Summer Before Senior Year
After the night from hell, she is laying in her bed when there is a knock at the door.
She gets up, her body already feeling stiff to answer it.
"I was hoping it would be you." she says opening the door. "Logan?"
He faces her, revealing that he is very bloodied and battered. He collapses into her arms.
She gets him inside and he tells her that Weevil and the rest of the PCHers caught him, alone, on the bridge.
"What were you doing on the bridge?" she asks softly.
"You had dumped me and accused me of killing Lilly. I was drunk off my ass and not really thinking. I knocked Weevil out with a kick to the face and next thing I know, his cohort, Felix and company pull me onto the road. To beat me to the mess in your lap."
"You're lucky to be alive."
"Not so sure about that. I must have passed out or something because next thing I know I am laying on the ground, holding a bloody knife. Felix... dead beside me."
She just looks at him in shock.
"I didn't stab him."
"I..I believe you." I want to believe you.
"I threw the knife into the water and got in my car and drove."
"Logan..."
"I know. It's all over the radio. My dad killed Lilly." tears to fall down his face.
There is another knock on the door.
She gets up slowly to answer it.
This time its Leo.
He tells her that he's looking for Logan and saw his car outside. He says it will be easier if she lets him in.
Upset, she opens the door to reveal Logan on the couch.
Leo walks in and reads Logan his rights.
To make her dad happy she starts working at The Java Hut.
"Veronica, you have a customer. He asked to sit in your section."
She sees that its Duncan.
"Hi." she says awkwardly. "Haven't seen you around much."
"Yeah, just got back from Napa, helping Celeste open up the house. She and dad are moving there. I am going to be staying here, at the Neptune Grand. Don't want to do Senior year at a new school.
"Veronica, your boyfriend is here." the manager says coming over to her.
She turns around and sees Logan.
Logan and Duncan barely acknowledge each other.
She and Logan kiss in greeting.
Logan is coming out of the courtroom, being bombarded by the press. There are crowds of people there with signs, protesting.
He gets into the limo where she is waiting. She takes his hand in hers.
The motorist that probably saved Logan's life by calling 911, disappeared before they got there. The cops never found the knife.
Logan's high-priced lawyers crushed the bikers.
Weren't the bikers there to kill Logan? Didn't he have the bruises and broken ribs to prove it? If Logan did stab Felix, wasn't it self-defense?
The DA decided there wasn't enough evidence and Logan was released six weeks after he was arrested.
They are making out in Logan's truck.
"My dad is probably watching us through a telescope." she mutters when they break to take a breath.
"He's probably impressed with your virtue." Logan says trying to pull her back into his arms.
"...And that telescope is mounted on a rifle." she jokes.
"Five more minutes." he mouths out the window.
"You should feel lucky. I mean, you could be out here with some pretty boy jerk just lookin' to get laid." he says kissing her.
"Wait. What are you saying, you're not pretty?" she smiles against his mouth.
"What I'm trying to say is, I'm in love with you." Logan says seriously.
"The things guys'll say to get past second base..." she says pushing him to lie down on the seat.
She thinks nothing of the motorcycle noise, until a shot is fired and Logan's window shatters.
She came to school to visit him at lunch, since he had to take summer classes since he missed a majority of his finals thanks to his and his father's arrests.
They walk toward the parking lot.
Dick and Beaver get out of Dick's car. Dick goes out of his way to be friendly to Veronica. They open the car trunk and pull out several gasoline cans.
"We're all set. Everyone agreed to meet up at the Sac 'n' Pac." Dick says.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
"We are going to burn 'Pan Sucks' on their football field." Logan tells her.
The next morning, her dad is the one that tells her that somehow the community pool somehow caught on fire during the night. Its going to be closed for the rest of the summer.
She takes a deep breath and takes Logan's hands in hers.
"I can't do this anymore. I can't be with you when you are acting like this. Things between 09ers and non-09ers are getting worse. I'm scared that someone is going to end up dead."
"Someone already died. Everyone thinks that I did it. My friends have my back, why don't you?"
"I think you are enjoying this..."
Logan gets up from the couch and smashes a lamp.
"My mother is dead, my girlfriend is dead, my father is a murderer, and the only person left that I care about is dumping me." he yells at her.
