Authors Note: This is just the "pre-credits" sequence, and therefore is shorter than the rest of the chapters will be. I just wanted to get this one up as I have never submitted anything here before and so thought I'd better give it a run-through to see how it works.
The sun came up over the edge of the sea, like a knife cutting through the horizon, bathing Orange County in a familiar warm glow, looking down on the privileged residents of Newport. The beaches, the pools, the "McMansions" (as the many critics of the area would call them) all shimmered on this Saturday morning. A far cry away from the Los Angeles slums of Compton or Chino, but not a huge geographical distance, to anyone else, the picturesque bubble of Newport would seem like a paradise, but to those who lived there, this was an everyday scene.
In fact, those who lived in Newport often grew weary of the place. The suffocation of such an advantaged life, the money, the business-like demeanour of life that comes with money, the fact that every day was like a holiday so there is no chance of a weekend getaway even though each and everyone of them could afford many, the backstabbing. Underneath the clear blue sky, alongside the rows of corporate-built mansions, in amongst the wealthy inhabitants air-kissing each other's cheeks lay drama and intrigue. And, since this was Orange County, they do it so much bigger than the rest of the world.
On this particular morning, in a suitably indistinguishable Newport house, everybody was already up and about, despite the fact that it was only eight in the morning on a Saturday. The only thing about this home to the others is the fact that this was the first - the prototype home built in Newport by the late Caleb Nichol, owner of The Newport Group, the most powerful organisation in the area, and now inhabited by his daughter Kirsten Cohen and her family. To those who lived in Newport, this house was not only considered the foundation of their very way of life, as it was built and modern Newport seemingly grew around it, but the centre of all of the drama and intrigue that had taken over Orange County.
Kirsten Cohen, CEO of the Newport Group, alcoholic, sent to rehab by her family after having turned to the bottle since her rumoured affair with magazine editor Carter Buckley and her husband's confirmed affair with a woman known only as "Rebecca". Kirsten's husband, Sandy Cohen, dedicated his life to bringing down Caleb Nichol and the Newport Group who Sandy saw as the corporation that was sucking the life out of Newport, drove Caleb to bankruptcy, which forced Caleb to admit to having an illegitimate love-child named Lindsey, Sandy was also approached by a child-hood friend named Rebecca who was being hunted by police for murder, but Sandy broke this off as it was starting to slowly break apart his marriage. Seth Cohen, Kirsten and Sandy's only son, ran away from Newport for an entire summer which really put a strain on Kirsten and Sandy's marriage, then returned to write a hit comic book series that was going to be auctioned by George Lucas but ended up giving it up, best friend of Ryan Atwood. Ryan was a kid from Chino who was fostered by the Cohen's, and burned down one of the Newport Group's model homes, then saved many of the debutant teenagers from a psychotic gun-man named Oliver, then exposed Caleb Nichol for having a secret daughter, then caused Caleb to have a heart-attack, then brought his brother to Newport, who attempted to rape one of the high-society women named Marissa Cooper, before Ryan and Marissa killed him. They were let off for self-defence, but it all had a profound effect on Newport society.
Ryan had been awake for a while when Seth walked into the kitchen in his bathrobe, scratching his head, not quite fully awake yet. Since his Mom had gone to rehab, Seth hadn't really got the hang of the mornings yet. His usual routine of being woken up by Kirsten and then going downstairs to find breakfast that had been made for him had been interrupted by her departure, and even though it had been three months since she had left, he still always expected to see her when he came downstairs in the morning.
"Hey man", Seth said to Ryan as he walked through the door and sat on a stool by the table in the centre of the kitchen. "Bagels, huh? Really mixing it up this morning."
"Your Dad left some out before he went", Ryan replied. "You have a good night last night?"
"Totally man, just amazing", said Seth in his usual animated way. "I didn't get to sleep until like 6am. Nothing but excitement, laughter and madness!"
"Playing 'Broken Sword 3' alone in your room all night, huh?" Ryan smirked.
"It still counts", Seth replied dejectedly.
Ryan sat down at the table next to Seth and passed him a be-Bagel'd plate. He was still used to feeding his family back in Chino, and so didn't mind filling the void of Kirsten's morning routine for his best friend. "Summer still not talking to you?"
Seth ate his Bagel as they talked. "I don't know what to do, Ryan. I don't even know what I've done. It's been over a week now and all she told me is that she needed some space. Do you not think I've been giving her enough space? I mean, I'm not suffocating am I? Am I suffocating you, Ryan? Would you say I was a suffocating presence? Huh?"
Ryan looked at Seth, who was now inches away from his face. He didn't need to say anything, he simply shot him one of his trademark looks. Seth got the point and leant back into his seat. "Huh, the 'Get the hell away from me' look, haven't seen that one in a while."
"It's been a hard few months, man. She'll come around soon," Ryan said.
"Okay, yeah, I guess you're right man," said Seth. "How's, uh… how's Marissa doing?"
Seth looked at Ryan and half regretted asking. He never really knew how to approach the subject. Since shooting Trey, Ryan's brother, Marissa had been in juvenile detention awaiting trial. Seth hadn't been to visit her, as he never really knew what to say to Marissa unless Ryan was around anyway, and he knew that Ryan hadn't been to see her in person either, just a few phone calls.
A momentary awkward silence was broken by Ryan looking up at Seth with a smile on his face.
"You should just go and talk Summer," Ryan opinioned.
"I'm not so sure, man, I mean…"
Ryan stopped him before he could say anymore. "Seth…"
Seth nodded in agreement. "Never listen to myself when it comes to girls, read you loud and clear man."
"So you going to speak to her?" Ryan asked as he picked up the two empty plates and started washing them up.
"I guess so," said Seth standing up. "I mean, it's been eight days. No girl can go without their weekly dose of Seth Cohen."
"God knows why," Ryan said almost under his breath as Seth walked out of the kitchen.
"Nobody does, man," said Seth turning around to face him, "you just gotta go with it."
As Seth walked into the living area of the house, he heard his phone start to bleep. He felt around in the pockets of his bathrobe, and then remembered that he had left his phone on the couch in front of the TV where he had been playing PlayStation all night.
"A Cohen without a woman is a terrible thing," he muttered to himself as he picked up the phone and read the message he had just received.
It was from Summer.
'We realli hav 2 tlk. cum 2 min wen u get this msg. itz important. tell no1.'
Seth re-read the message with a perplexed look on his face. "Uh, Ry," he said, shouting back into the kitchen without taking his eyes off the message, "I'm going to go to go out for a sec, okay, man?"
"Sure," Ryan said from the kitchen. "You going to Summers?"
"No, no, definitely not," Seth quickly shot back as he ran upstairs to get changed.
In the kitchen, Ryan continued washing up as he looked out of the window with a suspicious look on his face. What was Seth up to?