It hadn't started out any differently than any other day in the existence of Logan Echolls at Neptune High School. His life had become the same Groundhog Day reality of one more day living without Lilly Kane and the agony that came with it. One more day spent missing the love of his life, and being stuck in a school with the girl he blamed for betraying him and helping to create the circumstances that led to Lilly's death.
Lilly Kane… gone because of a kiss…
Veronica Mars. They used to be friends, a long time ago.
The daughter of the former Sheriff Keith Mars, the man who allowed the crime scene video of Lilly's body to be stolen from the Evidence locker at the Sheriff's Department and be spread all over the internet. It was a cruel twist of Irony that the same technology that had made her families fortune, was the same technology that had sent the video streaming Viral around the internet.
Lilly and Veronica had been best friends. She had been the girlfriend of Lilly's brother, Duncan Kane for most of junior and sophomore year while he had been dating Lilly… but then most 09ers at Neptune knew this story.
The murder of Lilly Kane and her traitorous best friend who stabbed her grieving ex-boyfriend in the back and sided with her father in his attempt to ruin the Kane family until he was ousted as Sheriff. The thought of what his friend Duncan and the Kane family had had to endure as the world and its tabloids speculated on the images of the worst moment of their lives had solidified his resolve to get back at Keith Mars the only way available. By punishing Veronica for her fathers mistakes. She had abandoned him… abandoned Duncan in their hour of need… she deserved whatever he could throw at her.
Logan could still remember that day in the school library as if it was yesterday and not almost a year ago. It had been the morning that he had seen the video of her body for the first time, before it had become engrained in his nightmares.
"Does your father still think that Lilly's father did this?" he had demanded as Veronica had stood in front of him. "That's my girlfriend…" he had pleaded but she never said anything. "Your Friend… Duncan's sister… Your dad is destroying the Kane family…."
Help me Veronica… you have to help me to stop this….
"What's the matter with you people huh? What's the matter with you?" he had accused her.
He had come to her for her help, he had thought that she would understand that they had to get her dad to look for Lilly's real killer.. to back off punishing her grieving parents, to go public and stand with the Kane's in a press conference if they had to, he would have been with her every step of the way, he'd talked to his mother about inviting Lianne and Veronica to stay with them for a few days if they'd had to. Duncan had been disappearing slowly every day and he was worried that he wasn't going to come back, he'd needed her help.
Veronica had said nothing… she'd told him to go to hell.
His abusive father, A-list Hollywood Movie Star Aaron Echolls had even been nice to him in those first few months since Lilly's death… yet one of his best friends… someone he had loved and trusted… hadn't been there for him at all. She'd sided with her Dad after her parents had split up and they had had to sell their house… she worked for him in his new business Mars Investigations, siding with him over all of Neptune and Logan hated her for that… whatever she had done to make Duncan break up with her, had meant he was trying to navigate this grief alone while she ran off around the school playing Nancy Drew and he was trying to pick up the pieces of his best friend after the murder of his sister.
They had slowly become enemies, Abel Koontz had been arrested 6 weeks after Lilly's death, and she hadn't even apologised for being wrong. He hadn't been able to contain his anger after losing Lilly and Duncan's slow descent into a shell that walked and talked like Duncan, but no one was home, so Logan had begun to take his frustrations by lashing out at her.
If she'd just admit her father had been wrong…. He could have forgiven her… he still missed her…
Then to add insult to injury, she had started treating Logan like he was personally responsible for every little thing that had gone wrong in her life… it wasn't his fault most of their classmates were assholes… but they became sworn rivals after that. His friend was gone… her preppy school look had given way to the rebellious, DM boot clad, combat jeans preferring, leather jacket wearing teenage sleuth of Neptune High.
There was no getting her back now… especially after she had hidden that bong in his locker and gotten him suspended. She had looked at him in satisfaction and gave him a smug happy grin. He'd smashed the headlights in on her car later that same afternoon, only for her pal Weevil Navarro to give him yet another beating. His father had beaten him repeatedly for three days because of her "delightful" little prank.
