A/N: I wasn't planning on updating until later on this week, but with all the wonderful reviews and comments from people, I decided you all earned another chapter! Hope you all enjoy, and let me know what you think!


Chapter Seven

REBECCA:

"Hey, Rebecca, wait up!" I heard Duncan call from behind me after chemistry class. I turned around to see him jogging towards me, a twinkle look in his eyes. The biggest smile stretched across my face. It was reflex. And once it was there, I couldn't seem to take it off. I couldn't even tone it down a little.

I'll admit it. Somewhere between Duncan showing me around and helping me get settled in here at Neptune High, I found myself having this totally stupid crush on a guy with a girlfriend. I hate her. Which is another thing. I don't hate people! Well, I hate Kyle Bradshaw, the guy who... assaulted Veronica, and I hated my third grade teacher for something that I can't quite remember, but usually, I get along with everybody.

But Shelly Pomeroy was never exactly nice to me, either. In fact, anytime Duncan would drag her over to talk with, she'd get this sneer on her face, and looked down at me like I was scum. To her, I shouldn't be allowed to hang with her friends. My dad wasn't rich or famous, he hadn't invented anything, he wasn't the CEO of a multi-million dollar company, and he didn't come from a wealthy family. He was just the new P.I. In town, a nobody. And because of that, she figured that if he was a nobody, so was I.

But Duncan and Lilly weren't like that. From the first day here, they had been nothing but nice to me. Lilly took me shopping and helped me pick out new clothes to fit the California weather, rather than all my long sleeved shirts, and jeans which fit Seattle just fine. I "need skirts and tank tops, and bikinis!" Lilly said. Most of the stuff she picked out for me ended up back on the shelves, however. I'd never have the guts to where half of her wardrobe, but I bought enough to appease her.

Looking to Duncan, I asked, "What's up?"

"I was thinking," he started, blushing at me, "Lilly somehow roped me into being on the homecoming committee with her, and Logan wouldn't join with me, so I was wondering if you'd like to join?"

"Um," I stuttered out.

Before I could continue though, he went on, "It really won't be as bad as it sounds, you know, decorating the gym, or getting the food or music ready, something easy like that."

"Well," I started, but again, he broke in before I could say another word.

"And I'll be there to, you know, keep you company, and if you're there, it won't be half as boring listening to Madison drone on about glitter and balloons."

"Duncan," I said smiling, but he wasn't looking at me, instead staring at the floor. Suddenly, he looked up, and looked at me, straight in the eyes.

"You should really join, Rebecca," he smiled down at me, "it'll be a lot of fun."

"Okay," I mumbled out, my heart beating fast. He has a girlfriend, Rebecca. A bitchy girlfriend, who so obviously doesn't deserve him, but a girlfriend none the less.

He grinned, and touched my arm, "Great."

"Great," I chirped back.


I was just opening my locker after the last bell rang, when somebody came up next to me, jostling me roughly.

"Ow," I cried, turning around and staring into the blue eyes of Shelly Pomeroy. My heart instantly jumped into my throat. I hate confrontations, and I could think of only one reason for Duncan's girlfriend to seek me out.

"Look here, you little skank," Shelly started, glaring down at me menacingly, "I know what you're doing, and I'm warning you, stop it."

I took a deep breathe, for once actually wishing Veronica was around to come to my defense.

"I-I don't k-know what you're talking about," I stammered out.

"Madison saw you and Duncan in the hall earlier, how you so obviously were falling all over yourself for him."

"I wasn't-" I started.

"Shut up, I know you like him," she curled her lip up in disgust, "but Duncan Kane is my boyfriend, and he would never like somebody like you." She backed up a few paces, then, "You're white trash, that's what you'll ever be, so get used to it. Just because Duncan is a nice guy, and took pity on you for being new, doesn't mean he actually likes you."

I could feel tears starting to cloud my vision. I tried to hold them back, but it only made more come. I hastily wiped my cheeks as a few escaped.

"You, Rebecca Mars, are nothing but a charity case!" She shrieked at me, "stay away from Duncan, or you'll wish you never moved to Neptune, you bitch!" And with one more shriek, she marched down the hall, out of sight. Kids were staring at me, some in amusement, some in pity. I turned my head back into my locker, and squeezed shut my eyes, as I felt more tears trickle down.

I was angry, I knew that. If I knew how to fight back, I would've. But the only thing I've ever been good at was running. And so I ran to the girl's washroom down the hall.

