Well, well, well. What have we here? A sequel to the sequel of "Youth of the Nation"? Why, I think you're right! Here it is: The first chapter of Scarred Youth. Thanks to IntentiallyCruel and Kim's dyslexia for the title. LOL. So, here it is, everyone please review, and I'll type!
Seth Cohen sat on his bed debating on whether to go downstairs. Maybe Kirsten and Sandy would let him skip. Highly doubtful. He had missed way too much school. First in the coma, then he skipped a lot of school, so yeah, he had to go. Seth was pretty much up to date with everything, but this would be his first day without Ryan to back him up on things.
Kirsten was making Ryan miss the next week of school, for the withdraw. Ryan never did get kicked out. Though Kirsten and Sandy said they would if they caught him with drugs, they didn't have the heart. Instead, they gave Ryan a big talking to when they got home last night. Seth knew about this one, but chose not to listen in. Plus, he was dead tired.
So that's where they were. Tuesday morning, things were finally blowing over. Seth hoped nothing huge would happen. He doubted he could take it. Just a month and a half ago, he woke up from a coma. Where he spent a month and three weeks in. That was a damn long time. All this from one second in time, one movement of the finger, one gunshot.
Perhaps everything happened because of that gunshot, Seth didn't know. Some of it didn't have a thing to do with it. Like Ryan and drugs. Of course, that started because he told Summer who was in the hospital because of the shooting. Well then. Everything was because of the shooting.
Seth picked up his old best friend, Captain Oats. The Captain glared at him, telling him to go downstairs. He was giving Seth that look. The look saying, "You're a wuss, get moving, you're overreacting." The horse never gave Seth that look before Ryan came.
"I'm going, I'm going," Seth grew annoyed of the look so he placed the plastic horse on his night stand and got up. He headed down the stairs and through the kitchen, where no one was there. So Seth kept walking to the pool house.
Ryan wasn't there either. Where the hell did everyone go? Seth knew Ryan wasn't allowed out, so where could he be?
Seth's brother appeared from the bathroom, looking horrible. Ryan barely acknowledged Seth, before lying on the bed again.
"So, how is the life of leisure?" Seth sat down in a chair and looked over at Ryan.
"It sucks," Ryan answered.
"How? Dude, you get to sit around and lounge for a week," Seth remarked.
"Yeah, but it's for withdraw. I forgot how much it sucked," Ryan knew it wouldn't be as bad as the last time, but it would still suck.
"Okay, I see your point. But you were only on it for three weeks. It couldn't have gotten really bad," Seth said.
"I suppose," Ryan just wanted to sleep.
"You see my parents?" Seth had no idea where they could be.
"Kirsten came in here a while ago, but I haven't seen either since," Ryan thought back to the conversation the night before.
Ryan begged not to be sent away. He vowed he'd never do drugs again. If he was okay after withdraw, he wouldn't have to go to therapy. Kirsten didn't want both her sons talking to a shrink.
"I'm gonna go look for them," Seth got up.
"Wait, Seth," Ryan slowly sat up.
"What?" Seth barely saw his brother in Ryan. He knew him, but Ryan had changed.
"Marissa is coming over. Don't let her in here," Before Ryan crashed last night, he left a message on her cell phone. She left one on his saying she'd be over in the morning.
"Okay," Seth didn't quite understand that Ryan did not want Marissa seeing him like this.
Seth left Ryan in the pool house and went to the kitchen. Kirsten was in there, not dressed for work. Seth was confused as he watched her read the paper.
"Hi," Seth grabbed a cup and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"Hi," Kirsten took a sip of hers.
"Not going to work?" Seth guessed.
"Staying home for Ryan," Kirsten needed a day off. Her father was making her do so much work lately.
"Where's Dad?" Seth got a bagel out and put it into the toaster.
"No idea. Probably surfing," She wasn't talking to Sandy a whole lot lately.
"Oh," Seth knew his mother wasn't in the mood to talk. He was glad when the doorbell rang.
