The Summer That Changed It All Chapter 7, an o.c. fanfic

18 Years Old - February

She hung up the phone after talking to their bands manager and started jumping around the house. Whistling happily to herself as she entered the kitchen, where her mother just started at her and laughed. Opening the fridge trying to hide the huge smile on her face as she got herself a bottle of water.

"What's got you so happy?" Her father asked as he set his brief case on the kitchen counter.

"We got a gig, a real life proper gig."

Her mother looked up from the paper she was reading. "You guys got booked, after all that racket I've heard all these years coming from my garage, it's all paid off?" Alex nodded. "Well where is it?"

"Some place called The Bait Shop, I'm not sure where it is, I have to call everyone else and then map quest it. I'll let you know when I know." Alex skipped off upstairs and turned on her computer.

"Ah ha, the Bait Shop…New Port." At first she couldn't believe her eyes. She was finally going to get the chance to go to New Port, and she had one very important stop to make while there. Almost two years had gone by without speaking or talking to Marissa Cooper and she was hoping that would change before the beginning of the summer.

Newport

Marissa sat on her bed as her and Summer decided what they wanted to do that weekend. The room was quiet as the girls thought, but kept coming up blank. The silence was broken by the sound of someone signing onto msn.

Summer leaned over the bed to get a better look at who it was but when she realised who it was she just sat back.

"Who was it?" The taller brunette asked, Mr. Oinky under her arm.

"No one special." Marissa's face dropped. "What?"

"Who is it?"

Summer paused, she didn't know much about what happened but she knew enough to know that whatever it was it had made her best friend miserable. "Alex."

"Really?"
"Yeah."

"Did she send me a message or just sign in?"

"Sign in. You should talk to her if you miss her so much." Marissa gave Alex a look. "Fine, then I'll talk to her." Marissa turned quiet and looked at Mr. Oinky.

Marissa looked down. "No, don't."

"Too late." Summer got up and walked over to the computer, sitting down she typed the message into the box as Marissa got up and left the room.

C.o.o.p.: Hello Jello

XoA.KxO: Hi

C.o.o.p.: How are you?

XoA.KxO: I'm okay, how is she?

C.o.o.p.:: She's alright, kind of moody today I think she's pmsing so I'll just take her to the mall, so we can practice saying our favourite phase… Charge It.

XoA.KxO: Somethings will never change, just ask her is she's peachy like a peach tree.

C.o.o.p.:: Um okay, not going to ask but we're going out, you should talk to her, text her cell or something, toodles.

XoA.KxO: Yeah, maybe, bye.

Summer got up went downstairs where Marissa was getting a bowl of cereal.

"Are you peachy like a peach tree?" She asked as she sat next to her best friend. Without a word Marissa looked up from her cereal bowl and glared at her best friend, and if looks could kill Summer would have been dead ten times over.

Saturday

Alex pulled up to a large house, turned off her jeep and just sat wondering what she should do next. To ring or not to ring the doorbell, that is the questions. Okay that was retarded, gotta remember to skip English more often.

Deciding that she wasn't a wuss or a pansy she slowly made her way to the front door and before letting herself thing she rang the doorbell. After about a minute Julie answered the door and looked like she was either ready to call the cops or ask a question that only Julie Cooper would think of.

"Can I help you with something?" Julie raised an eyebrow, finding the girl only somewhat familiar.

"Is Marissa home?" Alex began to push her sunglasses onto her forehead.

"Who wants to…Alex?" Julie's mouth dropped open, her eyes wide in shock.

Alex nodded. "In the flesh." Julie remained still. "Julies you okay?"

"Huh, oh yeah, come on in. You look good, nice streak, I'm sure your mother loved that." Alex laughed. "You know I was kind of punk in my day."

"Mom, no stories about your yesteryears please." Alex turned around somewhat expecting to see Marissa but instead, she got a grown Kaitlyn Cooper.

"Alex doesn't mind, she's more than used to it." Alex let out a small laugh and nodded. "Do you know where your sister is?"

Kaitlyn shrugged, waves at Alex as she got her coat on. "Call her cell, I'm not her babysitter, you couldn't pay me enough." With that mini Coop walked out the front door.

Picking up the phone Julie tried to call her eldest daughter but only got her voicemail. "I think she might be at the beach of a place called the crab shack on the pier with Summer and some people if you want to meet up with them there. I don't mean to be nosey, wait yes I do, what brings you to town?"

"My band got a gig at the Bait Shop, so I thought I'd stop in and say hi. Is Jimmy around by any chance?"