I hurt. And I was humiliated. And a tiny part of me wasn't sure if maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe Duncan did think of me as a charity case. I certainly wasn't anything special. I was blond and blue-eyed, not a rare thing in California. I was smart, but so were a lot of people. I could plan dances, and cook dinner, and clean the house, but what were those traits really good for?


The next day, Saturday

The doorbell rang at ten to one, and I rushed to get it. Opening it, I frowned at Logan.

"Hey," I mumbled. I was still a little down after yesterday, and Logan being almost an hour late did not improve my mood. But I was determined to not let it show. I still hadn't figured out what I was going to do about Shelly. Could I really stay away from Duncan? It wasn't like I was doing anything wrong. I wasn't going the type of girl to steal another girl's boyfriend. But what was so wrong with being Duncan's friend? Apparently to Shelly, really wrong.

"Hey."

"You're late," I flatly replied. So maybe I wasn't that good at hiding my feelings?

"No, I'm not!" he shouted, a hand to his heart, "a gentleman is never late."

"I vividly remember you saying you'd be here at noon," I brooded, "it's almost one."

"Nooo," he drawled, a grin coming to his face, "I said that I'd be by at noonish."

I rolled my eyes, and gave in. I was never good at staying mad for long, anyways.

"Fine, whatever, come in," I said, opening the door wider for him.

"Nice place," Logan commented as he strolled into my house. It wasn't as big as the house in Seattle. Dad was making a smaller paycheck these days, and while this house was okay, it was nothing compared to our old house. And especially nothing compared to Logan's house.

I shrugged, "It's home, but I'm sure it's a shoe box compared to your mansion."

"Well, yeah," he admitted, but then quirked an eyebrow, "but what a nice, clean, homey little shoe box it is." I laughed at the expression on his face more than his comment.

"So, shall we start the project? I set up on the kitchen table," I said, pointing towards where the kitchen was situated. He nodded, and lead the way.

"So, it's quiet," Logan mentioned, looking around at the spotless kitchen. Veronica cleaned it, like always. She'd get in these moods sometimes, snapping at everyone around her, and cleaning everything in sight. When she'd get like this, dad told me to just stay out of her way, just like when mom wouldn't get out of her bed. I wondering if he ever told them to stay out of my way. I doubted it.

"Yeah, um, nobody's here right now," I answered. He looked disappointed for a half a second before a smirk came to his face.

"Really? I'm hungry, let's eat something," he proposed, already hopping up.

"Logan, we need to start this project," I told him.

"Let's take a break first," he replied happily, searching through my cupboards.

"To take a break, we'd need to have worked," I grumbled.

Logan turned around and leaned on the counter separating the table from the rest of the kitchen, "Well, then lets eat to get energized to work on it," he grinned, "plus, my belly needs food, or it'll be distracting Logan from all the boring and useless homework that's ahead of him."

"Do you always refer to yourself as a third person?" I asked, relenting. I'm really horrible at holding my ground.

"Only sometimes, the other times I refer to myself as Bob," he stated in a serious voice, going back to raiding the fridge for food.

After a couple of minutes of moving things around, he huffed, and whined, "There's nothing here to eat."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to work after all," I happily cried.

"No!" Logan exclaimed, "that just means we'll have to order pizza!" He pulled out his cell phone and proceeded to do just that. I gave up, and slumped in my seat.

The pizza came, and between the two of us, went pretty fast. I hurriedly cleaned up the mess, then sat back in my chair, ready to finish get this project done.

"Okay, so it says here that we should first-" I stopped when I noticed Logan wasn't paying attention. He was staring at the door.

"Um, waiting for someone?" I asked, looking from the door and back to him.

His head jerked back to stare at me. "What? No, no, I, uh, was just wondering if your dad got home, if he'd feel the need to shoot me on sight for hanging out with his," and here he looked down at me mockingly, "precious baby daughter. "

I snorted, "I don't think so," then after a moment, "but if he caught me and you in my bedroom with the door closed, then he'd feel as parental obligation to shoot you on sight." I smiled at him.

He smirked back.

"You know, Duncan wanted to know what we were going to be doing here today, when I mentioned coming to your place."

My heart skipped a beat, and I swallowed, trying my hardest not to show how eager I was.

"Really? Why?"

Logan shrugged, "I don't know," then he looked at me meaningfully, "he wanted to know if I was interested in you."

"Oh," I replied. My excitement immediately deflated. So Duncan was just curious if his best friend was into the new girl.