A small part of him was relieved that he wouldn't have to spend time with Imposter Duncan this afternoon, it was becoming increasingly harder to watch, the Lilly Kane Fountain Memorial was coming up in a few weeks and it was dredging up a lot of unwanted memories.
Not to mention Veronica Mars had just transferred into his Newspaper class yesterday… one of the few places that he could actually spend some proper time with his best friend, as Editor of the Navigator, it was one of the few activities where Duncan could become absorbed completely and be himself for a few short hours. Now she was right there… was there nowhere that she considered sacred?
"Tell the truth Veronica… did you sign up for Newspaper class so you could be around Duncan?" he teased, flashing his eyebrows at her.
"No… I did it so I could be closer to you" she flirted sarcastically and gave him a sweet smile.
Dick Casablanca's had let the air down in Veronica's tires again and Logan had to admit, watching the petite blond work up a sweat as she tried to change her tires always gave him a guilty thrill. He'd always thought she was hot and there was something about their little verbal dance that made him realise that physical attraction and emotional attraction don't always go hand-in-hand and there was no denying the chemistry that lingered when they argued with each other.
Curiosity he supposed, Lilly had always been a gossip so he knew Veronica had heard a lot about him during their time dating, and he had been her inexperienced boyfriend's best friend, so he had heard plenty about their little escapades... enough to fuel his imagination. She joined Newspaper Class to be closer to him? If only…
She was the only other person in the world who known the Lilly he had lost, the only left who understood this heartbreak as deeply as he did.
Weevil Navarro, his housekeeper's grandson was currently on litter duty and being held on suspicion of fraud for stealing one of his mothers, Lynn Echolls credit cards. Weevil was currently on clean up duty off the i5.
"Seriously how hard is it to find good help these days?" Logan had mused to his girlfriend Caitlin Ford as she sat perched on her desk, preening herself.
"What did you do about your housekeeper situation?" Caitlin asked.
"We had to let her go… if you can't trust your domestics… you can't feel safe in your own home" he had mused, running a hand along her leg.
"Did you know that 98% of all Identity Fraud is committed by RELATIVES of the victim?" Veronica had accused him, looking directly at Logan. "That's an interesting fact… at least I think so" she said as he had crossed his arms over his chest. She was accusing him of stealing from his own mother?
She had meant more to him than anyone; the four of them had been family… now she treated him like the worst kind of jackass.
He'd been furious so he had arranged for a series of little mishaps for her the following day. Orange soda in her locker, a few bumps into her to knock over her books and the old flat tires when he knew she had to rush off for a journalism assignment for the Navigator… although truthfully, these little moments were one of the only things that made him feel alive anymore. He hated it… but he still cared what she thought.
He had just been walking past her familiar black convertible parked in the space opposite the school bus to admire his handy work and get rewarded by seeing her glaring at him as he walked back to his car.
"Bummer" he mused, looking at the flat.
No taking surf competition pictures in Gold Coast today bitch.
Veronica glared at him, he had done this on purpose she was just about to open her mouth and say something when the nausea over powered her and the ground came up to meet her.
It wasn't until after Logan had turned around to walk over and meet his girlfriend Caitlin that he heard a loud thud and that new kid Troy Vandergraf rushed to something behind him.
"Oh My God!" Troy exclaimed as he dragged his sweat shirt off and several other students looked over in concern. "Hey somebody get some help!"
Logan turned to see what all the fuss was about and then he saw the blood pooling in her blond hair… Veronica lay on the concrete convulsing and foaming slightly at the mouth. She must have hit her head on the bonnet of the silver car parked beside hers as she fell?
"Veronica?" Logan called, dropping his bag and crouching down beside them.
"You know her?" Troy asked as he tried his best to steady the tremors as she jerked around on the floor… then all of a sudden she went limp.
"Veronica?" he asked, trying to keep the rising panic out of his voice.
The cut on the side of her head… it looked so much like that video scene of Lilly… the blood was warm in his hand and his pulse was racing.
No No No….
"Alright, everyone step back" Mr Sanders called, the school's football coach and he picked her up to carry her towards the nurses office.
"Logan!" Duncan gasped as he ran up to him. "What happened?"
