chapter eleven ━ parties & betrayals
( season one, episode sixteen )

❝ it's dad's job to traumatize me,
not you. ❞

𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐏𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐒 on the floor of the dojo while watching Jack's new bo staff routine. "Yeah!" Eddie cheered when Jack had finished. "Wow, Jack, your new bo-staff routine is awesome."

"Thanks, man."

"You know what I say about bo staffs?" Jerry asked, walking over to the group as Veronica stood up. "Bo-ring. Swords is where it's at, bro."

Jack chuckled. "Oh, so you know how to use a sword?"

He scoffed. "I've been practicing with the attachments on my mom's vacuum cleaner," he replied making Veronica shake her head. "In one move, I can whack the ceiling fan down, and suck the curtains off the wall."

"I don't think that's the same thing," Veronica said with her arms crossed. "You know, since one has a pointy end and one... doesn't."

"Well, that katana sword that Rudy loved so much is right there," Milton said and the brunette's eyes widened.

Kim smiled. "Yeah. Give it a shot, Jerry."

Veronica shook her head. "No. Do—Don't give it a shot," she said, walking over to the sword. "There's a reason nobody touches it."

Jerry glanced between her and Kim before looking at the sword above the doorway nervously. "Uh—yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'll... I'll give it a shot. You know, I'm not sure the thing's as balanced as well as my mom's vacuum cleaner. And there's—uh—there's no brush on the end of it, but—uh—I'll give it a shot."

"Hey, Jerry." He shrieked when he saw Rudy and Veronica pressed her lips together in amusement. "Whatcha doing?" he asked with a smile.

"Uh..." Jerry stuttered while Veronica accepted the smoothie her uncle handed her. "Just airing out the pits."

Rudy nodded, walking further into the dojo. "Let me clear," he said. "No one touches my katana. Well, except Ronnie, of course."

She smiled sweetly and jumped when she heard a loud cry. She turned around and saw Bobby coming out of Rudy's office. "Oh, yeah..." She looked at her uncle. "Bobby's here."

"Bobby, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, Rudy," he said. "I didn't get the part in that movie."

He shrugged. "I'm sure the part was just wrong for you," he tried to reason.

Bobby looked even sadder if that was possible. "It was to play Bobby in 'The Bobby Wasabi Story'."

Veronica and Jack both chuckled to themselves. "Well, maybe there's another part for you," Rudy said and Bobby stared at him.

"I'm Bobby!"

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𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃. 𝐑𝐔𝐃𝐘 was wearing leather pants and a leather jacket, trying to look cool. "Yep, kids," he said as she shuddered at the look and moved to the other side of Kim. "Every once in a while, you have to put on the leather pants and hit the open road with the boys. Now, all I need is for one of you guys to come in on Saturday and water the plants."

"I can do it," Veronica replied.

"Anybody but you," he corrected and she frowned. "The last time I went out of town, you rearranged the entire office and I spent a whole week trying to figure out where everything was."

She shrugged and sat down. "In my defense, it was really messy."

"I can do it," Eddie said and Rudy nodded.

"Alright, let me get the keys from the office," he said, starting in that direction—squeaking along the way—before pausing. "They're in my pocket."

Veronica shook her head and turned away from the sight of her uncle struggling to reach into his pocket. "Will you please stop?" she asked with a whimper as he fell to the floor, still struggling. "It's Dad's job to traumatize me, not you."

"Hey, hey."

Veronica looked over at the entrance and saw Bobby and Phil walking in in the same outfit as Rudy. "I spoke too soon..."

"Our gas-powered pigs are ready to ride us," Phil continued and she narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"I'm gonna feel so alive out there on the open road," Bobby said while the group of teenagers looked at them, trying not to laugh. "Men being men. I should put my hair back. Kim, Veronica, could either of you spot me a scrunchie?"

Veronica handed him the spare one she wore on her wrist before turning away. Rudy was standing up breathlessly. "Okay. Okay, guys, I've got the keys. Let's go."

"Wait, if you're leaving, who's supposed to be watching me?" Veronica asked him.

"Uh—yourself," Rudy replied as though it was obvious. "But I asked Mrs. Myers from down the hall to check in occasionally."

She sighed. "Mrs. Myers?" she repeated. "Did you have to ask her? She always wants to 'assess my feelings' and talk about them."

"You'll be fine," he told her before giving Jack the keys and hugging her quickly. "We'll see you guys in a few days."

"Don't die."

Milton shook his head as they walked away. "That is the worst biker gang ever." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Guys," Jack said, looking down at the key in his hand. "We've got these keys and Rudy's gone for the weekend. Do you know what that means?"

