Okay, I know you all want my sequel to the story, Youth of the Nation, but well, that might be put off for a little bit, because I had this idea and I want to see if anyone likes it. This story takes place in episode 18, The Truth, and primarily about Ryan. Everything that happens from Ep. 18 didn't really happen, except for maybe the beginning. Well, Ryan didn't talk to Marissa, she didn't flee and Kirsten and Sandy didn't talk to Ryan. That is where it starts. I think. I lost myself. But please give this a chance, it takes a bit to get its' footing, but read through, I promise you drama. So read on, I hope you like it, and I can't wait for some reviews.(At least one might be nice)

Ali

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He stared at the white walls. He hated white walls. How the hell had he landed himself in here? He didn't deserve it. It was just the plan to get rid of him. Well, it sure worked. He had lost everything dear to him, all the people he cared about. He would disappear from their lives, until he was just a figment of their imagination. But he was real. He was just sitting here, staring at the wall. There was nothing else better to do. Here was hell. Torment to him. He wanted to leave. But he had six months. Six months for something he didn't do. He was tricked, set up. Of course no one thought he was. He was just a kid striving for attention. Like Marissa. But he hadn't actually done it. No, he hadn't done it. Or had he? He couldn't remember. No, he could remember. Everything that happened. All the betrayal he had gotten. Betrayal he shouldn't have deserved. Or maybe he didn't deserve this. He had been thinking about leaving. But not like this. He could remember that whole day so perfectly. The day his life fell down the drain.

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Ryan stared at the pool house ceiling. It was his second day of suspension, and he had yet to find something to preoccupy him. Other than Oliver. The guy was on his mind constantly, and Ryan couldn't do a thing. Oliver was dangerous, but no one else thought he was. Maybe Luke did, but he was only one person. Luke and Ryan couldn't change everyone's minds. They weren't the most reputable people in Newport.

Ryan feared fro Marissa, what might happen to her? She ignored every bad thing about Oliver, she only saw the limited good parts. Ryan knew the truth about Oliver, just no one believed Ryan. Oliver had made Ryan into a bumbling liar. Ryan couldn't prove himself right.

He vaguely heard the cars pull out, no one even offered a goodbye. He didn't deserve one. Ryan screwed up real badly, all he wanted to do was make the Cohens proud. He didn't deserve the Cohens. They deserved someone so much better. They should just kick him out. Ryan could go back to Chino. Maybe Theresa could let him live with her. Just until he made some money. He could get a bus ticket and just get far away. Ryan needed to be away from his life.

Ryan picked up Kavalier and Clay, the book Seth gave to him. He could finish it. If he put his mind to it. But his mind was on Marissa. And Oliver. Marissa hated Ryan, why shouldn't she be? She wouldn't even talk to Ryan directly. She made Oliver do it. But that didn't seem right. Why would she? Marissa wasn't that afraid of confrontation, was she? Ryan was the one who hated to talk, and he was willing to talk. Nothing made sense anymore to Ryan, especially about Oliver. The stories didn't add up. Was Ryan the only one who saw that? Oliver had pitted everyone against Ryan. Even Seth. Ryan's best friend didn't even believe him. Seth was beginning to think Ryan was insane. But he wasn't. Ryan was the only sane person in Newport. Everyone believed Oliver. They didn't know a thing about the guy, and they automatically believed him. They didn't believe Ryan when he came to Newport. So why was the world so against Ryan? Had he gotten too much? Had he become so used to Newport living? That was it. Ryan wasn't supposed to be in Newport, he had adjusted too much. The trip to Chino was supposed to have un-adjusted him. But it hadn't. Maybe it would've if Marissa hadn't followed him. He should have gotten what he deserved.

Ryan didn't believe Oliver, he wanted to hear Marissa tell Ryan that she hated him. He grabbed the phone and began to dial Marissa's cell phone number. It rang, and rang again. She didn't pick up. Ryan checked the clock. Marissa should be in the hallways now, why wasn't she picking up? Her message started, Marissa had to be ignoring Ryan.

"Hey Marissa, this is Ryan. Um, I really wanna talk, about everything. Especially what you told Oliver to tell me in the library. Um, call me back, or maybe stop by the pool house. All right, bye." Ryan hung up. It was an okay message. He wanted to talk to Marissa so badly, to explain himself. But she wouldn't listen.

