Graduation is a day to be celebrated, a day for parties and drinks. Well, for most people anyway. For those who live at Newport Beach in Orange County, a party and drinks is routine. This graduation was going to be special, unforgettable. And that was what it was.
It was the morning of graduation and Ryan Atwood couldn't help smile. He was graduating with VHA's in all his subjects but the fact that he was even graduating was something to be celebrated. When the Cohens had first taken him in he was a juvenile delinquent, ready to spend the rest of his life in and out of gaol. He had never grown up with fine things and a good education whereas his best friend and "brother" had. Seth had lived in the lap of luxury, the grandson of Newport's richest person, the late Caleb Nichol. Attending the prestigious Harbour High School Seth had always gotten what he wanted. Except for friends. Ryan attempted to tie his tie for the umpteenth time and reminisced on what was a very memorable year.
Seth Cohen sighed, graduation, just another reason for a cocktail party. His mother was throwing him and his friends one of her famous cocktail parties, a Newport Group extravaganza. His mother, now the president of the Newport Group was slowly coming out of her depression and alcoholic ways that had become aggressive and stressful since her father – Caleb Nichol died. On the positive side… he couldn't think of one. Thinking over his years at school, it was clearly noticeable that before Ryan arrived, school had sucked. He wasn't a bad student he just had no friends. Zilch. Zip. Things just started falling into place once he arrived. People started noticing him, he won the girls of his dreams – Summer Roberts and Anna Stern. The girl next door, the most popular girl in school, Marissa Cooper became one of his best friends, and her mother had married Caleb. Luke, the class bully, the one guy who had personally gone out of his way to make his life a living hell, became another one of his friends. Maybe that was the positive side. Finding his place in this world.
Ryan wandered up the stairs to Seth's room and knocked on his door. He shuddered at the thought of Seth sitting on his bed studying naked. He looked at his watch, 12:30pm, one hour to go, and knocked on Seth's door again, "Seth, hurry up," Ryan called impatiently. Seth was taking just as long as Marissa and Summer do. He could picture Seth standing in his cupboard, desperately trying to coordinate his outfit to look more Emo.
Finally after an eternity and forever, emerged and said, "You ready dude? Ready to become men? To leave this dump behind and finally take the girls and sail to Tahiti?" Seth asked.
"Well, I guess so, but I think we should just get through graduation without ending up with black eyes," Ryan said. With that, they got in Seth's Landrover and went to go pick the girls up.
Marissa Cooper and her best friend Summer Roberts stood on her driveway waiting for their boyfriends, Ryan and Seth to turn up. It was the day you dream about for years, graduation. A day where you finish school. When you leave your roots and spread your wings. For Marissa, it meant getting away from her mother and Newport. For Summer, it meant getting away from her step mom. Both of them were dressed exquisitely, Marissa in a lavender Donatelli Versace original with the hem covered in sparkling amethysts. Summer, had an electric blue Vera Wang masterpiece on. The girls had never looked better and they both knew it. When Seth's Landrover pulled up they jumped in and were greeted with looks of awe. Both of the guys sat there gaping at their girlfriends and their beauty. Marissa and Summer greeted them with a peck on the cheek and a smile. With that, Seth restarted the car and they went off to graduation.
Kirsten Cohen was freaking out. There were a million things to do. The caterers were late and the graduates would be there any minute. Her husband Sandy saw this and couldn't help sigh. His wife was gorgeous, and this was stress that she didn't need. Her once bright blue eyes, full of life and spark, fire, were a dull pale blue. Since Caleb had died she'd sunk into depression. Drinking in large proportions and needing counselling. Kirsten Cohen was just a shell. A workaholic shell. And this tore Sandy apart. But today wasn't time for that, today he was celebrating his sons' graduation. They day that Ryan and Seth would grow up and leave. Because, unbeknown to them, this cocktail party wasn't intended for all night. He had bought four Concorde tickets to France. Sandy intended to surprise Ryan, Seth, Summer and Marissa with tickets to France to celebrate graduation. Cocktail parties weren't exactly interesting to those four and they had been worn out, done and redone. This was a time for those kids to really spread their wings and fly.
IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIRyan couldn't believe what Sandy had done. He'd gone out and bought tickets for Paris. They were staying at the Hilton, in the Penthouse suite! Sandy had organised things like this for them before but never had they been on their own in a foreign country. Not counting Tijuana of course. He wandered through the front doors of the airport holding Marissa's hand and they got in the limousine that was picking them up.
"Hey, how cool is this? I mean think about it, no parents, no rules. I love the Paris. Who else does?" Seth babbled. He said the same thing about everywhere that they went. Ryan gave him one of his "looks" and indicated that it was midnight and everyone else was half asleep. Ryan carried Marissa up to their room as she slept and Seth, being weak as, had to wake a disgruntled Summer up. They opened up the door to find what was an extravagant and over the top room. It had a bowling alley; like in Vegas, it had two spas, a mini bar, 2 king sized beds and car keys.
"Geez, they don't mind blowing away cash do they," Ryan commented. The initial shock still hadn't worn off. He recounted the days events, he had graduated top of his class and been treated a surprise trip to Paris with all of his friends. And with that he crashed on his bed next to Marissa and slept like a baby.
IOIOIOIOIOIOIOI"Bonjour Monsieur's, Mademoiselles, your cars are waiting over there," a French valet said. Three days had passed since they had arrived and boy were they lapping up the style. They had been treated like royalty and the girls loved it.
"Cohen! Coop and I are going shopping. We'll meet you back here in five hours. Just do what you and Chino do, play Playstation or something," Summer said and kissed Seth goodbye. Marissa did the same and they hopped into their limo and proceeded to max out their credit cards.
Ryan and Seth shrugged their shoulders at each other and proceeded to the arcade. This was what they did best, playing arcade games and beating the high scores. After an hour they had clocked the high score on half of the games. And they couldn't even understand the rules to two of them seeing as they were in French.
Marissa and Summer however had scaled only two shops in two hours and left with at least five bags each. Their spending had totalled $3876.09 so far. With a whole day left ahead of them and practically unlimited money these two girls intended to make the most of it.
However they never got the chance to. At 1:30 tragedy struck. An earthquake rocked the north of Paris, and tore through buildings, knocking them to the floor. Including the mall where Summer and Marissa were. Ryan and Seth felt it too but it didn't bring down the arcade. Ryan's first thought was about Marissa and he grabbed Seth and jumped into a car. They sped towards the mall where the girls had been shopping to find it completely collapsed. He ran out of the car and inside, he had to know that they were both okay. Seth was behind him but not as confident. Tears welled up in the boys' eyes as they saw the damage and no sign of their girlfriends. Ryan called Marissa's cell phone and followed the sound of it to a section where the roof had fallen down.
"No, please no," he yelled. Ripping the concrete out of the way he saw his girlfriend and Summer sprawled over the ground. He pulled Marissa close and felt her pulse; she was still alive, but only just. There were big shards of glass in her sides and her once beautiful face was scratched beyond recognition. Seth was busy checking Summer and found she was fine. Marissa had received the worse of their injuries and was barely conscious. Summer however was just scratched. Nothing that wouldn't heal. Ryan sobbed, it was the first time he had cried in front of anyone. For he knew that Marissa wouldn't survive. He held her close and Summer and Seth began crying too.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too," Marissa whispered back, " It wasn't you fault. Goodbye." And with that Ryan kissed Marissa once more and she died.
Graduation is a day to be celebrated, a day for parties and drinks. When a surprise trip to Paris was given to Ryan Atwood, Marissa Cooper, Summer Roberts and Seth Cohen, their friendship was put to the test as they lost Marissa and changed their lives forever. This graduation was one that would never be forgotten.