The beginning of this chapter is based on the song Dead Girl Walking from Heathers, so if that song makes you uncomfortable, feel free to skip this section of the chapter

3rd Person P.O.V

That night, Jasmine was sitting in her room, reading Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, which despite being a tragedy, was actually one of her favourites of Shakespeare's works. She was just glad that her father was away on some sort of business trip, so she had the house to herself for the weekend, which gave her plenty of time to read in peace. However, her concentration was broken when she heard a noise coming from behind her. She turned around, and got a shock when she saw Veronica standing by her window. From the looks of it, the blue-clad girl had just climbed in through said window.

"Veronica? What are you doing in my room?" Jasmine questioned, more than a little confused, but Veronica made a shushing motion.

"So, I kinda humiliated Heather Chandler at Ram's party by throwing up on her, but she deserved it for trying to play a nasty prank on Martha. Except it kinda backfired, and I'm a dead girl walking come Monday. So yeah, I left that party, and kinda saw your motorbike outside, and decided to come and see you." Veronica rambled. Jasmine raised an eyebrow at this, placing a bookmark in her book, before turning to properly face Veronica as the other girl knelt in front of her.

"That's.... pretty intense, but still does not explain why you climbed in through my bedroom window in the middle of the night." Jasmine remarked.

"Honestly, it was just the first idea that came into my head. Also, I think you're really cute, and I've kinda had a thing for you since I met you." Veronica said, suddenly feeling somewhat awkward, fiddling with the buttons on her blazer. Jasmine could feel herself blushing, but that was mostly from the fact that she'd developed feelings for Veronica after their official meeting at the 7-Eleven. At least now she knew the feeling was mutual, but she was still wary. After all, she hadn't known love since the death of her brother three years ago.

"I see..." Jasmine trailed off, not really knowing what to say. She'd been closed-off around other people for so long out of fear of getting hurt. Could she really risk opening herself up enough to let Veronica in?

"I know you say that you're numb inside, but I just can't agree with that. I know the world is unfair, but we can keep it locked out there. Because in here, you're beautiful, and I want to be able to help you realise that." Veronica said, pointing to the spot over Jasmine's heart, though the other girl had flinched a little bit, something which Veronica made a mental note about. Jasmine was very aware of how close they were to each other now, not to mention that Veronica's blazer was now undone, which was not helping her conflicted feelings. But she eventually managed to collect herself enough to look Veronica in the eyes

"That works for me." Jasmine said. With that, the last bit of distance between them disappeared as Veronica pulled Jasmine into a kiss, which quickly became very passionate as the situation escalated, but neither of the two girls were in a hurry to stop what they were doing. It wasn't until several hours later that the two eventually fell asleep, with Veronica laying in Jasmine's arms, with her head resting on Jasmine's chest. This gave Veronica a feeling of safety and security, and she decided that she rather liked this feeling.

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The next morning, Jasmine was startled awake by the sound of Veronica screaming, which caused her to quickly sit up.

"Veronica? Veronica! Veronica, what's wrong?! God, you're soaking wet." Jasmine asked, noting how scared Veronica seemed to be.

"It was just a dream. Oh my god, it was just a dream." Veronica said, though appeared to be speaking to herself as she got up, quickly doing up her blouse.

"What's the rush?" Jasmine questioned, picking up her shirt and putting it on.

"I have to get to Heather's house." Veronica answered.

"What? But you told me you were done with Heather." Jasmine said, slightly confused as she stood up, picking up her trenchcoat.

"Yeah, and it was a sweet fantasy. A world without Heather. But now it's morning, and I have to go kiss her aerobicized ass." Veronica said, picking up her blazer and turning the sleeves the right way.

"Well, let me come with you." Jasmine said.

"Really?" Veronica asked, looking hopeful, but also a little uncertain.

"Yeah. For backup." Jasmine answered.

"Okay. Thank you. Oh, by the way, uh...... You were my first." Veronica admitted, somewhat awkwardly. Jasmine gave a light chuckle when she heard that, putting her trenchcoat on. The two then left the house and made their way to Chandler's house, entering through the front door, as Veronica knew where the spare key was kept. Jasmine quietly closed the door behind them, before following Veronica to the kitchen.

"Heather? Heather?" Veronica called out.

"Maybe she's not here." Jasmine said, hearing no reply.

"Trust me. She always skips the Sunday morning trip to Grandma's, even when she's not hungover. Heather!" Veronica called again.

"What?!" Came an annoyed reply from upstairs.

