VVeronica held the envelope her father had given her about Troy Vandergraf her boyfriend in her hands as she sat at the computer desk in her bedroom. To know, or not to know…? That was her question. She had confirmed that the car had been chopped by Weevils cousin Angel, but the piñata had been empty of drugs when she had found it at the child's birthday party.

Giving in she ripped open the brown paper and began to read through the rap sheet.. he had been kicked out of two previous schools for drug possession. Of course…. How could she have been so stupid?

The confrontation with Troy hadn't gone well. He had denied it of course. He had accused her of jumping the gun and that he would have told her about everything eventually, they had only been dating for a month after all, and it was something he wasn't proud of.

She didn't trust him now, there was only one thing that made sense now. He had swapped out the drugs at the diner at the border station. Veronica made the drive down that night and used her trusty out of order sign to check the men's bathrooms, the only place that Troy had been alone since Luke had picked up the drugs. There they were. She had sent the picture of the drug dealer who was hunting Luke she had snapped after she had dropped off the $8000 to buy him off Luke's ass to border patrol. He wouldn't be making it back over with his new product this time and Luke would be safe.

The revelations about Troys lies only added fuel to her cynical jaded heart. She had been a fool for thinking that there may have been a decent guy left in Neptune other than her dad or Wallace Fennel. It wasn't until after she had woken up from listening to her This Picture album that she found the voicemail on her phone from her mother, the first time she had heard her voice since she had found those surveillance pictures.

"First of all honey, let me just say I miss you.. more than you can possibly imagine" her mothers voice said. "I did get one of your letters.. but I wont say which one because I don't want you to come looking for me. Veronica.. don't come finding me. Everything will make sense when the time is right. I promise. I love you sweetheart"

Veronica had sobbed for an hour. Her mother must have been so frightened when she was sent those pictures, now she had a million questions. Who had sent those photos? Why were they targeting Veronica? Did this have something to do with Lillys murder?

Her father was obsessing about wanting to do more normal father/daughter activities since he had split up with Ms James after their argument, he had taken Becky the friendly Neptune High's Guidance Counsellors advice about reducing her exposure to the seedier side of Private Eye life to heart it seemed. San Diego Zoo was his latest idea… like the unsolved murder of her best friend was going to be made magically better by looking at zebras and penguins.

She was pretty sure she was being haunted by Lilly Kane… the nightmares had been getting worse, perhaps it was because Abel Koontz had just decided to fire his court appointed legal defender.

Her latest assignment of the local newspaper had been interesting today, Wanda Garner was running against the 09ers. There might actually have been someone at this school who didn't entirely suck worth voting for this year. Viva la Revolution she smiled to herself as she watched the campaign video.

Logan had purposely chosen the computer furthest away in the corner away from Veronica, she was wearing this earth tone off the shoulder number paired with a pair of Lara Croft style short shorts and her legs had been distracting him through most of his lessons this morning.. although from his vantage point, if he turned around, he could still see them perfectly beneath the table. The table he had imagined pinning her down on and kissing her while she wrapped those smooth legs around his waist.

Damn them Gams…

She was smiling in amusement at the video, she obviously approved of this Wanda character… oh well then she couldn't be allowed to win. He would just help Duncan Kane with his campaign and beat her little champion back to the cafeteria line where she belonged.

"We cant give up those Pirate Points man.. you gotta run" he told Duncan.

"Actually… no I don't" he replied. Fine… if Duncan didn't want to campaign then he would just help him find his inspiration.

The campaign video had been done by his dad's editor's friend Daisy Blossom in about twenty minutes and he even got his dad to cameo to endorse Duncan. It was all set up for tomorrow with the AV club he mused as he watched Veronica interviewing Wanda from across the quad. He was busy putting together a little amateur boxing ring for tomorrow night's beach party.

He couldn't wait to see the look on Veronica's face when she saw this.. it was going to be priceless, and true enough it was. She had been furious. It just put him in that much of a better mood that night during his Bum Fights on the beach… he had been trashed and the fighting hadn't been anywhere near as impressive as he had hoped. Guess some stuff just did look better in the movies. His little fight club had been fun, but the drunken sex with Tammy Forrester in the back of his car and the hangover didn't feel so good on his way into school the following morning.

His witty barbs to Veronica as they had stood in line at Java the Hut when he had gone in for his usual hangover cure hadn't so much as gotten an acknowledgement. She looked like something was weighing on her mind, she was distracted.

Probably still pining away for her boy toy Troy… Logan thought bitterly.

She didn't acknowledge his presence until much later when she approached him in the Navigator office. Someone had vandalised the Wanda posters in the hallway… and as usual… she blamed him. The only thing he was actually guilty of was having been the one to put the Kane for President Sticker directly over her locker door so she would have to peel it off.

Isn't this what they did? Blamed each other for all the things wrong in each other's lives?

"This is a new Low Logan" she accused him. "and just when the critics were having some doubts" she mocked.

"I guess you are referring to your new Narc friend Wanda" he retorted although his tone was suggestive that they were more than friends. She glared at him, those blue eyes piercing into him, she lingered around his desk and he resisted the urge to pull her into his lap. Really? Even after he had gotten laid last night?

"Look… isn't it time you found another bad guy?" he suggested sarcastically. "I just don't have time to responsible for every little thing that goes wrong in your life" Logan laughed before he got up and walked away, that off the shoulder number was showing off too much of that kissable throat of hers… he wondered where she liked to be kissed… he was still musing over the thought when he turned around and saw her crouching down chatting to Duncan.

Oh right… that's why he hadn't made a move yet. She was his best friends Ex and Duncan wasn't over her yet… and you didn't do that to a buddy.

Veronica had still been reeling from the revelations about the crime scene pictures showing Lillys shoes in her bedroom the day she died, the same shoes that were found on Abel Koontz houseboat. It meant the evidence was false. Logan's antics had provided a much needed distraction this morning… a much needed source of direction for her frustrations. She had even gone out of her way to scold Duncan about his lack of initiating anything anymore, of just standing idly by. She hadn't really been surprised when the halls had erupted with mpegs of Logan's latest exploits of the underground bum fights. He really was the obligatory psychotic Neptune High Jackass.

She had slipped Wanda false information about getting hooked up with some liquid X for a rave this weekend in the desert.. time to test the theory of her potential new friend being a Narc. She would just have to wait until morning to find out if she got called for a Locker search by Vice Principal Clemmons and the trusty Deputy Sacks.

Logan had tried sneaking into the house as quietly as possible, he was terrified, he had screwed up so badly.. that video had gone Viral, it had been on the radio during his drive home, he was being compared to Rosemarys Baby, the teen years.

"Hello Son…" his fathers voice said as he sat in the dark.