So, hopefully this chapter will be better. I wasn't aware I was running in circles (I guess my studies start to influence my writing. So sorry!!!!)

Now he was back again. He only needed to stay out of trouble. If this was possible? Again he felt paranoid. He had the feeling as if everyone was staring at him and talking behind his back. But there was enough reason for them to do so. His left cheek still was as colourful as a rainbow. He went to his locker to get his books.

"Hey Chino, so long no see!" It was Summer. He was glad to see someone he knew. Seth had an appointment with Dr. Kim and thus he had made his way through school alone.

"Hi."

"So, how does it feel being back again?"

"Uh…strange." He answered and that was the bloody truth. He felt like a complete stranger.

"Don't worry. Now we're here." She patted his shoulder. Yeah, now they were there and Oliver as well. He still was thinking about how he was going to avoid this little f*****.

"So what do you have now?" Summer asked him.

"Uh…math." He answered. He still had this curious feeling as if something went behind his back and everybody knew it, despite him.

"Oh, my condolence." Summer said. "I gotta go then. See you at lunch." And then she went off. He headed to his classroom. He felt more and more uncomfortable with all these people looking at him. Maybe it would have been better if he had staid in the pool house, until the colour in his face had vanished a little more. He entered the classroom and found Luke already sitting at one of the tables. Man, he never had been that lucky to see a known face, even if it was Luke. He sat next to him.

"Hey, what's up?" Luke asked him.

"Uh, nothing…uh… math."

"Strange being back again and then together with Oliver, isn't it? I can imagine how you're feeling now. I - for my part – wouldn't prefer anything more than kicking this little fucker's ass." Luke said. He felt how something arose in him - a mixture of rage and disappointment. Rage, because due to Oliver he had made Cole's acquaintance and its result still hurt. And he felt disappointment because Marissa hadn't learned from what had happened and again ran into Oliver's arms. It wasn't jealousy. He had made a cut between him and Marissa. They were good friends, nothing more. And if he was honest, after his time in this foster home, he had no feelings at all regarding her. But she was a friend and he couldn't forget the time they had had and what they went through. He just didn't want her to get hurt or even worse by this freak.

"Uh…I haven't thanked you, for your help that night. You know…" He changed topic and he really wanted to thank Luke for what he had done and for being stubborn. He was sure things would have gotten worse if he hadn't forced him to see a doctor.

"Nothing to thank for. I'm only glad you're here again. Now we can show this Oliver how miserable his behaviour is." Oh man, Luke still hated Oliver. Okay, he had been the only one who had believed in his suspicions concerning this…psycho. How was he going to survive his last years at school with Oliver Trask always being around?

The lesson went on slowly. And his paranoia was increasing. He felt glances in his back and he saw how every now and then someone looked at him, as if he was some kind of zoo attraction. Even the teacher paid more attention to him as usual. He was asking him several times if he was okay with the stuff, if he did catch up to the others or if he needed a little extra help. Hey, he could have needed it when he first entered Harbor, but then nobody had paid any attention to him. He had been the bad guy from Chino, who was going to bring trouble all over Newport and Harbor School. And yes, he had liked the lack of attention more. He was not like Oliver who needed everyone's advertence. He was okay with his few friends around. He didn't need more and if he had been able to, he would have gotten vanished in a black hole until everything went normal again. The bell rang. Finally class was over, but until lunch he had some more classes to go through. He and Luke went to the door.

"Ryan," his teacher asked him. Now this started to bother him. No, it already had bothered him, when he had entered the building.

"I know that it's difficult for you in the moment. I can imagine there're many other things up on your mind right now, so don't worry about the school stuff. And if you need any help, just let me know." What was that? In somehow he didn't understand what was going on.

"Yeah, thanks." He answered, but only because he wanted to be polite and not wanted to let the teacher recognize he had no clue what he was talking about. In the hallways he met Luke again.

"Hey, what was that about?" He asked him.

"I dunno." He answered and started to think of if he might have forgotten something important – something that could explain him this situation. The next class was the same. Again the teacher offered him more help than he needed. Man, he had a bruised cheek, he was no cripple.

Eventually it was time for their lunch break and he met Seth.

"Hey, what's up? How were classes? I bet you've enjoyed being advanced in a proper way." A big smile was plastered over his whole face.

"And what did Dr. Kim tell you?" He asked. He just wanted Seth talking. This was distracting him from his paranoia, which was driving him crazy – slowly, but it did.

"Oh, nothing important. Only that she feels sorry how things went and I shell have an eye on you, averting you from hurting Oliver. And then she told me I might have a good influence over you and she wants me to care. Stuff like that." He started to feel like one of these evil dogs, which were only permitted to be kept if one fulfilled all obligations. Hey, he wasn't the dangerous one. He hadn't threatened others with a gun. It was Oliver she ought to talk about this way, not him.

"Hey, don't be pissed. I know you're not the dangerous one. But hell, you know Newport is the empire of prejudices and afraid of the unknown." Right, this was true and he had felt it more than once.

"Wanna have some coffee?" He asked Seth.

"Sure." And then they went into the cafeteria. Again he had the feeling as all eyes were on him when they entered. They fast got their coffee and sat down in a quiet and hidden corner.

"Hey, looks as if your popularity stepped straight up to ten." Seth said. He only looked questioning at him. Sometimes he wondered how Seth always found something to talk about.

"Don't you notice everybody's staring at you?"

"Yeah, waiting for me giving Oliver what he deserves." He grumbled. If Seth noticed too, it meant he wasn't paranoid. But this was even worse. Knowing everybody had a kind of interest in you - for any reason - wasn't what he considered as fun. Hey, Oliver will go postal if he realizes someone steal the attention from him. After he had thought this, he saw how Marissa stepped in with Oliver in tow.

