Modern Heathers

Chapter Twenty-One: I Save a Life For Once

A/N: anyone reading this should probably be familiar with Heathers and know that the entire plot has major trigger warnings. But this chapter in particular could be very upsetting. It is not graphic but has many mentions of suicide and an account of a suicide attempt. Please do not read if that will upset you, hurt you in any way, or anything that isn't safe. You have been warned.

I walked into homeroom the next day to find POOR HEATHER scrawled across the whiteboard. Mac sat in the back of the room, wearing a Westerburg High hoodie and trying to hide her face.

Can you believe she said that?

Probably just for attention.

No way Heather meant that.

I'm worried about her.

She has been acting different.

Should someone check on her?

The whispers flying around the room were driving me crazy. Could no one shut the fuck up?

Heather couldn't take it either. She got up and ran out of the room.

What was that about?

Probably just begging for sympathy.

She seemed upset.

Is she okay?

I got up and sprinted after Heather. Her footsteps echoed across the linoleum floor of the hallways. I saw her turn a corner. Probably headed to the girls' bathroom.

I shoved open the door maybe a good two minutes after Heather went in after running down the hall. My lungs burned. I'm pretty sure that's the fastest I've ever run in my life.

Heather was standing in front of the sink holding something.

Fuck.

It was a pill bottle. An empty pill bottle.

I quickly ran over and shoved her against the wall, forcing her mouth open to make her spit out the pills.

"Agh, what are you doing," she gasped, rubbing her jaw, "trying to kill me?"

"What are you doing?" I asked, gesturing to the pills across the floor. "Heather, why the fuck would you—"

"Because none of those assholes would miss me! At least not who I really was. They'll say I was their best friend or their girlfriend or some shit and that isn't true. The same thing happened to Heather, and Kurt, and Ram... what about them?"

I looked at her, speechless. "If they jumped off a cliff, would you?"

"Probably." She sank to the floor, her knees to her chest. I sat beside her. "You heard what they were saying about me. I'm just a follower, I'm never the leader."

"If you were happy every day of your life you wouldn't be human," I laughed, crushing some of the pills with my shoe, "you'd be a gameshow host."

"You shouldn't have stopped me. Besides, suicide is a private thing."

"Throwing your life away to be a statistic, to have an assembly like Heather? That's private to you?"

"Yeah, guess you're right." She sighed. "Thanks, Veronica. For coming for me."

I put an arm around her shoulders. "It's nothing. Hey, Betty and I were planning on having a game night Saturday. You wanna join?"

She smiled weakly. "Sounds great."