TITLE: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead
CHAPTER TWO: Dirty Little Secrets(Part One)
AUTHOR: Sarah
WORD COUNT: 3,959
SUMMARY: AU. Lilly lives. Veronica Mars moves to Neptune Junior year, leaving behind the tragedy that shaped her past in Waterford.
SPOILERS: General Season 1
AN: Sorry it wasn't made clear, but Lilly and Logan got back together last chapter, so they are currently on again. Just thought I should state that I am a fanatic LoVe shipper, so two guesses what the pairing is going to be…Also I know Logan is being a bit hard on a girl he barely knows but he is still in his jackass mode and things will be looking up in the future, so just bare with me.

AN: Also a big thanks to my beta LoVer159.

Dirty Little Secrets

Part One

"Honey, I'm home", Keith's cheery voice resonates through the tiny apartment. He had just finished his latest case, the standard cheating husband deal; apparently Neptune had a lot of rightly suspicious house wives. His happy disposition immediately vanished at the sight of his seventeen year old daughter sitting at the kitchen table, a small pile of letters next to her and an angry look on her face.

"You got mail from the Waterford Police Department, mom's speeding ticket statement from the day of her death." She states stoically, pointing to the open letter sitting on top of the pile.

Keith is quiet, unsure of what to say and trying to gauge what reply would cause the least destructive reaction from his daughter. She has been through so much this past year; mostly because of choices he had made and she had never complained, never doubted his decisions even when the whole town did. Gone was the little girl who used to wear pink and gossip incessantly with her girlfriends about boys and the best color nail polish, instead there stood a jaded young woman, with a whole lot of attitude and too much knowledge for someone her age.

His voice is soft when he speaks and he sounds broken and full of sadness that she thought had lessened as the months had passed.

"I can't let it go"

"I get it Dad, I know. But why?! Why didn't you tell me you were still investigating her murder? You are the only person in the world who I trust; who I know would never lie to me, looks like I was wrong once again. "

She walks to her room silent tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt betrayed, the wounds caused by her mother's death still fresh. Lianne may not have been the best mother. Veronica remembers the smell of Vodka on her breath, she remembers the late nights and listening to the sounds of her throwing up in the morning. But in the end, she was her mother, and for a while that was all that mattered.

"Veronica. I was just trying to protect you; I don't want you involved in this."

His attempt is futile and the only response he gets is the slamming of her bedroom door.

The first time she had come to Dog Beach to think had been after she had seen the word 'slut' spray painted across her locker. Apparently Lilly Kane had taken the whole revenge thing seriously and was quickly making Veronica Neptune Highs official leper/social outcast/ and skank.

But tonight her problems were a lot less trivial then mean kids with nothing better to do then vilify others. Her father was secretly still investigating her mother's murder. It wasn't so much that he was investigating; it was more the fact he had kept it from her. Her mother's death had torn her life in two.

I can still remember the headlines: Waterford's local Sheriff, Keith Mars's wife, brutally murdered by lover. Sheriff denies claims that Michael Adams was having an affair with wife and questions the investigation, town in uproar.

Adams had confessed to having an affair with Lianne and murdering her but Keith had gone against the sentence and evidence claiming that Adams did not have sexual relations with his wife or kill her. This did not bode well with the people of Waterford who thought Keith was in denial and didn't want to admit his wife was the town whore. Keith and Veronica left Waterford two months after Keith was run out of office.

Veronica was drawn out of her reverie by a large drunken boy staggering towards her. She clutches her bag tightly to her chest and searches the pockets for her taser. As the figure gets closer she relaxes recognizing the arrogant swagger and build of the boy she had grown to share a mutual hatred with in such a short time.

"Veronica Mars", He says, and she marvels at the way he always manages to make her name sound like something disgusting he just scraped off the bottom of his shoe.

"I would say it's a pleasure, but that would be a lie."

