NOTE: I do not own any of these characters… you can thank FOX. If you have any questions or comment you can e-mail me at liverbrain22@hotmail.com

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Chapter Twenty Three

"But as for me I'm coming to my final failure.

I've killed myself with changes trying to make things better.

And ended up becoming something other

Than what I had planned to be."

- Bright Eyes

Seth whistled away in the passenger seat of Summer's car. "Seth!" Summer warned him and he stopped whistling. "This song is already a terrible song…It doesn't need your whistling to make it worse!" She said, gripping onto the steering wheel. They were caught up in morning traffic. "Stupid bastard is on my tail!" She yelled out, looking into her rearview mirror. Both Seth and Ryan turned around and glared at the driver in the car behind them. "I hate traffic!" Summer complained.

Seth switched the radio station and began whistling to a Brand New song.

"We're going to be late." Ryan said from the back seat. "I can't be late…"

Summer's car came to an abrupt stop. "Uh, stupid moron!" She yelled out the window. She turned to Ryan and replied; "The bumper to bumper wasn't my idea either for this morning's car ride!"

"Summer!" Seth yelled at her. "Go!" He pointed to the road and Summer pressed her foot on the gas.

They finally made it to school, but were twenty minutes late. In the morning Seth and Summer had been making out and lost track of time. And Ryan had woken up late. Ryan rushed off to his history class as Seth and Summer went to their Biology class.

"Mr. Atwood, you're late." Mr. Schmidt said. "Take a seat and see me after class." Ryan nodded and took his seat in the back of the class where Luke was seating.

"Hey." Luke whispered. "Where have you been?"

"Summer." Ryan whispered back. He knew Luke would understand him, with just his one word response.

"Okay, so as I was saying." Mr. Schmidt raised his voice, looking at Ryan. "I will not be assigning partners for this project. You can do it on whatever you like. Use your imagination, people!" He told the class. "This is worth a lot, so, therefore, be smart when you pick your partner." He explained the project to the class and then the bell rang.

"Want to be my partner?" Luke asked, packing up his books.

Ryan shrugged, "Sure."

"Awesome, I'll see you at lunch." Luke said, leaving the classroom.

Ryan grabbed his books and went to the front of the class to talk to Mr. Schmidt. "Sorry I was late…There was a traffic jam." Ryan apologized.

"I understand and I hope it won't happen again, but that's not why I asked you to stay after class." Mr. Schmidt explained, handing Ryan a paper. It was last week's test. "Would you like to explain this to me?"

Ryan looked at the grade. He had flunked the test terribly. He usually did well on all his assignments and tests, but he hadn't paid much attention to the test when he wrote it. His mind was everywhere but the test. "Sorry, I – I'll do better next time?" Ryan mumbled.

"Do you know what this means?" His teacher asked.

"Uh, no…What does it mean?" Ryan asked, still looking at his test. He scanned through his answers. Most of them were blank, but most of the test was filled in half-assed.

"Dr. Kim explained to you before the starting of the school year that you had to maintain your grades. If you cannot maintain your grades than I'm afraid this school isn't meant for you, Ryan Atwood."

"Sir, it's just one test. How bad can it affect my grade?"

"The midterm is coming up, Ryan. This test could bring your mark down considerably." Mr. Schmidt explained. His second period was starting to pile into the classroom. "If you don't have a passing grade this midterm, Ryan, you're out."

Ryan laughed nervously and handed the test back to his teacher. "Is there a re-test I can take?"

"I'm afraid not." Mr. Schmidt replied. "But, you may have a chance of passing this midterm if you do exceptionally well on the project that I had assigned today." Ryan nodded his head and Mr. Schmidt handed him a slip for his other teacher, for his late arrival. "You better start working hard on that project, Mr. Atwood."

Ryan took the slip. "Okay, I will." He said and then left.

Ryan went to his locker and dropped off his books. The hallways were empty as he made his way over to his math class.

"Ryan!" Marissa called out. She was leaving Dr. Kim's office. "Wait up!" She ran up to him.

