Disclaimer: Obviousy don't own anything you recognise, there are lines straight out of the show in this chapter.


Veronica admired her new look in the mirror. It wasn't quite her after Lilly's death attire, but it certainly wasn't before Lilly's death attire either.

"Veronica Mars, I am so proud of you!" Lilly gushed from behind her, wiping her eyes and blinking rapidly.

"Lilly, please tell me you are not crying." Veronica said, turning to face her friend and grinning widely, it felt nice to have real Lilly's approval and not just the Lilly she had conjured up in her head after her death.

"How can I not, I've been trying to convince you that you weren't pink fluffy cardigans for years!" Lilly exclaimed, dramatically throwing her hands in the air, before placing them on her hips. Veronica smiled at her friend, before turning around to look in Lilly's floor length mirror once more. It wasn't the old Veronica she saw before her, that girl no longer existed as far as Veronica was concerned, but it wasn't the armour of untrusting, jaded Veronica either. Her dress was blue and sleeveless, it stopped just before her knees, but had an outer skirt that was slightly longer in the front, but longer in the back. Around her waist was a cream belt that match the heels she wore. Her hair cut shorter, now fell to just below her shoulders and she now had a fringe. Her eyes were smoky with eyeliner and mascara with a touch of dark blue eye shadow. The only other makeup she wore was a clear lip gloss.

"You look hot." Lilly said smirking. Her own skin tight dark pink dress falling just short of inappropriate. Veronica hoped Lilly didn't end up too drunk tonight because she doubted Lilly's strapless dress would do a very good job of containing her breasts.

"Come on, let's make an entrance." Lilly said, offering her arm to Veronica. Veronica took the offered arm and flipped her hair over her shoulder;

"Let's."

And make an entrance they did. While Lilly usually drew the attention of everyone in the room whenever she entered it, tonight Veronica could feel that she was very much included in what had drawn their classmates attention.

"Alright Ronnie, looking hot!" Their host called as he approached them, successfully ending the silence that had fallen on the room, people went back to their conversations, sparing glances at Veronica and Lilly every few seconds.

"Hey Dick." Veronica greeted, choosing to ignore his comment for now, it was best not to encourage Dick Casablancas.

"Duncan and Logan here yet?" Lilly asked.

"Out back by the pool. Duncan seen the new you yet Ronnie?"

"No, not yet."

"Well if he doesn't rush you off to one of the spare bedrooms as soon as he sees you looking that smoking, you come tell Uncle Dick and he'll treat you right." And just in case she didn't think he was serious, he followed it up with a pat on the butt that lingered for far too long.

"Don't you have a girlfriend Dick?" Veronica asked, swatting his hand from her behind.

"What she doesn't know..." He replied with a wink that Veronica assumed was suppose to suggestive, but instead made her want to tase him.

"Hey Veronica, Lilly, Dick" Meg Manning greeted as she walked past. Veronica felt her heart stop for a moment. She'd been so caught up in Lilly and the tragedies that were about to befall her that she allowed herself to forget about the bus crash, about Meg's death. She may not have discovered who had caused the crash yet but she mentally added it to the list of things she needed to stop from happening. She forced herself to smile and greet Meg back, at least she had a little while on that one.

As she and Lilly made their way outside, Lilly started giggling.

"I told you that you were covering all that hotness." She said, nodding her in the direction of a group of O9er boys who were openly gaping.

"You'd think they'd never seen a girl before." Veronica scoffed, starting to feel slightly self conscious.

"Can you blame them, you are seriously hot in that dress Veronica Mars."

"Um Lill, I'm beginning to think you want to take me back to one of Dick's spare rooms." Veronica laughed.

"Only if Logan can join us, he'd love that." Lilly says, with a smirk and a wink. Veronica feels her laugh catch in her throat for a moment, what would Logan think of the new her? Would he like it? Would he even see her past Lilly's glow? She knew she would drive herself crazy asking these questions. It wasn't like in her time, her and Logan had Duncan and Lilly. It could never be that way between them in this reality.

"Yeah and how would we explain that one to your brother?" Veronica joked, trying to push aside any thoughts of Logan, especially a naked Logan, in her bed...

