Chapter Twenty Three

Tori's POV

Ronnie and I are in the living room when Wallace comes rushing into the apartment. " Trick or treat. "

" What's the news? " Ronnie asks looking hopeful.

Sitting on the couch he says, " nobody I talked to at school knows anything about fake IDs ".

She looks like she's going to say something but he isn't finished.

" But then, " he says cutting her off, " this afternoon a kid from my class comes into Sac 'N Pac and buys a six-pack from my boss like it was no problem. "

Ears perked up, I ask, " did you figure out where he got his fake "?

" Slow down. " He says holding his hand up to me. " This is my story. I followed him to the parking lot, and I was like: " Yo, fella, check it out, you're on Candid Camera." Gave him the 411 on our video playback capabilities. You know, leaned on him. Got all Shaft or something. "

Okay, so he has a knack for storytelling. Good for him.

" Shut your mouth. " Ronnie jokes.

He shakes his head. " Long story short he claimed that there's a mystery locker. "

" Mystery locker? " I say with a smirk. " I like it already. "

True, Ronnie and dad are the sleuths in the family... But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate a good mystery once in a while.

" Here's how it works. " He says getting back into storytelling mode. " You put your name and 250 bucks in locker 110 first thing in the morning. Come afternoon, a brand-spanking-new license that says you're born in 1983 arrives in your locker. "

" Are you willing to put $250 into some strange locker just to see if this works? " Ronnie asks him incredulously.

Laughing he says, " hell, no. I'm using your money. "

️ ️ ️ ️

When I got off of work Ronnie was on me like cosmetic surgery on a pack of boozy 09er housewives. We end up at some karaoke bar with Wallace.

As we walk in Ronnie feels the need to say, " all I've heard, is these guys are bad news. So I want you to be careful. "

" I'm afraid, Veronica. I'm afraid. " Wallace says as he looks around at the drunk douchebags singing.

I'm sure the Triton leaders consider this initiation painful for their pledges. But, honestly, aren't we the true victims?

When Duncan exits the stage Ronnie goes right for the kill. " Nice performance, Duncan. I was wondering if you could introduce me to a few of your Triton buddies. "

He looks at her in confusion before spewing gibberish at us. " Brawny gods just flocked up to quiz and vex him. "

" Just tell me who's in charge, then I could thank him for putting fake IDs in my locker and getting me hauled off to the sheriff's department. " She tells him not shocked in the least.

He responds with more gibberish. " Quick wafting zephyrs vex bold Jim. "

" That's very illuminating. Forget about me for a second. " She says trying to reason with him. " Tell me about Sunday night. You know that the Tritons are responsible for putting a kid in the hospital. Tim is in a coma right now because of what your secret club forced him to do. "

True that. Poor Tim. " Can you live with that? " I ask.

" The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. " He says not wanting to take any responsibility.

Rolling my eyes I tell them, " let's get out of here. This is going nowhere. "

" Heads up. Looks like your boy's having second thoughts. " Wallace says as Duncan comes over once more.

Ronnie is the only one that speaks. " Are you ready to talk? "

He hands her a piece of paper and walks off.

"The judges hold the vital scores. You shall hear my voice once I've heard yours. - The Great Triton. " She reads out.

" Oh, what's up? What's up? Next up, we have Veronica Mars. " The host says calling Ronnie out.

" Sing, sing, sing, sing. Sing, sing, sing, , sing, sing, , sing, sing, sing. " The crowd chants.

She heads up on stage and takes the mic. " This song goes out to my friends in the Tritons. Yeah! Yeah! Thank you. "

Of course, she chooses One Way Or Another by Blondie and sings it like a badass. When she's done she gives a bow and gets off the stage.

" Let's hear it for Veronica Mars! " The host says handing her something as everyone applauds.

Not gonna lie, she has a decent singing voice.

" Nice job, V. " Wallace compliments as she reads the piece of paper.

Looking over her shoulder I read:

Meet me in the bathroom. Alone

Like hell I'm going to let my sister go in there by herself. We head in together and she calls out, " Hello "?

" The Great Triton is listening. " We hear an obnoxious voice say from behind one f the stalls.

Ronnie isn't here for the games so she says, " I wanna know why you planted all those fake IDs in my locker ".

