The sky was dreary on the day Heather Duke died. It was a car accident, they said, but Veronica knew better. She had thought breaking up with JD would put his homicidal tendencies to an end but all it did was put them in overdrive. She and Heather had decided after the big pep rally, when the school blew up, that nastiness was not in order. The red lipped brunette became one of Veronica's best friends and together they worked at the swanky perfume shop in the mall-Rouge et Blanche.

She thought after gunning down JD in the boiler room and demanding he get out of her life he would listen. It seemed for a while he did. Life after her first love seemed promising. The rest of Junior year was fun, summer was a blast, and as a brand new student in a brand new school, Veronica was set to grab the bull by the horns. Or so she thought.

Veronica heard it happened right after Heather's shift on Friday but she knew it was on her break, the end of Veronica's shift. She had just finished saying "Ciao, Bella" as she waved from her mother's car when she saw the hooded man shove something into Heather's hand and then her in front of the bus.

Veronica had jumped out to find her friend mangled with her old copy of Moby Dick in her hand. Her last words were "Why?" She knew JD would say "Why not?"

When the police came she told them it was Jason Dean, her psycho ex-boyfriend. They had to believe her. He last had the book and she could confirm the last word to be underline was "Eskimo." She told them he had been plotting to kill her and make it look like a suicide-neglecting to mention the other heinous acts them committed-but she thought he wouldn't go through with it. She broke up with him!

But the police were quiet as they listened to the rants of a mad woman. When she was breathless they decided to speak. Jason Dean-they said-was dead. Although she had managed to save most of the student body by pulling the fire alarm, he had not made it out alive. His father was still in shambles.

"No. No no no no!" Was all she could say. Her parents had to pull her away and give her a Xanax to calm her down.

She had seen JD among the survivors-which was all but a few stoners and some preps getting it on in the bathroom. JD had blown her a charcoal covered kiss as she stole Heather Chandler's red scrunchie from Heather Duke's brown head. She watched him walk away as she asked Martha Dumptruck to hang. He had to be alive. He just had to.

In her drug induced haze though, a vivid and terrifying dream came to her. She was laying on her bed and at the bottom-gorgeous as ever-sat JD. His hair was a little longer, his eyes a little wilder, but it was him alright. She thought to herself, if this is a dream let me enjoy him. She hadn't been laid since their last romp together and she did miss his crazy way of pleasuring her.

He opened his mouth but she latched onto the lapels of his duster and dragged him forward. Her actions were slow and sluggish while his were languid and dreamy. Off with his jacket, off with his shirt! Off with her blazer, off with her skirt! It was a heavenly union

Until she woke up.

The haze had fled her mind and her senses were returning to her. She felt relaxed, felt fresh, and limber in a way she hadn't in a while. It was odd how much she enjoyed the tiny pulses of delight that flashed through as she stretched. She felt so incredibly warm although the days were getting colder. She felt unbelievably safe.

A snore vibrated through the atmosphere, shattering Veronica's happy ascension into consciousness. Her eyes flew open and she turned to see JD-psycho, crazy, murderer-beside her. It had to be a dream. She squeezed her eyes shut as she recalled the vivid and delicate sexting she thought was just a dream. She opened her eyes; he was still there.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" Veronica shrieked as she slapped and shoved at the naked man beside her.

In a confused daze he awoke, grabbing at her hands with dominant strength, "Veronica, it's me!"

"I know who it is!" She shouted, trying to pull her hands away, "Get out of here! Go!"

"What are you talking about?" He gasped, pain filtering into his eyes, "We just! You just!"

"I was sleeping!" She tried to explain away, "It was rape, that was rape! Rape!"

A viscousness suddenly over came him as his hand clamped over her mouth and he shoved her back down into the pillows. He squeezed so hard she could feel the back of her lips cutting against her teeth with his eyes so dark and twisted. He was going to kill her. She knew it. Heather was just the warning.

She shut her eyes but his grip loosened. She peaked her eyes open and he was different. It wasn't homicidal JD. It was the sweet and vulnerable one she would only see after he had came and first thing in the morning. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him but he had just killed her friend-her ACTUAL friend. He couldn't be trusted.

"You, you just can't do this, Veronica. You can't," he looked away and she could see his mind was a chaotic mess unraveling, "I came here to talk to you, threaten you a little, and you throw yourself at me then call rape? I came back for you, Veronica. I came back because I missed you and I-I love you. I came back to set you free."

She was quiet and still. So many dreams she had had about JD coming back to her, reformed. She had hoped he would say those words. She had hoped he would change. She had hoped he still loved her, where ever he had gone.

He let out a deep breath as he glanced upward to collect his thoughts. When he returned his gaze to her he was back to being the old JD and he had that cool, calm, collected smirk as he warned, "I'm gonna let you go. I don't have to say anything stupid like 'scream and I'll kill ya,' right?"

She nodded. His hand left her mouth and immediately she shouted, "You killed Heather Duke!"

"No, no, no!" He denied, "I set you free from that liar!"

"She changed, JD! You killed a good person! She changed!" Veronica snapped.

"Good person?" JD scoffed, "There's no such thing as a good person, Veronica. Especially not a Heather. All she was doing was biding her time until college hit and then she'd be back to making people's lives miserable and you know it."

She shook her head, "That's not true!"

"She was a shallow bi-"

"That's not true!" Veronica screamed and began to hit again.

JD grabbed her hard and shoved her into the bed with a rough shake, "Now you listen to me. I was doing you a favor. You don't belong with her. You aren't supposed to be her friend. You're better than that, you're better than her and I'm just gonna have to keep killing your friends until you see. First Heather McNamara. Then Martha Dumptruck. Then Betty Finn. You hear that?"

"I'll tell the police," she warned, "They'll stop you."

"How can you squeal on a dead man, heh?" He asked, his tongue caressing his lips in that seductive way it did. "We're gonna be together in the end, alright Veronica? I know it, your body know's it. You just need to get caught up."

She was jello in his hands and he knew it. His sweet words were all she had wanted to hear for months. She couldn't deny herself, she was still so deeply in love with him. But she couldn't admit it, "Oh I'm caught up. You're a maniac and hide the fact that you're a crazy murderer behind some archaic sense of justice and righteousness. You're not doing this for me, you just want a bigger body count."

Maybe it was tears or stars but his eyes were shining bright and his jaw was clenched. He let go of her hands as he nodded to himself and began to dress, "You'll see, Veronica. You'll see."

He was gone as fast as he had arrived and she found her body aching for his closeness. How could she deal with him? How could she beat him at his own game?