin up, breathing heavily from all the emotions she just poured out and clenched her jaw and she continued to glare at JD.  Not really knowing how to reply, JD simply gave Veronica a look of amusement and walked away down the hall. Veronica rounded on Heather, staring at her in disbelief.

“What was that?” Veronica asked, bewildered and still trying to wrap her head at the mess that had just occurred.

Heather had got her breathing back at that point and was now staring at Veronica, trying to decide what on Earth she could say to explain that sudden outburst. After a few more moments of silence, Heather decided to simply scoff, flick her hair over her shoulder, and strut away down the hall without another word, not even bothering to give some kind of explanation.

This was so damn tiring. Was Heather incapable of ever explaining anything?

Veronica was left to stand in shock, only one thought running through her mind:

What the fuck was going on today?

She speed-walked to catch up to her irritating friend and decided to keep her mouth shut, lest she upset Heather anymore. Heather, however, seemed keen to continue the confusion by deciding to constantly send Veronica questioning and accusatory glances. Eventually, Veronica took the bait and let out an exasperated huff as she halted and turned to Heather.

“Seriously, what’s on your mind? And don’t say it’s nothing because that’s bullshit and we both know it.”

“What was that with Red Dawn?” Heather accused with a tone of hostility, referring to JD and Veronica’s previous little stunt a few moments ago.

Putting on her best oblivious impression, Veronica said “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Heather.”

“Oh, please!” Heather exclaimed with a bitter laugh, before rounding on Veronica again. “You know what. You were practically eye-fucking him over there, I thought your drool was going to start dribbling down your chin. I’m not stupid, Veronica.”

Veronica responded with a teasing smirk as she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “What, are you jealous?”

That seemed to trigger something in Heather as all of her previous maliciousness faded away instantly, and her frown was replaced with a look of fear and anxiety. Her hands, usually placed deliberately on her hips in a kind of power-stance, were folded around herself as if she was trying to close herself up and make herself look as small and insignificant as possible. For Heather Chandler, that was unusual, to say the least. Usually, and often without even trying, she was always the centre of attention. Sharp eyes, a quick mind, a girl not willing to let her guard down for one second, and always bold and attention-drawing.

Seeing her as the contrast she was now unnerved Veronica and filled her with regret.

Maybe this really wasn’t a good idea after all.

Heather’s eyes, wide and panic-stricken, darted all over Veronica’s puzzled face before she spluttered out a “Fuck off.” In high pitch tone, and walked away so fast she was practically jogging. She seemed to be heading to the toilets as she stormed past every student there to witness.

It could have just been Veronica’s imagination, but she seemed to be shaking.

All feelings of amusement had dissipated and now Veronica was left to stew in her own questioning thoughts. It had all happened so suddenly, Veronica’s mind was racing with possible scenarios and reasons as to why Heather changed up her mood so quickly. It couldn’t have just been the flirting thing, whilst that undoubtedly contributed in a harmful way, Heather had been acting off since Veronica arrived this morning.

After debating whether she should go after Heather, Veronica eventually settled on leaving her alone, hoping she would try and get herself back to normal and overcome whatever she was feeling right now.

As much as she loathed to admit it… seeing Heather like this, tormented and in pain, tore Veronica’s heart in two, whether because of guilt or… other reasons… and all she wanted was for Heather to be okay again.

_____________________________

A droplet of icy cold water trickled down Heather’s temple, much like it had done the night before. She gripped the counter so tightly that her knuckles were turning white, much as she had done the night before. She looked up with so much hatred for herself, she wished she could have thrown a punch at her own reflection, much like she had done the night before.

Every thought led to the horrors of the night before.

She didn’t mean to let her mask fall or her confidence crack. She had, of course, planned to keep it hidden, to make sure she could just keep going without any mishaps. However, if anything could be classified as a mishap, it was this.

If she was being honest, at first, she had kept it together rather well considering the situation. Sure, she had been acting slightly differently, but she was sure that Veronica thought she was just on her period or something. So yes, she had kept it together enough, until Veronica mentioned jealousy. Poisonous memories had floated to the surface and infected her mind, spreading like a pandemic. They’d clouded her thinking, leaving the only logical solution she could think of: fucking make a break for it.

She laughed humourlessly at herself. She was a mess. A cowardly mess.

It was just that Veronica mentioning that Heather was jealous meant that she was being noticeable about her feelings and being apparently not as put together as she had thought. And if Veronica realised Heather’s feelings, what would she do?

She would ruin her, that’s what.

Heather hadn’t exactly been an angel to Veronica before and since joining the Heathers. It was only natural for Veronica to get some revenge. If she found out that the demon queen had a… certain affection for her, well she could take that and use it as a sharp blade to stab right into Heather’s back.

The short of it was that Heather apparently didn’t like boys as much as she thought – which was totally gross, of course – and she was, without a doubt, attracted to Veronica – which was evidently not as platonic as she had initially believed – and this was all very, very bad indeed. She had this problem, and she could deal with it. She had to deal with it. However, if anyone else found out, then that would only make matters worse.

…But would Veronica really backstab her? Or would she be the kind, caring Veronica that Heather knew and… liked-not-platonically?

No, no matter how nice Veronica was, nobody would dismiss a chance to get ahead, to climb the food chain, to take revenge. In fact, it was quite possible that Veronica knew full well what was going on, and all this weird behaviour was just a little ruse to get dirt on Heather so she could turn on her.

God, how could she be so careless? How could she let herself develop feelings like a pathetic love-sick little child who didn’t know of the pain and torment life would throw at them as they lived in their little fantasy world?

The problem was, it made Heather feel powerless. Having people liking her, that’s what she was used to. Having people submit themselves to her, wanting to be her or be with her, it gave her power, control and security. It wasn’t supposed to be the other way around. Having feelings for someone who didn’t like you back made you vulnerable and made you susceptible to having your heartbroken, and it immediately made you become a powerless induvial. Heather couldn’t have that under any circumstances, that was so, so dangerous.

Right, it was time to do what she did best. Fucking ignore any feelings, if she just ignored them then they would go away, they always did. Moreover, she needed to make sure Veronica had no idea of Heather’s feelings. And so, she would act as if she cared more about the dirt on her shoe than the girl in blue with the gorgeous smile and the tousled brown hair with the wit of a genius and the mental strength of a bull and-

…That was not the way to do it at all.

She splashed some more water on her face for good measure and then fixed up the damage on her makeup. She glared at her reflection, willing it to do as she required.

She inhaled deeply and then let out a shaky breath.

She had feelings for Veronica Sawyer.

That didn’t mean she had to show it.

_____________________________

Three pairs of eyes turned to Heather immediately as she strolled into class a second before the bell rang. She didn’t meet any of their gazes. She simply lowered herself into her chair and stared at her table, her face betraying no emotion.

Veronica kept glancing her way, but it was in vain as it garnered no response.

The positive thing, Veronica thought to herself, was that Heather didn’t look upset anymore. She looked like her stone-cold bitch self that she used to be before Veronica really knew her. Maybe she had realised she was becoming more human and was now trying to be her old self whilst she was in the public eye.

Sure, keep telling yourself that. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

Well, whatever was wrong, she seemed to be more or less over it now, so with JD’s raised eyebrows and questioning thumbs up, Veronica gave a smile and put the plan into motion again by giving him a confident nod of affirmation.

There was a voice telling her that Heather wasn’t actually ok and that she really shouldn’t be doing this and that this would end very badly indeed, but she – against her better judgement – ignored it. Like JD said, this wasn’t harmful, it was just a bit of fun.

At Veronica’s confirmation, JD made his way over and leaned over the table, earning questioning glances from Mac and Duke.

Heather didn’t react.

“So, Veronica,” JD began enticingly, “Wanna hang out tonight? I found a secret spot where nobody will… disturb us.”

As if she had rehearsed her lines a million times before, without missing a beat, Veronica glanced at Heather before looking back at JD and giving a flirty gaze. “Hmm, that sounds great but I'm supposed to be going out with Heather tonight…”

It was petty really, but it was a great way to provoke a reaction nonetheless. Well, she thought it was. Heather still didn’t bat an eyelid, keeping her eyes glued to the table, her face not having moved at all during the interaction.

Even JD looked puzzled. “Uh, we’ll talk about it later?” He said unsurely, eyes flitting between Heather and Veronica, as he then shuffled back to his desk in disappointment.

Veronica turned back to Heather, her eyebrows knitted together with concern, as she reached over and spoke in a calm voice. “Heather are you ok?”

Heather jerked back as if she had been burned and she looked at Veronica with the same rage as she had looked at JD with earlier.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” She spat venomously, looking at Veronica in distaste. “What, you think you can just ask if I’m ok? We aren’t friends, Veronica. You don’t give a shit about me, and I sure as hell don’t give a shit about you. I couldn’t care less about how you feel. Go hang out with that loser for all I care, you two freaks deserve each other. You won’t be able to find anyone else to date anyway. You are nothing to me!”

The room had fallen deadly silent during the outburst, even Miss Flemming had stopped to watch the display. The words hit Veronica like a train and their meanings stung her like a bee. Heather’s face flashed concern for a split second, but she lost it just as quickly and went back to her hard emotionless stare. With tears in her eyes that were threatening to escape, Veronica simply tore out a forged pass from her bag, shot up, slammed it down on Miss Flemming’s desk, choked out some bullshit excuse, and stormed out of the door, slamming it behind her. The room stayed quiet, nobody daring to speak. Mac took a sharp intake of breath before looking at Heather in concern.

“Are you ok-?”

“Shut up Heather!” Heather screeched in return, her voice piercing everyone in the room and somehow bringing even more suffocating silence.

Mac shut her mouth instantly and whipped round to face the desk once more, biting her lip and looking like she may burst into tears. Duke looked between the two of them with a mixture of shock, concern and confusion, but she dared not to say a word. Everyone cautiously went back to what they were doing, not even trying to hide the fact that they were clearly talking about the situation that had just occurred and whispering and muttering under their breath.

Heather didn’t even bother to listen to what kind of twisted rumours they were coming up with. On the outside, she may have looked unperturbed and unaffected, but inside her heart was wrenching and she was feeling something she scarcely felt.

Guilt.

And despite herself, all she wanted was to go and see if Veronica was alright.

_____________________________

“Listen, Ronnie, I understand that you’re going through something right now, but please stop pacing around your room! It’s making me feel dizzy.”

With a frustrated groan, Veronica threw her hands up in exasperation and fell onto the bed next to Betty. She eventually sat up and rested her elbows on her knees, with a face of thunder. Betty began to rub her friend’s back soothingly, not really knowing how to assist the situation. Veronica had just spent a record time of about two hours venting to Betty, who had spent the duration hyping Veronica up, silently nodding, or getting lost in thoughts and worries of her own.

“I really don’t know what to say.” She confessed sheepishly, feeling rather helpless that she couldn’t give many words of wisdom, “Why do you think she acted that way?”

Veronica let out a huff and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, but she was acting weird all day.”

“Do you reckon it had something to do with the whole ‘making her jealous’ thing?”

“Whilst I’m sure that didn’t help much, she was acting weird even before that. When I walked into school, Heather looked... afraid. Like she was having a battle inside her head. She kept her distance and was, like, shielding herself from me. I thought it might have been something I said, but I’m not sure what it could have been. It was great yesterday! We made plans to hike this afternoon and everything. Something’s changed. Something’s happened”

Betty gave a quiet hum of agreement as she sat pondering for a moment. “Do you think maybe she’s realised her feelings and isn’t dealing with it too well?”

“I guess that sounds plausible,” Veronica confessed calmly, before becoming irritated again. ”But why did she have to take it out on me? It still doesn’t excuse how she treated me, it made me feel like shit!”

“What she did was wrong,” Betty agreed, turning to face Veronica and giving a look through her thick-rimmed glasses. “but, I can kind of see why she reacted badly.”

At Veronica’s disapproving look, Betty quickly continued, ”Again, I’m not saying that she’s in the right here, I’m just saying that all this has got to be a lot of pressure for her. And realising she likes girls, specifically her best friend, well she’s not going to deal perfectly with that, is she? So... I guess this is her way of dealing with it.”

“But how can I deal with it?” Veronica countered helplessly, “Her throwing insults at me, embarrassing me in front of everyone?”

Betty’s silence was enough of an answer for Veronica, who slumped her shoulders and shook her head. Eventually, she spoke again, slowly, as she mulled over her words.

“Heather Chandler is... foreign.”

“Oh- uh- really? Where’s she from?”

“No, Betty, I mean she’s... different and hard to grasp. I don’t really understand her.”

“Of course, sorry. And I have to agree with you there, she’s an enigma for sure.”

“It’s so tedious. I’m sick of all this, I’m sick of everything. I wish I’d never agreed to any of this.”

Suddenly, Veronica jumped up, her anger boiling once more.

“You know what?” She said aggressively, whipping round to face Betty. “I’m done. I’m done with this stupid bet.”

Betty’s eyes widened in shock as she jumped up from the bed to meet Veronica and placed her hands on her shoulders. “What? Veronica, no you can’t-”

“Yes, I can, Betty.” Veronica insisted, pulling away and grabbing her bag. “It’s not worth it. I’m hurting people, I’m hurting myself, I’m being treated like shit, other people are going through shit, and for what? So JD can do my homework for me? And that’s only if I win, which – at this rate – is not going to happen.”

She made her way to her bedroom door and flung it open, marching out. Betty hastily ran after her.

“Think about the forfeit!” She pleaded desperately, racing down the stairs and through the hallways to meet her.

“I’ll do the stupid forfeit!” Veronica shouted back, shrugging on her blue coat. “Clearly, Heather won’t mind if I say I hate her anyway, she would probably say it back!”

“Where are you even going?”

“To see JD, to let him know that I’m calling this off, once and for all. This was a mistake and I might as well stop it now before I have to deal with any more.”

“Please...” Betty pleaded quietly, making one last attempt at salvaging the situation.

At this, Veronica turned around, her anger lessened and suspicion taking its place.

“Why are you so invested in this, anyway?” Veronica interrogated her, surveying her through accusing eyes. “You said it was because you didn’t want me getting destroyed, but I think that’s bullshit. At first, you didn’t want me to take the bet at all, now it’s all we talk about. What’s really going on here, Betty?”

Freezing, Betty found herself trapped. She really couldn’t tell Veronica about JD’s secret plan, she’d be mad that Betty went behind her back, she may not believe her, and JD could cause harm to both of them. However, she also didn’t really see any other way out of this. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, there was a harsh knock at the door that caught both of their attentions. Betty silently thanked whoever was there as Veronica sent her one last look and huffed as she proceeded to open the door.

There on the doorstep stood Heather, wrapped up in an expensive-looking red coat, holding herself against the bitter wind. Veronica didn’t even wait a second before slamming the door in her face.

“Veronica!” Heather complained, banging on the door again. ”Open the damn door and let me talk to you!”

Veronica opened the door.

“No.”

She slammed it shut.

“Please can we just talk?”

Veronica opened the door again.

“Heather you made your feelings very clear. There’s nothing to discuss.”

She closed it in Heather’s face again.

“God, can you stop being difficult?” Heather insulted loudly, causing Veronica to swing the door open again with a force that could blow the hinges off.

“Excuse me?” She replied in disbelief. “How am I being difficult?”

Betty cleverly took this moment to sneak out the door, sending Veronica an apologetic look as she did so. Veronica decided she would continue to question her over the phone later. Her eyes stayed locked with Heather’s as she moved to shut the door for the fourth time, but Heather stuck her heel-clad foot in the way.

“I swear if you shut the door on me one more time-”

Veronica yanked it back open in rage and stormed off into her kitchen, as Heather rolled her eyes and stepped inside, closing the door behind her to stop the heat from escaping. She followed after Veronica to spot her leaning against the counter, her arms crossed and her foot tapping against the floor tiles impatiently.

“This better be fucking good,” Veronica warned aggressively, clearly seething and keeping her distance from Heather. “I have to go meet up with JD, a friend who actually gives a shit about me.”

Heather was unfazed, huffing for Veronica to “stop being dramatic” and rudely rifling through the cupboards without thinking to ask, as if it was her own home.

Veronica’s eyebrows raised at her rude comment as she sarcastically mumbled: “Some apology this is.”

Deciding to not even give an answer, Heather stood up straight after crouching to look through the cupboard under the sink, annoyed at not finding anything, and looked at Veronica judgmentally. “Don’t cry, you’ll live.”

Veronica scoffed in bewilderment, and glared at Heather, unamused. ”I’m giving you five seconds to get out of my house or I’ll fucking kick your ass onto the curb, Chandler.”

The use of her surname clearly did something to Heather, because she lost her offensive attitude, sighed and closed her eyes as she said. “Just give me a second to find some vodka, ok?”

She eventually achieved her goal as she searched the final cupboard and found some cheap vodka Veronica’s Mom kept away from prying eyes. She took a hefty swig, not even flinching at the taste, and hoisted herself up to sit on the counter and continue drinking. Veronica shook her head and gave Heather a serious look.

“If you’ve just come here to bite my ass, then you can forget it. I don’t need any of that right now.”

“I came to talk about earlier,” Heather explained bluntly, staring at the bottle in her hands and gently swinging her legs.

“What’s there to talk about? I asked you a simple question about how you were doing, and you bit my head off in front of everyone, embarrassed me and made me feel like shit!”

Heather gritted her teeth and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the effects of both the alcohol and the emotions, mixing together to create a very unpleasant in fog her mind. Eventually, she opened her eyes and turned to Veronica, who seemed to notice for the first time that the blonde’s eyes were slightly red and puffy, not very noticeable but there nonetheless.

Had she been crying?

“As you know...” Heather began cautiously, her tone unsure. “I’m not great with feelings and stuff.”

Veronica snorted. ”That’s an understatement.

“Bitch shut up and let me talk. Anyway, Heather suggested that I should come here and make things right and explain and.... you were with that greasy freak and- and I just got mad, I guess. I lashed out because I didn’t know how else to act and deal with what I was feeling, so I acted cold and distant and said some things I don't mean and... I’m sorry.”

She cringed slightly afterwards as if it had caused her physical pain to say all that. Veronica took a moment to look at Heather with a twinge of sympathy before unfolding her arms and sighing, moving closer to her.

“Heather, what’s going on with you?” She asked sadly, “I was just trying to ask if you were alright, not force you to give your whole personal life story, you don’t need to be so defensive. It seems like whenever we’ve made progress and... whenever I try to get close to you, you just push me away. What’s wrong?”

A look of fear flashed in Heather’s eyes as she tensed, and Veronica could tell she was starting to close up again.

“I... I can’t tell you what’s wrong.” She stuttered out, her voice wavering.

“Heather, you can tell me anything-”

“No.” Heather insisted in a frightened voice, swallowing and violently shaking her head. “I can’t tell you. Not this. If you knew what it was, you would understand. But I'll try to work on it, ok? I’ll try not to, y’know, ‘bite your ass’ or whatever you said. And I promise that I didn’t mean anything of what I said earlier, I do care about how you feel. I do care about... you.”

Veronica sucked in a breath at the admission and tried to work out what the Hell Heather could be thinking, Heather seemed to flush slightly at the chosen wording and she quietly turned away, hiding her embarrassment. She took another swig of vodka, muttering about how she deeply despised apologies and how awkward they were. Staying silent, Veronica bit her lip in thought before looking at Heather with a blank expression.

“You know what? I think you should just go now.”

Heather’s head snapped back around and she looked terrified for a moment, her face falling. She began to bumble in panic. “Shit, sorry, I knew the apology was bad. I’ll try it again, I’ll do it better this time-”

Veronica shook her head and held up a hand to silence her. “No, I appreciate the apology, I really do, I just need some time alone to think. That’s all.”

Heather let out a breath of relief and hopped off the counter, nodding in agreement. “Alright, yeah that’s fine. I’ll... see you tomorrow, I guess.”

As she placed the vodka down on the counter and began to exit, she turned around for a final time and sent Veronica a sincere apologetic look. “I am really sorry about the hiking thing. We’ll do it another time, I promise. Bye, Veronica.”

Veronica didn’t answer. She heard the front door close a few seconds later and slumped against the counter, massaging her temples and furrowing her brow. It wasn’t surprising at all, her and Betty had already figured out that Heather’s little fiasco was a sort of defence mechanism. That didn’t make it hurt any less, though. Just because Veronica was flirting with a guy that Heather didn’t really like, that didn’t mean she could be so hurtful. What Heather said had cut deeply like a knife, they didn’t feel like just empty generic insults, they felt personal. Although, Veronica did feel slightly better after the apology, knowing that Heather didn’t actually mean what she said.

She just didn’t want to be Heather’s punching bag who then got apologised to and everything was ok again.

On the other hand... she couldn’t deny that she had seen a different side to Heather through all this She had assumed the mythic bitch was ice cold but was pleasantly surprised to realise she was wrong. There was so much more to Heather Chandler, and Veronica felt like she was the one who was truly getting through to her. And she couldn’t deny that she quite liked Heather’s company.

Like when they watched Dirty Dancing and Heather was so peaceful and happy, and when Heather was genuinely shocked that somebody would talk about baseball to her, and that time ages ago when they took pictures together at that photo booth and ended up doubled over laughing and holding each other to stay upright. She was pretty sure Heather threw those photos away, but the sentiment still stood.

Veronica knew she wasn’t innocent here like Betty had said. She knew full well this bet would impact Heather negatively, but not this much. Although she was getting hurt, she was 100% sure that Heather was being hurt too, the lashing out being a prime example of inner emotional pain. Did she really deserve to judge Heather for dealing with this badly? It was Veronica’s fault, after all.

After a long time of debating and arguing with herself, Veronica eventually settled on the smart solution to accept Heather’s apology and continue with the bet. The... interesting apology clearly wasn’t easy to do and it meant a lot to Veronica that Heather even attempted it in the first place. In addition, she couldn’t just end the bet here, having to do the forfeit of telling Heather she hated her would hurt her more than whatever she was dealing with now, and Veronica couldn’t bring herself to do that. From now on, she would stop the flirting with JD scheme and try to understand Heather’s side a little bit more. Hopefully, they could go back to being friends and spending time with each other

She still had a bet to win, after all.

Chapter Text

A deafening beep from outside Veronica’s window caused her to jolt awake and fall clumsily out of bed, grumpily stumbling to the window to spot the perpetrator. Needless to say, she wasn’t too pleased to be woken up in such an inconsiderate way, but her annoyance turned to surprise when she spotted Heather Chandler sat in her gleaming red car, still beeping that damn horn. Heather didn’t usually pick Veronica up on a Thursday because “God Veronica, we have English first thing on a Thursday, and if you think I’m going to that, you’re deluded. If you want to go be a geek and actually turn up, you can go yourself.”

So why on Earth was she here with her car and a desperate, pleading look on her face?

“Heather, what the fuck?” Veronica wearily shouted out at her, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Do you want to wake up the whole neighbourhood?”

“Listen, I tried to knock on the door, but you didn’t answer. We’ve got to motor so can you get dressed and come down please?”

Seriously, she just had to be-

Wait.

Did Heather just say ‘please’?

At first, Veronica was simply processing the fact that Heather was even able to say please, that it was even in her vocabulary, and then the mischievous and devious side of her mind butted in.

She could have some fun with this.

Sure, she wasn’t necessarily angry at Heather anymore, she had already decided to forgive her and accept some of the blame, but she still wanted to get some sort of satisfying payback, Heather had really upset her.

Besides, how often was Heather Chandler going to be nice? Not taking advantage would be stupid, and Veronica prided herself on not being stupid. Most of the time.

And so, she wordlessly left the window, closed the blinds, got dressed at a slower than usual pace, just to annoy Heather, and casually sauntered out to Heather’s car. Heather’s searching gaze followed Veronica the whole time as she walked down the path and continued once she was in the car and getting settled. The atmosphere was stiff and awkward as Veronica kept her gaze forward and Heather eventually turned slowly back to the steering wheel and began to drive away from the house. Clearly, Heather was cautious to know how Veronica was feeling after last night, and so was effectively walking on eggshells. Veronica mischievously decided to not give Heather any sorts of clues and directed her focus towards keeping a poker face and staring straight ahead.

As the silence became louder, Heather started to lightly rum her sharp red nails on the steering wheel, signalling that she was nervous. Whenever Veronica would mention that Heather was doing it in an effort to make her stop, she would just reply with a snarky comment or a firm “Shut up”. But what about now?

“Stop.” Veronica deadpanned in a monotonous voice, still not even glancing at Heather.

To Veronica’s surprise and glee, Heather stopped instantly, clenching her jaw, taking a sharp intake of breath and swallowing thickly. Trying her best not to break out into a grin, Veronica realised that she literally had just told Heather Chandler what to do, and she had obeyed. Questionable morals aside, this was amazing!

“How…how are you after last night?” Heather asked timidly, keeping her words slow and careful in an effort not to say the wrong thing.

“Fine.”

Heather nodded, eyes filling with worry and panic as her breathing became slightly quicker and she began to tense up. She was clearly super caught up about this whole thing and was now beginning to panic because Veronica seemed extremely pissed. It pretty damn funny, and Veronica seriously had to stop herself from laughing at the incredulous situation.

… But she also kind of felt bad.

Heather had gone out of her way to properly and sincerely apologise, which had seemed like absolute hell for her, and was now literally treading on eggshells to make sure she didn’t upset Veronica again and that she was being nice towards her. Yes, Heather had hurt her, but what else could she do other than apologise and be more careful about what she said in the future? Why did Veronica have any right to continue and drag this on longer than it needed to? Shouldn’t she just be mature and move on, rather than using it to get some petty revenge? 

God, she was really starting to feel like a Heather now, and it didn’t suit her.

Honestly, Heather handled the whole thing really well, and the apology was clearly genuine if she was still trying to be more careful in the morning. Plus, this was Heather Chandler, Veronica wasn’t expecting any kind of response, let alone a sincere apology and putting in the effort afterwards too. It proved that, although she could still be a classic Mythic Bitch at times, she had grown and matured as a person, and Veronica would be lying if she said that didn’t warm her heart somewhat.

Besides, Veronica had been the one to cause this whole mess in the first place; she had messed with Heather’s emotions and made her angry. She really had no right to be messing with Heather when she was the one trying to salvage the situation.

Snapping back to reality, Veronica saw that Heather looked absolutely terrified because Veronica had just zoned out, five minutes had passed, and she hadn’t said a God damn word. She was biting her (slightly quivering?) lip, and her breathing had become even more shallow and her brow was creased, laced with worry and fret.

When they pulled up to a stoplight, Veronica finally spoke up and gave a loud sigh.

“Listen, Heather, you don’t need to worry. I forgive you and I’m totally cool now, let’s just move on.”

Heather released a loud breath of relief and visibly relaxed into her chair, throwing her head back and loosening her grip on the wheel as her eyes fluttered closed.

“Jesus Christ, I was worried I had upset you again. Thank you, Ronnie.” She said sincerely, her voice calmer now, as her icy blue eyes met with Veronica’s.

Did Heather just say thank you? And call her ‘Ronnie’?

She totally didn’t get butterflies or feel her face warm up. Totally not.

Veronica felt herself smile warmly. “It’s alright, don’t worry, it’s all good now. Anyway, we still on for the party tomorrow night?”

Glad for the change in subject, and now more put together than before, Heather confidently replied, “Of course. I’m sure it’ll be very.”

“Still can’t believe you’re putting me on a drinking ban,” Veronica muttered, sending Heather an accusatory side-eye.

“Don’t cry, it’s for your health.”

“My health?”

“Yeah, because if you puke on my shoes again, I’ll shoot you. I’m saving your life here, you’re welcome.”

A bubbly laugh escaped Veronica’s lips, which caused Heather to smile slightly and send her a glance, eyes sparkling with pride at having made the girl laugh. The conversation between them flowed easily like a steady stream until they pulled up to school, and Heather’s face turned stoic and her back became just that little bit more straight and rigid. Word had clearly travelled about the small disagreement yesterday, as everyone turned to look and whisper, wondering if this was Heather being friends with Veronica or Heather leading Veronica to her slow and painful death.

Veronica was having serious flashbacks to the Monday morning after the Remington party, and it immediately made her stomach flip with nervousness.

They reached Mac and Duke who turned to look and see if the two were on good terms again. In response, Heather simply nodded and Veronica gave a bright smile and greeted them with a “Hey, guys!”

Mac smiled joyfully, obviously thankful that the two were on good terms, she always despised when they were fighting, of course, and replied with a “Hey, Ronnie!” That was just as bright as Veronica’s.

Duke simply glared at Veronica and let out a huff, which was none too surprising. Conversation stilled and Veronica worried that the group would have to suffer from awkward silence, until luckily Mac, as chipper as ever, spoke up.

