"Mom, you aren't listening to me. I was the one who shoplifted, not Ryan. Why is he still in juvenile hall?" Marissa yelled at the back of her mother's head.

She turned to hiss at Marissa, "Because if you hadn't started hanging out with that Chino trash, you never would've started getting into all this trouble! First you were all gloomy around the house. Then you broke up with Luke. Then you overdosed in Mexico. Now you've taken to shoplifting? I can only see that Ryan has brainwashed you into trash just like he is, and I just won't have it. This is not the daughter that I raised!" Her mother yelled the last part as she held her arms out, pointing at Marissa.

Marissa looked pleadingly at her father, who was perched on the edge of one of the overstuffed love seats in the living room. "Dad, please help me out here, you know what Luke did to me. You know what kind of person Ryan is."

Her father looked back at her, but his expression had changed. "I understand why you and Luke broke up kiddo, but I am starting to wonder where all this angst is coming from. You seemed happier before you started hanging out with Ryan. Your decision making seems really messed up lately. Maybe your mom is right."

Marissa couldn't believe this, her dad was on her mother's side. Hell must've frozen over. She turned to leave the living room. "I'm going up to my room," she said before heading upstairs. Though, she heard her parents fighting before she even closed her bedroom door.

*

Seth was in the pool house, playing "Grand Theft Auto – Vice City" on Playstation 2.

"Hey, man, check this out, they're cars you can boost without getting in trouble. I can't believe you don't want to play this game, man."

Ryan gave him a sideways glance which told him to drop it.

Seth paused the game. "Look, man, I'm sorry. It was just a joke."

Seeing the preoccupied look on Ryan's face, he continued, "I tried calling her house four times already, and her mom keeps answering the phone on the first ring. She won't let me talk to Marissa."

"I know; I guess I'll have to wait to talk to her at school tomorrow," Ryan replied as he looked out the window towards the Coopers' house.

*

It was well after midnight, and Ryan couldn't sleep. He was sitting out by the pool and smoking a cigarette. Other than the sound of the ocean in the distance, the night was still and Ryan was enjoying the quiet.

A voice came up from behind, "Hey, thank God you're okay," Marissa said as she approached. He turned to face her.

"I snuck out of the house, which isn't as easy as it used to be now that my dad is staying over and sleeping on the couch."

She stopped talking when she saw the long gash and slight swelling on the right side of his face.

"Ryan, what happened to you?" she asked as she used her right hand to turn his chin so that she could see the jagged line in the moonlight a little better.

He pulled away from her and turned the right side of his face away from her. "Nothing. I'm fine. How are you?" he grumbled sarcastically.

He couldn't believe he wasn't yelling at her. Ever since he moved into the Cohens' pool house, she'd been the cause of a lot of his trouble. Now she was responsible for getting him tossed back into lock-up for two days. He should tell her to go to hell and turn around and go back into the pool house, but there was something about her that melted his anger.

"Ryan, I am so sorry. I don't know where to begin," she whispered with a small sob. "I had no idea that all this would happen, that you would get in trouble. I was so stupid, I wasn't thinking."

He felt himself moving towards her and stopped himself. "Tell me why you did it Marissa. What in the hell is going on with you?"

It was a hard question, but everyone seemed to tip toe around her ever since the drug thing in Mexico, and he needed to know. Hell, she needed to say out loud what in the hell was going on.

She reached out to him, but saw that he wasn't going to be persuaded by tears. She took a deep breath and started talking.

"I used to shoplift with Holly in junior high. We did it for the thrill of it and we never got caught. Well, with all the crap going on with my parents, I've just felt so out of control with what's going on around me. In some weird way, I figured that I'd have control over something." She looked at his face for any reaction before continuing.

"Does that make any sense? Of course I can't tell my parents that, but it's the truth. And I figured that if I got you that really nice watch, it would make it a memorable Christmas for you, which doesn't sound like what you had in Chino. I just wanted us to have a great Christmas."

He looked at her. "Memorable, Marissa, would be for me not to spend the holidays in either the hospital or Juvie."

"I know, Ryan, I know, and I'm so very sorry. Please forgive me."

"What about your parents?" he asked. "They probably have the Newport Police Department on speed dial and are just waiting to see you within 15 feet of me to call them and have me arrested for something."

"I know, I know I really messed everything up, and I promise that I'll make everything all right. I even agreed to see a therapist to make them happy." she said.

He couldn't stay mad at her. He could never stay mad at her. He reached for her, and took her in his arms and they held each other.