"Yes." Eddie nodded and Veronica looked at him. "We need to come up with a chart with everyone's plant watering responsibilities."

Kim chuckled, walking over to him. "No, Eddie, it means we can throw that party we've always wanted to have."

Jerry looked around. "With girls and music and girls and food and girls."

"Well, find someplace else to do it," Veronica said, crossing her arms. Her friends looked at her and she huffed. "It took me hours to clean this place because Rudy forgot to do it for nearly a month. I don't care if you throw a party, just don't do it here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get home before Mrs. Myers calls the police about a 'sad little girl who is out of the house'. That's me, according to her." She slung her bag over her shoulder and looked at her friends. "Promise me there won't be any party here."

"Okay."

"Promise."

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𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 months, but Carlos Becker finally had a good cell connection. This meant that Veronica was spending her Friday night sitting on the floor of the living room on a video call with her father.

"Hi, Dad!" she smiled once her father's face appeared on the computer screen. "I miss you."

"I miss you, too, sweetheart," he replied with a sad smile. He hated being away from her for so long but he knew it was the best way to provide her with a stable life. "But are you having a good time with Rudy?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Karate is going well. I guess... Kim keeps giving me boy advice even though I think she's making some stuff up at times."

"Oh, good, so my baby girl isn't dating?" he asked.

She chuckled and shook her head. "No. Don't have a heart attack about it," she said. "Uh—Jack... he's... well, he's Rudy's favorite. I think everyone knows that."

Veronica's phone buzzed and, though she side-eyed it, she ignored it instead focusing solely on the limited time she had with her father.

"Well, that's good!" Carlos exclaimed, smiling at his daughter through the camera. "And school is still good?"

She shrugged. "It's high school," she replied. "But, yeah, grades are good."

"Good..." He let out a breath and pursed his lips. "Listen, Ronnie... There's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" she asked, furrowing her brow. "Is it bad?"

"My deployment has been extended," he said and her face fell.

Her phone buzzed a second time but she didn't notice. "For how much longer?" she asked quietly and he paused making her bite her lip.

"At least another six months."

"What?" she asked, shaking her head. "But—But you still had six months left on this deployment. That—That means I won't see you for, what, another year? Dad—"

Veronica's phone buzzed for a third time and, with an annoyed huff, she looked down at the numerous notifications filling her lock screen. Her father noticed her expression change. "Something wrong?" he asked and she shook her head.

"No." She set aside her phone and let out a breath. "Nothing's wrong."

"I'm sorry, Ronnie," he said and she bit the inside of her cheek. "I wish it didn't have to be like this. You know I'm doing this for you. But you still have Rudy."

She nodded. "Yeah..."

Her gaze quickly shifted to her phone when she heard another buzz. "If you have somewhere you need to be, you can go," Carlos said and she shook her head. "You don't have to stay and talk to your boring, old dad."

"You're not boring," she replied and her voice broke. "It's not important."

"Ronnie, it'll all be okay," he told her and she looked back at him with tears pooling in her eyes. "I'll be home before you know it."

She swallowed the growing lump in her throat and nodded. "I know. I just... I miss you."

"I miss you, too, sweetheart," he replied, smiling softly. Once again, Veronica's phone buzzed and he sighed when he saw her eyes glance in that direction. "Ronnie, just go to whoever is blowing up your phone. We can find another time to talk."

"Dad, I—"

"Don't make me be the reason you don't spend time with your friends," he told her and she let out a shaky breath. "When I find time to talk, I'll let you know, okay?" She nodded and rubbed her tear-filled eyes. "I love you, Ronnie."

"I love you more."

Veronica's computer screen went dark and she rubbed her nose while sniffling. She picked up her phone and scrolled through the notifications telling her about a party thrown at the Bobby Wasabi dojo.

She scoffed and shook her head. She took her jacket off of the hanger before slamming the door behind her.

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"𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃," 𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 said, looking around the ransacked dojo. There were chips crushed on the floor, stains on the walls, and a table was broken. In short, it was an absolute mess.

"We are in so much trouble," Kim added.

"With me or with Rudy?" The group of five turned when they heard Veronica's voice and saw her standing at the entrance of the dojo with a clenched jaw and her arms crossed. "How was the party?" she asked sarcastically.

"Ronnie—"

She shook her head. "I left this place perfectly clean four hours ago and you destroyed it," she said, looking around the room. She looked under her foot, seeing a piece of pepperoni stuck to her shoe. "I just..." She glanced back up at them. "This place is my uncle's livelihood. It's how he makes ends meet. It's how he pays the bills. Did you ever think about that? Before you decided to throw a party with football players?"

