Sophie walked away without looking back.

She felt like she should look back. Chloe deserved that, right? Of course, Chloe deserved so much more than what Sophie was giving her. Looking back wouldn’t change anything. It would just make it hurt more.

As she trudged through the halls following the Heathers she felt her stomach sink as she tried to process what her future would be like. She would have to do everything the Heathers told her, never take a step out of line or she would risk their wrath. How long would this last? Would this continue into college? Beyond that?

“All of you, in the back. Sophie in the middle,” Heather M. demanded.

Sophie looked up. At some point they had left the school and crossed the parking lot, reaching Heather M.’s SUV.

“Wait, me too?” Heather S. asked.

“Yes, you too. You wore that hideous blue top the other day, and then you flirted with Devon when you know I have him set aside for Mark.”

“But... Devon’s straight. He just wears pink shirts sometimes,” Heather S. protested. Heather M. shot her a mischievous look and she quickly shut her mouth and got in the car.

Sophie got in the SUV as well, baffled by the fact that the Heathers could be bickering about something so petty now, right after ruining their friend’s life. Or maybe Sophie had ruined her own life. She thought back to what had just happened, trying to imagine if there was anything else she could have done. Maybe she should have stood up to the Heathers, refused to obey no matter the cost. But the problem was that she wouldn’t have been the only one paying that cost. They could have done anything to Chloe. This way, at least, Chloe would be safe. That was the most important thing. No matter what she did she was going to lose everything, so protecting Chloe was the only choice.

Sophie noticed that Heather M. was driving the group to her house, not Sophie’s, and felt her stomach sink again. Couldn’t she even be given some time to cry in her room and spare herself what little dignity she had left? She didn’t want to have to be “on” right now. But she couldn’t exactly ask Heather M. to take her home. Maybe she could ask for favors like that later, but right now, in the immediate wake of her brief attempt at rebellion, she had to do as she was told.

After a tense and mostly silent car ride, the group arrived at Heather M.’s house and made their way inside. In the living room, Heather M. collapsed in a chair with a relieved sigh.

“You know, I’m feeling pretty good. I think we should have another sleepover. Sophie, text your mom and let her know you’re going to be spending the night,” Heather M. announced.

Heather K. clapped her hands excitedly and called out “Yay!”

Heather S. giggled at Heather K.’s excitement. “Alright. Should we order a pizza? What kind do you want, Sophie?”

“I don’t really care,” Sophie said, glumly.

“Come on, Sophie,” Heather S. said, pleadingly. “I know you’re feeling down right now, but a little pizza will perk you right up.”

There was a subtle desperation in her tone. Sophie looked to Heather M. and noticed that she was giving her an appraising look, as if waiting to see whether she would slip up. In that moment, Sophie realized that her situation was so much worse than she had initially known. Just being obedient wasn’t enough for Heather M. Glumly following orders and hitting her marks wouldn’t satisfy her. She had to become an active and enthusiastic participant in the life Heather M. wanted her to lead. She was expected to think what Heather wanted her to think and feel what Heather wanted her to feel. If Heather wanted her to be happy, she would have to be happy, no matter how badly she wanted to scream.

Sophie swallowed, forcing herself not to cry. Instead, she figured, she’d try to test her boundaries. When she spoke, she tried to keep her voice as even as possible. “Perry’s has a bratwurst and sauerkraut pizza that I love.”

“Eww,” said Heather K. 

Heather M. smiled sweetly. “That sounds delicious, Sophie. We’ll order one of those. I can’t wait to watch you finish it, I’ll certainly be impressed.”

Sophie kept her internal cringe from reaching her face. That went about as well as she expected it to.

The sleepover proceeded in this manner. The Heathers acted as if nothing was wrong, as if they hadn’t just forced Sophie to break up with her girlfriend. Heather M. chatted about school, Heather S. braided Sophie’s hair, though more forcefully than she would’ve preferred, Sophie noted. As they watched a film Heather K. even asked Sophie which actresses she found attractive, a question which Sophie answered truthfully, if somewhat uncomfortably.

As with their last sleepover, Sophie was assigned the task of painting everyone’s fingernails and toenails. Her hand shook as she carefully brushed the polish over nails, something that caused her to keep messing up and having to fix it with a q-tip and nail polish remover.

As she was painting yellow on Heather M.’s toes, Heather leaned down. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Sophie froze. “Did I do something wrong?”

“That,” Heather said, pointing to the bottle, “is Heather S.’ color.”

Sophie looked at Heather M.’s toes, then the bottle. After a moment, she realized that she must have forgotten to switch bottles after finishing Heather S.’ toes.

