Chapter Fourteen—Irritating Secrets

Veronica took the license she'd made Lilly that she had never had a chance to give her and headed down to the Balboa County Sheriff Department. It was Sunday and with the year that had passed, there was a very very good chance that there wouldn't be anyone who would recognize her, allowing her to get a copy of the ticket that had almost gotten the SUV that Duncan and she had been driving towed last week.

However, a certain vehicle belonging to the sheriff who really should be a deputy was there. That could complicate things. On the other hand, Lamb rarely left his office if he didn't have to, probably playing around on the internet watching Youtube videos.

A nice looking blonde in glasses waited on her. "How may I help you?"

Trying to look confused, Veronica said she thought she had a ticket. Handing over Lilly's license, the woman took and went back and checked, returning after a moment with a ticket and picture.

The woman had read the ticket information but apparently hadn't even glanced at the picture as she handed it over to Veronica with nary a quibble. "I'm sorry, but there's no wiggle room on this. It's been almost a year."

Veronica smiled and said, "No problem. I'll mail in the payment."

Veronica was just about to leave when she saw the door to Don Lamb's office start to open. She dropped to her knees so that the office counter blocked his view of her. The woman above her sounded surprised and a little worried as she asked, "Is everything okay?"

Trying to keep her voice from sounding strained, Veronica said, "Fine. I just dropped my contact. It popped right out of my eye."

The woman sounded relieved at there being a mundane reason for Veronica's behavior. "Oh no, that's terrible. That's one of the reasons I wear glasses most of the time. Do you need any help?"

"No thank you."

Veronica continued to act like she was looking for a contact lens on the floor as she heard Lamb say, "Gail, do you have that Weatherford file for me?"

Veronica tried to be a quiet as possible while 'Gail' responded, "It's on your desk, Sheriff."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." With that, he was gone. Veronica sighed with relief as she heard a door open and she looked up cautiously to see if the coast was clear.

"Did you find it?" Gail asked, smiling.

"Yes, I did. I'll have to wait to put it in until I get back home. Thanks so much."

With that, she skedaddled, wincing as the woman called after her, "Thank you, Miss Kane." Hopefully, no one heard that, especially their illustrious sheriff.

With a triumphant smile, Veronica hit the front door, hurrying to her car. Getting in, she quickly glanced at the ticket in front of her. That's when she noticed it. Lilly had gotten a ticket from a red light camera at 6:02 pm. Since her time of death was approximately 4:00 pm, this destroyed the alibis of all three of the Kanes.

Veronica sat there, stunned. For all she knew, everyone who had been cleared by the Sheriff's Department were now again potential suspects. She needed to see the original murder file for the Lilly Kane Murder. Only then would she know who she could trust other than her dad and Wallace.

Although, there was one person she could trust if she dared confide in him. Logan Echolls had been in Mexico surfing with two people to attest to his whereabouts. So if push came to shove, she could trust him at least not to be the murderer. However, for that same push and shove, she'd rather trust Wallace than Logan. It was a fucked up world where you could trust a new friend far more than an old one. Of course, only time would tell if he was truly her friend at all.

Additionally, Veronica had to consider what she was going to tell her father. Before, she wouldn't have even considered telling Keith, but now, with the way things had gone since they started sharing, it was difficult not to at least give the idea major consideration. Veronica wasn't sure exactly what she was going to tell him, but she had a feeling what she'd found out was going to change things. Whether to the good or to the bad, she had no idea. But they were definitely going to change.

-VM-VM-VM-VM-

Logan felt like crap as he got up to go to school. He'd been up extremely late the night before in an effort to come up with a plan for Operation: Befriend Veronica Mars. He'd gotten nada, zilch, nothing for all of the time he'd spent. Logan had to conclude he was a lot better at making plans that involved wrecking things than fixing things. It was a sad thing to know, but better to face the truth, no matter how unpalatable, than live in the dark about who you are. Of course, that kind of thinking could also get you in trouble. Logan laughed internally at his own drama.

In the end, he hadn't gone to Troy's party, instead opting to stay home and chill. He'd killed most of a bottle of Stoli and watched Cartoon Network all night. Sunday, he'd gone surfing, despite his hangover, and had enjoyed every minute of it. With him had been Dick Casablancas and John Enbom, who'd gotten up early to surf as well, despite being at least as hung over as Logan himself. They had told him about the party.

