Veronica's POV
"I've thought about killing myself!" Heather Mcnamara suddenly said.
Everyone gasped. "What the hell are you doing?!" Duke said.
Ms. Fleming barred her way with her arm. "Heather, it's going to be OK. Keep talking. You're in a safe place. It's only you, me, and your classmates."
It was deadly silent. Then, Heather stepped forward.
"Heather get back in line!" Duke hissed.
"Shut up Heather!" Chandler hissed back, annoyed. However, she seemed to worry more about Mac than Duke.
"Girls, zip it." Ms. Fleming said. "Go on Heather."
Heather gulped. "Well, for starters, my friend Veronica was once bullied for screwing Ram and Kurt at the same time when actually, all of that is my fault. I asked her for her help but I simply just left her to deal with them after calling her over. Then I saw how she was treated. I saw how everybody else was treated when they did something that was considered wrong. One time, I had to wear a new skirt that my mother bought me for my birthday. Everyone started calling me a loser since they said my skirt was too long. Heather and Heather wouldn't even let me sit at their table that time. The next day, I was like: "Jesus, I'm on the freaking bus again because all my rides to school hate me now."
I just stood there in shock. I never knew that Heather went through all these things.
"I float in a boat, in a raging black ocean."
"Low in the water, with nowhere to go..."
"The tiniest lifeboat, with people I know."
"Cold, clammy, and crowded."
"The people smell desperate, we'll sink any minute."
"So someone must go."
"The tiniest lifeboat, with people I know."
Mcnamara began shouting.
"Everyone's pushing! Everyone's fighting!"
"Storms are approaching! There's nowhere to hide!"
"If I say the wrong thing, or I wear the wrong outfit, they'll throw me right over the side!"
"I'm hugging my knees, and the captain is pointing."
"Well who made her captain?"
"Still, the weakest must go."
"The tiniest lifeboat, with people I know."
"The tiniest lifeboat, with people I know..."
After that, people started shouting insults at Heather. "What's your damage Heather?" "Don't you think Westerburg's a nice place?" "Where's your school spirit?"
I tried to get to Heather but Ms. Fleming and the others were blocking my way. Chandler and Duke seemed to share the same problem.
"People will say nearly anything to get attention!" Regina said.
"Aww look!" A girl named Courtney said. "Heather's gonna cry!"
Mcnamara broke down in tears and ran off.
"Young lady you are suspended!" Ms. Fleming said. "Turn the cameras off! Turn them off!"
I finally made my way through. "Is that all you seriously care about? TV cameras?"
Ms. Fleming looked insulted. "I care about helping students!"
"Well this isn't helping!" I snapped. "None of us want this! We don't want to be experimented on like guinea pigs or patronized like bunny rabbits!"
"I do not patronize bunny rabbits!" Ms. Fleming gasped.
"You were supposed to protect her! You're an idiot! All of you are idiots!" I screamed and left to go find Mcnamara.
"Veronica!" JD yelled, but he got trapped within the crowd as well.
I dashed over to the girls bathroom. there was muffled crying coming from the last stall.
"Heather! Open the door!" My request was met with even more crying. I had no choice but to break the lock.
I busted the door open. Inside was Heather Mcnamara, with an empty pill bottle in her hand.
I grabbed her by the arm. "No no no no! Stop!"
"Suicide's a private thing Veronica!" She said, her mouth full of sedatives.
"Throwing your life away just to become another statistic isn't private!"
She started sobbing. "But I just make everything worse! I left you to deal with my own problems just because I couldn't handle them myself!"
"Heather, look at me. If you were happy every single day of your life you wouldn't be human. You'd be a game show host."
She spit out the pills and hugged me. "T-thanks for coming after me Veronica. If you didn't-"
"Heather? Are you in here?" Chandler and Duke stepped into the stall. "Oh my God, Heather!"
Mcnamara started crying again. "I-I'm sorry-"
Chandler rushed over to her and hugged her. "Heather, we should be the ones who are sorry."
Duke joined in the hug. "We shouldn't have treated you like shit."
All three of them were crying now, and I swear, their tears were contagious.
"I-I should apologize." Heather Chandler said. "Look, I'm not the best person. I've treated all of you like shit, especially you, Duke. I know I'm not the nicest, but driving someone to suicide is a whole different level."
Duke spoke up. "I'm sorry to all of you as well. I started the rumor about Veronica's threesome. I spent so much time sucking up to Chandler that I started acting like a megabitch. To you, Mac, and Veronica."
I stood up. "I guess I should apologize as well, for everything I've done in junior year-"
"Veronica, it's okay." Heather Chandler said. "I would have gotten revenge as well if I was in your place."
I smiled. "I can write some absence slips so we can ditch."
Heather Duke smiled back. "Yeah Heather, we can go buy some shoes!"
Mcnamara wiped her tears. "T-that would be nice."
"C'mon, we'll take my Porsche." Chandler pulled out her car keys. I scribbled 4 notes and handed 3 of them to Heather.
"I'll meet up with you guys in a sec." I stepped out of the bathroom to find JD and Martha right outside.
"Veronica! What happened?" Martha asked.
"Heather Mac tried to commit suicide." I said.
Martha gasped and turned pale. JD's reaction was alarmingly blasé, but considering his background, it was understandable.
"We're ditching school to take her to the mall. I'll just see you guys later."