"We were gonna tell you," Jack said and she looked at him. "Tomorrow... Af—After we clean it up a bit."

"Just because you're a goody-two-shoes doesn't mean the rest of us have to be."

Veronica's gaze shifted to Jerry and she scoffed making the others press their lips together. "Goody-two-shoes..." she repeated humorlessly before shaking her head. "Is that what I am?"

"You don't break the rules."

"For good reason!" she snapped in frustration. "They're meant to be followed!" She ran a hand through her brown locks. "You know, I wasn't always like this. I didn't care about following rules. But then I did.

"Because my mom died when a drunk driver t-boned her car while coming to get me from school. I was sick. She was driving to the school to get me because I was sick. If I hadn't been, she would still be here. And just four months later, after the worst day of my life, my dad left for a nine-month deployment. So I came to Seaford.

"I try so hard. So hard. I'm not a goody-two-shoes. I control things that I can because so much of my life, I can't. I can't control whether my dad is home or not. I can't control if my mom is alive or not. Nothing. So I follow the rules. Because I can control that."

"Ronnie, we're so sorry," Kim said, walking toward her but Veronica took a step back. "We didn't mean to hurt you."

"We can fix this," Jack told her while she crossed her arms. "We just have to clean up."

Milton gasped and everybody looked at him. "But what do we do about that?" he asked, pointing above the entryway and Veronica sighed, seeing the sword was missing.

"Rudy's priceless katana is gone," Kim said, starting to panic. "He is gonna kill us!"

Jerry shrugged sheepishly. "At least he won't be doing it with the sword..."

"And that's not even the worst part," Eddie said and his friends looked at him. "We forgot to water the plant."

Veronica rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We're dealing with this tomorrow," she told them. "For now, I need to get home before a missing person's report is filed against me. Goodnight."

"Ronnie, wait!" She stopped and let out a breath, looking at Jack who had followed her out of the dojo. "We're really sorry about the party."

She nodded. "So you mentioned."

"So...?"

"Oh, so you think this means I forgive you now?" she asked with a scoff. "No. I don't forgive you. You were given keys to a business. And as soon as it was empty, you threw a party. Not a single care in the world of who might be affected by it. Now the place is destroyed and you expect me to fix it. Well, I'm not. I'll help get the katana back, but that's as much as you're getting from me. Goodnight, Jack."

"Ronnie, please—"

"You messed up," she interrupted, turning to look back at him. "You have to deal with it."

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"𝐈 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐄!" 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐃 the next morning in the dojo. Veronica was still angry and sitting in the corner of the building while the others attempted to clean the room. "It's the same exact sword that Rudy had. It's at the Bronze Nugget Pawnshop."

"Yes!" Jack cheered, handing Eddie the broom he was holding. "Alright, Ronnie, Kim, Milton, let's go! Jerry, Eddie, get to cleaning."

Jerry sighed. "Well, why can't Ronnie do it?" he asked. "She's the best at it."

"You know what, Martinez..."

"Clean!" Jack said again, ushering Veronica out the door to keep her from killing her friend. "Now!"

A short time later, the four found themselves in the pawnshop. Jack, Milton, and Kim were crowded around Lou, the owner, while Veronica leaned against the wall in boredom.

"This, boys and girls, is the real deal," Lou said and Veronica rolled her eyes. "Completely unique. There's only one that exists in the entire world."

Veronica looked at him unimpressed. "My uncle had one just like it."

"There's only two that exist in the entire world," he corrected and she chuckled softly.

Milton looked at his friends. "We've got to get it for Rudy." He turned to the owner. "How much do you want for it?" he asked.

"Five hundred dollars."

"What?" the trio exclaimed while Veronica snorted into her first in amusement. "We don't have that kind of money."

Lou shrugged. "Well, you have to bring in something of equal value to trade for it," he replied. "Hey, maybe your friend would like this priceless Ben Franklin toenail."

Kim frowned. "That's a corn chip."

"Oh, no! I ate a national treasure!"

Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, my God..." She walked out of the building with a shake of her head. She turned after getting a coffee to find Lou with a pile of objects in front of him.

"Well, I've totaled up all the stuff you've brought," he said to the teenagers. "And I think you'll be happy to hear I can give you ninety-four dollars."

"What?"

"Are you insane?"