John, his face wet from a wave that had just swept over them, said, "You didn't miss much. Standard 09er party. Hot chicks. Beer. Liquor."

Dick shook his head. "Dude, you've lost it. He totally missed a bodacious party. But that wasn't the thing." He stopped, obviously waiting to be asked for more.

Logan grinned at Dick's antics. "Okay, Kemosabe, what happened?"

Dick looked confused. "Kemosabe? Dude, the name's Dick. Seriously, I know you said you wanted to hear about anything to do with Ronnie, right?"

Logan got serious. "Yeah, I did. What was said?"

Dick was grinning. "Oh my God, it was beautiful. So Madison came in and started in on how Veronica had destroyed Caitlin's life. Caitlin called her on Friday and told her what her parents did to her. When we were rumbling with Jose or whatever his name was, Caitlin's parents made her pay Veronica back for twenty new tires. Out of her allowance! And they grounded her, took her credit cards away, and her scooter, too. She's completely fucked."

"It couldn't have happened to a nicer girl," Logan snarked happily.

"Yeah, dude, but that's not the thing. The girls were drunk and started talking, about who is now Veronica's biggest enemy and stuff. After you, Madison's name came up. Dude, she's scared shitless! I totally got laid by promising her I would stand by her if Veronica went after her." Dick looked gleeful as he recounted the last part.

Logan frowned in disgust at the thought of banging Madison Sinclair. She'd been after him forever, hitting on him right in front of Dick even while she was dating him. It was extremely annoying. Not that he would touch her with a ten foot pole. He wasn't too particular about who he wanted to sleep with, but he did have some standards. And she was far across the line he'd drawn.

Logan frowned. "So what's the big deal?"

Dick looked at him like he should have already gotten the point. "Don't you get it? Madison's going after Ronnie. She thinks she's next on the hit list so it's a... uh..."

"Preemptive strike?" Logan supplied helpfully.

"Totally! Maddie's going to hit her tomorrow with every single thing we've done over the past year all at once."

Shit! Logan was pissed. This was exactly what he didn't want to have happen. He'd thought that if he publicly supported Veronica, everyone else would fall in line. As he knew now, that was naïve. People weren't going to completely stop no matter what he did. Not even if he started dating her would they back off completely.

Dick's voice brought him out of his reverie. "Dude, Madison asked me to help her. Things like making sure Veronica has at least two flats a day, messing with her locker, stuff like that."

Logan caught Dick's eyes. "Don't touch Veronica's car or anything else. Got it?"

Dick held up his hands. "Hey, it's cool. I was going to ask you first before I did anything. It seemed you were finally backing off of her. So maybe you're not trying to destroy Veronica Mars anymore."

Logan shook his head. "I'm trying to be friends with her again."

Dick laughed a loud braying laugh. "Yeah, good luck with that, man. You're fucked. If you'd backed off when I said to, maybe you'd have a shot. Remember, I said that we were going to far. Shit, even I felt bad when she cried every single day."

Dick's words hit Logan like fists. When the day came that Dick Casablancas saw things more clearly than him, it was time to seriously rethink what you were doing. He'd made so many mistakes, going after Veronica being just one of them. Depressed, Logan said, "I know I screwed up. I'm kinda known for it. And yeah, if I had backed off or at least cut back on the harassment, then maybe I wouldn't be dealing with such a messed up situation. I'm hoping that Veronica will give me a chance."

Dick looked serious for the first time. "Dude, when she was just Ronnie, yeah, maybe. I think if you would have nice to her back then, she would have done anything for you. But Veronica Mars doesn't forgive people. She destroys them. Like she did Caitlin. I'd say she was Old Testament, but I don't think even God can hold a candle to Veronica when it comes to meanness."

John, who'd been listening to them, nodded his agreement. "Veronica's pretty tough these days. I can't remember the last time I saw her cry, but it was probably back before Christmas of last year. You can always say you're sorry. Just don't be surprised if she tasers you."

In his head, Logan agreed with both of his friends. In his heart, he hoped for more. "I need both of you to back off of Veronica. No more comments, no jokes, nothing."

Dick nodded. "Sure, I'll be totally nice to her. It won't exactly be torture, you know?"

Logan was confused. "Huh?"