"Hey." Ryan replied. He looked around the hallways. "How are you?" He asked, shifting his books into his right arm. He could practically feel his arm today and it felt good. He knew Chelsea was going to be happy for him.

"Oh, I'm good. Just talking over some stuff with Dr. Kim. Another stupid charity event." Marissa explained. "I'm beginning to hate all these charity events."

"I know what you mean." Ryan replied.

"Yeah." Marissa smiled at him. "We better get to class. I'll see you later." Marissa said and then walked away from him.

Ryan watched her walk away and thought to himself, 'Well, that went pretty well. The 'friend' thing seemed to be working out.' He had a good feeling that their relationship wasn't going to eerie, like he had thought it would be. Ryan walked into his math class and handed his slip to his teacher and then sat down at his desk. He wasn't paying much attention throughout class. He kept thinking about his history project he had to do with Luke. He knew he needed to start right away if he wanted a good mark.

At lunchtime, Ryan and Luke sat alone at a table in the outside cafeteria, discussing their project.

"We could go over to my house right after your physiotherapy if you want? Work a little on the project and then hang." Luke offered, biting into his sandwich.

"Can't." Ryan replied. "I'm grounded. Plus, right now, I'm sure they won't believe me."

"Right, well just explain to Sandy that you have a big project that you need to work on. I'm sure he'll understand, Ryan."

"He won't understand why I failed my history test."

"Maybe he won't ask." Luke said, pulling out his cellphone. "Call him and ask." Luke handed him his cellphone and Ryan took it.

Ryan dialed Sandy's cellphone number. He still had it in his head ever since he had called him that day in Chino. That was the day that had changed his life forever.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sandy, its Ryan."

"Ryan? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Sandy." Ryan rolled his eyes at Luke and Luke laughed. "I just called to ask if I could go over to Luke's house after physiotherapy. We have a project to work on for our history class. Is that okay?" Ryan asked.

"Ryan you know you are grounded. Didn't you guys just do a project together? When is this 'project' due?" Sandy questioned. He was beginning to think that Ryan didn't want to come home.

"We did, yes. But now we have another one. School comes first, right?" Ryan added. "I know I'm grounded, but this is school."

"Are Luke's parents going to be home?"

"Yeah." Ryan lied. He had no clue if they were going to be there or not.

"Okay, I want you home by eight though. No horsing around – Just work. Comprendez?"

Ryan laughed. "Yeah, thanks. Bye." Ryan said and then gave Luke his cellphone back. "Done."

"Great. We'll work on the project for a few hours and then we'll just hang…You know, relax." Luke laughed. "Hey, do you think I should ask Chelsea if she has a boyfriend or not?"

Ryan started to laugh at him. "So you're definitely done with Anna?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm a free man."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"You're doing great, Ryan." Chelsea told him. "Just keep it up, okay. So I'll see you next week."

"Thanks." Ryan said, as he put on his jacket.

Luke got up from his chair and walked over to them. "I'm Luke, by the way." Luke held out his hand. They shook hands and then Luke asked, "I was wondering if you'd like to go grab a drink with me sometime…If you're free. Are you free?"

Chelsea started to laugh. "Uh, you're a little young for me. I'm twenty-five and you're like what? Seventeen?"

"Twenty-two. I'm uh, I'm Ryan's cousin." Luke replied, ignoring Ryan's glare. "So, how about it? Would you like to go out sometime?"

Chelsea smiled at him. "Sure. How's tonight?"

"Luke, we have our project to do." Ryan cut in.

"Project?" Chelsea asked.

"Ryan, he has this history project and I promised him I would help him with it. I major in American History. Isn't that right, Ryan?" Luke nudged him.

Ryan forced a smile. "Yeah, he is supposed to help me on my project."

"Oh, well then…" Chelsea grabbed one of her business cards and wrote her home phone number down. "Here." She handed it to him. "Call me whenever."

"Awesome. Well, thanks a lot." He put his arm around Ryan's shoulder. "Come on 'cuz, we should really start on that project of yours. I'll call you, Chelsea." He said and then left with Ryan.

As soon as they were outside Ryan started laughing. "You didn't just do that…Shit Luke, if she finds out, you're dead. Trust me, I've seen her mad before and it's not a pretty sight."