“I’m so pumped for the party!” She announced, clapping her hands, “Hopefully it goes better than the last one we all went to- oops! Sorry, Ronnie…”

Veronica waved a hand as she gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Heather. And I’m sure it’ll go better because I’m on a drinking ban this time.”

Duke let out a snort and rolled her eyes, sending Veronica a half-hearted dirty look. “Yeah, don’t fuck up another party for us just because you’re a lightweight. Heather won’t be as much of a pushover this time.”

“Shut up, Heather.” Heather quipped instantly, making Duke recoil back into being silent.

“Sorry, Heather.”

Sensing the awkwardness, Veronica took this moment to instead glance around and people watch, as she tended to do to escape conversations and social situations she really didn’t want to be a part of. She soon spotted JD, giving her a little salute. She smiled back at him, and Heather noted the interaction immediately.

“Ugh God, that freak always comes over to us, it’s so annoying.” Heather groaned, fixing him a  death glare.

“I actually do need to talk to him though, sorry. I’ll be back in a second!”

Heather didn’t protest but she wasn’t exactly pleased. As Veronica made her way over to JD, she muttered an “At least they aren’t eye-fucking this time.”

“I see you’re back in the Lipstick Gestapo, then?” JD noted with a tone of distaste as Veronica reached him, “What, did she threaten you with Daddy’s money?”

Veronica simply rolled her eyes, not even dignifying that with a response. “Whatever. Anyway, I don’t think we should do the whole making her jealous thing anymore.”

JD frowned at this and shook his head. “What? Aw, c’mon, it was fun! So she got a bit pissed, who cares? You’ve clearly made up with her again so let’s just continue, there’s almost a week left until the bet is over.”

“No,” Veronica stated firmly, not letting herself give in this time and holding her head high. “She gave me a genuine apology. I’m sorry but this just isn’t fair.”

JD scoffed and gave a bitter laugh. “Please! You’re letting her walk all over you, Veronica. The apology was probably fake, she deserves this, don’t let her manipulate you.”

“She’s not manipulating me, JD, I’m just being a good person, maybe you should try it.”

“This whole thing was just a way to get revenge on her and have power over her and mess with her, and you’re trying to be her friend? She said it yesterday, she doesn’t give a shit about you and you’re just bending over backwards for her! Now, let’s talk about how we’re going to ruin her life next-“

“NO!” Veronica shouted defiantly, pushing JD away and gaining the attention of onlookers in the corridor, including the Heathers. “You will not convince me into doing this again, JD! That’s all you ever do, just make me turn on people and act like you, filled with hate! she’s not manipulating me, JD, you are. She’s my friend and you will not speak about her like that. So, get fucked!”

She turned to walk away, but JD grabbed her arm desperately, gritting his teeth. “Don’t walk away from me-“

“Or what?” Veronica challenged fiercely. “Seriously, you insult Heather, you insult Betty, it seems like you don’t want me to interact with anyone except you!”

JD was about to counter when his words got stuck in his throat as he realised that was in fact his plan all along. The tiny pang of guilt left as quickly as it came. He swallowed and pulled away, letting out a snarl.

“Your soul is being tainted, you and I actually understand, don’t let them do this to you.” He hissed dangerously, running a hand through his hair that was shaking with adrenaline.

“Oh, fuck off.” Veronica attacked with finality, giving him the finger and storming away back to the Heathers without sparing him another glance.

When she got back, she simply gave a noise of anger and crossed her arms, glaring at the floor.

“Thank God.” Mac breathed, letting go of Heather’s arm which she had been gripping. “I was having to restrain Heather from marching over there and getting in a fistfight with him.”

“Are you ok? What happened?” Heather asked in concern, placing a hand on Veronica’s shoulder.

Veronica sighed and nodded, looking up at Heather. “Yeah, thanks. Just JD being an absolute asshole. I don’t know what’s going on with him at the minute, he’s being such a shitty person, it pisses me off.”

Heather didn’t even try to hide her joy as Mac chimed in with a “Yeah, honestly, he always seemed like such a creep.” and Duke added a “Yeah, don’t get involved with him again, he’s definitely bad news.”

No more was said as they journeyed down the hallway, heading to the bathroom. However, as they passed JD, Heather turned to send him a mocking wink as she purposefully kept her hand firmly on Veronica’s shoulder. JD looked as if he may explode at any second out of pure rage as he glared daggers back at Heather. She simply smirked, knowing full well that she was the one getting Veronica on her side, her arm draped over the brunette, and JD was the one being left in the mud to sulk.

Betty, who had been watching the whole situation unfold, opted to approach JD, not to comfort him by any means, but to get some answers. Making her way up to him with trepidation, Betty gave a light cough to catch the attention of the seething trench-coat wearing teenager.

“I saw Veronica walking away,” Betty observed, getting straight to the point. “She looked mad. What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” JD argued viciously, poison dripping from his words, “It’s her, that bitch Chandler. She’s in Veronica’s head. Heather probably told her to disobey me!”

“Disobey you?” Betty echoed in bewilderment, her eyebrows shooting up above her glasses, “She isn’t ‘disobeying’ you JD because you don’t own her.”

JD’s head snapped around to face Betty, his usually neat and slicked back hair unkempt and flopping over his deranged eyes. He let out a shaky breath, his eyes darting rapidly around Betty’s face.

“She does belong to me.” JD insisted, “She was meant to be mine. She clearly wants to be with me, she’s just stuck with- with- with them! They're messing up her mind!”

Tightly clutching fistfuls of hair, JD began to dissolve into unhinged rambling.

“Heather is actually falling for Veronica. What if that whore manages to manipulate Veronica so that she won’t associate with me anymore? I had a plan for if Veronica actually succeeded, but what if that won’t work anymore? What if I can’t be her shoulder to cry on anymore when her life gets ruined?”

It was laughable, how truly ignorant JD was, that his worst fear was that when Veronica had her life ruined, he wouldn’t be able to take advantage of it anymore. Betty took a few paces back, just for a bit of safety: JD seemed like he was going off the rails and he was known to be rather… unstable. This evidently was a genius idea as no more than two seconds passed before JD swung his fist right into the locker nearest to him, creating a loud bang and almost frightening Betty to death. He hissed at the pain and recoiled, clutching his fist and shaking more violently than before.

“It’s falling apart…” He whimpered pathetically, hunched over and gritting his teeth, whether in pain or anger, Betty wasn’t sure. “It’s all falling apart.”

He seemed to have forgotten that Betty even existed as he didn’t look her way even once as he shuffled away in eerie silence, no doubt scheming and plotting already. God, if he was this enraged about Heather having feelings for Veronica… what would he do if he was aware that it was the other way around as well? JD was going downhill, and he was going downhill fast.

Betty had a sinking feeling that things were about to get a lot worse.

_____________________________

As Betty searched the Westerburg halls, her face lit up when she spotted just the person she had been looking for. Veronica happily returned Betty’s friendly gaze as she approached, closing her locker and hoisting her blue bag further up her shoulder.

“Ronnie, how’s it going?”

“Great actually, Heather and I sorted everything out and I’m super stoked to go to the party tomorrow. It’ll be exactly a week until the bet ends and I feel like this is my big chance to make stuff happen, you know? It’ll be so great!”

Betty gave a warm giggle at Veronica excitement. “Well, I’m just glad you’re on a drinking ban, definitely puts my mind at ease. It’s… actually quite mature of Heather, it definitely keeps you safer.”

Veronica gave a light-hearted eye roll, clearly not sharing the sentiment. “You worry too much. Besides, she’s only putting me on the ban so I don’t ruin any more of her shoes.”

“Well, either way, good luck, and you’d better call me as soon as you get back. Now, I need to ask… what happened with JD earlier?”

Veronica’s expression turned sour at the mention of his name, her nose scrunching up in distaste. “Ugh, I seriously don’t know what his damage is. He’s been so controlling lately, and he’s just generally acting strange. He was splurting out bullshit about how Heather is controlling me and how she doesn’t give a shit about me, it was actually super hurtful but he didn’t give a damn. I hope he gets over it soon, whatever's going on, because it’s exhausting.”

Betty gave a sombre nod of agreement, reminiscing on how he acted up earlier. “Just try not to think about him, don’t let him ruin your life. Just have a nice time at the party and we’ll sort all of this out another time.”

Veronica happily thanked Betty and made her way out into the car park, basking in the warm sun. It was spring now and the higher temperature was warmly welcomed by her. She let out a sigh of content and then scanned the car park for a certain blonde with a red Porsche. It didn’t take her long to catch Heather’s gaze, and so she smiled brightly and gave a joking salute. Heather rolled her eyes and muttered something that Veronica assumed to be either “Dork”, “Loser” or “Pillowcase”. Either way, Heather couldn’t help the corners of her lips curl up slightly as she gave a small wave in return and motioned towards her car. Veronica happily obliged, sauntering over and leaning against the car and giving Heather a goofy, lopsided grin, which Heather secretly adored. A few casual civil words of greeting were exchanged before they both got into the car and made their way to Heather’s house. The car ride was silent, but not awkward. It was a comfortable silence. The kind where you are both just happy to be in each other's presence. The kind where you don’t need to be speaking the whole time because you’re so comfortable with each other. The kind where it proves how close you are with each other and how you are clearly starting to enjoy their company more than you intended.

But just because Veronica enjoyed Heather’s company, didn’t mean it had to be a big thing or anything. They just… knew each other better than before and had become closer- as friends, of course.

They arrived at Heather’s humble abode in no time, due to Heather’s complete disregard for the law (“fuck the authorities” she would always blurt out when she was drunk, “They can’t do anything to me, I’m hot and rich!”). Heather couldn’t keep her eyes off Veronica, no matter how much she tried when they entered the mansion. A thousand questions were burning in her mouth and mind, but she didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask them, not right now. As much as she wanted to dig a little deeper and find out more about what had happened earlier, and as much as she wanted to hear Veronica slag off JD, Veronica didn’t seem up to it, or she would have brought it up by now. Plus, Veronica seemed to still be pissed about it, as JD had desperately been trying to talk to her ever since the incident and she had completely blanked him.

Not wanting to upset Veronica in any way, Heather wisely kept her mouth shut and her eyes averted.

God, she was turning into Mother Theresa, it was gross.

“Alright!” Veronica began, breaking the silence and turning to Heather with a wicked grin. “I know exactly what we’re watching.”

“Hold on.” Heather contested, frowning. “Why do you get to choose what film we watch?”

“Because we watched Dirty Dancing last time, and now it’s my turn. Besides, I’ve got the video with me right here.”

She slowly and dramatically pulled it from her bag, showing off a gruesome cover with some sort of man on it covered in blood. Heather didn’t even try to hide the disgust in her face when she saw it.

“What the fuck is that?”

“A horror movie,” Veronica explained innocently, smirking and tilting her head in a teasing manner. “Oh, you’re not scared of horror movies are you?”

Heather scoffed and snatched away the film, striding over to the TV in confidence. “Shut up, I’m not a pussy. It doesn’t affect me.”

“Great!” Veronica said, giving a knowing smile, “then this should be a lot of fun.”

_____________________________

Heather screamed yet again at the jump scare, clutching tightly onto Veronica and burying her face into the blanket they were sharing. Veronica snorted, still finding it as funny as the last ten times she had jumped so badly.

“Doing alright there, Chandler?” She mocked, earning a gentle slap on her arm.

“Shut up, Sawyer.” Heather bit back, yet her voice was wavering, betraying an inner nervousness.

Another jump scare. Veronica completely unaffected, Heather grabbing Veronica around the waist and hiding under the blanket, Veronica laughing so hard she choked, it was routine at this point. Honestly, Veronica knew full well that Heather wasn't good with scary movies, so that was partly the reason she chose it. This was infinitely more entertaining than the film itself.

Plus, she literally has her arms around your waist and is cuddled up to you. That’s a bonus.

No, bad thoughts, go away. She did not need to be getting into that any time soon.

The end credits began to roll and Heather instantly relaxed, hastily unfurling herself from Veronica and taking the blanket with her to the other side of the sofa, her face slightly flushed. Veronica couldn’t help it, she pulled the blanket tighter around Heather and wrapped her arms around the girl in the cocoon, putting on her best condescending baby voice.

“Aw, is ickle Heather scared of the nasty man?” She teased, sticking out her bottom lip for the full effect.

“Shut up, I would destroy the guy from that film, I’m scary as fuck.” Heather insisted, seeming more like a sulking toddler than a seventeen-year-old Demon Queen.

Veronica barked out a laugh at that, leaning closer to Heather, who couldn’t help but smile genuinely, and gaze at Veronica affectionately. The laughter abruptly ceased when both realised just how close they were. Veronica hadn’t even realised she had been leaning in so much.

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.

This is not happening right now, it can’t be.

Does she want me to kiss her?

She’s staring at my lips…

Oh god her eyes are closing, I should close mine too.

What the actual fuck, my first kiss is going to be with Heather Chandler?!

Suddenly, the phone rang, breaking the moment and causing the pair to jolt away from each other as if they had been burnt, both breathing heavily. Heather looked up at Veronica through hazy blue eyes, that darted to every area on Veronica’s face, before quickly going to the floor. Veronica couldn’t even think straight, she had been this close to kissing Heather, and she would’ve done it if the phone hadn't rung.

What scared her the most, however, was that… that didn’t feel weird? The whole idea of her lips ever coming into contact with Heather’s seemed… almost natural. Veronica found herself not only able to do that but totally willing to.

You must be so tired right now, it’s making you go crazy. Kissing Heather Chandler? Yeah right, like she’d ever let you do that. Not that you want to of course! You just got caught up in the heat of the moment. You really need to stop rambling with these internal monologues…

Both seemed to realise at the same time that the phone was still ringing and whoever was on the other end would probably be getting impatient. Heather jumped up and ran over, happy to get away from the situation and possibly forget about it, at least for a few seconds, and occupy herself with whatever other issue had clearly arisen. She grabbed the phone roughly and pulled it to her ear, trying her best to keep her voice steady.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Heather, it’s me!” Came Mac’s cheery voice, “Just wanted to see what you were up to!”

“I’m- I’m watching a movie with…” She gulped, scrunching her eyes shut. “…Veronica.”

Just saying Veronica’s name seemed to make Heather’s stomach do acrobatics, and immediately set a hot flush over her as she imagined again how close they were and what would have happened if Mac had just waited a few more seconds.

“Oh, awesome! Wait for a second-“ Mac’s voice turned confused as she noted “you’re breathing heavily- oh my gosh! Has something happened with Veronica?! Did I… interrupt something?”

“No!” Heather said a little too loudly, cringing and clearing her throat. “No, we- uh- I don’t know what you’re talking about. Anyway, I've got to go now, see you tomorrow!”

Before Mac could protest, Heather slammed the phone down, pausing to take a few deep breaths and regain some composure. She turned back around and headed to the living room, where Veronica seemed to be lost in thought. Heather noted that the brunette’s cheeks looked very rosy and her breathing as just as ragged as Heather’s. She looked positively dishevelled, and it totally wasn’t hot at all.

Heather couldn’t meet her gaze as Veronica stood up, notice Heather’s return, and picked up her bag, Giving a sheepish smile.

“I’m gonna go now…” Veronica said slowly, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. “Thanks for letting me hang out here and stuff. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Heather simply nodded after failing to choke out a reply, and soon Veronica was out of sight but certainly not out of mind. She slumped down helplessly on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling, lightly massaging her temples.

She began to think of Veronica again, obviously. Heather was so sure that she and Slushie Lover had something going on, but had she been wrong? There was only that one weird time yesterday when they were being close and flirting, all the other times they were either fighting or she didn’t seem into him at all. He was of course obsessed with her, anyone with half a brain knew that, but Veronica honestly seemed to be more into Heather than JD. A smile crept it’s way onto Heather’s face as she took in this fact.

She was a mess.

Now, back to planning: how the fuck was she supposed to deal with this situation? The… incident… where she had discovered some feelings she had been neglecting was scarring enough, she didn’t want to actually address these feelings. Or, Heaven Forbid, act on them.

The fact that she found Veronica Sawyer incredibly attractive was simply a fact, nothing more. Did Heather find her more attractive than any boy she had met? Sure. Did she sometimes forget her own name when she was around Veronica? Maybe. And did she perhaps, during Miss Flemming’s boring ass lessons, tend to gaze at Veronica from afar (not in a creepy way of course)? Possibly.

It was just that the sun would shine perfectly in her direction and would land with a soft glow on her face, illuminating her features as she furrowed her brow as she tried to use that genius mind of hers to work on some question or other. She would seem almost angelic and Heather just couldn't tear her eyes away, no matter how hard she tried. Sometimes Veronica would catch her eye and grin, knowing that she just caught Heather Chandler staring. Heather would give some sort of pathetic insult and scowl at her, but Veronica’s grin would never waver because she knew it was a defence.

Nobody had acted that way towards Heather before. Normally, people simply wouldn’t catch her gaze, even if she was staring at them from two feet away. And, if they did happen to lock eyes with her, they would apologise, agree with whatever names she was calling them, and leave her alone.

But not Veronica. She was stronger. She knew Heather too well.

It both frightened and intrigued Heather.

Of course, she would never do anything about it.

Besides, there were two very unappealing yet very possible explanations for all of this which could present danger. There was the idea that foul play was involved here, as she had hypothesised many times before, and that Veronica had bad intentions. Veronica may have had good morals, but she also wasn’t afraid to make sacrifices to get what she wanted. It was one of the things Heather admired most about her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too helpful here. If Heather was obvious about what she was feeling, Veronica would have the opportunity to ruin her. She wasn't sure whether she actually would, but she didn't want to give her the chance, nonetheless. Just the thought of anybody having a chance to jeopardize her throne was enough to make her feel nauseous.

And of course, there was the idea that Heather was simply making Veronica’s behaviour up in her head. Wishful thinking, you could say. Veronica did seem taken aback when Heather had called her out on her weird behaviour that night when they baked. And the idea of Veronica liking her almost made Heather scoff at the absurdity of it all.

Was she hot? Yes. Was she desirable? Yes. Was she the friend or fuck that everyone in the world wanted? Yes.

But that didn’t do anything to calm her doubts and nerves.

She had slipped up today, nearly kissing Veronica of all things! How could she be so careless?

No matter how she felt about Veronica, Heather just had to put her reputation first. And so she would absolutely never confront Veronica about her feelings or act upon them at all.

…That didn’t mean she couldn’t flirt a little bit though. That wasn’t too harmful.

And the only time Heather would ever truly have anything romantic to do with Veronica would be in her dreams.

Not that she ever did dream about that, of course.

Well, not often.

Chapter Text

Veronica was excited.

In fact, she was pleasantly surprised with just how excited she was. This party seemed like it could be fun, with the added bonus of it being such a perfect opportunity to get ahead in the bet, the baking night had undoubtedly proven that. If Heather had shown that amount of emotion after some wine, who knew how she would act after consuming whatever shit Ram had in his liquor cabinet.

The bet aside, Veronica knew she was in for a good time. The last party was, in fact, rather enjoyable, before the whole debacle with Heather. This wasn’t a Remington party which meant (hopefully) no college guys trying to get laid, so no fights with Heather. Ergo, tonight was bound to be entertaining.

She surveyed herself in her full-length mirror with a satisfactory smile, deeming herself acceptable. She wasn’t wearing anything too flashy, but she wasn’t specifically trying to cover up by any means either. She wanted to let loose at this party.

A quick glance at her old, quaint, blue watch prompted her to grab her stuff and start heading downstairs as soon as possible. Heather would be there any minute, and she always got cranky when she had to wait more than five seconds. Of course, once Veronica had arrived downstairs and had barely placed her hand on the doorknob, she heard that obnoxious car horn that was, unfortunately, becoming all too familiar at this point. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she opened her front door and stepped into the cold breeze of the night, the bright red Porsche a vivid contrast to the dark street. She teetered over to the car, trying to stay balanced in the heels she was not at all used to wearing, and opened the door, plopping down on to the cool leather seat. As she turned, she took one glance at Heather and simply couldn’t help the small squeak that escaped her lips. Heather was wearing a very short red velvet dress and flawless makeup, complete with bold red lipstick that Veronica imagined smudging with her own lips as she trailed her hand lightly down Heather’s stomach towards-

Oh, God. That was a very detailed image indeed.

So much so, that she felt a blush creeping up her neck as she turned away and prayed to God for thinking such sinful thoughts. She could not be thinking about Heather that way, that was just a recipe for disaster. Obviously, she had pictured… flirty thoughts about Heather before, and as much as she hated it, it was inevitable. But thoughts like that, those that usually occurred in the quiet hours of the night and were promptly dismissed in shame when the day came… they were different. They were real. And Veronica really, really wanted them to be more than just mere daydreams.

That scared the living hell out of her.

“Hey, quit zoning out, freak.” Heather condemned as Veronica noticed that car was now in motion. “Aren’t you gonna compliment my outfit seeing as you’ve clearly lost your mind over it?”

“Oh, yeah,” Veronica spluttered out, gathering herself and attempting to maintain a neutral expression. “You look nice. Great, even. The dress is really, really pretty.”

Heather rolled her eyes affectionately at Veronica’s awkwardness. “I know.” She quipped, shrugging. “I bought it for a reason.”

As cool as she seemed, Veronica didn’t miss the bashful smile that Heather was adorning before she promptly covered it with her hand to hide it. Veronica turned back to watch the cars whizz past before she heard a soft “Thank you, though”, almost as if Heather had secretly hoped Veronica wouldn’t hear it.

Now it was her turn to smile as she looked at Heather. “No worries.” Was all she could say, matching the same volume as Heather.

“Your outfit is nice too.” Heather complimented after a beat, glancing at Veronica’s little blue frock with a certain look in her eye that brunette couldn’t quite understand. “The dress suits you.”

“I know. I bought it for a reason.” Veronica quoted Heather’s previous remark, which earned her a faint scoff and a middle finger.

“Anyway.” Heather began loudly and confidently, apparently no longer wanting to continue the tension-filled, low-key flirting they were just doing, “Heather and Heather are probably already there because, due to somebody’s incompetence to get ready on time, we are going to be fashionably late, so we’ll have to find them. God knows that Mac will already be bladdered..”

“Do Heather and Heather do stuff together a lot?” Veronica inquired curiously, choosing to ignore Heather’s little comment about incompetence. “Like, just them?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Our group is sort of split into two pairs; there are Heather and Heather who car share a lot and have sleepovers often. And then you and I are a pair too, of course. Why do you ask?

Head reeling over the fact that Heather had just referred to Veronica and her as a “pair”, which was terrifyingly verging on couple-like, Veronica simply shrugged. “It’s odd. They seem like they wouldn’t get along, but I think they really care about each other. Like how Duke hates showing affection and being touched unless it’s Mac. Or when Duke does one of her classic dry humour type jokes, and Mac gives the biggest laugh even if she doesn’t understand, just make Duke feel good. I’m pretty sure once, Duke was belittling some freshman, and she stopped the moment she noticed Mac looking uncomfortable with it. It’s sweet, how they put each other above everything else just because they care about each other that much. How they’ll do something they wouldn’t normally do for anyone else for each other, and are willing to make sacrifices, just because they are each other's main priority.”

Heather looked almost… upset at that. As if she wanted to do that too. She glanced at Veronica with slightly guilty eyes before swallowing hard and going back to her usual sarcastic self. “God, you’re such a pillowcase, do you always have to psychoanalyse everything?”

Veronica simply laughed, not wanting to dwell too much on Heather’s initial reaction. “Pretty much, it’s kind of my whole thing, trying to figure out how people are truly feeling on the inside.”

“Don’t I know it,” Heather mumbled to herself, which Veronica conveniently didn’t hear. “Anyway, we’re here now, so get your stuff ready.”

Ram’s house was nowhere near the size of Heather’s or even Mac’s, but still substantially large. Veronica imagined it looked nice normally, you know, without the drunk teenagers throwing up on the front yard, or Kurt and Ram wrestling on the driveway or the many strands of toilet roll covering the roof. Once they had parked up, Veronica then turned her attention towards Heather, who was shifting in her seat and looking at Veronica strangely.

“Are you ok?” Veronica asked worriedly, before remembering what Heather had said in her apology the other night, “Is it that thing you can’t tell me? About why you won’t open up to me?”

Heather inhaled deeply, clenching her jaw at the question, and bouncing her leg. Eventually, she simply nodded, her face betraying emotions she was trying to hide. Veronica stayed silent for a moment before quietly asking, “Do you think you’ll ever be able to tell me?”

Heather finally raised her eyes to meet Veronica, biting her lip. They were filled with upset, guilt, worry, and anger all at once. Anger for herself. Anger for others. Anger that she would never be able to do what she wanted to do most in the whole world, and it was breaking her heart. She wanted to tell Veronica how she was feeling, of course, she did. But she couldn’t, and they both knew that.

“No… I don’t think so.”

_____________________________

The force of the dingy yet rowdy atmosphere hit Veronica so hard, she had to stop for a moment to keep herself from falling over. The music was loud, the air was thick, the smell was unbearable, her vision was hazy from the dim lighting, and she instantly knew she would have to have alcohol to even begin to settle into this.

Until she remembered she wasn’t allowed alcohol. Damn it.

Her and Heather trying to push their way through the crowd of rowdy teens seemed a near-impossible task. Despite this, they somehow managed to weave through almost flawlessly, save for the time when Veronica bumped into a burly jock who would have clattered her if it wasn’t for Heather shooting him a death glare. Eventually, they caught sight of a joyfully tipsy Mac holding the arm of an uneasy looking Duke, who appeared to be especially focused on the food table. Mac gave a cheerful, drunken wave as Heather and Veronica approached, and when she spoke, her words slurred ever so slightly.

“Hey, guys!” She greeted, drawing out the end of ‘hey’, “Oh, Courtney looks awful as always, she’s wearing a bright green sweater. It would great on Heather of course, but not Courtney.”

Duke’s lips thinned at the compliment, which Veronica assumed was her closest thing to a smile. Heather simply nodded, surveying the room through eagle eyes, as if she was searching for something. Or someone.

Mac picked up on this too as she explained, with a slightly melancholic tone. “Yeah, David said he was looking for you.

Veronica had no idea who David was, but by the way that Heather immediately had a panic-stricken face at the mention of his name, Veronica despised him.

Still, she asked, “Who’s David?”

Heather’s searching gaze halted on a spot behind where Veronica was stood. If she looked panicked before, it was nothing to her pale face now. It was jarring, Veronica had never seen Heather so vulnerable before.

“…That’s David.”

Veronica turned around to spot a tall, muscular guy swaggering over and eyeing the Heathers like they were pieces of meat. She could instantly tell this guy wasn’t in high school. He had stubble that looked like it could grate cheese and floppy hair that he constantly ran his hand through in a narcissistic fashion. He exuded a sickening sense of toxic masculinity and had an explicit air of arrogance about him. It was no wonder Veronica felt immediate animosity. Sweaty, cocky and unlikeable as hell, he swung an arm around Heather, to which she flinched at, and surveyed the group.

”Hello ladies” He greeted in the most patronizing fucking tone. Nobody answered him, but he didn’t seem to care. He glanced at Veronica, looked her up and down and licked his lips in a way that makes her skin crawl.

”...And who is this lovely girl? Haven't seen you before.”

”Veronica Sawyer.” She answered bluntly. “Don't bother remembering it, we hopefully won't be meeting again.”

Heather eyes widened in alarm and she gave Veronica a look telling her to stop. David, however, laughed obnoxiously and grinned at Veronica.

”Talk about showing off in front of your friends!” He mocked, attempting to degrade and embarrass her. “Feisty one, aren't you? I like a girl that's feisty.”

Veronica ignored Heather’s pleading eyes and rolled her own, totally unbothered. ”And I like a guy that thinks with his brain, not his two-inch dick, so keep dreaming.”

Mac let out a little giggle at that, Duke was actually looking at Veronica with a bit of respect, and Heather had a very familiar look in her eyes, as she'd been doing it often lately. It was the same look from when Heather complimented Veronica’s dress in the car ride here. but Veronica couldn’t pinpoint what it was. She just knew that she had never seen it being used on anyone else and Heather’s eyes, those sparkling blue eyes, instead of their cold empty stare, had softened and seemed to give away the impression that Heather might actually feel a certain way towards her other than dislike. She didn’t have too much time to get into it before David raised his eyebrows and haughtily smirked.

”Eh, fair enough, didn't want a slut like you anyway, I’ve got Heather here. Why go for dull, used copper when you can have shining, sexy gold?”

