A/N: Yay! Another update. Thank you to taastyy, mcooper11, sprucester999, najeda, and spidergirl91 for the reviews on the first chapter. Hope you love this one just as much.


Ryan groaned. Stupid Seth and his stupid persuasion. He didn't want to go the party at the Cooper's. Ryan would much rather stay in the pool house and brood over his break up with Roseline. Of course, Seth and Luke would never let him. Seth would surely be coming in soon with some heinous costume he expected Ryan to wear.

Ah, right on cue. "Here you go, buddy. I brought you the best costume I could find at The Family Costume Closet," Seth chirped pleasantly as he let himself in. "It's Prince Charming," He added for clarification. Ryan gave the costume a once over, it looked like something straight out of a Disney movie. Ryan sighed loudly, "You gonna leave so I can put it on?" Seth nodded and obliged.

A few minutes later, Ryan was admiring his reflection in the mirror. He didn't look half bad. The dark green velvet shirt had silver trim all over it and there were tassels glued to the shoulders. The pants were black, and a bit tighter than Ryan would have liked, but he'd deal. The finishing touch was the boots that were just a tad too big. "I forgot to give you a couple of things," Seth said as he, again, let himself in. Ryan had to stifle a laugh. Seth was dressed as Batman, black tights and all. He even had the goofy little mask. Ignoring Ryan's grin and muffled chuckling, Seth continued, "There's a crown, a mask, and a sword. They were in the bottom of the bag, I didn't see them." Ryan nodded, a cheeky smile still inhabiting his tanned face.

The brothers met Luke in the driveway. "Let me be the first to ask, what the hell are you wearing?" Seth asked loudly. "They were all out of Fred Flintstone at the costume store," Luke offered weakly. "So you opted for Wilma instead?" Ryan asked with a low chuckle. Luke glared at him. "Let's just go," he said softly. "Someone's a bit touchy," Seth muttered as he slammed the Porsche's door. "How come I always get crammed in this pathetic excuse for a backseat?"

When the three boys arrived at the Cooper manor, their hands flew to their ears. Music was blaring several decibels louder than necessary and several other people about their age were screaming and yelling, probably drunk. "I'm gonna go spike the punch," Luke yelled over the music. Ryan waved him off, but he was sure the punch had already been spiked. Seth saw some girl he liked and ran off, leaving Ryan alone in the middle of the crowd. He thought he saw Roseline in the distance, but decided it better to stay away from her. Instead, Ryan sauntered over to the punch. He filled a cup and took a swig but immediate spit it back out. The contents of the punch was little more than pink vodka.

Ryan threw the plastic cup in the trash barrel and looked around. He definitely should have stayed home. He walked toward the car but was stopped when he heard a humming sound coming from near the infinity pool. "Hello?" Ryan called out nervously. "Hey," responded a soft feminine voice. A figure soon stood up from where she had been hiding on the other side of the bench. Ryan was speechless. She was the most beautiful girl Ryan had ever seen. "I'm Marissa," she said and held out her hand. Her costume was that of a princess. The dress was a light pink chiffon v-neck that highlighted her curves. There was a matching pink mask but she had left on the ground near the bench where she had been sitting.

"What are you doing out here? Skipping your own party?" Ryan asked with a charming smile. Marissa smiled back, "What are you doing out here? Skipping my party?" Ryan sighed. "Something like that," he answered quietly. "Got a name?" Marissa asked after a moment of awkward silence. "Ryan," he answered, purposely leaving out his last name. "Ryan Cohen, I presume," Marissa said in cold voice. "Yeah, I'll just get my brother and cousin and we'll be out of here in a minute," Ryan said quickly and turned to leave. Suddenly Marissa burst out laughing. "You can stay. I don't mind," She said in a more friendly tone.

"Good because I think it would be pretty hard to get Seth and Luke right now. Luke is a very aggressive drunk and Seth couldn't physically hurt me but he'd definitely give me an earful for pulling him away from Summer," Ryan explained. Marissa nodded like she understood and then moved closer to Ryan. She slowly raised her hands to his face and removed the little silver mask that had been hiding the blue brilliance of his eyes. "Much better," She said contently. Ryan smiled nervously and turned to leave again. "When I said you could stay, I meant here. By the pool. With me. I suppose you could go back to the party but since I have this," Marissa smiled and waved his mask in the air, " I don't know how long you'd last before Tybalt or my dad pulled a gun on you." Ryan smirked, "You could give it back." Marissa just smiled. She seemed so calm and together that it almost surprised Ryan when she began to run away. "Follow me," She yelled excitedly as she dashed through sprinklers that were watering the vast expanse of land that was the Cooper's back yard.