Shrugging, Dick said, "Dude, Veronica Mars is really hot these days. She was okay back in the day, if you like a sweet innocent blondes, Meg-style. But now, she'd like one of the hottest girls in school. I thought that even when we were calling her a skank. Everything she wears is tight, her jeans, tops, 'n stuff. Her skirts are short. Those boots she wears kick ass. Combine that with how little she is. You could carry her around while you were f..."

"Thanks, Dick, but I get the picture."

"No worries. Good luck with the friends thing." With that, Dick started paddling to catch the next wave.

John gave Logan a sympathetic smile, then followed Dick, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Should he warn Veronica about Madison? Would she think he was in on it? Or should he just let things follow their natural course? It wasn't as if he was worried that Veronica could handle Madison. In the end, Logan decided he'd give her a call and a head's up. It was the right thing to do.

-VM-VM-VM-VM-

Veronica walked up to school, ready for another day of torture. She'd come in early to set up her car to deal with any new tire slashers around. Getting the check from the Fords had given her a whole new perspective on getting her tires slashed. Unfortunately, it hadn't taken as long as she thought it might, and now she had more than thirty minutes to kill until class.

Veronica was coming around the corner heading into the hallway with her locker in it when she heard something that made her pause. It was the nasty sniggering of several girls. She stuck her head around the corner and saw five of them clustered in front of her locker. Then she saw that one of them had a permanent marker and was writing stuff on Veronica's locker. Almost automatically, Veronica pulled her camera and started snapping pictures. Through the telephoto lense, she could easily read 'whore' 'slut' 'cunt' 'bitch' as well as a large number of wholly inappropriate adjectives that matched the words.

Madison had obviously been at it for a while, based upon what she'd accomplished so far. Veronica could feel the slow swell of rage inside of her at what was happening in front of her. She had no idea what she'd done to be targeted by the shallow, bitchy blonde, but if she wanted to get into this with Veronica, so be it. Veronica made a mental note of the other girls there, Pam, Kimmy, Carrie, and Kate. She wouldn't go out of her way to alienate any of them further, but if they attacked her, Veronica would do everything within her power to expose their secrets and make their lives a living hell.

Veronica stepped back behind the corner. She would have the pictures printed today and mailed off no later than tomorrow. As quickly as the mail ran in the 09er zip, the Sinclairs should see them by Wednesday. They would then have a good idea of what their darling daughter got up to at school, although how they didn't have at least an idea was beyond Veronica. In the meantime, she would keep her head down, be extra careful when walking into classes, and hope that nothing too bad happened.

-VM-VM-VM-VM-

As Veronica stood in line for a fabulous lunch of strange crap whose best advertisement was 'that it hadn't killed anyone yet', she saw Caitlin Ford getting the brush off by the 09ers. Every seat she tried to take was suddenly 'full'. Veronica still intensely disliked the girl, but she could sympathize here. It was what had happened to her once upon a time. Still, Caitlin's fate couldn't hold her attention, not after the fun-filled morning she'd had. Veronica fell back into contemplation of her day so far.

Madison Sinclair had done everything within her power to try to make Veronica's life miserable today. First the freshly decorated locker. Next, during second period, she'd tried to dump a soda on Veronica in English, which had failed as Veronica had pushed the drink back onto Madison, thoroughly drenching her. Finally, someone, whose name was probably Pam, had dumped Veronica's clothes in the toilet during gym.

Luckily, this was one of the few days that Veronica had extra clothes at school. Last spring, she hadn't, forcing her to dress back in her sweaty PE uniform on three different occasions. It had been disgusting. Although thinking about the alternative made her glad that the girls hadn't the intelligence to dump both sets of clothes into the toilet while she was in the shower. At least so far they hadn't. The extra clothes that Veronica had with her came from a recent stake out, unfortunately having been at the bottom of her pack, which had wrinkled them, but at least they were clean. Still, if that was the worst Madison could muster, Veronica wasn't too worried.

One thing that had struck Veronica as odd was that the boys hadn't gotten involved. Which was unusual. More often than not, it was Logan and the other 09er guys that were on the forefront of any 'torment Veronica Mars' days. But they'd been off the radar, virtually invisible. She didn't dare hope it was because Logan and Duncan were making good their offers of friendship.