Julie shook her head. "He's out playing golf for the day, guys weekend or something. Did you have time to stay for dinner?"

"Not for dinner but I can hang out if you want some company for awhile." Julie smiled and nodded and Alex wasn't quite sure what she had gotten herself into.

Beach

The girls were laying on the sand getting their tan on. "I heard some indie band from L.A. is playing at the Bait Shop tonight, what do you say we check them out?"
"Sounds good…wait aren't we supposed to be meeting the guys tonight though?"

Summer smacked herself on the forehead. "Right, this band sounded really good though."

Marissa thought for a minute. "I got it, we meet the guys do the movie and dinner thing like planned and then make them come with us."

"Good thinking Coop." The girls smiled and went back to their tanning, happy that they were going to get what they wanted.

Bait Shop - Later that night

Alex scanned the crowd from the back of the stage trying to see if maybe Marissa would show up. But no matter how hard she looked or how many times she never seen the only girl in the room she wanted to see.

"Dudes and Betty's put your hands together for Beautiful Disaster." Nat, the owner of the Bait Shop finished and walked off stage.

The band made their way on stage and Alex made her way to the microphone. "How's it going tonight Newport." The crowd cheered and a few guys, even a few girls whistled. "Not very patient so we're just going to jump right in. We're Beautiful Disaster, and this first song is called, Here we go again."

"And here we go again
With all the things we said
And not a minute spent
To think that we'd regret
So we just take it back,
These words and hold our breath
Forget the things we swore we meant

I'll write you just to let you know that I'm alright
Can't say I'm sad to see you go
Cause I'm not. No I'm not. Well, I'm not.

And here we go again
With all the things we did
And now I'm wondering
Just who would I have been
To be the one attached
At all times to your hip?
Forget the things we swore we meant.

I'll write you just to let you know that I'm alright
Can't say I'm sad to see you go
Cause I'm not, no I'm not.
Well, I'm not. (No, I'm not, no I'm not).

I'll write you to let you know that I'm alright
Can't say I'm sad to see you go
Cause I'm not (no, I'm not)
Well, I'm not (no, I'm not)
I'm not, I'm not.

And here we go again
With all the things we said
And not a minute spent
To think that we'd regret
So we just take it back"

Tucking the thoughts of seeing Marissa into the back of her mind Alex moved into the next song as the crowd started to cheer louder. "This next one, is a little something I wrote last summer, it's called Pressure."

"Tell me where our time went
And if it was time well spent
Just don't let me fall asleep
Feeling empty again

Cause I fear I might break
and I fear I can't take it
Tonight I'll lie awake feeling empty

I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you
I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you

Now that I'm losing hope
And there's nothing else to show
For all of the days that we spent
Carried away from home

Some things I'll never know
And I had to let them go
I'm sitting all alone feeling empty

I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you
I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you

Without you

Some things I'll never know
And I had to let them go
Some things I'll never know
And I had to let them go
I'm sitting all alone feeling empty"

Alex took a minute as the guitarist, Scott, went for a riff. Taking the opportunity to glance the crowd again looking for her hearts desire but coming up short. She was so fixed on finding Marissa that she didn't notice Jodie in the front row.

"I can feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
We're better off without you

Feel the pressure
It's getting closer now
You're better off without me"

Without a break the band went into the next song.

"I've hoped for change,
and it gets better everyday
I've hoped for change,
but still I feel the same

There's something wrong,
cause everybody knows
That we can do this on our own

And we've got everybody singing
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
We've got everybody singing
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

We're doing fine
And it gets better everytime
We're doing fine
But I'll let you decide

There's something wrong,
cause everybody knows
That we can do this on our own"

"I wanna hear you sing it with me." Alex pouted the mic towards the crowd.

"And we've got everybody singing
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
We've got everybody singing
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

And I'll confess
That I can be a little selfish
Yeah I'll admit
I don't want you to help me through this
I don't want to start over again

And we've got everybody singing
And we've got everybody singing
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
And we've got everybody singing
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

And I'll confess
That I can be a little selfish, I can, I can
Yeah I'll admit
I don't want you to get me through this
I don't want to start over again"

Taking a swig of water, Alex swallowed a bit before spitting the rest out at the crowd, which only made them cheer louder.

"So this is how it goes
Well I, I would have never known
And if it ends today
Well I'll still say that you shine brighter than anyone

Now I think we're taking this too far
Don't you know that it's not this hard?
Well it's not this hard
But if you take what's yours and I take mine
Must we go there?
Please not this time. No, not this time.

Well this is not your fault
But if I'm without you
Then I will feel so small
And if you have to go
Well always know that you shine brighter than anyone does.

