Can't We Be Seventeen? (If We Still Got The Right)

10- Careful, there, Heather...

October 10th, 1989. Wednesday.
(17 days after Veronica Sawyer's murder.)

It was well past 7 p.m. when Heather stepped into Seven-Eleven.

Heather was usually not one for convenience stores, but she was low on corn nuts, and she needed a cigarette really badly.

She parked her car in front of the store, not caring about the handicapped symbol painted on the asphalt, and got in, being welcomed by the warmth, a striking comparison to the cold breeze blowing outside, and the distinguishing smell of slurpees, grease, and despair.

Heather walked between the snack aisle, the clicking noise of her shoes on the linoleum floors echoing through the nearly empty place. She grabbed three bags of barbecue cornuts.

The little bell on the door clinked as an announcement of another client arriving. Heather turned her head to see none other than Jason Dean entering, going straight to the slushie machine. He didn't see her at first, although they were only a few feet away. When he did see her, eventually, he narrowed his eyes and scowled.

"Do you come here often?" he said, managing to make such a casual conversation starter sound cold and full of disdain. "If so, let me know, so I can find a better place to hang out. I'm not really in the mood for your acts."

"Excuse me?"

"That thing you did in the hallway, with Courtney?" He laughed bitterly. Her discussion with Courtney seemed so far away, even though it had only happened a few hours prior. "Acting all protective of Veronica as if you're not one of the reasons she's dead."

"I didn't kill her," Heather said, trying not to seethe or cry in front of Jason Dean. She was exhausted, she couldn't bear hearing that anymore.

"I know. You just threw her in the hands of whoever did."

"Who's to say I'm not talking to that person right now?" Heather lifted one eyebrow. If he wanted to play dirty and start pointing fingers, she could do the same. "Most of the time, it's the boyfriend, am I right? And I honestly think you're a great candidate for homicidal manic, with the school shooter chic and firing blanks at people in the cafeteria."

"You don't know what the fuck you're talking about," he said. His voice remained stoic, but Heather could see in the way he was gripping his cup and how his nostrils flared, that she had gotten under his skin.

"Maybe not," she said. "And I don't come here often, so you don't have to worry about that."

Heather turned on her heels, her feet aiming for the cashier, to get the hell away from JD as she could.

It was true, she didn't have any proof to accuse him of anything, but she knew Veronica's killer was male, and unlike the Heathers, Veronica wasn't very friendly with a lot of boys, not since starting to date JD, during junior year.

For more than one reason, Heather always disliked Jason Dean. He made her feel uneasy. On his very first week, he pulled a gun on Kurt and Ram, and he started fights with them constantly; besides, Heather knew he was jealous of Veronica, and didn't like her hanging around with the Heather or with anyone else who wasn't him. Heather had seen that same profile on many news channels before, where the guy who was crazy in love with the girlfriend also turned out to be the one to end her life.

"Careful, there, Heather," she heard JD's voice behind her. "Veronica didn't have many enemies, and even so, she's rotting on the ground as we speak. You, on the other hand? I can think of a lot of people who would want you dead."

***

On Wednesday, McNamara and Duke got a ride on Heather's Porsche to the Chandler mansion for a game of croquet after school.

It felt weird to play without Veronica. Like they were doing something wrong. In contrast to their past games, which went on and on for hours, that one barely lasted half an hour.

At around 5 p.m., the Heathers found themselves in the Chandler's living room, watching TV. The reason why their game was cut short hung heavily in the air, but no one dared to speak a word about it.

When Heather's TV screen showed the end credits of Footloose, she grabbed the remote and began flipping through the channels in search of something interesting to watch until the News Channel caught her attention.

"-her boyfriend, Jason Dean, is now one of the prime suspects in his girlfriend's murder," she heard the disembodied voice of the female journalist speak, while the screen showed two pictures, side by side, one of Veronica, smiling and full of life —so different than what Heather saw on during their conversation the night before— and the other of JD, where he looked at the camera with not much interest, based on the background, Heather guessed it had been taken at school, for the yearbook.

"Sawyer, who was seventeen years old," another journalist, male, said. " went missing on September 23rd and was found dead a week later. Autopsy reports indicate she was raped while still alive, then was strangled to death with a shoelace; another one was found tying her wrists behind her back."

"Friends of the victim alleged Dean was possessive towards his girlfriend and was also severely unstable," the female journalist spoke up again." And at one point, even brought a gun to school. Mr Dean and his father, as well as Veronica's family, have yet to speak about this new revelation."

"Truly tragic, Jillian," the male journalist said, his gelled hair and teeth glistening under the studio lights. "And now the weather. Looks like we'll be getting ready for some heavy rain next week, isn't that right, Ashley?"

The image changed to a tall woman with an ever taller hairdo string in front of a blue screen. "That's right, Allan, as we can see here-"

Heather turned off the television.