What the fuck? Was that supposed to be a compliment? A sad attempt at charm? Veronica would have laughed at the sheer pathetic nature of the words if it weren’t for the fact that Heather looked like she could close up at any minute, and her eyes seemed to be glossed over. That took away any feelings for amusement and replaced them with concern. Heather’s shoulders were tense, her hands balled up into fists and she was giving a fake smile that was so wide her cheeks must have been in agony. The half-hearted giggle she gave was hollow, empty and if David noticed, which she suspected he didn’t as the laugh seemed genuine enough to any outsiders, he didn’t say a word. If anything, it inflated his ego, even more, thinking the sad laugh was genuine, and he showed off his blinding smile that he must use on all the girls.

“Alright babe, meet me later, yeah?” He said, not delivering it as a question and more of an order.

 The moment he left, Heather seemed to immediately relax at his departure and Veronica looked at herewith concern. She caught Veronica’s eye and quickly looked away, explaining that she was going to go to the bathroom.

“Jeez, what a jerk,” Veronica grumbled, her lips curling in distaste. “Why does Heather hang around with him? She could do so much better. Like, come on that’s Heather fucking Chandler, and he’s a total sleaze, she should be with someone actually worth her time.”

At this, Mac gave a teasing look at Veronica, her eyes sparkling with amusement. Veronica pretended not to notice because she really didn’t want to get into what on Earth that could mean.

“It’s because he’s a good-looking popular guy in college.” Duke stated, matter-of-factly, unable to hide the slight concern in her tone as she continued with “She has to, it’s the way it works. She can’t be seen as frigid or undesirable, but she can’t just sleep with anyone.”

Before Veronica could reply, Heather returned now looking slightly more put together and less panicked. Veronica was about to ask if she was ok, but Heather quickly interrupted, clearly not wanting to talk about the situation.

“Alright, losers, let’s fucking dance.” She announced, with no expectation for an answer as she immediately headed to the dancefloor, dragging Veronica in tow.

It was crowded but they still managed to squeeze their way in, although Veronica and Heather were now pressed up against each other due to the small space.

Not that she minded too much.

As they gently swayed to the music, Veronica decided to take the plunge as she grabbed Heather by the waist and pulled her even closer. Heather had a momentary look of shock before she grinned widely.

“Damn, Sawyer, didn’t know you had it in you!” She teased, to which Veronica simply smirked as she continued dancing.

It was as if nobody else was in the room when she danced with Heather, the girls pale blue eyes a ruby red lips were all Veronica could focus on at that moment as their bodies fit together so perfectly, it was like they were meant for each other. They didn’t even notice Mac, smiling fondly at them both before grabbing Duke and beginning to spin her around. Duke was tense at first, constantly checking to see if people were looking at her before she eventually focused on Mac and couldn’t help the smile that cracked through her stone-cold features.

Sometimes, when Veronica was at school, and the Heathers seemed more like co-workers than friends, she needed reminders like this that they were just teenage girls, trying to get through high school alive like everyone else. They were human. And Veronica found herself thankful that she could be considered their friend.

Of course, all good things had to come to an end, and in this case, it was due to a large, rough hand, landing on Heather’s shoulder and squeezing it in a way that could normally be perceived as friendly, but in this case, it was threatening and even vaguely aggressive, as if it served as a constant reminder to Heather of what she had to do. Veronica felt like a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over her as Heather jumped, immediately letting go of Veronica wheeling around in fear to face a leering David. He towered over her, despite her being the tallest of the Heathers and wearing stiletto heels. He didn’t move his hand away as he leaned in closer, not sparing a single glance to Veronica, Mac or Duke, and giving a condescending grin.

“Hey, babe.” He said gruffly, staring Heather down. “You weren’t planning on avoiding me, were you?”

Heather gulped for a second before plastering on a tight, fake smile. “Of course not! Let’s go.”

Veronica tried to catch her eye as she left with David, but Heather couldn’t even bring herself to look at Veronica’s pained face. She watched helplessly as Heather was dragged to a secluded corner and he started making out with her immediately, not even asking her if she was ok. She closed disgusted at first, her face scrunched up and her fists clenched before she swallowed and tried to make herself at least look a little bit interested. Veronica felt sick.

Not being able to stand the sight any longer, she shook her head and barged past Mac and Duke, just wanting, needing, to get away. She could hear Mac calling after her, but she carried on, making her way outside and not giving a damn if she shoved people around. Eventually, she managed to get into the garden, and there only seemed to be a couple of people in the pool who paid her no notice. She instinctively pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and taking a long drag, feeling her body relax somewhat, even if it didn’t really help her mind.

She looked up at the stars. They were winking back at her, teasing her, because they knew exactly what was going on. They knew exactly why Veronica was acting this way about Heather and David together.

And deep down, Veronica knew it too.

Of course, she didn’t get her needed alone time for too much longer as Kurt Kelly came stumbling over to where she was stood and leaned against the wall.

Before he could say a word, Veronica glared at him and lazily muttered “I’m not interested, fuck off.”

Kurt seemed taken aback for a second, holding up his arms defensively. “Woah, chill, ‘Ronica, you just seemed like something was on your mind so I came to check in on you.”

Veronica took another drag, exhaling out the smoke as it clouded her vision and feeling as if it vaguely symbolised her smoky, hazy, clouded mind. “Yep, well I’m doing fan-fucking-tastic, thanks for asking. Can you go now?”

“Well, that’s a lie, so what’s bothering you, babe?”

Veronica let out a groan of frustration at his persistence, mumbling various curses and rolling the cigarette between her fingers. “Why would I even tell you? You hardly seem like the type to help with my personal emotional problems.”

Giving a quiet sigh, Kurt turned to stop facing Veronica and leaned back against the wall, mimicking Veronica’s position and looking out over the garden. He frowned, thinking over his words.

“Ronica, I like to think of you as a buddy.” He explained, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, “Really, you and the Heathers are close friends to me. No funny, business I promise, just tell me what’s up. I hate to see a pretty girl sad at a party.”

Veronica gave him a suspicious look, surveying him through narrowed eyes before huffing and turning away again. “The ‘buddy’ sentiment isn’t shared.”

He took the comment on the chin, letting out a low laugh before chewing on his lip and seemingly preparing himself for what he was about to say.

“I just tried to hook up with a chick, and when we got to the good bit, she stopped and told me she was a lesbian and only tried hooking up with me because she thought I was a girl. Y’know, before she pulled down my pants and saw what was down there.”

Despite all the shit she was feeling inside, Veronica couldn’t help but bark out a laugh at that, which got a relieved smile from Kurt.

“Holy shit, that’s amazing.” Veronica said, trying to catch her breath. “Why did you tell me that?”

Kurt shrugged casually. “I don’t know, I’m asking you to open up so it only seems fair if I do the same. But if you do tell anyone, I’ll destroy you.”

Veronica mimed a zipping motion on his lips, before dropping the cigarette by her feet and stamping on it. Kurt nodded appreciatively and looked at Veronica expectantly hoping that now she would finally explain what was going on.

“I couldn’t tell you what was wrong even if I wanted to,” Veronica admitted sadly, giving an almost pained smile. “I don’t know what’s wrong wither.”

Yes, you do.

“Try,” Kurt replied, tilting his head to the side somewhat sympathetically.

Veronica inhaled deeply. Honestly, she couldn’t feel any worse than she already did, so what was the harm in humouring him? He wouldn’t leave her alone otherwise, anyway. He wouldn’t help, but she still needed someone to vent to.

“I… have a friend.” She began slowly, to which Kurt nodded in encouragement. “And, well it’s complicated. You see, I kind of need this friend to fall for me and ask me to the prom. I think they have fallen for me, but I really need them to ask me to the prom, that’s the important part. Bu the thing is, whenever I try to get them to open up, they just completely shut down and turn into a totally different person and they won’t tell me why. I know they’re a good person, I’ve seen it. But every time I get a glimmer of hope, they just completely freeze up again and put their reputation above everything. The worst part is that it hurts because it’s affecting me, but it hurts even more because I can see it’s tearing them down too. And now they're in there, asking out with a total douchebag and I just have to stand by and watch because there’s nothing I can do and I hate it.”

Kurt hummed in thought before letting out a breath. “You’re right, that does seem complicated.”

“Tell me about it,” Veronica mumbled bitterly, slightly embarrassed about how much she had just blurted up and the insane amount of emotion she had just displayed to Kurt Kelly of all people.

Another few moments passed in which Kurt thought about Veronica’s words, and Veronica wallowed in self-pity and anger at everything that was going on. Eventually, Kurt looked up and locked eyes with Veronica, his expression looking like he was about to ask a question that he already knew the answer to, and that he was aware of exactly what was going on.

“Do you maybe think you want them to ask you to the prom, not just because of whatever thing you’ve got going on, but actually because you like them?”

Bingo.

“No!” Veronica hastily defied, whirling around and already feeling her stomach flip because that sounded perfectly correct. “No way, I just need them to ask me out for a bet!”

“A bet?” Kurt repeated in surprise. “You made a bet to make someone crush on you and now you’ve accidentally got a crush on them? Damn Veronica, that’s some rough shit.”

“I haven’t caught feelings, shut up! And anyway, I thought you were supposed to help me?”

“Truth hurts, babe. Anyway, I am helping you. I suggest you go and tell them how you feel.”

“How I feel?”

Kurt nodded seriously. “Tell them what you just told me. About how you know they’re a good person and you hate that they feel like they have to put their reputation first because they deserve better than that and so do you. It’s always good to be truthful.”

Veronica couldn’t deny it, that was actually some pretty good advice. It was funny, how Veronica and Kurt seemed like total opposites; Veronica seemed smart and Kurt seemed like a boneheaded jock, but really they were both smart, just in different ways. Veronica was academically smart and Kurt was socially smart. And she couldn’t quite believe how grateful she was that that was the case.

“That’s… actually very mature, Kurt.”

He gave an almost shy smile at that, using a hand to push his soft brown hair out of his face. “Yeah, I have a younger sister so I’ve had to deal with more than a few boy-troubles in my life.”

Ah yes, little Sophie Kelly, Veronica had seen her a few times before. Kurt had never seemed like the loving big brother type, but perhaps she was wrong. Besides, he had already surprised her more than a few times that night. Kurt then moved away from the wall to stand in front of Veronica, giving her a small nod.

“I’ve gotta go now, but good luck. Punch it in!” He said, holding his fist out for a fist bump, to which Veronica laughed at and awkwardly complied. “I’ll see you later, ‘Ronica.”

And just like that, he had gone back inside to the party and Veronica was left in the cols, still reeling over the fact that she had just all of that to Kurt Kelly. Most surprising at all, he had actually helped with some good advice.

Maybe she judged him too harshly. Maybe.

Well, he was the smartest guy on the football team, she supposed.

She was debating whether to have another cigarette, but eventually decided on going back inside and facing the music, no pun intended. She didn’t want to go straight to the dancefloor just yet, she couldn’t face Heather until she had at least had a drink and thought over what she was going to say.

Her hopes of at least being alone in the kitchen were shattered when she entered to see a very drunk Ram Sweeney, clumsily pouring himself a generous cup of beer. Veronica cursed under her breath, not wanting to deal with both dumb and dumber in one night, but still walked in, trying not to make eye contact, as she headed to get some lemonade. Her efforts were in vain, however, as he immediately spotted her and with a gross, conspiratorial smile, he made his way over, digging his hand in his pocket, seemingly to grab something. God, Kurt was alright but Ram was another kettle of fish.

“Hey.” He slurred dumbly, leaning in so close that Veronica could smell the stench of alcohol on his breath. “Lemonade is boring, I could add a little something to it to spice it up if you’d like?”

Veronica wasn’t stupid, she knew exactly was he would add to “spice it up”, and just the thought made her gag. “No way, I wouldn’t trust you with my drink in a million years.”

“Come on.” Ram whined like a child, “I need relief, ‘Ronica!”

Luckily, Veronica saved by any more pestering as Heather took this moment to walk into the kitchen. Her face lit up when she saw Veronica, which made the brunette’s breath catch in her throat and made her way over, sending Ram a glare.

“Fuck off, airhead, go bother someone else.”

Ram groaned again in disappointment and sulked away to go and harass some other poor girl.

“Thanks.” Veronica said in relief, before asking “Aren’t you supposed to be with David?”

Heather’s shoulders rose at that as she stiffly said “No. He’s dancing, I came to get a drink.”

Veronica thought back to what Kurt had told her and pondered whether this was the right time. If she didn’t do it now, she never would and she may regret it forever. Deciding to bite the bullet, Veronica grabbed Heather by the arm and turned her around so they were facing each other. Heather looked confused.

“Veronica, what are you-“

“Shut up for a second.” Veronica interrupted, her heart pounding in her chest. “I'm sorry but I really need to say some stuff and I’ll never say it if I don’t say it now. Heather, why are you even dealing with him?”

Heather sighed as if she knew this question was coming. “Veronica, you know it’s not that simple.”

“I know, I know, you have the popularity or whatever, but you should put yourself first. He doesn't deserve you. I mean come on, he's an absolute douchebag and you're... gorgeous and smart and determined sometimes you can be really fucking funny, and he doesn’t seem to care about anyone but himself and you clearly care about Mac and Duke a lot. And... I think you could do so much better than him. You deserve so much better than him. And I know I used to think you were just a mythic bitch but I know you are more than that, Heather, and you need to know that too. Sure, you're not perfect, but who is? Please don't go with him. You really shouldn't have to deal with that. You deserve someone who’ll treat you properly. You’re… special, so you deserve someone who will see that and know that they are damn lucky to have you.”

Jesus Christ, that was more than she had initially expected to say. Initially, she was relieved, as if the weight had finally been lifted and her mind was clear for the first time, but then her relief turned to fear. Heather’s face was totally unreadable, and she was just staring at Veronica with eyes that betrayed no emotion. Veronica was about to say something, just something to ay diffuse the situation or maybe even just backtracking, saying she didn’t mean to be so personal, even though she definitely did. She was, however, beaten by Heather.

“Fuck it.” She breathed, to Veronica’s confusion.

“What do you mean-“

She was cut off when, on impulse, Heather charged in for a bruising kiss, their teeth clacking together slightly.

Veronica froze and then kissed Heather back with equal force.

Something in Veronica’s brain just clicked. Everything made sense, as if this was what was always meant to happen since they first met.

She’s kissing Heather Chandler and she’s enjoying it.

She sighed against Heather’s mouth, which caused her to respond with a faint smile against Veronica’s lips. Veronica, having never done this before, cautiously raised a slightly trembling hand to cup Heather’s face and caress it lightly, as she lowered her other one down Heather’s side and lightly squeezed her thigh. This evidently seemed to be a good  idea as Heather responded by letting out a groan that rumbled in the back of her throat. God, Veronica was already in love with that sound, and she so desperately wanted Heather to make it again.

The kiss was deep and hard and forceful. It was filled with passion, hunger and lust. Heather smelled of expensive flowery perfume, and she tasted like sweet cherries and it was intoxicating. Veronica could feel that she was already hooked, and she couldn’t be bothered to get into the dangers of that right now. She snaked her hand that was on Heather’s jaw round to the back of Heather's neck as her other hand lifted off her thigh and buried itself in Heather's silky golden curls, deepening the kiss and somehow getting even closer. Heather responded by letting out a growl, which Veronica found even hotter than the last noise, and biting down on Veronica’s lip, which subsequently made her feel things that’ll definitely make her blush when she reminisces later, and would never admit out loud. The whole world faded away, as did the previous smell of cheap beer and the booming music. Veronica wished she didn’t need to breathe because if she could just stay like this, entangled with Heather, surrounded by her, she would. She vaguely wondered why the hell they’d ever been fighting or doing anything else at all really when they clearly should’ve been doing this all along. The Mythic Bitch was invading her thoughts, her life and her body.

And it was perfect.

Suddenly, a noise of surprise came from next to them and they were pulled back down to earth with a thud. Heather quickly pulled away and Veronica felt like she’d lost a piece of herself and craved the warmth again. Veronica stared at Heather in a daze, some coherent thoughts returning, and her mind not consisting of only Heather Chandler. They…. kissed? Heather kissed her? And she felt like it was the best thing that had ever happened to her? She managed to tear her eyes away to find the source of the noise and spotted Mac, who had just seen the whole situation and had both her hands clasped over her mouth in shock.

Heather brought up a hand to faintly touch her lips, her waxy red lipstick a smudged contrast to her usual pristine application, as she stared at Veronica with a slightly dazed yet petrified expression. Eventually, she just shook her head in terror and bolted out of the room, not taking another glance over her shoulder. Veronica took a couple of seconds to process what happened before running past Mac and going after Heather. She pushed relentlessly through the crowd, ignoring the angry teenagers scoffing and sneering at her. She eventually made it outside and ran straight over to the road, just in time to see Heather speeding off in her Porsche. She stood still for what felt like hours, her mind completely scattered. She vaguely heard who she presumed to be Duke and Mac coming next to her and she thought they may have been speaking to her but she couldn’t really tell. She didn’t want to listen anyway.

All she could think was that everything made sense now.

Heather kissed me.

I kissed her back.

Kurt was right.

She had fallen for none other than Heather Chandler.

Veronica groaned.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Seriously, if Veronica didn’t stop pacing, Betty was going to lose her mind.

“Veronica, you’re giving me a headache.” She voiced in the calmest way possible, trying to show some sympathy to mask her agitation, “Could you just… sit down? Please?”

Luckily, Veronica complied without complaint and ceased her constant pacing, yet she didn’t sit down. She slumped against the wall, chewing on her lip and frowning at the floor as if it had personally wronged her in some way.

“Now, let me get this right…” Betty began, thinking over everything Veronica had just revealed to her. “You and Heather got to the party, you saw her kissing some douche, you got pissed, then Kurt Kelly himself gave you some actually good advice, you took it, Heather kissed you and then made a run for it and you haven’t heard from her or any of the Heathers since?”

Veronica gave a hollow laugh, lacking any trace of real humour, and turned to look at Betty, her eyes full of annoyance, confusion, and thinly veiled disappointment. “Yeah, that’s pretty much the gist of it.”

“Gosh, parties are never normal with you, are they?”

“You can say that again,” Veronica commented sarcastically before becoming annoyed again and letting out a huff. “I mean, I would have thought that maybe Heather – McNamara, I mean – would have tried to call, she literally saw the whole thing happen. Plus, she did try to speak to me after the whole thing, I just couldn’t deal with it and went home. Why didn’t she try to talk to me again that night? Or at all since then? I tried to call Heather when I got home that night it happened, but unsurprisingly, she didn’t answer. I’ve given all three of them a whole weekend to try and get in touch, but nothing!”

Suddenly, she stood up straighter and, much to Betty’s dismay, began to pace again, the anger beginning to bubble inside of her. “What’s it going to be like at school tomorrow, Betty? Heather Chandler fucking kissed me and then bolted it rather than addressing it, and nobody else seems to care! That or they’re spending this time coming up with a plan on how to kill me.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Betty muttered to herself before addressing Veronica again. “I really don’t know why they haven’t tried to contact you, it’s rather odd. However, it makes sense to me that Heather ran away. It’s likely because when you pulled away when she kissed you, she got embarrassed because you didn’t reciprocate.”

At this, Veronica flushed and looked down, shame and embarrassment spreading across her face. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that meant.

“You… didn't pull away, did you?” Betty whispered, half in awe, half in worry.

Veronica’s silence and continued grimace was enough of an answer.

“You liked it,” Betty continued, feeling awful for her. “You kissed back.”

Veronica opened her mouth but it was to no avail, the words simply didn’t come out. Instead, she closed her mouth and slid down to the floor in defeat, because yes, she did kiss back, yes she did have feelings for Heather, and yes, she was heartbroken at the fact that Heather ran away and hasn’t even tried to talk to her since and apparently doesn’t give a damn. She groaned, covering her face with her hands, and tried to shut out the world because God fucking damn it, this was difficult and it wasn’t even her fault! Heather had been the one to initiate the kiss, she didn’t have the right to just ignore it. She barely registered Betty crouching down next to her and rubbing her back soothingly, just like she used to do when they were kids all those years ago when Veronica got herself hurt. Veronica relaxed ever so slightly and managed to sit upright and let her arms fall limply by her sides.

“Oh, Veronica.” Betty cooed, sitting down beside her and allowing the brunette to rest her head on her shoulders. “This must be so frustrating and confusing for you.”

Veronica gave a weak smile. “Honestly, I thought you’d be less calm about this. I mean, finding out your best friend has feelings for someone who bullied you is shocking, to say the least.”

Now it was Betty’s turn to look guilty, as she let out an awkward cough and adjusted her glasses. After a few moments, a look of recognition passed Veronica’s expression.

“Oh my God.” She breathed, leaning back slightly from Betty and darting her eyes all over her. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew I liked her all along and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“I couldn’t!” Betty protested. “Be honest, you wouldn’t have believed me if I had! Besides, this was something you needed to figure out on your own, if I’d have just gone ‘Hey, Ronnie, you fancy your best friend slash worst enemy’, you would have freaked! Well… more than you are doing now, anyway.”

Veronica was about to argue when her face fell as a terrible thought came to her. ”Betty, if you noticed... do you reckon anyone else did? Oh God, I think Heather McNamara knows, she's been giving me and Heather lots of strange looks whenever we’re together! worst of all, I think she’s known for ages, she’s probably been looking out and taking notice this whole time just to confirm it. If she’d have just seen the kiss then we could have just tried to push it off as a drunken mistake, but if she already knows we like each other then-“

“Veronica, breathe.” Betty interrupted, “Don’t get yourself so worked up.”

Once Veronica had got her breathing back to normal, Betty continued. “Heather McNamara won’t know.” She lied, trying to keep a straight face. “She’s far too dim, no offence to her. I’ve been watching the Heathers, seeing if I can get any information to help us, and she doesn’t seem to know anything at all really. Not only that but she's probably giving you guys those looks because of the way you were acting with her, she’ll just be confused, she definitely won't have put two and two together.”

Veronica seemed to accept that, to Betty’s relief, but she quickly became panicked again. “But what about Heather Duke? She's clever and observant! If Heather McNamara noticed the way I was acting, Heather Duke certainly would have, and she would have put it all together! And if she knows, she’ll have something to ruin Heather with, and she will definitely take that opportunity!”

Betty held Veronica’s shoulders, forcing her to turn and face her. “One problem at a time, ok? We’ll figure this out. First, we need to focus on the kiss itself. I see this as a great thing! This is concrete, full proof that she likes you so you are so much closer to winning the bet!”

Thinking about it, Betty realised that this really was a great thing. She originally thought that them getting together would be bad, but now she could see the benefits. If she just made sure that JD never found out about any of this, then he wouldn’t get mad. Plus, by them getting together, Heather was almost guaranteed to ask Veronica to the prom, winning the bet and getting everyone out of harm's way… sort of. When Veronica accepts Heather’s prom invite, it’ll be in private for sure, Heather won’t want to do something like that in public. So, again, JD won’t have to know that they’re going together as a couple, they could pretend that they’re going as friends! Veronica could tell him that she won the bet and Heather asked her out, but Veronica only wanted to go as friends. A very simple solution, but Betty was confident it would work.

But there was still danger. This whole bet would continue to be a burden, pressing down on them and threatening everything right up until the clock struck twelve on Friday. They couldn’t go back and stop Veronica from agreeing to it, but there may be a way to stop it now.

“Hey, Veronica, why don’t you just cancel the bet?” Betty suggested hopefully, thinking that maybe they could just put an end to all this chaos, “Surely at this point, you’ve realised that Heather’s feelings are more important?”

Veronica shook her head sadly. “Betty, that’s exactly why I’m still doing the bet. If I lose this bet or do the forfeit, Heather gets her heartbroken.”

“But why?” Betty questioned, “Just don’t do the forfeit.”

Letting out a bitter laugh, Veronica replied with “And what’s JD going to say if I just don’t do it? He’ll go marching up to Heather and he’ll tell her absolutely everything and break her heart even more than the forfeit will do. My hands are tied Betty, agreeing to this bet was cruel on my part, and I regret it so much. And so now, as payment, I'm trying to keep Heather safe, the only way I can protect her is if I win.”

Admittedly, Betty hadn’t thought of it that way, and really, Veronica made an excellent point. It was similar to how Betty desperately wanted to tell Veronica JD’s true motives and behaviour, but she was terrified, and it would most likely do more harm than good; it was evident he was aggressive and reckless at the moment. Plus, as Veronica said, he had power, he could ruin this thing with Heather and Veronica instantly.

For this to work, Veronica had to win this bet and Betty had to protect Veronica without telling her.

However, the real deal-breaker for this decision was not the benefits or negatives of the impact on the bet, but how it would help Veronica personally. She clearly cared about Heather a lot and Heather makes her happy so Betty, as a good friend, needed to encourage that and make sure they were both happy together, screw any other factors.

“That makes sense.” Betty agreed, nodding. “The only people that know about this bet is you, me and JD, so let’s keep it that way.”

“Absolutely. I hate to keep this from Heather, and I wish I didn’t have to keep her in the dark anymore, but I know this is the only way to stop her from being hurt. I have to do this.”

Betty gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I know you’re trying to do what’s best. Anyway, let’s focus on the present before we get into all those little intricacies. You need to go talk to Heather!”

“But-“

“Nope, you need to make the first move, Ronnie. You know Heather won’t for sure.”

“Ugh, I hate talking about feelings! I’ve only just got my head around the fact that this isn’t just about the bet anymore.”

At this, Betty gave a teasing look. “No, it’s not just about the bet anymore, which is especially why you need to go over. Go get your girl!”

Veronica groaned in embarrassment, but the corners of her lips were tugging up slightly. “You make it sound like a cheesy rom-com. Seriously, you’re being so nice and supportive about this. I mean… she treated you badly, Betty, yet you’re still campaigning for us to be together.”

“Your happiness is more important,” Betty explained warmly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “And anyway, getting Heather to fall for you is quite the feat, so you deserve it! Plus, you may even make her into a good person!”

“Maybe a bit far.” Veronica joked with a light-hearted laugh. “But thank you. Really. However, I am a bit confused, weren’t you on the JD train not too long ago? Aren’t you sad that we aren’t getting together anymore?”

Betty cringed at his name, her lips curling in disgust. “Not after the way he’s been treating you recently. He can be such an asshole.”

Veronica gave a solemn nod, before shaking her head and gathering her thoughts. “Oh right, yeah, Heather situation and stuff. One thing at a time.”

The pair jumped up at the same time as Veronica began to grab her belongings to leave, grinning widely and shaking with excitement. Betty clasped her hands together, really feeling like she was in a beautiful love story and just ecstatic that her best friend found someone that made her happy.

“Thanks again, Betty,” Veronica said quickly, just before she left the room. “You’ve been such a great friend throughout all of this.”

“Aw, man, you’re going to make me cry. Now go get Heather!”

_____________________________

Veronica had never felt so light and happy as she made her way to Heather’s house. She was finally ready to admit her feelings and get somewhere with Heather. In the best-case scenario, Heather admitted her feelings too and maybe even asked Veronica to prom, ending this whole fiasco once and for all, and letting Veronica finally be free to be with Heather. Of course, even with her chipper, upbeat attitude, Veronica couldn’t help the worry from seeping into her thoughts.

No, she had to stay positive. She had to focus on the possibility of a life with Heather.

As embarrassing as it may have been, she had been imagining it for quite some time now. Going to the movies together, baking together (hopefully with less alcohol this time), sending each other cute little love notes from across the classroom, discreetly holding hands under the table.

In conclusion, all the gooey, mushy shit she pretended to hate, somehow felt so right when it came to Heather.

God, she was in deep.

Before she knew it, she was at the Chandler residence, as obnoxious and overbearing as always, staring down judgementally at all the other houses on the street with its sheer overwhelming presence. Veronica felt a wave of minor panic flow over her before she swiftly shook it away.

Heather liked her, she liked Heather, what could possibly go wrong?

Eyes searching the ground, Veronica decided the best course of action would be to get Heather’s attention before barging inside. She grabbed a few small pebbles and began pelting them at Heather’s window. After a few seconds, a seething Heather, dressed in her silk robe, stormed to the window to glare at whoever was disturbing her. A momentary glimmer of surprise flitted across her face at the sight of Veronica, but it vanished almost instantly and was replaced with her signature cold, hard stare.

“Go away.” She spat viciously, her voice laced with poison, causing Veronica to deflate. Of course, this was going to be difficult.

“We need to talk,” Veronica called back at her, throwing her arms up in annoyance.

“I have nothing to say,” Heather replied defiantly, before walking away from the window.

Veronica let out a noise of frustration, muttering curses at Heather for always having to make things so damn difficult. She looked at the tree leading up to Heather’s window, the same one she had climbed when she went to apologise to Heather, and muttered out some more curses before beginning to scale it. A few little slips and a few minor scratches later and Veronica was falling clumsily into Heather’s bedroom, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu and wondering if it had maybe been a better idea to go through the door. Heather didn’t even flinch when she saw Veronica in a scrambled mess on the floor, she simply gave her hardest death glare she could, but Veronica could see that her eyes were softer than they had been three weeks ago and lacked some of the intensity.

