A/N: Anyone who read my profile page lately knows why I've been absent the past couple of weeks. Hope all my avid readers and reviewers are still around and interested in reading this new chapter... ;-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 7 - Band on the Run
For once in its existence, the Neptune High School library was actually silent. It almost never happened on any normal day, and strangely it was a Saturday when detention was in session that it was usually the noisiest, as the unruly element of the school shared space and time. Today the library had seen its share of arguments, fights, and even jokes, but it was very different now.
Logan had come back to his seat just a few minutes ago, though he had said not a word. After his revelation about the abuse he apparently suffered at his father's hands, nobody was willing to be the first to speak to him or to anyone else, truth be told. Veronica thought about it, ideas of things she might say or do spinning around in her head at a mile a minute. In the end she chose to keep her head down and her mouth shut for the time being, not her usual tactic but it seemed for the best right now since it was what everybody else was doing too.
"Damn it!"
The long and drawn out silence, punctuated up to this point only by the gentle ticking of the clock, was suddenly shattered in a major way by the yelling of Vice Principal Clemmons, and the slamming of his office door. Thinking fast, Veronica jumped up from her seat and dodged over to the door, peering out just in time to catch sight of Clemmons walking bow-legged down the corridor, a brown puddle forming behind him as he moved away. The smell that hit her told her his accident was less embarrassing than it might first appear. Still, hot coffee in a persons lap was never good for them, even if it did amuse her to no end!
Biting her lip so as not to giggle too much, Veronica glanced back at her fellow detentionees, considering whether she should say anything now or just leave. She could use a hand on her mission, besides she kind of felt she owed Logan a break after what happen before. There was no love lost between them these days, but some of the stuff he had gone through, especially at Aaron's hands, she knew nobody deserved that, not even her worst enemy, and Logan had never quite been that, no matter how much she tried to force the label on him.
"Hey, Logan" she hissed, "Follow me" she told him, not an offer so much as a command as she peered out the door once again and was gone in a second.
Logan didn't appear to think about the situation much before he got to his feet and went after her. Not loving the idea of leaving the pair alone, no matter how acutely aware he was that V could handle herself, Weevil was soon up from his chair too, following the runaways as they left.
Alone in the room, Mac shifted awkwardly in her seat. Staying meant being on her own with Dick, which felt weird. Leaving meant running out on detention, disobeying Mr Clemmons and being a rebel, which didn't seem right either. Craning her neck, she turned to see if the blond dude behind her was making a move at all. Instead she found he was staring at her already, presumably waiting for her reaction before he had one of his own.
Dick raised one eyebrow in a question, and Mac's lips curved into a smile as she nodded her agreement. In a second they were out of the door, one behind the other, mindful of letting it shut with too much a thump as they tore off down the hall, catching up to the others as soon as they rounded the next corner.
"How do you know where Clemmons went?" asked Logan just as they arrived.
"I don't" smiled Veronica, unable to help but feel exhilarated by once again getting one over on 'the man'.
"And you don't know when he'll be back" commented Weevil, sure this was a very bad plan but unable to help the smirk that came to his lips at the cajones on this girl, despite the fact the very phrase was kind of an oxymoron.
"That's half the fun" said the girl in question, as she peered around the next corner and suddenly bolted, with barely time for a gesture encouraging the others to follow her.
"Being bad feels pretty good, huh? said Dick to Mac as they tore down the hall and he noticed the odd smile on her face.
"Yeah, kinda does" she nodded, figuring by now that if she was going to be in detention she may as well have done something worthy of such a punishment.
Besides, following Veronica seemed much safer than staying behind and having to cover for where her and the guys had gone. Mac trusted the little blonde enough to keep them safe, she was the resident expert at this stuff anyway. That trust wavered a little when the usually good girl realised they were headed for the Teacher's Lounge door; no doubt breaking in was on the cards. She realised a second later how wrong she was as Veronica pulled a bunch of keys from the pocket of her jeans, dangling them in the light.