Marissa stood there waiting. She did that a lot lately. Seth rushed out of the kitchen and to the door. He opened it and saw his step-aunt.
"Hey Marissa," Seth said to her and she smiled.
"Hey Seth," Marissa walked in. "How's Ryan?" She asked him.
"Uh...sick," Seth informed her as they walked into the kitchen.
"Oh hi Mrs. Cohen," Marissa greeted her step-sister.
"Hi Marissa," Kirsten replied.
"Where's Ryan?" Marissa wanted to see him before school. She doubted he would go, but she at least thought he'd be in the kitchen.
"Pool house. But you can't go see him," Seth almost forgot to tell Marissa. She was already headed to the pool house.
"Why not?" Marissa didn't get it.
"He doesn't want you to go see him," Seth explained.
"Oh," Marissa felt dismayed. Though Ryan didn't want her to see him, she did. Who cared what he looked like?
"Sorry," Seth added as Marissa looked out the window to the pool house. The shades were drawn, as usual. Ryan didn't have the energy to open them.
"I'm going to see him," Marissa began to go out of the room and to the pool house.
"But he said..." Seth started, but Marissa was gone. "Damn."
"Seth..." Kirsten warned.
Marissa knocked on the pool house door. She didn't hear anything, so slowly she turned the knob and opened it.
Ryan was lying on the bed, his eyes drooping down. He needed sleep so badly. He hadn't had more than two hours at a time for a month. He closed his eyes.
Marissa didn't say a word, she floated to the notebook nearby and wrote a note to Ryan. She told him to call her when he could. She walked back to the bed and kissed Ryan on the cheek.
He was still awake when she kissed him.
She slipped out of the room and went back to the kitchen.
"Let's go. Bye Mrs. Cohen," Marissa waved.
"See ya Mom," Seth followed Marissa and they headed to school.
The two said their goodbyes after first period, he was all alone. Some of the water polo team was in his class. He hated then with such a vigor.
"Hey Seth," John was in his room. He had completely forgotten. John usually didn't bother Seth, no idea why. John had actually been on vacation the last three weeks. Yeah, you could do that in the O.C.
Seth ignored him. That's what therapy taught him. Ignore them and you'll be fine.
"I said hello, Cohen. Aren't you going to say hi to me?" John sat in the desk in front of Seth.
"Hi," Seth didn't look up at them.
"You're not in a very social mood. Where ya been?" John asked snidely.
"I've been here, you haven't," Seth shot at John.
"No, I haven't been. Neither has your girlfriend Summer. How is she? Still insane?" John was Luke reincarnated.
"Shut up, John," Seth was getting pissed.
"You know, me and her were going out for about a month before the shooting. Before she went crazy," John commented.
"She's not crazy," Seth hated John the most.
"Oh, we used to have some good times together. Hit the parties, get wasted, the stories I'd hear. Cohen this and Cohen that. You were the devil to her. She hated your ass," John liked torturing the best punchbag in the school.
"Shut up," Seth didn't want to hear about what happened with Summer before the shooting.
"She definitely took some hints from her buddy Coop. A lot of the nights she'd be passed out. Too pretty to be destroyed, but oh well," John loved doing this. He did it to Summer, now Seth.
"Why don't you shut the fuck up?" Seth could take John. Okay, maybe not. If Ryan was here, and healthy, he could definitely take down John Grant.
"I could, but I won't. I wanna know where Summer is exactly. In the loony bin? She always had that vibe to me. The 'schizo' vibe," John remembered back a few years. Luke was still here and Seth was such an easy prey. He still was.
"John, I mean it," Seth warned.
"What are you gonna do? Punch me like your brother did for Summer? He acts like such a tough guy, but he's a weakling. Didn't see him in school yesterday. Did he go back to Chino? Or maybe he's with Summer. Supposedly last time Ms. Crazy was here, she was all over Ryan whenever he was around, and you weren't. Hurts, doesn't it?" John was there that first night when Ryan came to Newport, he assisted in beating the crap out of the two guys.
