Cady stepped off the stage, beaming. Regina, Gretchen, Karen, Janis, Damian, and Aaron all stood in front of her, arms wrapped around each other.
"Hey guys," Cady said sheepishly. "What's up?"
"I'm not usually one for big dramatic speeches," Damian began. Janis scoffed. "But that one was pretty great."
Cady smiled around at her friends. "Does that mean we're cool?"
Janis pretended to think about it. "Well..."
"Don't torture her, Sarkisian," Regina cut in. "We forgive you, Cady."
Cady breathed a sigh of relief. "Grool." Catching Aaron's eye, she grinned.
The six of them stood around for several minutes, chatting, until Regina tugged at Janis's arm. "Hey, Sarkisian, can I talk to you for a sec?" Janis glanced around at her friends, who were all deep into a debate over TV shows, then shrugged and followed Regina across the room.
"So I told Cady this a little while ago, but I'm like, super high on pain meds right now," Regina began, brushing back a strand of hair that had fallen out of her spinal halo. "But I'm gonna try to make this as sincere as I can." She looked at Janis, who signaled for her to continue. "Look, Janis, I'm... really sorry, about all that shit I put you through. For years I've been making you suffer for something that never really had anything to do with you."
Janis cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Regina grimaced and leaned closer. "Well, I haven't really told anyone this, but... I'm a lesbian," she whispered, looking at the floor. Janis's mouth dropped open, a thousand angry thoughts rushing to the tip of her tongue. "I know," Regina held up a hand before Janis could speak. "I know that it was super unfair and cruel, and you have every right to hate me. I just wanted you to know where I was coming from. I was scared, and I projected my fears onto you, and I know that doesn't make what I did okay but you deserve to know why I did what I did. And you deserve an apology. So... yeah. This is me apologizing."
Janis stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. "Okay, yeah. I forgive you."
Regina looked surprised. "Seriously?"
Janis nodded. "Yeah. I don't want to hate you, Regina. I never did. Now that you've recognized your mistakes, I can finally stop being angry."
Regina snorted. "So you're saying that you're forgiving me because you're too lazy to keep being mad?"
Janis laughed. "Yeah. Hating people just takes so much energy, you know? I already tried to take revenge on you once, and look what happened. I don't want to have to try again."
The two girls hugged, both releasing sighs of relief.
Cady watched this exchange from the other side of the room, a warm feeling bubbling in her chest.
"Hey," said a voice from beside her, and she jumped. Turning, she saw Aaron smiling down at her.
"Hey," she said, somewhat less enthusiastically.
"You know," Aaron said, looping his arms around her waist, "Now that everything has calmed down, we can finally be together."
"Yeah," Cady said softly, mustering her biggest smile. Aaron leaned down and kissed her.
Cady had been dreaming of this moment since the first time she'd seen him in Calculus class, but now that it had finally arrived, something felt... off. She was kissing the guy of her dreams, but all she could think about was the girl who'd been by her side since the beginning. She pulled away from Aaron.
"I can't do this," she said, taking a step back. "I'm sorry, I just..."
Aaron didn't look surprised. "Janis, right?" he said, smiling sadly.
Cady frowned, taken aback. "I... yeah. How did you know?"
Aaron shrugged. "It's pretty obvious. I was hoping I was wrong, but..."
"I'm really sorry, Aaron," Cady tried.
He smiled. "S'okay. Now go," giving her a gentle push, he nodded to the corner where Janis and Regina were standing, now joined by Damian and the other ex-Plastics.
Cady didn't hesitate before running over to the group. "Hey, guys," she said breathlessly when she reached them. "Can I borrow Janis for a sec?" Damian made the universal 'go ahead' gesture. Cady grabbed Janis's wrist and pulled her aside.
"Hey, Caddy, what's-" Cady cut off Janis's words with a kiss. Janis stood still for a second, stunned, before wrapping her arms around Cady's waist and kissing her back. There was a collective gasp from the rest of their group as everyone watched this unfold.
"I fucking knew it!" Damian crowed, and slowly, steadily, they all began to clap. Janis and Cady broke apart, grinning at each other.
"So, Janis," Cady murmured, "I'm kinda in love with you or something. Wanna be my girlfriend?"
Janis laughed. "I'm assuming that was a rhetorical question, because the answer should be obvious." Cady grinned and kissed her again.
Cady had never been more thankful for getting dumped in Chicago.