Dick and Cassidy sat on Veronica's couch watching cartoons and eating cereal while she talked to Mrs. Echolls. They had plans to hit the beach for more surfing today but Logan hadn't shown up yet. It had been a few days since they'd all hung out together. They waited around for half an hour before Veronica got tired of the brothers' antics and called him.

"Mrs. Echolls said that Logan doesn't feel well and she doesn't want him swimming around in the ocean. We're on our own."

Dick stood up with his empty bowl in hand and headed to the kitchen. "Off to pick up Lils and Donut then?"

"I guess. Let's go." Veronica was a bit surprised at how disappointed she was that Logan wasn't going to be there today. She told herself it was because he wouldn't be able to teach her more surfing, but that argument wasn't really holding up since Dick and the others could show her. She didn't want to analyze her feelings so she grabbed her bag and headed for the limo waiting outside.

As they pulled up to the Kanes, Veronica noticed a green Chevy sitting across the street. It didn't seem to belong there and she found herself watching it. They pulled into the gate and Cassidy rolled down the window just as she saw Duncan run out of the house carrying his beach bag and board. Cedrick opened the door for him, took his board and strapped it to the top of the car. "Hey Donut, where's Lilly?" Veronica wanted to ask how the party had gone. She'd tried calling her a few times but never seemed to be able to reach her.

"She isn't feeling well. She's had herself locked in her room for days." Veronica was sure Duncan was being overly dramatic.

"I'm going to go make sure you two aren't fighting and you aren't trying to leave without her."

Veronica sprinted towards the Kane residence and let herself in. As she approached Lilly's door, she thought she heard talking. She dismissed it and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Lilly's voice sounded rough and deep.

"It's me, Veronica. Duncan said you don't want to come to the beach, but I'm here to make sure he isn't just trying to leave without you." Veronica waited for Lilly to open the door. Just when she was starting to think she wasn't going to, the knob turned.

"I'm sorry, V. I don't feel up to the beach today. I'm just gonna stay in bed." Lilly looked miserable. Her hair was tied up on top of her head and she was wrapped in the comforter from her bed. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked pale.

"It's okay Lils, I'll call later and maybe we can have a slumber party." Veronica gave Lilly a small smile. "Go on back to bed. I'll catch you later." Veronica leaned in to give her air kisses on each cheek but Lilly jerked away from her.

"Sorry, V. I'll call you later." Veronica pulled a quick smile and then turned to walk down the hall back outside to the guys waiting for her. As she walked across the driveway pondering the strange reaction Lilly had towards her, Veronica noticed someone run across the street and get into the green car. As Cedrick held the car door for her, she watched it drive away.

"I told you!" Duncan bellowed at her as she climbed in.

"Hey, history shows that I had a valid reason to question your motives, but yes, you were right. Lilly confirmed that she doesn't feel well. So, let's go surfing." Veronica sat beside Dick, looking out the window to see if she could tell where the green car could be going. She heard Dick talking and turned her attention back towards the group in the car.

"Do you think Lilly and Logan got some action since both of them are feeling under the weather?"

Of course, Dick chose this moment to say something dumb. Veronica didn't like the feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Shut up Dick!"

"Swapping spit spreads germs." Dick shrugged. She gave Dick the evil eye and moved to sit next to Cassidy. Veronica wasn't feeling well anymore either. She didn't enjoy the direction this conversation had taken. Logan never seemed to have an interest in Lilly; what did they possibly have in common? But that was before she had her high school makeover. Maybe Dick was right. Maybe Logan and Lilly...Nope! Not thinking about it.

They pulled in at the beach and they all got out. Veronica scanned the area and found Sean and Luke talking to a group of people. Dick's words rang in her ears. "Swapping spit spreads germs," but here these two were, healthy as can be. Veronica couldn't stop her beaming smile. She walked up to Dick and slapped him in the back of the head. "Looks like your theory holds no water, Dick. Lilly's toys look plenty healthy to me."

"Maybe Logan gave it to Lilly, Ronnie." Veronica felt nauseous. She knew her sudden feeling of distress showed on her face because Dick put his arm around her. "Hey, you okay?"