"Shut up," Seth knew ignoring wasn't working. What could he do? John wasn't going to stop.
"And what makes you think that she's gonna go back to you? She's in therapy, saying all that stuff she said to me. Man, you fucked her up. You put her in the loony bin. She's not gonna wanna be with you," John stood up. "Face it, you lost her."
"Shut the fuck up," Seth got up, ready to hit John. He knew that with all the anger in him, he could do it.
"Oh, what are you gonna do Cohen? You're too much of a wimp to take me on. Plus, I don't wanna waste the air," Why was it that the teacher was never here when a fight broke out? Seth knew if he did fight John, he'd lose. Indefinitely. But he was willing to attempt.
"Mr. Cohen, Mr. Grant, please sit down," And there was the teacher. Seth breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to fight John.
"I'll see you later Cohen," John sneered at Seth and walked to his seat.
What did John mean? Was he just saying he'd see Seth later or did he mean it? Would he and his friends jump Seth while he waited for Marissa?
If only Summer was here. She'd be his support, and he'd be hers. She could give out embarrassing facts about John. That'd put John Grant in his place.
If only.
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Summer Roberts settled herself in Willow Creek's Ward B day room. Most of the other girls were there, Nikki, Mika, Evan, Lauren, Alicia, and Bree. The only person missing was Kaci.
Summer had bonded with these girls so much over the last five weeks. She herself had only three weeks left. The thought was growing in her mind, it enticed her, yet scared her. She hadn't been in the real world for so long. She felt so cut off.
"576!" Nicole, Summer's roommate, screamed at the television. All the girls were watching the Price is Right, that's how Morning Free Time was spent. Summer had immediately noticed Kaci wasn't there.
Kaci was the second girl Summer had been really introduced with, a cutter. There were a lot of them lately. Kaci was the quietest and youngest of the group, she was only 15. Constantly Kaci longed to be one of the group, but someway, felt she wasn't.
Summer had at first given Kaci the cold shoulder, who had only been in Willow Creek for two weeks at the time. Kaci was the easiest to get along with, and Summer found herself hanging with her a lot.
The 15 year old had a sane life, filled with normal problems. But something had deeply disturbed Kaci. She felt her walls close in on her and cutting was a way to stop the pain. She never went over the edge, but a girl saw her drop the razor blade in the gym bathroom. The teacher had ordered Kaci to show everyone her wrist. Kaci ran.
"Where's Kaci?" Summer asked Evan, who was sitting next to her.
"Dunno," Evan had no idea.
"Sum, you remember the screams last night?" Kaci's roommate, Lauren, replied Summer.
"I thought that was the other ward," Ward C had a screamer. The girl never shut up and they had to sedate her daily.
"Most of it. But Kaci lost it last night. Started rambling, then tore apart our room. Screaming and flailing around for ten minutes before the nurses got to her. Bleeding pretty badly by then. Got safety for a week," Lauren adjusted her black bucket hat atop her head. She was the only girl who wore a hat all the time. Summer had never seen Lauren without the hat. She was going bald from anorexia.
"Oh my gosh," All the girls were now paying attention to Lauren, who reveled in it. Most attention went to Nikki or Mika.
"...A brand new car!" Bob Barker's voice interrupted their moment of silence for Kaci. Summer continued to think about the girl as the rest watched Bob.
What was safety like? Summer never got in there. Alicia told them about it, after the two days it took her to readjust. Supposedly, for every day in safety, three more were added to your stay. Safety took away everything and left you with nothing.
"Definitely sucks for her," Mika commented.
"It had to happen. She was bound to break, everyone does," Nikki knew her way around everything in Willow Creek. She knew everything.
"What?" Summer didn't get what Nikki meant.
