Tribal Rites and Wrongs
By MrBillyD
Veronica Mars and Gia Goodman are being blackmailed over photos taken during another classmate's sweet sixteen party.
I do not own these characters. They belong to the Producers of the TV Show Veronica Mars.
Tribal Rites and Wrongs
By MrBillyD
1
Note to self: Listen to me, Veronica Mars! Don't attend any more parties at the homes of the spoiled rich kids, who attend Neptune High with you! You went to Gwen Kalenski's Sweet Sixteen Party, and you're still regretting it.
Reply to self: I agree with you totally. At Gwen's party, everybody got drunk, got naked, got laid and got away with it, including me; or I would have got away with it, if people had just kept their mouths shut. I heard about it all over school. Then photos that were taken during the party got passed around all over school, and are now on display for everyone to see, on the Neptune High Students' Parties website.
While spoiled rich kids, do get away with all those kinds of things, the rest of us don't, especially me.
I arrived at Neptune High on the Tuesday morning after the party. I went to my locker, and found a manila envelope taped to the door, with my name written on it by hand. I pulled it away from the gray metal locker. The envelope was sealed. I put it in with my books, and went to my homeroom.
My homeroom was only about half filled with students when I arrived. I sat at my desk, and picked up the envelope. I took a nail file out of my handbag, and slid it under the flap, breaking the envelope's seal. I reached in and took out an 8 by 5; full colored glossy photo, taken during Gwen Kalenski's Sweet Sixteen Party.
The photo showed the drunken me and a guy, emerging from a bedroom. I had a big grin on my face, and I was swinging my hips wide and sexy. All I had on was my unbuttoned blouse, which was spread wide open. I carried my bra in my left hand. I had my skirt in my right hand, tossed over my shoulder. The guy I was with was whirling my pantyhose above his head. All I had on, below my naked swinging hips, were my shoes.
It took me less time to look at the photo, than it does to read the description, and even less time to snap it back into the envelope.
"Hey Veronica." Wallace spoke beside me. "What the hell was that?"
He was seated at the desk to my right.
"Evidence." I told him, "It's a case I'm working on. Confidential."
"Was that a picture of the party that everybody's talking about?" He grinned, "Can I have a look at it?"
"No!" I snapped, "It's confidential!"
"Okay. Okay. I've already seen all the photos of you on the Student Parties website. No reason to bite my head off."
"Sorry."
He said, "I just wanted to say, that I thought you looked really nice in every one of them."
"Thank you for the compliment Wallace."
Note to self: You are a slutty, skanky, bimbo ho!
Reply to self: No. I admit that I was that way, at Gwen's party, but I'd never been that way before. Until then, I'd occasionally been a little bit tipsy at times, but never that totally drunk. Sex had never been casual for me. I'd always been discrete about it, and I normally dress modestly.
Things were just different at that party. When I got to the Kalenski's mansion on Saturday night, the festivities were well under way. I went inside and saw that almost everyone in both the Senior and Junior Classes of Neptune High had already arrived, and they'd all come there to party hearty. Most of the kids were already drunk.
Gwen's parents had supplied the liquor, along with condoms, and other articles to prevent pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Gwen told us, "We Kalenski's want everyone to party safe when they party hearty at our house."
"Right." I agreed.
I had also come there to party hearty; so I joined in with my classmates, in the consumption of more than enough alcohol, to seriously impair my judgment.
I'd been there about an hour, when I saw that many of the girls who I attended class with, including those who'd scored high on their SAT's, were standing around with their boobs naked, and the guys were gathering around them.
One of the drunken, bare breasted girls was Madison Sinclair. She was standing with her back against a wall, holding her skirt all the way up to her hips, while talking pleasantly with my ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls, who I'd just broken up with a few days before. He looked like he was ready to plunge into her, right there in front of everybody.
Madison saw me. She spoke to Logan, who turned and looked in my direction. He shrugged and returned his attention to her, and they both seemed to be laughing at me.
Then Madison grabbed him between the legs. Logan pushed himself up against her, pressing her between himself and the wall. Then he actually did plunge into her, with everyone watching, including me.
