"I'm not lying with you, Veronica, I just wanted you to know."

"Do I care? Really, Troy, you're just water under the bridge. Duplicitous, evil water."

In junior year, the pal of Duncan Kane was a new student at Neptune High and the first 09er who treated Veronica decently since her father had been ostracized. Troy gained her trust — and even briefly managed to capture her heart — until she discovered that he was a drug-dealing, two-timing, car-stealing sleaze and sabotaged his newest scheme in true Mars fashion.

In the one year that has passed since then, he allegedly has changed, due to boarding school, therapy, and dumping his bad influence of a girlfriend — or at least that is the story he urges Veronica to believe when he meets her again during a tour of the local university. Our girl detective is more than skeptical of this complete turnaround, and the fact that only one day later, Troy is accused of drugging and raping party encounter Stacy doesn't necessarily help matters. A little bit of nostalgia might still be left, though, since she reluctantly agrees to help her desperate ex-boyfriend, even though she threatens to help nail him to the wall, should he turn out to be the culprit.

But in this instance it seems that skillful liar Troy really told the truth: Veronica can prove his innocence and the two of them part on peaceful, possibly even friendly terms. Whether their truce can hold remains to be seen — Troy was always good at hiding his real intentions. And does Veronica really need yet another bad boy ex-lover to complicate her life?