"It's Veronica. I'm here to apologise." Veronica called back.

"Hope you brought kneepads, bitch. Fix me a prairie oyster, and I'll think about it." Was the snappy response from a very hungover Heather Chandler.

"Prairie oyster? What is in that? Oh, wait. Raw eggs, vinegar." Veronica muttered to herself, beginning to gather what she needed.

"Hot sauce, worcestershire, salt and pepper." Jasmine finished, retrieving the necessary ingredients and setting them on the counter.

"You know your hangover cures." Veronica noted.

"My dad trained me well." Jasmine remarked, but there was no pride in her tone.

"Look, here's my revenge. I'm gonna put a flemglobber in her prairie oyster, and she'll never know." Veronica said. Jasmine decided to take another look through the cupboard, and pulled out a bottle of drain cleaner.

"I'm more of a no-rust-buildup woman myself." Jasmine remarked, pouring some of the blue liquid into a glass.

"Okay, don't be ridiculous. That stuff will kill her." Veronica said, briefly glancing up from where she was making the prairie oyster.

"Thus ending her hangover. I say we go with big blue." Jasmine remarked. Of course she was joking, but teasing Veronica was funny, to her at least.

"You can't just..... Besides, she would never drink anything that looks like that." Veronica pointed out.

"So then we use a mug. That way, she'll have no idea what she's drinking." Jasmine said, picking up a spare mug and tipping the drain cleaner into it, putting the empty glass in the sink.

"Forget it." Veronica said.

"Chicken." Jasmine teased, walking over to Veronica, making chicken noises.

"You're not funny." Veronica said. Jasmine, knowing the joke had gone too far by this point, set down the mug she was holding.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I was only kidding anyway." Jasmine said, before she gave Veronica a kiss.

"Prairie oyster! Chop, chop!" Chandler's voice shouted from upstairs, sounding more awake but also extremely irritated. Veronica pulled away from Jasmine, picking up a mug as she did so, before starting to head upstairs. Jasmine watched her, before glancing down at the counter, only to get a shock when she saw the mug containing the prairie oyster was still there, which meant Veronica had picked up the wrong mug. True, she may not like Chandler, especially after hearing that she planned to humiliate Veronica on Monday, but not enough to want her dead because of it.

"Veronica, wait!" Jasmine called after her, picking up the mug and going after her girlfriend.

"What is it, JD?" Veronica asked, pausing at the bottom of the stairs.

"You, uh, picked up the wrong mug. That's the drain cleaner." Jasmine answered. Veronica gave a light frown, before looking down at the mug she was holding, before realising she had indeed picked up the mug containing the drain cleaner.

"Oh, crap. That could have gone very wrong." Veronica said. Jasmine took the mug containing the drain cleaner, before handing the prairie oyster to Veronica, and then going back to the kitchen to dispose of the toxic substance she was holding, tipping it down the sink and then thoroughly rinsing the mug for good measure. Once that was complete, she rejoined Veronica, accompanying the blue-clad girl upstairs to Chandler's bedroom.

"Good morning, Heather." Veronica said as the two entered the room.

"Ah, Veronica. And Jessica James, quelle surprise. Well, let's get to it. Beg." Chandler said, sitting up.

"Okay, uh, I think we both said a lot of things we..." Veronica started.

"I'd actually prefer if you did this on your knees. In front of your little friend here." Chandler said. Veronica forced herself to bite back her retort that Jasmine was actually her girlfriend, but she knew now was not the time.

"Um, I'm really sorry." Veronica tried again, but Chandler simply laughed. Jasmine was not at all pleased with the way Chandler was treating Veronica, and knew she would intervene if she had to.

"Do I look like I'm kidding? Down!" Chandler said.

"No." Jasmine spoke up, knowing she had to come to her girlfriend's defence. She was not going to let Chandler push Veronica around like this. This caused both Chandler and Veronica to turn and look at the dark-haired teen

"What did you say?" Chandler questioned, a faint trace of anger present in her tone.

"You heard me. Why should Veronica have to apologise for what she did? You were the one planning to humiliate her best friend." Jasmine responded, walking over to the blonde, motioning to Veronica to give her the mug. Confused, Veronica handed the mug to her girlfriend, hoping the dark-haired girl actually knew what she was doing.

"I raised Veronica up from nothing, and my thanks was being paid in puke. Therefore, Monday morning, she can say goodbye to her social reputation." Chandler retorted. Here, Jasmine gave a smirk.