"It's fine, I completely understand." Martha said.
"I can pick you up there later, if you want." JD offered.
I smiled. "That would be great."
"Veronica! We better go before the teachers suspect anything!" Heather Chandler called from the hallway."
"That's my cue. See you guys later." I went with Chandler and we rode her Porsche to the mall.
Janis's POV
"Everyone just calm down and get back to your seats!" Ms. Fleming said.
Chaos erupted once Heather Mcnamara admitted her suicidal thoughts and ran off. Veronica, Martha, JD, and the other 2 Heathers ran off as well, presumably to find her. In the meantime, Ms Fleming and some of the janitors were trying to calm all the students in the gym. Nearly all the boys went back inside the school, with most of the girls causing the commotion.
Through the crowd, I spotted Martha. I ran over to her.
"Martha! Hey, what happened?"
"Veronica, Heather Chandler, and Heather Duke are comforting Heather Mcnamara by ditching school to take her shopping." She shrugged. "I was thinking of a way on how to cover up 4 students suddenly disappearing from the school grounds with no explanation. Veronica wrote a couple fake notes, but in this case, someone might notice."
"Martha, Janis, get back to your seats." Ms. Fleming was finally able to get the crowd of students to sit back down.
"Alright, we had a bit of a commotion back there, but that doesn't mean I'll let you guys out early." Ms. Fleming said into the microphone. "Anyone want to volunteer? Please just share your feelings. It will be fine."
I stood up. "Ms. Fleming, I'd like to volunteer."
Ms. Fleming flashed a smile of relief. "Okay Janis, you can go stand up on that table there. Once you're done sharing, we're gonna start the trust fall exercise."
"Aww, look Janis! It's your dream come true! Jumping into a pile of girls!" Regina said in a mocking tone.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her. "Okay, well, I guess I would like to start with an apology. I had this friend back at my old school who is now here because of the student exchange program. Back then, I thought "Hey, wouldn't it be fun if we messed up Regina George's life?". It never happened back there though, but, it happened here. We decided to give her these candy bars that make you gain weight, we turned her 2 best friends against her, and the friend who I was talking about, Cady, was able to get Regina's boyfriend to break up with her. After that however, it turns out that Cady is as phony and plastic as Regina George. So, I guess I'm apologizing for not knowing any better. I'm also apologizing to another good friend of mine, Veronica Sawyer, for dragging her into this mess when she could just be minding her own business."
"So your best friend screwed you over, acted nice when she's not nice."
"Well, I have some advice, 'cause it's happened to me. Twice."
"Here's my secret strategy, It always works because,"
"The world doesn't end, It just feels like it does."
I flipped a bird in front of the entire crowd. Ms. Fleming simply looked at me with disapproval.
"So raise your right finger, and solemnly swear."
"Whatever they say about me, I don't care!"
"I won't twist in knots to join your game, I'll say "you make me mad."
"And if you treat me bad, I'll say "you're bad"
"And if I eat alone from this moment on, that's just what I'll do."
"'Cause I'd rather be me, I'd rather be me, I'd rather be me than be with you!"
"We're supposed to all be ladies, and be nurturing and care."
"Is that really fair? Boys get to fight, we have to share!"
Most of the girls nodded in approvement.
"Here's the way that turns out, we always understand."
"How to slap someone down, with our underhand."
"So here's my right finger, to how girls should behave."
"'Cause sometimes what's meant to break you, makes you brave!"
"So I will not act all innocent, I won't fake apologize."
"Let's just fight! And then make up, not tell these lies!"
"Let's call our damage even, clean the slate till it's like new."
"It's a new life for me, where I'd rather be me, I'd rather be me than be with you!"
All the girls cheered. I let myself fall and trusted them to catch me. They lifted me up, while cheering once more, and they set me down on another table.
"I'll say, "No!"
"No!"
"I'll say, "knock it off, with your notes and your rules and your games!"
"And those sycophants who follow you, I'll remember all their names."
"And when they drag you down like they inevitably do,"
"I will not laugh along with them and approve their palace coup, 'cause that's not me."
"Janis! Janis! Janis! Janis!"
"I don't need their good opinions! I have plenty of opinions!"
"Everybody has opinions but it doesn't make them true!"
"What's true is being me, and I'd rather be me! I'd rather be me than be with you!"
I stepped down from the table and gave all the girls a high five.
"So raise them high 'cause playing nice and shy is insulting my IQ!"
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
"I'd rather be me! I'd rather be me!"
"I'd rather be me than be with you!"
"I'd rather be me! I'd rather be me!"
"I'd rather be me! Than be! With! You!"
"Janis! Janis! Janis!" All the girls raised their middle fingers.
I grinned once I heard them cheering my name. Veronica was right. It felt good to have the crowd rooting for you.
Cady's POV
While Janis went around the rest of the school with the girls cheering for her. I decided to go apologize to Regina. A short while after Janis's power speech ended, she had stormed off.
I finally caught up to her right outside the school. "Regina, wait! I just wanted to say sorry! I never meant for any of this to happen!"
"Cut the bullshit Cady!" Regina turned on me. "Why don't you take your stupid fake apology and shove it up your big, fat-"
Her rant was interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream. The school bus had hit the former queen bee.
And it was all my fault.
~Oof a couple more chapters and its the end of the book!