Chapter Eight
Author's Note: I hope you are enjoying this. I just wanted to let you know I probably won't be able to keep updating once a day because I have finals coming up in about three weeks and lots of papers between now and then. But I promise I will not abandon this story! There is a LOT more drama coming your way so stick around!
"Oh man. Are those snicker doodles?" Wallace asked Veronica as he led the pair into the living room.
"Yeah I baked them for your mom. You can have some if you want."
"Thanks! Snicker doodles are my favorite."
"Good to know." Veronica said uncomfortably, not knowing what else to really say. She didn't know whether or not Wallace knew that she had been raped or why she was at their house at all.
"So do you both go to Neptune High?" Wallace asked.
"Yeah we do. Where do you go? I don't remember seeing you around." Logan asked after he noticed how uncomfortable Veronica was.
"Oh well we just moved here a couple of weeks ago from Chicago. I am only a couple days behind now since the school year just started. It should be pretty easy to make it up." Wallace replied as he noticed the rigid posture that Veronica held and the way she was shifting uneasily. "Hey Veronica, I know you are uncomfortable so I wanted to let you know that I know what my mom's job is but I would never tell anyone why you are baking her snicker doodles. I don't judge you for what happened either. You look like a really cool girl and I could always use some new friends when I start at Neptune tomorrow. What do you say? Could you help a brother out?"
Veronica couldn't help but relax and let the tension melt away from her shoulders. She could tell that Wallace was cool and would be a great friend. "Thanks Wallace. Everyone at school already knows but it will be nice to have another friend. Why don't you come with us tonight to our friends Lily and Duncan's house. We are all really close and I think you will like them too."
"Yeah that would be cool."
"Great well we have to get going but Logan and I will come by around seven to pick you up. Does that work?
"Sounds great Supafly! See you both then."
"Bye." Logan and Veronica both said as they walked out of the front door. "Oh and Wallace," Veronica said as she turned back around to face him.
"Yeah Supafly?"
"You better not eat all of my snicker doodles before your mom gets home!"
Wallace just laughed as he nodded said "fine" in exasperation. He knew that Veronica and him were going to be good friends.
"I liked him!" Lily exclaimed after the door was shut and Logan had left with Wallace to take him home before returning to the Kane's home. "He has just got this funny attitude and I love the way he calls you Supafly and he hardly knows you, it is so funny! He is a keeper definitely."
"Well I am glad you think so because Logan and I thought he was really nice so we want to hang out with him more. Let's go set up." Veronica replied.
The Fab Four had been having sleepovers ever since the beginning of their friendship. As they started to reach their older teenage years, all of their parents had tried to put an end to the weekly sleepovers. It didn't stop the Fab Four though. The parents would wake up in the morning to either find their children missing or to find four teenagers in their child's bedroom. So the Mars, Kanes, and Echolls parents had to allow the sleepovers, but develop new tactics like surprise drop-ins to the bedroom to 'ask if they need anything' or 'just see if they were hungry and drop off a snack'. They thought they were being so sneaky except they were like clockwork and the four always knew when they were coming.
Every weekly sleepover consisted of a movie of one persons choice, rotating each week, and the ice cream and candy choice of that same person. This week it was Veronica's choice and she had opted for the South Park movie and Rocky Road ice cream. Most weeks though they never got around to watching the movie because they would spend the time talking or coming up with stupid ideas.
Lily was always great at creating new drinking games each week. All of the other 09ers had tried desperately to snag an invite to a famous Fab Four sleepover but had stopped trying by age 15 because it was never going to happen. They didn't even plan parties on Saturday nights any more because a party was not a party without Lily, Logan, Veronica, and Duncan there. That was just common knowledge. They were an elite club with no room for extras.
"I am back!" Logan bellowed from the front entry way.
"We are already upstairs. Come on up, oh and grab Duncan from the kitchen before you come." Veronica called down to him from the top of the stairs.
"Sure."
A couple minutes later the two guys had joined the girls in Lily's room with the ice cream and candy in hand.
"So guess who just had a lovely chat with the one and only Mr. Mars after dropping our new friend Wallace off." Logan said making Veronica let out a small gasp followed by a small giggle.
"Oh boy. What did my Dad want?" Veronica asked.
"Oh well you know, now that you and I are dating, and will be sleeping in the same bedroom tonight, he just wanted to do the fatherly thing and firmly remind me of his rather large collection of guns." Logan told her with a pained look on his face.
