Welcome to Neptune.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the OCs and the storyline.
Lucas stood in the school office, leaning against the receptionist's desk.
He watched as the secretary typed in Lucas's details into the computer. Lucas had been to so many schools that he could practically put them in himself…and the secretary was typing really slowly.
Lucas let out a frustrated sigh and the secretary looked at him and asked, "Have you got to be somewhere?"
Lucas shook his head, ignoring her attitude.
Count to ten, control your temper. Veronica had always said that he got his temper from his father, along with many other traits. Controlling his temper was one thing he had to work on the most.
He looked out through the open glass doors of the office and spotted Natalie and James talking in the hall. He thought about what his mother had said earlier about making new friends. Maybe it was ok to let his guard down a little. Just a little.
Then Lucas spotted a group of boys walking down the hall towards the two. The group spotted them and one of the boys took the lead and walked towards them. As they walked past the boy knocked Natalie's books from her hands.
"What the hell?!" James said as Natalie quickly scooped up her books.
"What is your problem, Hillman?!" Natalie yelled.
"My problem Natalie is that a fine girl like you is hanging out with a bunch of losers that you call friends," the guy, Hillman said.
He was getting way to close to Natalie but James was actually being held back by two other guys. "You could be a 09er if you wanted. I mean you are one by default since you live with Logan Echolls. Why not just hang out with us?"
"I'd rather stick pins in my eyes!" Natalie said with venom.
Lucas stood there staring.
"You live with Logan Echolls…"
Oh crap.
Lucas turned back to the desk. He curled his hands up into fists and tried to block out Hillman's voice, making comments to Natalie.
He had to stay away. She was living with Logan Echolls. The one person he was supposed to stay away from; for now at least.
But as the comments went on and no one seemed to take notice of Natalie's trouble, Lucas gave in. He turned on his heel and walked out of the office. He walked until he was behind Hillman and then he said, "I don't think you're her type."
Hillman turned and looked at Lucas.
He looked him up and down and sneered. "And who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm the new student. And it seems to me that Natalie here doesn't like guys who drop her books and smell like they were dropped in a barrel of cologne." The guy really did try to hard.
Hillman's face grew red and he said, "You can't talk to me like that. I'm on the football team AND I'm a 09er."
Lucas shrugged, "So? Does that mean you have a football stuck up your ass instead of your head? And I'll tell you something for free; a punch in the face still hurts no matter how much money you have to cushion the blow."
Then Lucas felt a hand on his arm and he turned to see Natalie looking at him. "Let it go Lucas. He's not worth it."
Lucas smiled at her. It was good to have someone to watch his temper with him.
Lucas took a breath and with Natalie's hand still on his arm he walked back into the office. The two other boys had let go of James and walked with them.
"That was nice, man!" James said as he high fived Lucas.
"Thanks Lucas, those guy really don't listen to a girl whose a head shorter then them and who they outweigh," Natalie said with a role of her eyes.
Lucas nodded, "So what's a 09er?" Like he didn't know. But they didn't expect him to know.
"A 09er is a student at this school who lives in the 09 district of town. They're usually very rich and very stuck up. They get so many perks it's not even funny," James explained with a shake of his head.
Lucas got his papers from the secretary and he turned to Natalie, who had let go of his arm. "What did he mean by you being a 09er by default?"
Suddenly Lucas found his mouth becoming very dry.
Natalie replied "I live with an ex-09er. Logan Echolls? He runs a film production company as well as a lot of small businesses around town. He was once a 'great' 09er until-."
They were cut off by the bell ringing. Natalie grabbed his schedule and scanned it. "We all have the same lunch and you have the same few classes as us. I'll tell you more then."
Natalie and James walked off to their first class after showing Lucas the way to his.
Lucas sat in his first class with his elbows rested on the desk.
The one girl in his entire street he had to make friends with, it had to be the one who was living with Logan. Why was she living with Logan? She didn't call him Dad so maybe they weren't related. For some reason that thought made Lucas feel better. But if she wasn't related to Logan then why was she living with him?
