Adopted by Heathers Cast

Are There Any Happy Endings?

I walked into Band class, clutching my saxophone. Cesca waved and called me over.

"What's up?" she said, blowing her trumpet in my ear. I did the same thing to her with my saxophone and sat down. A boy with messy blonde hair tapped me on the shoulder.

"You the other sax?" I nodded, and said, "Yeah. My name's Catlynn." He said, "Sweet! My name is Axel. My best friend, Red, is that girl in the clarinet section who is on her phone rather than putting together her instrument." I waved, and said, "My best friend, Cesca, is that girl in the trumpet section who is making everyone deaf."

"Classic Francesca." Axel said, and I laughed. "Do you like musical theater?" I nodded, and Axel said, "Sweet. What's your favorite musical?"

"Um...I was in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee back in June."

"Oh, that's where I know the name Catlynn! You played Olive, right?" I nodded, and said, "Yeah. I had a lot of fun." Axel nodded, and then this girl in the flute section tapped me on the shoulder.

"Hey. I'm Violet."

"Hi. My name's Catlynn."

"Do you like Heathers?"

"Um, yeah. Why?" I said. I was getting kind of scared.

"Jessica Keenan Wynn, you know, the girl who played Heather Chandler, got in a car crash a couple of weeks ago. She's in a coma."

I nearly cried. I thought Band would be the one place I wasn't reminded of the crash. Cesca was the only person here who knew.

"She's...she's not in a coma."

"How would you know?" Violet snapped.

"Because she's my aunt!" I cried without thinking. Violet started cracking up, and said, "You're just a crazy fangirl. Get out of your own head, jerk, and start paying respect!" I turned towards Cesca, who whispered, "Go. I'll deal." to me.

I ran out of the band room and went down to the bathroom. I slammed the stall door shut and started crying my eyes out. I pulled out my phone and called Elle.

"Hello? Sunshine? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Elle asked when she picked up the phone.

"I hate eighth grade. I hate it, I hate it." Elle sighed on the other line, and said, "What happened, Sunshine?"

"This girl...she told me Jess was in a coma...and she laughed at me when I told her Jess was my aunt." Elle gasped, and said, "Oh, Sunshine..."

"Can I just go home? Please? I'm having a hard time right now and I can't deal." I said, crying. Elle said, "I'll be there in a few minutes to pick you up. Ryan and Evan are at the house right now and I was going to surprise you after school. But I'll be there shortly. Hang in there for me, okay, Sunshine? I'll put Jessica on the line."

I heard Elle say, "It's Cat. She's having a bad day and needs to go home. Talk to her while I go to her school." Then, Jessica said, "Hey Cat."

"Hi, Jess."

"Where are you? Are you okay?" Jessica asked.

"What do you think? I'm in the school bathroom crying my eyes out because some jerk didn't care that I was going through the toughest time of my life and started laughing at me." I said. I heard Jessica sigh, and she said, "When did this happen?"

"Band. Which reminds me...my saxophone. You gave me my saxophone...if she ruined it..." I said. "And all my pictures are in my bag...I keep my journal in there." I said, preparing for the worst.

"Hey. Cat, I'm so sorry that idiot ruined your first day of school. Did Elle tell you Ryan and Evan are here?" I said, "Yeah." with a small voice, and Jessica said, "Remember, Jess and Cat night tonight. And Ryan and Evan might take you out for lunch. They were supposed to take you out for a celebratory dinner, but since you're coming home early, they might take you for lunch instead." I sighed, and said, "Yeah." Jessica said, "How about when you get home from lunch, we order takeout and play Monopoly. And we can watch whatever movie you want."