Her dad rushes into the room and holds Logan in a lock up against a wall.
He tells him not to talk to her like that and to never come back.
Senior Year
Normal. That's the watchword. Sounds good, doesn't it? Senior year begins tomorrow and all appears hunky dory. Best friend? Check. Lilly's killer behind bars? Check. Regular job? Check.
"Kelvin Moore." she says with a smile.
"I just got kicked out of athletics for my entire senior year. I failed the mandatory drug test." Kelvin tells her.
"So what's new, Kelvin? You failed it last year, too, if I remember correctly."
"Yeah, but I'm clean now, for goin' on ten months." he states.
"I promised my dad. I don't do that kind of work anymore."
"So who's supposed to help me out, then?"
She shakes her head and turns to go back to work.
"I guess it's true what they say about you then, huh?" Kelvin calls after her.
"Probably, but you're gonna have to narrow it down for me." she says facing him.
"That last year was just some act. You got to pick sides these day..."
"Time for you to go." Cervando says coming up to them.
"I'm leaving. You know, its funny every 09er passed their drug test." Kelvin says.
Cervando doesn't say a word to her, just goes back to work.
I don't care. He's a bully that karma finally caught up with.
"Veronica. Your dad is on TV." the manager says getting her attention.
Her dad is being interviewed by Julie Chen about the book he co-authored about Lilly's murder investigation, called Big Murder, Small Town.
"Your dad's hot." the manager remarks.
Shaking her head she takes the remote and turns the TV off.
"Hey you." she says coming up to Wallace.
"You didn't call me back last night." he states.
"Sorry, did a shift at the hut and ran to the office to work on filing by the time I got home I was ready to crash. What's up?" she says as they walk.
"I failed my drug test. I'm booted from athletics for the whole year."
"You don't do drugs." she says stopping.
"No duh, Sherlock. And it wasn't just me. Five of us, total, failed ... and Jimmy Day, our starting quarterback, he passed it. And everybody saw him blazin' one up down on the boardwalk."
"Crap. I heard that every 09er passed." she says.
"That's where you are wrong."
"Huh?"
"One 09er did fail."
"Who?"
"Meg. So you'll help?"
"Do you even have to ask? Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in..." she mutters.
Wallace explains the drug test procedure to her.
"You do your business in a cup and hand it to the person administering the test. They seal it with a piece of tape and make you sign the tape. Then they send it to a lab to be tested. If the seal is broken, they're supposed to reject it."
"Okay so that means that no one can do a switch there." she thinks for a moment. "Hey, what period do you have office aide this year?"
"Believe it or not, I didn't sign up for a second year of office aide."
"Yeah, that doesn't work for me." she says sitting down.
"Well, you can take that up with Moms. She had these crazy ideas about me havin' a well-rounded education. But, don't underestimate me. The master key. Yeah. And I got all the administrative passwords I could get my hands on."
She smiles as he hands them to her. "Oh good job."
"You know, I get all my criminal tendencies from you. What are you going to do now?"
"Try to figure out what you and the others that failed have in common. Got any enemies you know about?"
"Well, there's the Klan." he jokes.
"This is not really their M.O." she snarks.
"I guess that leaves everybody that hates you." he says grabbing his stuff and headed to class.
She goes over to talk to Kelvin about the case.
"Guess things are different, now that your boy failed his test, huh?" Kelvin snarks.
"So, and I mean other than me, can you think of anyone who would want to do this to you?" she asks.
"No. People love me." Kelvin states.
"No, they don't. You pick on the weak and helpless."
He thinks for a moment before answering. "This kid, a sophomore, they call him Butters. You know, he was climbing the pegboard in gym class before PE last year. Tryin' to show off. It pissed me off."
"So?"
"So I pantsed him! It was hysterical!"
She rolls her eyes and snaps his photo.
She talks to each of the kids that failed.
Jilly tells her that her dad is getting sued by Boatloads of Fun Corp. Seems her dad leased a house to a group of families that call themselves "Boatloads of Fun" and they include Steve Wacker's parents and that group. The roof leaked in one room, so they want all of their money back.
She snaps Jilly's picture.