"Mr Matthews?!"
Lucas jumped and looked up to see the teacher standing in front of his desk.
"I have called your name three times!" the teacher said.
Lucas just shrugged. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with pissed off teachers right now.
"As I was saying, would like to tell the class something about yourself?"
"Not really," Lucas replied.
The teacher looked slightly taken aback but she said, "Are you sure?"
"Well my Mom's a FBI consultant and a private eye while my Dad is rich and has no idea I exist. Oh and I forgot to mention that me and my Mom have been in hiding since I was born and now we're in the same town where all this mess started," Lucas thought.
Lucas shook his head, "Nothing comes to mind."
The teacher nodded and walked back to the top of the class.
Lunch couldn't come any sooner for Lucas.
He could barely concentrated in class with all the thoughts in his head but thankfully Neptune High was just behind his most recent school in the curriculum so he knew what they were talking about anyway.
He walked outside to where there were a lot of lunch tables. He watched as a group of tables paid for pizza that were being delivered to them. He saw Hillman and his friends and he assumed that they were the 09ers.
"Hey!"
Lucas turned to see Natalie walking towards him with her lunch in her hand as well. "Do you want to sit me and my friends? James is saving us seats."
Lucas smiled and nodded. They walked around looking for James.
"So why do the 09ers want you to join them again?" Lucas asked.
Natalie replied, "They don't want me to join; they want Logan's money to join. They're so stupid, it's not like I have claim on any of his money."
"Why not?"
"I'm not blood related to him at all. But I really don't care about the money. I owe Logan my life so I could never take his money."
Lucas frowned, "What do mean by 'owe him your life'?"
Natalie smiled and said, "I'll tell you in class. We have the same free one after this"
Lucas nodded. So that answered one question.
But why was he so happy that Natalie wasn't related to Logan? Natalie spotted James waving at them from a table and when she turned to smile at Lucas, he felt a warm and happy feeling wash over him.
Oh, that's why.
They walked up to him and sat down. Lucas looked around to see four other people sitting at the table.
There was an African American girl who looked a bit like James, a dark haired guy who was tanned and looked like he spent time in the sun who was holding hands with a girl with brown hair and grey eyes and another boy who looked slightly older then them with short hair and brown eyes.
"Guys, this is Lucas. He's my new neighbour," Natalie said.
She turned to him and said, "Lucas, this is Chloe, James's twin," Lucas nodded to the African American girl, "David," the tanned guy raised his hand in a greeting, "Carter," the dark haired girl smiled, "and Carter's brother Tom." The last guy nodded his head.
"So Lucas, where did you move from?" Carter asked.
"Florida. Mom got a job here so we moved," Lucas said.
"What job did she get?" Tom asked.
"She works with the police. Like a profiler and stuff like that?"
The others nodded but Tom frowned.
Lucas glanced at him and thought, "Just great. Someone as suspicious and observant as me. Just what I need."
They talked for a few more minutes but soon Tom's questions felt more like an interrogation.
"I'll get everyone drinks from the cafeteria. Tom, come and help me," Natalie said. It was more like an order then a request.
Tom got up and followed her. James cleared his throat and said, "So Lucas, do you like baseball?"
A conversation started and the tension was broken.
Natalie walked into the cafeteria with Tom and said, "Ok so I know that you're trying to keep this crappy bad boy image but if you could just be nice for five seconds then that would be an improvement!"
Tom replied, "There's something off about him Natalie. He's hiding something."
"You always think people are hiding something."
"That's because they usually are!"
Natalie sighed and said, "You're right, people do usually have something to hide. But sometimes they hide it for a good reason. Just give Lucas a chance."
Soon lunch was finished and everyone was on their way to class.
Lucas walked through the hall with his new friends and Natalie said, "There's extra classes here and every year has the option to take one of them. But only a handful of people take the same class that we do. We all take the same one."
