Eli had heard that right after Echolls was out of Veronica's love life Duncan Kane dumped Meg Manning to try to get back with Veronica. He was furious at the idea, wanting to pound the fuck for daring to ask her, after everything he had done. He heard from Norris that it turned out Veronica and Duncan weren't siblings, but Duncan hadn't known that when he touched Veronica in that back room at Shelly's, which makes him even sicker. Even if Veronica didn't see him as a rapist, Eli did. Eli didn't let it show but he was elated to hear she had turned him down.

No one had owned up to shooting Echolls car, but he had a feeling it was Thumper. He had seemed over enthused lately to make Echolls pay for Hector's death. Not that Eli didn't want vengeance, he was just less gun-ho about the situation.

When he heard Veronica was going on a field trip with the 09ers, he made one of his crew, Cervando, sign up on it to keep an eye on her. He didn't want to advertise that he was protecting her again, but if she got caught in retaliation against Logan he'd never be able to forgive himself. Even after that, he found himself tailing the bus on his bike.

They stopped at a gas station on the way back, and he found himself parked on the side of the gas station just out of sight when she found him, almost as if she had known he was there.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, and he just shrugged. "Should have known you were following me."

"Yeah, why's that?" He asked.

"Cervando hates baseball." She smirked and he chuckled at that, it was true Cervando's dad had forced him into Little League as a kid, and he hated it ever since. Cervando had bitched the entire time, he signed up but said he wouldn't leave Veronica alone which Eli was thankful for. It was hard enough to get him on the trip, since just last week he had nearly killed Cassidy Casablancas in the hallway. Eli didn't know what Dick's little brother had said to infuriate Cervando to the point that he had launched himself at the shy Casablancas, but Cervando wouldn't say anything except muttering something about him 'being a twisted little fuck'. Between that and mouthing off about the Fitzpatrick's, he was safer on the bus regardless.

Her teacher called for everyone to get on the bus and she turned to walk away. He watched her cast a glance over her shoulder at him before heading into the bus. She was already on it when he found himself walking over. He ignored the teachers protest as he walked on and walked to where Veronica was sitting.

"What are you doing?" She asked, as the teacher kept calling for him to get off the bus.

"Let me give you a ride home." He couldn't figure out why but he didn't want her on the bus. Cervando was giving him a confused glance and he nodded to him before turning back to Veronica. "Come on."

"I've got a ride." She said stubbornly. And he climbed in the seat in front of her, making her stare directly into his eyes. "You can go now."

"V," He said softly, and she frowned slightly before looking away, "Please let me just take you home."

"Why?" She asked, her voice in defeat. "What good can come of it?"

"Come with me and find out." He held out his hand, and nearly sighed with relief as she took it following him off the bus.

He led her over to his bike, and both of them watched the bus drive away. "This doesn't mean I've forgiven you yet." She told him with a huff, accepting the helmet as he climbed on his bike.

"That's okay, I'm not sure I've forgiven you yet, either." He told her honestly. The fact that she still stood by Echolls for Hector's murder, even after their break up, still infuriated him.

She bit her lip before shrugging, "Well then I guess it's a good thing neither of us apologized." And with that she put on the helmet, and climbed on the bike behind him. He turned on the bike and felt her awkwardly place her hands on his sides, keeping distance between them. He frowned grabbing her wrists and yanking her forward so she was flush up against him and wrapped her arms around his waist holding them there until he felt her relax. He took off, and for a split second he thought maybe everything would be okay. Maybe they'd go to his house and they'd talk, and his abuela would cook for them and then everything would be okay. But this was Neptune.

They had only gotten a couple miles when Eli saw the smoke in the air and a limo on the side of the road. He lifted his sunglasses to get a better look, as people ran from the limo to the edge of the cliff.

"What the hell." He muttered, when he noticed no damage to the limo, the smoke was coming from something else, but there wasn't another car in sight.

When he pulled over Veronica launched herself off the back of the bike and towards the people, "They're all dead! All of them are dead!" He heard one girl cry as he followed after Veronica noticing the broken guard rail, someone had driven off the road. He watched her face pale as she looked over the edge and she looked at him before he could see what she saw.

"You…" She mumbled, walking up to him and he pulled her into his arms instinctively, "You…"

"I what, V?" He murmured.

"You saved me." She whispered, clinging to him, and he finally looked over the edge. There sinking in the water was the bus. The bus Cervando was on. The bus he had just talked Veronica into walking off.