" The Great Triton did that to you because he's great. " The voice replies like a flaming douche.

Rolling my eyes I say, " yeah. You're a real pal unless you need a ride to the hospital. "

" The Great Triton doesn't really know what you're talking about. " The voice says clearly not in the " know ".

Kicking the door in we find a grown-ass man sitting on the toilet seat. " Who are you? "

" Jeff. " He says awkwardly.

Smacking my lips I ask, " what are you doing in here "?

" Some dude, he gave me 20 bucks. He said he wanted to pull a prank on one of his friends. " He then does the most uncool thing. He gives us finger guns making me cringe hard.

Giving him the stankest look I can muster I say, " you're an asshole ", before getting the hell out of there.

️ ️ ️ ️

I head out to Ronnie's car on lunch break. I so do not need anyone to see me sitting alone. No need for Eli to have the satisfaction of seeing me alone.

Knocking twice on the covered window the door opens and I climb under the cover and into the car. " I miss your old office. "

" Yeah well, being suspended makes things difficult. " She quips with a sigh.

Nodding I ask, " what are you doing out here anyway "?

" Listening to the bug I put in Miss James' office. " She says like it's no big deal.

I chuckle. " Alrighty then. I do not want or need to know. " That way if or when an authoritative figure asks, I can honestly get out of it.

Just then the cover gets pulled away and we're surrounded by cloaked freaks. They open both of our doors and the next thing I know something dark is put over my head. They haul us out and the next thing I know my hands are tied and we're being forced into the trunk.

Well, shit. " What the hell, Ronnie? "

" It's the Tritans. " She says from behind me. " It has to be. I must be getting too close to figuring out who their leader is. "

Why is it always us? " Yeah, that's great and all... But how do we get out of this? "

" I can't reach my phone. " She says wiggling around.

I do the same and almost scream in irritation. " Me either. Why'd they tie our arms? Being in the trunk is bad enough. "

We stay like this for what has to be hours. I've been willing my hands trying to get free to the point that I feel blisters forming. I really need to use the bathroom on top of all of this and it's not going to get any better.

" If I pee on myself, you won't be mad or judge me, right? " I ask almost to the point of tears.

Giving her own watery sigh, she says, " only if you won't be mad or judge me if I do it first ".

It's then that I finally get my thumb free of the bindings. " Yes! "

" Did you pee? " She asks in confusion.

Rolling my eyes I say, " no ".

Once I get my left-hand free I fish my phone out of my pocket. I can't see the dial pad from this angle so I can't get to my phone book confidently. Coincidentally, there's only one number I can seem to remember at the moment...

" Ronnie, this is bad and there's only one person I can call... " I say hesitating.

It takes a few moments, but she says, " he'll come. You know he will. "

...

I couldn't hear a word he said because I couldn't get my phone up to my mouth. So I had to yell the situation and pray he'd come. Of course, he did, and fifteen minutes later we hear a motorcycle approach.

A few minutes later the trunk is being popped open and we're greeted by an angry Eli Navarro. " What the fuck happened? " He asks as he unties us all of the way and helps us out of the trunk.

" We were ambushed. " I say while rubbing my sore wrists.

Looking up at him, I see the concern in his eyes just under the anger. " Let me take you home. " He says in a calm tone.

" We need to finish this, but thanks. " I say while shaking my head. " I know you're pretty pissed off so it means a lot that you came and helped us. "

It was honestly a fifty/fifty chance that he'd leave

" You do know we're going to be talking about what happened soon, right? " He spits out clearly angry that I'm denying him.

I nod while looking at the asphalt. What can I say?

" Then I"ll leave you to it. " He says through pursed lips before heading back to his bike.

Ronnie and I get back in the car and just as we're about to leave, we hear chanting on the radio.

" It's still on A.M. this is coming from inside the school. " She says before backing her Lebaron right up to the entrance and letting the top down. " I'm going in. You get behind the wheel and be ready to pull off when I get back. "

I nod and she gets out and heads into the school. Scooting over to the driver's seat I put the seatbelt on and keep my eyes on the rearview mirror. Not even three minutes later she's running back out with what I can safely assume is the Triton's on her heels. Putting the car in gear I take one last look in the mirror just as she jumps in the passenger seat. I pull off just in the knick of time.

Whew!