WTUD Chapter 8 Part B
Logan woke with a start. Someone was pounding on the bedroom door. He shifted and winced, his muscles reminding him of the night before.
“Logan, get your ass up!” Veronica’s voice called through the door.
He trudged over and cracked the door. He stared at her through sleep-heavy eyes. “What?” he whined. He didn’t get much sleep, tossing and turning as images played through his head, like some sick horror movie.
Veronica’s mouth drew into a thin line. “Dick and Sean are here,” she said emotionlessly.
Logan nodded and then slipped on a shirt and pair of pants. He moved heavily down the stairs and found the pair in the living room. They caught sight of Logan and offered loud and boisterous welcomes.
“Dude! You missed a hell of a rager last night!” Dick informed him, happily.
“Yeah, what the fuck? You just bolted. We didn’t know where you went,” Sean chimed in, curious.
Logan shrugged painfully. “I had some things to do.”
“Whatever, dude. I just hope she was good. We’re going surfing. Grab your board and let’s go,” Dick demanded, standing and motioning for Sean to do the same.
Shit.
Logan began to panic. He couldn’t surf. If Veronica’s reaction was any sign, he couldn’t let anyone see his back for the next few days.
“Uh, I can’t, man. I’ve got some stuff I gotta do,” Logan replied, keeping his voice even to cover the nervousness.
“No way! C’mon and hang with your buds!”
“Hey, Logan?” Veronica entered the room. “Remember, you need to take me to the mall? I need to find something for my dad, for his birthday. Your mom made you promise.” Her voice was steely. She obviously wasn’t happy, most likely because of him.
Sean sneered at her. “Don’t you have your own hunk of junk to haul your ass to the mall?”
Veronica’s eyes narrowed on Sean, her mouth twitching. “It’s in the shop,” she said coldly.
Logan knew better, though. Her car was safely tucked away in the garage, but Dick and Sean didn’t know that. He turned to the duo and shrugged in defeat. “Sorry, dudes, like I said. I’ve got stuff I gotta do. I promised my mom and all. You know how that is.”
Sean and Dick grumbled their understanding and made a hasty retreat. Logan turned back to Veronica, giving her a questioning look.
She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him, disappearing into the kitchen. He hesitantly followed her, but she wasn’t in the kitchen when he reached it. He looked outside and noticed her by the poolside. She was stripping down, revealing her bathing suit. She walked around the edge to the diving board and jumped off with practiced ease.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. What the hell was wrong with him? Finally, he blinked, coming back to reality. His brow knitted in confusion and then smoothed. He turned swiftly and went back to his room.
~*~
The day melted away quickly - before he knew it - it was Monday morning. He bounded down the stairs and found Veronica waiting by the front door, her foot tapping impatiently, her arms folded across her chest.
“Took you long enough,” she grumbled. “I better not be late for English.”
Logan’s eyebrow raised in a silent question.
She huffed and massaged her temples. “I’m driving you to school, remember?”
Logan’s mouth opened to argue with her, to claim he was perfectly fine to drive, but then he remembered what she had said. He snapped his mouth shut and nodded, motioning for her to lead the way. She began to walk toward the garage when Logan called out.
“On one condition. We take my car.” Did he just say that? He was going to let her drive his baby? Maybe he wasn’t in any fit condition to drive if thoughts like that were flying through his brain.
Her eyes narrowed on him and he shrugged. “I can’t be seen in your car. It’s just wrong.”
Veronica’s mouth drew into a thin line as she held out her hand, demanding his keys. He pulled them from his pocket and let them dangle from his index finger. When it became obvious to her that he wasn’t going to hand over the keys, she stomped up to him and snatched them roughly. She turned back without a second glance and stormed off to the garage.
It was going to be a long day.
~*~
As Logan walked toward his locker, after insistently telling Veronica he did not need help getting his books, despite what she may think, he felt an odd sense of dread come over him, much like when he knew the belt was coming. There was just something off, but he couldn’t quite place it. Then he saw Dick lounging at his locker and it all came into focus.
Logan took a deep breath and approached his locker, not sparing a glance at the blonde nearby. He casually collected his books, pointedly ignoring Dick, and it was working out quite well. He could do this until the end of the school year, no problem.