“Get out or I’m calling the police.” She threatened in a monotonous tone. “Also stop fucking coming through my window.”

Veronica got to her feet to give herself some dignity, dusty herself off and giving Heather a glare of her own. “No. As I said, we need to talk.”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Seriously, Heather? You fucking kissed me!”

“It meant nothing, Veronica.” Heather hissed through gritted teeth. “I was drunk. Don’t think this means I’m some gross fag who likes you.”

“You see, I would be hurt by that, but I know it’s a defence mechanism and you’re lying through your Goddamn teeth.” Veronica pointed an accusatory finger at Heather, stepping closer with every word.

Heather laughed cruelly, folding her arms and staring Veronica down. “Please! You thought I liked you? I’m not a fucking dyke, unlike you clearly. Just admit you’re obsessed with me.”

“Why are you like this?!” Veronica busted out, causing Heather to flinch momentarily. “Anytime anyone tries to get close to you, you shut them out, walk all over them, make them feel lie pure shit, and then act as if nothing ever happened. As if the fucking world revolves around you. News Flash, Heather, it doesn’t, so maybe stop being so goddamn dramatic and tell the truth!”

“Tell the truth?” Heather echoed angrily, raising her eyebrows. “Alright, why don’t you take your own advice, Veronica? Do you have feelings for me?”

Veronica instantly opened her mouth to answer, but the words got stuck in her now very dry throat, as she remembered Rule Number 1.

“You are not allowed to tell Heather you have feelings for her.”

Shit.

At Veronica’s silence, Heather’s face fell and Veronica could feel her heart crack. It was the first time Heather had really let her mask slip, showing how deeply upset she was by this.

Could she break the rules? JD would never know, and she couldn’t bear to see Heather look so devastated.

“Yes. I do.” Veronica blurted out, without really thinking.

Ok, um, interesting.

Heather’s face instantly shifted, and Veronica couldn’t even begin to tell what she may have been thinking. She began to feel her pulse quicken as Heather folded her arms again and stared at the floor with a slight pout. It was actually kind of cute-

Wait, no. Not the right time to be thinking like that. Focus, Veronica.

Slowly, Heather raised her eyes, which were betraying an inner hurting though her face remained expressionless.

“Now you’re the one who’s lying.” She said in a tiny voice that Veronica didn’t know could come from Heather Chandler.

 As she said this, she smiled sadly, as if it was something she had been expecting all along, a smile saying ‘Ah, there it is.’, a smile that destroyed Veronica, a smile that was completely wrong because Veronica meant what she said, every word if it, that was the point of this whole thing: to finally be as upfront as she could.

“What?” Veronica exclaimed in confusion, “What do you mean?”

Letting out another shrill laugh, Heather said “Why don’t you go off to that shithole that sells slushies, hey? I’m sure Jesse James is missing you.”

“Heather, what the Hell? What does JD have to do with this? I said I like you, I have feelings for you, is that not enough?”

“Well I’m sorry for not believing you after you switch from acting as if you hate me, to blatantly flirting with me, and acting as if you care, and then going and flirting with that trenchcoat weirdo right in front of me. I'm sorry that I can't understand why you'd call me a ”goddamn bitch” and leave at the party and then after that you suddenly want to hang out all the time, and you act all ‘buddy-buddy’ with me when we’re supposed to hate each other.”

“I don’t hate you-“

“Shut up.” Heather barked. “I meant what I said. The hanging out, the party, the kiss, was a mistake. This - us - it was all a mistake.”

”Well, it wasn't for me!”

”We’re going in circles, and I'm sick of it! Why can't we just go back to when we hung out at lunch, and sat with each other in class, and you forged my stuff and in return, I stopped you from being bullied, and that's where it ended? Why can't it be that simple?”

”Because we've come too far from that.” Veronica insisted, moving even closer. “I know you don't want to just hang out in school. I know you don’t want our relationship to be just purely helping each other to make it through school alive. I know you don't believe me, but I do care about you. I meant everything I said at that party. To me, Heather Chandler, you are incredible, despite your flaws. And I know it's confusing for you to see me go from arguing with you all the time to genuinely wanting to be around you, it's confusing for me too. And I know you want answers, but I just can't give them to you. It's a bit like how you were acting so off with me at school and couldn't explain why-”

“I can explain why Veronica.” Heather interrupted, unable to hide the blush that crept up from Veronica’s words. “It's because I'm scared. Scared that instead of wanting to be with someone like Brad, who everyone else has a crush on, I want to be with someone like you. And that's not allowed, is it?”

”Oh Heather, why not? I like you, you like me, why should it be any more difficult?”

”Because people suck. I need to think of my reputation. Of our reputation. You may be living in fucking dreamland where everyone is beautiful, but I’m living in Sherwood Ohio, and I would like to keep my reputation thank you, I can’t end up like Martha Dumptruck.”

Veronica couldn’t help but scoff at that, rolling her eyes. “Putting your reputation above everything else? why am I not surprised?”

“Excuse me?” Heather returned venomously. “Don’t act like you’re any better, little miss perfect. Face it Veronica: Betty, The Heathers, everyone is a stepping stone for you. Just a way to make your high school experience better. When you don’t need them anymore, you chuck them to the side. You left Betty in a heartbeat the moment something better came up. I’m not blaming you, because It’s what I would do too. I’m just trying to make you see why the best option here is to forget what we want to do and do what we have to do.

“That’s not fair. I got carried away with the popularity, but then I put it right. And I don’t care about that right now, Heather, I care about us.”

 “It sucks being a nobody, but you have no idea what it’ll be like to be an ex-somebody, so stop being so self-righteous and face the fact that you don’t want this either.”

“I can’t.”

“Well, I can. I've told you my secret and my explanation for my weird behaviour, now it’s time for you to be honest, Veronica. If you’re really willing to risk everything to be with me, then prove it. Tell me why you’ve been acting this way. Why you’ve been doing all of this confusing shit over the last three weeks. Tell me what’s really going on, Veronica.”

“…I can’t,” Veronica repeated quietly, feeling as if her throat was being scratched at the edges with every word she spoke.

Heather narrowed her eyes and gave Veronica the coldest glare she had ever seen. “Well, then I guess we’re done here.”

 Veronica stares at her in silence. She can’t let it be over like this, she has only 5 more days and at this rate, they’re going backwards. She even broke rule number one and it didn’t help. What could she do?

Ugh, she hated that she was even thinking about that goddamn bet at a time like this. She wasn’t lying, she did have feelings for Heather, but Heather just didn’t believe her and she couldn’t convince her. To be fair, it was understandable that Heather was confused and conflicted, and Veronica wished that she could just come clean but there was no way that would turn out well. God this fucking blows.

“Veronica please don’t make this any more difficult than it already is.” Heather pleaded, her eyes glassy. “Tomorrow at school, we’ll act as if nothing happened. Only Mac saw us right? We’ll both convince her that she was just drunk out of her mind. I mean, she’s tried contacting me, I just haven’t answered.”

She then looks up at Veronica, her eyes wide, looking like a deer in the headlights.

“If you tell anyone what happened, I swear to fucking God-“

“I won't,” Veronica assured her quickly. It clearly meant everything to Heather, so the least Veronica could do would be to protect her.

Heather nods and looks away, trying to hide her distraught expression at the fact that this was over.

“Alright, now leave. Nothing happened, and nothing ever will happen, ok?”

Not being able to bring herself to look at Veronica’s face, Heather simply breezed past her, squeezing her eyes shut and letting out a shaky breath. Veronica turned to look at the back of her. She couldn’t just let it end like this, not after everything they had been through. They may fight a lot, and Heather, in some ways, was the absolute bane of her life, but… Veronica had never been happier. She wanted to be with her, she had to be with her. But what else could she say? She’d admitted her feelings, broken the main rule of the bet, poured her heart out, but it was no use.

How could she convince Heather that she liked her, for real?

Impulsively, Veronica reached out and grabbed Heather’s arm, whirling her around to face her again. A confused and slightly pissed Heather stared back at her in surprise, but before she could bite Veronica’s head off for manhandling her, she was cut off by Veronica surging forward and closing the distance between them in a soft kiss, very unlike the passionate, almost angry one they shared a few nights prior. Heather instantly pulled away in shock and Veronica thought she may just slap her before she evidently changed her mind and darted forward and their lips met again, Heather instantly relaxing. There was no cherry red lipstick this time, and no taste of cheap alcohol, just Heather’s soft hands cupping Veronica’s face gently, and Veronica smiling against Heather’s lips. Now, it’s not to be disregarded that Veronica loved their last kiss, she hadn’t been able to get the feel of it, the taste of it, out of her mind since it happened. But this was different in the best possible way. She never thought she’d be able to describe Heather Chandler as delicate and sweet, but here she was, finding only those two words to describe what she was going through at that moment.

Reluctantly, Veronica pulled away, yet their foreheads stayed together as they looked into each other’s eyes, panting for breath.

“Congratulations,” Heather mumbled, letting out a sigh. “You’ve just made this way more difficult.”

Veronica laughed at that, giving Heather another small peck and pulling away. They maintained eye contact for a while longer before Heather gave a sad smile.

“What are we going to do?” She asked hopelessly, tilting her head as if she were a clueless puppy.

“I want to be with you,” Veronica stated plainly, wanting to make sure her intention was clear.

“I want to be with you too.”

“Well then let’s keep it a secret,” Veronica suggested, giving Heather’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “We don’t have to be open if you aren’t ready. You can keep your reputation and feel safer, and we can still do… whatever we’re doing.”

Heather rolled her eyes and let out a humourless chuckle. “A secret relationship. How terribly cliché.”

“We’ll make it work,” Veronica assured her comfortingly, gently tucking a strand of her golden hair behind her ear. “We always do. We don’t have to make it official or use any labels, let’s just… go with it and see what happens.”

For the first time, Heather gave a genuine smile that was small, yet it showed that Veronica was treading the right path. “That sounds… good. A lot less daunting.”

Before another word could be spoken, heavy footsteps could be heard from outside the room, and Heather instantly froze, looking terrified.

“Oh my God.” She breathed, head snapping back to Veronica. “That’s my father. You have to go. I’m grounded because I sort of crashed my Porsche after the party and so I’m not allowed anyone over. Now, go, go, go, or else he’ll kill you and I don’t want that on my conscience.”

“Well can I call you later to talk about this?” Veronica said as Heather began to push her towards the window.

“He took my phone, pillowcase, now go!”

Just as Veronica had swung her leg over the window ledge, she quickly looked back to call out: “Do you believe that I like you now?”

Heather gave her an incredulous look, but Veronica could tell she was slightly amused by it.

“Fuck off, Sawyer.”

Veronica nimbly hopped from the window to the tree, and as she began to slip down it, she could hear Heather’s voice from her room.

“I assure you, father, I was just talking to myself. See, there’s nobody here and I haven’t stolen my phone back or anything.”

Ah, she had got out just in time then. She made her way to Betty’s house with a big grin on her face. She couldn’t wait to tell Betty absolutely everything, and she knew that Betty would be overjoyed, it would be just like the cheesy love stories she always fantasised about. Veronica couldn’t believe she had fretted so much over nothing. Sure, Heather hadn’t been all for the idea at first, but she had come round, and now they were… together? Sort of? Veronica hated the idea of not knowing but she had promised Heather she would make it as calm and chill as possible, and that meant not having the “what are we?” conversation just yet. Unfortunately, the bet wasn’t over yet, but she was closer than ever before. Heather was bound to ask her!

Oh, and they kissed again. That totally happened too.

____________________________

Monday rolled around sooner than expected, but it was manageable. She and Heather exchanged a simple hello to each other, no different from any other day, and from an outside perspective, it would have seemed mundane and perfectly normal. Veronica, however, could see in Heather’s eyes that something had quite clearly shifted between them, and it made her excited as it did apprehensively.

True to the plan, she and Heather convinced Mac that nothing had happened and Mac was clearly very drunk. As there were no other witnesses to confirm or deny, there was no way to counter this and so poor gullible Mac believed it. Well, she seemed to, although her constant glances in Veronica and Heather’s direction and the face of “I know what’s going on” did nothing to calm the nerves. Duke, who had been more smashed than the rest of them at the party and had not been involved in anything simply stayed out of it all, watching from afar and trying to grasp what the hell was going on. She wisely let everyone else sort out their problems and misunderstandings and went on with her day. That didn’t stop her from giving suspicious looks to Heather and Veronica, though. She may not have been aware of the kiss, but she knew about Veronica’s strange behaviour over the past couple of weeks.

Veronica had a sneaking suspicion that Duke was going to be coming into play very soon.

Betty kept to herself, pretending that she knew nothing that was going on, yet she still gave a teasing look whenever Veronica was stood with Heather.

Luckily, JD was none the wiser of anything that had happened at or after the party. He and Veronica had obviously talked about their previous little feud, and they were back on sort-of-good terms again after a very awkward apology from JD, yet he noticed that something had changed between them. There was now a sort of invisible barrier between them, where Veronica felt so close yet so far, and JD felt the loss of someone he loved for the second time in his life.

Veronica was confident. And could anyone really blame her, when Heather had dragged her into the bathroom during 3rd period and proceeded to continue where they had left off the day before? It took Heather ages to sort out her smudged lipstick and messed up hair, as Veronica gave a smug grin from the back of the room.

“Hey, Veronica?” Heather’s voice pulled her out of her run-through of the day so far. “Are you free tonight?”

“For you, Heather, I’m always free.” Veronica smiled, relishing the way that Heather’s breath caught in her throat as she spluttered out incoherent protests.

“Dork.” was all she could muster as she cleared her throat and continued with an air of modesty. “Anyway, I was just asking because we never did that hike. If you’re free after school, we could go to your place, get everything we need, and then go wherever you want to.”

By the tone in Heather’s voice, Veronica could tell she still felt slightly guilty over missing out on the hike because of their fight, and it meant a lot to Veronica that Heather cared enough to try it again and prove that she did care about Veronica’s interests.

“Sure!” Veronica replied happily, putting down her pen and leaning forward on her desk. “So my house after school. Are you sure you want to?”

“Absolutely,” Heather said confidently, rolling her eyes. “It’s literally just walking, and seeing as I’ve been wearing heels since 7^th grade, I’m a pro at that. It’ll be fine.”

____________________________

“Veronica!” Heather whined, clutching her foot and grabbing Veronica’s arm. “I think I’ve broken my ankle, you’ll have to carry me.”

“Shut up, Heather.” Veronica said in amusement, “We’ve been going for ten minutes, your ankle clearly isn’t broken and I’m not carrying you.”

Heather let out a childish huff and stomped her foot back on the ground, pouting. “Ok but if I actually do break my ankle, I’m suing your ass.”

Veronica barked out a laugh as she grabbed Heather’s hand and pulled her along so they could get moving again. After a few more grumbles from Heather, they eventually lapsed into easy conversation, and sometimes they just walked in comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other’s presence and the world around them. The sun was beginning to set as they reached the top of the hill that overlooked all of Sherwood. Westerberg stood proudly in the centre, surrounded by the small, shabby houses at one end, and the high-end mansions at the other, the Chandlers’ being the one to stand out. The sunset casted a glorious orange and purple hue across the sky, and Veronica found that for the first time… she felt that this place was beautiful.

This time, it was Heather who grasped Veronica’s hand, rather than the other way around, and they both smiled to themselves because they were young, and they were happy.

Veronica had never felt so wanted.

_____________________________

Waking up on Tuesday with a smile, Veronica could feel herself buzzing with excitement. Although she only had about three and a half days left until the bet was over, Heather was only getting closer and closer to admitting her feelings, Veronica knew it. They could even be together, properly, and JD could be her servant! It was perfect. Everything had turned out well in the end.

Sure, Veronica felt extremely guilty about the fact that this had all been a bet behind Heather’s back, and she despised herself for trying to hurt Heather so badly, but Heather would never find out, would she? No, it was fine. Totally fine.

No matter how many times she repeated these words like a mantra, she couldn’t shake the dark feeling that was gnawing away at her, so she ignored it completely.

That was why on Wednesday, when Heather actually smiled very brightly at her as she walked in, Veronica thanked whatever God there was that she had succeeded, and nobody had really got hurt. Sure, there were some bumps in the road, but there were bound to be, and what mattered was that she had won. Well, she was going to win by Friday. Was she counting her chickens? Maybe, but she couldn't help being confident.

Veronica was brought out of her flashback as she looked out to catch Heather staring at her. She smirked in response, causing Heather to falter, but – stubborn as ever – she didn’t tear her eyes away. Miss Fleming’s monotonous voice droned on in the background, but all Veronica could focus on was Heather’s bright, crystal blue eyes that were significantly less empty these days. The tense staring contest was cut short by the bell, and everyone instantly began to jump up, scrambling to collect all of their belongings and leave the hell hole as quickly as possible. Veronica was in no rush and collected her things at a steady pace, as Heather began to make her way over.

She was unfortunately beaten by JD, who instantly glided over to Veronica’s desk and rested forward on it, grinning. Where this grin used to be playful and mischievous, it now had threatening undertones and Veronica felt herself shift uncomfortably.

“How are things going with you-know-what?” He inquired darkly. “Clock’s really ticking, and we don’t want to run out of time, do we?”

Veronica didn’t reply and instead sent him a warning look as a scowling Heather arrived. JD glared at her before turning back to Veronica.

“Why don’t we talk about it more at my place now? We can go on my bike, pick up some slushies on the way, it’s perfect. What do you say?”

Something in his tone and the sinister look in his eyes made it seem like this was more of an order rather than an offer. Veronica didn’t feel allured, charmed or seduced. She felt scared.

“I’m sorry, JD, but I can’t, I’m hanging out with Heather.”

Both Heather and JD stared at her in shock, she had just rejected JD for Heather when it had always been the other way around. When Veronica used to awkwardly apologise to Heather for blowing her off and explaining that she was hanging out with JD instead, it had always felt wrong. She had always felt guilty. But this… this felt right. She felt no guilt, nor remorse.

She had chosen Heather, and she was pleasantly satisfied with her decision. It was the right one.

Unfortunately, JD seemed to disagree.

He narrowed his eyes until they became little slits, and he began to shake slightly as if he were some deranged psychopath.

“Alright.” He conceded slowly, though he didn’t sound to be ok with it at all. “But you’re coming to mine tomorrow and that’s final.”

Heather jumped in with a vicious “Shut up, Dean, you can’t make her do anything.”

“Fuck of, Blondie, no one asked you.” He spat back at her, getting right in her face.

Veronica, outraged, roughly shoved him away, standing protectively in front of Heather.

“Don’t talk to her like that!” She chastised him, pointing an accusatory finger at his chest. “You need to leave, you’re being really shitty recently. You clearly didn’t mean what you said in your apology the other day if you’re still acting like a prick.”

“How am I acting like a prick?” He countered defensively, rage-filled eyes trained on Heather.

Heather took a deep breath, trying to keep her cool, and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Go away? She literally just asked you to leave, so maybe do that?”

JD was about to retaliate when he suddenly paused, his furious face twisting into a sickening smile. He appraised Heather for a moment before turning back to Veronica and speaking with a tone of faux-innocence.

“Sure! You two go hang out. I mean, Veronica really loves spending time with you recently, doesn’t she, Heather? She never used to, but now she’s acting so close to you, it’s weird. God, she’s been like that for.... three weeks, is it? Oh yeah, three weeks this Friday! How funny!”

Veronica shot him a wary look, pleading for him to stop, and Heather looked very confused, trying to work out what he was trying to imply. JD simply kept his tight smile and gave Veronica a threatening look as if to say “don’t cross me”.

“Have a nice day girls.” He whispered eerily, turning on his heels and marching out of the room without another word.

Before Heather could comment, Miss Fleming came back into the room, glaring at both Heather and Veronica. “What are you two still doing here? Go on, scram!”

They quickly left, not wanting detention, and the moment they got out the door, Heather rounded on Veronica.

“What the Hell was Trenchcoat on about?” She demanded, hands on her hips.

Veronica played dumb and shrugged. “Beats me. He’s been acting strange recently, he’s probably trying to mess with us because he’s pissed that we’re hanging out.”

Heather thankfully seemed to buy that as she relaxed and scoffed. “God, he’s a total freak, and he’s definitely in love with you.”

This caught Veronica by surprise. She knew JD had always been fond of her, as she had been for him at one point, but she always assumed it was just a harmless high school crush. “What? No, he isn’t?”

Heather rolled her eyes at Veronica’s obliviousness. “Veronica, he literally looks at you as if he worships you or something. He’s always trying to act all charming but really he’s a freak who needs deodorant and a decent sense of style.”

This roused a laugh out of Veronica as she gave Heather a knowing look. “You sound like you’re jealous, Heather.”

This time, Heather didn’t freeze up or snap defensively. That didn’t mean she would admit to it though.

“What, of him? Please, he wishes. I’m jealous of nobody.”

Veronica lightly playfully shoved Heather in response. “Don’t worry about him, sure I liked him at one point, but that was ages ago. Right now, he isn’t even my friend, not with how he’s been acting. So, you don’t need to be jealous.”

Heather seemed to smile slightly to herself at that, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Veronica.

“Oh my God, you were jealous!”

“I was not!”

“You totally were. Oh my, Heather Chandler jealous of someone? Aw, do you really like me that much?”

“You are such a dick, shut up.”

“You love it. Now hurry up, we gotta motor, the sooner we get to the mall and fuel your shopping addiction, the sooner we can leave.”

They walked in silence for a few moments before a grumpy Heather spoke up again.

“I was not jealous.”

Veronica simply laughed, just happy that she was here, and she was with Heather, and she was happy.

Nothing could possibly go wrong in the next two days.

Nothing.

Chapter Text

Going to the mall with Heather Chandler might as well have been a punishment from hell, regardless of whether you were a certain brunette with a not-so-small crush on her.

If Heather was demanding and relentless at school, she was a whole other level when it came to the Gucci store on floor three. There was no point even trying to offer any help, as Veronica would always be met with a scoff, an eye roll and a comment along the lines of “No, Veronica, because that would clash horribly” or “You never could accessorise for shit”. And so, Veronica wisely kept her mouth shut as she impatiently watched Heather try on another god damn pair of heels that were identical to every pair she had had since middle school, whilst her fingers were beginning to turn an ugly shade of purple due to the myriad of heavy designer bags she had been ordered to haul around for hours as Heather’s fingers were apparently too precious for the job. Still, this was Heather’s favourite thing to do in the world, so Veronica had to make some sacrifices in order to keep the Demon Queen happy. Heather hadn’t enjoyed that recent hike one bit, but she still soldiered through it for the sake of Veronica, as she knew it was a favourite hobby of hers. Veronica was doing the same now as payment. Plus, there was nothing that warmed Veronica’s heart more than when Heather’s eyes would light up and her teeth would show in a goofy, giddy smile when she tried on an outfit and she looked so very.

“Alright, Veronica.” Heather piped up loudly as Veronica was taken from her thoughts. “That should be all for me.”

Veronica beamed, relishing at the thought of being able to sit down for a bit and let the blood circulation back into her fingers.

“Ah, don’t look too happy.” Heather smiled wickedly. “I said that should be all for me. What, you thought I’d drag you out here and be so selfish as to not even consider you? Get ready to try on some outfits, my darling Veronica. Since you joined the group, you’ve looked hot, but you could look even hotter, and you’ll need to look the best if you want to be by my side from now on.”

Veronica blinked at her dumbly. She wanted to groan in frustration at the thought of more shopping and awkwardly standing as Heather studied her like a hawk studying its prey in the changing rooms as she put on a very short skirt that had been picked for her, which totally wasn’t intentional. However, she found herself actually focusing on the phrasing Heather had used in her final sentence. ‘By my side’, huh? Was… was that Heather implying that they were in an official relationship now? That now Veronica was always going to be by her side, even in public? And ‘from now on’? Did that mean that Heather was already thinking that this would continue on from just a fling, and would still carry on into the foreseeable future? Just the thought of all these possibilities made Veronica’s heart race and she couldn’t help the heat that rose to her cheeks. Heather clearly noticed and clocked on to what she had indirectly implied with what she had said, and what Veronica could be thinking, and subsequently, a blush dusted her cheeks as well. She didn’t want to address it, however, and swiftly moved the conversation along.

“Well…” She began, clearing her throat and regaining her composure, “I heard that some new Benetton stuff had been released. Fancy it?”

“Do I have a choice?” Veronica asked helplessly, knowing the answer already and dropping the previous topic as well.

“Of course not. You know my taste in fashion is unrivalled, Ronnie, to not take my advice would make you an absolute pillowcase. We don’t want that, do we?”

“No, Heather.” Veronica sighed, mourning the inevitable loss of at least three of her fingers. “We don’t.”

_____________________________

With an unflattering grunt, Veronica practically fell onto the plastic seat as they finally arrived at the food court, carelessly throwing the bags on to the floor, much to Heather’s dismay. She ran a hand through her hair as she glanced at the menu. Even managing to get Heather to order something from the food court would be hard, normally she just let the other Heathers and Veronica get whatever they wanted, pay for it, and wait until she got home to eat. Veronica, on the other hand, didn’t care about the copious number of calories or the pizza that was more greasy than Courtney’s hair, but she wasn’t about to let Heather go hungry.

“We can eat somewhere else if you want, Heather.” Veronica suggested, “I know you don’t really like the food here.”

“Aw, you are just so cute to think of me!” Heather said in a baby voice, smiling and leaning forward to pinch her cheek, her expression betraying sincere gratitude at Veronica’s consideration, despite her teasing tone, “But there’s no need to worry, you can eat the garbage they serve, I brought food with me.”

Veronica simply nodded as Heather pulled out her salad she had brought, and ordered a cheese pizza. Heather insisted on paying for it of course, and then they fell into a calm silence as they ate and enjoyed each other’s company. Heather noticed that Veronica had a contemplative look and, knowing that that often meant she wanted to say something but didn’t know how, she decided to give the girl a hand by bringing it up first.

“Hey, did you have a brain tumour for breakfast?”

“Always so eloquent, Chandler.” Veronica joked, smirking. “And if that’s your weird way of asking if there’s something on my mind then… yes, there is.”

“Well? Spit it out.”

Veronica put down her fork and took a breath. “What… is this? What are we?”

“Ew, don’t be weird.”

“I’m being serious, Heather.” Veronica deadpanned, placing her hand on Heather’s arm to get her attention again, as she had immediately gone back to staring at her food at the question. “I want to know if this means anything to you. When we’re in private, you’re all up on me, but when we’re out here, in the world, in public, you keep your distance. You freeze me out and- and put up your walls. Why?”

“Because that’s the way it has to be!” Heather snapped, jerking her arm away from Veronica’s grasp. “You know this.”

“…Not around me,” Veronica replied softly, giving Heather a sympathetic look which calmed her down somewhat. “We’ve talked about this and I know you have your status or whatever, but I need you to work with me here. I can’t deal with, you know, you being different in different places with different people. I need structure and stability, so sue me, Heather, but it’s just the way I am. And I’m not asking you to tell the whole world, I just want to know whether this is more than just a few casual make-out sessions whenever you feel like it. I want to know that you’re serious about this. About us. And that it’s not just some guilty pleasure that you indulge in in private, and then you’re constantly going to act as if you’re ashamed of me in public.”

“Alright, alright,” Heather said finally, massaging her temples wearily. “I get that. And… we’ll sort that out, I promise, just… not right now, ok? Give me some time.”

Knowing how difficult this was for Heather, this whole situation, and appreciating that she was taking her feelings into consideration, Veronica nodded with a smile. “Sure, thank you. Now, do you want to go take another look at those boots you spotted? I know you want them, and I think they look great!”

Heather immediately relaxed at the change of subject and nodded. “You’re right, they looked amazing on me. Maybe we could get some more shoes for you whilst we’re there.”

Veronica raised an eyebrow, put her hand on her chest and scoffed dramatically. “Oh, are my socks and sandals not up to your standards?”

Playing along, Heather made a gagging noise. “If you ever show up to school wearing those, I will not hesitate to beat your ass.”

“Kinky.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Veronica didn’t know why she was ever worried about the bet. Heather was close to asking her to the prom, she was caving in and Veronica knew it. Besides, all of that was at the back of her mind now, her only thoughts about it were about how it would finally be over soon, and they could be normal.

Nothing could stop her now.

_____________________________

‘Thursday 30th May, 4:12 pm’

Oh gosh.

It was the next evening, and despite how ignorantly confident Veronica seemed to be, Betty did not share the same feeling in the slightest. The bet was literally over in less than 24 hours, and Veronica may have been sure that Heather was going to make a move, but Betty was smarter than that.

She had always thought that this was going to go wrong. She was dreading it even more now that it was beginning to become a very likely outcome and it was coming far too soon.