She didn't know what was going on. These feelings were confusing her. She knew Dick was just joking around but as they walked down the beach, she asked, "Logan doesn't have a thing for Lilly, does he?"

Dick started laughing. "Nah, I'm just messing with ya. Lilly is definitely not on his radar. She isn't the tiny blonde he can't stop talking about...Yo Donut, we hittin' the surf or what?" As Veronica stood watching Dick intercept Duncan catching Luke's football pass, she was relieved that Dick had told her honestly that he didn't think Logan liked Lilly, but what blonde did he like? Veronica looked over the beach. She saw Madison and Shelley applying lotion to their already tan arms and legs. Farther away, she could see Kimmie and Pam playing frisbee. Meg was sitting on a blanket under an umbrella reading a book. She frowned, realizing that the beach was full of girls for Logan's choosing and many were blonde.

Her worries were interrupted when Duncan chose that moment to tackle Dick right at Veronica's feet. She looked down at the bumbling two rolling around in the sand and couldn't help but laugh at the spectacle. "All right boys, who's going to stand in as my surfing coach? I'm ready to hit the waves." Solving the mystery of Logan's mysterious blonde would have to wait for another day.

It felt good to be back out surfing. She was shaky at first, but she felt more confident every time she managed to get up on the board again. Dick reminded her how to stand and maneuver and Duncan was always there to hold her board steady whenever she fell off. She was having fun but it wasn't the same as the last time. Veronica realized that without Logan there, she felt more on her own. The other guys gave her pointers and encouraged her while she was surfing, but they spent a lot more time goofing around in the water than helping her surf. Last time, it seemed like all of Logan's attention was on her. It was probably because she was just a beginner. She paddled out again, but instead of looking for the next wave, she decided to take a break. As she floated on her board, feet dangling in the water, she watched the guys fooling around. Cassidy and Enbom were balancing on their boards doing flips into the water. Dick was splashing Luke for some comment he'd made that Veronica couldn't hear over the roar of the surf. As Veronica continued to look around, she noticed Duncan floating nearby, hanging off his board with his arms crossed on top of it, his tilted head resting against them. She noticed with some discomfort that he'd been watching her.

"What?" She shifted her attention from the others to Duncan.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to figure you out." The look he was giving her was unnerving.

"What do you mean?" she asked as she watched him push off his board and swim toward her.

"I just don't get why you'd want to be out here with us, doing this—" he swept his arm towards the others "—when you could be with the girls sunbathing on the beach." Veronica's grin suddenly left her face. She didn't understand what he was getting at but before she could question him, he continued. "Last time, I just assumed you lost some bet with Logan and the ante was having to learn to surf. But here you are, out here surfing with us. You're not trying to impress anyone, are you?" Duncan hoisted himself onto her board, straddling it to face her. She leaned back away from him, moving her hands away from his and nervously rubbing water over her wetsuit-clad thighs. Lilly always told her that she thought Duncan liked her. She always talked about how they would eventually be sisters when Veronica married Duncan. Veronica wasn't so sure that she agreed, but she hadn't negated the idea either. Duncan was nice and all. He was kind to her. The truth was, they really didn't seem to have many shared interests. They had fun hanging out but they never spent any real time together. To be honest, she really didn't feel like that about Duncan and sitting here on her board with him made her feel uncomfortable.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Duncan. Logan asked me if I wanted to learn to surf. He always talks about how much he thought I would love it." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm actually glad he got me out on the water; I do love it. It's amazing." She noticed the look on Duncan's face. He seemed disappointed but she wasn't sure why he would be upset about her loving to surf. Her stomach growled and she got a sheepish smile on her face. "Guess it's lunch time."

He slid off her board, clinging one-handed to it for a moment. "I guess," he replied, then he swam back to his board and caught a wave into shore.

Veronica looked back at the others who were doing back flips off their boards. The waves had subsided a bit and they had clearly found alternate entertainment. "Hey Dick!"

"Yeah, Ronnie?"

Her stomach growled again, "Wanna head in for lunch?"