Lucas nodded and asked, "So what so the students who don't take the class do at this time?"
Chloe shrugged, "A few years ago, some business classes started and everyone signed up for them. Until we found out that the people teaching them were ex-09ers and parents of current 09ers. You can imagine the favouritism that went on. Thankfully this class was set up as well."
"Ok I saw those business classes but I didn't see any extra class on any school forms," Lucas said.
The hallway was nearly empty now and the group of friends had stopped outside a classroom.
"That's because you have to be invited. And you just happen to have made friends with the people who can invite you," David said as he and Carter walked into the classroom with Tom, James and Chloe.
Natalie turned to him and said, "Come on Lucas. You'll like it, trust me."
Lucas swallowed. This was all so overwhelming. He had made friends and he hadn't even done a background check on them yet.
"I don't trust very easily," he said quietly.
Natalie smiled and said, "You're not the only one. Come on."
She and Lucas walked into the classroom. It looked like a normal classroom with chairs and desks and a teacher's desk at the top. There were cupboards and posters around the room.
But in a few seconds all the desk and chairs had been put in a circle and all the students, Lucas's friends and some students Lucas didn't know, where sitting on chairs, desks and basically acting like they weren't in class.
Natalie sat down in a chair and propped her feet up on the desk in front of her. Lucas took a seat beside her and placed his bag on the floor.
He looked around the room again. With a frown of confusion on his face, Lucas noticed that everyone seemed different.
Natalie was talking to Chloe and he heard her laugh out loud for the first time. Chloe was chatting happily as they talked about basketball. James was actually playing with a basketball that another boy had brought in the classroom. David had pulled Carter onto his lap and she was playing with the collar of his shirt. Tom was sitting on a desk swapping talking to another guy about CDs.
Lucas smiled. This was defiantly his type of class.
Natalie looked over at him and said, "I think you're going to like this class. You'll meet Logan."
Lucas's smile dropped and he said quietly, "What?"
Natalie frowned and replied, "Logan teaches this class; well he supervises it. Are you ok?"
Lucas nodded but sat stiff in his chair. Logan teaches this class. His father teaches this class. He was going to walk through those doors any minute.
"Logan!" Natalie called to the door.
Lucas didn't trust himself to look. He kept his eyes on the desk in front of him.
"Good afternoon everyone! How are we doing today?"
Choruses of "Good!" and "Great!" echoed around the room.
Lucas barely heard them. All he heard was his father's voice for the first time. He spoke slightly sarcastically, something Lucas did all the time, not to mention Veronica.
He heard a bag land on the desk like someone had just thrown it on top of the desk. He heard footsteps walk around the room. Logan seemed to be receiving high fives from people around the room as he walked.
Finally he stopped, opened a cupboard and was flicking through some papers. Right behind Lucas's chair.
At least that was what it sounded like to Lucas. His eyes were still glued to the desk.
"Hey Logan," Tom called, "The new boy pissed off a 09er today."
Logan turned around and Lucas swore under his breath. "Really? Where is this new guy; I want to shake his hand."
Lucas could feel eyes turn to him. He took a deep breath and stood up.
He turned around and for the first time in fifteen years a father looked on the face of his son.
"Hello sir," Lucas said; his voice hoarse. Those were the first words he said to his father and he was very aware of that fact.
Logan smiled and he held out his hand. "You pissed off a 09er. Very well done and I hope the behaviour continues."
Lucas smiled as well. You couldn't miss the slight sarcasm in his voice. He grabbed Logan's hand and shook it.
When they let go Logan said, "But don't call me sir."
Lucas nodded and then frowned; getting the feeling that someone was watching him. He looked around to see half the class looking at the two strangely and the other half being told something by some other students.
"What?" Logan asked.
"You two look at lot alike," Natalie said, people around the room nodding.
