It makes me tired, and my shoulders sag, but then Dee gives my hand a tug and we go hide out in my room, which expands and is more interesting and full of potential just because she waltzes in. We watch The Goonies, and when Reg hears what we’re watching and yells, in his trying-too-hard voice, “Heeeey yoooou guys!” I have someone to roll my eyes with.

Chapter 13

13

It’s been a couple of weeks since Dee arrived on the scene, at least for me. And then something happens that make everyone stop and pay attention.

First, Breanne makes fun of Michelle again at lunch, who runs out of the room, clearly crying. Breanne and Paige put their manicured hands over their open mouths in mock surprise, giggles slipping out like the barks of tiny dogs with sharp little teeth. I notice that Lottie is scowling at them but says nothing.

And then, a loud and laughing crowd bears witness when, after lunch, Breanne discovers that her locker has been defaced. Taped to the door is a set of headgear: one of those medieval teeth straighteners that evoke mortal embarrassment for anyone with a sadistic orthodontist. Her name is on a label taped to the band that goes over your head. Written above it, in red lipstick, are the words BACK OFF, BITCH.

Under this, a scrawled heart:

LOVE, HEATHER

“Who did that?” someone asks. “Who’s Heather?”

There’s laughing as Breanne yanks the thing from her locker, her face beet red, her eyes brimming with pretty tears. The crowd disperses as the bell rings, and I see Dee at my side.

“You stole that from her house, didn’t you?” I whisper, as we walk away with the herd.

“Did I?”

“Why?”

“Be the change you want to see, Stevie.”

“Haha, ‘how very,’” I mutter, a quote I know she’ll recognize.

We bump fists.

Heathers, that queen bee of high school films, of righting the wrongs of the high school popularity machine, by any means necessary.

“I can’t believe you did that,” I whisper.

“Well,” she says, grinning, “the meek shall inherit the earth and all that.” She opens the door to our science class. “But sometimes they need a little shove.”

*   *   *

And she shoves.

The next day, while everyone is still talking about the prank on Breanne and who Heather is, it happens again. Dee gets another chance. On Luke’s locker is a blown-up picture of him sobbing, his face contorted like a child, puke running down the front of his hockey uniform. The backdrop is the outside of the arena, and it looks like it was taken after the recent game. I recognize a sign in the background for upcoming events. Below, written in the same red lipstick as the day before, it says:

DON’T CRY, BABY. LOVE, HEATHER.

Everyone is talking now.

We are doing this.