Sophie felt a twisting in her stomach. “Sorry. I’ll fix it right away.” She wasn’t attempting an impression of Heather K., but she knew that it sounded like one.

“Unbelievable,” Heather M. continued, exasperated. “I thought we taught you how to do this. Can’t you do anything right?”

Sophie tried to answer, but found that she couldn’t form words. She could feel tears starting to form in her eyes as her face began to heat. She knew that if she let herself cry something terrible would happen, but she wasn’t sure if she could stop herself any longer.

“Hey, maybe go easier on her,” Heather S. said. “She’s had a rough day.”

“I don’t need to hear your opinion on the matter,” Heather M. snapped. “I can’t imagine why you think I would care what a saccharine bimbo like you thinks about anything. I mean, look at you. You can’t coordinate an outfit to save your life, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with even eyeliner, and you still insist on wearing that ridiculous hairstyle six days a week. I thought you would eventually get it through your head that it looks so much better the way I tell you to wear it but it seems you’re too stupid even to figure that out. I know you think you can cruise through life with your fake sweetness and agonizing cheeriness, but if you can’t grow a brain then you should stop talking so much and start listening.”

Heather S. stared at her friend, wide-eyed and frozen and absolutely silent.

“You know what?” said Heather M. “Give me the coin.”

“Wh-what?” Heather S. stammered.

“You heard me,” Heather M. replied, emphasizing each word. “Give me the coin.”

Sniffing, as though she too were close to crying, Heather S. reached in her pocket and handed Heather M. the familiar coin as it reflected the cool blue hue of the television.

Heather M. offered the coin to Heather K. “Here. You keep track of it now. Since it seems you’re the only person here who listens to me.”

Heather K., who until now had shrunk very small in her chair, looking like a cornered animal, suddenly seemed to change her mood. She stared at the coin with a look of wonder, and accepted it as if it were a trophy.

“You’re serious? I get to carry the coin?” she asked.

“Yes, obviously,” Heather M. replied. “You’re the only person here I can trust.”

Heather K. tore her eyes away from the coin to stare, grinning, at Heather M. “You really trust me? Oh, wow. Thank you! Thank you!”

“Okay, okay, it’s not that big of a deal,” Heather M. said. “Why don’t you put on another movie while Sophie fixes her mistake.”

Once finished painting Heather M.’s nails, Sophie sat back and stared at the TV, not really processing the romantic comedy that was playing before her. She was too busy thinking once again about her decision to abandon Chloe. She was starting to suspect that she wasn’t going to be able to protect Chloe long-term. Heather M. was too easily annoyed, too eager to see people punished. Eventually Sophie would slip up in the wrong way and Chloe would be the one to pay the price. She wondered if it would have been better to stay with Chloe and appreciate the few moments of freedom the two would have had before Heather took it away. She wondered if she was really doing this to protect Chloe, or if she had abandoned Chloe to try to protect her girlhood.

After all, that was what Heather had really threatened. If she had continued to defy her, Heather would have changed her back and that would have been it. She wouldn’t have had any reason to punish Chloe. True, Chloe definitely wouldn’t have been interested in dating Thomas, but at least she would have been safe. Right now, Chloe’s safety was constantly in danger, a threat Heather could use to keep Sophie in line. In other words, Sophie had selfishly placed Chloe in danger just to keep her body.

This realization was too much for Sophie to handle. She couldn’t hold back the tears any more and let out a restrained sob. “I have to use the bathroom,” she managed to mumble, and left the room at a near run.

In the bathroom she let the tears pour, but tried not to make any noise. As she wondered how long she could stay without annoying Heather M. she heard a knock on the door and her breath caught. Was she already in trouble?

“Sophie? Can I come in?” It was Heather S., Sophie realized with relief.

“Yes,” she replied.

The door opened and Heather S. entered, looking down at Sophie. “Look, I know you’re having a hard time now, but you can’t be moping around all night. This isn’t all about you. You’re putting Heather in a bad mood and that causes problems for everyone. You need to suck it up.”

Her cold words felt like a blow to the face. It’s not that she had expected Heather to make it all better, but she had hoped she would comfort her, find words to make this all a little more tolerable. If even Heather S. was becoming annoyed with her, Sophie thought, then maybe she needed to be tougher. Maybe she needed to accept the situation and get over it. On the other hand, Heather M.’s sharp words to Heather S. earlier seemed inexcusable

“How can you let her treat you like that and still support her?” Sophie asked, sniffing.

