AN: Sorry it's a short update after a week. Work and grad school, etc. I really meant to move the plot forward too, but alas, the banter took over. So you get a lot of fluff this time, but there will be a major plot reveal in the next chapter-not angst related, super happy stuff, but more angst will be coming eventually.
Chapter 26
Things I love about Pan: 10 minutes from home. Mac. Easy social order. No slut shaming. First in class. Master key to school (no one knows I have it). Booming small business with no competitors. No wig necessary. Most people have a healthy fear of me (makes interrogations quicker). Comfortable clothes. No one to impress.
I make a mental list of everything I like about Pan on the drive to school Monday morning. I feel like I used to in elementary school, when I would cry on the last day of school. My time at Neptune High was so brief, but it altered everything. And it's over now—forever. I try not to list what I'll miss about Neptune, but the list writes itself involuntarily as my eyes become damp.
Things I'll miss about Neptune High: Logan. Lilly. Golden pass. Wallace (damn him, it's true). Logan. Catered lunches. Booze and parties (three in as many days, but I guess I only made it to one of them, well, two technically). Beach proximity. Logan. Heck, I'll even miss Dick's sleazy t-shirts. I wonder if he buys them in stores or has them made.
Luckily, the spot next to Mac's beetle is open, and I pull in. Mac is still sitting in her car, fiddling with something on her laptop in the passenger seat. I knock on the glass with my index finger. Her scowl morphs into a bright smile when she realizes it's me knocking at her window.
"Veronica!" she yells as she gets out of the car. She pulls me into a bear hug, and I struggle to not spill my coffee. Mac doesn't typically hug, so I wonder if a favor request is coming after the hug. She notices my look when we move apart. "Can't I hug my best friend and spy partner? So I missed you; sue me."
"You saw me Saturday."
"But now we're back at school, which is where I missed you. School was…tame without you." Mac puts her bags on her shoulders.
"I think lame was the word you were looking for. I'm surprised the cheerleaders weren't in hysterics over Billy. It should have at least bordered on the Purity Test scandal," I say as we turn to walk towards the main building.
"Nothing will approach that level of hysteria, Veronica. That was…entertaining." Mac smiles wistfully to herself as she closes her eyes. "So how's Logan? Have you two broken up again since Saturday?"
"No. How were your parents when you came home in the middle of the night?"
"They didn't wake up as I snuck back in through the 'secret' front door and forgot about the sleepover when I came downstairs Sunday morning." A few people say hi to us as we walk past groups on the front quad. I nod and wave at no one in particular. I can't really say I'm friends with most of them. I think they've all hired me at one point or another in the last few years. At this school, the only people I've really talked to outside of cases are Mac and Richie. I hope Richie and I can be friends again. That was the best part of our relationship. He's never been the type to hold grudges, a quality that seems to better describe me.
"Thanks for that by the way."
"Was the goodnight kiss everything you hoped for?" She makes smooch sounds. I think about our last kiss in front of my car before we left Lilly's. A lazy smile overtakes my lips, and I stop walking momentarily. "Guess so if Bond is speechless." Mac's grinning like the Cheshire cat.
"Shut up, Mac. Surprisingly, you don't even know about the most eventful part of my weekend." Mac looks intrigued, and I proceed to tell her about dinner at Wallace's as we walk to our lockers.
"The strangest thing to me about Logan is how different his best friends are. Dick and Wallace are practically opposites."
"And don't forget Duncan. He's class president and future Mr. President. They're supposedly best friends, although I never see them together."
"I bet that has more to do with the ex than Duncan, Veronica."
"But seriously. The boy drinks an entire bottle of whiskey if something goes wrong, and his friends are the strangest thing to you?" We start walking to honors English, our first of four classes together. There are not a lot of sections of honors classes, so we typically have the same class for core classes.
"You'll have to deal with that at some point. We're too young to be dating alcoholics." It sounds like a joke, but I know there's truth in her warning, considering my current boyfriend.