"It's true, I mean, I didn't see it until now when you're standing in front of each other, but you do look alike," Chloe said.
Lucas swallowed and Logan laughed, "Ok guys, nice to know you've found my clone."
"I wouldn't go that far but there are some similarities," James replied.
Logan replied, "Alright, come on let's get this class started."
Lucas sat down in his seat, his legs suddenly weak. Logan strode to the top of the room. He leaned against the desk and folded his arms.
"So why did the new kid have to piss off a 09er?"
Lucas didn't even trust himself to talk.
"It was because of me," Natalie said, "Hillman was making comments again and Lucas sorted him out."
Logan smiled and said, "Nice work Lucas. It's good to know someone is looking after my troublesome charge."
Natalie made a face at him but he just smirked. "Anyone else have any run- ins with 09ers today?"
A few people started talking and Lucas listened as they told everyone about their day.
"Is this all you guys do? Just talk?" Lucas asked James.
James nodded and went back to bouncing a basketball on the desk.
"Lucas."
Lucas looked up and saw Logan looking at him. "You want to tell us something about yourself?"
Lucas shook his head. "There's nothing really to tell-."
"That's funny, I heard you're saying that a lot in your classes," Tom said.
"Tom!" Carter said frowning.
Logan looked at Tom and said, "Cut the crap Tom. I know you hate it when people hide things but sometimes they have good reasons for it."
He looked at Lucas and said, "It's ok to talk here Lucas. The whole idea of this class is that we can trust each other and talk to each other. We all know some of each other's secrets and we've promised not tell anyone else. The idea is that we all have someone to talk to."
Lucas bit his lip and Natalie decided that maybe he wasn't ready to talk.
"My mom called again a few days ago," she said. "She was drunk again which is weird because she usually calls John and Lucy when she drunk."
"Ya, how are they doing in college?" Chloe asked.
"Good, they really like their classes," Natalie said.
Ok now Lucas getting a headache. Who were John and Lucy? Why was Natalie living with Logan when she wasn't related to him? Why was Tom so suspicious of him? How did James, Carter, Chloe and David fit into this?
"Come on Lucas. There's got to be some deep dark secret that you can tell," Chloe said.
"What if it's none of your business?!" Lucas snapped.
Everyone went silent and looked sideways at each other.
Natalie looked at Lucas and replied, "It's alright Lucas; you don't have to tell us anything. I said the exact same thing that you did when I first came into class."
"This isn't a class fro everyone to spill all their secrets Lucas," Logan said, "This is just a class where you can talk if you want to."
Lucas nodded and then Chloe said, "So James mentioned that you said you liked basketball?"
He smiled at her, knowing she was just changing the subject. Like he was giving her and unspoken apology, he replied, "I do like it but I like baseball more."
"Ah! A man after my own heart!" Logan said before a debate started about which team was better.
-Later-
Lucas walked down the street with Natalie both of them walking home.
They walked in silence for a while and then Lucas said, "Do you really all know each others' secrets? In Logan's class I mean."
Natalie shrugged, "Not every secret. But it's really if we're worried about anything then we can talk about, rant about it. Logan said that Veronica was really the only person who he could really talk to at our age so he wanted his students to have more then that."
Lucas bit his lip and he said, "Who's this Veronica I keep hearing so much about?"
"Veronica Mars is Logan's wife," Natalie explained, "She and Logan met in high school. Do you know about the Lily Kane murder?"
Lucas nodded, "It was the anniversary a little while ago wasn't it?"
Natalie nodded, "Well Logan dated her and Veronica dated Lily's brother Duncan. Until Lily Kane was murdered. Logan and Duncan abandoned Veronica and she became tough, sarcastic and a private detective. She solved Lily Kane's murder and it turned out that Aaron Echolls, Logan's father had killed her because she might have exposed their secret affair."
Natalie waited for all this to sink in but Lucas had heard it all before. He could only imagine what his parents had gone through.