"Uhm…I guess we better go." He said to Seth. He was reluctant to be in the same room with this freak if it wasn't necessary.

"Why?" Seth asked, but then he saw it himself. "Let's wait. Maybe they only get a coffee and leave." Sometimes he wished he was as optimistic as Seth. But he wasn't and he smelled trouble, when it was less then five minutes away.

"Hey Ryan, good to see you're back in school again." Marissa came towards them and hugged him. Normally he wouldn't bother, but under these circumstances he only wanted to leave. He got up.

"Hey, where are you going?" She asked him.

"Avoiding trouble." He said.

"C'mon, can't you just forget what happened? We can start from new." She said. He more and more realized that Marissa only was beautiful, but nothing more. She was naïve, a kind of stupid and assumptive. Oh, and she obviously didn't have a clue of what Oliver had done to him.

"Marissa, if you want to spend time with me, any time. But not with him." He said and then left. Seth followed him.

"Wow, this was a tough announcement. Hey, but I'm glad you've decided to stay out of trouble by yourself, thus I don't have to do this for you."

He spent the rest of the break with Seth and Summer. Later he again headed to his class. Unfortunately he had none together with Seth. He could have needed it. He entered the room and sat down on a table. It didn't take long and someone sat down next to him. It was Marissa. And, shit. Oliver had the same class as well and of course he sat down next to Marissa. He started to look through the class room. There was no other free seat left. He took some deep breaths. He only needed to stay calm. And the best way to do so, was remembering what the last time had happened when he had messed up with Oliver.

"Ryan I need to talk to you." She said and he noticed a kind of sad look up on her face.

"Depends about what." He only answered. He didn't want Oliver to listen to some kind of private conversation, although it was for sure Marissa talking to him later.

"I really feel sorry…and…I don't know what to say. You should have talked to me about that. Of course I can't imagine how it is…you know to be…" He shook his head to show her he didn't understand what she tried to tell him.

"I mean…oh God…it's incredible something like that happened to you."

"To me? What happened to me?" If this was related to his bruised cheek, he was sure she knew he often got a shiner due some kind of fight.

"C'mon. You can talk to me. I know it's not easy and I've read a lot of articles in which women describe how hard it is, to talk about it. But you have to confide to someone. If you don't feel like talking about it to me or the Cohens it's more than understandable, but you have to. Otherwise you never can leave this behind. If you want to, I can give you the number of my therapist."

"Marissa, what are you talking about?" He was sure he didn't need a therapist.

"She was talking about," yes, he wanted to punch this little sucker right into his face, when he started to speak. But he remained calm, "how can I say…about your experience of being assaulted." Bang! What? How? Hell! Fuck! This…? Shit! Now he understood why and…everything. He wasn't able to catch one clear thought after Oliver had said these words.

"Uhm…you…how? I mean how do you come to this assumption?" He only asked.

"Oliver had…" Marissa started to answer.

"Ryan, Dr. Kim wants to talk to you." His teacher said. What was happening right now? Why did Dr. Kim want to talk to him? And who came up with this story? He went down the hallway and stopped in front of Dr. Kim's door. He knocked.

"Come in." He heard a voice then entered the room. When Dr. Kim was aware of him being in the room, also on her face a strange look appeared and now after what Marissa had said, he was sure why she looked at him like that.

"Hi Ryan. Have a seat, please." She said. He got over to her and sat down. She folded her hands on the table and looked intensely at him.

"You know, why I want to talk to you?" She asked him. Now he was going to play the clueless.

"Sorry, I don't know." He answered. Dr. Kim sighed.

"Okay, I know you don't want to talk about it. But rape is a very serious topic and you shouldn't stay silent about it. And I only wanted to say, if there is any problem – no matter what kind – you can come to me. I'll try to offer you any kind of help you need." Alright, this went too far and he had to stop it.

"With all respect Dr. Kim, but there's nothing true about the rumour going around in school."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry for that. I informed your teachers. Something must have leaked out. But…"

"Sorry for interrupting you, but I've never been assaulted." He tried to get Dr. Kim down from her trip.

"Ryan, I know about your problematic background and I can imagine you would do everything to make this undone, but you need to face the truth."

"And the truth is that I've never been assaulted. Yes, my father beat me up, as well as all my mother's boyfriends, but I've never been assaulted." He asked himself how often he was going to say these words again.

"It's okay Ryan. But why didn't you talk to the Cohens about it? I was quite surprised when I called them and they told me they didn't know anything about this."

"Yeah, because it never had happened. And besides just for the case it had happened – what's not the case right now - , who gives you the right to tell everyone about it. And from whom did you get the information?"

"Mr. Trask was prividently to tell me. I really appreciated it, thus it's possible for me to consider it, concerning your behaviour and efforts."

"Yeah, thank you." He only answered. Then she released him. He neither had an idea how to get this out of the world, nor what to make with Oliver. But one thing was for sure: he needed to go home…to the Cohens…home, whatever and explain to them this being a mistake, otherwise he never was going to go on with his life in a normal way. He felt how something inside of him slowly started to break into pieces and it started to hurt. Shit, exactly this was, what he had wanted to prevent. He went through the hallways. Oliver waited at the lockers.

"How was the conversation with Dr. Kim?" He asked him. He didn't answer. Oliver followed him.

"I tie you into knots. You'll crawl on the ground begging me for mercy. But I won't listen. I want to destroy you and I know I can. Now you're in my hand. I'll break you into little pieces. You'll be mental crippled when I'm finished with you." Oliver hissed. This was enough. He turned around and left.