Authors Note: The prologue takes place near the end of the third season.
Summer Roberts sat on her bed, flipping carelessly through a magazine. It was a Friday night and she was bored.
Usually she would spend Friday nights with her boyfriend Seth or her best friend Marissa but on this particular evening, Seth had gone to the movies with his mother and Marissa, well to be honest, even though they now lives in the same house, Summer had no idea what Marissa was doing.
The two of them had been fighting a lot lately due to the increasing amount of time her best friend was spending with Kevin Volchok who was undoubtedly bad news.
Summer knew how upset and lonely Marissa's recent breakup with Ryan had left her, but she also knew that drinking away her problems with a scary surfer guy wouldn't do any good either.
Sighing, Summer glanced at the clock beside her. 8:30! What the heck was she supposed to do for the next three hours?
As she flung the magazine to the floor, her eyes landed on a framed photograph on her bedside table.
It was of her, Seth, Ryan, and Marissa at the beach last summer, when they had gone sailing for the day. Why couldn't we have stayed that happy? Summer wondered, frowning to herself.
Why couldn't the four of us have made it through the year together, like we planned?
She turned away from the photo and picked up the abandoned magazine.
What better way to distract herself from her misery than by reading about other people's problems.
At that very moment there was a soft knock on the door.
Seth summer thought sitting up, but, before she could get to it, the door swung open to reveal a very distraught Marissa with tears running down her face.
"Oh my god, Coop!" Summer exclaimed, leaping off her bed and rushing over to comfort her friend, all past arguments immediately forgotten.
She threw her arm around Marissa's frail shoulders and steered her toward the bed.
"Coop, what's wrong!?! You know you can tell me anything……Marissa?"
Marissa wiped her eyes and turned to face Summer.
"I'm pregnant" She whispered before erupting into a fresh burst of sobs.
Summer didn't say anything. She just pulled her friend in closer, and let Marissa cry them both to sleep.
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Summer woke up the ext morning to the lovely sound of her best friend vomiting her brains out in Summer's bathroom.
As all the memories from the night before immediately came rushing back, Summer hurried into the bathroom to hold back Marissa's hair.
Half an hour later the two girls were settled on Summer's bed.
Marissa sat cross-legged, hugging her share bear close to her chest while Summer sat beside her friend, patiently patting her back although she was bursting with questions.
After a few minutes her curiosity got the better of her and Summer couldn't help but ask:
"Is Volchok the father then?"
Marissa sighed then slowly shook her head and looked up at Summer with wide eyes,
"Ryan," she said quietly.
Summer couldn't help but gasp.
"Oh my god Coop! You and Ryan are having a baby!?! This is great! Now you two will finally get back together and…"
"Wait Summer, no," Marissa interrupted.
"Oh my god!" Summer shrieked again, " You are keeping it, right? Or there's always adoption. You're not considering having an abortion are you?"
Marissa sighed again. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do. I could never get an abortion and I don't think I'd be able to put my baby up for adoption either." She admitted.
"I thought about it a lot last night while you were asleep and I think the best thing to do would be to leave New Port and have the baby."
"WHAT!" Summer cried, "You can't leave New Port, What about Ryan?"
"I can't tell Ryan, Sum." Marissa explained sadly.
"If he knew he'd insist on helping me. He'd leave Sadie and he wouldn't go to college. I can't ruin his life this that. He's already been through this once with Theresa and I know how the story ends. I want Ryan to be with me cause he wants to be, not because he feels he has to be."
Summer looked at her determined friend and bit her lip, knowing Marissa was right.
"So what are we going to do?" She asked in a shaky voice. "You can't do this by yourself. I'm coming with you."
"No Sum, you can't You have Seth and college and your whole life ahead of you. I can't let you give it all up for me. I'll be fine in New York, I promise. And if I do need a little help, Rhode Island is just a few hours away. Please Sum, don't tell anyone about this. Not Seth, or our parents or especially Ryan. We'll pretend I ran away! Please!"
"Okay" Summer croaked as tears streamed down her cheeks. The two friends hugged for a long time, and then, just like that, Marissa Cooper was gone.
