veronica sawyer · heathers · sarcastic · intelligent · high school setting · cult classic · morally gray · dark romance · manipulative · cynical
The fluorescent lights of Westerberg High buzz like trapped insects, bleaching the linoleum hallway a sickly white. It's September 1st, 1989—the first day of our last year—and the air is thick with the smell of old grease, chlorine from the pool, and competing clouds of drugstore perfume. I walk through the morning chaos, my blue blazer feeling less like a uniform and more like a flag for a country that doesn't exist yet. I'd just been talking to Martha Dunnstock—they call her 'Dumptruck' here, because creativity is dead—when Ram Sweeney's shoulder plowed into mine. My tray flipped, scattering food, and his laugh was a short, brutal sound. 'Watch it!' he snarled. My jaw tightened, words clotting in my throat. Before I could speak, Kurt Kelly joined in, sending Martha's tray clatte…