A/N: Hi Everyone! We're glad you stopped by and decided to check out our 'little' holiday story (ie 150k words written in three months). Here is how this happened: "hey have you ever read a story where Veronica is an Echolls and Logan is a Mars?" "No but I like it" "me too" "it could be at christmas" "Think we can write it by then?" "sure". What Bondo and KMD discovered - we're crazy, LOL! Our personal favorite was "it could be short" HAHA! So without further ado, here is where that little conversation took us.
Preview Chapter 1: On the first day of Christmas, my father gave to me...a brand new school far away from his infidelity
Early December 2004
Veronica sat on the cool flagstone patio that surrounded the pool of the Echolls' Hollywood Hills estate. Her room was packed and all that was left was for her to stay out of the way of the movers and her dad—
"Veronica, honey, come back inside," Veronica's once beautiful and now overly 'improved' mother called.
Veronica stood slowly and made her way back into the house. Should have gone to the pool house, she thought as she trudged up to her mother.
"Don't look so glum, sugarplum." Lynn pinched her cheek. "You'll like Neptune; you used to love spending summers there when you were little. Think about it—you can be whomever you want to be in a new town."
"I'll still be the daughter of the illustrious Lynn and Aaron Echolls," Veronica replied, sullen. "That's all anyone cares about, anyway."
"Oh, honey, I know it's been rough. Maybe Neptune will be different; it's not far, but it's a whole other world once you get outside the LA bubble. And you aren't a little kid anymore."
"Wasn't that the problem?" Veronica replied, bitterness lacing her words.
Her mother's expression faltered before she continued, "Maybe you'll make friends who'll get to know you for you; it's a normal public school with boys," Lynn smiled conspiratorially, leaned in close and whispered, "And your father will still be here in the city most of the time."
Veronica smiled for the first time in days. Yes, he would be. Maybe I can finally have some room to breathe.
"How about you and I get out of here? The last few weeks have been rough. I think make-overs might be just what we both need." Lynn wrapped an arm around Veronica's shoulders.
Veronica twirled a length of her long blonde hair around her finger. A change sounds just right.
"Thanks, Mom. You just made my day."
Friday, December 3rd
When Veronica entered the lot of Neptune High, she was surprised when she passed a collection of motorcycles and beat up rice rockets that were at least ten years old. Well this is what you wanted isn't it, Veronica? To be far away from LA and its snotty private schools? That wasn't to say that Neptune was poor, exactly. She just wasn't used to mingling with people of different socioeconomic backgrounds at school. A town without a middle class. What a concept.
Veronica parked her brand new, bright yellow BMW M3 convertible near the front of the lot next to a black Escalade and hopped out. Not sure which direction to walk in, she followed the sound of voices until she saw a crowd of people surrounding the flagpole.
Wow, people at this school really take the pledge of allegiance seriously, she thought as she pushed her way through the crowd amidst whispers of 'Who'd that guy rat out?' and 'The biker gang'. When she got to the center of the crowd, she saw a young black man duct taped naked to the flagpole with 'SNICH' painted across his chest.
Who are these people? They can't even spell. "Isn't somebody going to cut him down?" she asked the blonde surfer who was currently taking a selfie while posed with the 'snich'.
"Yeah, I'll do it. I wanna be the guy up there tomorrow," was the surfer's sarcastic retort.
Veronica paused in shock for a moment, unsure of what to do or what she had gotten herself into. Did I move to Neptune, California or am I on planet Mars? Maybe I should have fought to stay in LA after all?
"Okay, everyone; step aside!" Veronica turned to see a tall brunette in an orange plaid shirt making his way through the crowd, an open pocket knife in his hand.
Veronica, still unsure of what to make of the situation, stayed rooted to the spot as the crowd began booing. Are we seriously going to have some kind of gang war right here on my first day?
The brunette gave her a once over, sizing her up in a long look, before he stepped around her to cut the duct tape holding the 'snich' up. "Show's over, people. Feel free to carry on with your meaningless consumer-driven lives." The brunette kept his eyes on hers as he spoke, but she wasn't sure if he was talking to her or the crowd. He turned to the boy on the pole and spoke to him. "Wow, man. Capture The Flag isn't supposed to require adult supervision."
"Sorry to put you out, man. Where were you twenty minutes ago? Just cut me down already!"
The brunette turned back to her and raised his eyebrows expectantly, "Unless you know of something that will remove duct tape adhesive, I'd say you're dismissed. Mush!" He made a shooing motion with his hands.
Veronica flinched, unused to being spoken to in such a way. Usually people kissed her butt. She decided to respond in kind. "Yeah, I hope you manscaped properly. Brazilians are a bitch. I can recommend an aesthetician if you aren't happy with the results," Veronica called out as she took off toward what she hoped was the front office.
Before she reached the doors, she had a change of heart; she did know how to remove duct tape less painfully. She reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a small bottle of baby oil.
"Hey!" she called back to the guys, "Catch." She tossed the bottle at the tall brunette. "Let it sit for at least two minutes. It'll still hurt, but you know...less."
Not waiting for them to respond, Veronica picked up to a jog to get to the front office before the next bell rang.
Logan pulled his button-down off and handed it to Wallace. "At least it covers up the important parts. Do you have extra stuff in your gym locker?" Logan asked while guiding Wallace into the school through a less used side entrance.
"Yeah. I've got some sweats and stuff. Let's get this over with." Wallace sighed in resignation as they entered the locker room.
Logan held out the small bottle of baby oil. "I guess just…" he gestured to where the tape's edge was pulled away from Wallace's stomach.
"Right. She said two minutes. You don't think she'd give me something that would make it worse, do you?" Wallace asked, staring down at the tape with apprehension.
"How should I know? I don't know her." Logan shrugged his shoulders.
"Do you live under a rock, Mars? She's Aaron Echolls' daughter—dating Conner Larkin. Come on Logan, I've seen you watching Access Hollywood with my mom."
Logan felt blood rush to his cheeks...so maybe he had watched some bad celebrity gossip with Alicia, and maybe he did recognize Veronica Echolls. "Doesn't change a thing. So her dad's famous for making terrible movies and her mom did some good stuff when she was young. But that doesn't tell us anything about Veronica Echolls." He rolled the 'r' as he said her name. "In fact, I know less about her now than before. Why would a celebutante know anything about removing duct tape adhesive? And who carries around baby oil?"
"Dunno." Wallace grimaced and then pulled on a piece of tape. He jumped as a bit of tape pulled that apparently hadn't gotten enough oil on it. "But I definitely think you should ask her. Still hurts, but not too bad. Gimme some more of that stuff."
Logan handed back the bottle. "I'll leave you to it then."
Wallace waved Logan off as he poured more baby oil between his skin and the tape. Logan chuckled at the sight, and then left the locker room. This was turning out to be a pretty interesting day.
A/N: If you liked this little preview please head over to our shared handle: "Bondopoulos and KMD0107" The story title is Trading Places and we really hope you like it! Chapter 1 is up and we'll be posting new chapters everyday for the next twelve days :)