"Well, she can't be any worse than Summer, can she?"

Ryan shook his head and continued laughing. "Nah, not as bad at Summer at all."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Watch it." Seth grabbed Captain Oats out of Summer's hands. "He's delicate and breaks easily." He said, setting Captain Oats down on his desk. "So, again tell me why I have to go with you to your house for dinner and meet your dad. From what you've told me so far…I don't think I'm ready to meet him."

Summer sighed. "He's not that bad." She protested. "He's rarely ever home for dinner because he's always busy with his work. Plus, he invited you…You have to go."

"And why on earth would he invite me?" Seth questioned.

"He wants to know who I'm dating. He may not be around enough to be a parent, but he always makes time to meet the guys I'm dating." Summer explained. "It's his way of tormenting me."

"That's awesome…Maybe I should just wear a Speedo and talk like I've seen too much sun, 'cause I'm sure that's what he's looking for." Seth joked.

"No, he'll like you, Cohen. Trust me…" She replied and then started kissing him. "Just don't wear what you're wearing." She commented, pulling away from him. She went over to his closet and started looking around.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Seth asked.

"It's too…Uh, I don't know." She took out a pair of khaki pants and a polo shirt. "Here, these should do." She handed them to Seth.

"Dear Lord." Seth gulped. "Now I really don't want to go. My mom bought these for me like a year ago; hence the reason why they were shoved in the back of the closet. There's no way I'm wearing this."

"Seth!" Summer begged him. "Please? Just try them on!" Seth shook his head and threw the clothes on his bed. Summer grabbed Captain Oats and waved him in the air. "Try them on." She repeated.

"Oh, so now it's going to be like this." Seth started unbuttoning his T-shirt. "You're lucky Captain Oats and I are very close. I've had him ever since I was a little kid, you know." He pulled on the polo shirt and slid out of his pants, pulling on the khakis. "Happy?"

Summer pressed her lips together and walked over to him and fixed the polo T-shirt. "You look good." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "So, you're coming?"

Seth rolled his eyes. "Fine, but you owe me big time!"

Summer laughed at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find a way to make it up to you."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Luke was at his computer researching, while Ryan was on Luke's bed jotting down notes from their textbook. They had decided to do their project on the history of American government, looking into in-depth principles of democracy and economics.

"So, exactly what kind of stuff do you want to throw in?" Luke asked.

"Uh, well, what we did for our last project was pretty good." Ryan replied. "Whatever gets me a passing grade that's good enough to continue going to Harbor." He said, flipping through his textbook.

"Okay." Luke said, and then his phone rang. "Hello?" He answered it.

"Hey Luke, its Marissa."

"Oh, hey Marissa." Luke replied. Ryan took his eyes off his textbook and stared at Luke. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to do something." Marissa asked. "There's this new movie that's out and Summer's busy tonight. Did you want to come with me?"

"As in a – "

Marissa cut him off. "No, not a date, Luke. Just as friends…"

"Right, well I can't. Ryan's over and we're busy."

"Oh…"

"Yeah." Luke replied. "Another time."

"Okay, bye." Marissa hung up the phone.

Luke put his phone back down and continued researching for their project. Ryan was still looking at him. He wondered what Marissa was calling him for. "Who was that?"

"Marissa…She wanted to go see a movie tonight with me."

"Oh…" Was Ryan jealous? He didn't know. Should he be? He thought to himself. "As in a date?" He asked.

"Nah, just friends." Luke told him. "Hey, you want to take a break? We've been at this for two hours…I think we've done enough for today."

Ryan gave in. "Sure." He was getting tired from all the researching they had been doing. He did have two weeks to hand in the project. "What do you want to do?"

"I know of this cool…Restaurant, I guess you can say…Want to go out and eat?" Luke asked.

"Sounds good." Ryan said, closing his book.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Okay, another short chapter. I'm really not sure if I should continue this story or not. Although, next chapter looks like it could be a good one; for what I'm thinking of doing. Tell me if you want me to continue it or not.

Also, if you haven't done so already…Check out my new story 'Glory Fades'.