"You have a key to the Teachers Lounge?" asked Logan, not sure whether he was more surprised or impressed at the revelation.
"I have a key to just about everything" she confirmed, figuring that she was safe in telling this particular group of people her secret, after all they'd be in as much trouble as her if Clemmons found out what they were doing.
The door was open in a second, and the group rushed in, taking in the odd little room they had never seen before. Comfy chairs, coffee machine, mini fridge, it was all they might've expected, except it was perhaps missing a dartboard with their pictures on it. They were unimpressed, one and all, at least until they realised what Veronica was doing.
"Bingo!" she grinned as she slid her hand down the back of the cabinet in the corner and produced a bottle that she handed off to Logan, then another that landed in Weevil's grasp as she tossed it his way.
Both were a little surprised to realise that Veronica had just unearthed what appeared to be the Faculty's secret stash of booze. A bottle of scotch now sat in Logan's hands, whilst Weevil held vodka.
"Nice!" exclaimed Dick with a grin as he noticed the prize they had scored, "Guess it's party time, huh, Ronnie?" he winked at her.
She rolled her eyes and chose to ignore him as Logan and Weevil pointlessly hid the bottles beneath their jackets and the group moved back towards the door, following Veronica's lead. Mac who had been at the back was now up front, tapping the blonde's shoulder.
"Why would the teachers even have this stuff?" she asked curiously, also wanting to know why they'd bothered to steal it but pretty sure she already understood that.
"Medicinal?" was all Veronica gave as a suggested answer with a shrug of her shoulders as she checked the coast was still clear and ran for it, her four cohorts in hot pursuit.
Striding down the hall, Veronica was flanked by Logan and Weevil once again with Mac and Dick bringing up the rear as they had been on the way out of the library in the first place. A long way from Clemmons eyes and ears, they had all relaxed just a little as they made their way back around the building to where they had started.
"We'll cross through the lab, and then we'll double back" the blonde said thoughtfully, planning their journey as best she could so that none of them would get caught out.
"You better be right, V" Weevil warned her, "if Clemmons cuts us off..."
"Hey, have a little faith, Eli" she told him, faking an affronted expression, "When did I ever let you down?"
He didn't answer as they moved off down the hall, around the corner and through the lab as she had suggested. Unfortunately, they never made it through the next door before Veronica realised she had made a mistake, spotting Clemmons and bolting back in the opposite direction, pushing Logan aside as he got in her way.
As they came to a junction in the halls, he went one way and Veronica the other. Weevil followed his friend, but Mac and Dick both looked somewhat uncertain. Ronnie had already made one mistake, but Logan was such a jackass and probably couldn't be trusted. Neither the surfer nor the geek wanted to pick sides right now, at least not if the other wasn't willing to.
"That way is no good" said Veronica definitely, "Logan, you'll never..."
"I'm willing to trust my own instincts way more than yours right now, Ronnie" he told her, continuing on his own way.
It would have been easy just to let him go, but Veronica knew it wasn't fair. Leave no man behind, it was a rule she would like to think she lived by, even if said man was an a-hole to her most of the time these days. Today at least they seemed to be learning that being a team was better than having nothing.
With an exasperated sigh, she took a gamble on Logan's sense of direction and that meant Weevil followed. Dick was soon jogging along behind, before realising that Mac had not moved. He turned back to see her peering down the hall where Veronica had meant to go, unsure what she was doing here and why. Without a word, he went back to her, grabbed her hand, and dragged her with him as he followed the others.
Mac was startled beyond words by the action, though she did not pull her hand away or anything. It wasn't just the shock that stopped her; in all honesty, the feel of strong fingers gripping her own was nice, better than nice even. The realisation that Dick even noticed she had been left behind and cared enough to ensure he came back and fetched her, it caused the strangest sensation inside of Cindy Mackenie, but she knew at least that she liked it - a lot.
