"Madison, what the hell are you doing?"
"Why, Veronica Mars, I'm just showing the poor new girl all the sights there are to see in our beloved school," Madison's tone was sweet, but her voice could only be described as malicious.
Glancing for a second at the quiet figure beside her, Veronica could see where Madison got the word 'poor'. The girl's inky black hair was pulled into a messy bun, she wore no makeup and her clothes seemed old and worn. Veronica almost wrote her off as poor like Madison, until she saw the glimmer of a silver pearl necklace in the shape of a lily resting just below the girl's collar bones. Her instincts, which had yet to lead her astray, screamed at her to make a closer observation. Turning to actually look at the girl, Veronica met a pair of emerald eyes that challenged her, dared her to write this new girl off with a glance. Never one to back down from a challenge now days, Veronica reassessed the girl.
Her hair wasn't necessarily uncared for, just messy, like it was hurriedly taken out of her face and out of her way. Her clothes looked old and worn but admittedly, very comfortable. Her boots were scuffed, but there were no tears or rips to be seen. These boots were looked after, well used and looked comfortable enough to run in. Veronica tilted her head thinking that with squared shoulders, a ready stance and her shirt sleeves rolled up, this girl looked ready for a fight. A pink smirk lit up the girl's face, answering Veronica's thoughts. Veronica's own quirk of the lips spread into a grin. Things just got interesting.
"What are you grinning at, Mars?" Madison huffed.
As Veronica turned to Neptune High's resident bitch, her grin became fixed and slightly sardonic, "Oh, I'm just thinking about how Clemmons is going to react when he finds out you were going to bring her into the teacher's lounge."
Madison's expression soured a bit but the malicious smile didn't quite leave her face, "And how was I supposed to know she'd try to wander in there? Maybe she thought it was the bathroom? Maybe she wandered off?"
"Maybe, she is standing right here listening to this."
The sound of a crisp clear and distinct British accent had Veronica and Madison turning to stare in surprise at the new girl, who had raised an eyebrow and was giving Madison a very flat stare.
"You're English," Madison stated dumbly.
"Yes. I'm English, not stupid. Unlike you, it seems," was the exasperated reply.
Madison's expression turned offended, "What-"
"Honestly," the girl interrupted with a roll of her eyes, "I'm going to talk with every single one of my new teachers today and with Principle Clemmons at the end of it. Did it never occur to you that, at some point today, your less than stellar performance as my guide would be mentioned?"
Madison flipped her hair nonchalantly; "It's your word against mine."
Veronica opened her mouth to combat that comment, but the girl beat her to it; "Actually, it's your word against the new girl's, a witness and proof you're a bitch."
"What kind of proof?" Madison's eyes sharpened.
"What kind do you need?" was the sweet reply.
"Listen, you little witch-"
Madison got up close and personal, in the girl's face and then the girl was on the floor with a shout of painful surprise, her books and shoulder bag clattering to the ground with her. All movement in the hallway stopped for a moment. The girl looked up with tears in her green eyes, cradling her cheek in her hand. Veronica's shocked expression switched from the girl on the floor to Madison, who looked equally as surprised. Crouching down and gathering her books and her bag, Veronica helped the new girl to her feet just as a teacher approached.
"What in heaven's name is going on here?" she asked, though judging from the tearful girl in Veronica Mars arms looking fearfully in Madison Sinclair's direction, it was pretty clear what seemed to have occurred.
"Ms. Sinclair?"
"I didn't touch her," the instant denial removed all doubt from the teacher's mind.
"Ms. Mars, would you be kind enough to escort the young lady to the doctor's office while I escort Ms. Sinclair to Mr. Clemmons?"
"Sure," Veronica chirped and began leading her charge in the opposite direction to Madison's increasingly loud denials.
"Do you really want to go to the doctor's office?" Veronica quietly, keeping up appearances. The reply she received was equally soft.
"Yes."
Veronica allowed confusion to cloud her features momentarily, before voicing her thoughts; "I never even saw her hand move."
The girl looked up into Veronica's face her hand still clutching her cheek and gave a watery smile before winking quickly and looking down again. Veronica hid a small smile of her own because as unjust as the girl's actions were, Veronica got immense satisfaction from Madison's suffering. Moments later, the girl was sitting on a chair in the doctor's office, the doctor examining her cheek with Veronica watching from her place by the door.
