3rd Person P.O.V

The next few days seemed to fly by, and the weekend soon came. This saw Veronica walking up to the 7-Eleven to pick up some snacks before she and Chandler went on to go to Ram Sweeney's homecoming party that night. Part of Veronica was excited about going to her first party, but another part of her was also extremely nervous about what might happen at said party.

"Veronica! Don't forget to buy corn nuts! It's not a party without corn nuts!" Veronica heard Chandler called after her.

"Yes, Heather! Plain or BQ?" Veronica called back.

"BQ!" Was Chandler's response. Veronica opened the door and walked into the store, looking around before finally finding the corn nuts. She grabbed a couple of packets of BQ corn nuts and quickly went and paid for them. Just as she was ready to leave, she heard a familiar voice.

"Greetings and salutations. You want a slurpee with that?" Veronica turned around and saw Jasmine leaning against a nearby shelf, holding a slurpee cup in her hands.

"No. But if you're nice, I'll let you buy me a Big Gulp." Veronica answered, walking over to join her. This earned a light chuckle from the darker-haired teen.

"That's like going to Mickey D's and ordering a salad. Slurpee is the signature dish of the house. Now, did you say cherry or lime?" Jasmine asked, setting her cup down on the nearby counter.

"I said Big Gulp. I'm Veronica, by the way. Veronica Sawyer. Are you ever gonna tell me your name?" Veronica asked.

"I'll end the suspense. Jasmine Dean, JD for short." Jasmine answered.

"So, JD, that thing you pulled in the caf was pretty severe." Veronica said.

"Well, the extreme always seems to make an impression." Jasmine responded nonchalantly.

"What brings a Baudelaire-quoting badass like you to Sherwood, Ohio?" Veronica questioned.

"My dad's work. He owns a deconstruction company." Jasmine answered, taking a seat on the counter.

"Deconstruction?" Veronica questioned in confusion.

"Yeah. You seen the commercial? "I'm Big Bud Dean! If it's in your way, I'll make your day"." Jasmine mocked the commercial, since she hated it with a burning passion.

"Right? And then he pushes the plunger and the screen blows up! That's....your dad?" Veronica trailed off after seeing the look on Jasmine's face.

"In all his toxic glory." Jasmine answered bitterly.

"Well, everyone's life has got static." Veronica got cut off by the sound of Chandler's voice shouting her name.

"Example. I don't really like my friends." Veronica finished what she had been about to say before she got interrupted.

"I don't really like your friends either. Bag the party. Hang here." Jasmine said.

"At the 7-Eleven? Swanky first date." Veronica said.

"Hey, I love this place." Jasmine told her.

"No offense, but why?" Veronica asked, curious to know.

"Well, I've been moved around a lot in my life. Dallas; Batten-Rouge; Vegas; Sherwood, Ohio. Ten high schools in ten different states, and the only thing different is my locker combination. I've never learned names or bothered with faces. No point when I'll just be back on the road in six weeks or so. But there's always been a 7-Eleven in every state. It's the only thing that has never changed. It's a comfort to come here at the end of the day and buy a slurpee and some snacks to relieve the stress of the day. Care to try some?" Jasmine answered, gesturing to her slurpee cup.

"Does your mom know you eat all that crap?" Veronica asked.

"Not anymore. When my mom was alive, life was somewhat normal. But now it's just me and my dad, so not so much anymore. I learned to cook pasta and pay rent. The world doesn't owe me a cent, so I don't owe it anything in return. But you, Veronica Sawyer, you're planning your future. You'll end up going to college and maybe marrying a lawyer. But when the sky falls, it's gonna hurt. That's why you need to build walls. That's why the feeling of freezing your brain is more of a comfort. Fight your pain with more pain, so that when the voice in your head says you're better off dead, you won't open a vein. Go on, try it." Jasmine said, holding out the cup to Veronica, having completely missed the blue-clad teen's shocked expression at the revelation of her mother's death. Veronica took the cup and took a sip of the frozen drink within.

"I don't see what the big deal.... Oh, son of a bitch!" Veronica exclaimed as the brain freeze hit her. The ring of the bell above the front door could be heard, but neither girl noticed Chandler approach them.

"Veronica!" Chandler's voice snapped Veronica out of her shock, and she quickly handed the slurpee cup back to Jasmine.

"Oh, I gotta go." Veronica said.

"So I see." Jasmine said, briefly glancing over at Chandler.

"Corn nuts?" Chandler questioned, looking at Veronica.

"Yeah, they're right here." Veronica said, picking up the two bags of corn nuts she had purchased earlier. Chandler looked over at Jasmine a little suspiciously. She knew that was something very familiar about the hazel-eyed girl, like she had once known her but she couldn't quite place when that could have been, yet she didn't show it.

"Don't you have a Morrissey concert to go to? Come on, Veronica!" Chandler said, turning and leaving the store, followed by Veronica, who briefly turned back to give Jasmine a small smile before she left. Jasmine remained at the store for a little while longer so she could finish her slurpee, before she walked out and got on her motorbike before driving home. She thought that her encounter with Veronica had been a very interesting one, and there was just something about the blue-clad girl that intrigued her. But whether she would find out what it was or not, that was something only time would tell.