"Every patient goes through the safety room. Could be a small time, could be like a month. Depends on severity," Summer grew afraid. She couldn't go into safety. She'd be stuck in here longer than she was set up to be. It couldn't happen. She wouldn't let it. "How much longer do you have Sum?"
"Three weeks," Summer answered.
"Most likely that won't be true. The only person close to getting out is...Bree," All the girls looked to the blonde haired, model-like patient.
"When are you getting out?" Evan inquired.
"A week," Everyone was amazed.
"Try to get us out. You've been here for a while, they like you. We could go out to visit," Nikki was excited.
"Very Girl, Interrupted," Alicia added.
"Good movie. I want the tunnels here," Then, Mika pushed her chair to the nurses' station.
"What's she doing?" Summer wondered.
"Trying to see if they'll build tunnels for us. Again," Evan answered. They watched as Mika tried to persuade the nurses. She came back moments later, dismayed.
"No go on the tunnels, guys," She told them and Nikki laughed.
Summer was still worried. She could get into a safety room. She'd beat that rumor. She couldn't be in here longer.
"Morning Free Time is over," The nurses told the seven girls. Summer got up and followed Lauren and Evan to the art room.
The girls took a normal art class, Summer was slowly getting better. She could draw, not very well though. If only her progression in therapy was going this well.
Kelly had decided that Summer wasn't quite ready to talk about the shooting, or her friends for that matter. Marissa was discussed only because she played a crucial part in Summer's childhood.
The art therapy went by rather quickly and all three of them headed to the cafeteria. It was strange not having Kaci walking with them. Summer knew Kaci pretty well, they were close. She wasn't as outspoken as any of the rest, something Summer was also. They connected really well.
"So how long is Kaci in safety?" Evan, who was in safety the most, asked.
"I heard only two days. Her parents supposedly want to take her out of here. That's what she was mumbling when she was losing it," Lauren answered Evan.
"Didn't her parents hit her or something?" This was definitely something Summer didn't know about. The girls got in the cafeteria line and Summer listened in.
"Yeah, but she never told anyone. I kept telling her to, but she thinks it'll be better is she doesn't," Lauren rolled her eyes.
"Idiot," Evan commented as they got their food. Why hadn't Summer known about this? She and Kaci were pretty close, obviously not as close as she had guessed.
Lauren, Evan, and Summer were the first people at the table, and Summer felt distant from the other girls. She felt so out of place.
Nicole and Mika were rambling a mile a minute when they arrived at the ramble. They were in an argument, about something nonsensical.
"You know, you guys should switch to anger management. It's neat. You beat the shit out of stuff," The girls laughed at Mika's comment that was said after the argument was put on hold. Everyone then gathered into conversation, except Summer.
She couldn't stop thinking about being in a safety room. The thought really irked her.
"Summer...Sum..." Nikki was trying to grab Summer's attention. She knew how. "Newport."
Summer shot her gaze over to Nicole, and the other girls somehow understood.
"What?" Summer asked as all the other girls looked at her strangely.
"Why'd you pay attention at 'Newport'?" Mika said what everyone was thinking. Nikki knew Summer was in the shooting. But Summer didn't know that.
"Did you go to a private school?" Evan started to ask.
"Harbor, Summer, did you go there? Were you in the shooting? Holy crap, were you shot?" Mika kept going.
Every memory Summer was trying to suppress since that talk with Kelly came back. Being five feet away from death, seeing those guns, waiting for Seth to come out and he never did. Running with Marissa, who was wearing another girl's blood.
The tables were being dismissed and Summer bolted. She blended in with the crowd and her ward watched her disappear.
"Nice going, Mika," Nikki got up to try to see Summer better.
"You started it," Mika usually was okay with everyone, but she couldn't get Nicole today.
"I said, 'Newport,' that's it. You were the one who bombarded her with questions," Nikki couldn't see Summer at all.
"Whose side are you on? I know you wanted to know that stuff. Five weeks in here, you think she would've gotten through that," Mika explained.
