A/N: Wow - fantastic reaction! Thanx so much to everyone who reviewed, and I really hope my story lives up to all your expectations ;-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 2 - Screwing Around
Detention was not a place that any High Schooler wanted to spend their Saturday, but the experience is made all the more unappealing when you're stuck in a room with four people who are so far removed from your circle of friends its untrue.
Logan Echolls wasn't used to this captivity. He was a smart ass from way back, but he usually avoided punishment due to Mommy and Daddy being the big shots they were in the movie business. They were one of the richest and most famous families in Neptune, which had both its upsides and its downs too. Still, poor little rich boy was a look he could do without.
Dick Casablancas, now that guy had the rich kid deal wired. Of course, he thought his money and passably good looks made him cool, where as someone like Veronica Mars just found him pathetic, shallow, and entirely stupid. In a lot of ways he was less offensive than the other 09er boys, like Logan, for example, who had a jackass answer to everything said to him - that kind of drove her nuts, but probably only because it felt like he was stepping on her toes. She was supposed to be the quick-witted one with the sharp tongue, and detention was her place, not his.
Cindy Mackenzie looked sideways at Logan and Veronica, wondering if their sitting together was relevant. Could be something was going on between them. Back in the day they used to be friends, as far as she remembered. Not that either of them really liked her, in fact they probably wouldn't know her name. Geeks hung out with other geeks, and that meant Mac became the misfit in a room of people who usually all held that title - at least they had one place they belonged, and it was here.
Weevil probably lived here, or so Mac figured, after all he was head of the PCHers, and that was a biker gang which automatically meant danger, violence, and probably drugs and such too. Honestly, Mac had no wish to make eye contact with such a person, or anyone else in the room for that matter. Instead she tried to concentrate on the paper in front of her and start on her essay. That task would've been much easier if she couldn't hear Dick Casablancas muttering to himself behind her.
"Who am I?" he asked himself, "I'm Dick, but who am I?" he went on, making her smile to herself just a little.
A giggle escaped her lips then, all of its own accord, unfortunately attracting some attention she could do without.
"Hey, Dick" Logan called to the back of them room though his eyes remained locked on Mac and she knew it, "Why don't you go close the door, and we'll get Ugly Betty impregnated" he joked, though neither of the girls found it particularly funny.
"Leave her alone, Logan" Veronica told him, throwing her balled up piece of paper at his head.
Unfortunately, he moved at the wrong moment, deflecting it off his head and sending it back two rows onto Weevil's desk.
"You throw like a girl" Logan told her as he turned to look her way.
"Well, that's one better than you" she smiled sweetly before turning away and resting her head on her folded arms once again, feigning sleep.
"Ignore him, V" Weevil agreed with her system it seemed, "He ain't worth it" he said, glaring at the rich kid.
"What's up, Weev?" Logan asked as he got up from his seat and sauntered over, leaning on the other boy's desk, "Am I stepping on your toes? Is today the day you make your move with Ronnie? Are we spoiling the mood?" he teased him, knowing the two certainly spent enough time in detention together, it wasn't totally out there for them to be closer than close.
"I lose my temper, man, you're dead" the biker warned him through gritted teeth, though so far not completely losing his cool.
"Y'know you're sexy when you're angry" he said, faked blowing a kiss before quickly turning away, knowing he was dancing with the devil and bound to get his ass kicked if he didn't watch it.
"Weevil, be cool" Veronica urged him, "Like you said, he's not worth it, just ignore him" she said, glaring at Logan then as he moved passed her desk and hopped up to sit on the railings close to her.
"Like you could ignore me, V" he told her, tipping her a wink as he glanced towards the library door and back, "What do you say we close that door? We can't have any kind of party with Clemmons keeping his beady little eye on us" he said,
"The door is supposed to stay open" Mac pointed out, "Why can't you just leave it, write your paper?" she said, feeling a little braver now Logan was further away, and because she knew Weevil and Veronica were at least on the same side as her, wanting Logan to shut up, sit down, and leave everyone alone.
"Did somebody say something?" Logan faked listening out for a sound then shook his he'd suddenly, "Guess not" he shrugged, turning away.
"You're such an ass, Logan" he was swiftly told by Veronica, and that stopped him dead in his tracks as he swivelled on the spot and looked down on her, "Seriously, what point are you trying to make?" she asked with fake-curiosity, "Trying to prove you're all clever and big? Nobody cares"
"Well, Ronnie" he said, leaning on the front of her desk and getting right in her face, "You might not care if I'm clever, but from what I hear... let's just say, there's a lot of talk in the locker room" he told her, quirking an eyebrow and watching as her expression shifted, her gaze turned steely a moment before she recovered in record time.