"You're so bent on destroying Veronica's reputation, but how big of a hit do you think your own reputation would take if they learned about a certain event in the summer of '86?" Jasmine said. Veronica had no idea what this meant, but judging from the red-clad Heather's reaction, Chandler clearly did.

"You wouldn't." Chandler said, sounding genuinely scared for the first time since Veronica had known her.

"Don't test me, princess. If Veronica's reputation takes a hit, then so does yours. Consider this your only warning." Jasmine told her.

"Fine." Chandler muttered, though with clear reluctance.

"Good. Glad we could reach an agreement. Here's your prairie oyster. Veronica and I will be leaving now." Jasmine set the mug down on the beside table, before she turned and left the room with an extremely confused Veronica in tow. Once they had left the house, Veronica turned to look at Jasmine.

"Okay, do you want to explain what just happened back there? Clearly you know something Heather wants to keep secret, because she looked so scared when you brought it up." Veronica questioned.

"Not now." Jasmine answered, though Veronica noted she seemed a little tense. The two continued to walk until they reached the 7-Eleven, where Jasmine proceeded to buy herself and Veronica a slushie. The two then walked out the shop and walked to the nearby park, sitting at an empty bench.

"JD, I don't want to pry, but I also don't want you to feel like you have to keep everything to yourself." Veronica spoke softly, placing a hand over Jasmine's. The black-clad teen let out a soft sigh, before she took a folded piece of paper from her pocket and unfolded it, sliding it across the table to Veronica, revealing that it was a photo of a slightly younger Jasmine. In the photo with her was a boy the same age, who had the same dark hair as Jasmine, except he had deep green eyes as opposed to Jasmine's green-grey hazel colouring. However, what came a shock to Veronica was the fact that there in the photo as well, was none other than Heather Chandler herself.

"That's my twin brother. His name was Jason Dean, or JD for short. Our mother died when we were young, so we only had each other. He was very protective of me, especially when it came to dealing with our father. But a few months after we turned fourteen, things started to go downwards. My father has always had a problem with alcohol. But this one night was especially bad. JD did his best to protect me, but our father threw a chair at him, and it hit him in the head. He died within minutes after impact, and I lost my twin and other half that night." Jasmine explained. Veronica felt a pang in her chest upon hearing this. She couldn't imagine what it was like to lose a sibling, and not just because she was an only child.

"That must have been awful." Veronica said quietly.

"It was. When the cops finally arrived, my father told them that my brother had tripped and fallen down the stairs, hitting his head in the process, even staged it to look that way too. And since the cops in this town are useless, they believed him." Jasmine spoke bitterly.

"And I'm guessing this ties into what you said to Heather earlier?" Veronica asked.

"Yes, it does. To tell you the truth, Heather and I were in a secret relationship that summer. That's why she's in the photo as well. The only person who knew about us was my brother. When he died, Heather was my rock. She helped me come to terms with it. But then I found out my dad was moving us to another state, so I had to end things with her. We agreed not to hold it against one another, since I couldn't control what my dad did, and also because I doubted I'd ever come back to this town. Yet here I am, three years later." Jasmine explained.

"I guess that explains why she didn't recognise you, because both of you have changed quite a bit since then." Veronica said.

"Yes. I closed myself off from everyone, since everyone who has gotten close to me has ended up leaving. My trenchcoat that I currently wear? It was my brother's. It's the only thing I have left of him apart from the picture you're holding. And after we left Ohio? That's when I started going by JD, to honour my brother's memory. And I got this, to ensure I would never forget him." Jasmine said, pushing aside the collar of her shirt to reveal the tattoo she had on the left side of her chest. The words "Jason "JD" Dean, 1972 - 1986" written in cursive, permanently etched into the dark-haired girl's skin. Veronica moved closer to Jasmine and leaned her head on the other girl's shoulder, putting an arm around her.

"I'm sorry you lost your brother. But you know that you'll never forget him because he's in your heart, and you also have me now, if you're willing to open up and let me in." Veronica told her. Jasmine managed a light smile at this, putting an arm around Veronica and holding her close. After a few minutes, Veronica took her chance, shifting her position just enough to allow her to kiss Jasmine on the cheek. This earned another smile from the dark-haired teen, who returned the gesture of affection by gently pulling Veronica into a kiss. Jasmine had to admit that she did feel better now that she had opened up to Veronica about what had happened to her brother, but she also knew that it was going to take a little while longer before she could completely open up to her. And even then, she still had a lingering fear that something bad would happen and Veronica would leave her. So all she could do was hope that something like that would never happen.