"I gotta go," Nikki was getting sick, so she turned her back and tried to find Summer.
Summer had hurried herself to her room, grabbing Princess Sparkle and sitting in the corner. It wasn't very secret, like her old one. She wished she could be there, to hide from everyone. But she knew how that ended.
"Sorry about everything in the cafeteria," Nicole found Summer quite quickly.
"It's fine," Summer couldn't get her memories of the shooting out of her head. They kept playing, refusing to stop.
"No, it's not. I should've never mentioned Newport," Nikki walked over and sat on Summer's bed.
"How did you know about it?" Summer only knew that they hadn't been talking about Newport earlier. She would've paid attention.
"Ryan mentioned it. I didn't want to say anything, because I kinda figured it'd be hard to take. Guess I was right," Summer looked so small in the corner to Nikki.
"We haven't gotten to it in therapy. We tried, but I freaked," Summer divulged to Nicole.
"That's what I kinda thought. It had to be scary as shit to go through that," Nikki had been through some bad things, but never something like a shooting. That was on a completely different level.
"You have no idea," Summer barely noticed she was talking to someone else.
"We stared at the t.v. all day. Watched 'em pull out body by body. There were so many," Most of the girls were different from then, and it had been strange watching dead people your age. It hit so close to home.
"Seth was one of them," Summer mumbled. She remembered being so scared that day, fear taking over everything. She never saw the paramedics pull out Seth. What would he have looked like? Would he have looked dead? Pale and blue? Would Summer mistake him for dead? Maybe it was better she never saw Seth like that. That was the kind of image the burns in your head. Like so many that day.
"But we saw Seth at visitation..." Nicole didn't understand. Of course she wouldn't. The paramedics covered all the faces so identities could be kept secret for at least a little while. Naturally, everyone at Willow Creek assumed all those people died.
"Not everyone died," Summer caught on to the reason for Nicole's confusion.
"They made it seem like that," Nicole looked at the pictures of Summer and her friends. From what her roommate told Nikki, Marissa, Ryan, and Seth, went to school with her. Nicole couldn't believe those happy teens in the photos were in such a tragedy.
It was all so surreal.
"Seth was shot and in a coma for a month of a half," Summer felt so many emotions rise up in her. Tears fell down her face, as she thought of when she first learned about the comatose Seth...
"Hey Coop," Summer was trying to sound okay even though everything was falling apart.
"Hey Sum," Marissa sounded ready to cry on the phone. Summer had been hoping to hear some joy, since she thought Seth would get out of the hospital soon, and everything could go back to normal soon.
"What's up?" Summer knew something was wrong.
"It's Seth," Marissa croaked out and Summer felt sick in the gut. Was Seth dead? He had been doing good when she saw him yesterday.
"What happened?" Summer prayed to God Seth wasn't dead. She just found out that she still loved him. He couldn't do this to her. It wasn't fair.
"He's in a coma. They don't know when he might come out," Summer didn't remember the rest of the conversation. She had quickly hung up and fallen into sobs. She didn't know what to think. Would Seth could out of it right away? Or would he just sleep and destroy the people that loved him the most bit by bit until there was no more? He would wake up soon. She had to bet on it.
No, Summer thought as she felt her world crash down some more, Seth Cohen liked to torture people.
Nicole watched Summer break into heavier sobs. She didn't know how to help. It was the past Summer was crying about, how could Nicole fix that?
Summer had just dropped a bomb on Nicole. Summer's boyfriend almost died, and Nikki could see Summer's problems digging deeper. She was learning the whole story. What if she didn't want to know it? Nicole was afraid Summer wanted answers to questions that had no answers.
So? What did we think? I know the whole Summer crying bit is running tired, but never fear: She won't be like that for much more. Now, what can we expect of this story? Well, some drama, that's a given, some mushy stuff...maybe, a few minor fights, one big one, and a person leaves forever. Who is it? AH! Well, everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE please review for this story!