"That blond girl you were telling me about… your ex? She just collapsed and started having some kind of seizure" Troy told him.
"A seizure?" Duncan repeated as he visibly paled but his tone sounded hollow.
"Should have known she was bit damaged" Caitlin said snidely as she handed Logan a make-up remover wipe to clean the blood off his hands. Logan felt sick.
Duncan turned to Logan and gave her a cold glare before following Mr Sanders to see if Veronica was okay and Troy followed.
"Can we get going now?" she asked him pouting while Logan picked up his school bag again and looked at the flat tire. Had she over-exerted herself?
"I should go check in on Duncan" Logan told her quietly before he headed back inside the school building.
"What did you do this time man?" Duncan demanded angrily as he paced the corridor outside the nurse's office.
"Nothing… I just turned around and there she was…" Logan replied defensively.
"Is Veronica okay?" Meg Manning asked as she clutched her books.
"No one knows yet" Troy told her quietly. Who the hell was this guy anyway?
"I do believe the final bell has rang Students" Mr Clemmons told them as he approached the nurses office.
"We are here to check on Veronica" Duncan informed him eagerly.
"Ms Mars is going to be seen to the paramedics very shortly" Mr Clemmons reassured them.
Paramedics?
"Is she alright?" Wallace Fennel asked as he approached from the administration office. Logan looked at the African American student carefully, he was about the only person he ever saw her talk to these days.
"Hard to say for sure, there's some bleeding and she's coming around slowly but we still need to get her checked out" Mr Sanders told them as he came out of the room.
"Can anyone tell me what happened?" Mr Clemmons asked.
"She was just standing there getting something out of her trunk and then she collapsed, started convulsing on the floor" Troy told him.
"Mr Sanders, do what you can to try and get a hold of Keith Mars" Mr Clemmons asked.
"I'll get her file" Wallace said eagerly as he turned back towards the administration office.
"Mr Clemmons the paramedics have arrived" the school receptionist called as she escorted them towards the nurse's office.
"She's right in here" Nurse Jackie called but all Logan could see was the bottoms of Veronica's shoes from where he stood in the hallway.
"I'm going to get Casey to leave me home" Caitlin complained as she stood with her slender arms folded over her chest and glared at Logan.
"That's a good idea…" Logan said quietly. He'd never seen Duncan so animated, he was sweating and pacing around the corridor, it was about 10 minutes later before the lead paramedic called Mr Clemmons into the nurses office.
They spoke in a hushed tone and Logan strained to hear anything at all whatever it was he told him, Mr Clemmons looked visibly distressed by the news and stared at the petite blond girl who was sitting on the end of examination bed while Nurse Jackie cleaned the wound on her head.
What was going on?
"Can we see her?" Duncan pleaded.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible" Mr Sanders declined.
"Why not?" Meg asked.
"Ms Mars needs to go for further examination" he explained as the third Paramedic wheeled in a stretcher. Logan was starting to get really worried now. He shouldn't care.. but he couldn't help it… watching them strap an unsteady Veronica Mars onto the little stretcher was freaking him out and the little audience followed the paramedics as they wheeled her outside towards the ambulance.
How badly was she hurt?
"Mr Clemmons?" Keith Mars called as he raced down the car park as he arrived out of breath and Logan frowned.
"They are taking her to Neptune General Memorial" Mr Clemmons explained.
"Honey… honey are you okay?" Keith said softly as he approached his daughters side. "You hit your head, do you feel okay?" he asked again concern beginning to furrow his eyebrows as she regarded him cautiously.
Logan ran his hand through his hair as he watched from over Duncan's shoulder as Veronica shrank back a little on the stretcher, she looked a little frightened.
Frightened of her father?
Her blue eyes surveyed her surroundings helplessly, she hadn't really spoken since she woke up but as her father reached for her hand she pulled it back in fear. Logan exchanged a quick glance with Duncan.
"Veronica, sweetheart… is everything alright?" Keith asked softly, confused.
She glanced around the crowd again and wrapped her arms around herself.
"Whose Veronica?" she asked shyly.