Darn it, she should have just told Veronica about what JD was doing from the very beginning, then all of this would have been avoided. It was just that Betty had always been, well… “boring”. She had never been able to go to a party, or hang out with lots of people, or join in on pranks, so when she got the chance to get in on a bet all to do with the popular kids and assist her friend in the process, she just wanted to prove she was capable. Prove she was more than just a loser in an old cardigan and thick, bulky glasses, and that she was able to solve this all by herself. Plus, she had never really had any kind of drama with anyone before, so how was she to know what to do when the new kid with a gun threatened her?

She couldn’t change the past, but she could try and do whatever she could now to help, for her own sake, and for the sake of Veronica and Heather. And so, that brought her to the front door of Big Bud Dean and his infamous son, a shaky hand slowly lifting to knock on the door. It was quickly answered by, thankfully, JD. She never thought she would be grateful to see him, but she really, really, didn’t want to see his crazy dad. He looked at her with confusion and underlying contempt and his face twisted into a condescending grin.

“Greetings and salutations, Betty Finn.” He drawled, towering over her, “To what do I owe the pleasure? Shouldn’t you be fretting over the fact that dear Veronica is losing that bet tomorrow?”

Betty gulped, fixing him with a pathetic attempt at a glare. “We need to talk, I… need your help.”

JD raised his eyebrows in surprise before smiling again and stepping aside, motioning for her to enter. She did so with mild trepidation, immediately noting the fact that there was no sort of family photos anywhere and the house felt nothing like a home, with a cold chilling air surrounding them. JD led her to his room, which consisted of blank walls, a simple bed in the centre and a bookshelf, with all the contents being worn, obscure pieces of literature of which she had never heard, and some of them even being in what seemed like German. JD seemed to notice what she was thinking by her reaction and stared off into the distance as he spoke.

“We move around a lot.” He explained, somewhat distastefully, grimacing at the words. “So, I don’t really bother with decorating. Doesn’t seem much point when I’ll be in a totally different house in a few weeks, eh?”

Betty simply nodded, not interested in the slightest in his backstory, but also not wanting to seem rude, and hesitantly perched herself at the end of his bed. He didn’t move, his dark, piercing gaze simply following her every movement as he stood perfectly still and emotionless.

“Now, I suppose you aren’t interested in the small talk.” He said, still unmoving. “What do you want from me.”

“As I said, I need your help- sort of,” Betty said, not making eye contact and hating that she had to ask him of all people.

“Well, fire away.” He stated, lazily waving his hand in a gesture to continue.

“Please end this JD.” Betty pleaded, “You don’t know what kind of damage will be caused here. I feel like the only way this could turn out well is if you agree to call the whole thing off and stay quiet.”

JD barked out a hollow laugh at that as he shook his head. “No way, Finn. Why would I ever even consider doing that? This is going perfectly according to plan! Heather has almost definitely fallen for Veronica, which means that in a matter of hours, she is going to get her heart totally shattered! Plus, I’m sure Veronica likes me, it’s clear she’s only hanging out with Heather for the bet. Heather’s perfect little life is ruined, Veronica can get away from all of that Lipstick Gestapo bullshit, and she and I can finally get back on track, continuing like we were three weeks ago. So, I ask again, why the fuck would I ever end this when it’s going oh so well?”

“Because if you actually cared about Veronica, you’d do this for her!”

“What?” JD exclaimed in bewilderment, letting out another laugh. “How would this help her? What, letting her get with Heather Chandler so she can inevitably get her heart broken when she gets totally cast to the side? She’d be better off with me, Betty. Heather’s just using Veronica as her plaything for a while before she gets bored, Heather doesn’t care for her like I do, she doesn’t want her like I do. She probably doesn’t even like Veronica, she just wants a new interest for entertainment!”

“Oh so is that why she kissed her?” Betty blurted out, immediately regretting it the moment the words left her mouth.

She quickly recoiled in shock at her own outburst, watching in horror and dread as JD’s face twisted and contorted in rage. He hadn’t known about the kiss.

“She did what?” He hissed in fury, face already going red and he stood closer to Betty, “How- how dare she? When did this happen, Betty?”

“At- at the party.”

JD snarled, storming over to his bed and kicking it furiously. Betty quickly stood up, fully ready to bolt if needed. Suddenly, JD whipped his head round to face her, eyes wild and manic.

“And she pulled away?” He said, breathing heavy, “Veronica pulled away and- and got mad at her, right?”

Betty froze, the words getting stuck in her throat. “She… kissed back.” She choked out, totally numb from the panic and not knowing what the hell to do. “They’re… seeing each other, I think.”

JD stared at her for what felt like an eternity before releasing a breath and gritting his teeth, letting out a bitter chuckle and a twisted smile.

“Why the fuck does this happen to me?!” He shouted suddenly, causing Betty to jolt. “Why do people like Heather Chandler and my Goddamn Dad have to ruin everything for me? And take away everyone I love? Why can’t I just have someone to love me for a change, huh? Why do I finally get someone who sees the good in me and doesn’t immediately think I’m a freak, and then I lose them instantly? It’s great, isn’t it? I finally find someone worth a damn in this shitty broken world and they go off with my worst enemy.”

“JD, I think you should just calm down-“

“What’s wrong with me?! Why is it that everyone I love leaves me?!”

Suddenly, Betty felt a heat inside her chest and the numbness faded away and her mind became clear. She felt.. confident. JD had caused her an unfathomable amount of grief and stress for the past few weeks and was now playing the victim. She was determined to finally give him a piece of her mind and get some sort of compensation for everything.

“You know what, JD?” She began sternly, voice clear and unwavering as she confidently locked eyes with him. “I’m sorry that stuff happened to you, but you deserve this.”

JD was completely taken aback, frowning and looking at her as if she had grown another head. “What are you-“

“Don’t interrupt me.” She would not be silenced or threatened. Not this time. “You heard what I said. You didn’t treat Veronica well, and if you two had gotten together, you would have treated her worse still, so you deserved to lose her. Not only did you make a bet to play with someone’s feelings purely so they could get hurt and heartbroken, but you also manipulated and tricked Veronica and didn’t care if she got hurt and you would just be her shoulder to cry on or whatever. That’s messed up and evil, JD. And then you scared me and threatened me into keeping your little secret. Did you ever think to just be nice to Veronica to get with her? Did you ever think to just leave Heather alone rather than trying to hurt her so badly? Well congratulations, JD, because now both of them have fallen for each other and this was all fake and it’s going to be a complete disaster. Well done, you didn’t get the girl, but you did ruin the lives of two people in the process, so I hope you’re happy. I hope you are now wallowing in grief and you finally understand that you are a shitty person with a shitty attitude and shitty morals, and you deserve everything that’s coming to you because you brought this on yourself.”

Holy. Shit.

She did that. She totally did that. JD looked like a fish out of the water, his mouth opening and closing pathetically, not a word spluttering out. She had stood up to him! See, she wasn’t just a geeky, quiet, prissy little girl - she was strong, and she had finally stood up to Jason Dean! Still, worry began to take over once more when she realised that she had just pissed off JD even more than before and she was alone with him in a room in his house. Uh oh.

JD didn’t seem to be making any move to attack her though, which was a good sign. He simply ran a hand through his hair and sighed, staring at the floor. When he spoke, his voice was quieter and calmer, and he didn’t look up.

“Has Veronica really fallen for Heather?”

“Yes.”

“Of course she fucking has.” JD nodded sadly, shrugging his shoulders and slumping down onto his creaky bed.

Betty, now slightly uncomfortable at the fact that their fight seemed to be over but JD was just staring at her from his bed, finally spoke up with an unsure “…So, are you going to help me?”

JD continued to stare at her through narrow eyes for a moment, seemingly studying her with interest before doing a small shrug again and shaking his head slightly. “No. I can’t. I’m not a good person, Betty, and I’m not about to let the love of my life get with my worst enemy. Just… leave me alone for now.”

Betty simply nodded and wordlessly left the room and JD’s house, heading to her next location.

That was… slightly surreal. Still, no time to dwell. If JD wasn’t going to end the bet, she at least needed to talk to the main subject of the issue. Veronica’s house wasn’t too far away from JD’s, luckily, so it was still light when she arrived. Veronica answered the door quickly and with a bright, welcoming grin.

“Betty, I was just about to call you!” Her upbeat attitude dropped immediately when she saw Betty’s dishevelled look at the feud she had just had and her sombre expression. “Come in, talk to me.”

Once they reached the blue bedroom, Betty immediately began to voice her worries: that the bet was ending very soon, and how she didn’t think Heather was ever going to ask her in time, and how she’s scared for how Heather will react and for what will happen to Veronica. She didn’t feel ready to discuss JD just yet, all in due time.

Veronica, in response, gave an affectionate eye roll and patted Betty on the shoulder reassuringly, clearly not taking it seriously. “You don’t need to worry so much, Betty, it’s all under control. Heather is asking me to prom by lunchtime tomorrow, I know it! I’m not concerned at all. It’ll be totally fine.”

“But how can you be so sure?”

“I caught her staring like ten times today!”

“Veronica I don’t think you understand how little time we have left.”

“Betty it’s going to be fine, I promise. I’m going to make sure Heather asks me to prom, and this can all be over and you don’t need to worry as much anymore. I really do appreciate you looking out for me, you know that, but I’m confident for a reason! This is going to turn out well, just you wait and see!”

Betty huffed at Veronica’s unjustified optimism, “Alright then, sure, let’s say you do somehow win. Are you ever going to tell her about the bet and what’s going on?”

“No way!” Veronica insisted quickly, waving her arms in front of her. “I made a bet to get her to fall for me purely for a bit of fun and kind of to humiliate her and get revenge after the party, if she found out this was all a bet she would flip!”            

“So you’re just never going to tell her the truth?” Betty asked incredulously, staring accusingly at her. “What the heck, Veronica?”

“Betty please, you have to understand that this is the only thing I can do! I am going to win this bet, so Heather will not get hurt, and if she doesn’t find out, then we should be all good and we can pretend this never happened! I wish I could tell her the truth, the guilt is killing me and I hate to have to hurt her and lie to her! All I want is to just confess everything but I know that there’s no point in doing that. I hate that I have to keep this from her, but it’s necessary. If we just keep it between us, then nobody gets hurt.”

Suddenly the door swung open.

Heather Duke stood there, eyes flitting rapidly between Betty and Veronica as she spoke.

“You two had better start explaining… right fucking now.”

Chapter Text

“You two had better start explaining… right fucking now.”

Veronica choked on her breath at the sight of a shocked, disbelieving and seething Heather Duke, intense fear washing over immediately.

Shit.

Betty let out a terrified squeak, folding her arms as she tended to do when she was frightened or nervous. Gulping, Veronica tried desperately to maintain eye contact with Duke and try to think of a way to get herself out of this mess. Her mind was utterly blank. Duke was… well, Duke, so explaining wouldn’t change anything anyway. She wasn’t sure why Duke even asked. Probably just to get as much info as possible to spread everywhere. Alright, think about consequences and inevitable doom later, right now she had a hole to get herself out of.

“What- What the hell are you doing here?” Veronica managed to splutter out, her breathing shallow and panicked.

Duke narrowed her eyes slightly at Veronica’s deliberate avoidance of the question and bit back: “I came to see what our plans for prom were, your Mom let me in. I assumed you’d be going with Heather – oh don’t give me that look, it was obvious what was going on with the pair of you, though I’m not sure now – so I just came to talk. Now, I ask again, what the fuck is going on?”

“That depends…” Veronica began slowly, staring at the floor and wringing her hands nervously. “…how much did you hear?”

She needed to tread carefully here. Completely fucking herself over by accidentally revealing everything was out of the question.

“Oh, not much. Just that you made a bet just to get her to fall for you so you could humiliate her and break her heart, and it ends tomorrow. You are so done, Sawyer.”

“Alright, fine!” Veronica hissed, running a hand through her hair and sighing. “I’ll explain. About three weeks ago I made a bet with JD that I couldn’t get Heather to ask me to prom within three weeks. Betty’s been helping me out. You have to understand, I was drunk at the time and I was pissed at Heather and JD’s really great at convincing, and- and I just need to protect her, Heather. It ends at lunchtime tomorrow and I really think I’m going to win, so nobody gets hurt. You can’t tell anyone, please!”

A slightly malicious smile spread across Duke's face as she thought for a moment. “No way. Do you realise how huge this is? You got yourself into this mess, Sawyer, it’s not up to me to protect you. This will be the biggest scandal of the year, people will worship me for bringing this up, and I can get in Heather’s good books. You’ve been the favourite for so long for doing absolutely nothing and it’s fucking unfair, but now the golden girl falls…”

She trailed off, and Veronica knew what would happen, even without Duke explaining it. Memories of her fear at being socially humiliated all that time ago after the party came rushing back, but now it was worse. She’d be hurting Heather this time. She could see it now; Duke hurriedly whispering the news to everyone she knew as Heather’s face fell, betrayal and heartbreak in her expression.  A lump began to rise in Veronica’s throat as her panic grew and she could see Betty tense up even more beside her at Duke’s words.

“No, please.” Veronica begged, “Please you have to understand what this will do! You have to be my friend here, Heather. I know that’s not really your style, but I’m desperate!”

Duke scoffed. “Ugh stop, you’re making me gag. Save the speeches for Malcolm X.”

Veronica was quickly running out of options here. How the hell could she stop Duke from releasing this? She was right, the scandal would do wonders for her reputation, and she had never liked Veronica that much anyway.

“Heather, would you describe Heather Chandler as a friend?” Veronica attempted, catching Duke off guard.

Duke narrowed her eyes in confusion and suspicion as she stared back at Veronica. “…I’ve known her for years. I spend pretty much every moment of every day with her. I suppose I would consider her as a friend, as much as we don’t always get on.”

“Then please, hear me out. I know a part of you wants to tell Heather because you do care about her, and she deserves to know. That makes sense, I get it. I want to tell her as well because I care about her too. But we can’t. It’ll crush her, you know that. I am begging you, letting this loose will ruin everything. You think the Heathers will stay standing after this? It’ll be chaos, Heather, everything will be ruined. You know what it’s like in Ohio, Heather and I will be labelled as gay, they’ll kill us. I mean, think of what Heather will think as well! You know how she wants everyone to be happy and get along, and she’ll hate seeing Heather get hurt.”

Perhaps it was the thought of Heather’s heartbreak, or maybe the catastrophe that will ensue, or maybe the mention of Mac, but something in that made Duke stop. She furrowed her brow, battling through her thoughts, eyes constantly moving between Betty and Veronica as she tried to decide on what to do. Eventually, she let out an angry sigh.

“Fine.” She breathed, a tinge of disappointment in her tone. “I won’t… I won’t tell anyone.”

Veronica stood up straight, eyes wide and disbelieving. “What? Seriously?”

“Don’t fucking hug me or anything. I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing this for the sake of the school social structure and… Heather and Heather. But you owe me, Sawyer. I mean it. You will do anything I say, or this gets spread immediately. And this doesn’t mean I’m involved in your little scheme, if Heather finds out, I’m not taking any blame. And… and this doesn’t mean we’re... friends.”

God, she never knew she would actually be appreciative of Heather Duke, but here she was. She couldn’t help the relieved grin that spread across her face as she repeated “Thank you, oh my gosh, thank you!”

“Alright, well I’m gonna motor before I hurl.” Duke groaned, heading towards the door. Just before she reached it, she turned back around and sent Veronica a glare. “And I can’t believe you did this, Sawyer. This is low. For your sake… I hope to God Heather doesn’t find out.”

The happiness dissipated somewhat as Duke said that, as if it was some kind of dark foreshadowing, but it didn’t take away all of the utter thankfulness and gratefulness that Veronica was feeling. She was getting remarkably lucky with this whole situation. Her confidence had returned, everything that could have gone so very wrong had somehow managed to either not happen at all, or happen yet right itself immediately.

Betty didn’t seem to share her relief nor her confidence, as her breathing remained heavy and she snapped her head round to face Veronica.

“Oh gosh.”

“What? It’s sorted.”

“You actually believe Heather Duke isn’t going to tell anyone?”

Veronica thought for a moment. As good a liar as Heather Duke was, Veronica couldn’t help but trust her. Her assurance seemed genuine and Veronica knew that deep down, Duke didn’t want Heather or Heather to get hurt, and Duke was smart. She knew, as did Veronica, that keeping it secret would be the best option.

And so Veronica nodded surely. “I do. I think it’s going to be ok, as much of a scare as this was. Heather may love gossip, and she’ll do anything for power and popularity, but she can be trustworthy when you really need her to be. She wouldn’t be part of the Heathers if she was a total backstabber, Heather Chandler doesn’t let just anyone in.”

That seemed to relax Betty somewhat as she nodded slightly in agreement and went to flop down on the bed, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Veronica herself let out a low breath and ran a hand through her hair again, trying to calm her worries. This was going to be fine. This was going to be fine. This was going to be-

A ringing interrupted her thoughts, making Betty jump slightly. Veronica moved over to her phone and picked it up, knowing exactly who would be calling at this sort of time.

“Heather.” Veronica greeted, not being able to hold in her smile.

“How did you know?” Came the surprised voice from the other end, causing Veronica’s smile to grow even wider.

“I guess I just know you that well.” Veronica teased as Betty shot her a wink and signalled that she was going to leave. Veronica rolled her eyes as Betty gently closed the door.

“Oh shush, it’s too late to deal with your dorkiness right now.” Yet Veronica could hear the evident smile in her voice.

“Whatever. What do you need?”

“I’m… I’m not sure.” Heather confessed somewhat sheepishly, which was very out of character, “I need to talk to you about something but I’m thinking that maybe now isn’t the best time.”

“Are you sure?” Veronica pressed, knowing full well what it was. “You sound nervous.”

“No!” Heather practically squeaked in a very un-chandler-like way before clearing her throat and composing herself, giving a more confident “No. I’m not nervous. I just… I think I’ll ask you tomorrow morning.”

“If you’re sure. Hey, kind of random question but what are you doing for prom?”

Veronica smirked mischievously. She was so evil. It was hard to even remember the panic and dread she had been feeling only a matter of minutes prior. She swore she could hear Heather’s breath catch in her throat, which only spurred her on even more.

“Why do you ask?” Heather replied, her voice wavering somewhat.

“Oh, no reason. It’s just that we still need dresses and rides and dates of course!”

This time, she was sure she heard a sharp intake of breath as Heather quietly echoed: “Dates…”

“Well, yeah of course! You sure you’re alright, Heather?”

Was she being slightly awful? Perhaps, but she couldn’t help but have a little fun when Heather usually so put together and sure of herself. She had almost forgotten her little fiasco with Duke until that familiar dark feeling began to grasp at her heart and could feel her gut wrench at the awful feeling that she was being far too optimistic and dismissive about this whole thing.

Maybe it wasn’t over yet?

No, she had to stay strong and positive, it was the final stretch now.

“Yeah,” Heather assured her, though her voice wasn’t as sharp and certain as usual. “Well let’s not think about that for now, hey?”

“Sure.” Veronica conceded, deciding to drop her little teasing opportunity for now, “Well I’ll see you tomorrow then and we can talk about whatever’s on your mind. Goodnight, Heather.”

She could clearly hear the smile in Heather’s voice as she softly replied “Night, Ronnie.”

Veronica’s heart warmed as she heard the line go dead and she placed down her own phone. Moments like this, just her and Heather, talking like normal teenagers, they were the moments she enjoyed more than anything in the world. With these moments, it was easy to allow herself to forget what a mess she was really in, and the daunting future that lay ahead. And the guilt. God, the guilt. It had been growing ever since the start of the damn bet, and it was an ugly raging monster in her mind now. Still, she couldn’t tell Heather. She continuously repeated that to herself. She couldn’t tell Heather. She was protecting her this way, and that’s the least she could do after causing this whole mess.

Not long to go now, and it would all be over and done with. They could forget everything and move on.

She just needed to hold on until tomorrow.

_____________________________

Mac was perfectly used to hearing knocks on her door this late at night.

The Heathers had a habit of just turning up uninvited, but she found she didn’t mind one bit. Especially if, as was the case this night in particular, it was a certain Heather in green.

“Heather!” Mac greeted brightly, throwing her arms around Duke. “What are you doing here? Come inside, you’ll freeze to death.”

Duke gently unfurled herself from Mac’s vice-like grip (She had the cheerleading to thank for that) and stepped inside without hesitation. She had spent many nights at the McNamara residence and was more like an honorary member of the family rather than a guest. It was a total contrast with the Chandler residence, she and Mac had been there more times than she could count over the years, yet it never truly felt comfortable or right. Not that it was Heather’s fault at all, it was her parents that were unwelcoming, sometimes not even sending an acknowledging glance their way as they passed.

They headed straight up to Mac’s bedroom, passing Mr McNamara on the way who gave a bright smile and a big wave, mimicking the usual persona of his bubbly daughter. Mac’s room was as bright as ever, the colourful posters were still hanging up in their usual place, and her budgie Tweety happily chirping along in his elegant, spacious cage. Mac gently cooed at him, lightly stroking his head before plopping down on the bed. Duke smiled slightly at the interaction and sat down next to Mac, sighing as she remembered the real reason why she was here. She still hadn’t really gotten over the mind-blowing revelation from earlier and part of her still wondered if it was all some kind of sick joke at her expense made up by Heather and Veronica to mock her. However, Veronica and Betty’s panicked and mortified faces when she had barged in had implied otherwise.

“Heather, are you ok?” Mac’s worried voice brought her out of her reverie as she shook her head and gave a reassuring smile.

“Totally, Heather. Just… wanted to talk to you about prom.”

Better to sort of ease into it before she revealed everything to Mac. Plus, she really did need to talk to her about prom and she knew that if she didn’t now, she’d be far too much of a pussy to ever bring it up. Mac’s face lit up slightly at the mention of the subject.

“Oh yeah, prom!” She exclaimed happily, “I’m so excited, I’ve been waiting for this for years! I know we were planning to go as a group, but I think Heather and Veronica will be going together. You know, as they’re so, you know, closerecently.”

Duke’s stomach dropped as she gulped and nodded her head quickly. “Erm- yeah, anyway- I was just wondering if… well, as you said, Heather and Veronica are going together so do- do you want to go with me? As friends of course!”

Mac’s ecstatic expression dropped slightly at the small comment Duke added at the end there, but she quickly recovered and let out an ear-piercing squeal. “Yes, absolutely! Oh, it’s going to be so much fun, me and you, Heather and Veronica, this is going to be the best prom ever!”

Duke couldn’t help but put on an easy smile as well as she scooted ever so slightly closer to Mac. “Of course, I mean I love spending time with you, Heather.”

Jesus, when did she become so sappy and gross? Still, she didn’t mind too much when Mac’s smile grew even wider and she held Duke tightly. Then, she regained that uneasy feeling in her stomach when she realised what she had to do. She promised not to tell Heather, but she didn’t promise to not tell Mac. She needed to tell someone, just to get it off her chest and have someone to talk about this with. As much as she liked to seem strong and stoic in the face of drama and problems, this had rattled her to the core. She couldn't believe Veronica would do that, and she couldn’t believe Heather had no idea any of this was going on. She debated for a second whether or not she actually should tell Mac, telling her would open a whole new can of worms and she really couldn’t risk Heather finding out. Then, she remembered how much Mac cared about Heather, they had been best friends for years, she would want to know what was going on.

“I need to talk to you.” Duke began solemnly, scooting away slightly and averting her gaze.

“What’s up? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s not you,” Duke assured her quickly, calming Mac slightly “I just… I just found out something a little bit crazy and I think you deserve to know.”

Mac nodded slowly, gazing at Duke with those big, nervous doe eyes. Duke took a deep breath and just came out with it, not waiting for a second more to doubt herself.

“It's about Heather and Veronica. You’re not going to believe me, I’m in slight disbelief myself, but it’s unfortunately true. Veronica made a bet to get Heather to fall for her and ask her to prom, and Betty’s been working with her. That’s what all this has been about. That’s the whole reason she’s back with the Heathers, and being nice and close to Heather, and trying to get Heather to like her. She just did it to win a bet. She told me it ends lunchtime tomorrow.”

Mac stared back at her, unmoving before her sad eyes dropped to the floor and her heartbroken face was turned away. Duke resisted the urge to hug her and comfort her and instead shifted uncomfortably where she sat, waiting for Mac to say something, anything.

“I can’t believe it…” Mac breathed, her voice cracking slightly. “Are you sure?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Well, are you going to tell Heather?”

“No, we can’t, I promised Veronica.”

“But she has to know!”

“I know.” Duke agreed sadly, carefully taking Mac’s hand and rubbing it soothingly. “I want to tell her, I really do, but we can’t. It will only hurt her. It took a lot of convincing, but Veronica made me promise not to, and I agree with her. If we just keep this a secret, nobody gets hurt. Besides, Veronica does actually like Heather, and things were different when this started. There’s no point in ruining their relationship, and possibly ruining the Heathers, just to tell her. We need to protect her, Heather. Please, you can’t tell her.”

“But-“

“No. I know, I know, as much as Heather and I don’t get along, I would still consider her a friend, and I’m trying to help her here. I’m trying to help all of us, and you need to as well. Heather, promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

Mac stayed silent for a moment, chewing her lips and holding back the tears before she quietly nodded her head and held Duke closely. Duke let out a sigh of relief and hugged her back, tracing patterns on her back, knowing that that helped to calm her down.

After a few tranquil, silent moments, Duke regretfully pulled away, tucking a strand of Mac’s bouncy blonde hair behind her ear and giving a reassuring smile. “I have to go now, will you be ok on your own?”

Mac nodded, giving a watery smile. “I will, thank you.”

“Alright.” Duke stood up slowly, sending Mac another regretful glance. “I really am sorry. I know how shocking this must be for you. I’m always here, ok?”

“Thank you. See you tomorrow, Heather.”

“Yeah, see you.”

The moment Duke left, Mac tapped her fingers on her bed impatiently and knew what she had to do.

“Sorry, Heather, I know I promised.” Mac muttered to herself, “But I have to tell her.”

She grabbed her keys, wiped her eyes, and began to head to Heather Chandler’s house.

_____________________________

Heather McNamara was not an angry person. Sure, things annoyed her, like when people questioned her captaincy on the cheer squad, or when people assumed she was too stupid to have any sort of valuable opinion about anything, but she didn’t get angry.

Now, however, she was practically furious. She was furious with Veronica and Betty. She really thought she was working with Betty to help a wonderful friendship and romance blossom, and helping to improve the lives of the people around her, but it turned out Betty had been lying to her and stringing her along the entire time. And she couldn’t even begin to explain how she felt towards Veronica. It seemed she didn’t even know who she was at this point. How on earth could she do that to Heather? How could someone be so horrible as to make a bet to break someone’s heart purely for a bit of petty revenge? They had lied to her in an attempt to humiliate her own best friend. They probably thought she was stupid. “Let’s get Heather to help us, we can trick her into it, she’s so dumb she’d never realise what was really going on.” She felt embarrassed and humiliated and that only fuelled her rage more. Well, she wasn’t going to stand for it anymore and she sure as hell wasn’t going to lie for them.

The tires of her gleaming yellow car screeched as she slammed on the brakes outside of the Chandler mansion, and she slammed the door forcefully behind her and began to storm her way to Heather’s house. Her knock on the door was loud, but it had to be, for Heather to hear it. Judging by the fact that the driveway was empty save for Heather’s Porsche, there would be no judgemental parents to answer the door. Heather opened the door not a minute later, looking at Mac, checking her watch with a frown, and then looking back up again.

“No time to explain,” Mac announced, walking past Heather into the house. “I’m sorry for coming so late but we need to talk.”

Heather slowly closed the door, staring at Mac in bewilderment. “You know you’re welcome at any time, Heather, but what on Earth could this be about? Although I’m quite glad you are here, I have something I need to confess to you as well.”

Mac tried, she really did, to interrupt Heather before she started speaking, but it was no use. She knew exactly what Heather was going to say before she opened her mouth, and it was awful, but she couldn’t stop it.

“Please don’t judge me, alright?” Heather started nervously, completely tearing down the walls she put up around herself in public. “I know you won't of course, but still. Well, alright I’ll just come out with it. I’m sort of… seeing Veronica. And I’m planning to ask her to prom tomorrow morning. There I said it. Jeez…”

Mac honestly could have burst into tears at the irony of it all but she kept herself together, rubbing her temples, her heart already crushing at what she had to reveal.

“God that feels good to get off my chest,” Heather said, a hint of a smile on her face. “I’m terrified and I don’t really understand it myself, Heather. All I know is that I like Veronica… a lot, and I’m ready to fully tell her that by asking her out, and I feel good for telling you. I trust you. You’re ok with this right?”