“Dude, what the hell, man? Are you PMS’ing or something?”
Logan’s eyes landed on a rather confused and hurt looking Dick. Logan smiled glibly. “I don’t think I have the necessary equipment to be PMS’ing, Dick. Why? Is it your time of the month?”
Dick looked taken aback for a moment, but recovered, smiling idiotically and cuffing Logan on the back. “Dude, I was wondering what happened to you. You walked up all brooding and shit and I was thinking you turned into a girl and your boyfriend just broke up with you or something.”
Logan’s jaw twitched and he smiled tightly. “No, Dick. My boyfriend did not break up with me.”
Dick laughed loudly, most likely trying to impress Logan; however it only sent a cold chill down his spine.
Logan took a breath to keep from punching Dick right in the nose when a thought occurred to him. “Hey, Dick? You remember Shelley’s party last year?”
“Fuck yeah, I do. Why?”
“I just ditched early and you guys were talking about it the other night. I was just wondering what I missed.”
Dick’s brow furrowed as he thought back to the most likely blurry events of that night. “Well, I remember everything was going good. I scored some GHB from Luke. I gave Madison a dose and I took a dose.”
“Madison actually took the GHB?” Logan asked, surprised.
Dick huffed. “Yeah, right. She was being a frigid bitch when she saw Veronica show up. I wanted her to loosen up and have a little fun, if you know what I mean. I slipped it into her drink.”
Logan brain stuck. This guy, one he called a friend, would willingly drug his girlfriend to score with her? He had a hard time wrapping his thoughts around the new tidbit of information.
“Then what?” Logan pressed, hoping Dick would hurry to the part where Dick took Veronica into the bedroom.
Dick scratched his head in thought. “Right after I gave Madison her drink, Veronica passed by and I checked out the goods, because if things didn’t work out with Madison, I’d go to take a ride on the village bike. I turned back and Madison didn’t have her drink. She said she gave it to someone who passed by. I hope they enjoyed themselves, ‘cause I sure as hell didn’t. Madison got all pissy ‘cause Veronica was supposedly ‘ruining’ her night. That’s when she wrecked Veronica’s car. Veronica had a good time, though. When I saw her walking home the morning after, she looked like she was ridden hard and put away wet. Her dress was torn, make up all smeared. Someone had a good time with her. I’m just pissed I didn’t get a ride.”
Logan opened his mouth to question Dick on who did get a ride when the bell rang. Students began bustling to their classes. Frustrated, Logan left Dick behind, allowing himself to be enveloped by a passing group.
~*~
Logan watched the chaos that surrounded him with immense pleasure and was silently grateful he didn’t succumb to whim and fill out the test. Though no one would fault him for his answers, he really didn’t want his sexual conquests broadcast to the entire school population. Sure, he bragged about certain things, but some things were private - such as fantasizing about your girlfriend’s best friend - not that he ever did it or anything. Certainly not.
His eye caught two blonde girls down the hall, avidly discussing something. He ambled over, eavesdropping.
“Meg, you're the last good person at this school. I'd believe cartoon birds braided your hair this morning. If you want, I can find who posted that test for you. We'll clear your name and make somebody pay.”
His brow creased in curiosity as the two finished their conversation. Veronica looked determined, and pissed. Logan elected to find out what was going on and followed her down the hall to the computer lab. He watched her go in and he waited outside the room within earshot.
“Is there any way to convert cipher text to plain text without initial knowledge of the crypto-algorithms?”
Wha?!
“I'm trying to figure out how someone could have overridden the control framework on the school server in order to access everyone's password. Can you help me?” Veronica asked perkily to the teacher.
“Yeah, uh, in real life, I'm actually a gym teacher. The person you want to talk to is Mac. Try the parking lot, look for the blue hair.”
Logan quickly ducked out of the way before Veronica could notice him. As soon as she was further down the hall, he resumed his game of ‘follow the leader’ and headed for the parking lot. He wanted to see this Mac guy and find out what Veronica needed from him. She had a penchant for trouble and the last thing Logan wanted to explain to Keith was how Veronica got a black eye that looked remarkably like a keyboard because she pissed off the wrong computer geek.