If he was trying to hurt me, he succeeded. Totally!
I stood there with my mouth open. If I looked shocked, I was filled with a murderous rage.
Our drunken Senior Class President Gia Goodman, who'd scored the highest on her SAT's, was standing beside me, also wearing nothing above the waist. Her boyfriend stood behind her, with his arms around her and his hands gripping her naked boobs tight. She was also holding her skirt up to her hips, while he rubbed against her butt, and she purred.
A lot of the other girls and guys were doing the same thing. A few guys were plunging right into their girlfriends, with everybody watching, just like Logan did with Madison.
Then Gia said, "Logan Echolls isn't the only guy there is Veronica. There're plenty of better guys than him, right here tonight."
"Yeah I know." I told her, "But what guy's gonna be paying any attention to me, when the rest of you are dressing like that? Or undressing like that? You're not playing fair."
She said, "If you want any guy's attention here tonight Veronica, that's what you'll have to do."
She's right, I thought. Then in my drunken rage I decided, That's what I'll do tonight. Then I'll go back to being a virgin.
So I removed my blouse and my bra, and dropped them at my feet..
Gia asked, "You're not lifting up your skirt?"
I grinned and told her, "I'll let a guy do that."
I'd hardly spoken those words, before a guy came up from behind me, and grabbed my boobs with both hands. Then I lifted my skirt up to my hips. He pressed up against my butt and had me purring. I turned to face him, with my skirt still raised all the way up, and I grabbed him between the legs. Then with Logan watching, I let him plunge into me.
I didn't put my blouse back on, 'til it was time to leave. The guy shown whirling my panties in the photo kept them as a souvenir; so I arrived home that night, not wearing panties, and feeling great. I also hadn't been able to find my bra; so when I arrived home drunk, not wearing anything under my blouse or my skirt, I felt terrific. I was also glad that Dad was already asleep. If he'd seen me come in, he might have noticed something.
Then in the morning, I woke up all fucked out, with a killer hangover, and feelings of regret. However, I was just not as regretful, as I thought I should be, and I was looking forward the next party.
Well, I've said enough of that. Let's get back Tuesday morning in homeroom. The photo wasn't the only thing in the envelope. A typewritten note had come with it.
The note said, "Miss Mars. If you don't want this photo to be made public, while your father is running for Sheriff, you will bring $1,000 to the River Styx Bar, before 5:30 on Saturday afternoon."
Note to self: If your father is a candidate for Sheriff, don't walk around with your boobs and bottom naked, at a spoiled rich kid's party, where people are taking photos.
Reply to self: Right. At least until after Election Day.
Then I thought, One thousand dollars? To the River Styx? Now I see. I was being blackmailed by the "Fighting Fitzpatricks"; Neptune California's answer to the Mafia.
Come to the River Styx? Forget it! After what happened to me there, and what almost did happen, that's one place I'm never gonna enter again.
One week earlier, I was following a lead on a case. That afternoon, Logan Echolls, my boyfriend at the time, drove me to an address I'd been given, in a very rundown part of town. He decided to stay with his car, so no one would steal it, or strip it. I got out and walked past a growling, angry, chained up pit bull dog, and went inside a rundown bar.
The bar was occupied by about a dozen very large, very thuggish looking men. Some were seated at the bar. Others stood around a pool table. The largest, most thuggish looking of the lot sat in a corner, working on something with an electric soldering iron.
I saw the sign above the bar, identifying the establishment as the "River Styx". I had unknowingly stepped into the headquarters of the "Fighting Fitzpatricks"; the center of all organized and disorganized crime in Neptune. I recognized more than half of the thuggish faces from police blotter photos that were in the office of my Dad's Private Detective Agency.
I spoke to the bartender, and gave him the undercover name I was using.
Then a girl my age spoke up. She was seated at a table, along the wall opposite the bar. I recognized her from Neptune High. Her name was Molly Fitzpatrick.
"No she's not!" My classmate announced, "She goes to my School! Her real name's Veronica Mars! She's Keith Mars' daughter! She's a total fink!"