Ryan decided he should eat. It would waste some time. And he had all the time in the world now. Suspension for five days. At least. So he got up and left the pool house. The sun shined on him and Ryan shielded his eyes. Everything was quiet. Ryan doubted the Cohens' house had ever been this quiet. Ryan opened the door and stepped inside. Everything was still, too still. He walked to the cabinet and pulled out a random cereal box and poured it into a bowl. The silence irked him, it never had before. Ryan used to enjoy the silence, since he never usually experienced it. He started to eat his cereal, and his mind drifted to Marissa. What was she doing? What was Oliver doing?

Marissa sat in her calculus room, thinking about Ryan. Why had he gotten so strange? What was his problem with Oliver? She shouldn't have gone to school. She should've just ditched with Oliver, it would've been good. Ryan had called earlier, and it made Marissa mad. She ignored it, letting Oliver borrow her cell phone to call Natalie before checking her messages. Ryan hadn't left a message, typical him. He didn't leave a message the day before either. He only wanted to talk at the moment, when it was convenient to him, no one else mattered. Why did he have to call? It just upset Marissa. Didn't he think of other people's feelings? Marissa had loved him, and he got all jealous over a friend. Marissa just wanted to help Oliver, couldn't Ryan understand that?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a piece of paper sliding over. Oliver was looking up at the teacher while doing this. Marissa took the paper and read it. Hang out tonight? She wrote back, of course, and gave the paper back to Oliver. He read it and smiled at her, while she smiled back. She didn't need Ryan.

Hours later, Ryan again sat in the pool house, reading Kavalier and Clay. He wasn't far, he didn't mind. It took up time. School seemed to be out, he heard a car come up the driveway. But Sandy and Kirsten didn't come home now, Seth didn't have a car, so who was it? He heard someone walking closer, it wasn't Seth. It was Oliver. Ryan stood up perplexed. Oliver opened the door and went in.

"Hey Ryan," These meetings never ended good. "What's up?" Oliver held one of his sinister smiles. That meant he was planning something.

"What do you want?" Ryan asked, immediately getting defensive.

"I can't come visit Harbor's local felon?" The snide look on his face didn't disappear. Ryan stared him down, he was pissed. "Look, you called Marissa again."

"So?" Ryan didn't care. He would punch Oliver out completely, but he was already on the Cohens' bad side.

"You need to stop. She doesn't want to talk to you anymore. You're done, through. Stop calling." Oliver did have a plan. Ryan just made it so much easier to get it done.

"No. I won't until she tells me. Straight to my face." Ryan wasn't going to take any shit from Oliver, who didn't care if he got hurt from Ryan. It would just prove Ryan wrong. But Oliver wouldn't have to play the game anymore. He was ending it. He knew exactly how.

"She told me to tell you this. She doesn't want to speak to you anymore. She hates you. You betrayed her, she can't forgive you." Oliver fingered the prop in his pocket. He just had to wait until Ryan left the room. But Ryan wouldn't leave.

"I don't believe you." Oliver was a liar. He never stopped lying. Ryan couldn't believe a word he said.

"Why can't you? Or rather, why won't you? You and Marissa are over. Get that through your head." Oliver wanted to see how far he could push Ryan.

Ryan didn't say anything, Oliver had silenced him. He wanted to hurt Oliver, but he stopped himself. He did want to stay with the Cohens.

"Thought so. I'll see you around Ryan." Oliver waited for Ryan to turn around. He pulled the prop out. Finally, he got the perfect time. Ryan turned his back for the tiniest few seconds, and Oliver quickly placed the item on the night stand. Ryan looked back at Oliver, never noticing.

"Well? Shouldn't you be leaving?" Ryan yelled at him, he was full of hot white anger.

"Right. Don't want Marissa to be waiting. See ya," Oliver was pushing ever correct button to annoy Ryan. As he turned to leave, Oliver mumbled to himself, "Doubt it."

Ryan was so angry, he didn't notice what Oliver had placed on Ryan's night stand. A small, empty bottle for sleeping pills now stood on there. You could clearly see it if you were looking for it.

Ryan watched Oliver leave and saw Seth come up to the pool house. Seth stopped for a moment to talk to Oliver, pissing Ryan off more. Seth and Oliver parted ways, Oliver leaving the Cohens, Seth to the pool house, holding some papers.