"I'm waiting for our relationship to reach a sense of normalcy before I address that. It's been a roller coaster so far." The highs are exhilarating, like diving into a cold pool on a hot day, but the lows are…catatonic, apocalyptic, soul-crushing.
When I walk into the cafeteria after study hall, everyone erupts into applause, just like at the game on Friday. A few jocks smack me on the shoulders as they walk by.
"Thanks, Vee," Richie says as I walk by his table.
"What's going on?" I ask him, looking around the cafeteria. Pizza boxes adorn every table.
"Everyone's enjoying the pizza you got. I can't imagine what it cost. How did you swing that?" How indeed? How did I order and pay for—how many pizzas do you order for an entire school? Mac stops beside me.
"Thanks, Bond. There was even a vegan option. I only got one slice before it was gone, but it's the thought that counts. Why must meat-eaters destroy the world and my only food options?" Mac laments melodramatically.
"You'll never turn them with that attitude, Q. Did the delivery guy have a note or something?" I ask Richie.
"No, I think he said they were for Veronica Mars, the school's resident bobcat." I grin to myself and look down at the table. Of course, it was him. I'm the only one who knows Logan's nickname for me, and I'd prefer to keep it that way, though Mac can probably guess it from the smile on my face.
"Mind if I enjoy the spoils of my generosity with you?" I ask Richie.
"I've got to see the coach about something, but the table's yours." He smiles at me as he leaves. It seems like a friendly smile rather than a heartbroken smile, so we may be on the road to friends again. I take his seat as the rest of the jocks slowly filter away, slapping me on the back or patting my head like a little sister. Mac takes her laptop out and sits across from me. She starts talking about a few potential cases when a familiar voice looms right behind me.
"I see I should have sent some natural lighting too," Logan says. He takes the open seat next to me and pulls out a pizza slice.
"Natural lighting ruins the complexion of we vampires, Logan," I reply looking at him. I'm snarking, but I can't contain my joy at seeing him where I never expected to. My smile is big and toothy, but I don't care how silly I look.
"Hey, Bobcat." His smile is minuscule, just the corners upturned slightly, but his eyes are beaming. He kisses my cheek, and I try to memorize his lips so I can tattoo that feeling there forever.
"What are you doing here?"
"I heard they're looking for a new basketball coach." I give him a hard look. "I pitched a story to Ms. Dent to follow up on the great mascot caper and how both schools are recovering. I get to come for lunch and Newspaper for two days." My mouth drops. He deftly closes it with his hand without missing a beat.
"I get you for lunch for two days?"
"Is there an echo in here?" Logan says while he looks around him. Mac just smirks at us. Logan bops his finger on my nose when I roll my eyes.
"Well, I guess I'll go check on the computer lab," she says, piling her stuff together.
"Oh, hey, Mac, didn't see you there," Logan says.
"I'll bet. Bye, Logan. Bye, Bobcat." For the first time ever, Mac makes me blush.
"Isn't that story a conflict of interest since you helped the great mascot caper?"
"If I were angling for a Pulitzer, I might feel bad about it. But…not so much." He passes me an oblong box.
"What's this?"
"Do you think I would bring you food and not bring dessert?" I open the box to find cinnamon twists. It's not ice cream, but they make a satisfactory alternative. We eat dessert with our legs touching under the table, and the heat from Logan practically hums through my body in pulses. Everyone seems to be my friend on the way out of the cafeteria. Logan has no intention of correcting anyone on who is responsible for the pizzas. From the smirk on his face, I think he finds glee in the mistaken identity.
He stops a few of the more talkative backslappers to obtain quotes for his article. When lunch is done, I ask him, "If you have that many quotes, why do you need to come back tomorrow?"
He looks at me with a sly smile. "It's not for the article." I let a flush and smile overtake my face as I reach out for his hand to walk him out of the school. Favorite thing about Pan: definitely surprise lunch from outside boyfriend.