Next she talks to Viet, who tells her that he beat out Jennings Crawford for number one singles last year in tennis. Jennings threw a fit, and his parents even tried to have the coach fired. There was a school board meeting, and they brought in Ilie Nastase to testify that Jennings was a better player than Viet.
She snaps Viet's picture.
She takes a deep breath before going over to Meg. "I heard that you were kicked off the cheerleading squad."
"Yeah, but you know me, I'm a major stoner. It was really affecting me, too, I was like, "Let's go! Let's go! L-E-T-S...duh..."." Meg snarks.
"Can you think of anyone who might have done this to you?" she asks completely uncomfortable.
"Well, there is this one person. I used to think she was a friend, but, uh...but yeah, yeah, now that I think about it, she'd have no reservations and she definitely has the talent to pull it off. Let me know if you have any luck tracking her down, 'kay?" Meg says before walking off.
Yeah, should have expected that. Of course she is still upset about Duncan breaking up with her. I didn't have anything to do with that but as far as Meg is concerned I am the woman that took her man. Even though I am not with said man. Duncan did try but I have changed too much to get caught back up in the drama of Duncan Kane.
She has looking into to the failed tests when Wallace bursts into her room.
"Know what else I found out today? This failed drug test goes on my permanent file. Any college I apply to is gonna see it." he tells her.
"Well, if you would've taken another year of office aide we could've done something about that file." she tries to joke.
"Yeah, 'cause this is my fault. Did you learn anything today?"
"Kelvin Moore, while giving up his pot-smoking ways, has not given up being an obnoxious jackass." she states.
She finds out that everyone that failed were there when Kelvin pansted Butters.
They walk out of her room.
"I'll talk to Butters tomorrow." she says as her dad walks in.
"I know a 24-year-old floozie who thinks you're hot." she jokes.
"This floozie, did you get her digits?" Keith asks.
"Hey, all right now, don't make me have to go home and tell my mama." Wallace says.
"Wallace, your mother and I have an understanding." Keith says in all seriousness.
"You do?" she asks.
"Yes, and it's this: I behave myself, and she doesn't leave me. So please, tell her nothing, other than I worship the ground on which she treads." he says.
"I'm leavin' now." Wallace laughs as he grabs his stuff.
"The ground on which she treads. You might want to write that down." he says pleading with a grin.
"Got it." Wallace says leaving.
"So. Senior year. How was your first day of school, honey?" he asks sitting down.
"Great. I beat up a freshman, stole his lunch money, and then skipped out after lunch." she says with a smile.
"What, no premarital sex?" he asks shocked.
"Oh. Yeah. Yes. But don't worry, Dad ...I swear you're gonna like these guys."
"That's my girl." he says as she gives him a hug.
"I missed you."
"Ah, I missed you too. Now where's my turkey pot pie, woman?"
"Butters?" she asks coming up to him.
"'Butters' is the name of the weak, loser suck-up on South Park. 'Butters' implies soft, fat..."
"But oh so delicious." she snarks.
"My given name is Vincent."
"I hear you were pantsed in gym last spring, Vincent."
" Are you requesting a private viewing?"
"And now, the guy who pantsed you and all the people who might have chuckled end up kicked off athletics for the year. Curious."
"Justice. It can be a bitch."
"You're playing a dangerous game. Kelvin will take your head off if I tell him you're the reason he's off football this year."
"You know what? I don't think he will. Hey, Pop." he says as Mr. Clemmons passes them.
"Son."
well shit.
She and Wallace get into the office to look at Wallace's permanent file.
"Permanent files are in that brownish-beige filing cabinet." Wallace tells her.
"I can't believe after a year of working here you don't know the make and model of the filing cabinet." she says taking out her keys.
"Yeah, it is hard to believe. Usually, memorizing that information is the first thing I do when I enter a room containing a filing cabinet."
Thinking, she searches Clemmon's desk and finds the key that she needs.
"Scary, isn't it? The lax security? What if someone was trying to alter your permanent file?" she snarks.
"We're trying to alter it, right now."
"Alter it back. There's a difference." she states.
"Alter it back. Cool. I was wondering where we were drawing that ethical line this year."
She looks closely at Wallace's file and compares it to other ones. She assumes the results were overnighted to Clemmons and his son altered them before he saw it.
