*Hey guys! Thanks for all of the reviews! I am trying to stretch this story out through

October 30 (counting down) so my updates might be farther apart. I decided to

change some stuff from this chapter, so it has been edited. So here we go! Usual

disclaimer (if I owned it, then The O.C. would be on every night!)*

The next morning, Seth woke up to his alarm clock's incessant cries.

"Ugh," he moaned, pounding it silent with a fist. He climbed out of bed and

jumped into the shower. After taking a shower and combing out his hair, he put on the

blue sacks, white shirt, blue and grey striped tie, and blue sweater vest that made up his

uniform. He threw on a pair of blue shoes and then went downstairs where he saw

Ryan eating a plate of toast in matching clothing.

"Hey man," Seth said, sitting down next to Seth.

"Morning. I can't believe Summer is over."

"Me either."

"It seems like just yesterday that I called your dad to pick me up from Chino.

And then I moved in with you all, still seems like I should be going back any day."

"No way man! You're stuck with us. But it's getting late. Do you want my mom

to drive us or me drive or walk?"

"Well, yesterday Marissa offered to give us a ride..."

"So things went well, I see."

"Yeah, I mean, we agreed to be friends and then slowly see where it goes from

there."

"Cool man," Seth said grabbing his book bag, "But we need to go over to Lover

girl's house and hitch the aforementioned ride."

When the boys reached the neighboring house, Marissa exited wearing her

uniform of blue and white plaid skirt, white shirt, and grey sweater vest. She was

wearing a pair of pointy toed heels.

"Hey guys," she said.

"Hey," they both replied.

"So Ryan," she said cheerfully, "You ready for your first day?"

"I guess so. Kinda nervous. It's pretty intimidating. Especially since I was not

voted Prom King my first few weeks here."

"The kids are mostly pretty nice."

Seth snorted.

"The kids are mostly pretty nice," she said again, shooting Seth a dirty look, "Just

keep a low profile at first," she advised, buckling herself into the Jeep.

Ryan and Marissa sat in the front and Seth in the back.

"School," Seth thought, "Means seeing Summer."

He had done a good job of avoiding her so far (even though it had only been three

days), but there was no way that he could avoid her now. They were practically in all of

the same classes. He could just ignore her, fall out of love, and that would be that. It

would be easy. Right?

Summer climbed out of her X-Terra and slung her Coach book bag over her

shoulders. She made her way over to the picnic table where she and Marissa met every

day. She felt pair after pair of eye follow her as she walked by. Since they had to wear

uniforms, girls would wear the most outrageous shoes and accessories. Today, Summer

was wearing a pair of high-heeled grey leather knee high boots and her Tiffany's

necklace. No need to get too crazy on the first day of school.

"Subtly is sometimes the most stunning," as her mother used to say.

She sat down on the picnic bench, and sipped on her Caramel Macchiato. She

saw a group of girls coming her way.

"Oh great," she thought, "Here come the Debons!"

"Hey Summer!" Margot greeted her peppily.

"Hi...Margot," Summer greeted her unenthusiastically.

The Debons were a sorority, of sorts, at school. To join, you had to engage in a

grueling initiation process, in which half the girls drop out. But once you made it in, it

was a cemented place in the social scene of Newport. The group this year consisted of

Margot and Maggie Tolden, twin sisters, Abbie Caulfield, Jenny Carson, Libby Olson,

Monroe Jackson, and Sara Beth Killon. Summer and Marissa had initiated themselves

two years ago, and the only other people in her class that stuck through the tasks were

Abby and Holly. Holly was noticeably missing.

"So girl," Jenny said, "What went on this summer? Every one of us was away.

Either the Vineyard, South of France, Hamptons...Miami."

"Not much really happened," Summer said nonchalantly.

"Well from who I've heard, a lot happened," Maggie said.

"Is it true Marissa and Luke broke up?" Monroe asked.

"And that he cheated on her with Holly," Libby questioned.

"And now she's going out with a boy from Chino?" questioned Sara Beth.

Summer could practically feel the excitement in their voices. They loved

scandals, it was their air, water. Summer herself was like them once. They were just like

their mothers, who ill be gossiping about Marissa's mother at coffee shops, and in each

others living rooms.

"God! You guys, she's your friend. Your supposed friend. Why do you derive

so much joy out of seeing her miserable?"

"Geez, what in the hell is your problem?" Margot said.

"Must be that Cohen boy...I heard that..."Summer heard Libby whisper to

Monroe.

Summer felt rage building up inside of her. She probably would have taken all of

them, when Marissa walked up.

"Summer?" Marissa asked, coming up behind the group.

"Hey," Summer said, standing up.

"Hey," she warily greeted the Debons.

"Hey," they said quickly and then sped off in the other direction.

"What in the hell did they want?" Marissa asked.

"Nothing," she said quickly and then finally noticing Seth and Ryan.

"Hey," she said, greeting them with a wave.

"Hi," Ryan said back, but Seth just looked past her.

"So..."Marissa said, "What lockers do you guys have?"

"304," Summer said, glancing at her schedule.

"I've got 258," Marissa said.

"Mine is 246," Ryan added, "What about you Seth?"

"Ummm...254."

The first bell rang loudly throughout the courtyard.

"Well, we better be going. We don't want to be late on our first day of school,"

Marissa said.

"Here we go," Ryan said, taking a deep breath.

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