Veronica sat across from Wallace and stared at her lunch, a grayish mysterious piece of meat that she wasn't sure should even be considered food. She couldn't help but contrast it to what she'd eaten on Saturday at Luigi's. Still, she needed to eat in order to have the strength to deal with her harassment.

"Hey, Veronica."

"Heya, Wallace. What's up?"

He gave her a considering glance. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? I called you on Saturday, but you never called me back."

Veronica felt a flicker of guilt. His wasn't the only call she'd ignored this weekend, thinking about Logan's call on Sunday that she hadn't taken either. "I'm sorry, I was busy on Saturday. What did you want?"

Wallace leaned in, a forgiving smile on his face. "Let me tell you what a little birdie told me." He paused for dramatic effect.

Veronica laughed, then threatened, "Wallace, don't make me turn you upside down and shake you. Spill already."

"Sheesh. A'ight already. Anyway, apparently the word is that you're out to get Madison Sinclair since you already destroyed Caitlin Ford. So she is out to get you first. So don't be surprised if she tries some dirty tricks." At Veronica's scowl, he nodded. "I take it she has already?"

Veronica rolled her eyes. "You can say that again. She decorated my locker, tried to pour soda on me, and had someone dump my clothes the toilet while I was in PE."

Wallace looked upset. "That sucks, V. Girls are the meanest. You want me to go bust a cap on their asses?"

Veronica laughed. "Wallace, you're from the 'burbs, not the hood. And your mom isn't going to let you bust a cap on anybody anymore than she'd let you own a gun."

"Oh yeah. Well, you want me to glare at them from beside you while you give them a stern talking to?"

Veronica smiled darkly and leaned in. "Oh, I'm going to better than that..."

From next to her a voice intruded, interrupting Veronica, "Is this seat taken?"

From her other side, another voice said, "How about this seat?"

Veronica watched in astonishment as Logan and Duncan sat down to her left and right, plopping pizza boxes onto the table. Logan was talking even as he sat down, "I got two supremes, two pepperoni only, and one pineapple and anchovies, extra thick crust for Ronnie."

While Logan was going on about the pizza, Duncan stuck out his hand to Wallace, saying, "Duncan Kane."

Wallace replied, sounding bemused, "Wallace Fennell."

Duncan pointed towards Logan and said, "That's Logan Echolls. Don't be offended that he's not talking to you. He hates anyone new. He thinks they're all out to make money off selling his family secrets to the tabloids."

"Hey! I don't think that. Wally, right?"

Wallace frowned, "Wallace."

Logan grabbed his hand which was still half raised from shaking hands with Duncan and shook it. "Pleased to meet you."

Wallace coolly said, "We've met."

Logan acted puzzled. "We have?"

Wallace frowned. "You were busting out Veronica's headlights."

Logan smiled. "Ahh, foreplay."

Duncan said, "Hey, did you ever pay to fix her headlights?"

Logan looked nonplussed. He actually sounded regretful. "No."

Duncan made a 'tsking' sound. "Don't you think you should?"

Veronica who had been listening to all of this with an open mouth, was almost yelling as she said, "What the hell is going on? Why are you both sitting here? Why..." She was stopped by Logan putting a slice of the pizza they'd bought for her into her mouth. He just grinned at the glare she gave him as she chewed rapidly.

Placatingly, Duncan said, "We're your friends, Veronica. Friends eat lunch together. Friends buy each other lunch. And since I have both Pirate Points and funds, I'm springing for lunch today."

Veronica had finally swallowed the pizza and alternately glaring at each of them. "We're not friends. You need to get that through your heads."

Logan held up his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen, mark this day on your calendars. It may never come again that I say something like this: Veronica Mars, you are completely right. We are not friends. I'm not your friend. Duncan is not your friend. But we're trying to be. And this is the first steps towards us being friends again. Eating lunch. Occasionally hanging out. So please give us some small part of your time to work on this. That's all we're asking. Okay?"

Veronica felt like a bitch as three sets of pleading eyes stared at her, although she was certain that with Wallace, it was more about the pizza than the company. Grudgingly, she muttered, "You should have asked me first."

Duncan quickly jumped in. "Veronica, I promise we'll do that in the future with anything else."

Veronica sat there for a second, the good will of the other two pressing upon her with an almost physical weight. Finally, she said, "Okay, you can stay."