"Anyway Veronica and Logan became closer and soon they started dating. They had their ups and downs to say the least but in their last year in college they got married."
Natalie sighed and kicked a stone on the path. "And then she left. With just a note saying she had to protect something precious. Logan was in bits. She had been quiet for weeks before she left so Logan thinks she was working on case or something. He is still waiting for her, still searching for her."
Lucas smiled slightly. His father was still in love with his mother and Veronica was still completely in love with Logan. All she needed was some time.
They stopped outside his house and Natalie said, "I'll see you later Lucas."
Lucas smiled at her. Natalie waved and then she turned and walked towards her house.
Lucas turned to his house but he frowned when he heard shouting coming from the house.
When he heard his mother scream, "No!" Lucas sprinted to the house.
-Earlier that day-
"Hello. Mars Investigations."
Veronica opened her mouth but no sound came out.
"…Hello? Anybody there?"
"Dad?..." Veronica said quietly.
There was no sound from the other end of the line until Keith said, "Who the hell is this?! This isn't funny!"
Veronica laughed through the tears that had leaked from her eyes and replied, "Is that how you say hi now Dad?"
"I'm serious! This…this isn't funny at all and you are a sick person!"
"It's me Dad. It's Veronica."
She could hear Keith's heavy breathing on the other end. The next few moments were filled with silence.
"Veronica?"
"That's what I said," Veronica said.
"W-Where are you? Where have you been?!" "I'll explain it all in a few minutes. I need you to come to this address."
-Later-
Keith Mars sat in his car, gripping the steering wheel.
He glanced up at the house that Veronica had said was where she was living. This could all be a sick joke. It could all be just a trick. Veronica had not contacted anyone from her past in fifteen years and now she just called him out of the blue.
He took a deep breath and got out of the car. He walked up to the house, trying to calm his breathing. He got to the door and after hesitating for a second, he knocked.
A minute later the door was opened and a smile of disbelief came on Keith's face.
There stood Veronica Mars. She was older then the last he saw her. She was a grown woman now and the years had been kind to her.
A smile was on her face when she saw her father and she said, "Hi Dad."
Keith was about to burst into tears so he hugged his daughter tightly. She hugged him back. They stood there for a moment, tears coming from both their eyes.
Then Veronica said, "So I am grounded or something?"
Keith laughed and he let go of her to say, "Since when could I ever ground you?"
He let out a shaky breath and said, "Where have you been all these years?"
Veronica frowned, "I thought you would be mad at me."
Keith smiled, "I was for a while but now I am just so happy you back kiddo."
Veronica laughed and said, "I left because I was working a case."
The laughter left her and she said, "They started to threaten me and…and I had to leave."
Keith ran a hand over his face and he asked, "But why? Why did you run?"
Veronica replied, "Look there's a lot to explain. Go into the sitting room and I'll get us some tea or something."
Keith nodded and walked into the sitting room. He looked around the room that still had boxes sitting on the floor. He had seen more boxes in the hallway as well.
"There are a lot of boxes for just one person," Keith thought.
Then something caught his eye. There was a man's shirt sitting on top of a box. He walked over and picked it up.
The box it was sitting on had 'LUCAS' written on the side. He opened the box and saw more men's clothes in it.
"Dad?" Veronica said as she walked into the room.
Keith turned and looked at her. "Please Veronica," he said, "Please tell me that you didn't leave for another man. Please tell me you weren't cheating on Logan."
Veronica shook her head, nearly laughing. "Of course not!"
"Then who is Lucas? Why are his clothes here?!" Keith shouted. "Did you cheat on Logan?!"
"No!" Veronica shouted back.
"Then why did you-."
He was cut off by the door banging open and a teenage boy running into the sitting room.
There was silence with the boy looking between them.
"Lucas," Veronica said.
Keith frowned and looked at this boy.
"What's going on Mom?"
Keith dropped the shirt he was holding.
Veronica sighed and said, "I told you there's a lot to explain."