"Logan Echolls, I would say you're an obnoxious Neolithic jackass but I'm not sure your vocabulary is extended that far."

He ignores her comment as he is finding it hard to stand. His large body flops down next her on the darkened beach leaving a meter of space between him and Veronica but even that feels too close for her. His presence makes her immediately uncomfortable and she readies herself for his onslaught. From what she has seen of Logan he is not only a complete jackass but he is a very dangerous jackass.

"So what are you doing out here all by your lonesome," His eyes are glazed over and she wonders how far away the party he was at is and if she needs to get ready to run away from any more stumbling-drunk-off-their-ass 09ers, "waiting for your next client?"

She doesn't reply, just looks straight ahead at the barely visible tide crashing in. Maybe if she just ignores him he will go away, even as she thinks it she knows it is not going to happen. She may not have known Logan for very long but even she could tell he was not the type to back down from…well anything.

"Seriously, if you're bored why don't you just call your pal Weevil up, I'm sure he would be up for a go around. He will do anything." And if Veronica didn't know better she could have sworn there was a trace of bitterness lying underneath his statement.

The whole strong silence thing is so overrated and she can't help herself, it's not like he is going to go away anytime soon.

"You would know right, I know you have been pining over Weevs for a while but if you wanted an in you should have just asked, no point in attempting to be subtle. You two would make the cutest couple."

She puts on her best Valley Girl impression which she attributes to many days of watching 'Saved By The Bell' and 'Sweet Valley High' in her freshman year.

"I can see it now, front page of the Neptune Navigator "Starcrossed Lovers", Boy from the wrong side of the tracks finds love with pretty little rich boy".

"I'm touched, you think I'm pretty!" It's now his turn to do the whole faux valley girl act. It's a little scary just how well he does it and Veronica feels a little embarrassed at her previous attempts. Outdone by Echolls in a girly-girl impersonation, it was almost enough to make her burst out in laughter. Almost.

"No I think you're arrogant, self centered, psychotic…"

"That's rich coming from the Queen of the White Trash. I was wondering what your going rate was? Did you have to work them out yourself or did you just follow the same system your Mom was going by. Some of the guys were wondering and I told them you would probably do it for free but I thought I had better ask."

Their checks are red, eyes firey, hearts pounding as they stare furiously at each other, stung by their harsh words. She opens her mouth the next biting remark on the tip of her tongue but before any more can be said a jovial voice rings out across the beach.

"Logan…where are you man?"

The guy sounds surprisingly sober and he slowly ambles closer to where Veronica and Logan sit on the darkened beach.

"Come on this is not funny!,"

Logan finally breaks away from the intense staring competition he had found himself in and shuffles farther away from Veronica on the sand. Veronica rolls her eyes in response to Logan's actions.

Wouldn't want someone to think you were hanging out with the school skank.

"I'm over here DK."

The guy Logan so fondly referred to as DK quickly approaches Logan on the beach and Veronica thinks he looks vaguely familiar but can't put a name to the face. He is obviously a 09er but as Veronica did not attempt to associate with them in any way whatsoever she has no idea who this guy is. He is of medium build and has the all-around-nice-guy-perfect-boyfriend-straight A-student look about him.

"Dude, don't do that again. I was expecting to find you washed up on the beach."

Logan just rolls his eyes before sarcastically biting back,

"Don't worry Mom I'm fine. Can I have a rice krispy treat before I get in my jam jams and go to bed."

Duncan looks annoyed at Logan's little act, and Veronica gets the impression this is not the first time this guy has had to look after his intoxicated friend. Duncan's gaze finally shifts to the left of Logan noticing the small blonde girl sitting there, arms folded over her chest and a scowl on her pretty face.

"Hey, I'm Duncan"

He holds out his hand and Veronica looks at it suspiciously, surprised at this guy's benevolent attitude and chivalry, before grasping it in a quick shake.

"Veronica Mars."

