Rehabilitation

Roll Call/Update

Veronica's parents were upset with her, but luckily, they were more upset with the police. They certainly didn't like that she was in jail, but at least they realized it wasn't her fault.

But, even after they talked to and argued with the police for hours, the police still refused to let Veronica go. They said that they still had to 'investigate'. So that was why, hours later, Veronica was still in her holding cell.

Part of her was worried. She knew she wasn't guilty, and most of the evidence didn't point to her being guilty. She might have done some shading things over the past year, but nothing to land her in jail.

But what Veronica was worried about was the fact that she was in jail. Even if she was found not guilty, she didn't doubt that this would go on some sort of record. And this along with attempted murder? Veronica didn't want to think about what future job hunting would look like for her.

But it seems like she wasn't the only one who would have these problems. There were a lot of people from Denaro here. There were the ones from Veronica's class: JD, Rich, Jake, Elphaba and Chandler, but there were also people from the other classes as well. Most of them were people Veronica didn't know, but she did recognize Kurt and Ram. She made sure to stay as far away from them as she possibly could.

She did meet some new, better people, of course, but the thing is she wished she could have met them in school, instead of in prison. Veronica never thought she'd actually think this, but she really wished she was back in school. Really, any place would be better than here, but Denaro was especially where she wanted to be right now. She needed to know how her friends there were doing.

There person Veronica got as a sort of cellmate introduced herself as Alice Spencer, and she was a rather nice person, if a bit weird. But she made the long hours shorter, which was all that mattered to Veronica. JD, who she saw at lunch and at outside time (the time where everyone in the prison was allowed to go outside for an hour) helped as well. Veronica appreciated it, and she hoped they enjoyed her company as well.

"Why do you think it's taking so long?" Alice had asked one day. They had been sitting in silence, stewing in their thoughts

Veronica sighed. They had talked about this before, and Veronica knew that Alice was just searching for conversation topics. But it's not like she could blame her. Veronica didn't have much to offer either.

"Because there are so many people," Veronica replied. "They need to question all of us."

Alice huffed. "It's not fair," she said. She spoke in a sharp British accent. "We have to wait here, bored out of our skulls while they take their sweet time? They couldn't even give us a book."

Veronica nodded, but before she could say anything back, someone hit the door of their cell. Both Alice and Veronica jumped, looking up to the small window, there was a face with a bushy beard there, looking in at them.

"What is this?" Alice asked. "Are they questioning us now or something?"

The man didn't reply, just moving to the side. Veronica's eyes widened as another, more familiar face filled the window. Veronica's eyes widened.

"Jerry?" Veronica asked, frowned at the window. The face winced.

"Er, Jeremy," Jeremy corrected. He nervously glanced around. "Uh, I don't have a lot of time, but Michael told me to come. He needed me to tell you something."

"What?" Alice asked, glancing back and forth from Jeremy to Veronica. "What's going on?"

"What is it?" Veronica asked urgently. She would explain everything to Alice later; she needed to be quick. She knew from experience how little time they had. "What did he need you to tell me."

Jeremy swallowed nervously. "Er, okay, well, he said, that, uh, last night, when you were, like , arrested, they didn't really find what you were looking for."

Veronica sighed, stepping back. "Oh. Is that it?"

She was surprised when Jeremy shook his head. "N-No. He said that they found, uh, the uh, umm..."

Jeremy nervously glanced around again, and Veronica wondered what it was that he was so nervous about.

"The what?"

"The, uh, the thing used, to do that thing," Jeremy explained, very cryptically. It took a minute for Veronica to get it, but when she did, she sucked in a breath.

"Oh," she realized.

"Uh, yeah," Jeremy seemed relieved. "And not just that. They also found Mountain Dew."

Veronica froze, stunned. "Mountain Dew?"

Jeremy nodded, and Veronica bit her lip. She hummed, thinking.

"Okay... this is going to sound weird," Veronica started. Jeremy gave her an odd look.

"Uh huh..."

"But you need to get into to my email-."

"Huh?"

" And then email Joe Trancer, he's the creator of the SQUIP-."

"Huh?!"

"Pretend you're Danielle Walters and ask him about it," Veronica finished. She looked at the very lost Jeremy across from her. "Okay?"

"...Huh?!"

"Oh," Veronica shrugged. "I think you should read the past emails first, for a bit of context."

Jeremy gulped. "I think I'll need it."

"Okay, good," Veronica nodded. "If this has anything to do with the SQUIP, he might tell you."

"Might?" Jeremy squeaked.

"I don't know," Veronica huffed. "Martha should have the password. Tell Jenna I'm sorry I took her phone."

"Uh..."

Suddenly, the bearded face showed up in the window again. Just behind Jeremy, and looking over his shoulder. Jeremy tensed, looking nervously at the man.

"Time's up," he grunted.

"You'll do it, right Jeremy?" Veronica asked, almost pleadingly. Jeremy almost looked like he want to refuse, but at the last moment, he shrugged.

"Uh... I'll pass your instructions on to Michael, I guess," he mumbled. The policeman stepped forward threateningly, and Jeremy started to the left, away from the door.

"It's important!" Veronica called after him, but Jeremy never replied. The policeman left after him, and Veronica thought that was the end of it.

She certainly didn't expect a woman's face to pop into the frame, and especially not one that she thought seemed familiar. Veronica's eyes widened as she realized this woman was at their school at one point, though she couldn't remember why. And Veronica had seen her around the station as well.

"I hope you are not trying to get other students in trouble," the woman spoke, staring down at Veronica.

"I'm not," Veronica replied, firmly. The woman raised an eyebrow.

"You better not be," the woman said, and she turned away.

Veronica sighed, wondering what that was all about. That woman never really seemed to like any of the students, even when they weren't in jail. Veronica disliked her.

"...Well, that was rather interesting to watch," Alice spoke up, and Veronica looked over to see her staring at her with her brow furrowed. "But I'm afraid I am out of the loop a little bit. What in the world is going on?!"

Veronica winced from Alice's sudden shift in tone. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"After that?" Alice shot back. "Absolutely."

Veronica sighed. "That's fair, I guess," she admitted. "Well, settle in, Alice, it's kind of long."

Long was a bit of an understatement. It took hours to tell Alice everything, yet Veronica's audience didn't seem bored for one bit of it.