But then my excitement came flying back.

"I think Duncan likes you, and I mean, likes you likes you," Logan waggled his eyebrows at me.

"But he, um, he has a girlfriend," I rebuked.

"Who Shelly? He only ever dated her because she's an 09er, and his parents wanted him to get out more," Logan laughed. I looked at him, hope beginning to well up in me. Then out of nowhere, Logan asked, "hey, can I use the bathroom?"

I nodded, "Sure there's one down the-" but before I could finish, he was out of his chair and going upstairs, "hall." We had three bathrooms, the one downstairs, the one in the hall upstairs that Veronica and I shared, and the one in the master bedroom. Maybe Logan was used to using the upstairs bathroom? I don't know.

My mind drifted back to what Logan had said. Did Duncan really like me? Suddenly, the front door opened, and Veronica came trudging in, a scowl on her face.

"Hey, Veronica, listen, before you freak," I started to warn her about Logan. It was almost three, and I had figured we'd be done by now, so I wouldn't have to tell her about Logan coming over. I didn't predict that Logan would be ADD the whole time.

But once again, and for about the hundreth time in two days, I was interrupted again.

"You would not believe dad," Veronica started, "he sent me home after he caught me doing a teeny tiny case, and he flipped. It wasn't even anything dangerous or illegal this time!" She shouted.

"Um, Veronica," I tried.

"Anyways, I'll talk to you later, Becky, I have to go check out some of the photos I took earlier," she said, already heading upstairs.

I figured I could try again, but Veronica was already on the top stairs, and shouting it would be pointless, since she'd probably come face to face with Logan any second now.

I sighed, and waited for the yelling to start.


VERONICA:

I couldn't believe dad. So I stole a suspected cheating case, it wasn't the big deal dad was making it out to be. I had my taser and pepper spray, keys still ignition in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I was safe! And I was almost an adult. He couldn't keep me a baby forever.

I was still fuming when I pushed my bedroom door open only to be punished with the sight of Logan Echolls looking at the pictures of family and friends shoved between the crack in my mirror. I was so shocked for a second, that I couldn't even say anything. He turned around, and blushed, smiling at me sheepishly.

I took in a big gulp of air, ready for the rant that I was about to spew at him, "WHAT the hell are you doing in my bedroom?" I screamed at him, "what the hell are you even doing in my house?"

I gridded my teeth, marching up to him, "You assho-" I stopped as he put his hand over my mouth. For a second, I couldn't move. He was really close, and he smelled so good, and for a second I thought of what it would be like to kiss those soft, pink lips- and then I snapped out of the stupid, embarrassing daze, and glared up at him, reaching for his wrist to pull his hand off of my mouth.

"Now, listen, Veronica, before you get all huffy and red with anger," Logan started, staring down at me. I took a step back, and tried to look away from his brown eyes. I did, but it was difficult. He had the most expressive, sincere brown eyes. Really nice and chocolately, and he looked earnest, and then I stopped my trail of thought. What was wrong with me? What was I thinking?

I hated this guy! I just got him poking around in my room! This automatically gave me the right to bitch him out, and I'll I could think was about what it would be like to kiss him, and how good he smelt, and he beautiful eyes?

"Shut up!" I cried, more out indignation of my traitorous thoughts than any real anger leftover from catching him in my room. In fact, I couldn't even find a shred of outrage left from before. Something was definitely wrong. I'd have to make an appointment to see a doctor later, I decided. I was getting soft, and toward this jackass, and for a reason I didn't even know, and this could not happen. It just couldn't.

I looked at his forehead, making sure I kept my own eyes far from his, and with all the ire I could come up with, snarled, "Get the fuck out of my room, you twisted, sneaky bastard!" It came out sounding more comical than I would have liked, but with glare still in place, he looked, nodded, and head for the doorway.

When he was a foot outside my room, he smugly said, "Hey Veronica?"

Turning around, I retorted coldly, "What?"

Then he pulled his hand out of his pocket, and waved around to my horror a pair of my black panties.

Turning red in embarrassment, I ran after him screaming, "You pervert!"

But he was already gone, rushing down the stairs, and calling back to my sister, "Sorry, Rebecca, we're gonna have to finish the project over at my place tomorrow!" before slamming the door shut and squealing away in ugly Xterra.

I could just hear what people would be saying at school on Monday when Logan told them he got his hands on my underwear. I was going to kill him.


Now please go and review!