Her happiness had left her voice slightly as she became more fearful, surveying Mac. Mac let out a small whimper as she tried her very best to stop herself from bursting into tears. She turned away from Heather, not bearing to even look at her as she spoke.

“Listen, Heather-“

“Heather, why aren’t you excited about this? You were the one who always wanted us to be closer to one another. Are you not ok with this?”

“Heather it’s not that, it’s-“

“Because things are finally going well! I’m happy, truly happy, and I suppose I owe it to you so thank you! I’ve spoken to you about stuff like this before, about, well… girls.”

“Heather-“

“It’s just that I’m being myself now. I’m not pretending to be someone else. Now, I can enjoy prom with someone I like and who likes me!”

“Heather just listen to me for a second-“

“I mean, I’ve dreamt of prom night since I was a girl, and I get to spend it with someone really special to me, and-“

“It was a bet!” Mac roared, surprised that such a strong, booming voice could come from someone like herself.

Heather stopped dead in her tracks, caught off guard by the outburst, as she stared at Mac. Then, she burst into laughter, a slightly puzzled look on her face.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” She chuckled, shaking her head as if she had not just been told a shocking revelation.

“Veronica is only doing this for a bet… a bet to get you to ask her to prom.”

Heather laughed even more, placing a relieved hand on her chest. “Oh my God, I thought it was something serious! Yeah, who told you that one, Kurt and Ram? I’m sorry but you really are gullible sometimes, you shouldn’t always believe what you’re told.”

“Heather told me. I’m sorry Heather but it’s true.”

“Heather? She’s just trying to stir trouble as always. Ha, a bet! Of course, she’s not only doing this for a bet-“

Then she stopped. And she thought. Veronica suddenly being very close to her after they’d just been fighting, her doing some obvious flirting, her then trying to make her jealous with JD, JD saying that thing about it being ‘three weeks tomorrow’, Veronica always whispering and scheming with that bitch Betty Finn and greasy trench coat boy. It was all a bet. A joke. Veronica never cared, making Heather fall for her was just a bit of entertainment.

Veronica couldn’t explain to her why she had acted so strangely recently... this was why.

And Veronica even had the audacity to be pissed that time when Heather said they weren't friends when all along Veronica never even cared! Heather had gone over there and literally begged for her forgiveness, Veronica was probably laughing her ass off afterwards.

Heather could feel the warm, bitter tears beginning to travel down her cheeks, and she didn’t even try to stop them or hide them. She felt numb and emotionless. She choked out a quiet sob as Mac rushed over to grab her in a tight embrace. Is this what heartbreak felt like? It certainly lived up to its name; her heart felt like it was being grasped, squeezed, utterly mutilated before it was torn out of her chest and stamped on as if it was dirt. She felt her body start to tremble, whether it was from sadness, anger or shock, she didn’t know. She didn’t care.

She truly cared for Veronica. Nobody had actually seen her for who she truly was, nobody had cared enough. Except for veronica. Nobody had treated her like a good person, or had been encouraging and supportive and kind to her through everything, except for Veronica. Nobody had seen her for more than her face and body and reputation. Except for veronica. Veronica had seen her as a person and it made her feel wanted and safe.

It wasn’t real. None of it was real.

That... That... That fucking bitch!

Complete and utter hate-fuelled white-hot rage coursed through her entire body and flooded her veins as she pushed Mac away and began to grit her teeth and she clench her fists, feeling as if a vein was growing on her forehead. She was going to fucking destroy Veronica, make her pay for ever daring to cross her. A part of her was nagging her to stop, telling her that at the end of the day, despite everything else, she still cared deeply for Veronica and didn’t want to hurt her, but it was completely overshadowed by the part of her that was craving some sort of revenge. She debated storming over to that traitor’s house and dealing with her then and there, but she decided against it. She could have a bit of fun first. She was going to be extremely cold towards Veronica, so much so that Veronica would be confused and hurt, just as Heather was. Once the bet was over, and Veronica had lost and had to do her hopefully mortifying forfeit, Heather would embarrass her further in front of everyone by revealing what had been going on. Heather would make her grovel and pathetically apologise in front of the whole school, and then socially destroy her.

“Every bet has a forfeit, right, Heather?” Heather said in a low and dangerous tone.

Slightly taken aback and a little bit frightened, Mac replied with “Uh, I guess so?”

“Well, what’s the forfeit for this?”

“I- I’m not sure…”

“Well whatever it is, I hope that bitch is ready for it. I’m going to make it so there’s no way she wins and she has to do whatever sick thing that sleazeball in a trench coat has come up with.”

Now as much as Mac was angry with Veronica and the situation, this all seemed to be spiralling out of control very quickly. “Are you sure? Maybe it would be better to settle this privately…”

“Shut up, Heather.” Heather commanded, flaring up and seeming to revert to her old self instantly, “Are you fucking questioning me?”

“No!” Mac squeaked hastily.

“Good. Veronica played with my heart, nobody does that and gets away with it. She actually spent all that time pretending she cared whilst she and Jesse fucking James laughed behind my back. I’m going to destroy her.”

“I’m not trying to justify what Veronica did,” Mac clarified slowly and calmly, “But you need to keep in mind that she did this bet when she was pissed at you. You guys were fighting and she was angry.”

“Well, that just clarifies that this whole thing, everything good that’s happened to me recently, was all actually just Veronica getting revenge on me. The fact that she was angry just confirms that this was made to really hurt me.”

“But-“

“No, Heather.” Heather cut her off and marched over to the counter. “No more questions. No more counter-arguments. I’m doing this, so are you gonna help me or not?”

Mac thought for a second. She didn’t really want to, but Veronica did need some sort of punishment, and she couldn’t just leave Heather on her own, she needed a friend right now. Mac gave a slightly unsure nod and stayed silent, just deciding to go along with whatever Heather planned. A cruel smile spread across Heather’s face as she narrowed her eyes in contemplation.

“Good. We won’t tell Duke, that traitor can fuck off, she kept this from me as well. I’ll deal with her later.”

Not wasting a second, Heather searched to find a notepad and pen. Mac simply watched her, hating how complicated this had all suddenly gotten. Heather came back and glared down at Mac, her angry face betraying an inner sense of hurt that she was desperately trying to hide. Mac didn’t mention it.

“Right, Heather.” Heather began, whipping out her pen and grasping it tightly. “Let’s brainstorm.”

Mac nodded, sluggishly walking over to join Heather, her head hung. Heather grinned again, feeling like a true Demon Queen as she plotted Veronica’s demise. A part of her longed to just talk to Veronica, try and get some sort of explanation, maybe even work things out. But she was also hurt and angry, and she wanted revenge. Veronica only had until tomorrow afternoon until the bet was over and she had to suffer the embarrassment and the forfeit.

She was going to make it absolute hell for her.

Chapter Text

The looming sight of Westerburg High School had never terrified her so much.

Veronica had maintained her confidence throughout the three week period, but now it was all becoming far too real, and the reality of the possible consequences were truly dawning on her. To make matters worse, she hadn’t been into school in the morning, as she had a free period and her Mom has needed her help, so it was already – she checked her swatch – 11 am.

One hour… that was it.

Everything she had said and done in the last three weeks, every decision she had made, every person she had hurt or helped, it all led up to this.

It all depended on Heather at this point. Would she ask Veronica in time? Would she ask Veronica at all?

She felt her hands become slightly clammy with sweat and quickly rubbed them on her skirt as she traipsed through the entrance. She gulped as she stepped into the hallway with trepidation and her nerves heightened at the sight of the Heathers, bunched together next to the lockers. Putting on her best brave face and giving a bright smile, Veronica walked over. That smile dropped instantly when she saw their reactions to her arrival.

Duke was giving her an accusatory glare, which wasn’t surprising considering the revelation from the previous night, however what did surprise her was that there was an element of confusion in her eyes. That was another thing to try and sort out, it seemed.

Mac’s expression almost broke her heart as much as it surprised her. She was shocked, angry and betrayed, looking at Veronica as if she were a stranger. As if she apparently knew nothing about her.

Heather’s expression, though, made her whole body freeze as if she were being turned to stone.

Her eyes had never looked so cold.

It sent a jolt of icy terror through her veins as her brain turned to mush. She was so used to seeing the sparkling, warm, caring eyes, the teasing grin she had grown to adore, not- not this. It crushed her, absolutely crushed her.

Whatever was going on, it couldn’t be good.

Heather couldn’t have found out about the bet, surely?

Her stomach dropped at the very thought of it, so she hastily shunned the thoughts from her mind. She couldn’t jump to any conclusions just yet, she needed to work on damage control because in less than an hour, the way things were going, her life would be over as would her relationship with Heather. This could not be happening.

Veronica slowly walked into the lion’s den, the three majestic lionesses turning on her and glaring daggers at her as if she were a mere, pathetic antelope. She gulped and gave a cautious wave, trying her best to smile, despite her fear.

“Hi, guys.” She began slowly, hating how Heather’s lips curled maliciously at her words. “What’s going on?”

For a moment nobody said anything. Heather continued to stare into her soul, Mac stared at the floor, her lower lip quivering slightly, and Duke was analysing the other two, her eyes narrowing in thought. It seemed she was just as in the dark as Veronica was towards their behaviour. Seemingly grasping the fact that the other two weren’t going to answer, Duke spoke up, her voice still unsure.

“Yeah… not much. I forgot to ask, did you and Heather have fun at the mall the other day?”

Veronica gave her a grateful look. Duke’s question had reassured her somewhat, at least there was someone who wasn’t completely against her.

“Oh, yeah, it was great! Heather bought this pair of boots, and we were there for hours, weren’t we?”

It was an attempt to try and communicate with Heather, try to gain some kind of reaction out of her rather than utter disdain, but it was to no avail. Heather completely ignored her, staring at her nails with a blank expression. This caused Mac to pale slightly, biting her lip as her eyes became clouded with worry. Duke looked completely bewildered, as did Veronica. This was serious, Heather was so obviously avoiding anything to do with her, but why?

She knew. She definitely knew. There was no doubt now. Duke had to have told her about the bet, there was no other explanation. Although… that didn’t explain Duke’s confusion. Just what was going on here and why did it have to happen now of all times?

“Heather, what was it you wanted to talk with me about then?” Veronica attempted, her eyes pleading. She needed some kind of answer, anything really.

Heather met her desperate gaze, and Veronica could see something flicker in her eyes for a second. It was nearly unmissable, and anyone else probably would have taken no notice, but Veronica saw it. Veronica noticed. Veronica knew that Heather had faltered, her icy façade dropping for a millisecond. However, it was straight back up again, and she simply scoffed and marched away, dragging Mac in tow, her red talons digging into the smaller girl’s wrist slightly. Just as she left, she turned to give Veronica a vicious glare that left her completely stunned.

Feeling her anger flare up, Veronica turned on Duke accusingly. “Just what is going on here?”

“Beats me!” Duke declared, folding her arms defensively, “They were kind of off with me this morning too, but not as bad as with you. The moment they looked at you the way they did, I knew something bad had happened, and they weren’t just annoyed at me. You have just as good of an idea as to what’s going on as I do.”

Veronica groaned in frustration, she had hoped that Duke would at least have some answers. She couldn’t believe that Heather was acting like this again, it had been tiring enough the last time she had suddenly acted weird with Veronica, but at least she hadn’t been super malicious, she just snapped. This was purposeful, Heather wanted every single one of her glares to destroy Veronica.

Despite what Duke had insisted, Veronica was sure that she must have said something to Heather, what other explanation was there?

“Don’t give me that, Heather, you’ve told her about the bet. You must have done!”

“I swear I didn’t!” Duke protested defiantly, “Like I said, Heather was acting strange with me too, and so was Heather! I swear to you, I have no idea what’s going on.”

Duke was right, she couldn’t have told Heather, why would she be mad at her if that was the case? And what the hell did Mac have to do with this, why did she look at Veronica with such betrayal?

“So it’s not the bet?” Veronica questioned in confusion, running a hand through her hair, “Well what did I do then?”

“Maybe she’s just going through something.” Duke suggested, though Veronica could tell that even she didn’t believe it. “We know that she isn’t the best at dealing with her emotions, maybe it all got too much for her.”

Veronica pondered this for a moment before shaking her head. “No, this is different. Last time, she just acted weird around me and then eventually snapped and blew up at me when it all built up. This time, she’s angry at me. She wants to hurt me. Something has happened, and if she hasn’t found out about the bet then I have no idea what it could be. God, why has this happened again? And why now?”

Duke swallowed thickly, actually seeming worried for Veronica, to the girl’s surprise. “Alright well worst case scenario, you have to do a forfeit, right? Well it can’t be that bad.”

Veronica let out a cold laugh and scoffed. “I have to tell Heather I hate her.”

“Shit, really?”

“Oh yeah. Honestly, I would just refuse to do it but… this is JD we’re talking about. He’s desperate to tear me and Heather apart and if I don’t go along with his little scheme then he’ll be furious. And with the way he’s been recently, I hate to think what he’ll do.”

Nodding slowly, Duke sighed, realising just why Veronica was so worried. That sounded awful, it was the very definition of a lose-lose situation. She either did the forfeit and broke Heather’s heart, or she didn’t do the forfeit and was forced to endure whatever shit that freak would pull, which could harm her or Heather. He pulled a gun on Kurt and Ram for God’s sake, and that was when he was even less unhinged.

“So… we have to fix this then, don’t we?”

“Pretty much. So, Heather, any bright ideas to help me out of this mess I’ve got myself in?”

Lightly tapping her finger on her folded arms, Duke suggested “Why don’t you just talk to Heather?”

Veronica shook her head. “How can I talk to her when she takes one look at me, ignores everything I say and storms off? You know what, I need to go have a think about this, I’ll see you later.”

Without another word, Veronica angrily stormed off to God knows where, leaving Duke to wonder how the hell she managed to get herself involved in this shit show.

And just how the hell was she going to get herself out?

Admittedly, that hadn’t been fun for Heather.

She loved putting her power over people, she adored getting petty revenge over the people who had wronged her, and she loved being an ice cold bitch at the best of times. But she didn’t like hurting Veronica. When her deep brown eyes had widened at her anger, and her usual strong, witty, assertive persona dropped immediately as she became frightened and confused, Heather wanted to stop everything right then and there. She had wanted to just forget about this and salvage whatever they had left. She didn’t want to lose Veronica.

But then she remembered what was really going on here. Veronica didn’t actually care, who’s to say all this wasn’t just an act to try and get Heather back so she could still win the stupid bet? Well, she wouldn’t fall for it, and no matter how much the thoughts of Veronica dorky laugh, or Veronica’s teasing smirk, or Veronica’s brilliant mind, or Veronica’s wonderful heart came into her mind, she would stay strong. Nobody took advantage of her and got away with it, not even Veronica Winona Sawyer.

Mac had been quiet the whole time, only letting out a few little squeaks when Heather flared up in anger, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been involved. She knew how Heather was really feeling, and how much it was hurting her to act this way, and how much Veronica was being crushed by it, and how Duke was unfairly being affected as well, and she despised it. She never wanted this, she never wanted any of this. She could see now that maybe Duke and Veronica had been right, maybe she never should have said anything. As much as Heather deserved to know, it seemed like this had only ruined everything, and she was really beginning to regret not listening.

All she knew was she couldn’t handle this on her own. She was still angry with Betty and Veronica, and Heather wouldn’t stand for any conversation revolving Veronica, so that left just one person. Duke would probably be mad at her for going behind her back, but she’d be the most understanding at this time. Besides, Mac trusted Duke more than anyone else, and she felt safe talking to her, despite everything. And so, she sped through the hallways, blurting out quick apologies to anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way of the abnormally strong cheerleader. She reached Duke, panting slightly, and threw her arms around her. Duke let out a noise of surprise and stiffened at first, before eventually melting into the hug and patting Mac’s back reassuringly. After a few quiet moments of Mac choking back her sobs and Duke simply comforting her, they pulled apart, Duke gently wiping away the blonde’s tears.

“I’m- I’m sorry.” Mac blubbered, still holding onto Duke’s arm. “I didn’t listen to you, I- I told Heather.”

“What?” Duke exclaimed pulling away from Mac, “Why? I told you not to!”

“I know! I know. I’m sorry, I just felt like Heather deserved to know but I didn’t really consider the consequences like you and Veronica did and now everyone’s sad and nobody knows what’s really going on and the shit has hit the fan and I’m scared, Heather!”

She quickly gasped for air after that long sentence and Duke sighed, holding Mac close again and gently raking her fingers through the bouncy, curly hair. She quietly shushed her, knowing that that always helped when Mac was upset like this. Eventually, her breathing became more even and her eyes more dry as she stood up a little bit straighter.

“It’s ok, Heather you don’t need to be sorry.” Duke promised her kindly, giving a small smile of encouragement. “I get why you did it, you wanted to be a good friend. That’s admirable. But now we need to work on how we fix this. There’s not much time left at all and shit had really hit the fan here.”

“You’re right.” Mac agreed, sniffling slightly. “Why don’t we tell Veronica that Heather knows it’s a bet?”

“We could, but that doesn’t really solve much. Heather will still be pissed, will still believe that Veronica doesn’t really like her, Veronica will still lose the bet and have to do the forfeit.”

“What’s the forfeit?”

“She has to tell Heather she hates her. It’s awful. Plus, Heather will believe it more than ever now.”

“Oh no!” Mac cried, clasping her hands over her mouth dramatically. “That’s awful! I thought it would just be bad for Veronica personally, I had no idea it would badly affect Heather too!”

“Unfortunately so. I don’t think doing anything with Veronica will help much right now, so let’s focus on Heather. How about we try to convince her that Veronica actually does like her and they should sort this out between themselves? That could be a good start.”

Mac quickly nodded her head in agreement. “You go do that. I’ll talk to Betty, let her know what’s going on.”

“Alright, let’s do this, Heather.”

Duke wasn’t surprised when she almost immediately found Heather, sat sulking, simmering in her own anger, sat down in the cafeteria. Mentally preparing herself, Duke confidently walked over, Heather’s head rising up immediately as her eyes narrowed.

“What do you want?” She spat, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Duke fought the urge to roll her eyes and, in her signature low, monotonous voice, replied “I know that you know about the bet.”

“Oh really? That’s nice. Now go fuck yourself.”

Duke didn’t even dignify that with a response. She simply continued on, knowing that this was all a front, and she just needed to focus on deescalating the situation right now.

“Listen, you’re mad and I get that. I’m sorry for not telling you, but I knew that you’d respond by pulling some petty shit like this.”

Heather scoffed in indignation, jumping up out of her seat and towering over Duke condescendingly. “Excuse me? Veronica fucking played me, so I’m getting her back. Nobody plays me. I'm going to break her like she did to me. Now, and I repeat, go fuck yourself. You’re a dirty little traitor.”

Now, it was important to note that Duke knew Heather. Not just knew her, knew her. She knew that Heather was acting confident and aggressive and defensive, but inside she was just badly hurt, and she didn’t know how else to deal with it. She could see Heather’s unease, proving she didn’t really want to do this, so Duke wanted to show that she didn’t have to.

“Listen, Heather.” She began calmly following a long sigh, “I get that you’re angry, and you have a right to be angry – furious even – but this is really hurting Veronica.”

“I know!” Heather barked out a malicious laugh. “Brilliant, isn’t it? Gives me some grim satisfaction in a way, I’m getting some compensation, some revenge.”

“No, Heather that wasn’t my point. My point is that this is really hurting Veronica and so, in turn, it’s hurting you as well. This is practically self-sabotage. Plus, doesn’t this mean anything to you? The fact that she’s upset by you acting this way shows she must care about you, right?”

“No way, she’ll just be upset that her scheme is all falling apart, and I’m refusing to be embarrassed or humiliated by her.”

Duke clenched her jaw, muttering an exasperated “Why am I even doing this?” Before sitting down next to where Heather was and gesturing for her to join her again. Heather slowly sat down again, but shuffling away from Duke slightly.

“Alright.” Duke said, looking at Heather seriously, “I don’t know why I’m even bothering as none of this is my problem, but I suppose, despite everything, a part of me wants you to be happy and I know, despite whatever you think, that means you being with Veronica. I’m not denying that at the start, this bet was probably made to hurt you, to embarrass you, and to maybe even ruin you. But that doesn’t matter because what matters is what this is really about now. It’s different, Heather. I can see in lessons, when it’s nothing to do with the bet, Veronica stares at you with such adoration from across the classroom, her dreamy, heart-eyed expression looking as if she were admiring a flawless goddess. When you’re ranting about something silly, or rambling about something you care about, she hangs onto your every word and looks as if you’re speaking the most beautiful and intelligent words known to man. And when you give a silly little jab, she pretends to be angry, but secretly, she’s biting back a shy smile and hiding her face. Now, it’s gross, but my point is why would she do that if she didn’t care about you? She likes you, Heather. I understand that what she did was shitty, and you can choose to do whatever you want, but just giving her the cold shoulder to get petty revenge, and not sitting down and talking and explaining your feelings is unhealthy as hell and you both are going to get seriously hurt, I mean it. So please, Heather, just rethink it ok?”

Wordlessly, Duke walked away, leaving Heather to stare after her in surprise for what felt like eternity. Her words resonated inside her mind endlessly no matter how much she battled against them, and Heather hated the fact that she was starting to think Duke might just be right. It made sense; all things considered.

Did Veronica actually like her? Was this more than just a game to her? Was Heather making a huge mistake acting this way instead of trying to salvage what they had left?

Then, all of a sudden, the battle against her thoughts was valiantly won, and they were shoved away as bitterness took over once more. No, Veronica hurt her, she didn’t deserve Heather’s forgiveness. It didn’t matter whether she was fucking hopelessly in love with Heather or hated her guts, she still did a shitty thing and Heather refused to give in.

Duke had betrayed Heather, and so had Veronica. She refused to take Duke’s advice and she sure as hell wouldn’t talk to Veronica.

No matter how much she secretly longed to.

____________________________

Betty was scribbling mindlessly in her notebook when a storming Heather McNamara came over and stood boldly, hands placed on her hips, mustering up the angriest face she could. It didn’t really work. Betty raised her eyebrows in confusion, gently closing the book. After Duke finding out everything last night, Betty had left Veronica’s house and hadn’t spoken to anyone since, she couldn’t bare it. She wanted to stay out of it all, for her own health, and just wait it out until it was all over. She had begun to share Veronica’s confidence, she couldn’t help but agree that it was very likely Heather was going to ask her to prom, so surely there was nothing to worry about.

Or so she thought.

“Heather…” Betty started slowly, noticing Mac’s eyes were nervous, a contrast to her stance. “What’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be with the Heathers? It’s almost lunch.”

It’s almost the end of the bet.

Betty couldn’t disguise the fact that her stomach dropped at the reminder her brain had served. Perhaps she wasbeing too overly confident, as Veronica had been.

“I know everything.” Mac announced in her clear-cut, no-nonsense, Cheerleading Captain voice, “The bet, the fact that it ends in… just over ten minutes, the fact that you and Veronica have been using me this entire time!”

“You- you know?!” Betty practically shouted, jumping up from her seat.

“Yes I know, and I just want to say-“

“This is amazing!” Betty bellowed excitedly, grabbing Mac’s arm. “I finally have somebody I can confide in about this! The only other people who knew were JD and Veronica, of course, but now I have you too! And you can help out now!”

Mac stared in shock for a moment before frowning and yanking her arm out of Betty’s grasp and stepping back slightly. “What- no! No, no, that’s not what this is about! I’m mad at you, Betty, how could you do this to me? I thought that we were actually friends but you tricked me into helping with your little plan to break my best friend’s heart! You lied to me, Betty. You made me think that we were working together to help Veronica and Heather, but it turns out that you, Veronica, and that weird JD kid were just playing with people’s feelings and seeing how many other people you could hurt along the way. Well congrats because Heather’s pissed, Veronica’s distraught, I’m feeling betrayed, Duke is panicking, and I’m assuming Jason Dean isn’t too happy with the situation either.”

Betty’s guilty expression was hidden as she turned away, scratching the back of her neck nervously. “Listen, Heather, I’m sorry for lying, I really am, I’ve felt awful about being involved in all this, but I desperately needed your help, and we couldn’t risk Heather finding out!”

“Well that worked well, didn’t it?”

Betty’s guilt quickly turned to confusion. “Excuse me? What do you mean?”

“Heather knows everything, I told her. She’s been sabotaging Veronica in revenge, and so Veronica’s having a breakdown somewhere, and everything’s gone to shit.”

“Hold on, you told her? What the f-“

“I couldn’t lie to her!” Mac interrupted hysterically, throwing up her arms. “She’s my best friend! But in some ways I guess I kind of regret it, she hasn’t dealt with it like I’d hoped, and now everyone’s fighting and I just-“

“Hey, hey, Heather, breathe.” Betty said soothingly, carefully holding Mac and gently rubbing her arms. “It’s alright, we can fix this, I promise you. I’m so incredibly sorry for hurting you, and hurting Heather, but I’d like to make it up to you, if you’ll let me?”

Mac swallowed thickly and thought for a moment before giving a sigh and a dejected nod, “I’m still pissed, but I need your help, Betty.”

Betty smiled sweetly, carefully detaching herself from Mac but keeping a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Of course, and I need yours. Let’s focus on figuring this out. Have you tried speaking to Heather?”

“No, I haven’t, but Duke did. It was just to try and reason with her, so there’s no point in us doing that again.“ Mac lit up slightly, seemingly getting an idea. “Hey, we could tell Heather what’s about to happen! With the forfeit and stuff!”

Betty nodded in agreement, liking the idea. “Alright, so where is Heather?”

Mac looked sheepish for a moment. “Ah I didn’t really think that through. I’m not sure, like I said, Duke went to go see her, I came to you.”

Betty frowned, pushing up her glasses. “Right, so the bet ends in ten minutes and we don’t know where Heather is… seems like that’s out of the question. We can either spend the rest of the time trying to find her or we can go and try and talk with Veronica, I know where she is so it’ll save time. We can tell Veronica that Heather knows about what’s going on and we can try and get her to talk to Heather in time before the forfeit, but only if we’re quick.”

“Gosh I hope that works.” Mac said sadly. “Seems like the only choice we have. Again, Duke tried to reason with Heather so we can hope that’ll at least make her slightly more open to talking with Veronica.”

“We can hope. Let’s go get Veronica now without wasting any more precious time, and hope that Heather Chandler, the most petty, grudge-holding person to ever live may just forgive her and ask her to prom before the time runs out in order to save herself and Veronica from more heartbreak.”

“Yeah… basically.” Mac mumbled, not seeming very confident.

Betty quickly took Mac down to the corridor to where Veronica was.

Or, at least, where she thought Veronica was.

“Where the heck is she?” Betty spoke in alarm, searching the area. “She was just here!”

“Oh no!” Mac squeaked, eyes widening in panic. “We’re running out of time. This is hopeless!”

Betty shook her head, determined.

“No.” She deadpanned, whipping round to face Mac. “You go down that way, I’ll go this way. If you see anyone, tell them to join in to find her. If you do, scrap trying to get her to reason with Heather, there’s not enough time, just stop her from doing anything stupid. We can’t let Veronica say she hates Heather, we just can’t. If you find Heather, tell her about the forfeit. Pray, Heather, pray we can do this because we have to.”

Mac faltered for a moment, gulping before nodding quickly and rushing down the hallway. Betty bolted it down another, begging that she could find either Heather or Veronica.

It only took her a minute or two to find someone, but it wasn’t someone she was too pleased to see. The lanky, dark and sulking Jason Dean was hunched over in a secluded corner, glaring daggers at anyone passing by and checking his watch occasionally. Betty could hazard a guess as to why. She reluctantly raced over to him, knowing that as much as she despised him, she needed all the help she could get. He glanced up at her in confusion, standing straighter and losing the edge to his glare somewhat.

“What are you doing here?” He asked in that chilling, dead, rough voice of his. “The bet ends in a few minutes, shouldn’t you be with Veronica? Has she won yet, or… is it happening?”

“If by ‘it’ you mean the forfeit, then yeah, probably, because Heather found out and everything’s ruined and I’m having a last, desperate attempt at helping the people close to me. She’s lost the stupid bet, so get your ass down that corridor over there and try to help me find her. I don’t care if you want to see the chaos, or if you want to see Heather Chandler get hurt, because I’m not afraid of you anymore, JD. You’re going to help me, for Veronica’s sake if nothing else because I know, however fucked up you are, you care about her and as much as her being hurt will help you, it’ll damage you to see it. So please… help?”

She sucked in a deep breath after her long rant, leaving JD stunned, yet conflicted. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to walk away, but then he gritted his teeth and gave a small nod, letting out a low sigh.

