I Just Want To Be Saved

Disclaimer: Anything that you recognise, I do not own. If I did, I'd be a lot richer.

This is an Alex/Marissa fic, might be Summer/Jodie later, for those of you have got this far without realising. It is almost completely AU, due to the very limited amount of the show I have seen.

Marissa sighed as she took a long drink from the bottle of vodka that she held loosely next to her. She didn't like feeling this way, and she used the drink to numb it. She couldn't deal with that right now. The beach was where she had been coming to try and forget about how empty she felt sometimes.

She was suddenly startled by her mobile ringing loudly from its position in the pocket of her jeans. She answered it without looking to check whom it was. She was soon regretting that as she heard the screeching of her mother through the telephone. Holding the phone slightly away from her ear as she listened to Julie complain that she had missed dinner, and she should have been home three hours ago, she rose to her feet a little unsteadily.

" Yeah, yeah, whatever, mom. I'm coming now, so you can stop freaking out. If you were that concerned, you would have phoned earlier."

" I don't like your tone, Marissa", replied Julie, sounding increasingly pissed off.

" Yeah, well, I don't like yours either", a biting tone obvious in her voice.

" Marissa, if you're not here in twenty minutes, I'm taking your cell phone away."

" Fine, whatever. I'm on my way anyway."

Marissa hung up, resisting the urge to hurl her phone away from her in anger. Julie always seemed to bring out the worst in her; in fact, she was the reason for this little drinking session tonight. She hated Julie's overbearing presence in her life. Ever since her mother had found out about her and…. " No, Marissa, don't even go there", she told herself. It was no use dwelling on the past, she thought to herself. She walked a little faster, because as much as she usually enjoyed pissing her mother off, she wasn't in the mood to deal with her today.

The next morning, Marissa awoke as her alarm went off, and groaned at the brightness of the light shining through her curtains. She really didn't want to get up today. However, she had been skipping a lot of school later. Any more, and suspicions would be raised, leading to her mother being called. She slowly got out of bed, catching herself in the mirror as she did so. She thought she looked a state. Last night, when she eventually arrived home, had not been a fun experience. This had, of course, led to the consumption of vast amounts of alcohol, and ultimately, the hell she was experiencing now.

Marissa arrived at school a little later, feeling a little better than when she woke up. She literally ran into Summer as she headed toward her locker.

" Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Coop. I wasn't looking where I was going", she said from her newfound spot on the floor.

" No problem," replied Marissa, holding out her hand to help Summer into a standing position. " But I can't help wondering, what it was that was distracting you so you weren't paying attention."

" What? No one, uh, nothing. Nope, nothing distracting me," said Summer awkwardly.

Marissa noted her friend's use of the word no one rather than nothing, and looked around curiously. The only person she saw, however, was a Hispanic girl leaning against some lockers down the hallway; talking to someone she couldn't see. Judging by Summer's position, she couldn't see the other person either. Marissa figured that whoever had caught her attention must have gone already.

" Come on, Summ, we should get to class. We're late as it is."

" Ooookay," said Summer, wondering to herself when Marissa had started to care about being on time for class. She hardly ever even showed up anymore. She followed Marissa down the hallway absentmindedly, before realising that she didn't even have the same class. She turned around and made her way to the right classroom, wondering why she felt so out of it today.

She thought back to earlier, just before she had run into Marissa and shook her head, as if to shake the thoughts from her head.

Meanwhile, Marissa had reached her class, and moving towards the only empty space in the room, sat in her seat. She looked at who she was sat next to, realising she hadn't seen her before.

" Hi, I'm Marissa", she said, looking at the girl, who showed no sign of noticing she was there until she spoke.

" Alex," she replied, without looking at her.

" Well, that was rude," said Marissa, a little irked. She hated when people didn't fully pay attention to her.

Alex turned to look at her for the first time, a slight smirk on her face. " Newport girls, you're all the same, thinking you're something special. Well, you know what, you're not, and I won't be playing any of your games."

Marissa looked at Alex, shock playing across her features. No one had ever spoken to Marissa like that before and got away with it. So why was it, that this girl, out of all the girls she had ever known, was the only one to ever render her completely speechless.

" Problem with the truth, Newport girl?" said Alex, her tone attacking. Marissa didn't like it one bit, and turned away from Alex, intending to ignore her for the rest of the year. She looked at the teacher, who was giving them an assignment. The next words she heard out of his mouth were " And I'll be choosing your partners for this assignment. Marissa prayed that she wouldn't get paired with Alex. She tuned out until she heard the teacher say her name: " Marissa Cooper, and hmm, let's see. You can work with Alex."

Marissa groaned inwardly, while Alex looked at her, smirking a little again. She wondered what it was about this girl that made her want to piss her off so much. After all, the only thing she had said was perfectly true, Alex was being rude.

At lunchtime, Summer sat in front of Marissa, with an odd expression on her face.

" What's the matter, Summ," asked Marissa, looking at her friend curiously."

" Ugh, Coop, you don't even want to know", replied Summer. " The new girl, that's what. God, who let her come to this place? I need to know so I can go kill them."

" You had trouble with Alex too?" questioned Marissa. What was it with that girl, she wondered.

" Who's Alex?" asked Summer. " I was talking about Jodie. She made fun of me Coop. She called me a fashion obsessed airhead midget. She's not exactly tall herself, and I am in no way an airhead, right Coop?"

" Right Summ," said Marissa hastily as she saw Summer was waiting for her response. Summer, spotting Jodie heading her way, a blonde girl she didn't know with her, she looked at Marissa, saying, " Hide me, Coop, I can't deal with more of that girl."

Marissa looked around, seeing the Hispanic girl from this morning, and next to her, she noticed with a twinge of annoyance, Alex. Alex, who was currently rapidly approaching her table, as was the girl, who Marissa figured must be Jodie.

" What are you doing coming close to me?" asked Marissa, directing the question at Alex, while Summer and Jodie glared at each other.

" Oh, too self absorbed to remember we have a project to do, huh? "said Alex in response.

" Whatever," said Marissa as she looked at Alex's face. " We can do it later, when I feel like it."

" That is so typical of people like you." Alex said before walking off. Jodie and Summer broke their death stare and Jodie followed Alex.

" Ugh, she's so annoying," they said in unison.

Jodie and Alex were having a similar conversation across the courtyard.

" She just, I don't know, got to me," Alex explained to Jodie. " And the next thing I know, she's acting like she was."

" Hmm," said Jodie, her eyes on Summer. " Summer was the same. I mean, I only said she was a fashion obsessed airhead midget, and she acts like I've done something wrong."

Alex laughed inwardly at Jodie's lack of sensitivity. Sometimes she couldn't believe her friend. She had, however, known Jodie to be very sweet, when she wanted to be that is. Alex knew that really, Jodie was a good person.

She was still looking at Summer, and Alex cleared her throat, raising an eyebrow when Jodie turned to her.

" What, she's hot," replied Jodie.

" Honestly, Jod, you have no shame. You don't even like her."

"So? You don't even like Marissa, but I saw you looking at her earlier."

" Whatever, Jodie. You did not see me looking at Marissa, cause, I wasn't. She's a bitch."

" Yeah, whatever you wanna say to convince yourself Al. But you know it's always been my job to shatter your illusions, and I'm telling you, you have a thing for Marissa Cooper."

Summer was looking at Marissa, and suddenly said, " Don't think I don't realise that you want Alex. I know you don't like her, but I saw the way you were looking at her, and you want her."

" I do not," responded Marissa indignantly. " I wasn't even looking at her. She's a bitch and I don't like her."