The negative and positive drug test results are in different ink and have full sentences, not just a checkmark. There are no eraser marks or white-out, and they were all signed by Jim Chimory.
"So there's no alterations, there's no forgery..." Wallace asks.
"So it appears."
"So I'm screwed, basically."
"Unless...the results were accurate." she says with a look in her eyes.
"Yeah, mon. Maybe I smoke so much ganja, I don't even remembah doin' it." he says with a accent.
"Eat any mystery brownies lately?"she questions.
"Spirit b...!" he covers his mouth. "Spirit boxes! The day of the Back to School Athletics Banquet, there were spirit boxes in our lockers. There weren't any brownies in there, but there were cookies."
"Did you eat one?"
"I ate six."
"That's my Wallace. I'll stop at the drugstore on the way to my house. Meet me there." she says grabbing her stuff and making it appear like they were never there.
"I'll follow you."
Yeah, ever since Logan was released Neptune became a different place.
"Are you done yet?" she asks knocking on her bathroom door.
"It is never going to happen if you keep doin' that!" Wallace yells though the door.
"I see. Stage fright? I'm making you nervous. Well, according to the box we only need a few drops and it'll test for cocaine, steroids, pot..." she stops as her dad walks in.
"What's up, honey?" he says with a grin.
"Wallace is having a little trouble giving me a urine sample." she tells him. "Can you give him some pointers?"
"Wallace?" Keith calls out.
"Yep."
"You try turning the water on?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Also, pinching your own nipples can sometimes work."
"Aaaahhhh, man!" Wallace calls out.
"Gross!" she exclaims
"Honey, it works!" Keith says.
"I can barely even look at you now."
"I can't believe how squeamish you are." he says as she kicks him out of the room.
She is able to do the test.
"Your clean. Which means that Butters didn't mess with the cookies and we are back to square one." she says sitting on her desk looking at the white board she ha up with everyone that has failed pictures.
"Well, its going to be a bad year for Neptune."
"Why do you say that?"
"Everyone that failed are the star players."
"Who replaces them."
Wallace lists several students, including Steve Wacker.
"Dad, can you come here." she calls out.
He comes into the room.
"If I know the name of a corporation, how do I find out the names of its shareholders?" she asks.
"You get the strangest homework in health class." he says.
"Can you keep your trap shut if we tell you why we need it? No running off and telling your girlfriend."
" Agreed."
"Wallace has been kicked out of athletics for his entire senior year for failing the mandatory drug test. But Wallace is clean. See for yourself." she says trying to hand him the test.
"Ah...I take your word for it." he says and moves to her computer.
After telling him the name, he looks up Boatloads of Fun Corporation. All of the shareholders are the parents of the students who would replace the starters.
All except the Days, which explains why their son's drug test was negative.
"So what's the plan?" Wallace asks her.
"We're gonna scare 'em."
"How is that gonna help me?"
"Well...it'll be fun. I'm going to send all the parents an email from the lab tech that signed off on the test and request a meet. Don't worry, you'll be back on the team in no time."
The new journalism teacher, Ms. Dumass interrupts them to ask for a permission slip.
"She's taking anyone from newspaper, yearbook, and broadcast news class who wants to tour Shark field tomorrow." she explains to Wallace when he looks at her strange.
"Wow. I can't believe you're going." he jokes.
"I like baseball."
"Yeah, but you don't like people."
She opens her mouth to deny it but just laughs instead.
"Oh, I get it. Normal is the watchword. See ya later, supafly." he says grabbing his stuff and leaving.
She collects her bag and leaves.
She falters slightly when she sees Weevil and some of the PCHers.
Normal...like having two friends pissed at you.
She walks past them, feeling their eyes on her.
If looks could kill.
A couple tells her that they're meeting Jim Chimory at work that night.
She shows them to a table where several other partners from Boatloads of Fun Corp. are sitting.
She approaches Clemmons and asks him if he's heard enough.
He pulls out an earpiece and says he has.
She joins the others as they get on the bus. She passes Meg, who glares at her.
Dick and Beaver just ignore her.
Duncan tries to show that he has room for her to sit next to him. She passes and sits down next to Cervando.
"Ummm..." Cervando.
"Its safer sitting with you. Don't worry it won't ruin your rep to sit with me for a short amount of time." she says softly.