"Well I'd say he could join but eww." Lilly laughed and Veronica stuck two fingers in her mouth and faked gagged, causing the girls to both collapse into giggles.

"What's the joke?" Casey Gant asked as they approached.

"Threesomes." Lilly supplied before Veronica could stop her.

"Uhhh..." Was Casey's only response.

"Who's having a threesome." Logan asked as his eyes landed on the girls.

"We are." Lilly said, but Logan was no longer paying attention;

"Veronica?!" Logan's strangled exclamation was enough to get Duncan's attention. He turned around from where he had been chatting with Luke Holderman, his mouth dropping open as he caught sight of his girlfriend.

"Doesn't she look hot." Lilly beamed gleefully.

"Hot ain't the word." Logan said, running his hands through his hair, a sign that he was ruffled by Veronica's new look.

Before Veronica can respond, Duncan has begun moving, he grabbed her arm and started dragging her backwards towards the door. Cat calls could be heard behind them and Lilly shouting something about Veronica being too hard to resist, but all Veronica can really think about is that fact that Duncan is now dragging her down the hall towards a room? Surely Duncan wasn't so overcome with passion he felt the need to ravish her here and now. After all this was Duncan and he had always preferred Vanilla Veronica to the Veronica she became. Besides, Veronica and Duncan as a couple had always been sweetness and not an ounce of any real passion.

As the door to one of the Casablanca's guest rooms shut behind them, Duncan quickly locked the door and then turned to face her.

"Veronica what's going on?" He asked.

"Going on?" She responded, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"You've been acting weird all day and now you show up dressed like that and with the hair. So I want to know, what's going on?"

"Dressed like what exactly?" Veronica demanded.

"Like you've been playing dress up with Lilly."

"Are you suggesting that I look bad, Duncan?!" Veronica asked, really angry now, how dare he think he can tell her how to dress and cut her hair.

"Well you certainly don't look good!"

"Excuse me?!" Duncan, realising his mistake, sighed and brought his hands down over his face in frustration before moving towards her.

"I didn't mean that. You just don't look like you." He grasped her hands in his and Veronica knew this was the moment she was suppose to say it was all ok, that they were ok and go home and stick to pink cardigans and long flowing skirts and grow her hair out. That's what the Veronica of this time would have done, hell she never would have felt the need for a makeover in the first place. The sad truth though, one she knew Duncan was about to learn, was that she was no longer that girl, some mysterious force may have landed her in this reality and that didn't mean she wasn't going to make the most of it, but there was no way she could go around pretending to be that naive little girl anymore, she wouldn't do it. Even if the consequence of that was that she lost Duncan sooner than she was meant to.

"Maybe this is me Duncan." She said, pulling her hands from his.

"No it's not, I know you Veronica and this new look has Lilly written all over it."

"Lilly didn't do anything except support me, all of this." Here she stopped to gesture up and down her body, "Was my idea. So either you have to learn to like it or we are going to have some serious problems."

"Are you saying you're going to break up with me?" Duncan asked, looking wounded.

"I'm saying this is me now Duncan, either love me for it, or let me go."

"We're going to break up over a dress?" He asks, disbelief colouring his tone.

"No we're going to break up because you can't support me. Does this dress really mean that much to you?" The Duncan of her time had tried to overlook the fact that she wasn't the same girl he had loved, but could this one? Did she even really want him to? Veronica knew the answer was yes, she couldn't have Logan, but that didn't mean she couldn't have sweet, reliable, her first love Duncan, right?

"You're right, it is just a dress. You look very beautiful Veronica, but then I've always thought so." He smiled at her and reached out to cup her face, Veronica let him kiss her sweetly on the lips and forced a smile when he pulled away.

"Come on, let's go back to the party."

"Jeez Donut, I don't think you did it quite right, Veronica isn't looking the least bit ruffled." Lilly teased as Veronica and Duncan rejoined them.

"Shut up Lilly." Duncan replied, he let go of Veronica's hand and headed off towards some of his soccer teammates. Lilly and Logan watch him go before turning to look at Veronica.

"I'm guessing he didn't drag you off to ravish you?" Logan asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Hardly." Logan and Lilly both watch her silently, waiting for her to elaborate. Veronica knows Lilly will hound her relentlessly later for details so she might as well get it over with.