“Fine.” He grumbled begrudgingly, looking as if it caused him physical pain to agree to it, and turning to walk down the corridor. “But when the clock hits 12, I’m coming down to the cafeteria.”

Betty couldn’t stand in surprise for long, and quickly continued on her way, making a mental note to be proud of herself. She was really starting to stand up for herself and not let people walk all over her, and as horrible as this whole situation had been, she believed she had grown from it.

She just hoped it could have a happy ending.

“Heather, Heather, Heather, Heather, Heather-“

Mac’s mumbled repeating of her name could be heard from miles away. Duke turned around in confusion as Mac bounded over and roughly grabbed her, pulling her close.

“Woah, Heather what-“

“Help me!” Mac begged, gripping onto Duke’s collar desperately. “The bet is ending, like, now, help me find Veronica and Heather!”

“Are you kidding me, we have no time left! I haven’t seen Heather since I spoke to her, and I haven’t seen Veronica in ages either! Have they spoken to each other, is it all sorted out?”

“What do you think?” Mac replied, feeling a lump in her throat. “Betty and I are just trying to find either of them to stop this. God, I hope she’s found them.”

Duke hugged Mac slightly, feeling herself become fearful too. This… really wasn’t going to end well. Mac’s muffled sobs made her heart begin to ache as she lightly stroked her hair. She checked to see if anyone was around and, in finding that they were alone, hugged her tighter and squeezed her eyes shut. What was going to happen now? Were the Heathers finished? She doubted Heather would ever be the same again, she cared for Veronica more than she would ever admit and she had never had her heart broken before. She was beginning to change, slowly, very slowly, but it was there. She had even stopped berating Duke as much, but now she would be aggravatingly worse. Duke would be kicked out no doubt due to her not telling Heather, Veronica… well she was out of the question, and Mac and Heather wouldn’t be as close anymore, not now that Heather would undoubtedly push everyone away again.

The sound of the bell brought her back to reality and she had never hated  lunch period as much as she did now. It was 12 pm.

The bet was over.

_____________________________

Betty let out an audible gasp at the bell, feeling her heart collapse. It was over. It was really over.

The last three weeks of her life had rekindled her friendship with Veronica, brought a new friendship with Mac, brought a new enemy with JD, had caused her happiness, sadness, pain and stress, and now… nothing. That was it.

Shit.

She wanted to be optimistic and hope that Mac or JD had found either Heather or Veronica but she wasn’t hopeful. The forfeit was going to happen, the bet had been lost, and everything she was dreading had come true. Still, if she could find Veronica in the next few moments, she could at least try to convince her to not do anything rash, but she didn’t know where to even begin looking, she was nowhere to be found.

She might as well just go to lunch at this point, it was helpless trying to find-

Wait. Lunch.

Veronica was in the cafeteria. Of course she was in the damn cafeteria.

A weedy, greasy nerd clumsily ran over to her, a slight lisp in his voice as he spoke. “You’re Veronica Sawyer’s friend, right? She’s in the cafeteria-“

So she was right, then.

“-and Heather Chandler’s there too. There’s a crowd of people, I think something’s happening.”

Betty didn’t think twice before running as quick as she could to the cafeteria, throwing a quick thank you over her shoulder to the boy. Maybe there was still time to stop this. Gosh, why was Veronica doing it with an audience? That made this so much more difficult, and it made no sense, and Veronica was smart, she wouldn’t be dumb enough to tell Heather she hated her in front of everyone, right? Unless… she had a plan?

There was no time to worry about all that now, she just needed to pray that she was there in time.

Her hopes were shattered as she stepped into the cafeteria and saw almost the entire student body expectantly watching Veronica and Heather in a sort of standoff. Betty couldn’t get involved in that, not with everyone watching, so she felt her heart sink as she realised she was powerless to stop this, and was forced to just observe the chaos ensue. Looking around, she spotted Duke, Mac and JD all congregated, watching the scene with bated breath. Betty weaved through the crowd to get to them and stood by Mac’s side, repeating words of affirmation to herself that this was going to be ok.

Veronica stood boldly, staring right at Heather, her face showing no signs of fear. Heather herself looked unbothered, but the ways her eyes shifted to all the people around her, watching her, waiting for the blow up, conveyed in inner fear that she hid from the public eye. She had lost everything except for her reputation, she dreaded that Veronica would ruin that for her as well.

“Veronica, what are you doing?” Heather spat, trying to keep her voice low to avoid anyone overhearing.

“Why are you acting like this?” Veronica countered, not sharing Heather’s same careful tone. “What’s happened?”

“Ugh why would I even waste my time trying to explain to you? You don’t fucking understand anything, Sawyer. Just leave me alone, you’ve done enough.”

“No, because there’s something I need to do. In hindsight, it’s something I should have done long ago. I’m finally being truthful. 3 weeks ago… I made a bet with JD. The bet was to get you to ask me to prom, and I’ve never been more ashamed of myself than when I agreed to that. I messed with you, I hurt you, I broke your trust, and I’m sorry. Today, I lost this bet.”

Heather stayed quiet for a moment, showing no signs of shock and simply glaring at Veronica, before she spoke in a low, harsh, venomous tone. “You ruined everything for me, Veronica.”

Veronica chose not to dwell on why Heather was not more taken aback by the huge revelation, and chose instead to focus on her words. Looking into Heather’s broken eyes, she felt as if someone had taken her heart and thrown it on the floor, stamping on it until it was a pitiful heap of pain.

Ok so maybe she was being slightly dramatic, but she had learnt that right now, the best course of action was to not overthink too much, whether that be her melodramatic thoughts or her embarrassing actions. Actually, it probably wasn’t, but if she thought too much she felt like she would back out and she couldn’t do that, not now, not after coming so far.

“Heather, please listen to me for a second-“

“No, Veronica, I’m done. You made some stupid fucking bet with your greasy boyfriend to play with my emotions. Nothing you say could ever make me forgive you for that.”

People were talking now. They where whispering, muttering, creating crazy rumours that would soon spread like wildfire.

“Heather, I don’t care about the bet!” Veronica explained, “I haven’t for a while now, I’ve just been telling myself I do. All I care about now is you. And us.”

There was a collective gasp at that and the volumes of the mutters became louder. Heather clenched her jaw and scowled angrily at Veronica.

“What the hell are you saying? Are you mad? They’re going to eat you alive.” She hissed, eyes darting around the faces of the gathering.

“Who cares? I mean it, I don’t care anymore!”

“Well you should, because you’ve lost and you need to do whatever stupid forfeit that edge lord came up with.”

“Oh I intend to.” Veronica stated assertively. “Right now.”

Betty paled. She was really going to do this, wasn’t she? In front of everyone.

Veronica ignored the swarm of people and the drone of constant chatter and instead focused on Heather’s eyes, blue and cold, now though Veronica could remember when they were bright, and caring, and deep and intelligent. She focused on that feeling, grabbed hold of it, and use it to keep herself afloat.

“You’re right. I was such a bitch to play with your emotions, and I sure as hell don’t deserve your forgiveness. But that doesn’t change the fact that what I’m about to do… I have to do it.”

At this Betty perked up and tried to get Veronica’s attention. “Hey, Ronnie, you don’t have to do this-“

“No, I want to hear what she has to say for herself.” Heather announced, folding her arms and tilting up her head, staring down at Veronica.

Unphased, Veronica continued, her voice clear and unwavering. She was prepared to do this. No matter how confident she had seemed, a part of her had always known that it would come to this. And she deserved it, every bit of it, she knew that now. Seeing how hurt Heather was, how much this had all affected her compared to how chilled and uncaring Veronica had been about it. It showed she should’ve taken this more seriously and was now paying a heavy price, but she still wasn’t suffering as badly as Heather, and that was the worst of it.

“I truly am sorry Heather and I really don’t know how this next bit is going to go down honestly. You may kill me, may not, who knows, but a bet is a bet. You beat me fair and square. The forfeit that I had to do was to say that I hated you, Heather. There’s no way in hell that I’m doing that, I’ve ruined this enough already, so I want to do the original one. The original forfeit was to ask you to prom in front of everyone and admit that I have feelings for you. Now, originally before the bet, that seemed like hell. Not only did I not have feelings for you, but I would be destroyed. Well, I still might be destroyed, but when it comes to confessing my feelings for you, Heather....”

She trailed off, smiling warmly at Heather, and for a moment, the world faded away and it felt like they were both just wo normal teenagers, alone, together and happy.

“…there’s nothing I want to do more. So I know I’m a huge fucking idiot, but I’m a huge fucking idiot who really likes you. Like… a lot. And this is cheesy, I know, but I’m kind of hoping you like my cheesy-ness for once? Hell, maybe I’m crazy for even trying this, and I’m sure all of those guys will be gossiping about this, you might socially destroy me, but I don’t care. The old forfeit was to break your heart, and I’ve already done that, so now I want to try my best to mend it rather than make it worse. And I don’t want to hurt you anymore than I already have, Heather, so this is the forfeit I’m doing.  And I know I really don’t deserve to even ask this, but here goes nothing.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath, preparing for the worst. When she spoke, her voice rang out loud and clear.

“Heather Chandler, will you go to prom with me?”

It was like the largest weight had been taken off her shoulders as she breathed out. That was it, the bet was now officially over. Now she just had to pray that she got incredibly lucky and Heather somehow forgave her, but she was prepared for the rejection. Lord knows she deserved it, and if it did happen, she’d accept that one hundred percent and just hope that she could at least stay friends with Heather, she still wanted her in her life.

The room went so silent you could hear a pin drop. All eyes were on the demon queen as she tried to form some sort of coherent response. JD’s jaw was clenched and he looked like he may explode at any given moment, Betty hadn’t taken a breath in at least a minute as she nervously tapped her leg with her finger as she waited, Mac was shaking with both fear and excitement, eyes darting between Heather and Veronica, and Duke’s expression stayed neutral though her eyes were hopeful. Ram wasn’t quite sure whether he found it hot or gross, either made Veronica’s skin crawl, but Kurt was giving her a look of what seemed to be encouragement. It seemed there really was hope for the meatheads yet.

Heather felt herself grow hot with either embarrassment or shame or fear, or perhaps a combination of all three. People were staring. People were talking. Alarm bells began to ring and her only thought was ”They’re talking about you. Mocking you. Ruining you. You need to get out.”

And so, in a sudden panic, she ran out of the room, just needing to get away before she threw up or fainted or something equally as embarrassing. Sh needed to breathe for a second, and she needed to be away from everyone for once.

“Shit.” Veronica breathed before bolting after her.

The room erupted into noises of shock, confusion, mockery and glee. Betty got up to go after Veronica but JD’s firm grip on her arm held her back.

“Leave it.” He mumbled with a pained look, his eyes trained to the floor. “They have stuff they need to sort out.”

“Holy shit.” Duke said breathlessly, turning to the group. “Anyone know what the fuck’s going on?”

“I hope Heather’s alright…” Mac deliberated tearfully. “She’s gone through so much, it must be awful. But I am glad Veronica did this forfeit, it’s got to be less harmful.”

“Yeah, and I hope Veronica knows what she’s doing.” Betty said, “It’ll take some convincing to get Heather back, that’s for sure.

_____________________________

“Heather, wait! Talk to me!”

Heather wheeled around, eyes wild and breathing shallow. “What the fuck are you playing at? You just outed yourself to the whole school! Now people are going to think we’re lesbos!”

“I reiterate, I don’t care, and you shouldn’t either! I didn’t want to do the other forfeit, it would have hurt you more, I was trying to protect you!”

Heather let out a laugh that was high and fake as she looked at Veronica in disbelief. “Seriously? Oh how considerate of you! Let me bow down to you for being so kind! You wanted to protect me? Well it’s your fucking fault we’re in this mess, Sawyer! If it weren’t for you, you wouldn’t have to protect me, so don’t act all high and mighty now.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do here!” Veronica implored, stepping closer. “I did the forfeit and I want to go to prom with you so who cares? I don’t fucking care about anyone else, I’ll let them talk if they want to!”

“No, Veronica, you don’t get to make those decisions! You fucking played me and did some stupid ass bet to hurt me and now you have the audacity to stand up in front of everyone, completely embarrass me, ruin my reputation, and then ask me to the fucking prom? Do you know how much this hurt me? So please forgive me for not weeping at your beautiful confession and running right into your arms, I’m too busy being pissed over the fact that you strung me along for 3 weeks, making me feel like you actually gave a shit. I would have thought you’d have got the message earlier that I was pissed at you for this when I gave you the cold shoulder.”

“Wait hold on, that’s why you acted that way? So you had found out about the bet? How?”

“Heather told Heather, and then Heather told me. You’re a fucking bitch Sawyer, and you’re more stupid than I thought if you think I’m gone go ahead and rock up to senior prom with you.”

Veronica shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. “But- I don’t-“

“Besides, how do I know you’re telling the truth now? The last three weeks were a lie, the best time of my life was a lie, we were a lie. All you’ve done is lie Veronica, so why the fuck should I trust you now?”

“I’m not lying, ok? I do actually like you. That stupid bet is over, why would I be doing this now if I didn’t want to be with you and do this properly? Alright, the bet was a scummy thing to do, and I regret it so much, and playing with your feelings was so, so wrong of me, and yes, I started all of this for the complete wrong reasons, but you’re not innocent either. You basically tried to ruin my life because I didn’t fuck some guy, you relentlessly bullied one of closest friends, you made people feel like shit, you made freshmen cry, you manipulate people, you blackmail people, you threaten people, you are far from an angel.”

“Wow, great confession here, Ronnie, really making me blush.” Heather bit back sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

“Shut up, you know it’s true. So I wanted to get payback. I wanted to be able to be in control and have power over you for once, so I could get revenge. But our relationship is different now. Now I’ve learned that there is so much more to you than this icy mask you put up around people. I regret taking the bet every single day because I know now you don’t fucking deserve that. You don’t deserve to be played, so I’m sorry. I am. I’ll never be sorry enough because I was fucking evil to do that to you and keep that from you. Like I said at the party, you’re special and you deserve someone who knows that, and I’m prepared to try my absolute best to be that for you. I don't want to date the mythic bitch. I want to date Heather Chandler.”

They were both silent for a moment, Heather staring at her, her eyes slowly beginning to become softer, and more sad than angry or bitter. Veronica stared back, breathing heavily, debating whether to continue pouring her emotions out and just saying everything she needed to say whilst she had the chance, or whether to just leave it now. Deciding on the former, she continued, wanting to make sure Heather knew how angry Veronica was at herself and how much she longed to repair this broken situation.

“So I’m sorry ok? I wish I could’ve seen the real you without having to break your heart in the process. But I can’t turn back the time so all I can do now is apologise and hope we can work it out. But this is a two way thing Heather, you need to understand that.”

Heather, completely deflated by this point, sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m hurt, Veronica, I really am. It’s just that I’ve never truly opened up to anyone before, not even Heather or Heather. But I opened up to you. You broke through my walls, and I let you in, and I’ve never done that for anyone. And to find out it was all just a game-“

“This isn’t a game anymore, I swear. I really do like you, ok? More than I was prepared to admit. And to be honest, it really fucking threw me for a loop, but now I’m willing to do this properly. Thank you for showing your true self, but your vulnerability was never a game to me, Heather. Please know that. I wish it was all under better circumstances, but when you opened up to me and showed your true self, that meant so much to me, the bet be damned. And that’s because I know how hard it is for you.  I did want to help you, I did want you to know your worth, and I do want to be with you.”

“What will people say, Veronica? It’s all well and good keeping it a secret, but now everyone knows. No doubt they’re slamming us right now.”

“Fuck them.”

“You keep saying that but it isn’t that easy.”

“No, but it is!” Veronica claimed, smiling at her. “You're Heather Chandler. You have so much power, you know that. Plus, Heather and Heather will be loyal to you until the end.”

Heather looked like she was going to agree, before seeming checking herself and shaking her head sadly. “They’ll be against us too, won’t they? Maybe they wouldn’t be homophobic exactly, but they won’t want to associate with us, it’ll ruin them too.”

“They’ll understand, and they’ll stick by us, they’re hardly the most heterosexual themselves, have you seen them?”

Heather’s head snapped up at this. “What? Seriously?”

“Alright, alright we can talk about that later. All I’m trying to say is you need to not focus on anyone else and focus on the people that care about you.  You are so much stronger than you know, Heather, I know you can do this. Besides, you don’t have to it alone, you have people on your side. Me, Heather and Heather, Betty, maybe even others that you didn’t even realise. And you know you’ll always have me, no matter what. I’ll fight for you, Heather, but only if you’ll fight for me.”

Sensing that Heather was still unsure, Veronica gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and let out a sad sigh, knowing that she couldn’t dictate what Heather could and couldn’t do, all she could do is comfort her and let her know that she had a choice.

“Listen, I’m not going to force you to do anything. I’ll understand whatever choice you make, and if you decide to say no, then that’s totally ok. I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry and I like you a lot and if you don’t feel the same anymore then I won’t hold that against you, Heather.”

It would hurt like hell, but she couldn’t blame Heather for it, not after all this. She would accept any decision because she at least owed Heather some basic human decency. Heather stared at Veronica, unblinking, eyebrows knitted together, as she thought hard on her decision. Veronica flushed and looked down at her shoes, preparing herself – again – for the possible rejection. After what felt like forever, Heather finally spoke.

“I’ll go.”

“Sorry?”

“I’ll go to prom with you, Pillowcase.”

Veronica snapped her head back up, jaw practically on the floor as she choked out a “Really? You’re not joking, are you?”

“No I’m not. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still mad and… it’ll take time for us to be back to what we were, but being with you seriously has been the best thing to ever happen to me, and I’m not going to throw that away.”

Veronica gave a relieved laugh, beaming and running up to Heather, throwing her arms around her and holding her close. Heather smiled into Veronica’s shoulder, fully returning the embrace. She tried to fight the tears forming in her eyes, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t believe how much of an emotional rollercoaster the last few weeks had been, but at the end of it, despite everything… she was ok, and that was what mattered. And she believed that she would continue to be ok, with Veronica, Mac and Duke by her side, their bond stronger than ever before. Pulling away, Heather gave a watery laugh, gently wiping the corners of her eyes and sniffling slightly.

“You still lost the bet though, loser.” She teased half-heartedly, to which Veronica only smiled, pulling Heather in again, their lips brushing together.

The kiss was short but sweet, it was tender and warm, and gave promises of a better future – together. Eventually, they pulled away once more and once Heather’s breathing was back to normal and quiet sniffles had for the most part subsided, Veronica motioned towards the cafeteria.

“I suppose we ought to go back soon, or else they’ll think you’ve killed me.”

“Don’t count yourself lucky yet, Sawyer, there’s still time.”

Veronica gazed at Heather for a moment before gently leaning in to whisper into her ear, “Seriously, thank you. Thank you for giving me another shot, I promise I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t.” Heather whispered back, gently tucking Veronica’s hair behind her ear. “And hey, you took a chance on me. Nobody’s done that before. Despite everything… you never gave up on me. So I wont give up on you.”

“Oh gosh, I’m going to start crying now.” Veronica said before leading Heather towards the cafeteria. “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.”

Veronica nodded. “You got this. You’re going to be alright. Everything is going to be alright.”

As they stepped inside, all eyes were on them but they didn’t look at any of the face. They headed straight for the group of friends who they knew would support them and stood proudly in front of them.

“Veronica professed her love for me and claimed that I was a stunning goddess and she would die for me and be my servant forever.”

Veronica rolled her eyes affectionately, giving Heather a playful shove. “No, I obviously didn’t, I just apologised and we talked it through and… we’re going to give it another shot. We’re going to the prom together.”

Mac cheered and squealed loudly, grabbing Heather and hugging her tightly, Betty went to Veronica and gave her a much more casual hug, Duke smiled at the scene before her but absolutely did not get involved with the hugging part. JD opted to stay away from the celebration, hanging far back and surveying the sight with a neutral expression, though his beady eyes showed an inner sadness.

Pulling away from Heather, Mac turned to Veronica, glaring. “You’re on thin ice, Miss Sawyer. If you ever hurt Heather again, then I will be very mad at you.”

Veronica smiled genuinely at her. “I know, Mac, and you don’t need to worry, I promise I’ll never do anything like that again.”

Mac broke out into a grin, “Thank God for that, because I don’t think I could have stayed mad at you for much longer, it was getting super tiring.”

Betty sheepishly turned to Heather and let out a small, nervous cough. “Erm, yeah, same goes for you, and stuff. Don’t hurt Veronica.”

Heather scoffed at that, unperturbed. “What would you even do about it, Finn?”

Veronica shot Heather a warning look, to which Heather sighed. “Alright, fine geek, I’ll play nice. I won’t hurt Veronica, I promise.”

Duke walked over to them all and shrugged, looking at Heather and Veronica with a tired expression. “Whatever, just try not to fight too much, you’re both super petty so this was exhausting for all of us.”

“Thanks, Heather.” Veronica said, rolling her eyes, to which Duke only grinned, sending her a wink.

Suddenly, JD cleared his throat gaining everyone’s attention. “Chandler, you know my opinions on you, and Veronica you’re… a good friend of mine, so all I can really do is stay out of your way. Just don’t kill each other.”

As he spoke, his lips curled slightly, and the anger in his tone was evident, but it was clear he was trying his best to keep his cool. Before he could get any sort of response, he skulked away, trench coat trailing limply behind him.

“Well that… went about as well as expected.” Veronica commented slowly before turning back to her friends. “Anyways, fuck school, who wants to go to 7/11?”

Everyone for the most part agreed, except for Heather, who turned up her nose in disgust. “Ugh, not that gross nerd shack.”

“I will buy you Corn Nuts.”

“Alright losers let’s go hop in my car.”

Laughing, they all began to leave, but Veronica noticed Betty hanging back slightly.

“It’s alright.” She assured her, smiling sweetly. “Go on without me, Mom would be mad if I bunked of school, wouldn’t she?”

“Well if you’re sure, Betty. Hey I just want to say thank you for everything. It’s been really great hanging out with you again, and I appreciate everything you did for me.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve loved hanging out with you too. I hope we can continue to do it.”

“Of course. I’ll see you later, Betty.”

“Have fun, Ronnie!”

As Veronica went to catch up with the Heathers, she passed by Ram and Kurt and overheard their… very intelligent conversation.

“Yo, Kurt, dude, I can’t believe they’re lesbos!”

“Shit, Ram, we’re seniors now, we’re too old for that homophobic shit. Leave ‘em be.”

Veronica smiled slightly. Maybe even Westerburg high, with the right attitude, could be beautiful.

As the Heathers, reunited once more, strutted down the hallway, Heather discreetly held Veronica’s hand, squeezing it gently. Veronica squeezed it back, grinning to herself.

She may have lost the bet, but she felt like she had won in general.

She was holding hands with Heather Chandler after all.

Chapter Text

“Betty, I’m freaking out!”

Betty tried to soothe her panicking friend by there was no point, Veronica just couldn’t be comforted. She was running around the room like a headless chicken, making sure she had everything she needed and then proceeding to check again, and again. It was prom night, the night they had been looking forward to since they were kids, and Veronica was lucky enough to have the hottest, most popular girl in school as her date. Flustered, Veronica slumped down onto her bed, feeling unflattering in her navy blue sweater, blazer and trousers. It would make her look out of place for sure, but she wasn’t about to wear a dress that would make her feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. When she’d bought it, Heather had insisted it was absolutely phenomenal, and there was a blush on her cheeks for sure as she had eyed Veronica flirtatiously. However, now all these invasive thoughts were swirling around her head, and she couldn’t help but feel like she just wasn’t up to Heather’s incredibly high standards.

“What if she thinks I look like shit?” Veronica lamented dramatically, holding her head in her hands.

“She won’t think you look like shit.”

“But she’s going to look amazing!”

“Yeah, so do you!”

“What if she doesn’t actually like me in that way?”

“Veronica, you guys are literally dating.”

“What if we aren’t, and she thinks it’s just as friends?”

“You asked her that last week and she replied, and I quote: ‘Veronica you stupid fucking bitch why would you ever think that? We literally just made out on my couch’.”

“What if she’s just trying to be nice?”

“Veronica,” Betty said sternly, sitting next to her and giving her a serious look. “You look amazing, Heather really does like you, and everything is going to be great, ok? Though I still can’t quite believe it, this turned out alright. So, stop panicking, because if you can break Heather Chandler’s heart and then somehow get her to date you, you can get through prom night.”

“Uh, thanks, I think?” Veronica sighed, standing up and smoothing down her outfit. “I just want this to be perfect, you know? For Heather. She deserves it and… I want to show her that I’m serious and if I mess anything up then-“

The doorbell rang, making her shoot out of her skin.

“Oh my God, she’s here, holy fuck.” Veronica rambled breathlessly, grabbing all her things and running a trembling hand through her dark locks.

Betty smiled at her affectionately. “Don’t worry, Ronnie, you’re going to be fine. I’m heading to Peter’s now; I’ll go out the back door. Have a nice time, see you there!”

Veronica raced down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, and bounded to the door. She halted suddenly as she got there, not wanting to seem too eager. Just before she opened the door, she quickly fixed her hair, shifted in her clothes, making sure everything was perfect. With a deep breath, she put on a bright welcoming smile and swung open the door. The smile was lost immediately as her jaw plummeted to the floor at the sight before her.

Heather was stunning.

Scrap that, Heather was more than stunning. Heather’s dress was tight and short, and it suited her just so perfectly, and her hair was as curly and golden and mesmerising as ever, yet it was slightly more fancy than usual for the occasion.

Now, Veronica liked to think she had a rather expansive vocabulary, yet still, she was here, racking around in that brilliant mind of hers for some way to describe her girlfriend, and was rendered absolutely speechless.

Of all the words rushing around her head, the best Veronica could splutter out was: “Uh- you look nice and… stuff.”

Heather, luckily, found it endearing as she let out a heartfelt chuckle. “Yeah, Sawyer, real smooth. But thank you. You’re wearing the outfit from when we went to the mall.”

Veronica felt her heart flutter at how Heather remembered, and her confidence immediately soared. “Well, of course, you recommended it and you have impeccable taste.”

“You look lovely.” Heather complimented, giving an almost shy – well as shy as Heather Chandler could be – smile, her cheeks lightly dusted with a pretty pink colour. “Really, really lovely.”

Giving a wide grin, Veronica was about to thank her when her Dad waltz over in his ugly sweater and sporting his dorky smile that was so alike to hers. Veronica could tell the way that Heather immediately stood up straighter at his presence and put on her brilliant smile, boldly extending her hand for him to shake, which he happily took and shook firmly.

“Heather Chandler.” He greeted in a friendly tone, “Of course you’ve been over often to play croquet in my garden, but this is quite different.”

“Indeed.” Heather replied formally, “Thank you for allowing me over to your house all those times. I know we haven’t spoken much but Veronica’s told me, you have quite the sense of humour, though she doesn’t always appreciate it.”

Veronica bit her lip in amusement. Heather was good at this, though she shouldn’t be surprised. Although they were different, all the parties and events she had been to would be an obvious cause for her relaxed, sociable nature and ability to always say the right thing in the right situation. Of course, she’d lose all control and structure when she spoke to Veronica, though she’d never admit it.

Not wanting to leave Heather on her own, Veronica chimed in with a good-natured: “Yeah well if you had to hear his horrible jokes all day every day, you’d be sick of them too.”

Heather shot her a grateful look as Veronica’s Dad turned slightly more serious. “Yes, Veronica’s told us all about you as well.”

Heather’s jaw clenched slightly for this as she gave an awkward nod. “I suppose they aren’t all good.”

To her surprise, Mr Sawyer’s smile only grew more welcoming as he shook his head. “Don’t worry about that, I know how happy you make her and that’s all that matters to me. You’re welcome anytime for dinner, you know. I can tell you lots of embarrassing stories about this one here.”

Veronica groaned, moving away from her Dad and stepping outside, feeling her face heat up. “Dad, no way.”

Both Heather and Mr Sawyer laughed as he began to give them a casual wave. “Alright, alright, I won’t keep you any longer. Have a nice night, girls!”

As they strolled leisurely down the moonlit garden path, Heather audibly released a breath. “Ugh, that was so nerve-wracking, did I do alright?”

“Heather, you did perfectly. And I’m sorry for him being so embarrassing.”

“No, he’s nice.” Heather asserted with a fond smile. “And he seems to really care for you.”

Her eyes suddenly became clouded as she swallowed thickly. Veronica frowned, stopping to place a careful hand on her shoulder.

“Something wrong?”

“It’s nothing, it’s just… your Dad was so kind and welcoming and accepting, and he never once brought up the fact that I was a girl. I’m just upset because I’ll never have that with my family, and you’ll never get to properly meet them, not the way I want you to.”

Enveloping her in a hug, Veronica quietly assured her. “Please don’t worry about that. My family is your family now. You aren’t at all like your parents, and all I care about is you, so don’t worry about them.”