Dick paddled over to her. "Tapeworm hungry?" he asked, laughing at his reference to Logan's theory on Veronica's appetite, then turned toward the others. "Hey guys, ready for lunch?"

A chorus of agreement barraged him and everyone paddled for shore.

After they hit the coolers for various sandwiches, fruits, vegetables, and drinks, they spread across the sand to eat. Dick ate all his grapes and, when trying to steal some from Veronica's plate resulted in getting his hand slapped, he asked Shelley to share hers.

"You want grapes, open up," she answered and began to pelt grapes at him. He ducked and bobbed, trying to catch them in his mouth to the great enjoyment of the whole gang. Veronica was not surprised that the big goof was doing really well.

Cassidy and Sean tossed grapes in the air, engaged in their own contest to see who could catch the most in their mouths. That lasted until Cassidy took one in the eye. Not wanting to be left out of showing off his own talent, Casey collected a couple of oranges. "Check this out." He stood in the middle of the circle and juggled them. Veronica couldn't help but be amused. It was as if she had her own little circus performance.

Veronica felt a bit melancholy at the thought that Lilly and Logan were missing out on this. She sat back, ate her sandwich, took a drink of her soda, and noticed Madison stealing food from Sean's plate while he was distracted by Cassidy whining about his eye.

"So Cassidy's blinded himself;next, one of them will choke." Duncan's voice invaded her senses. Clearly he had been watching the circus performers while her attention had been on Madison.

"Yeah, I guess," she responded as he sat down beside her. She gave him a weak smile.

Before lunch, they'd decided to have a sandcastle contest. They would pair up and Cedrick was nominated as their judge to see which team could build the best castle in two hours. They had been pairing off ever since.

"It seems everyone else has a partner, care to be mine?" Duncan asked.

"Sure, why not. What should it look like?" Without Logan here, Duncan was as good of a partner for building a sandcastle as anyone. They all grew up building them; years of practice had made them more elaborate. They spent some time deciding how it should look but once they had a plan, the conversation seemed to stall again. She tried thinking of something else for them to talk about but nothing came to mind. They sat there in an uncomfortable silence until, unable to take the awkwardness anymore, Veronica focused back on the food.

"Whatcha got there?" She looked at Duncan's plate and reached for a carrot stick but he pulled his plate away. A deep v formed between his eyes.

"Don't you have enough food on your own plate?" he asked with pursed lips.

Veronica looked down at her plate resting on her blanket. She had an array of fruits and veggies but she didn't have any more carrots. "Not carrots," she said with a frown.

"Well, there's a lot of other stuff over there you can pick from," he said, gesturing back toward the trays of food. Veronica looked down at her plate and picked up a slice of yellow pepper before turning her attention back to her other friends. She ignored Duncan as she nibbled on her food. She wasn't so sure she wanted to partner up with him anymore, but she couldn't think of any way to get someone to switch with her. When she finished eating, she cleaned up and told Duncan she would meet him down by the water when he was ready.

While she had waited for him to join her she had traced the outline with a stick she had found and began digging it out. Duncan had brought down a set of silverware for each of them as well as shovels and buckets. They worked well together building the sandcastle. When it was all said and done, they'd built a pretty decent sandcastle with a moat and drawbridge. Veronica was so confused. Duncan could be so nice and thoughtful at times, like now and when they were surfing earlier. Yet other times, like at lunch, he acted like he didn't get her at all. As if they weren't even friends. Today had been fun, but she was ready to go home.

Veronica saw Cassidy walk up to the car and she took off after him to catch up, "Hey Cas, do you know where your brother is? I'm ready to go and I was wondering if you guys were ready?

Cassidy scanned the beach behind her. "Um, I haven't seen him for awhile. I'm ready if he is."

Veronica turned back towards the beach looking for Dick. She didn't see him anywhere. She was about to go sit on the curb in front of the car to wait when Cassidy called for her. "He's already here, V, come on, let's go."

Veronica turned back. "Oh, do we have to get Duncan?"

"No, he's spending the night at Casey's. Come on." Veronica walked back to get in the car, relieved to not have to spend more time with Duncan. Maybe the planets are finally aligning.