Why Do You Smile Like You Have Told a Secret?

Int. Mars Investigations – Veronicas POV

I sit at the reception desk shuffling through case papers not knowing what to do with myself. I'd sent the 'sex tapes' through to the top gossip publishers in the country but no news had broken yet, four hours had gone by but still nothing.

I turn on E! News and turn up the volume as a news bulletin is announced.

BREAKING NEWS

High profile actor Aaron Echolls has been caught in another scandal shortly after the death of his beloved wife Lynn Echolls. We received surveyed footage of an amateur sex tape of the star fooling around with a younger teen.

The footage is shown of Lilly and Aaron fooling around in the bed in the pool house. I sit up straighter and watch in shock as the video footage is played a few times.

CONTINUED BREAKING NEWS

The girl in the footage turns out to be software billionaire Jake Kane's daughter Lilly Kane. Who according to our sources had a previous relationship with Aaron's son Logan Echolls?

This breaking news has come of a shock to Aaron Echolls fans and non fans have deduced the affair as the reason Lynn Echolls committed suicide.

We have not been able to contact Aaron's publicist at this time but when we do we promise to keep you updated. The questions that we want to ask are as follows: What does Aaron have to say about this? What does Logan think about this? And why oh why did Lilly Kane get wrapped up in this family drama?

I turn off the TV and sink into my chair. I forgot that this would affect Lilly and Logan just as much as it would affect Aaron.

I bury my head in my hands and stay that way until my phone rings, making me jump.

DAD flashes on my screen.

I answer the all but don't say anything.

"Veronica I told you to be careful!" He exclaims on the other end of the line.

"You saw the news huh?" I ask quietly and I can feel him lose his patience on the other side of the line.

"What were you thinking?" He asks, annoyed.

"I wasn't thinking..." I respond automatically and my dad grunts.

"Well don't leave the house until I get home ok or if you do take Back Up with you, you know the media will be outside our door too since Lilly is your best friend..." He warns me and I nod to myself.

"Veronica..." He warns again.

"Yes Dad." I reply and he hangs up the phone.

I stand up, LILLY!

I grab my bag and cell phone and dial Lilly's number, it goes straight to voicemail.

Int. The Neptune Grand Hotel – VERONICAS POV

When I reach the Neptune Grand I park in front of the valet but don't hand him my key. I dash inside past the millions of photographers. The bellhop recognised me so he lets me in quickly before shutting the door.

"A scandal like this hasn't happened at The Neptune Grand since Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stayed here..." The bellhop informs me and I smile weakly before running to the elevator and pressing the top floor button.

I tap my foot on the door impatiently waiting for the elevator to arrive. Dick Casablancas comes into view and I frown at him as he joins me at the elevator.

"I'm guessing you heard the news?" He asks me and I look at him sheepishly.

I spread the news but he didn't need to know that.

The elevator dings and we get into the lift. Dick presses the button and we shoot upwards.

We reach the floor of the presidential suites and in silence we head to the Kane rooms.

I stand still for a moment as Dick knocks on Duncan's door. "Shouldn't you be going to see Lilly?" He questions and I frown for a bit.

I continue walking to the other room and knock on the door slowly. There is no answer and I'm guessing Lilly is avoiding everything at this moment in time.

"LILLY!" I call out loud enough for her to hear inside but she doesn't respond. Logan however opens the door for Dick and invites him in. He sees me pounding on Lilly's door and frowns at me.

"Now's the time to choose a side Veronica, you're either on the devils side or my side." He says to me and I look at the closed door and then at Logan.

Well if Lilly wasn't going to answer the door and by the looks of it she wasn't going too. I walk towards Logan and he smiles at me sadly.

"So the cats out of the bag, huh?" He asks and I look at the ground.

"Logan it was me, I let the cat out of the bag." I say to him honestly since I couldn't hold it in any longer otherwise I was going to explode.

He looks confused, "How?" He questions.

A single tear escapes my eye and I brush it off my face, "I was so angry at what your dad was doing to you, I took the evidence..."

"You filmed that?" He asks, outraged.

"No, a hidden camera filmed it. You asked me to investigate your father..." I explain to him but I can see he is just getting angrier.

"You knew this whole time, you knew and didn't tell me?" Logan's voice has risen

"I didn't know how to tell you, how do you tell someone their father is sleeping with their ex girlfriend?" I say to him, honestly.

"You could have told me just like that." He states and I look at my feet.

"You have to understand where I'm coming from Logan." I plead and he looks at me silently.

"Have you seen her yet?" He asks carefully and I shake my head.

