Veronica Mars. Veronica, Wallace. G. 009-Cheat
Title: Cheat
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Characters: Veronica, Wallace
Prompt: Table 1, Prompt 9 Cheat
Word Count: 711
Rating: G
Summary: Veronica finds out Wallace cheated on his exam.
Author's Notes: I should be working on my NaNo (or voting) but since Rob Thomas refuses to give us Veronica/Wallace BFF scenes, I just have to make my own. This will also be used for one of the prompts on my fanfic100 table, once I figure out which one to use (and I come back from voting!) There are spoilers for 3.05 "President Evil" only.
Veronica pushed open the door to Wallace and Piz’s room and went inside. She didn’t think twice about doing so since the door was already ajar.
She found Wallace lying face up on his bed, tossing a basketball in the air. Thankfully Piz didn’t seem to be around. She liked him enough, but she didn’t really feel like dealing with his hopped-up-on-caffeine antics right now.
“Guess what!” she said as she sat down at the foot of Wallace’s bed. “I got my necklace back!” She held up the necklace that Lilly had given her a few years ago. “The robbers were some of the campus police,” she went on. “Can you believe it? I went to his house for the bust and then his snotty little kid wearing my necklace got in my face, talking about how I’d caused her daddy to get hauled off to jail. So I just took it right from her and drove away.”
“Cool,” Wallace said, disinterested, still tossing the ball.
“Cool?” she repeated, reaching over to catch the ball. “Is that all you can say?”
He didn’t reply and she finally took a long look at him. He looked as if he had lost his best friend, which couldn’t be true because she was his best friend and she was right there.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Seriously.”
Wallace sighed deeply and sat up. “I cheated on my mechanical engineering exam.”
Veronica stared at him as if he had just informed her he had cut off both his arms. “You did what?”
“Cheated on my mechanical engineering exam.”
She couldn’t believe it. Wallace? Cheating? He was the last truly good person in Neptune, she didn’t even think he would know how to cheat.
“But why?” she asked.
“Remember how I told you I was failing? And that I couldn’t drop the class?”
“Yeah, and I told you to just study more and do your best, not cheat!”
“I tried that, but I just wasn’t understanding that stuff. So this guy told me about a tutor, but it turns out the tutor was selling the actual tests.”
“Which you bought.”
“Yeah. And got caught.”
“How did you get caught?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I remembered all the answers and copied them down. Then I turned my test in and left. I was the first one done.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. So she was right. He didn’t really know how to cheat.
“So what happens now?” she asked him.
“Well, the professor told Dean O’Dell and the dean called my moms, and there’s going to be a disciplinary hearing for me on Friday, where they decide whether or not to expel me.”
Veronica stared at him, not believing that this was actually happening. She immediately started blaming herself. If only she had been there more for Wallace instead of not spending so much time trying to find the rapist or with Logan.
“It doesn’t even matter if I get expelled,” he went on. “My mother’s going to kill me when she gets here on Friday anyway. You should’ve heard her screaming at me on the phone.”
Veronica couldn’t blame Alicia Fennel for yelling, because a little part of her wanted to yell at him, too. She couldn’t believe that he was stupid enough to cheat, let alone cheat badly enough to get caught and possibly kicked out of school.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this was going on, before you bought the test answers? I could’ve helped you study.”
He looked at her skeptically. “And what do you know about mechanical engineering?”
“Well, I could’ve at least taught you how to cheat properly,” she joked.
He chuckled for a second, but then turned serious again. She could tell that this was really hurting him.
“Look,” she said. “Dean O’Dell and I? We’re like this.” She held up two crossed fingers. “Maybe I can talk to him and put in a good word for you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think your spygirl skills can get me out of this one.”
She decided that she would try anyway. She didn’t like Dean O’Dell but she was prepared to suck up big time to him if it meant keeping Wallace at school.
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Characters: Veronica, Wallace
Prompt: Table 1, Prompt 9 Cheat
Word Count: 711
Rating: G
Summary: Veronica finds out Wallace cheated on his exam.
Author's Notes: I should be working on my NaNo (or voting) but since Rob Thomas refuses to give us Veronica/Wallace BFF scenes, I just have to make my own. This will also be used for one of the prompts on my fanfic100 table, once I figure out which one to use (and I come back from voting!) There are spoilers for 3.05 "President Evil" only.
Veronica pushed open the door to Wallace and Piz’s room and went inside. She didn’t think twice about doing so since the door was already ajar.
She found Wallace lying face up on his bed, tossing a basketball in the air. Thankfully Piz didn’t seem to be around. She liked him enough, but she didn’t really feel like dealing with his hopped-up-on-caffeine antics right now.
“Guess what!” she said as she sat down at the foot of Wallace’s bed. “I got my necklace back!” She held up the necklace that Lilly had given her a few years ago. “The robbers were some of the campus police,” she went on. “Can you believe it? I went to his house for the bust and then his snotty little kid wearing my necklace got in my face, talking about how I’d caused her daddy to get hauled off to jail. So I just took it right from her and drove away.”
“Cool,” Wallace said, disinterested, still tossing the ball.
“Cool?” she repeated, reaching over to catch the ball. “Is that all you can say?”
He didn’t reply and she finally took a long look at him. He looked as if he had lost his best friend, which couldn’t be true because she was his best friend and she was right there.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Seriously.”
Wallace sighed deeply and sat up. “I cheated on my mechanical engineering exam.”
Veronica stared at him as if he had just informed her he had cut off both his arms. “You did what?”
“Cheated on my mechanical engineering exam.”
She couldn’t believe it. Wallace? Cheating? He was the last truly good person in Neptune, she didn’t even think he would know how to cheat.
“But why?” she asked.
“Remember how I told you I was failing? And that I couldn’t drop the class?”
“Yeah, and I told you to just study more and do your best, not cheat!”
“I tried that, but I just wasn’t understanding that stuff. So this guy told me about a tutor, but it turns out the tutor was selling the actual tests.”
“Which you bought.”
“Yeah. And got caught.”
“How did you get caught?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I remembered all the answers and copied them down. Then I turned my test in and left. I was the first one done.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. So she was right. He didn’t really know how to cheat.
“So what happens now?” she asked him.
“Well, the professor told Dean O’Dell and the dean called my moms, and there’s going to be a disciplinary hearing for me on Friday, where they decide whether or not to expel me.”
Veronica stared at him, not believing that this was actually happening. She immediately started blaming herself. If only she had been there more for Wallace instead of not spending so much time trying to find the rapist or with Logan.
“It doesn’t even matter if I get expelled,” he went on. “My mother’s going to kill me when she gets here on Friday anyway. You should’ve heard her screaming at me on the phone.”
Veronica couldn’t blame Alicia Fennel for yelling, because a little part of her wanted to yell at him, too. She couldn’t believe that he was stupid enough to cheat, let alone cheat badly enough to get caught and possibly kicked out of school.
“Why didn’t you tell me all this was going on, before you bought the test answers? I could’ve helped you study.”
He looked at her skeptically. “And what do you know about mechanical engineering?”
“Well, I could’ve at least taught you how to cheat properly,” she joked.
He chuckled for a second, but then turned serious again. She could tell that this was really hurting him.
“Look,” she said. “Dean O’Dell and I? We’re like this.” She held up two crossed fingers. “Maybe I can talk to him and put in a good word for you.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think your spygirl skills can get me out of this one.”
She decided that she would try anyway. She didn’t like Dean O’Dell but she was prepared to suck up big time to him if it meant keeping Wallace at school.