Last year my life was tough. My best friend Lilly died and my dad was recalled as Sheriff after his investigation into her murder pointed to her own father, Jake Kane, head of the billion dollar Kane Software company. My mother disappeared, then returned, then disappeared again--with $50,000 that was supposed to belong to me and Dad. I learned that I'd been drugged and raped at a party at Shelly Pomroy's house. I spent my junior year as an outcast to both the haves and the have-nots at my high school, although being nearly friendless gave me plenty of time to investigate Lilly's death, my own rape, and an assortment of other cases. I channeled my detective skills, sure, but I also found out that my boyfriend, Duncan Kane, might be my half-brother (he's not) and hooked up with Logan Echolls--and then found out that his dad is a murderer. Given the last twelve months of my life, I'm looking forward to a more normal Neptune. Unfortunately, that'll never happen. This is Neptune and all normalcy is lost here. 

Ah, my dad. Even if he hadn't nearly burned to death courtesy of Aaron Echolls, my dad would be a superhero in my book, as cheesy as that sounds. After bouncing back from his recall as sheriff two years ago, he's been solving cases and winning respect--among most people--as Neptune's best private eye. He had a rough time of it when Mom left, and then returned, and then left again, but he's putting the pieces back together, and has a great relationship with Alicia Fennel. It was a bit odd, him dating my best friend's mom and all, but altogether they are perfect for each other.

Your first impression of Logan Echolls is not going to be favorable - envision the most obnoxious, self-important jerk that ever crawled out from under a 24-carat rock. But it's not entirely Logan's fault. His father is movie star Aaron Echolls and Logan's childhood was peopled with nannies, bodyguards, over-zealous fans and paparazzi. There's really no way to get from there to normal. He was Lilly Kane's boyfriend and the two of them and Duncan and I were so tight. it's like remembering a dream to think back on those days. That's right - Logan and I used to be friends. I'm not proud of that, but there's too much photographic evidence floating around for me to deny it. Lilly was the glue holding us together; an awful lot of things died with her.  But when his mother jumped off the Coronado Bridge, the old Logan I was friends with came back surely but slowly. And then...hold you breath... Logan and I started dating after he "saved" me from an ATF agent and I gave him a kiss. We were together, then we broke up after I thought he raped me, then we got back together until I thought he killed Lilly. The night Lilly's killer was found, Weevil and his gang were beating the crap out of him on the Coronado Bridge. I guess he has me to thank for that, after all Weevil had heard from me that I thought Logan killed Lilly. But that same night Logan showed up at my door and we dated during the summer. Unfortunately Logan became his old obligatory psychotic jackass self after he went on trial for the murder of Felix Tombs, who was killed that night on the Coronado Bridge. I had to end it and he freaked out. Dad threw him out of our apartment and I didn't speak to him until he needed my help again to clear his name. Hopefully this won't has the same outcome as the last time I helped him. Most recently, Logan has sunk to the lowest of lows--- dating Dr. Tom "You're-perfectly-fine-the-way-you-are-I-wouldn't-perform-a-single-operation-on-you"  Griffith's, supposedly the man who found him on the bridge, daughter Hannah. Hannah is the polar opposite of Lilly. The only resemblence is the blonde hair. Besides that, nada. She's more of a Meg than a Lilly or a Veronica. She pre-Lilly's murder Veronica. Sweet, blissfully naive and all about pink. Luckily for her, but unfortunately for Logan, she was sent off to a boarding school in Vermont. I guess that makes Logan a bad boy now. Along with being a bad boy, he's a drunk. The night of Alterna-Prom, he drunkily confessed his love for me and proclaimed our love epic. When I confronted him the next morning, telling him I shared the same feelings, he had forgotten everything and had slept with Kendall. Great, now I'm one rejection away from becoming a spinster with eighty cats.

Wallace claims that he was one of the cool kids at his old school back in Cleveland. Fact or fiction? You be the judge. Exhibit A: The first time I saw Wallace, he was naked and duct-taped to the school flagpole (courtesy of the P.C.H. Bike Club). Exhibit B: He works at the Sac-N-Pac. I don’t have a problem with that. But cool…hardly. And the most damning bit of evidence? Wallace counts as his best friend Neptune’s #1 social leper and class pariah. There Wallace is at my lunch table every day, enduring my bitter social critique of the 09ers, patiently nodding his head to tales of my non-existent love life, and always, always, being a good friend. To Veronica Mars. Very, very uncool. Most recently, he hooked up with the new girl Jackie Cook, who embarrassed me on local television, on a show just about everyone at Neptune High watches. Wallace asked me not to confront her but I did at the Homecoming Dance when I saw her dancing with Logan Echolls. Bad Veronica, bad. Wallace saw me and he ran away with his long-lost dad to Chicago. But then on New Years Eve I got a late Christmas gift. Wallace showed up at my door. I couldn't think of a better way to ring in the New Year than with my BFF. But as joyous as I was to have him home, I learned an ulterior motive of him moving back. Seems that in Chicago, he and his basketball friends got drunk and on the drive home, they hit a homeless person who is now paralyzed from the waist down. Overcome with grief and because he missed his rockin BFF, Wallace came back. And with help from Jackie (shocker!), we cleared his name. He was dating a decent girl named Jane but broke up with her to be with now-defrosted Jackie. She and I are cool now and she and Wallace look cute together.