"Hey man," Seth greeted Ryan, trying not to notice the anger around him. "So, I brought your homework." Seth laid the papers on the bed.

"Doesn't matter anymore." Ryan was never one to not do homework. Nor was he the guy who usually snuck into the school in the middle of the night. Seth thought Luke might do that, not Ryan.

"So, how was day 2 of suspension?" Seth tried to start up a conversation.

"How did Oliver get here?" Ryan was still pissed. Oliver was bad news. Why didn't anyone see it? Was Ryan the only one who saw through Oliver's lies?

"Uh, he drove me home." Seth lately didn't get Ryan. He sometimes rambled more than Seth. And Seth talked a hell of a lot.

"You went in a car with him?" Who would trust Oliver in a car?

"Uh...yeah." Man, was Ryan freaking Seth out. Just yesterday, when Seth had gone in to wake Ryan up, for a tiny bit forgetting Ryan was suspended, Seth heard Ryan talking in his sleep. To some mysterious person. Ryan would mumble, "Don't leave. Please don't leave." it confused Seth, but he really didn't think anything about it.

"Why?" Ryan wasn't going to let Oliver take everyone around Ryan and turn them against him.

"Because he's my...friend?" Ryan was scaring Seth so much. What was up with him? Oliver had taken something from deep inside Ryan and brought it out into the open. A bad trait.

"How can you be friends with him?" Oliver was pure evil, he couldn't have friends.

"I am, Ryan. What do you have against the guy?" Seth didn't want to fight with Ryan. Seth would lose, no doubt about it. Seth was weak, Ryan wasn't. And seeing the damage on Oliver's face, Ryan was ready for a fight.

"He's unstable! He can't be trusted!" Ryan couldn't believe people still believed Oliver. After all the things against him, who could?

"You're unstable man!" Seth couldn't take it. Ryan had lost it.

"What?" Ryan had suddenly gotten quieter, thinking about what Seth said.

"You're unstable!" Seth didn't know when Ryan changed, but he had. Seth wanted to help him, but there wasn't a way Seth could help Ryan.

"What are you talking about?" There had been only one other time someone ever yelled that to Ryan. It was when Ryan was seven, and Trey had been twelve, and their father had been arrested. Trey screamed it at Ryan, who had shed some tears over their father. Trey beat the tears out of Ryan. All of them. Ryan never cried after that.

"Dude, Marissa talked to me today. She says Dr. Kim talked to her about you. She called me down too, but I dodged it." Seth relived the day's events to Ryan, who looked down.

"You're lying." He said to the ground.

"No, I'm not. Man, you've got problems. We all do. Just maybe you should see a therapist. I heard Mom and Dad talking about it." No one truly believed him. They thought he was crazy. Not a single person thought he was right. They all betrayed him.

"You're lying." Ryan didn't say anything else, be felt alone. Most of his life he was alone, but when he got to Newport, he had allies. Him and Seth were similar, they should understand each other. But Seth didn't understand what Ryan was trying to say about Oliver.

"Listen man, it might no be so bad. It could help." Seth walked over to Ryan, trying to cheer him up. Ryan had had some bad days lately.

"Get the hell away from me!" Ryan pushed Seth away as he got closer. Seth was taken aback, he hadn't expected that.

"What's your problem man?" Seth yelled at Ryan as Seth pushed him back. Ryan didn't fall back nearly as far as Seth had, but Ryan was pissed, and so was Seth.

"I don't know, I'm unstable!" Ryan pushed Seth again, and Seth wasn't taking it. Ryan was off the wall. Seth wasn't thinking, and he punched Ryan. Not very hard, but actually pretty hard for Seth. He was amazed he had actually his Ryan. Ryan's immediate reaction was punch Seth back, which he did. He hit him hard, Seth falling to the ground. Immediately he regretted it, feeling worse than ever. "Seth, I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me." Ryan tried apologizing, but Seth dint want to hear it.

"I, I gotta go. See ya around Ryan." Seth began to back out of the pool house, his hand still where Ryan hit him. Ryan felt horrible, how could he have done that? It wasn't like Ryan to ever punch someone he cared about, that wasn't him. Was he really crazy?