"He wasn't impressed. Seemed to think it wasn't me." Veronica shrugged, folding her arms and trying to act nonchalant.

"My brother is an idiot." Lilly declared. Veronica smiles at her friend, thankful that Lilly would have her back over her own brother's.

"An absolute fool." Logan agreed and Veronica thought maybe she was too, because she couldn't help the fluttering her insides felt at Logan's words.

Monday morning arrived before Veronica was ready for it. She'd spent the weekend hanging at the mall with Lilly, grateful for the break from Duncan. She was determined to act as normal as possible, but that hadn't stop her from wearing a new outfit she doubted Duncan would approve of; a jean skirt, off the shoulder black long sleeved top and boots similar to her favourite ones from her own time.

Beeping from a car horn alerted her to Lilly's arrival, so with a quick goodbye to her parents, she was out the door and running smack into Duncan, her body colliding with his, he reached out his hands to steady her.

"Whoa there." He smiled softly down at her. Veronica found herself staring up at him and wondering what was going on. He hadn't walked to her front door to meet her since the beginning of their relationship, was it because he didn't know where they stood after their fight on Friday?

"Duncan what are you doing?" She found herself asking. Duncan sighed and released her hands.

"I just wanted to apologise for overreacting on Friday. I love you Veronica, regardless of what you wear, you're always beautiful to me. And you're right, it isn't my place to tell you how to dress." And because there would always be a part of Veronica that loved Duncan Kane, she found herself replying;

"I love you too." Because she did, but that didn't stop Veronica from wishing she was saying it to a boy with brown eyes instead of blue.

Later that morning the Fab Four were hanging out at hers and Lilly's lockers when Duncan suddenly announces;

"Whoa! New student alert." The other three pairs of eyes flick towards the place Duncan is looking and Veronica barely contains her gasp. Yolanda.

"Glad to see you guys are equal opportunity oglers." Lilly remarks.

"Hey I judge not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their sweater." Logan says, framing a hand in front of his face to zero in on Yolanda's "sweater".

"Good thing I'm not the jealous type." Lilly laughs as the bell rings, the boys kiss their girlfriends on their cheeks and depart, Veronica, seeing that Yolanda was heading towards the teacher's lounge and knowing what was expected of her, approached.

"Dying to know what goes on behind the scenes in the teacher's lounge?" She asks as she reaches the new girl. While she was acting normal on the outside, inside her mind was waring with itself, did she leave Yolanda alone this time around knowing what she would witness happen between Logan and Yolanda, or did she still befriend this totally cool girl and hope this time things would be different?

"This isn't English. Mrs Murphy?" Yolanda asks.

"Not even close." I'm Veronica and your...?"

"New. Yolanda Hamilton." As Yolanda introduced herself Veronica came to a decision, this time around though she would make sure it would be different.

"Let me show you."

By lunchtime that day, Veronica was reminded why she had thought Yolanda would be a good friend the first time around, and so with this thought in mind she didn't hesitate in inviting Yolanda to join them at their lunch table.

"So new girl what does your dad do?" Dick asked, not long after they had all sat down.

"He's one of the Dixie Chicks and yes he makes more money than your dad. Was that your real question?" Yolanda answered. Veronica found herself smiling along with the rest of her friends, she watched as Lilly began to observe the new girl in a different light, her head titled as she calculated the threat this new girl could be.

"You guys prepared for the biggest blow out of all time?" Logan asks.

"Where are your parents going this time?" Duncan smirks.

"Nepal. Sherpas lug their crap up and down a mountain for two weeks so they can take pictures of a yak."

"While I take pictures of you of you yakking in the comfort of your living room." Veronica chimed in, receiving a smirk from Logan for her effort.

"It happens twice a year, his parents leave town, he throws a big party and gets busted. You must be there." Lilly tells Yolanda.

"You must." Veronica agrees.

"I guess I must." Yolanda smiles.

"So what do you think of the new girl?" Lilly asks later that afternoon as they make their way to Lilly's car.

"I dunno, she seems cool." Veronica shrugged.

"Hmm. Guess we'll have to see."