No One Dies a Virgin

Chapter Seven: Snake in Your Bed

TW: Suicide attemtp

"They know who did it," Veronica whispered to her friends as they sat around the lunch room. "Rumour has it that the police are gonna get them...yeah, crazy, right? They say they have the names and everything?"

She could see her friend's eyes widen, and she winked at JD across the lunch room. Their plan was in action, and they could already feel the friction in the air as they spread the rumour that the killer was soon to be caught. No one thought it was suicide any more. Veronica and JD has already got the more thrilling murder theory passed around and everyone was whispering behind their hands, telling little stories and adding their own embellishments. Now everyone has their own theories-their own gory stories.

One factor was the same in every story, though. No one said the name of the supposed offender. It was all part of the plan. Act as if you knew, but don't let your guard down.

As Veronica spread the rumours JD watched. He examined the stilled faces of his fellow students and teachers alike. He waited to see a hint of fear and recognition. He looked at the other football players, and at the less popular girls. He checked the creepers, and the druggies. Finally he noted the table at which Veronica sat with her closest 'friends' (the real brat-pack). He saw one face in particular that stood out among the rest-Duke. She looked scared, a thin sheen of sweat across her forehead.

'Bingo, baby,' JD thought, gathering his things up and grabbing Veronica by the arm as he exited the lunch room. He couldn't quite believe that it was Duke-She wasn't as smart as many of the other students, she didn't really have any real motive...but the look in her eyes, that couldn't have been a lie. Even if she wasn't the real killer, she knew something, or thought she did.

"Who is it?" hissed Veronica when they stopped in the hallway, pressed into a corner beside the lockers. She could tell he had found something. He looked excited. He was smiling, his white teeth shining the the afternoon light falling through the wall to ceiling windows at the end of the hall.

"Duke," JD answered, not a waiver in his tone. He was already working through it in his mind. It could make sense...there had always been a kind of invisible fight between Duke and Chandler, and the Ram and Kurt weren't really a favourite among anyone. She was definitely crazy-Maybe it was just enough to push her over the edge. He looked down at Veronica, searching her eyes for some sort of recognition and found the shine on understanding almost immediately. She knew something he didn't about Duke's relations with the other pupils, after all, she was with her all day every day.

"That makes sense," Veronica began, slowly. "I mean, She was the next most popular one after Chandler, and she knew it. Chandler would talk down to her...tell her she was worthless, and dull compared with her...And Kurt and Ram...they were horrible. Always trying to prove that they weren't hot for each other by getting all the girls to lay them. I mean, like, they used force sometimes...Duke was scared of them after that-She thought she was pregnant for a while..." Veronica trailed off as the final pieces began to fit together. Duke had looked scared in the lunch room when they had said they knew who did it (purposefully looking everyone one they told as if the person sitting next to them was the one). She had motivation, and reason. She had the ability and access to the victims...

"Yeah, it makes sense," was all JD said as he felt relief flooding his body. If there was a suspect it made his anxiety die down. If there was someone of something to point his mind towards, to blame, other than himself. He couldn't have known it was Duke without Veronica. He didn't pay enough attention to her. He couldn't have known.

Now came the hard part...the part where they had to a) expose her or b) get her out of the way themselves, and by the look on Veronica's face she was thinking of the latter answer herself.