"Seth..." Ryan made a small effort to keep Seth in the pool house. Seth left Ryan alone, and he fell on the bed. Had he just done that? He couldn't believe it. Ryan just punched Seth. Seth. What the hell was wrong with him? Once Kirsten and Sandy hear, they would be pissed at Ryan. They'd want to kick Ryan out for sure.

Would they kick Ryan out? They wouldn't, would they? It was just a harmless punch, Seth started it.

About two hours later, Ryan heard Kirsten call for him. Ryan got up dismally and headed to the kitchen, where Seth was silently placing silverware on the table.

"Take out is served." Kirsten greeted Ryan nicely. Obviously Seth didn't say a word to his parents. They all sat down and ate in silence, Seth wasn't even attempting to start a conversation. Both boys had bruises on their faces, Seth's larger than Ryan's, but Kirsten and Sandy said nothing about it. Ryan ate little, he wasn't hungry, nor tired. He hadn't been sleeping all that much. He needed some help with that. When dinner was over, and Ryan was helping Kirsten clean up(Seth had already gone upstairs), he asked her.

"Um, Kirsten do you have any sleeping pills? I can't seem to fall asleep." Ryan began to put some dishes in the dishwasher.

"Oh, yeah. I have some in the bathroom." Kirsten never thought about it, nor did Ryan. Oliver couldn't have asked for more from Ryan. He was helping Oliver out, without even knowing it. As Ryan left, he wondered what would happen when Sandy and Kirsten found out about the fight.

Ryan walked to the bathroom, and got the pills from the medicine cabinet. He took two, only two, and placed the bottle back. He needed to sleep through some things, just relax. He would not go to a therapist. No way, they didn't understand. He left the bathroom and headed back to the pool house. Seth watched Ryan go, man was Seth pissed. He didn't know what was wrong with Ryan, he had lost it.

Seth tried to sleep. It wasn't working. It was only nine o'clock. Seth never fell asleep before eleven. He had nothing to do except be pissed at Ryan. How fun.

Captain Oats stared Seth down. Seth figured he was probably in the wrong. He wasn't even backing up his own brother. Wasn't that what brothers did? Stick up for each other? Ryan always backed Seth up, and when Ryan needed bak-up, Seth had vacated.

Even Captain Oats was pissed off at Seth. He wasn't talking to him. Wait, had he ever?

Two hours passed and Seth was still staring at Captain Oats. The deal with Ryan was bugging the hell out of Seth. He should talk to Ryan. No, maybe he shouldn't. He should. Shouldn't. Should. Shouldn't. Should. Yes, he should.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm going right now." Seth told Captain Oats. He took the pillow that was resting on his stomach and threw it at Captain Oats. It missed. "Damn it." Seth was in an okay mood, he left his room to talk to Ryan. Apologize, make some jokes, laugh, then leave with his conscience cleared. A perfect plan.

Seth tiptoed down the hall, his parents weren't asleep. He slowly made his way down the stairs. So far, so good. No parents in sight. He walked into the kitchen, and could hear the television from in the family room. This might be a little harder than Seth thought. He made it all the way to the door before getting caught.

"Seth, where are you going?" Kirsten asked him.

"Hmm? Me? I'm not going anywhere." Seth answered stupidly. Great answer, ace.

"You're up, son. Where are you going?" Sandy now questioned Seth.

"I just want to talk to Ryan." Seth had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Like something was up.

"It's late. He's probably sleeping." They never really looked up at Seth, their eyes glued to the television set.

"I know, but I really, really need to talk to him. It's important." Seth was getting impatient.

"Make it quick." Kirsten finally released him and Seth rushed out the house. The world was dark, the pool glittered. All the shades were drawn in the pool house, everything looked so perfect. Seth went to the door. He figured it would be locked, so he stole the spare key in the kitchen. But it was unlocked. Seth opened the door and found Ryan sleeping on the bed.

"Ryan. Hey, man. Wake up." Seth whispered and nudged Ryan. Nothing. "Dude, wake up." Still nothing. Seth had never known Ryan to be a heavy sleeper. "Ryan!" Seth yelled and saw the tiniest movement. What the hell? Seth shook Ryan, but nothing happened. He looked around for something to wake Ryan up. But he saw something more important. The empty pill bottle.