As soon as Logan cleared the main doors, he scanned the lot for Veronica and found her chatting with a brunette… girl. He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t need to save Veronica from a laptop-wielding freak. But like he’d save her - like she actually needed to be saved. The girl carried a taser and knew how to use it. Veronica could take of herself.
Then why did he have the overwhelming urge to make sure she was okay? He shook his head and spun around, heading back into the school to gather his books.
~*~
Logan sat at the lunch table watching Veronica chatting with Wallace, carefree and happy. It puzzled him how she hid what had happened to her so well. But if he really thought about it, she didn’t hide it at all. She cut her hair, changed her style of clothes - she started fighting back. She wasn’t the victim anymore. She made sure she found justice.
So why was there no justice for that situation? Why were none of his friends brought in and questioned about her rape? Did she even report it?
The questions weighed heavily in his mind and he didn’t notice Sean take a seat across from him until Sean’s hand waved in front of his face.
Logan’s attention snapped to Sean.
“Dude? What the hell? Trying to kill Mars with your glare?”
Logan’s eyes strayed back to Veronica. “You remember Shelley’s party last year?” he asked nonchalantly, returning his gaze to Sean.
“Yeah, why?”
“Dick and you were talking about it the other night. You said something about Veronica and Beaver. You remember anything?” Logan picked at the pizza in front of him, trying to keep his hands busy so he wouldn’t strangle Sean.
It was the stretch of silence that caused Logan to look back up at his friend. Sean looked almost frightened, but recovered, waving his hand through the air. “Nah, man. No idea. Where’d you hear that?”
Logan’s eyes narrowed on Sean, knowing it was a lie. “From you. Saturday you said you saw Beav and Veronica together. I was just wondering what happened?”
Sean snorted, playing off the blatant lie. “I was trashed, man. Who knows what shit I said?” He went silent for another moment and then fixed Logan with a piercing gaze. “Why the sudden interest in Veronica?”
Logan blinked. “No interest. Just wondering what I missed. You guys were acting like it was the thing at the party. So, I was wondering what was so great about it. But if nothing happened, then I guess it was nothing.” He pushed his pizza away, his appetite lost, and stood. “I’ll see you later.” He smiled tightly at Sean and strode off into the building. He needed to find a beaver.
~*~
Logan prowled through the hall, hoping to catch Beaver before the next bell rang. He had questions burning through him that needed answers.
He paused at the main intersection of halls and glanced right and then left. He was about to move on when he noticed an echo coming from further down the hall. His curiosity got the better of him and he cautiously walked toward the sound.
He reached the end of the hall and glanced down the next one. He saw Veronica at her locker, mumbling under her breath, scrubbing at her locker.
His brow knitted as he approached her. Then he saw what she was scrubbing at. The number fourteen was spray painted on her locker. He glanced around the hall and noticed other lockers covered in black and red paint.
Of course, the purity test results.
“Who did this?” he asked, his voice almost growling.
Veronica spun around, surprised with his presence. “Jesus, Logan, you scared me.”
He stepped closer and pointed at the locker. “Who did this?”
She snorted a laugh and continued scrubbing. “If I knew, they’d be in the hospital right now.” Suddenly, she stopped and looked at him with a knowing smirk. “Or do you know who it is and are here to see if I know?”
His mouth gaped in surprise. “Me? No!”
She folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow. “Right. I’m sure you and your cronies had nothing to do with it. God, why didn’t I think of that? It’s always you guys.” She turned back to her locker and scrubbed at the black paint.
“Veronica, trust me, I had nothing to do with it.” He raised his hands defensively trying to get her to believe him.
She cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowing on him. “That’s the thing, Logan, I don’t trust you.”
He deserved that. He truly did, for all the nasty, hurtful things he did to her. But this was one thing he didn’t do and he’d be damned if she was going to blame him for it.
“Veronica, I didn’t do it. But I will find out who did,” he swore.
She rolled her eyes at him, clearly unconvinced. “Whatever, Logan. Just tell your lame-ass friends to make my score a little more believable next time. I mean, I don’t even think Jenna Jameson could get a fourteen on a purity test.”
Logan’s fists clenched at his sides. Someone was going to pay.