Chapter One-Newport Union.
If there was one thing Marissa Cooper thought She'd never do, it was attend a public school like Newport union, it was just… so… unlike Harbor.
Walking away from Ryan was just like every other time, somehow, she felt… relieved. If she was truthful to herself, it wasn't like before when they were together, she loved him, she really did, but there was something lacking in their relationship that they had before, and it wasn't even since she shot Trey, even before that, there was something… different.
Every time she kissed him, she wasn't just thinking about him, and it wasn't just Trey either, she'd admit to herself, knowing that Ryan was the brother of the guy that tried to rape her, it affected her, and every time she kissed Ryan, she thought about Trey trying to kiss her, trying to force himself on her, and it made her sick, but there was something else too, something that was… holding her back, she thought that making love to Ryan would make a difference, she thought it would quell her doubt. It didn't.
She felt like everybody was staring at her, like she was a freak. She wondered if they knew, if they read the papers and watched the television, she guessed they knew, knew that she'd taken a life, that she'd held a gun in her hands, pointed it at a man, and fired.
They knew, they had too, that's why they stared, they probably thought she was dangerous. Maybe she was, everyone else seemed to think so. Dean Hass especially, she told him that she had no remorse, that she'd do it again in a second, but would she?
She kept telling herself that she did it to save Ryan, to stop Trey from killing him, but did she really? Or did she do it for herself, to hurt the man that had tried to hurt her, to get some kind of justice for herself, maybe even to get the images of that night out of her head?
Truth was, Trey scared her. She knew that she was lucky that night, that it was pure luck that she got away. He was stronger than she was, he could have easily overpowered her, even with her struggling, and it was that, more than anything that scared her, the 'what if.'
She even kept asking herself if she had any remorse, she knew she did, despite what she told everyone. Images of the shooting clouded her mind at night, every time she closed her eyes, but she refused to let it ruin her life, she refused to let Trey ruin her life.
Despite her own thoughts and feelings, she knew she'd never come clean about any of her thoughts, not to Ryan, not even to Summer, she was going to keep it to herself, her relationship issues and her fears and worries about the shooting, she knew that none of them would ever pass through her lips, no matter who her mother and Ryan forced her to talk too.
It was weird, she was used to all eyes on her, but something about these people, this school, there was something that was unnerving her, a feeling that she'd had before, but one that she'd never been able to place.
She went straight to the office, walking through the unclean halls towards and into the cleaner, more sanitary-looking space.
"Can I help you?" asked the young brunette behind the reception desk, looking up at her impatiently.
"Ah… I'm Marissa Cooper, I'm a new student, I need my schedule," she said, looking at her shoes. She knew by the look on the woman's face that she'd heard about her, and what she'd done.
"You're Marissa Cooper?" she asked, her brow furrowed, looking at her skeptically.
"Yeah," she answered, looking briefly at the woman and then focusing once again on her shoes.
The woman looked at her for a moment longer before smirking and typing on her keyboard. The printer next to her started up a moment later and she looked up, pulling the piece of paper off the exit tray. "Here's your schedule. Classes and room numbers are all there. And…" she reached to a pile of folded blue paper beside the printer and picked one from the top, "… here's a school map, everything's marked so you should be able to find your way around. I'll just take you to your first class and introduce you to the person that will be showing you around."
Marissa just nodded, taking the map and schedule and shoving them into her bag, then following the brunette as she walked out of the office area.
"You've got Advanced Physics first up, teacher is Mr. Anderson, just some advise, don't cross him, he's a psycho path," she said, conversationally, with a slight smile, "I used to go here, and he's like a million years old, and his temper hasn't changed."
"Thanks, I'll remember that," Marissa smiled back, some of her nervous tension lifting.
She stopped walking when the woman stopped in front of a closed door and knocked softly, poking her head inside, "Mr. Anderson, can I borrow Miss Kelly for a moment?" she asked, her voice polite and soft.
"Of course. Miss Kelly?" Marissa could hear the age in his voice, it slurred slightly, she guessed her had a beard that needed trimming from the slight spitting noise he made, as if trying to get hair out of his mouth.
The door opened wider and the room and the class came into view, she could see a thin blonde half standing up and whispering something to a guy next to her, him just snickering as the blonde stood up completely, "Don't keep us waiting Miss Kelly," said the voice of Mr. Anderson, who Marissa noted, did indeed have a white beard, but was otherwise, completely bald, and the receptionist was right, he did look a million years old.
The blonde finally looked towards the door and Marissa gasped slightly at the sight of her and gaped life a fish out of water. The blonde stopped walking towards the door, frozen, staring at Marissa in what looked like complete shock.
Marissa was the first to find her voice, croaking slightly, her throat dry, "Alex?"