If you run away now,
Will you come back around?
And if you ran away,
I'd still wave goodbye
Watching you shine bright.

I'll wave goodbye (You shine bright)
Watching you shine bright (You shine bright)
I'll wave goodbye tonight (You shine bright)"

As the song ended Marissa, Summer, Seth, Ryan and Luke walked in. "I can't see anything." Summer complained.

"Pumpkin you can never see." Seth said, getting a him a slap for Summer.

"You're not alone Sums, I can't see either but there's a table right there so at least we get to listen."

Back on stage the band was talking things, over and there was no way Alex had seen Marissa walk in with the size of the crowd.

Turning back to the crowd Alex finally cut the silence. "Newport you guys are awesome, if you know the words I wanna hear you sing em' as long as you can."

"I think we have an emergency
I think we have an emergency

If you thought I'd leave, then you were wrong
Cause I won't stop holding on

So are you listening?
So are you watching me?

If you thought I'd leave, then you were wrong
Cause I won't stop holding on.

This is an emergency
So are you listening?

And I can't pretend that I don't see this

It's really not your fault
When no one cares to talk about it,
To talk about it

Cause I've seen love die
Way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry
Way too many times
When you deserve to be alive, alive

So you give up every chance you get
Just to feel new again

I think we have an emergency
I think we have an emergency

And you do your best to show me love,
but you don't know what love is.

So are you listening?
So are you watching me?

Well I can't pretend that I don't see this

It's really not your fault
When no one cares to talk about it,
To talk about it

Cause I've seen love die
Way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry
Way too many times
When you deserve to be alive, alive

These scars, they will not fade away.

No one cares to talk about it, talk about it

Cause I've seen love die
Way too many times
When it deserved to be alive
I've seen you cry
Way too many times
When you deserve to be alive, alive"

Back upstairs Marissa was trying to get a glimpse of the singer but even as her and Ryan tried to make their way downstairs it was becoming a difficult task. Finally giving up she sat back down next to Summer. "That voice sounds so familiar for some reason." She said as Summer nodded and turned her attention back to listening to the band.

"This is gonna be the last one of the night, you guys have been amazing, and we're definitely going to be back here soon. I wrote this for someone special and close to my heart, which is why it's called My Heart."

"I am finding out that maybe I was wrong
That I've fallen down and I can't do this alone

Stay with me, this is what I need, please?

Sing us a song and we'll sing it back to you
We could sing our own but what would it be without you?

I am nothing now and it's been so long
Since I've heard the sound, the sound of my only hope

This time I will be listening.

Sing us a song and we'll sing it back to you
We could sing our own but what would it be without you?

This heart, it beats, beats for only you
This heart, it beats, beats for only you

This heart, it beats, beats for only you
My heart is yours

This heart, it beats, beats for only you
My heart is yours
(My heart, it beats for you)

This heart, it beats, beats for only you (It beats, beats for only you)
My heart is yours (My heart is yours)

This heart, it beats, beats for only you (Please don't go now, please don't fade away)
My heart, my heart is yours (Please don't go now, please don't fade away)

(Please don't go now, please don't fade away) My heart is yours
(Please don't go now, please don't fade away) My heart is yours
(Please don't go, please don't fade away)
(Please don't go now, please don't fade away) My heart is…"

As the band finished Alex looked around for Marissa but never seeing her up on the second floor.

Cooper House - After the show

By the time Marissa got home she was more than a little tired. Dropping her purse and coat by the front door she made her way to the kitchen. Not long after Julie walked in with a serious look on her face.
"What is it mom?"

"Someone came by to see you today, and you really need to learn how to answer your phone."

Marissa raised an eyebrow at her mother. "Who was here, I seen everyone that means anything to me tonight, phone died which is why I didn't check it."

"Alex." Was all Julie said.

"Alex, Alex who?"

"The woman on the moon Alex. How many Alex's do you know?"

Marissa's mouth dropped quite similar to how Julie's did earlier. "Wh..What was she doing here, why didn't she wait, why didn't you make her wait?"

"Said something about a concert at the Bait Shop." With that Julie walked away leaving her daughter stunned.

I can't believe Alex was here, and I missed her. She was the show tonight and I didn't see her. She thought as she walked up stairs and called the Kelly house only to get a voicemail. Hanging up with out saying anything she just lied on her bed staring up at the ceiling, holding Mr. Oinky, sometimes her stubborness got the better of her and she knew it but the summer couldn't come fast enough.

Go Sens Go...bringing the cup back home