The next thing I knew, the large guy who was using the soldering iron was grabbing me. He was lifting my petite body high in the air, and then slamming me down atop a pool table. I'm sure I was screaming.
Then he had me pinned down, unable to move, and pointing his red-hot soldering iron at my face.
Then I heard Logan's voice. My attacker let go of me. I looked toward Logan's voice.
He was waving a pistol around, pointing it at everyone in the place. The pistol was enormous. He could probably have shot an airliner out of the sky with it.
I jumped off the table. Then Logan and I rushed out of the place, ran to his car, got in and drove off really fast, without slowing down until we were completely out of that neighborhood.
Once we got to a safer part of town he pulled over and stopped beside the curb.
I was crying. Then I screamed. "A gun? Logan, a gun?"
"It's okay." He tried to assure me. "It's not loaded."
"That makes it okay? You could have got us both killed!"
"But I just saved your life Veronica. If I hadn't come in when I did, you'd have been mutilated, raped and murdered, and maybe not in that order."
"Oh!" I bellowed, "I've had enough of this! It's all just been too much! First Lilly's murder, by your father! Then Duncan going off the deep end! Your father sealing me in a refrigerator, and setting fire to it! All those kids getting killed in the bus crash! Now this!
"I've had enough of it all. I don't want any more of it! No more fighting crime for me. When it comes to being Veronica Mars Teenage Detective, it's over! I've had enough of it all!"
Logan said, "At last. Now you're finally beginning to get some sense."
Then I screamed, "But you're not! You're still bad news! You're still a jerk! You're not a good-natured jerk either! You're a dangerous jerk! You're a spoiled, selfish, dangerous jerk, who could have got us both killed! And I've had enough of you!"
That's how it ended with Logan and me.
Now getting back to the day when I received the photograph.
During Lunch Period, I was seated with Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, at one of the outside tables. I hadn't shown her the photo, but I told her about it, and about the blackmail.
I said, "Now I hope you don't think I'm a total skank."
"No." She told me, "That's what high school parties are for." She smiled, "That's when nice girls like us, can get away with being skanky."
I told her, "Not according to the photo and the blackmail note."
Now I saw Gia Goodman approaching the table, looking very nervous. She was not only Class President. Her father Woody Goodman was a Candidate for Mayor of Neptune. The tall, slim figured girl carried a manila envelope, just like the one I'd found taped on my locker.
I told Mac, "It looks like I'm not the blackmailer's only victim."
Gia came up beside me fidgeting, and spoke in a low voice.
"Veronica." She said, "I know you're supposed to be Neptune High's answer to Nancy Drew."
"Not exactly." I told her, "Nancy Drew kept her panties on in public; and I'm not sure, but I think she remained a virgin, 'til her wedding night."
"This isn't a joke." She told me, "I need your help."
I asked, "Blackmail photos from the party?"
Gina looked at Mac. "Can we talk alone?"
"Cindy Mackenzie's my confidant. My sidekick. She's the Watson to my Holmes. She's my researcher. We might need her help."
Gia reached in her envelope, and drew out another 8 by 5 glossy. I looked at the photo, and showed it to Mac.
My sidekick put her hand over her open mouth, and laughed.
"Somebody took a picture of you doing that?"
Gia nodded, "Yeah. Now he wants a thousand dollars, or he'll release it to the News Media, while my father's running for Mayor."
"I thought so." I said, "I'm not the only one. Political blackmail, like what's happening with me."
Gia asked, "What's happening with you?"
Now I reached into my books, pulled out the envelope, and removed the photo of me. I showed it to both Gina and Mac.
I said, "Now don't tell me that this girl isn't a total skank."
Mac was startled. "It wasn't with Logan?"
"No. He was doing it with Madison Sinclair, whose father is running for Mayor against Gia's father. I bet she won't be getting blackmailed."
Then I asked Gia, "Do you know if any other kids of local candidates are being blackmailed?"
She said, "I know about you and me; but I haven't heard anything about the kids of opposition candidates."
