Veronica went with her gut reaction. She pulled her legs back and rabbit kicked Troy in the stomach. She was aiming lower but she was satisfied enough with the result. Troy's eyes bulged and he doubled over. Veronica scrambled out of the bed, got tangled in the sheets, and fell.

She got to her feet and searched the room frantically for a weapon. Her stun gun was in her purse so she grabbed her bedside lamp and held it in front of her.

Troy sat up, clutching his stomach.

"That's not happiness to see me, beautiful."

"You're kidding, right? Why in a million years would you think I would be happy to see you?"

"What? No sentimental feelings for your Homecoming date?"

"I'm sorry but all my sentimental feelings went down the toilet with your drug stash."

"Ouch." He leaned back in the bed and rested on the headboard, making no indication that he was going anywhere. "You know, if anyone should be bitter about that it should be me. You ruined a very lucrative deal for me."

"My heart bleeds for you. Now I suggest you leave before I make something of yours bleed."

"You're beautiful when you're making death threats, you know that?"

Veronica gave a cry of frustration and chucked the lamp at him. He dived out of the way and rolled off the bed.

"Backup!" She shouted.

Her beloved pitbull wandered in the room, swaggering like a drunken soldier.

"You drugged my dog!" She cried, stomping around the bed and standing over him as he lay prone on the floor. "How did you get in here?"

"Would you think less of me if I said I lifted a key when we were dating?"

"Nothing can make me think less of you," she said. "Get out."

He sat up. "Aren't you even a little curious why, after all this time, I came back to see you?"

"It'll have to be like the Bermuda Triangle or the Loch Ness Monster. It's a mystery the world will never solve."

Troy nodded and climbed to his feet.

"Fair enough," he said. He dusted himself off, gave her a salute, and walked toward her bedroom door. "Oh, hey, you're dating Logan Echolls these days aren't you?"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Logan found his locker covered with tabloid excepts again. With one hand he grabbed them and ripped them down. He crumpled them and let the ball of paper fall to the floor. He didn't bother cleaning up the bits of newsprint that still clung to the metal door. There would be new ones the next day. And the next. It had become a fact of life and he didn't have any more suspensions to waste on dealing with them any more.

He fiddled with the locker combination and yanked it open. He started digging for his books when he heard the mocking voice of his former friend.

"Hey Logan, did you read the one about your dad's new roommate? He was convicted of murdering an entire family. Tell me, do you think he's your dad's type?"

Logan glared at Dick Casablancas and wondered for about the hundredth time how he could have ever been friend's with such a travesty of the human condition.

"Back off, Dick," Logan said, grabbing his books and slamming the locker shut. "Have I ever mention how appropriately you were named?"

He glanced over Dick's shoulder and saw Beaver sulking behind his brother. Dick had slammed Beaver for breaking their "sacred trust" and going to Veronica with the information about Logan being in town when Lilly was murdered. He still hadn't forgiven him, despite the fact that Dick now hated Logan. But no one ever accused Dick of being logical.

Logan tried walking passed them but Dick blocked his way.

"In the old days you never would have taken that crap from anyone," he said. Again Logan had to wonder about Dick's reasoning. Did he want him to bash his skull in?

"I don't take that crap from anyone--that matters."

Dick looked like Logan had punched him. He was gearing up for a comeback, whether physical or verbal, Logan couldn't tell but he was ready to respond in kind.

"Hi sweetie."

Veronica walked up to them with a smile as bright a Windexed window. She threw her arms around Logan and kissed him. If her plan was to defuse him it worked because he turned to jell in her arms. She pulled away and shined her smile at Dick.

"Oh hi, Dick! I'm sorry to hear about your car getting repossessed. I guess those investments your dad made weren't such a good idea." She smiled at Beaver and gave him a short wave. "Hi Cassidy."

Being not so fond of his brother these days Cassidy (i.e. Beaver) tried not to grin but failed. Veronica grabbed Logan's hand and led him away. Logan grinned at Dick as she pulled him away.

"Ah, the little woman," he said happily. "Be afraid, Dick. Be very afraid."

Logan followed Veronica outside. He watched the sunlight glow around her blond hair like a halo and he marveled again at how amazing she was. They'd only been back in school a couple of weeks and his sudden reversal of status was wearing him down even if he would never admit it. She had withstood similar taunts and torment for a year. She had withstood it from him. And here they were now, he the outcast, she the star. The only thing that was more amazing was that they were together.

She was leading him to their lunch table and he pulled her back. The circle of friends that she'd gathered around them were already there--Wallace, Meg, Mac, Duncan. But at this moment he didn't feel like sharing.

"Hey, what say we skip lunch and find a nice, dark broom closet?"

She smiled at him and he noticed for the first time how tired she looked.

"Do you really want your payback to be in a room full of Mop&Glo?"

But he ignored her and put his hand on her cheek. "You OK?"

She smiled but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." She faked a yawn so she could avert her eyes.

Unconvinced, he let her lead them to their table.

"Come on, Mac," Meg was saying when they walked up. "It'll be fun."

"I think we have very different ideas of having fun," Mac said, biting into an apple. "Drunken boating in a hundred and twenty degree heat does not sound fun to me."

"We do not drive the boat drunk!" Duncan declared, affronted. "We park in a cove, get drunk, sober up and then drive back."

"It's the American way," Logan said, sitting down at the table.

"About that…." Veronica said. "I can't go."

Logan's head snapped back to her. "What?"

Logan had been looking forward to the weekend trip ever since Duncan suggested it. In the past it had always been a guy trip but this time he'd talked Duncan into making it coed. Logan had a secret motive, of course. There had been a pool party at the Kane house once and he had been putting suntan lotion on Lilly when Veronica climbed out of the pool in her pink bikini. His eyes followed her saunter over to Duncan and considering that she was his best friend's girlfriend and he was rubbing down his own girlfriend he pushed his lecherous thoughts to the back of his brain.

But now Veronica was his girlfriend and he was all about the lechery. He reveled in the idea of seeing her in a bikini, smelling tropical suntan lotion on her skin, seeing her wet and slick. He'd even bought her a pink bikini despite the looks he got when he made the purchase. He just held fast to the image of peeling it off of her.

"Is your dad giving you a hard time about me again?"

"Yes. No." Veronica seemed flustered. "He wants me to work. It's the runaway case, but I suspect he asked to keep me from going this weekend."

"Her dad loved me," Duncan mumbled.

Logan ignored him because he felt a squirming sensation in his stomach that he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Well then I'm out too." Logan said. Veronica's head snapped up.

"No. You should go," she insisted. "It'll be fun." She looked over at Mac. "Really."

Logan fell silent for the rest of the lunch break. Something uncomfortable stirring inside him.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Veronica left the lunch table early to grab something out of her car, she said. But as soon as she turned the corner out of sight from her friends she pulled out her cell phone. Ruthlessly, she punched in Troy's number.

"Hi gorgeous," he answered. It angered her that he assumed it was her.

"You have me for 48 hours," she replied.

"Oh baby, you've just made all my dreams come true."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews that I've already gotten on this story! A few of you asked about how Logan & Veronica got together. Well this is not a sequel to my previous story so you don't need to read it to understand this one but if you're interested in my take on how they got together check out "Bleed Like Me" and it's never too late to review it if you do!

For those you who already read it there will be no "required" CD purchases for this story. (although one of the Bleed Like Me songs will be making a cameo later on)