“Sophie, look,” Heather S. began, “Heather’s not a bad person, really. Before all this, before the Well, she was always there for me. The two of us understood each other and looked out for each other. So when she says stuff like that to me it’s because she cares about me, and wants me to be the best version of myself that I can be. And she’s right. When it comes to stuff like that, she’s always right.”

Sophie felt a stab of despair as she looked up at Heather. She wasn’t sure if Heather really believed what she was saying or not, but it was clear that she wasn’t going to stand up to Heather M. Heather S. took one of the hand towels hanging nearby and wiped Sophie’s face, drying the tears.

“Come on,” she said, her face vacant. “It’s going to be better if you come back out to the living room now.”

Sophie reluctantly allowed Heather to lead her back to the living room where she slunk back into her chair and continued watching the movie. She glanced at the other Heathers and wondered how her one-time friends had become her jailors. They had been so kind to her. They’d give her the greatest gift she’d ever received. They’d taught her how to be a girl. Having them suddenly treat her like this was like discovering that Chloe was secretly a serial killer.

Except maybe it wasn’t quite the same as that. After all, there was no sign that Chloe was a serial killer, but as she thought about it she realized that there had been signs that the Heathers weren’t all they seemed. There had been the way they had always assumed that she would be free and willing to go along with their plans, never bothering to ask what she thought. They hadn’t exactly asked her opinion when determining how she would dress and act, either. There had also been the way Heather M. ordered around the other Heathers and the way Heather K. had eagerly followed those orders as if desperate for approval. There had also been the time Heather M. had chastised Sophie in the mall. And the sandbag. She’d managed to excuse each incident on its own, but looking at them all together made her feel like an idiot for not realizing how dangerous the Heathers were.

When it came time to go to bed, Heather M. ordered Heather S. to share the air mattress with Sophie while Heather K. was allowed to share Heather M.’s bed. Heather K. was, unsurprisingly, delighted by this turn of events, though her excitement faded visibly when Heather M. sternly warned her not to try cuddling her.

Once the lights were off, Sophie lay there, trying to convince her brain to allow her to sleep when she noticed a slight quivering in the mattress beneath her. A moment later, she realized it originated with Heather S. The girl was crying next to her, completely silently, not even making a sniff that would be loud enough for the others to hear. That must be difficult to do, Sophie realized. How many times had Heather M. made her cry before?

As Sophie realized that she, too, may have to learn how to cry silently she once again felt her own tears start to flow.

 

* * *

The next morning, Heather M. awoke before the others. After extracting herself from Heather K.’s grip she slipped out of her room and into the shower where she tried to take stock of the new situation. So much had changed in less than a day that even she was feeling disoriented.

Sophie was finally under control, it seemed. There would be no more public outbursts, no more arguments, no more having to erase memories. Finally, Sophie would get in line and do as she was told. If not, if even the threat of being forced to go back to being a guy wasn’t enough to dissuade her, Heather would have to consider whether this whole project was really worth it. Or perhaps she would simply take more drastic measures. She had done it before, after all. The results would be less satisfying, but at least it would put an end to the issue.

Still, for now, Heather took Sophie’s breakup with Chloe as proof that she was at least trying to behave. Maybe if Sophie behaved, Heather would reward her with a new girlfriend. She briefly entertained the thought of pairing Sophie with a boy with the aid of the Well, concerned that another girl might try to push her way into Heather’s inner circle. No, she shook her head. Sophie dating girls was for the best — it kept her out of Heather’s dating pool and looked good for the cameras. Heather ran through a mental list of all the lesbians she knew. Unfortunately, it was not a long list and none of them quite matched the quality and prestige of the captain of the softball team. She would have to ask Heather S. for advice. If all else failed the Well could serve in creating a few new ones.

Heather S. was another matter. She was starting to become a problem. Ever since Sophie had joined the group, she had become more opinionated and less cooperative. Now she was constantly suggesting alternatives to this or that plan. Always commenting “That seems a little harsh,” or “You don’t need to take it that far.” It was annoying. Worse, Heather K. would often agree with her, switching from praising Heather M.’s idea one minute to cheerleading Heather S.’s alternative the next. Hopefully, some time as the lowest-ranked Heather would make Heather S. appreciate her friend a little more.

Unfortunately, there was now a risk of Heather S. and Sophie getting too chummy. The two had spent an awful lot of time in the bathroom together last night. There was the possibility that their bad ideas would amplify each other and the pair would turn against Heather M. She made a mental note to find a wedge to drive between the two of them in case Heather S.’s time as the bottom rung lasted longer than expected.