Logan lightheartedly said, "Thanks." Then he began piling pizza on a plate in front of her. At her frown, he gestured towards her tray and said, "Ronnie, you can't eat that. It could kill you. Pizza's much better for you."

Veronica's frown, which had appeared to be permanently embedded into her forehead, disappeared as she took a big bite of pizza. Who could frown while eating hot delicious pizza. After swallowing, she responded, "I doubt that, but it is definitely tastier. Hey! This is Luigi's. How did you get them to deliver here? We're outside of their delivery range here at Neptune High. You can only get Papa John's or Pizza Hut."

Duncan twirled an imaginary mustache as he said in a sinister voice, "We have our ways. We have our ways."

Logan scoffed, "Duncan promised them a $50 tip. They'd drive to Pan High for that."

As weird as Veronica felt to be eating with Duncan and Logan, the sight of them together was causing the gossip machine at Neptune High to shift into overdrive. She could actually hear the increased chatter around her table since Duncan and Logan had joined them for lunch. Veronica could still the 09er table, visible just past Wallace's left shoulder, and it was weirdly dichotomous. The 09er guys were pretty much eating like normal, with the occasional glance over at her table. The girls, mostly clustered around Madison, were in a tizzy. All of them were gossiping at light speed with most of them shooting hateful looks towards Veronica.

Deciding it was time to address her 'arch nemesis', Veronica stood up for a second and said, "I'll be right back, guys."

She walked over to the 09er table, stopping directly in front of Madison Sinclair. A hush descended over the entire lunch area as everyone present strained to hear. Veronica didn't keep them in suspense for long. Her voice calm, but carrying, she said, "Madison, I've heard that you think I'm out to get you. That you were my big nemesis since Caitlin Ford is out of the picture." Her amused smile let everyone nearby know what she thought of that idea. "I just wanted to let you know that you were wrong. I wasn't out to get you. You weren't even on my radar. Basically, you were nothing to me. Of course, that was until this morning. When you wrote some pretty nasty things on my locker. When you tried to be Dick Casablancas and dump a drink on me. And when you asked Pam there to find out the combination to my gym locker and dump my clothes in the girls' room toilet. You wanted me, you got me. It's on. So I'm just giving you fair warning. I am going to make your life a living hell." Veronica paused for effect. You could have heard a pin drop in the silence. Madison's face was pale and worried. None of the other girls were looking back at her now except for Pam who was glaring silently. Now for her. "Oh, and Pam? I haven't forgotten your part in this little play date of ours. You and I are going to have a lot of fun. Bye now."

With that, Veronica unhurriedly walked away from the girls, her back straight, heading back to her table where she sat down. The lunch quad exploded with excited talk and everyone there discussed what they had just seen and heard. Veronica smiled wryly as she heard patches of what was being discussed. Most of it consisted of people saying no one having ever seen anyone throw down the gauntlet like she, Veronica Mars, the school pariah, had just done. The rest was wondering if she could carry through with her threat and what form her vengeance would take.

Veronica looked over the faces of the people at her table. Wallace wore a look of awe as he studied her, obviously wondering if she was crazy. He would find out more and more over the next few months that what he probably considered crazy was just her normal life assuming they stayed friends. She sure hoped that they did.

Duncan wore a look of disbelief as well as some worry. It was as if he couldn't imagine the girl he'd known throwing down the gauntlet like she had. And he was right about that. The old Veronica would never have done it. She would have stayed away from them and just let it go, forgiving them because she was 'nice'. The new Veronica Mars actually was looking forward to battle. She hated with a passion those girls who had been so cruel to her after Logan declared open season on her. Possibly getting back at them made her almost giddy.

Logan was the most surprising. His look was all admiration. He looked like he wanted to congratulate her on taking on her opponents and wish her luck. Veronica thought that of everyone there, Logan knew the new Veronica Mars best. He'd fought with her, baited her, and done everything he could think of to destroy her. And he hadn't succeeded. In the end, she had beaten him if only by making him completely lose control, something he prided himself on. She figured that he probably wanted her to win just so that he didn't look bad for losing to her.

Well he didn't need to worry about that. Veronica was going to make Madison Sinclair and Pam Abbott wish they had never met her. And she was starting today.

End Chapter Fourteen