Hi so I wanted to write something different. Ryan and Marissa have ever met; Ryan is just starting work in her lawyer firm. He's a bit like Sandy was at the beginning of the first season, hates everything about them. I would tell you why he started work there but it's part of the plot.

Thanks, review!

xoxo

New places, new faces, Newport

I can't be doing this, I thought as I walked up the stairs to my new firm's offices. I had never worked for a lawyer firm before and I had never wanted to, until it happened. I wasn't going to enjoy the next 12 months.

"Hi, I'm here for my first day," I said to the lady behind the desk.

"Mr..." She said, as she scrolled down her computer screen. "Atwood,"

"Yes,"

"I'll just call your partner to show you to your office." That was another thing I wasn't looking forward to; partnering. As if working for some stupid private firm wasn't bad enough. Partnering meant talking to and about each other, which meant disaster for me. I couldn't talk about me. I didn't want to walk about me. She made a quick phone call and soon a woman was standing with us. She was beautiful, long hair cascaded down her back, which I imagined as tanned, her being a Newpsie. She was beautiful, but I didn't find her...attractive. I didn't want to date her; I didn't want to date anyone.

"Hi, I'm Marissa," She said, offering a hand for me to shake.

"Ryan," I said as I shook her hand. Somebody called her.

"Do you mind if I quickly see what he wants? I won't be a second,"

"Sure."

"You're lucky, she's the nicest out of all of them," The receptionist said. She wasn't the usual image of a receptionist, she was old, looked like she had a lot of experience. Because of this I didn't think she would be offended by my comment.

"She's still a Newpsie. They're all spoilt little rich kids, I bet her parents paid for all her fees. Probably still paying for her." I muttered.

"Watch it, a lot of my friends are from Newport doesn't mean their Newpsies."

"Sorry," I grumbled as Marissa walked back over to us.

"Sorry about that...so I'll show you to our office?" She said, smiling at me.

"Our office?" I was confused; there had been no mention of sharing an office.

"Yep, we work together. You'll probably end up spending more time in the office than at home, so we'll end up living together to," She smiled again, trying to be humorous. I wasn't amused.

"Ok," I said, trying to sound as polite as possible, though I think she may have picked up on my bad mood. I followed her down a pristine white corridor and through a frosted glass door.

"Here we are," She said, waving out her arm.

"Great," I said, again trying to hide my bad mood. "I take it my desk is the tidy one?"

"Yeah, sorry I haven't gotten round to tidying mine..." I cut her off.

"Its fine, mine will be like that in a week," I gave her my best fake smile and sat down on the leather chair behind my desk. The desk was huge and made out of glass, I wasn't used to this sort of extravagance. I couldn't imagine what the boss' office was like. "So...out case...?" She had sat down in her chair, identical to mine.

"I thought we could...talk, maybe get to know each other a little. I mean we're working together for a minimum of 12 months,"

"Sure, you got any family?" I said, though I wasn't planning on answering questions, just asking them.

"No boyfriend, but my Mom still lives in Newport, so she's probably the family I see most of, apart from my best friend Summer, who is practically family. Then there's her husband and his family who are really nice, so they're like my...extended family. Then my Dad is off sailing around the world somewhere and my sister, Caitlin, is in New York. You?"

"My Mom lives in the same house I grew up in," I wasn't going to tell her anything important. Truth was I hadn't spoken to my Mom in 15 years.

"Home is...?"

"It's not home," Memories of fists hitting my face over and over again flashed back to me. That place wasn't home, that wasn't what a home was. I'd had a home, but I'd lost it. That's why I was here, sat in some stupid office, with some Newpsie. "It's where I grew up,"

"Which is...?"

"Chino," She looked at me, obviously amazed that anyone from Chino could be a lawyer. She'd probably treat me like shit on her shoe for the rest of our time together, I wasn't as good as her cause I was from Chino, that's what was going through her mind.

"So, where is home?"

"I don't have one,"

"You need a place to stay?"

"No, I've got a house," She didn't look confused like I had expected her to; she seemed to understand what I meant.

"Did your girlfriend move with you?"

"I don't have one," I could see she was about to ask a question, I knew what it was going to be. "I didn't have one before I moved here either,"

"Oh." She paused. "Do you mind if I ask a blunt question?"

"Whatever," I said, fiddling with a pen.

"Why did you do this? I mean you obviously hate the whole thing and I've figured that out within a few minutes, so you must really hate it."

"I wanted a change,"

"What did you do before?" It seemed like she wanted to ask why, but refrained.

"I was a public defender,"

"Really? Summer's father-in-law did that! I hear it doesn't pay well?"

"It was never about the money,"

"You don't like talking much, do you?"

"No, so can we get on with the case?"

"Sure,"