AU Grace is Marissa's daughter. When she and her mum come back to Newport and Grace goes to Harbor she meets Ben Atwood. When they find out that their parents knew each other they try to figure out what happened 17 years ago.
„I guess summer's finally over", a voice said. Grace turned to see two girls who were talking loudly about their vacations. They made their way towards Pacific High, the other private high school in Orange County.
Grace pressed her bag against her chest and moved on over the street towards the great building of Harbor Highschool. She knew she shouldn't be nervous. It was just another school she would be at until she and her mum would move away again.
But this time she was a little anxious. Her mum paid tuition for this school and Grace wasn't known for her well-behaving. She looked around. Everywhere she looked were pupils in expensive clothes. Grace looked down at herself. She wore jeans, T-Shirt and Sneakers. She shrugged and hurried on. She saw some good-looking guys and girls in high heels but she didn't care. She just wanted to graduate at this school. Her grades were OK but the others things weren't easy for her.
She finally found her class room and sat down in a chair in the middle of the room. Some kids were watching her suspiciously but Grace didn't pay attention. She dropped her bag and leaned back against her chair, crossed her arms and took a deep breath. Then she heard a girl some seats away saying: "Look at her shoes. Who wears something like that?" Grace sighed. This was going to be hard.
When the teacher came in Grace took her head phones off and put her iPod away. The teacher was a small young guy who glanced at every pupil when finally his eye landed on Grace. "So who are you, miss?" he said smiling. Grace lifted one eyebrow. "I'm new, sir. Grace."
The teacher nodded. "I know that, I do. So do you want to tell us something about you?" "Actually I don't" she replied politely. Or so she thought, because the teacher stared at her, blinked - and ignored her the rest of the lesson.
When she was finally allowed to go home Grace sighed in relief and walked over the parking ground where all the rich kids had their cars when one of these cars stopped next to her. Grace stopped and turned around to look at the driver. It was a boy with blond hair and deep blue eyes.
He smiled. "Hey. Can I take you somewhere?" Grace smiled back. "Not really. I know where I'm going." "What do you mean?" he asked. "I mean: thanks, but no thanks." Grace got annoyed. "I gotta go." She hurried to get away from the strange boy but he slowed his car down and drove next to her. "Please", he begged. "I can take you to your home. Just get in. My name's Ben. Ben Atwood." Grace froze. "Your name's what?" she asked in surprise. "Ben Atwood" the boy answered. "Who're you?" "Grace" she replied. "You… you don't know Ryan Atwood, do you?" Ben lifted his eyebrows. "I do, actually. He's my dad." Grace stared at her. "Do you know him?" Ben asked. Grace paused. "Um, I don't but I think my mum does. Her name's Marissa. Marissa Cooper."