As she stepped out of the shower her phone, which was sitting on the sink, buzzed. Checking it she discovered a text from Tyler, asking if she wanted to get breakfast. She scoffed. He’d been out with Tiffany Pont last night and she knew it; now he wanted to return to the safe side with her. She started to type out a response turning him down, but paused. How long had it been since she had seen him? She couldn’t recall talking to him at all in the last week, even at school. She sighed to herself, supposing that she at least owed him breakfast, and told him to meet her at Maw’s. Having a boyfriend was so much work; flings and hookups were much more her speed.

She got dressed and swept back into the bedroom. “Get up, everyone, we’re getting breakfast,” she announced. Sophie and Heather S. both groaned, slowly rising, but Heather K. was up in an instant, excitedly gathering her clothes. Heather M. had to admit that she liked seeing so much enthusiasm. Maybe it was worth keeping Heather K. as the favorite for a little while.

By the time they reached Maw’s, Tyler was already seated. He looked up at the group, slightly confused.

“Oh, I didn’t know you all were coming,” he said.

“Yeah, we just had a sleepover,” Heather M. explained. “Girls’ night.”

Stephanie was their server, much to Heather M.’s delight. Having annoying, happy, too-perfect Stephanie serve her always put her in a good mood. It was true that the girl needed to be taken down another peg, but that didn’t mean that Heather couldn’t enjoy watching her bring her food.

Heather M. ordered a low-cal breakfast wrap, and the other Heathers followed up with their own orders. Sophie hesitated, staring at her menu, then glancing up at Heather M. Heather stared back, keeping her face impassive. Sophie’s expression faltered and any lingering resistance seemed to crumble. She also ordered a breakfast wrap. Heather smiled. The girl was finally learning.

Tyler seemed to quickly get over his surprise at the group’s arrival and settled into his usual habit of watching Sophie as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle.

“You seem to be in a good mood today,” he told her.

She gave him an incredulous look, and said “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“Makes sense,” he said. “Getting to have a sleepover with your new friends and everything.”

Sophie avoided looking at his eyes. “They’re the best. We have a lot of fun.”

Her voice was less than enthusiastic, but it seemed to convince Tyler, who nodded slowly. Heather would let it pass for now.

“I mean, you’ve changed so much since you started hanging out with them. I know I used to razz you a little about looking like a nerd, but look at you now. You’re one of the hottest girls in the entire school. Who knew you had it in you?”

“I guess I owe them a lot,” Sophie replied, still unenthusiastic. Strike two, Heather silently noted. Sophie had better step up or she was going to get another earful in short order.

“In fact, it’s kind of like you’ve become a miniature version of my girlfriend,” Tyler concluded.

Heather M. blinked in awe.

“Yeah. I guess I have,” Sophie said quietly.

Heather M. squealed internally. She couldn’t completely keep her enthusiasm off her face and grinned triumphantly at Sophie. It was finally happening. Sophie was becoming the best version of herself and other people were starting to see it. Soon she’d forget about everything Thomas or Chloe and she’d become the epitome of potential realized.

Her good mood lasted only as long as it took her to notice Tylers, continuing stare in Sophie’s direction. His eyes were hungry, predatory. The same eyes she’d looked up into from her bed.

No.

No, this wasn’t going to do. She may have permitted Tyler to engage in trysts with other harpies around the school, but her circle was completely off-limits. In recent days, Heather M. and Tyler had found themselves somewhat drifting apart, neither as invested in their relationship as they once were. Hell, she herself had made out with two other guys this week alone. But even if she was less than faithful that didn’t mean that Tyler was allowed to be anything other than her devoted partner. When she caught him dancing with other girls, she always made sure to even the score with a little help from the Well to send him running back to her. 

But this? The wayward stares she’d been catching him sending towards Sophie? He was ogling her, even if just a little. But that wasn’t possible. Surely, he was just appreciating her work. Sophie was a lesbian and former boy — surely Tyler wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. But had Sophie’s wishes affected that? She often found herself frustratingly flummoxed by the rules surrounding one or two of them. She made a mental note to keep track of this. If it progressed, maybe Sophie would suddenly find herself with a new, homemade girlfriend, after all. “Sophie and Taylor” did have a nice ring to it.

The food came to them quickly, though Heather M. decided to prolong the meal when a nasty idea struck her. She yanked a hair from Sophie’s head in a quick subtle motion and tucked it into her wrap. She looked behind her with a smug grin.

“Oh, waitress~” she called in a mockingly sweet sing-song voice. Stephanie turned to face them with a cheerful smile and walked back over.

“What’s up, Heather?” she asked. Heather M. held up her wrap.

“Looks like someone’s hair got in this. Can you have this remade for me, please?”