I said, "It figures. The politics is dirtier than the photos."
"I've got an idea." Mac smiled brightly. "Let's blackmail Madison back. Listen Gia; there's also a picture of Madison Sinclair, on the student's party website. It shows her doing the same thing that you're doing in this picture."
"Forget it Mac! No!" I told them, "Madison probably doesn't know a thing about this. I know who we're dealing with. They are very dangerous criminals. Stay away from them, or you'll put yourselves in very serious danger. This has to be handled by someone who knows how to deal with dangerous people; and someone who I know, will be totally discrete about the whole thing."
Mac said, "Your father? You're actually gonna show him that picture, of you almost totally naked?"
"Since it doesn't show me with Logan Echolls, he'll probably be relieved."
I went on, "'A policeman's lot, is not a happy one.'"
Neither is the lot of a private detective's teenage daughter, I thought as I headed home from Neptune High that day. It's not happy, when she's being blackmailed over a photo that shows her almost totally naked and shameless at an orgy. How do I tell him, that either she comes up with $1,000, or that photo might have a very negative effect on his campaign for Sheriff?
Note to self: Do not, I repeat do not attend any more parties, at the homes of spoiled rich kids! Do not engage in any more underage drinking! Do not engage in any more casual sex!
Reply to self: No problem. Dad'll probably lock me in the basement, and chain me to a radiator. It's home schooling for me from now on.
As I neared the Mars Detective Agency, a thought occurred to me. I don't have to tell Dad about me being blackmailed. I only have to tell him that it's happening to Gia Goodman, the daughter of his Party's Candidate for Mayor of Neptune California.
As soon as I thought of that, I felt so much better.
Let Gia be the one who gets the home schooling.
What a great friend I am.
I entered the Mars Detective Agency and came into the outer office, where I worked after school as Dad's receptionist. My father's office door was opened.
"Hi Dad!" I called out teasing him; "Your jailbait daughter's arrived! I've got a nice, juicy blackmail case for you!"
"Veronica!" His voice came through the open door. "Could you come in here for a minute please?"
"Be right there!"
I put my books down on the receptionist's desk, and picked up the envelope containing Gia's embarrassing photo. The note that had come with it was in my handbag, along with the one that was sent to me.
I entered Dad's office. He was seated at his desk, speaking to a man wearing a County Sheriff's Department uniform. The moment I entered, the man turned around. Dad's visitor was Sheriff Don Lamb, who my father was running against in the upcoming election.
That settled the question for me. There was no way that Sheriff Lamb would be getting to see either of those photographs.
He smiled, or rather smirked at me. "Good afternoon Veronica."
"Good afternoon Sheriff."
"Are you really 'jailbait' Veronica?" He asked, "Does that mean you've 'hooked' something for me?"
"Don!" Dad said, "You're talking to my daughter, in my office."
"I apologize Keith." He said, "But the question is relevant to the case."
I asked, "What case?"
Dad beckoned. "Come here Ronnie."
I stepped up to his desk, where a pair of flesh colored panty hose was lying.
Sheriff Lamb picked them up and asked, "Do you recognize these Miss Mars?"
"Recognize them? All panty-hose look pretty much the same."
"Unless they have your name written on them, Miss Mars."
"My name?"
He spread the pantyhose open before me. Written across the crotch, in bright lipstick, were the words,
"To Dick: Love. Veronica"
That was followed by the date of Gwen Kalenski's party. There was also a Valentine heart, drawn between the words "Dick" and "Love".
I'd not only got caught with my panties down. They were being shoved in my face. Literally.
Sheriff Lamb had a gigantic smirking grin on his face.
He asked, "You are the one who signed it, aren't you Veronica?"
I said, "I decline to answer on the grounds of self incrimination."
"Veronica." My Dad now spoke. "Only a suspect can refuse to answer, not a witness."
I asked, "Witness to what?"
"Honey." My father said, "I hate to tell you this, but your fellow classmate Molly Fitzpatrick was found dead, earlier today."
"Molly?"
Sheriff Lamb added, "She was strangled to death with these panty-hose that you signed."