After a few silent, thoughtful moments, Heather sniffled slightly and pulled away, letting out a quiet chuckle. “Alright, we need to leave before I ruin my makeup before we even get there. But thank you, seriously.”

Veronica only nodded, feeling like if she said a word, she may just burst into tears on the spot. She gave Heather another quick hug before holding her hand and guiding her to the car, not wanting to hold off any longer. They had a prom to get to.

_____________________________

It smelt like a teen party for sure; a distinct stench of cheap alcohol that definitely wasn’t allowed, a faint smell of sweat most likely coming from the eccentric people on the dance floor, and a waft of fancy perfume and cheap cologne that was lathered on far too thickly. However, this felt different to the parties Heather and Veronica had been to, mostly due to the fact that people genuinely looked like they were having a good time, despite the tacky decorations and the old, cringe music blasting out of the dollar-store speakers. The lighting was dim with a red tint (The classic Westerburg colour), yet Veronica could still make out details such as Heather’s bold lipstick, Mac’s bright yellow dress, and JD’s dark figure.

After a moment or two of taking in the atmosphere, Heather nudged her and pointing to an area of the room near the lacklustre buffet.

“Looks like Betty Finn wants to talk to you.” She pointed out, to which Betty gave an excitable wave. “You can go say hi, I’ll go see Heather and Heather.”

“Sure,” Veronica said, moving over to where Betty was filling up a plastic cup with some cheap punch.

“Hey, Ronnie!” She greeted, taking a swig. “Heather looks nice.”

“She looks stunning.” Veronica corrected, taking a cup of her own. “How did you get here so quickly anyway? You left after me, right? And you had to go to Peter’s first”.

“Peter is an insanely fast driver, unfortunately. Besides, I assume Heather spoke to your Dad for a bit. How did it go?”

Veronica shot her a look of amusement and relief. “Good, luckily. Better than I’d expected. He was embarrassing as Hell but as friendly as he always is.”

“Good old Mr Sawyer.” Betty joked, turning around slightly to people-watch. “Hey, there’s something I need to tell you. I feel like prom night marks the end of our little adventure, so it seems right.”

Quirking an eyebrow, Veronica gestured for her to continue. “Well, during the whole bet, Heather McNamara and I were working together.”

“Wait- seriously? What do you mean?”

“Well, she came to me and said all about how she wanted you two to be friends, and I played along, I needed her. She was the one who told me that Heather likes baseball, you know?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Veronica questioned, tilting her head, more curious than surprised.

“Technically it was against the rules for you to get any Heather’s involved, so I wasn’t sure if you were actually allowed to know that I had. Besides, you were so stubborn and set on doing this bet, you never would have taken help from anyone other than me.”

“I guess that’s fair.” Veronica confessed, “Damn… that’s smart though, getting her involved. Seems like she really helped.”

“I feel awful though,” Betty confessed sadly, her shoulders sagging. “At first, I was confused why someone like her would associate with someone like me. But then I realised that outside of school, she’s totally different. Here, she has no backbone, and she follows with whatever cunning schemes the other two Heathers come up with, and she can be equally as cruel as them. When she was with me, she was… sweet. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would consider Heather McNamara a good friend, and I ruined that. She seemed really hurt that I’d lied to her. In all honesty, I didn’t consider her feelings when I got her involved, and that makes it worse.”

“Just go talk to her, apologise, she’ll understand. I’m sure she considered you a friend too, and if I know anything, it’s that Heather McNamara is as loyal as it gets; she won’t want to give up on your friendship, I promise.”

“Look at you being all mature.” Betty teased, giving her a playful shove, “But you’re right. I’ll head over now.”

As if on cue, JD took this moment to walk over to the pair, still his gloomy, hunched over self, but Veronica noticed that his body wasn’t quite so tense, and his eyes were slightly less empty than when she had last seen him.

“Hello.” He greeted them plainly, giving them a curt nod. “I apologise, but I need to talk to Betty for a moment.”

Betty, immediately uncomfortable at his presence, simply gave Veronica a smile goodbye, not addressing JD. Veronica smiled back and breezed past JD. Betty turned and gave JD a cold glare and folded her arms over her chest.

“Alright, listen, you won the bet or whatever, so you don’t need to threaten me anymore.”

JD scratched the back of his neck, taking a moment or two to feel how he should approach this. “Don’t worry, that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to… apologise. I handled this whole thing disgracefully, I let my emotions get the better of me. I- uh- I tend to do that.”

Stumbling over his words, he groaned and looked up at Bett sincerely. “I’m not good at this. What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry for hurting you and Veronica. I’ve… I’ve started getting some help, going to therapy, that sort of thing. And apparently, this is the first step to recovery or something, and I feel like the least I owe you is an apology. I went off the rails and lost sight of myself, so I’m sorry. I truly hope I can gain your forgiveness and your friendship, because your loyalty knows no bounds, Betty Finn, and I would love to have you on my side.”

After pondering his proposal for a moment, Betty said “I accept the apology, and I’m glad you’re getting the help you need, but I don’t think we can be friends. Not yet anyway. And you’re going to need to tell Veronica everything.”

JD nodded, giving a small, slightly relieved smile. “I appreciate that, and I understand. Thank you, that’s helped a lot. I’ll tell Veronica, I promise. I’ll leave you now, have a nice night.”

Betty didn’t respond as JD shuffled away into some dark crevice or another. She finally released a breath, her mind still whirring at what had happened. She still didn’t like him, not by any means - what he had done and the way he had treated her had been awful, but she was glad he was getting help and was willing to improve as a person. And who knows, maybe one day they could properly move on.

_____________________________

I wonder what Betty and JD could be talking about…

Veronica was so lost in thought she didn’t spot the green Heather strutting over and jumped when two long thin fingers with sharp nails snapped in her face.

“Earth to Sawyer,” Duke said, scoffing. “You’re at prom and you’re still daydreaming?”

Veronica shook away her thoughts and smirked, unaffected by the jab. “Of course, why are you surprised?”

Loosening up slightly at Veronica’s light-hearted response, Duke’s tight expression dropped as she moved next to the brunette. “Suppose you’re right, I should know better. Anyway, enough chit chat, we need to talk. I know that I told Heather – Mac - about the bet, and I just want to apologise-“

Veronica quickly shushed her. “You don’t need to, Heather. You did nothing wrong. The basis was that I was hurting your friend, and you told your other friend about it. What’s wrong with that?”

Duke shrugged. “I guess. I was going to tell Heather herself, just to get into her good books and maybe get you kicked out.”

Veronica chuckled at Duke’s signature bluntness. “Fair enough, at least you’re honest.”

Giving about as big a smile as Heather Duke could, she looked at Veronica playfully. “I guess we both have shitty morals.”

“Speak for yourself! I don’t have shitty-“

Duke gave her a look.

“Alright, alright, you got me, but I’m working on it.” She raised her glass. “To shitty morals that lead to bad decisions that somehow turned out well!”

Letting out a real, rich laugh, Duke raised her glass too, bringing them together with a soft ‘clink’. They both took a sip, standing in comfortable silence for a moment. Duke began to feel as if maybe she judged Veronica too harshly, maybe they could be… good friends, with some effort.

“I am… I am happy for you and Heather.” She said quietly, her eyes travelling along the group of teens on the dance floor. “I know that Heather and I have never really gotten on perfectly, but you two are still my friends, and I hope you’ll be happy together.”

Veronica stared blankly at her. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Duke fake gagged. “Ew gross, don’t get used to it.”

“Seriously, thank you. Despite what you may think… you’re a good person, Heather.”

Before Duke could inevitably berate her for being so icky and sentimental, JD cut in, giving them both an awkward smile and nod.

“Hello again, V. Oh, Heather, I think Heather needs your help, she managed to spill orange juice all over her dress. I don’t know how, there isn’t even orange juice here, but you should probably go check in on her. Oh, it’s McNamara, by the way.”

“You didn’t even have to specify.” Duke mumbled, sighing and shaking her head, “See you, Sawyer.”

After Duke had left them alone, Veronica felt nervous. She wasn’t sure exactly where she and JD stood. He hadn’t bothered her recently, but he hadn’t been great during the bet, he even seemed unstable at some points, so were they even still friends? What if he lashed out again? She certainly wasn’t too happy with him considering everything, so she opted to allow him to try and determine where they stood, or at least try to mend their slightly broken relationship.

“So – uh – you enjoying yourself?” He asked unsurely, his hands shoved into his trench coat as his eyes shifted around the room.

Hm, going for the casual start? Alright, she could work with that.

“Not too bad.” She said. “Seems like everyone has something they want to talk to me about, though.”

“I am unfortunately one of those people,” JD confessed, slicking back his hair. “I just wanted to apologise to you for generally being a dickhead at times and causing you so much stress. However, there’s something else I really need to talk to you about as well. I made the bet to hurt Heather and, in a way… hurt you as well. I knew there was a high chance of you getting hurt and I wanted to use that to my advantage and distance you from everyone so I could have control, I guess. God, even admitting it now makes me feel gross, I’m so fucking ashamed. And, I haven’t been great to Betty recently either, I was aggressive and threatening and manipulative and I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you, and I’m sorry for hurting your best friend, and I’m sorry for hurting Heather. I’m honestly trying to grow as a person and rebuild my bridges, and I know I have a long way to go but I’m trying. I… I can’t end up like my father. I won’t. So- so that’s why I’ve started going to therapy and I’m confessing my mistakes and I’m bettering myself.”

He exhaled shakily after the huge info dump, not looking at Veronica, who titled her head at him.

“You know what?” She started calmly. “I’m upset that you tried to hurt me, and I’m upset that you tried to hurt Betty and I’m upset that you tried to hurt Heather, but I respect the fact that you’re trying to change. And you know what? I forgive you, JD. I’ve done some really shitty things recently and I’ve been fortunate enough to be forgiven, and I think I’ve learnt now that I shouldn’t be so harsh and judgemental. We’re cool. You’re on thin ice though, if you ever dare hurt Betty or Heather again-“

JD held his hands up with a grateful smile. “I won’t, I swear, I know you’ll kill me. But thank you, Veronica, you’re very kind to be so understanding about all of this. It’s more than I deserve, but I’ll take it and I’ll show you that I can change.”

“I don’t doubt it, and I believe in you. I know you can be a good person.”

The conversation stilled and they lapsed into comfortable silence before JD seemed to become withdrawn and dejected.

“Everything alright, Dean?”

JD gave a half-hearted nod, paused, and then sadly shook his head. “I’m leaving. My Pops and I are moving to Georgia in two weeks.”

“Shit.” Veronica breathed, shoulders slumping. “That sucks, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, anywhere beats Ohio.” He joked, though his tone suggested he didn’t really mean it, and this was quite possibly the best place he had been to, and he would miss it dearly. “I was wondering if you and I could still call sometimes. I’ve never really made any friends in other schools, so I’ve never had to go through this, but I’ll miss you.”

“Of course, we can still call. It’ll be so weird without you, but I hope you have a nice time in Georgia.”

“Sure, I’ll send you a postcard.” He chuckled in response.

After another short moment of silence, Veronica smirked, giving JD a mock-guilty expression. “Hey, I never told you, but I broke Rule Number 1. And I’m fairly sure Betty broke the No-Heathers Rule, Heather McNamara knew the whole time.”

“Damn, you broke two rules and still lost?” JD teased her, raising his eyebrows. “That’s embarrassing.”

“Oh, shut up.” Veronica playfully whacked him on the arm, to which he just sighed and looked at her with an odd expression.

“You know, Veronica… I really liked you. A lot.”

Veronica gave him an almost sad smile and nodded. “At one point I liked you too. In fact, on the night we made the bet, and you found me in your garden, I was planning to come up to your window to… uh… see you, but you weren’t in. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if you had been in your room. How would the story have changed?”

JD swallowed thickly, averting his gaze with a pained expression. “Yeah, well, no use dwelling on it now, we’ll never know. Are you happy with Heather?”

“Very.”

Meeting her eyes with his own, JD gave her an encouraging look. “Good. That’s all that matters. And with the little time I have left here, I promise I’ll make it up to you for all the pain I’ve caused, and I’ll be a proper friend this time.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”
“As am I. Now, you really need to go speak to Heather or else she’ll explode.”

Veronica hastily agreed as JD laughed good-naturedly and went to go and get a refill on his drink, sending her a casual wave as he did so. Veronica was getting ready to go over, before Kurt swaggered over, slightly tipsy and very giddy giving a lopsided grin.

“Hey, ‘Ronica!” He greeted brightly, fixing his crumpled and creased suit jacket that his Dad definitely bought for him. “God, I had to wait for ages to talk to you, people just kept coming over and there was, like, no room for me!”

Veronica chuckled fondly, Kurt’s easy and casual chatter very refreshing compared to some of the heavy conversation’s she’d had recently. “Yeah, there’s just a few things that need sorting out.”
Kurt leaned back and eyed her playfully. “So… that whole bet thing was about Heather?”

At Veronica’s awkward nod, Kurt raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle. “Damn, ‘Ronica, you really made a bet about Heather Chandler? That’s kinda awesome. And hey, just wanted to let you know to tell me if Ram ever says anything. He’s my best friend, but he can be a real douche at times.”

She was once again pleasantly surprised by Kurt’s maturity and helpfulness and gave him a sincere smile. “Thanks, Kurt, seriously. You’re not that bad, you know.”

Taking the backhanded comment in stride, Kurt barked out a laugh again, standing up straight and gesturing his cup at her. “Thanks, ‘Ronica. I’ll take that. You have a nice night, darling.”

Veronica rolled her eyes at the nickname. “Sure, you too, and good luck with the football career. I’m sure you’re gonna fly, Mr Star Quarterback.”

Kurt’s grin widened even more at that as he gave an appreciative look and went to go and find Ram.

Veronica was beginning to like this whole ‘giving people a chance’ thing.

_____________________________

It didn’t take a minute to find Heather McNamara, despite the crowd. Her bright yellow dress, now tainted with a splash of orange, could be seen from a mile away, along with her huge bouncy blonde curls and dazzling smile.

“Heather!” Betty said loudly, grabbing her attention. “I need to talk- wait do you have orange juice on your dress?”

Mac gave a sad nod, jutting out her bottom lip. “I bought a carton of juice on the way and squeezed it all over myself.”

Betty let out a breathy, disbelieving laugh before shaking her head and getting back to her original point. “Right, well anyway I just need to have a word with you, if that’s alright?”

Mac nodded cheerfully, seemingly already over what had happened. “Sure!”

“I want to properly apologise for lying to you and getting you involved when you didn’t really know what was going on, and for hurting your best friend. I never meant to hurt you, I just needed your help, but I was scared to tell you because I know how loyal you are to Heather, which is very admirable of course. And I know that nerds and popular kids shouldn’t mix, but I’d love to continue being your friend… if you’ll let me.”

Letting out a quiet squeal, Mac enthusiastically threw her arms around Betty, subsequently knocking the air out of her, and wrapped her in a forceful bearhug.

“Heather- remember- strong cheerleader- ouch-“ Betty choked out as Mac quickly untangled herself and gave a shy, apologetic smile.

“Sorry… I’m just so happy! I was super hurt after what you did but I know that you never meant to upset me, and you’re a really nice person Betty! Besides, it all turned out ok in the end!”

“It did.” Betty agreed. “And thank you. Now, I think Duke is heading over so I’ll leave you two to it. Bye, Heather!”

Mac waved goodbye as Duke came over and huffed at the state of the pretty yellow dress.

“Does it look better now?” Mac asked innocently, giving her skirt a little twirl.

“It looks exactly the same as a few minutes ago, you haven’t even started cleaning it yet?”

Mac giggled in response, grabbing Duke’s hand and leading her over to an empty space on the dance floor. “I don’t care, Heather! Now, come on, dance with me.”
“No way.” Duke resisted, trying to wrestle herself from Mac’s strong grip. “I’m sorry, Heather, but I’m not dancing.”

Giving her best pleading puppy eyes, Mac whined out a “Please, Heather! You came as my date; you should at least have one dance with me!”

Duke bit her lip for a moment before groaning and reluctantly let herself be dragged onto the dance floor. As an upbeat tune began to play, Mac swayed and bounced as if she were made for this and Duke couldn’t help but smile fondly at her, her own moves stiff and awkward. Mac noticed this and grasped Duke’s hands, leading her to match her own fast, confident tempo. At this, Duke began to loosen up slightly and even did a twirl when Mac gestured for her to. She couldn’t help the smile that began to spread across her face, and for the first time in her life, she found that she didn’t care what people were thinking about her. She’d never felt so free. As Mac noticed this genuine smile, she stopped in awe for a moment before beaming and leaning forward, brushing their lips together. Duke froze in shock letting out a noise of surprise that Mac laughed at as she pulled away.

“Seriously, thank you.” She said quietly, looking into Duke’s emerald green eyes.

“For what?”
“For coming with me tonight, for being my friend, for making me happy. You’re the best, Heather.”

Duke smiled again, embracing Mac tightly and sighing into her shoulder.

“Thank you too.”

They stayed like that for what felt like forever, and Duke found that she wouldn’t mind if they never let go at all.

_____________________________

Finally, Veronica made her way over to a slightly annoyed Heather, who let out a huff of annoyance at her arrival.

“Finally.” She quipped, downing the last of her drink. “Do you know how weird it looks, me being stood alone with my date nowhere to be found?”

Unaffected by her annoyance, Veronica simply snorted, rolling her eyes affectionately. “So dramatic, Chandler, I was gone for like ten minutes. I had just a few things to sort out, that’s all. Now, I’m all yours, so may I have this dance.”

Making a show of it, she leaned down and extended her hand, which Heather scoffed at, but the corners of her lips twitched slightly in amusement.

“You’re such a dork.”

Yet she took Veronica’s hand and headed to the dance floor. She instantly began to scan the room, preparing herself for judging eyes and accusatory glares, but her attention was stolen by Veronica, who placed her hand on Heather’s jaw and turned her head to face her and only her.

“Look at me, Heather.” She commanded, giving a confident smile. “Forget everyone else, this is our night.”

Already feeling the heat rise in her cheeks, Heather obeyed, nodding and placing her hands on Veronica’s hips. They began to move to the music, seemingly fitting together perfectly, as everyone else completely faded away, just as they had at the party a few weeks ago.  As is by fate, I had the time of my life began to play through the speakers and a knowing smile dawned upon Heather’s face.

“They’re playing our song.” She noted, to which Veronica smiled back, remembering when they had watched Dirty Dancing at the start of this whole thing.

“They are. Why don’t you just imagine I’m Patrick Swayze.”

“Please,” Heather grunted, rolling her eyes. “We both know I’m more into Jennifer Gray.”

“Hm, I’m sensing some Déjà vu here.”

“Shut up, I didn’t know then… well I suppose I did, I just avoided it.”

“Yeah, I think I know that.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

Heather didn’t respond to Veronica’s smug comment and instead focused on the music. It was reaching the climax of the song and Heather gave Veronica a teasing look.

“Wanna try the lift?”

Veronica shook her head profusely. “Absolutely, I’m nowhere near strong enough and if I drop you, you’ll no doubt blame it on me.”

“Boring.” Heather jabbed. “But if you did drop me, I’d never speak to you again.”

Veronica mumbled something similar to “Yeah, you would” under her breath but luckily Heather didn’t hear. They stayed attached together for a long time, just encompassed by each other and feeling safe, secure and most importantly, wanted. After a while, Veronica pulled away slightly, giving Heather a quick peck on the lips and pulling her away, through the hall, and outside the school entrance into the cool summer night’s breeze.

“What’s going on?” Heather asked as she was led to a small bench on the grass. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Veronica assured her, looking up to the sky. “I just needed some air and privacy.”

Heather gave a silent nod as she rested her head on Veronica’s shoulder.

“I’m glad this turned out well, Heather.”

“Me too. How could you ever live without me?”
“Wow, way to ruin the moment, dick.” Veronica laughed. “But seriously, I just feel so… happy. This place seems a little more beautiful now. The future is bright.”

“It’s a little daunting,” Heather admitted, her voice slightly nervous as she turned to face Veronica. “But we can do it”.

After a pause, Heather spoke up again. “Hey, we should totally go to a baseball game together sometime.”

“Ah, about that…” Veronica began gingerly, rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t actually like baseball, I just found out that you did and researched it to try and get you to like me.”

“Well… you still have to come with me, but now it’s a punishment for everything.”

Veronica cringed slightly at that, chewing her lip awkwardly. “Heather… I really am sorry.”

Heather sighed. “Veronica, I was only kidding, you don’t have to apologise again, you’ve already apologised enough.”

“But that’s the thing, I haven’t apologised enough because I’ll never be able to apologise enough for what I did to you. I know it’s been a few weeks since it happened but still.”

“You know what, Veronica?” Heather said, holding her hand comfortingly. “I was hurt by it, I won’t deny. It broke my heart when I found out. The thing is, Veronica… I understand. As you said, I’m not innocent either, I hurt you before this and I gave you a reason to want revenge and payback, and I… I probably would have done the same thing as you, given the chance. We were very different people then with a very different relationship. Would you do the bet now?”

“Definitely not. No way.”

“That’s all that matters. So please stop worrying about it. You said sorry for the bet, I said sorry for being a bitch and driving you to it and now… we’re happy.”

Veronica kissed soundly, smiling against her lips. “Very happy.”

As she pulled away and gazed into the sparkling, mesmerising blue eyes that gazed back at her so lovingly, it dawned on Veronica.

I love you.

Oh God, that was big. That was so big and scary and serious, and Veronica could feel her brain shatter at the realisation. Was it too soon? Did Heather feel the same? Veronica had never been in love before and as terrifying as it was… it also just felt so right. Like… it was the perfect word she had been searching for to describe why her heart leapt when Heather walked into the room, or when she couldn’t help her gaze always wandering to the blonde even when they were on opposite sides of the room, or when she felt so warm and wonderful when Heather so much as smiled or winked at her. It was gross and cliché and Heather would no doubt tease her if she knew what Veronica was thinking, but she couldn’t help it.

She loved Heather Chandler. She was in love. With Heather. Heather Chandler.

It was totally way too soon for that, right? She couldn’t say anything, not until she knew that Heather for sure felt the same.

Heather clearly noticed Veronica’s inner turmoil as she tilted her head and hummed. “Something on your mind? You’ve got that contemplative look you sometimes get.”

Veronica wants to say it – screw that, she wants to shout it! She wants to let the world know that she has got the best girlfriend and she is in love. Veronica Sawyer has fallen in love with the Queen Bee, the Mythic Bitch herself, and it's simultaneously the best and worst feeling she’s ever had.

But… she can’t say anything. The words got stuck in her throat and she simply shook her head. Heather let out a “Loser” as she leaned in for a soft, tender kiss. No matter how many times they did it, it somehow felt more and more special each time. Every time, she would get butterflies in her stomach, and she would feel tingly all over, and she would always be trying to fight back a smile.

Maybe it was this realisation of how special she felt around Heather, and how her love for her never wavered, that made the words slip out before she could even stop them.

“I love you.”

Heather jumped away from Veronica, her eyes wide as she stared back disbelievingly. Veronica’s mouth opened and closed like a fish as she struggled to find something to say to try and take back what she had said, but her brain just didn’t seem to be cooperating.

“I love you too.” Heather rushed out quickly before clearing he throat and repeating it more confidently. “I love you too.”

“you… you mean that? Like, don’t feel like you have to say it back, it was stupid of me to say it-“

“I love you, Veronica Sawyer. I promise.”

Veronica released a breath as her eyes fluttered closed and she placed a hand over her chest. “Oh, thank God, that could have been embarrassing. I can’t believe I said that.”
Heather giggled, holding Veronica’s face in her hands and continuously softly pressing her lips all over her face. Each time she lifted her lips away, she would say a quiet “I love you” before kissing her again. The words tasted sweet on her tongue, and she meant it more and more every time she said it.

Eventually, she pulled away from a flustered Veronica, who looked up at the moon as she leaned into Heather.

“Hey, Heather?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna make a bet?”

Heather shot her a look. “Haven’t you learnt your lesson yet?”

Ignoring her, Veronica continued. “I bet that you can’t take me back to your place right now where we watch a movie, have the best time and forget all our worries.”

Heather blinked at her for a moment. “I can’t tell if that was really clever or really stupid.”

“You’re avoiding the subject.”

“You know you could have just asked to come to my place?”

“Heather.”

“Well, I never back down from a challenge.” Heather shrugged, running a hand through Veronica’s hair affectionately. “Guess I’m as bad as you. So do you wanna come back to my place?”

Leaning back and scratching her chin, faking being in deep thought, Veronica replied “Hm, I don’t know… what if this is all just from some silly bet?”

“Shut the fuck up and answer the stupid question.”

“Alright, alright.” Veronica conceded jumping up, her hand still interlocked with Heather’s. “I’d love to come back to your place. Now let’s motor!”

Heather grinned at her. “So, I won the bet?”

“Technically you still need to actually take me there first but… sure, you won the bet.”

“Did better than you then.”

Veronica gave her a warning look, to which Heather just barked out a laugh and they began to walk side by side to her Porsche, not looking back even once.

_____________________________

Heather’s house was the same as it always was: far too big, far too neat, far too empty, and not a parent in sight. Still, Veronica didn’t dwell on it and followed Heather to the sofa, where she put on Dirty Dancing, because of course she did, and they lay there, snuggled up close to each other, and it was perfect. After about an hour, Veronica turned to look Heather straight in the eye. She felt an almost magnetic pull, and an overwhelming need to kiss her, and she could tell that Heather wanted to as well. Of course, they’d done it before, but this felt different, and she couldn’t pinpoint why. It was as if this was the defining moment, the be-all and end-all, the final big leap to confirm that they were in this together, and they were in it for the long run.

Veronica couldn’t seem to make the move forward, and it seemed neither could Heather, so instead Veronica simply said “Mamihlapinatapai.”

Broken from her trance, Heather stared at her in confusion. “I’m sorry?”
“Mamihlapinatapai,” Veronica said again simply.

“…Are you having a stroke?”

“What? No! Mamihlapinatapai is a word that describes a look between two people where they wish the other would initiate something they both desire, but neither is brave enough to take the leap and do it. Like when two  people want to kiss each other but nobody will actually make the move.”

“That’s weird. You’re weird.”

“I’m not weird!”

“You are, but I love it. I love you. If you want to kiss me, you can just do it, you know.”

“Don’t act like you were able to do it.”

Heather didn’t really have an excuse for that, so she shut Veronica up by smashing her ruby red lips against the pale pink ones. Veronica smirked knowingly into the kiss and so in retaliation, Heather deepened the kiss, grabbing a fistful of Veronica’s hair and biting down on her bottom lip. Veronica let out a strangled noise and needless to say, she wasn’t smirking anymore. She returned the kiss with full force, though she couldn’t think straight with the rush that had gone to her head. Veronica would never get over how she and Heather just worked so perfectly, how it’s like they could read each other’s mind, how they knew each other so well that every touch, every kiss, every moment was extraordinary.

Although this kiss was fiery and passionate, it was also caring and tender and filled with love and it made all the heartache and trouble more than worth it. Regretfully, they had to pull away for air, but they remained only inches away from each other, Heather giving Veronica a smouldering look through her long, thick, dark lashes. Veronica gulped as she felt her face flush and her voice wavered as she spoke.

“This has been one hell of a ride, hasn’t it?”

“It’s your fault for agreeing to a bet and then not even winning.”

Veronica jokingly whacked Heather, rolling her eyes. “Shut up, I’m trying to be sentimental.”

“I know and… you’re right. Turned out pretty well though didn’t it?”

Veronica surveyed the gorgeous woman in front of her, the eyes that shone even in the darkness, the pale moonlight from the window coming in and lighting up her golden hair, styled especially for tonight, and the light freckles that dusted her cheeks and made even the Demon Queen look sweet.

“Yeah… yeah, I suppose it did.”

Heather sighed, lying back on top of Veronica and absentmindedly playing with her hair. “It’s crazy, we’re graduating. We have the rest of our lives ahead of us. Forever starts tonight. Are you scared?”

“Heather, as long as you’re there with me, forever will feel like paradise.”

Heather didn’t even berate her for being cheesy. She just kissed her on the cheek, squeezing her hand and gently rubbing her thumb over the back of it. Veronica sighed contentedly in response, contemplating what lay ahead of them.

This wasn’t going to be easy, but she never expected it to be. They’d be able to do this, one day at a time.

“High School is the best time of your life”

She dwelled once again on those simple words she had ridiculed all that time ago. She still thought it was bullshit, but for a very different reason. Not because High School was so awful, but because Veronica knew that life after High School, a life with Heather, would be the best time she would ever experience.

And she couldn’t wait.

The End