"I did this for your sake Logan. I did it for you." I say grabbing his hand but he snaps it back from my grip.

"You should have warned me first..." He replies "How do you think this makes me feel? I need some time to sort this out Veronica, I can't be with you right now..." He starts to close the door but I shove my hand against it so it stays open.

"You need to understand where I'm coming from..." I say again and he shakes his head before forcing the door shut.

I lean against the wall and slide down to the floor.

I bury my head in my hands and sit and think for a while before Lilly's door opens up and she pokes her head out.

"Veronica?" She questions, looking down at me on the floor.

I look up at her and she holds out her hand for me to take it so she can help me up. I take her hand and she helps me up but once I am up she steps back and I feel a sharp burn hit the side of my face. I didn't even see it coming.

"That's for fooling around with my boyfriend behind my back." She states, another sharp blow hits my other cheek, "And that's for being a backstabbing bitch for leaking the tapes of me and Aaron. Yeah he informed me that you'd been spying on him. I should have known." She ends before slamming her door shut in my face too.

As the stinging subsides I stumble to the elevator. What have I done?

Ext. The Neptune Grand – VERONICAS POV

"Aren't you friends with Lilly Kane?" A reporter asks me and I look at them, bewildered.

"I've seen you in photos with her on her face book page." Another reporter bombards me.

I rush to the valet who sees me being bombarded by the press so he quickly gets my keys and fetches my car.

A photographer snaps a photo of me, "Did you see Lilly Kane?" She asks and I ignore her question as my car pulls up.

"Did you know about the affair?" She asks again and I continue to ignore her.

"VERONICA MARS!" Another reporter shouts out at me while pointing a camera that was recording in my face.

I jump in my car and swerve out of the car park and out into the streets.

So Aaron knew that I was the one who leaked the tapes? I think it was only a presumption though because he knew that I was spying on him but who knows?

Int. Mars Household – Veronicas POV

I fall down on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I hear the front door open. "VERONICA?" My dad calls to me from the living room but I stay in my bedroom.

He eventually opens the door to my bedroom and pokes his head around the wall.

"Are you ok?" He questions and I look at him but stay quiet.

He sits down on the edge of my bed and sighs.

We're both quiet for a while before he gets up, "So I'm going to make us lasagne." He states before jogging out the room, "I think we could both use some comfort food." He adds and I watch him leave.

Ext. NEPTUNE HIGH SCHOOL – VERONICAS POV

I sit in my car for a while and watch the people flooding into the school. I figured Lilly wouldn't be at school today neither would Logan so it would be ok if I showed up but boy was I wrong. Apparently Logan had told Duncan and Dick that I was the one that leaked the tapes and news had spread around the school, so let's just say that I was the most talked about person there that day.

I shove past a group of girls who I can hear gossiping about me clearly.

"She's always been weird; I think she's always been jealous of Lilly..." One of them was saying so I spun around and retorted, "It's all fun and games until one of you is my next victim." I snap before I walk off after my snarky comment and arrive at my locker.

Written on my locker in red spray is the word 'SNITCH' I turn around and see Dick laughing with a few 09er guys and I storm up to them.

"Where'd you get the spray paint from Dick?" I ask Dick who looks at me.

"Wow, Ronnie I don't know what you're talking about?" He questions sarcastically.

"You know black is my favourite colour. Have you been talking to anybody about me lately?

Perhaps sharing some secret information with a couple of 09er dudes while you're braiding each other's hair and giving each other mani-pedis?" I comment and Dick laughs awkwardly but pushes me to the side out of earshot of the other 09ers who watch us intensely.

"I didn't do that to your locker Veronica I don't know who did..." He states and I look at him

"You know what Dick, it's like you're this giant jackass piñata that's begging to be hit with a stick over and over again expecting the candy to drop but all that's inside are the sweets that no one likes." I finish before spinning around and stalking off down the corridor.

"You're Veronica right?" an African American boy asks me while I wash my locker with a wet cloth and some soap.

"You're new and you're blocking my light." I say to him and he looks at me sternly.

"I'm Wallace, I think I can help you find out who sprayed your locker... I saw some girls hanging around here earlier this morning..." He informs me and I look at him.

"Well Wallace, you're in luck, I'm in need of some new friends in case you haven't heard I'm the..." I gesture to the front of my locker and he nods.

So, kind of a little spin on how Veronica gets exiled from the 09ers with Lilly still around and yay Wallace has come along and I also am sensing a lot of SNARKY VERONICA in the upcoming chapters as you can see she has reared her witty head :D ...

Thank you, reviews are welcome and much appreciated but just reading the story is great too. Thanks for the support fanfictioners.