Lily and Duncan did not hold back on their laughter and doubled over to roll with laughter. Veronica did her best to keep it in but failed miserably. Logan just looked at the three of them with a frustrated expression and eyebrows raised.
"I am sorry Logan, but I am his only daughter. You know how my Dad is!"
"I know I just wish your Dad would like me! Why does he hate me so much?" Logan asked as he flopped backwards onto Lily's bed on his back. Since he was lying down he failed to see the expression on Veronica's face fall and change drastically from her laughter moments ago.
"My father will never like any man who touches me." Veronica said in almost a whisper. Lily reached over to grab a hold of Veronica's hand to try and make her feel a little less pain.
"Oh God Ronnie, I am so sorry." Logan said, shooting up and off of the bed to wrap Veronica in his arms. "I shouldn't have brought it up." Tears start to fall from Veronica's eyes as she tried to hold back her sobs from falling on Logan's chest. "Please don't cry Veronica. I will never hurt you and I will never let anyone ever hurt you again."
"I am so scared Logan."
"Are you scared that I am going to hurt you?" Logan asked in a meek voice.
Veronica gasped, "What? No, never! I am scared of what those tests are going to tell me. Someone I probably know raped me Logan and I am going to find out on Monday. I don't know if I am ready. I can't do it."
Lily took the opportunity to talk, "Veronica, you won't find out alone. The three of us are going to go with you and together we will find out who raped you and we will go from there to figure out how to deal with this. You don't have to be afraid anymore because we are all going to keep you safe."
"Thank you guys," Veronica said while trying to dry her tears with the back of her hand. Logan grabbed her hand and pulled it down to dry her face with his own hand. "But are you sure you want to come with me to find out the results?"
"Of course!" All three agreed at the same time.
"Thank you. It will be so much easier knowing you guys will be there." Veronica sniffled. "Ugh I promised myself I would not cry tonight. Such is life I guess. But thank you for being here for me and being with me."
"This is what friends do, we stand with each other, never against each other, in all of our times of trial." Duncan said.
"Donut, you are going to make a great president some day!" Lily said causing all three to erupt into giggles.
Their night was filled with ridiculousness and an assortment of fun. They never did get around to watching their movie but conversation topics ranged from the new guy Wallace to where all of their classmates would be in ten years.
"I can just see it now. Logan, you and Veronica will be married with probably two kids, Duncan will be married to Meg with three kids and I will be living a fabulous life of the rich and famous!" Lily proclaimed with certainty.
"I can deal with that." Logan agreed causing Veronica's head to whip around and look at him as she sat up.
"You see us together with two kids in ten years?" she asked Logan directly.
"I told you I will love you always Veronica. Always is a very long time. And hopefully in ten years we will have three kids." He replied.
"Well I guess I can handle that too." She said with a smile.
"Veronica I said no."
"But Dad please. I will not go in there unless Logan, Lily, and Duncan come in there with me!"
"They will just cause a scene."
"No Dad I already talked to Logan and he promised me that he will not react the way you are expecting him too. He will not blow up. He is just concerned about me. Please Dad you have to understand that you and the three of them are my family. I will not make it through this without them. Do you get that?" Veronica pleaded.
"I know it has been hard since your mom left and I am not always home, so I think I understand what you are saying about them being your family. I suppose they can come as long as Logan promises me he won't explode. I am going to have a hard enough time stopping myself from killing whoever did this so I don't want to worry about stopping him either."
Veronica rushed forward to embrace her father in a hug. "Thank you Dad. Thank you for being here for me."
Silence was what filled the waiting room outside of Alicia's office. The tension was thick and the five people who occupied the room wore expressions that were unreadable. Their expressions were a jumble of fear, anger, frustration, sadness, and rage. Veronica feared the outcome of these results. Duncan was angry that any human being could rape an innocent person. Keith was frustrated with the fact that his wife was not there to help Veronica deal with the emotions that she was feeling right now, when she needed her mother the most. Lily was sad that her best friend was in so much pain and there really was nothing she could do about it. Logan was enraged that there was the possibility that one of their friends had raped Veronica and taken her innocence with it, leaving pain in its wake.
The five of them sat in their feelings for five more minutes until the door of Alicia' office opened and the door to the truth opened as well.