Recognition flickers over his eyes but he still manages to give her a small smile flashing Veronica his perfect pearly whites, and for that Veronica is grateful.

I bet that makes the girls swoon.

They hold each others gave for a few seconds before Logan coughs in a blatant attempt to draw the attention back to his wonderful self.

"Well as much as we would not love to stay and chat, we got places to go people to do…you know how it is Ronnie."

Logan smirks at Veronica before turning his back on her and walking off in the direction he came from. Duncan hastily follows but not before giving Veronica one more small smile before leaving.

Another day at Neptune High, another day going to school with a bunch of people who despise and ridicule her just because of a stupid feud. Veronica felt right at home, it was like she had never left Waterford. There was only one bright spot in this otherwise dull school, Wallace Fennel. Her first friend since…since before.

"Hey, how was your weekend?"

"Ok, I was doing my usual incognito espionage thing which is always followed by a South Park Marathon, but apart from that nothing. You?"

"I worked at the 'Sac n Pac', unlike you we can't all possess that pixie spy magic."

"Ah yes the pixie spy magic."

"About that, I was wondering if you could help me out."

"Anything for a bud."

She gives a Wallace a little fist tap in mockery of his supposed 'player' attitude. Wallace laughs incredulously at her before going back to the matter at hand.

"Well it's this girl I work with in office aid."

Veronica perks up immediately and stops abruptly in the hallway, reaching out to stop Wallace as well and giving him her full attention.

"You are an office aid?"

Wallace seems a little confused at her interest in his extra curricular activities but goes on to explain.

"Yeah, I wanted to do diving but there weren't enough people and they cancelled the class."

Veronica's eyes light up and Wallace gets the feeling that this girl could potentially get him in a lot of trouble. Hell, she had already made enemies with the Queen Bitch of Neptune High and her lap dog Logan Echolls and he couldn't forget her run in with the leader of a bike gang only two weeks ago.

"This is perfect"

"For who?"

"Me."

Wallace looks at her questionably, he just knows this girl is going to be up to no good some time in the near future and since he had appointed himself as her side kick he would obviously be going along for the ride.

"Anyway, someone has been leaving threatening notes in Georgia's locker, I was wondering if you could find out who is doing it and get them to stop. She is really upset about it."

"Yeah, I'll look into it."

Since Keith had started Mars Investigations Veronica had been helping around the office. So far it had just been small stuff, answering phones, taking messages, running the occasional name in the PI database but even the little taste of that had made her itch to do a real case, even if she wasn't getting paid.

"Thanks, V."

Veronica spots the dark haired girl attentively opening her locker, she slowly opens the door but not before glancing around her several times suspiciously. She stares into her locker for a few seconds before reaching in and grabbing a small square of paper. She is unfolding it just as Veronica approaches.

"Hey, you're Georgia…right? I think I have Bio with Mr. Davis with you."

At the sound of Veronica's voice Georgia quickly shoves the note into her pocket and turns to face her.

"Yeah, hey Veronica."

Veronica looks surprised that this girl knows who she is.

"Wallace told me about you, he said that you could help." She says in answer to Veronica's surprised face and Veronica smiles to herself.

"Well I can try. Just a question, why don't you take the notes to the Principal or the police? "

"It's not a big deal, I don't want to have to get my parents involved or worried over stupid high school stuff, they've got enough to worry about already."

Veronica just nods her head.

"So do you know who might be doing this to you? Anyone you have had a fight with recently, someone who is holding a grudge, anything at all would help."

Georgia tucks a strand of hair behind her ear nervously and her wide brown eyes shine with worry.

"Well I did break up with my boyfriend recently….but Veronica he wouldn't do this."

Veronica just smiles in what she hopes is a sympathetic face.

Bingo

Veronica enters the Journalism room thinking about her first real quasi case. Now that she had a couple of suspects things could really get rolling. But first she had to get through her Journalism class that Mr. Clemmons had felt necessary to sign her up for. Spotting the teacher standing over at one of the computers chatting with a student she quickly makes her way over.

