Title: Home Sweet Home

Author: SWChick57

Pairing/Character: Logan/OC Friendship, LoVe eventually, a little V/D, Beaver/OC, Ensemble

Word Count: 1,673

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Carly Hayes is a freshman at Neptune High, and she's an old friend of the Echolls Family. Slight AU. Season 2.

Disclaimer: I do not own Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas does. Though I wish I owned Logan… Oh well!

June 30, 2002

"Ouch!" an 11-year-old Carly Hayes yelled as she fell from the skateboard and onto Logan's hard cement driveway. Logan had started to teach Carly how to skateboard. That was his summer goal. The summers before were filled with swimming, surfing, and soccer lessons. This summer was going to be about a boy, a girl, a skateboard, and a mission.

"Carly! Are you alright?" Logan asked while helping her up. So far he was unsuccessful.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let me try again, I'll try not to fall this time." Carly begged. Even though Carly had fallen for the ninth time in a row, she was determined to learn how to skateboard. Logan was determined to teach her, but at the same time, he was determined to make sure she wouldn't fall flat on her face.

"Sure, look Carly, it's your form. You're leaning on your right too much. Balance is key you know." Logan informed while handing her the skateboard. "Now try to skate from here to there." Since this was probably her second or third day on a skateboard, he was still teaching her how to simply flat out stay on a skateboard without falling.

After three hours, she finally got it down. She was riding on his skateboard like a pro. Now his next task was teaching her tricks. They both knew that would have to wait for another day. They, then, rewarded themselves with smoothies and a movie.

"Carly, I'm so proud of you," Logan said clearly impressed as he sat down on his couch.

"Thanks Logan. You are the best teacher ever," she smirked as she plopped down next to him with a smoothie in hand.

Logan just smiled and asked, "So, where's Cecilia, I thought she was going to come over with you today?"

"You know how she is now. She's freaked out that college is only a year away. She's trying to make the best out of the time she still has. She's just out with her friends and having some fun with them. They are going to be seniors this year. They're just enjoying one of their last summers together. No big deal," Carly answered taking a sip of her strawberry banana smoothie.

"I was just wondering," he said getting up to look at his father's assortment of movies.

"Yeah, so how do you feel about starting high school in the fall?" she asked paying a lot of attention to her straw.

"I feel fine actually, I'm sort of excited," He answered as he frowned at all the movies in the living room. All the shelves contained crappy dramas, comedies, and action movies.

"Cool, so what movie are we going to watch?" she asked curiously.

"Um…what movies do you have at your place? The movies here are either a piece of shit, or starring my dad, which ensures it to be a piece of shit," He smirked. Carly was about to answer before the front door opened revealing the one and only Aaron Echolls.

"Logan, I thought I told you to…" Aaron yelled angrily, but didn't finish when he realized that Carly was there. "Oh Carly, I didn't know you were here," he said smiling, and suddenly his anger had seemed to disappear.

"Hi Aaron, Logan and I were just hanging out." She said casually as she took another sip of her smoothie.

"Well I'll just leave you two alone. It was nice seeing you Carly. Tell your parents I said hi." Aaron said.

"Don't worry Mr. E, I'll let them know." Carly said while getting up to put her empty glass in the dishwasher.

"Yeah, dad, aren't you supposed to be in L.A.? I mean, I thought you were filming a movie?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"Well I wanted to take a break and spend a quiet weekend with my family," He answered.

"Yeah, sure you are." Logan said sarcastically, obviously not believing his dad.

Aaron gritted his teeth and left the house.

"Carly, let's just watch a movie at your place. For your great accomplishment today, I'll let you pick out the movie. How does that sound?" Logan insisted as Carly re-entered the room.

"Yeah sure, let's go." Carly said. She was a little confused, but in her life of knowing the Echolls, she knew not to ask any questions.

"Great, so what movie do you plan to make me cringe through?" Logan asked as they walked out of the house.

"Oh Logan, don't worry, we've got Steel Magnolias and Pretty Woman. I know you'll love it! " Carly answered smiling.

"Oh you're evil," Logan laughed as they made their way to the Hayes house.

