The Accident
Veronica was sleeping very comfortably. She had a dreamless night, the type of nights that were few and far between ever since she had been home. She usually spent her nights tossing and turning and having vivid memories of the first few days in the hospital when she was trying to absorb a bunch of new information. She thought that last night would have been a restless night as well giving the amount of new information she had to digest but apparently her mind was tired. The minute that her head hit the pillow it was lights out for Veronica Mars. The early morning California sun was shining brightly in her room. She squinted trying to see the clock on her bedside table. It was only 6am. She didn't know that the world actually operated at this early hour.
She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and put her bare feet on the cold wooden floors in the house. The cold sent mini shivers up her spine. She walked into the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on for the family and instantly wondered if this was something that she normally did. Was she usually the first awake or the last one, or maybe somewhere in between. She poured her coffee into a mug and added a bit of sugar and went to sit on the counter where her stuff from last night still was. She picked up the spiral notebook that contained her notes and she stared at it trying to get an answer from it. What happened that she just stopped taking notes, she didn't even finish her thought. Was she reading too much into nothing? What if there was a fire alarm and that's why she didn't finish what she was doing, it doesn't mean that something bad made her stop writing.
"Mornin' kiddo. I didn't know you knew what this hour of the day looked like," Keith said as he walked to pour his own cup of black coffee and joined his daughter at the table, "Whatcha looking at".
"Ha ha. Laugh it up, I'm not even sure I know how to function at this hour," she laughed with her dad as she discreetly closed the book. The last thing she needed was for her dad to think her imagination was working over time. "I was thinking that maybe today I'd go to Hearst with Wallace," she said nonchalantly.
"Why," he said while looking at his daughter strangely, "we already formally withdrew you from each of your courses at least until next semester due to your, um, problem." Keith new he couldn't avoid looking nervous. He knew Veronica a lot more than she gave him credit for. She was up to something and that something was really no good. "I think you might be trying to hard," he said and took a sip of his coffee.
"I know dad, I don't want to go back to learn, at least not today!" she said sounding a bit defensive. "I just really need to be somewhere other than in this house or walking on the beach with Backup. I need to get back to my normal routine and maybe if I can just sit in on my old classes," she said standing up and ready to walk back to her room, "And actually, I'm not even asking you if I can go, I'm telling you that today that's where I'll be." She grabbed her bag from the table and walked into her room slamming the door behind her as she looked for something to wear.
"He's sooooo irrational," she spoke aloud while quickly pushing clothes from one side of her closet to the other. "I'm not an invalid and just asked to run a marathon, I'm going to school, to a place of higher education, a place that can only be good for me. Like seriously, what is his problem," she continued her rant to herself.
"Maybe he's worried about you," Wallace's voice interrupted her own voice. "Sorry to just barge in here but you deserve it you just woke my ass up," he said and walked into her room sitting on the edge of her bed. "What is it Mars? What is making you suddenly want to rejoin the ranks at Hearst? Is it the stuff in your notebook," he asked obviously knowing her a little too well.
She sat next to him on the bed and covered his hand in hers. "My dear darling loving sweet brother Wallace, you are soon going to have to realize that it doesn't matter what made me want to go to Hearst today. I have this little inkling deep down in my sleuthy gut and I plan to see if its true."
"And you'd know how," he responded without missing a beat.
"I probably won't right then and there but don't the doctors say that people with amnesia should be in familiar places? It might spark a memory or two? I'm going stir crazy in this house. All I think about while you are all gone is who is the next visitor going to be, who is my real boyfriend, who do I really love, do I even love any of them? At least if I get out of this house and at school my mind will be occupied with something else and seriously, how much trouble can I get into at school?" she asked Wallace.
"You'd be surprised, Your first week at the college you made a few friends and even more enemies. Your sleuthiness often gets you in hot water," he said with a smile and the both of them shared a laugh before she ushered him out the room. "I'll be ready in a few minutes, if you even think of leaving without me I'll hunt you down and feed your balls to Backup."
"Owwwww. Girl, its to early to even get ready, my first class is at 11. I think you need to lay off of the coffee and maybe take a chill pill or two okay," he said as he closed the door.
With Wallace out of her hair she continued to look for something to wear. What does one wear on their second attempt of the first day of college for them? She had decided on a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt with the words 'I get away with soooo much' across the chest area. She paired that with a pair of flat shoes and ran the brush through her hair before putting it into a low side pony tail. She examined herself in the mirror and came to the conclusion that she didn't need any makeup, just a touch of lip balm.
She walked back into the main part of the house where her father hadn't moved from the table. "I'm going and you aren't stopping me," she said to him before giving him a chance to even say anything.
"I realize that Veronica but I want you to be careful," he said sounding concerned for his daughter. It was as if he knew something but wasn't telling her.
"Be careful? In school? Like, seriously, is there a pending bomb threat I don't know about," she said sarcastically to her father.
"Veronica, just don't do anything stupid. You've always had this habit of poking your nose where it doesn't belong. I don't want you to get into any trouble."
"Why does everyone do that? Poke my nose where it doesn't belong? I don't belong in class taking notes with everyone else? I don't belong to my normal every day life? Where exactly in this does my nose not belong?" She demanded from her father.
"DID YOU EVER STOP TO THINK THAT MAYBE YOUR ACCIDENT WASN'T SO MUCH OF AN ACCIDENT," he shouted at Veronica without really realizing what he had just said. "Wait, Veronica, that came out wrong," he said as he noticed her about to leave the room.
"Why would you say that? Did something happen to make you think that? Do you know something that you aren't telling me," she asked her father with her hands on her hips. She noticed Wallace and Alicia walk into the room as well. "Do you two know anything about this? Is my accident so not accidental?"
Wallace, Alicia, and Keith just looked at one another. No one said anything. Veronica could practically see her father's headgears reeling as he tried to think of something to tell her. He was trying to formulate a lie that she would believe.
"No Veronica, we don't know anything," he finally said. "It's just that I was examining the scene of the accident and I only found one set of tire marks showing that they were braking…your tire marks."
Silence hung in the air. Veronica didn't know how to answer that. Had she done something to someone that would cause them to intentionally try to run her off of the road?
"And," he continued, "The other car still hasn't been found. We don't know if the other driver was drunk and didn't see you and that's why they didn't brake, we don't know if this was intentional or an accident. I just want you to be careful. I'm not going to stop you from going with Wallace today but please, for the love of God, stay with Wallace, Piz, or even Logan. Just stay with people you know."
"Yeah, like I know anyone," she said as she walked to the table and picked up her bag that Wallace had given her the night before. "Are you ready Wallace," she asked and didn't wait for an answer she went outside to the driveway and waited next to Wallace's car.
"Why didn't you tell me anything," she asked the minute he got to the car. "I thought you were the only person being honest with me," she slid into the passenger seat and crossed her arms across her chest. Veronica Mars was not a happy camper.
"Because I don't know anything Veronica. Your dad just told us last night while you went out for a walk…and remember we still don't know anything. No other car was found. It could have been an accident and the other person was drunk and now too afraid to come forward." He put the car in reverse and drove down the street. The car was silent the entire way to Hearst.