Kim held up her hands. "Guys, guys, guys, guys, calm down, okay? It's okay. I got this." She went over to the counter with a smirk. "I was hoping not to have to do this, but what would you say if I was willing to throw in this antique charm bracelet?"

"Ooh." Lou looked at it through his magnifying glass. "I'd say I'll give you another three bucks."

"That's it!"

Jack held Kim by the waist to keep the blonde from attacking. "Your friend's necklace would be more valuable," he told them, gesturing over to Veronica who narrowed her eyes at him. "It's a very pretty locket."

"Keeping dreaming."

"Ninety-seven dollars for all your junk," Lou said to the group. "Take it or leave it."

Milton shrugged. "Can I see that old French horn?" he asked.

"Sure."

He took the instrument before inspecting it and his eyes went wide. "Would you trade this for all of our stuff?" he asked the owner.

"I can do that."

Veronica tilted her head at the redhead; she knew him well enough, and long enough, to know that he always had a plan.

"Milton, what are you doing?" Jack asked.

"Trust me." Milton brought the instrument to his lips and played a tune that made Lou look at him.

"You know a little something about the French horn, don't you?"

Milton nodded. "This horn was made by the greatest French horn maker and composer ever," he said and Veronica pressed her lips together—there it was; the plan. "See that little LS under the spit valve? That stands for Lorenzo Sanzoni."

"I thought that stood for 'loud sound'," Lou replied, looking at it with his magnifying glass. "How much is that thing worth?"

"I think you mean, 'How much is this thing worth, boss?'" Milton answered. "'Cause we just bought ourselves a pawnshop. Now, hand me that sword. And organize the shelves. And take out this toy cannon."

Veronica held up her hand. "Wait, Milton, don't—" She jumped when the cannon burst through the wall. "—do that."

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𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐉𝐎 and was pleased with how clean it was. She was about to comment on it when they heard a motorcycle engine rev outside.

"It's Rudy," Milton said, starting to panic. "He's back."

"We've got to get the sword up there."

"Give it to me!" Jack said as Veronica sat down on the bench, crossing her legs. She reached for her locket and let out a breath. She hadn't thought much about what her father had told her last night, but it was starting to come back to her; six more months added to his deployment.

"Well, see you next time!"

Veronica swiftly wiped away a tear when she heard Rudy's voice and looked up, seeing Jack somersault after putting the sword back in its spot. "Hey, Rudy," he greeted, wrapping an arm around him. "How was your trip?"

"It was amazing," he replied with a smile and Veronica grinned softly. "How's everything here?"

"Everything here is great," Kim said before laughing and Milton jabbed her in the ribs.

Rudy looked at her before shrugging and glancing around the dojo. "Well, the place looks great. The plant's been watered."

"Oh, that was me," Eddie said. "All me."

Rudy furrowed his brows. "Wait, something's different." He looked up. "My katana." The group—minus Veronica—started to walk away. "Nah, it's fine." They walked back and she held her head in her hand. "I don't know why I get so crazy about that thing," he said with a shrug. "It's just a knockoff I paid fifteen bucks for at the flea market."

"Knockoff? Flea market?"

Jack, Kim, and Milton all looked at Veronica who was smiling innocently back at them. "Oh, did I forget to mention that it's worthless?" she asked. "I picked it out when I was five and visiting Uncle Rudy with my mom."

"Do you have any idea—"

"How happy we are to have you back," Jack finished, covering Milton's mouth.

"Why don't we go to Falafel Phil's and you can tell us all about your trip?" Kim suggested. "Come on, we'll buy."

"I'll be right out."

Veronica followed her friends out of the dojo. "Do you realize we just went through all of that for nothing?" Milton asked once they were outside.

"It wasn't for nothing," Jack said, shaking his head. "We threw an awesome party that Rudy will never know about."

"Ronnie, how come you never told us that the sword was worthless?" Kim asked and she shrugged.

"It didn't seem relevant," she replied, playing with her locket. "Besides, it was fun watching you all panic and freak out."

She nudged the brunette's shoulder. "Hey, I meant to ask, have you talked to your dad at all? I know it's been a while."

Veronica pressed her lips together. "Uh—yeah." She nodded. "I'll see you at Phil's. I need a minute." She quickly hurried away from the group and leaned against the brick wall outside the dojo. She slid to the ground and swiftly wiped the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" She looked up and saw Jack walking toward her.

She nodded with a smile. "Yeah."

He frowned. "You don't have to lie to me, Ronnie."

She bit her lip. "I'm fine," she whispered, mentally swearing when she heard her voice break. "I'm fine..."

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━ author's note:

uh, yeah, she's not fine...