"Yeah, y'know, girls talk in the locker room too" she told him, not even flinching, "Funny you don't come up much... at least, that's what I heard" she smirked at her victory, watching as Logan turned pale and backed up a step.
"Hey, is that true?" Weevil wanted to know, unable to keep from laughing at what was either a highly amusing truth or at the very least a killer comeback on the part of Veronica Mars.
"Hey, I'm just repeating what I was told" the blonde shrugged innocently, though the look on her face was far from angelic in fact as Mac glanced across at the other girl, she wouldnt've been surprised to see devil horns and tail appearing from her head and butt.
"When did you get to be such a bitch, Veronica?" Logan asked her coldly as she met his gaze.
"You know when" she replied, tone just as icy as a look passed between them that couldn't mean anything to anyone else.
"Dude, can we not talk so loud?" came a request from the back of the room, as Dick yelled substantially louder than anyone else had been speaking up to now, "I so don't want to be stuck here another Saturday if we get caught screwing around" he told the other four, who looked surprised he'd spoken to them at all, "I got better things to do with my time"
"Really?" asked Logan, finally tearing his eyes away from Veronica and wheeling around to face the surfer dude in back of the room, "What? Are you trying to letter in nailing cheerleaders and throwing keggers?" he mocked the guy who was really doing no harm to anyone, in an over-done surfer-dude voice.
"Like you're so smart" Dick shot back at him, "Besides, you only get girls to come over to your house to meet your Dad" he snapped, "You wish you could be as cool as me, dude"
Logan bristled at the insult, and Mac watched as his face hardened at the same time Dick's did so. It was like a ping pong match, her eyes firing back and forth between the two boys as they argued.
"Sure, Dick" said Logan after a long pause, "I wanna be just like you. I figure all I need is some peroxide and a lobotomy"
"Hey!" Mac was stunned to realise she was the one who had yelled then, catching the attention of the whole room.
She hadn't meant to say a word, just be a casual observer to a pathetic battle of wits, but it seemed wrong for Logan to say such a horrible thing to Dick. Not that she knew the blond all that well, she could only recall speaking to him to say 'excuse me' one time, and once she'd leant him a pencil in class, just to be friendly. Still, no-one deserved to be treated the way Logan Echolls so often treated people, especially when the attack was unprovoked.
"Hey, you idiots keep your damn voices down!" Weevil interjected, arms folded over his chest as he shot the rest of the group a menacing stare, "Clemmons comes back in here and busts you guys for being jerks, that's another Saturday I gotta spend with you. It ain't my idea of a good time, comprendez?"
When Logan's attention turned to Weevil, nobody was entirely sure what was coming next. Yelling perhaps, a fist-fight maybe, at the very least some smart-alecky comment from Neptune's biggest jackass. Veronica was all ready to jump into the mix with Mr Sparky at the ready should a punch get thrown. Weevil was a tough guy, Logan was a real jerk, but she could use the pair of them not tearing lumps out of each other. She had a few reasons why, though right now she'd prefer not to share any with the group, of course.
Logan surprised everyone when he stared Weevil down, smiling as if he'd just had a Eureka moment of some kind.
"Are you having a seizure?" Veronica asked him as he glanced her way, only to be shushed by the guy in question, who then proceeded to move quickly towards the door.
"What's he doing?" asked Mac, mostly rhetorically, though it was Weevil who answered her anyway.
"Being an idiot; the usual" he rolled his eyes as the four of them watched Logan reach to the top of the door.
"Logan, don't" urged Veronica, even though she was almost entirely certain he wouldn't listen to a word she said.
Back when they were friends he barely paid attention to any warning she gave him. Since they'd become enemies, or the equivalent of at least, she didn't stand a chance of being heard.
"Dude, we are so gonna get busted!" declared Dick as Logan completed his task which seemed to involve the removal of a screw from the door closing device.
The library door swung shut with a thump and Logan came scurrying back to the seating area with the biggest grin on his face.
"I am a genius!" he declared, as Veronica rolled her eyes.
"No, you're an ass, Logan!" she told him, "Put the damn screw back" she practically demanded, not that it made a difference.
The young Mr Echolls retook his seat, leaning back with his crossed feet up on the table and his hands behind his head. Veronica swiftly lunged his way, meaning to take the screw from his clasped hands, but he had seen that manoeuvre coming from a mile away.
As she reached for him, Logan moved, sending her sprawling across the table before him. Fast as lightening his hand disappeared down the back of her sweatshirt and reappeared empty just as the library door swung open and Mr Clemmons stormed in.
Veronica knew she had no choice but to keep her silence or make this situation worse for everybody.
To Be Continued...