"Hi, I was put in here by Mr. Clemmons, apparently Neptune High frowns upon students who don't get involved in the school."

The curly haired Journalism teacher smiles widely, and Veronica thinks it's one of the most genuine smiles she has seen since arriving in Neptune.

"I'm Miss. Dent and welcome to Journalism class. You have come just in time, I needed someone to get photos for a human interest piece on Bodie Chang, he recently won the local surfing competition in his division. I'm sorry, I'm kind of throwing you into the deep end, it's just that we're desperate for someone to take these photos."

"It's fine, this works out perfectly. Photography is kind of a hobby of mine."

Understatement of the century, but who am I to brag.

"Well if that's settled come over here and I will introduce you to the student who is writing the article to go with the photos."

Miss. Dent leads Veronica to the back of the room where two boys sit mucking around in front of the computer. At the presence of Miss Dent the two boys spin around and put on their best innocent looking faces. Veronica's stomach drops at the sight of the familiar looking boys. One glares at her, the other smiles shyly and she tries to look everywhere except at them.

"Veronica Mars this is who you will be doing the Bodie Chang assignment with, Duncan Kane."

Veronica's eyes widen, Logan smirks, Duncan looks at the ground awkwardly and Miss Dent looks between the three of them, oblivious to the tension.

No freaking way.

Veronica scanned the quad for Georgia's ex boyfriend still reeling over the fact that Duncan from the beach was Duncan Kane, and that Lilly Kane had a brother. After the extremely awkward encounter in Journalism, where Miss Dent had tried to get them to ride together to Gold Coast. Which Veronica had quickly but politely declined stating she had her own car and not wanting to have to spend a forty five-minute drive in the car with Lilly Kane's brother.

Veronica spots Brian, Georgia's Ex, sitting at a table with a skinny provocatively dressed girl practically sitting on top of him, her hands wrapped around his body to the point where it was hard to define where one started and the other finished.

Talk about clingy.

"Hey, Brian could I have a word…it's about Georgia."

Brian looks away from the girl on his lap and his whole attitude changes as soon as Georgia's name is mentioned. He stiffens and something that looks a lot like hurt flashes across his eyes. Trampy-Mc-Squeeze-a-lot doesn't notice but that may be because she is too distracted throwing glares at Veronica.

He pulls the girl out of his lap and she pouts in what Veronica thinks is supposed to look sexy but just comes off looking whiny.

"Babe can you give me a second?"

Several minutes later after lots of reassuring words and cajoling the girl leaves the table, but she is anything but happy and makes sure to send Veronica one more glower before walking off.

"So Brian, Georgia has been getting these threatening letters sent to her locker. Any idea who would do that?"

Veronica pointedly looks at him making sure he knows exactly who her number one suspect is.

"What? You think it was me? Does Georgia think that? Coz I would never do anything like that."

Veronica looks at him, unconvinced by his little outburst.

"Look, I love Georgia. I would never do anything to hurt her". He states somewhat bitterly and Veronica gets the feeling that the break up was a one sided thing.

"For someone who was supposedly in love with her you sure moved on fast."

Brian looks hurt and angered at Veronica's comment.

"She made it perfectly clear that she wanted nothing to do with me, I'm not going to sit around like a lovesick fool forever. Look is that all? Because I have soccer practice to get to."

He is already up from the table and grabbing his books before Veronica can answer.

"Yeah, that's all."

Veronica knows she has royally pissed someone off upstairs, she is not sure what she has done but it must have been good because she is currently on God's shit list.

Veronica stands in front of her Le Baron, staring at the car. Maybe if she closes her eyes and…

"Car troubles? What a shame."