Unfortunately, the grin on her face at Dick's kindness was short-lived as the group bounced off the next set of double-doors they reached. Clearly they were locked and bolted.
"C'mon, V" Weevil prompted when all Veronica did was turn away, "Keys?"
"These are new doors" she pointed out, "Installed after a certain group of bikers got into a fight down this way and bust up the last ones" she said, giving him a severe look, "New doors means new locks and I don't have this key yet"
"Can't you like pick the lock or something?" asked Dick, dropping Mac's hand so fast when the others turned to look at him that she made a little sound of surprise, though thankfully no-one seemed to notice.
"No time" she shook her head, calculating quickly and realising that Clemmons was bound to catch them now.
"Damn, man" said Weevil, looking angrily at Logan, "Why'd we have to listen to you?"
"We're busted" said Mac, just loud enough to be heard, but Veronica shook her head one more time.
"No" she said definitely, "Get back to the library, don't drop the bottles, and hide them the second you get back" she told them, pointing a definite finger at them all, "I'll take the heat" she assured them as she ran off down the hall, banging her feet hard against the floor so she could be easily heard, adding to her volume as she began to sing too, "Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand..."
Clemmons reacted the moment he heard her voice, seething as he doubled back down the hallways, looking for Veronica Mars. She deliberately kept the Principal away from the library til she was sure the gang would be back there. Why she would take the heat for everybody else they couldn't understand, but Veronica had her reasons. She figured she was in so much trouble anyway, a little more wouldn't hurt, besides she was the one that led then all out of their detention space, so it became her responsibility to get them back there without being caught.
Still singing loudly, Veronica rounded the next corner and came face to face with an angry looking Mr Clemmons, his arms folded across his chest. She mirrored his stance, every inch an imputent child in that moment as she stuck out her chin and smartly finished her song in spoken words;
"You can't take the sky from me"
Unsurprisingly, he did not look impressed.
"Veronica Mars, why must you behave this way?" he asked her with a tired sigh and a shake of his balding head as he came towards her.
"I'm blaming a combination of teenage hormones, a broken home, and lack of natural respect for the authority of my elders" she told him, smart-assed as ever in spite of the trouble she was in.
The anger seemed to go out of Clemmons somewhat as he looked down at the blonde then. Honestly, he felt kind of sorry for her. The broken home part of what she said he knew to be no lie, and it had to be a huge contributing factor to her aim to misbehave of late. Cutting her some slack might have been easier in the beginning, but as she spiralled further and further out of control, he had no choice but to be harsh with her, even if it didn't change her and made him feel like he was banging his head against a brick wall most of the time.
"What are you doing out here, Veronica?" he asked her tiredly, "In fact, why are you here in the first place? You used to be such a good student"
Her eyes dipped to the floor at the sound of those words, but her gaze met his again in a second as she gave her reply.
"Bad things happen to good people" she said simply, knowing he ought to have understood by now what her problems were, it wasn't as if they were a secret here in Neptune where everyone seemed to know everyone else's business.
"I'm afraid I'm running out of smart ideas, Veronica" the Principal told her honestly, "I just don't know what to do with you anymore"
"Me either" she said, surprising him just a little, making him look at her with sympathy that she just couldn't stand and that was it, she snapped, "but I did hear you know exactly what to do with the school secretary..."
Clemmons winced at the sound of her words, not damaged by the barb she threw or even concerned by the knowledge she thought she had, just so disappointed in her, and somewhat angry that she'd thrown an olive branch back in his face one more time.
"I'm sorry, Veronica, but you've left me with no choice" he told her, leading her away, "Let's see how you fare in solitary for a while"
To Be Continued...
A/N2: If you like this fic, well, I would appreciate your feedback, but also, you may like my other new VMars fic which is in the Crossover section of the site. Its called Who's Your Daddy? and is a Crossover with That 70s Show. If that sounds cool to you, please check it out and let me know what you think - thanx :-)