Present

"Come on super star, put your game face on," Carly mumbled to herself. How do you get your ready for your first day at a new school? Was it a new school? She's been to Neptune High plenty of times while picking up Cecilia with her parents. I mean this wasn't the first day of high school. She's already had that lovely experience in North Carolina. So what was different? Why was this time so damn important?

Carly just stared at her reflection in the mirror. She wasn't the same 11-year-old that moved out of Neptune three years earlier. She was taller, her short black/brown hair had grown out beneath her shoulders and was neatly done in a half-tail, and she had to wear glasses now. She actually had the option of contact lenses, but had chosen glasses instead. The frame was black and rectangular. It had a cool vintage vibe that Carly liked.

Today, she was clad in a brown logo shirt that read, "Freedom Is Not Free," a light strawberry colored sweater on top, khaki pants, her black and white "Vans" shoes, and to top it off, a leather necklace with a silver cross pendent. It was from Cecilia. She had given it to Carly as a birthday present. Carly never wore it after Cecilia died, but had decided that she should start wearing it now.

She never thought of herself as pretty, but today, she could make an exception.

"Carly, you should get going! You don't want to be late on your first day at a new school!" Julia Hayes yelled from the kitchen area of the hotel room.

"Okay mom, I'm coming," Carly yelled back as she took one final look at herself. As she made her way to grab her backpack on her bed, she tripped on her skateboard. She smiled as she picked up the skateboard and her backpack. "I almost forgot this," Carly said to herself as she made her way to where her mom was. She had decided that she'd ride her skateboard to the bus stop. Hey, it was better than walking.

"Take a cereal bar to eat on the bus." Julia said while trying to feed Dakota.

"Yeah don't worry mom," Carly said as she kissed her mom on the cheek. "Bye Dakota, give me a kiss," she said as she pointed to her cheek.

Dakota giggled and replied, "Bye Auntie Car, miss you beary munch!"

"Bye Dakota, I'll miss you beary munch too." Carly said as she made her way out the door.

After Carly's adventure in public transportation, she was finally at Neptune High. It seemed smaller than she had remembered. "Hm... now where is the administration office?" she asked herself. Oh, this was going to be long day.

She walked into the building just like any other normal high schooler would do. Then she started to hear the slew of whispers like "is she new" or "who's that" or her favorite, "she looks familiar." She clutched her skateboard even harder. The hallways looked foreign to her. It was like some kind of surreal place. As she attempted to find the administration office, she bumped into a tiny blonde girl who was only a couple of inches taller than her. She could have passed for a freshman, but by the way she acted, the girl was definitely a senior.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Carly said nervously.

"It's okay, it's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going. Hey, are you new?" the tiny blonde girl asked. Carly looked at her for a few seconds, the girl looked familiar.

"Yeah, I'm a new freshman. My name's Carly." she replied.

"Oh well nice to meet you Carly, I'm..." before the tiny blonde girl could respond, a tall older man approached her. He looked like he worked at Neptune High. "Veronica Mars," the man said frowning, "I see you've met our new student, Carly Hayes. I hope you haven't filled her mind with trouble."

"Oh, Mr. Clemmons, I was just helping a fellow student out. No shame in that right?" she said fluttering her eyelashes. Carly was impressed with the girl's attitude and confidence.

"Very well then, Miss Hayes, could you follow me to my office, please." Mr. Clemmons said.

"Okay," she said starting to follow him.

"Hey Carly!" the tiny blonde girl called.

"Yeah," Carly said as she turned around.

"It was nice to meet you," she said smiling.

"Yeah, it was nice to meet you too...uh..."

"Veronica, Veronica Mars." the tiny blonde girl reminded.

Carly smiled and said, "It was nice to meet you too, Veronica Mars." With that she followed Mr. Clemmons to his office. 'Hmm... Veronica... that name seems familiar. Where did I hear that name from?' Carl wondered as she entered Mr.Clemmons' office.

Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews. I appreciate the feedback. I dedicate this chapter and many chapters to come to ANiME-AsIaN-ChiCK69! You're an awesome friend! Go Asians! lol. Also, next chapter will probably be the reunion of Carly and Logan, so be sure to check back soon.

Ally