I've got to give this to Weevil - he's a man of his word. If he says that he's going to beat you senseless, rearrange your body parts, or render you unrecognizable to friends and loved ones - well, you had better make sure that your health insurance is paid up. Weevil is almost eighteen, a watershed year for the criminally-inclined. He lives someplace inland (that's Neptune-speak for the 'wrong side of the tracks') with his Grandmother and a houseful of younger siblings. I guess that makes Weevil their male role-model - kinda scary since Weevil is also the leader of the PCH Bike Club. He and his merry band of juvenile delinquents pride themselves in spreading a little bit of evil and chaos in this otherwise postercard-perfect beach community. I wouldn't exactly call Weevil my friend, but thanks to the ironclad gangster's code of ethics, we maintain a workable coexistence. Until last summer. The night I was almost flambed by courtesy of Aaron Echolls, Weevil and his gang were beating the crap out of Logan. Later that night, Felix Tombs, Weevil's right hand man, was murdered and Logan was found unconscious with the bloody murder weapon in hand. When Logan was aqquited after lack of evidence against him during the Felix Tombs murder case, the tension between 09-ers and non-09-ers rose dramatically. In fact, a person on a motorcycle shot out Logan's back window when he and I were getting personel in his backseat. Then when Logan's house was burned down, suspectedly by the PCH-ers, when Logan was arrested again after a witness came forward about Felix's death. But most recently, the PCH biker gang kidnapped Logan, played with his emotions by playing Russian roulette and pointing a gun at his...umm.. private areas, and dumped him somewhere out of town. And not too long ago Logan and Weevil fought in the boys bathroom and Weevil did some damage. Hopefully Weevil and Logan will learn from their mistakes. But all seems well. According to one of my highly private sources, Logan and Weevil are working together to find Felix's killer. Sounds like an unseemly alliance but at long at no one else dies, I don't give a damn. Unfortunately, the PCHers found out about their alliance and now Weevil is out. Seems that Thumper killed Felix. Hmm, for having the same name as a cute character from Bambi, thats not very nice now is it? To pay back Thumper for killing Felix, Weevil killed Thumper. Guess karma's a bitch. And mostly recently, he was tutored by Cassidy, due to failing Algebra and needing a B+ to graduate.

The New Girl in Town causes me serious grief. And a few other people, too. On the bright side, if she keeps up with the Girls Behaving Badly attitude, she'll take my crown as Neptune's most hated. Poor Wallace-head-over-heels for this girl who by her own admission hasn't shown serious interest in a high school guy since she was in middle school. It's hard to know exactly what Jackie's motives are-if she wants people to like her, she's going about it the wrong way. If she just wants attention, she's got that wrapped up. She's definitely on my radar after pretending to invite me into her Circle of Trust and then punking me on Answers from Angels. Now she's going to have to work for redemption.  And now that Wallace is back, I don't expect them back together anytime soon; Wallace is dating a sweet girl named Jane. Unfortuntately for Jackie, her father is now the accused killer of the bus crash victims. Wonder if that will count for her fifteen minutes of fame?

I try to remember not to use the unfortunate nickname he's been given and remember to call him Cassidy, because I don't regard the younger Casablancas brother with the same degree of contempt I've reserved for Little Dick. Beaver's had his unfair share of hard knocks-besides having a perpetually moronic older brother, he's never been his father's favorite, either-the elder Casablancas Dick apparently having no respect for Beaver-I mean Cassidy's-brains, his inability to treat girls like objects, or his lack of interest in shooting. About the only gene Cassidy seems to have inherited is the one that makes you hungery for money.

Doesn't his name say enough?

Neptune's answer to Sean Penn's Fast Times at Ridgemont High surfer-dude Jeff Spicoli. Dick's managed to remain almost entirely unfazed by his family's misfortunes this fall-and by that, I mean Big Dick's little brouhaha with the SEC and his sleazy step-mother, Kendall. Dick always manages to be around when there's trouble brewing-not the serious kind, just the kind that ends up with a roomful of empties and a gaggle of freshmen girls looking for their dignity. Dick's never been one of my admirers. Hell, I'm not president of his fan club, either. And apparently he disapproves of his little brother's new girlfriend. And lets just say, in the end, he got what he deserves. He also seems to consider me what he calls "rich-dude kryptonite" after what happened between my relationships with Logan and Duncan.