The voice of Lilly Kane interrupts Veronica's wishful thinking and suddenly everything becomes clear. God doesn't hate her, Lilly Kane does. As Lilly sashays off, a self-satisfied smile stretched across her face, Veronica muses over the parallels between Lilly Kane and God, they both had worshipers who would do anything for them and she supposed Lilly Kane her own religion of "fabulousness".

Madison Sinclair and Shelly Pomeroy walk beside her not even trying to hide their giggles at the fact that Veronica Mars had all four of her tires slashed.

Well, I guess I can tell Wallace the verdict is in, Neptune High would have to be the meanest high school in all of California, they went right ahead and blew Waterford out of the water.

The people at Neptune were worse then the kids back in Waterford, they had reason to act meanly towards Veronica, it may have been wrong, untruthful reason, but it is was still a reason.

Veronica's "friends" in Waterford had distanced themselves from her after her mothers death. She wasn't sure if it was because they didn't know how to act around the 'grieving girl', or that their parents would be constantly gossiping about how "that Mars man was going crazy over his slut of a wife." Whatever it was Veronica soon found herself alone at school. The students either acted like she was invisible or whispered nasty things about her family.

A little part of her had thought, had hoped, that by coming to Neptune she would have left the harsh words and mean accusations behind, but that was just wishful thinking. These people had no reason to treat her this way, except that one had decided she was to become persona non grata and Veronica was still confused about that. That was the beauty of High School though wasn't it, the petty, childish, antagonism.

Veronica ignores the girls and gets started on changing her tires. She is halfway done fixing the first tire when Duncan Kane comes up to her.

"I'm really sorry about this." He looks embarrassed, as if he were the one to do this not his sister. "Lilly can be a bit intense."

Ya think?

"I can give you a ride?" He offers helpfully. Veronica looks down at her tires, three still needed replacing, there was no way she was going to have them fixed in time and she really couldn't afford to take a cab.

"Lilly is not going to be there, she is getting a ride home with Logan." He says in hopes of persuading her to accept his offer and ease her mind.

And that is all Veronica needs to hear.

The interview with Bodie Chang went surprisingly well, Duncan had gotten most of the crux of the article down and Veronica had managed to get some great pictures of Bodie's "Hanging Ten". Veronica was slowly starting to warm to Duncan, although he did make it hard not to. He had been nothing but polite towards her and she had been enormously relieved, afraid he was going to be just like his sister.

They were just about to leave when Duncan spots Logan walking in from the beach. He has obviously just been surfing as his wetsuit clings tighter to his chest, dripping with water and he is carrying a large surf board.

He looks confused at the sight of them together and Veronica can almost see the churning of thoughts in his head before he spots the camera Veronica is still holding and the little notepad sticking out of the front of Duncan's jeans.

Duncan chit chats with Logan about surfing for a few minutes while Veronica stands to the side and hopes for the ground to swallow her up. Logan keeps looking over at her, not with anger or even a sneer it's more a look of curiosity.

Veronica's attention is piqued when Duncan casually asks where Lilly is. Logan looks perplexed,

"Lilly said she was getting a ride home with you, something about wanting to go to the mall with Madison."

"Oh, I thought she was hanging out with you today. I must have been mistaken."

Logan seems to tense up, and he scrunches his hand into a fist, unclenching, clenching in an attempt to control himself. Duncan hasn't seemed to notice anything, but Veronica watches quietly from the sidelines as Logan quickly leaves the beach with a hasty, "Cya later DK", not even bothering to acknowledge Veronica and rushes off to his car.

Duncan turns towards Veronica, "Sorry, was that weird for you?"

Hello Captain Oblivious.

Veronica stared out the window watching the cars flash past as some mainstream song hummed through the radio. Veronica and Duncan had already exhausted all safe conversation topics and Veronica longed for home and her bed. But Veronica Mars never got what she wanted. The red and blue lights of the police car pulling up behind them flashed mockingly at her.

-To be continued….

End Chapter Two Part One