~~Keith's Office~~

"I'm sorry Lilly; I couldn't find anything on your dad," Keith told her. He felt guilty about lying. But he was going to handle it and that would be best for everyone.

"What?" She blinked, confused. Then realised; she'd assumed that Mrs Mars lied about being out of town but she could have really been out of town. She'd wait until Lianne was back and then get the proof she needed. "Are you sure?"

"There was no evidence Lilly," he said deliberately. He could be honest on a technicality.

"Okay." She nodded. "I should feel relieved but what if we were just unlucky or something? I don't know..."

"Lilly, you can try talking to your dad." He was certain that Jake Kane would never admit his infidelities to his daughter.

"Yeah, maybe." Lilly seriously doubted that her father would be forthcoming with any 'truth.' "Thanks, Sheriff Mars. I'll see you later." She gave him a small salute.

Keith nodded and hoped that what he did was the best option. Lying was never good, that's what he taught Veronica but lying to protect a loved one was different. No, he was not protecting Lianne. He was protecting Veronica. He couldn't bear the heartbreak his daughter would face if she found out about her mother's infidelity and so many more secrets that were kept from her.

Veronica laughed when Logan ran after Back Up, trying to get him on his leach so that they could go home.

"Hey Veronica," Troy smiled in greeting.

"Hey Troy," she greeted back politely.

"So, you were amazing out there today," he grinned.

"Uh thanks." She wondered if he was being honest or just trying to flatter her.

"I mean, like damn!"

Unsure of how to react to his reaction, she just smiled.

"You know, if sexy was a crime, you'd be guilty as charged!"

Veronica let out a small laugh, he had to be joking. "Well, that'd be awkward since my father's the sheriff," Veronica joked. She didn't know why she brought up her father's position, okay she did; Troy was cheesier than cheese. Sure, he was good looking but other than that she didn't see the appeal.

"Yeah, that'd be beyond awkward." He nodded.

"Tell me about it," she muttered. This was beyond awkward.

"Do you have a raisin?" He spluttered out which caused Veronica to furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"No." She shook her head. "Wh-"

Before she could ask why, he said, "How about a date?" He grinned, triumphant.

Veronica stared at him with disbelieve, did he just use a wacky pick up line on her? Veronica decided to act oblivious. "Uh sorry didn't stock up on those either." She let out a small sound of laughter.

Suddenly, she could hear Back Up's bark at Troy as he ran toward them. Troy stared at the dog with wide eyes. When Back Up got closer, Troy seemed to snap out of his stunned state of mind and made a run for it.

"Back Up, be cool," she commanded at the dog from her position. "Back Up, come," she shouted.

Logan, from his position, further down the beach had a wide grin on his face as he started to walk toward Veronica and Back Up.

"You declared me an official bad boy," Logan stated as he leaned against the locker next to hers. "That's so sweet." He chuckled and touched her nose lightly.

Veronica blushed, "It was so embarrassing!" She hid her face. She somehow managed to stay confident throughout the song, like an adrenaline rush but now that it was over, her face grew red every time someone brought it up.

"It was hot!" Logan grinned. "And you're lucky I'm the one you sang to." It was his way of asking her why she sang to him.

"Well, you are the most bad ass guy in the school," she proclaimed and then added with a shrug, "You're my best guy friend, and you're ranking in number three on my favourite male lists."

"Three?" He quirked an eyebrow. He glared when he saw Troy heading toward them and he thought to himself, Troy better not be in that ranking.

"My dad's one and Back Up's two." She grinned playfully.

"I should be offended that I rank lower than a dog but surprisingly I'm not. He's my number one guy."

"One?" She lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah, man's best friend is a dog and he keeps you safe and happy plus he loves me so he's number one in my books."

When Troy got within hearing distance, Logan didn't give Veronica the chance to speak and said, "You're my best girlfriend." It was a response to her admission of him being her best guy friend but Troy didn't need to know that.

