This story takes place at the beginning of season 2, except the gang is going into their senior year. Ryan has just come home to find Marissa and DJ, and Seth finds Summer and Zach. How will the new girl next door heat things up? Mainly RM with bits of SS.
So this fic isn't to follow along with the exact start of season two. Ryan and Seth have come home to find their girls in the arms of different men, and school is about to begin.
The beginning of a new school year: some students look forward to it as a new beginning, a chance to recreate themselves, others anticipate seeing their friends again and getting the daily dose of good gossip. Seth Cohen did not fit into either of these categories. He saw a new school year as another year in hell.
"Registration, sweet. Another year of death breath Seth and getting my shoes peed in," Seth complained into his cereal bowl full of fruit loops. "Oh wait, I have Ryan now, so at least I can get ignored by everyone in the senior class without piss in my shoes."
"Cheers to that," Ryan replied, motioning his spoon towards his brother, clinking their spoon in the air.
"Well, at least you have each other. And what about Summer and Marissa, and their band of wannabe followers," Sandy asked, oblivious to the agony he was putting his two sons under.
"Honestly pop, sometimes your so far behind I wonder how you've managed to stay alive in Newport, but yeah about that, Ryan you wanna take this one or should I?" upon receiving 'the look' shooting from Ryan's blue irises he continued to ramble. "To make a long story short, Marissa's hooking up with the gardener, fails to mention it to Ryan, a fights ensues, and that's over. As for me, well Summer took me leaving as a pussy move, and has moved on to what I like to call the Super Seth Cohen. He's a water-polo player, likes deathcab and comic books, and completely gorgeous."
"Did you just say gorgeous?" Ryan snorted into his coffee mug. "Dude, no wonder she moved on."
"Coming from the guy that just said dude, and I thought Chino was supposed to make you tough."
"But seriously, gorgeous?"
"Well looks like no one's having luck with the ladies then," Sandy commented interrupting the two bickering teens. "I'm still in the doghouse for letting you two leave this summer."
"Well my boys are home now, and that's what important, and if you all come to this dinner tonight you'll be out of the doghouse soon enough," Kirsten replied, entering the kitchen and grabbing a coffee mug from the cupboard. "while you two were gone some new neighbors moved into the Cooper's old house, and since were in the middle of this remodel, were going over there for dinner tonight," after the hearing the groans from around the room she continued, "no excuses and you will like it. While you were all off on your little adventures I was home alone and we have become pretty good friends. They have kids your age and you all owe me this and you know it. Be ready at 7 and look presentable," she said as she grabbed her briefcase and walked towards the door, giving Sandy a quick kiss as she left. "And don't be late for registration either!"
After she was out of earshot Sandy turned to the boys, "Well the boss has spoken, lets get moving. And don't look so down, one of the kids is your age and lets just say she's a hottie."
"UHHHH dad don't ever say that again," Seth yelled as he grabbed his bag, receiving a quick punch in the arm from Ryan. "Ok, so I take by my tough comment, you've definitely gotten stronger, I'm not gonna be able to move my arm for like a month," he cried falling to the ground.
"Lets just get this day over with," Ryan replied, pulling on his messenger bag over his black t-shirt.
Sitting at an unfamiliar dinner table was the last place Ryan Atwood wanted to be. He had just spent most of the day at school registering for classes and helping Seth avoid Summer and the 'new guy'. He had managed to be put in all AP classes, again, and was given an assignment by his counselor to start researching colleges. His soccer coach declared he had 'true raw talent' and wanted him to start conditioning and practicing with a local competitive team to be prepared for the season. 6 a.m. practices started the next morning, and two-a-days began later that week. Adding to the list, he had blown off summer reading thinking he would be stuck in Chino for the rest of his life, and was supposed to be finished with 4 massive novels and a play by the time school started in 2 weeks. The only benefit about being that busy was having more of a reason to avoid Marissa. Marissa. Yet another thing to think about. Yeah, dinner with the new neighbors was not on the top of Ryan's to do list.
"Ryan…" Sandy repeated.
Snapping out of his daze, Ryan knew he had been caught not paying attention at all. His only response was simply "Oh what, sorry?"
"Well Susan here was simply asking about Harbor's honors program, since her daughter will probably be joining this fall," Sandy replied.
"Yeah, she's not exactly thrilled about starting a new school her senior year, but there was just no way around it. Sorry she hasn't shown up yet, she and Landon, our oldest son went to check out UCLA earlier today and haven't been home since," Susan added to the conversation.
Susan and Mark Hastings were the new neighbors next door. The next door as in the Cooper's old house next door. From what Ryan had gathered, Mark was a big-time hockey coach and had just been moved to coach the pro team in Southern California from coaching a Junior Pro team in Nebraska. Susan was in her second marriage, and had two kids from the earlier marriage. The older son was a sophomore at Yale and played hockey there, and the daughter was a senior like himself and Seth. Then there was the younger brother Cameron, who had hardly said a word. Apparently he was going to be a freshman and had been accepted into harbor that day. He fit the mold for a water polo player perfectly. Ending the clan was a pair 5 year old twins who had been sent up to bed earlier in the evening.
"Yeah, well the honors program isn't for everyone, but Dr. Kim wouldn't recommend it unless she was sure you could do it. Did Dr. Kim mention anything to you about it?" Ryan responded, trying to at least sound polite even if he was dying on the inside.
"Well, the thing is, we haven't met with the dean yet. Sarah is convinced that if she can't get into school we'll send her back home for her senior year, so apparently she skipped her meeting. Great way to start off her school year," Susan replied.
"Hah that's funny, so did Ryan…" Seth started, only to be interrupted by the sounds of the door opening and sounds of two people singing journey.
The muffled sounds of "Shit Sarah, were really late, mom's gonna kill us," could be heard moving down a nearby hallway.
"Sorry mom, I guess we didn't think traffic out of L.A. would be that bad on a Friday night, but who knew," a voice said as the door to the dining room opened.
In walked one of the hottest girls Ryan had ever seen. She wore a mid length striped skirt that seemed to make her long golden legs go on forever. Her teal lacoste polo made her look casual and showed off just a tiny bit of skin above her skirt revealing a toned stomach. She had a pretty face and striking gray eyes but her beauty was topped with a head of platinum blonde hair. Suddenly the dinner didn't seem so bad after all. Heck, Ryan did always fall for the girl next door.