"If Weevil..."
"Does Weevil know that you work with me at the Hut? Or that you have followed me home to make sure I am safe?"
"No..."
"It's okay. I get it. I'm on his..."
Cervando just smirks and they start talking about work.
"Miss Dumbass!" Dick yells.
"It's "du-mahs," Dick." the teacher replies.
"Well, my name's pronounced "Ree-shard," and it stinks back here." Dick states.
"You can come sit up here by me."
"Nay, I'm good." he says sitting back down. He turns to Duncan only to see him staring at Veronica.
"Dude, let it go. Hey." he says hitting his shoulder. "Who's the lovely young flower blossoming into womanhood?" he asks pointing out a new girl.
Woody Goodman talks to the students. He is the owner of the Sharks baseball team and is running for mayor of Neptune. He thought his daughter should attend the public school because of this. He wanted to host the field trip so his daughter, Gia, could get to know some students. Newspaper was her favorite thing in her private school.
"Hello. Friend." Dick says moving close to Gia.
"Hello. Okay, so far, working." Gia says standing up. "Okay, just so everyone knows, I don't always dress like this. I didn't know if you guys were doing, like, relaxed beachy, or the West-Coast-wannabe-East-Coast urban, so FYI, it's not a statement. I'm just doing the new-school-blend-in thing."
She stays by Cervando nearly the entire time as they get food.
Other than this, work is really the only time the hang out.
She had been surprised when he started at the Hut until he explained that he was trying to help out his mom with the bills.
They had an unspoken agreement not to mention Felix, Logan or Weevil and it worked out.
They see Terrence Cook, a famous baseball player, talk to Woody.
She notices Dick talking to Duncan before he goes to talk to Meg. Wonder what that is about?
Terrence gets some food.
"Excuse me, Mr. Cook?" she says going over to him, Cervando not far behind.
"Yes?"
"I just wanted to say you are my dad's favorite baseball player, ever. He keeps your rookie card vacuum-sealed inside a safe."
"Well that is an honor. Tell him thanks for me." he says shaking her hand.
"When my dad finds out about this, he's not gonna let me wash this hand." she jokes seriously.
Seems Dick being himself, got a limo to collect him and the other 09ers.
She isn't surprised that Meg joins them in the limo when she realizes that she is on the bus.
The bus pulls into a gas station and Ms. Dumass says they have five minutes.
She comes out of the store and swears that she hears her name called. She turns around, and Lilly's ghost runs behind the store.
She follows and finds Weevil there with his motorcycle. He isn't happy to see her.
Cervando looks out the window when Ms. Dumass asks if everyone is there. He sees Weevil talking with V and with a smile calls out that they are all there.
"What are you doin' here, huh? Shouldn't you be running for homecoming queen or something?" Weevil remarks.
"I'm safe standing here, right? I mean, you're not going to shoot me, are you?" she retorts.
"Surprised you're not with one of those rich white boys."
"You don't know everything, there's a shock." she scoffs.
"I know that Logan killed Felix and got away with it because he's rich and white."
"Six of your boys jumped him. Broke his ribs and gave him a concussion. Yet somehow he wrestled a knife away and killed Felix?"
"I was there..."
"You were out cold."
"What Felix stabbed himself?"
"Somebody did."
"It wasn't one of my boys. Nothing goes down without my say so."
"So you knew that one of your boys shot out Logan's car window while I was in the car."
He just looks at her and clenches his jaw.
"Are you sure that you're still in charge?" she asks.
She turns to go in time to see the bus drive away.
She turns back to Weevil who gets on his bike and drive away.
She pulls out her phone and starts dialing Wallace.
"Mars." she looks up to see Weevil returned and is holding out a helmet.
They are riding for a bit when they see the limo pulled off to the side of the road and notice what looks like smoke.
Getting off the bike she runs to join Duncan, Meg and the others.
"It went straight off the cliff. They're all dead." Gia cries. "They're all dead!"
She doesn't know why she does it but she turns to Weevil and wraps her arms around him.
She hears him whispering to her in Spanish, at the moment he could be calling her every name under the sun and she wouldn't care as long as he keeps his arms around her.
This is Neptune, nothing is an accident.