Troy's grew wide at Logan's words; he heard Veronica laughter and her words "I better be!" He quickly retreated.

"And you should really say girl best friend. People may get the wrong idea."

"When have I ever cared what anyone else thought? And that rumour would definitely fall under one of my favourites." He winked.

Veronica swatted his shoulder playfully and he let out an 'ow' as he mockingly rubbed the pain away. "You're incorrigible." She shook her head but her smile never faded.

"You love me." He blew a kiss for her.

After school when Logan was just about to enter his X-Terra, Duncan shoved him backwards and held his shirt.

"You're dating Veronica?" Duncan gritted with a clenched jaw.

"What? No." He shoved Duncan off. And it only took him a second to realise that Troy really did have a blabber mouth.

"Troy said that-"

Logan interrupted him, "You believe the new dude over your best friend?" Logan put a hand over his heart and said, "Ouch." Even though he was exaggerating, he did feel hurt and then he felt guilty because he was thinking of Veronica in a way a best friend should not be thinking of his best friend's ex-girlfriend.

"But even Lilly..." Duncan trailed off ...

"Lilly what?" Logan piped.

"She was thrilled and said it was about time and things that she shouldn't be saying. She thought it was real. That's something."

Logan was surprised by that but didn't ponder on it. "When have we ever been able to make sense of Lilly's nonsense?"

"Sorry, man," Duncan apologised.

"We're cool." Logan said. "Outta curiosity," Logan paused as he tried to form his question in the nicest way he possibly could. "Why do you care who she dates? You broke up with her."

"You're my best friend." It didn't seem to be the complete truth to Logan but he didn't push. It should have been reason enough.

"And she's my girl best friend. I may not be dating her but I care about her," Logan stated, Duncan nodded and walked away with a dazed Logan in his dust.

When Logan saw Troy talk to Veronica, he realised that Duncan must have cleared that up with him; so Duncan has a problem with me dating Veronica but not Troy? How is that fair?

When Back Up noticed that Logan wasn't following him, he headed towards the boy and nudged his leg.

"Hey, boy," Logan petted the dog's ear and Back Up looked at him with confusion. He sighed. "If you really wanna know," he said and bent down to the dog. "See that guy, I really don't like 'em," Logan complained to the dog. Back Up sat patiently awaiting Logan's reasons. "Dude, do I need a reason?" He sighed again. "Well, he's a douche and I know that all he wants to do is get into Ronnie's pants. He's a total dweeb acts like a good guy but he's really not," he explained to Back Up and then smirked when he heard the dog growl. "You wanna play chase, boy? Do ya? Lets go save momma from the bad-wanna-be-Duncan, come on," he cooed at him and laughed when the dog took off probably visualising a bulls-eye on Troy.

When Logan reached Veronica, she was just standing there and looking at Back Up, Troy had vanished from sight.

"Ronnie?" He called out, pulling her out of her daze. "Whatcha thinking?"

"Troy asked me out and now I have a totally valid reason why I can't date him," she stated.

Logan was pleased to note that Veronica didn't want to date him. "Because he's a wuss?" He smirked.

She chuckled and shook her head. "I made a vow that I would not date any guy that Back Up did not approve off. I was sure it would bite me in the butt but it actually saved me from a date with Mr-Cheesey-Pants."

"Why would you do that?" He approved but was confused. Back Up hardly accepted any one that was after Veronica's affections.

"Back Up didn't like Duncan and Duncan broke my heart." It seemed like reasonable logic to Veronica. "Back Up is an excellent judge of people's characters."

"Back Up likes me."He pointed out with a grin.

Veronica paused and then looked at Logan, he met her gaze but quickly they diverted their attention.

"And that's why you rank so high on my favourite guy list," she teased him.

Logan looked at Back Up and grinned to himself; the dog seemed to favour Logan and listened to him as well, so with Back Up's help there was no way that Veronica would date a guy that Logan didn't like.