'Good morning, good morning' Lin sung, pulling open the curtains. Denise groaned, and turned around.

'Vanessaahaa,' Lin continued.

'Ugh!' Denise growled, 'Stop singing!'

'Sweetie,' Lin said, 'You've got to go to school.'

Denise groaned once again: 'I hate Mondays!'

Lin laughed: 'Don't we all?'

Two hours later, Denise was walking into the school. She walked towards the table her friends were sitting sitting. She sat down. Rose looked up, and said hi.

'Hi Rose,' Denise answered. Denise looked at the girls sitting around the table. I call them my friends, Denise thought, but I barely even know them.

'Have you seen Nick today?' Rose asked, 'He looks so good in those new shorts!' That's Rose, always after the boys. The boys often like her too, they fall for her blonde curls, bright smile, and ice blue eyes.

'You're never gonna get him,' Fé said, 'All the girls in school like him, and he's not looking for a girlfriend right now.' Fé, well, she's a basic gossip girl. She knows everything about everyone, and lives for celebrity news. Her biggest hobby is hurting people.

'I like him so much...' Meyrin said. Meyrin follows Fé everywhere. She is a bit shy, and you can easily forget her existence. She is small. You barely see her from behind her dark hair, but her smile is always bright no matter what.

'And, Denise, what do you think?' Fé asked.

'I'm sorry, what were you talking about?'

'Nick's new pants!' Daniela said, 'Do you like them?'

'Uhm...' Denise said, looking to Nick, 'They look good on him, I guess.'

'You guess?!' Fé laughed, 'Don't you think he's super hot?!'

Denise shrugged.

'Guys!' Fé screamed, 'Denise is gay!'

'Hey!' Rose answered, 'Just because she doesn't fall for Nick, doesn't mean that she's a lesbian!'

Denise smiled softly: 'Thank you Rose.'

The conversation continued and Denise looked around. Everywhere groups of students were sitting or standing together. Denise's eyes fell on a girl who was sitting alone, reading a book. Odessa.

Odessa was sitting in her usual corner, with Les Misérables by Victor Hugo open on her lap, but she wasn't reading. She was thinking. She looked at the table where the bullies were sitting. She liked to guess which musical characters they were. They definitely all were Heathers. Fé was a combination of Heather Chandler and Daniela from In The Heights. Meyrin is Peggy from Hamilton, but also a bit Carla from In The Heights. Odessa wasn't sure which Heather she was, but probably Duke, because: "SHUT UP HEATHER!" Rose was also a bit of a Heather Chandler, but she was mostly Act One Galinda. But today, she wasn't thinking about that. She was looking at Denise. She had seen Lin's speech on Hamilton's Twitter, and was thinking about how she could use that information against Denise. It was never her intention to hurt people, but she needed to do something.

Later that day, Odessa walked up to Denise. 'Hey,' she said, a bit shy.

Denise turned around, and frowned as she saw who approached her. 'What do you want?' she asked harshly.

'I wanted to say that Lin is an amazing human and you do nót deserve being his daughter.' So. That was out there. Denise sarcastically pulled up an eyebrow and crossed her arms, but at least she stayed and listened. Odessa continued: 'So if you hurt me once again, I'll tell him what kind of straight up Heather you've been to me. He wouldn't like that, don't you think?'

Denise shrugged, and Odessa saw that her words didn't have the effect she wished for. She sighed, but then her eye fell on Rose and Fé chatting.

'Your friends,' she slowly started, turning Denise towards Fé and Rose, 'Do they know you're an orphan?'

Denise looked up: 'You're not going to tell them!'

Odessa smiled. Now I've got her! she thought. 'If' she said, 'you leave me alone.'

Denise looked around: 'Okay. But you won't tell anyone!'

Odessa smiled: 'No. Of course not.'

'Okay,' Denise nodded, 'deal.'

'Deal.'

Little the two girls knew, that this deal would be the start of an unexpected friendship.

After school, Denise was chatting with Rose, Fé and Meyrin. Odessa walked by.

'Come on,' Fé said, and pulled Meyrin with her. Rose and Denise ran after them.

When Denise came there, Rose, Meyrin and Fé warn standing around Odessa, who was standing with her back to the wall.

'What are you reading?' Fé asked.

'Leave me alone,' Odessa said.

'What are you reading, she asked,' Meyrin said, coming closer to Odessa.

Odessa looked at Denise for help, but Denise turned away her head. She couldn't help Odessa. Not now.

'I'm reading Les Mis,' Odessa said, 'Why do you care?'

Fé grabbed Odessa's book: 'Why would you read this shit?!'

'Yes,' Rose said, 'It's way too long!'

'Hey!' Odessa screamed, 'Give that back!'

'Boring and long, that's what this shit is,' Fé said.

'What was it called again?' Meyrin asked.

'Les Misérables,' Rose answered.

'Is it in French or Spanish or something?' Meyrin asked.

'No,' Fé answered, 'They were just too lazy to translate the title!'

'Les Misérables,' Denise thought out loud, 'Isn't there a musical called Les Misérables?'

'A musical?!' Fé asked, 'So Nerdessa is even more nerdy than we thought!' She turned to Odessa: 'I'm fairly disappointed in you, little one.'

Odessa grabbed her book back. She said: 'If musicals are that stupid, you might need to talk to Denise. Do you know who her father is?'

Fé and Rose gave Denise a questioning look.

Denise sighed, this conversation was not going in the right direction. She sent Odessa an angry glare, and said: 'My father is dead. He doesn't think anything of musicals.'

Odessa laughed, clearly enjoying the whole situation: 'But your foster father sweetie, what does he think of musicals?'

Denise was almost crying: 'Okay, my foster carer is a musical actor! Why do you care?! Just because he is my guardian doesn't mean that I love musicals as much as he does! If I had the choice, I wouldn't have been there anyway!' She turned around and ran away.

'Is Denise an orphan?' Meyrin asked, when she finally started to realise what Denise's words meant.

'Apparently,' Rose answered.

'Maybe,' Odessa said, 'if you don't even know it when your friend is an orphan, you might need to question how much of a worthy friend you are.' And with that words, she left.

'How was your day?' Lin asked when Denise came home.

'Good,' Denise mumbled. She lifted Sebastian on her lap. She thought of all that happened that day. A lot happened. Actually, a lot happened in the past days. It had only been Friday when she left the orphanage, she had seen so many things and met so many people since. Her head was buzzing of all the experiences. 'Lin?' she quietly asked, 'Is there an Heather in musical theatre?'

'Yes,' Lin said, 'Why?'

'Someone talked about her,' Denise said, 'What is she like?'

'Well,' Lin said, 'Actually there's three of them! They're a friend group; they call themselves the Heathers. They are the the basic high school bullies. You probably have them at your school too.'

Denise nodded: 'Okay thank you.'

Lin kissed Denise on her forehead: 'Is it okay if I go write in my study? Vanessa will be home in about ten minutes.'

Denise nodded.

When Vanessa came home she saw Sebastian watching Sesame Street, and Denise was lying curled up on the couch. Lin was nowhere to be found. Probably working, Vanessa thought, He is non-stop. 'Hey,' she said.

Denise looked up: 'Hey.'

'Are you okay?' Vanessa asked worried.

Denise nodded: 'Just a bit tired.'

'I understand,' Vanessa said, 'The last few days must have been exhausting for you!'

'Yes they were,' Denise said.

Denise wasn't being completely honest. Yes indeed, she was tired, but that wasn't all. She was thinking. She thought about Odessa. How helpless she looked when Fé and Rose "attacked" her. Am I wicked? she wondered, For being so mean to her? For joining the bullying?