"Well, she doesn't seem to have hit you that hard. It must have been the shock that sent you to the floor, huh?" the doctor asked with a smile. Receiving a soft, shy smile in response the doctor grinned and told them; "Well, you're free to go. Stay out of trouble, alright? I don't want to see a nice girl like you in here too often."
The girl nodded as she stood, taking her bag and books from Veronica and followed the other girl out the door. With everyone eating outside for lunch the hallway was quiet and empty. Veronica watched for a moment as the ravenette wiped her face clean of the faux tears.
"That wasn't very nice."
"She wasn't very nice," was the reply, the girl not missing a beat or even having to question what Veronica meant as she fiddled with her bag and books, not looking at the blonde.
"Had it been anyone else I would've been upset," Veronica continued nonchalantly.
The girl looked at her then with an amused quirk to her lips; "Had it been anyone else I wouldn't have done it."
The blonde grinned; "I'm Veronica."
The returned grin did a lot to reassure Veronica that she was making the right decision; "I'm Harri. Harri Potter."
"Harry?" Veronica asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's short for Harriet," was the sheepish reply.
As they walked down the hall side by side with no real destination in mind, though Harri seemed to be looking out for something she recognised and thus was subconsciously leading the way, Veronica felt the need to point something out while fishing for information;
"You know that little display back there isn't going to help you in the long run."
"Well then it's a good thing I didn't do it for that," Harri answered with a mischievous smile.
"Then why'd you do it?" Veronica queried.
"For two reasons, I suppose" Harri began, as they stopped at her locker which was beside the Autoshop lab which was the only reason Harri found her way back to it. "The main reason was to get that twit off my back."
Veronica snorted, "And the other?"
Harri hummed and opened her locker quietly; "To make me look like a victim, I suppose the word is."
Veronica narrowed her eyes in suspicious confusion, "Oh-kay, that's not a great first impression. It won't endear you to anyone. I have very little doubt that anyone here has the capability to feel sorry for you."
Veronica's mind was working overtime to make sense of the other girl's actions. She trusted her instincts but she had learned to be suspicious of everything. Harri seemed to be very down to earth but Veronica had only just met the girl that day. Running through all the girl's actions for the last hour or two, to the point the blonde's mind began running in circles, she was startled from her analysis by boisterous laughing.
"The look on your face!" Harri laughed smiling, "Relax, Veronica. I know, or at least, have an idea of how they'll treat me."
"Then enlighten me, Little Miss Suffering, why did you do it?" Veronica sassed, still confused.
"My Godfather once told me; 'judge a man, not by how he treats his equals, but by how he treats his inferiors'. There are things that this school doesn't know about me yet. If I have my say they will never know these things, but I'm taking my chance to get to know people before these things come out," she said with a solemn if determined expression.
This explanation made the PI side of Veronica itch to know what her new potential ally/friend was hiding but her level of respect for the girl rose to such an extent that the itch was quickly smothered. Because Veronica had been there, in a position where she had been abandoned by those she thought were her friends and she would've liked to have thought at the time like this slip of a girl in front of her. However, hindsight is often twenty- twenty, so Veronica simply smirked amusedly and said; "Paranoid much?"
"Hey, I just like to know who my friends are" Harri sniffed indignantly, holding her nose in the air in a pose she had copied from Draco Malfoy at his most irritating. The ridiculousness of the stiff pose held for a moment before both girls started giggling uncontrollably. Know your friends indeed!
"Wise words from your godfather though," Veronica complimented when she had calmed down a bit.
"Yeah, he's more intelligent than most people give him credit for," Harri sighed happily, "even himself."
"So, would you like to continue your tour of the school?" Veronica asked with a smile, after a lull in the conversation while Harri organised her locker.
"Yes, please!" Harri grinned and slammed her locker closed, "I wasn't kidding when I said Madison was a lousy guide. I have no idea how I've gotten around all day."
As they walked off laughing to begin Harri's tour anew, the girls shared another conspiratory smirk.
Neptune High, they thought together, let the games begin!
So... This is a story on the side, that I really shouldn't post because really, I have other things to be doing and I have hardly a letter as for how this story would go. Roughly, it was going to be Harri/Weevil as a first romance for me, with a side of my usual friendship between Harri and Veronica and eventually there would be a revel as to how Harri was actually the heir to a wealthy family and a Lady to be.
But like I said, I have other stories that have why more progress made on them. However, I like this as it is and it could be seen as a oneshot, so I thought; "that'll do for the moment" and stuck it up.
Hope you like it!