Ryan and Seth walked back to Seth's house. "So why don't you talk?" Seth asked. "I don't like to. In Chino, if you open your mouth, you're as good as dead," Ryan said. Seth got nervous. "Oh. Well here we are," Seth said. Ryan looked up at the huge house in front of him. Seth went over to the gate and pushed a button. "Hello?" someone asked. "Hey mom!" Seth said. "Hold on sweetie," she said. Ryan looked down. "Are you ok?" Seth asked. "What? Oh yeah. It's just that my mother never says anything like that," Ryan said. "I'm sorry," Seth said. Ryan shook his head and they went inside.

"Who's your friend Seth?" his father asked. "This is Ryan. He just moved here. I'm tutoring him in math," Seth said. "Hello Ryan. I'm Sandy. My wife's name is Kirsten if you see her." Sandy put his hand out. Ryan took it. "You got a grip kid," Sandy said. "Thanks," he said. "I need to talk to you for a minute," Sandy said. "Am I in trouble?" Seth asked. Sandy shook his head. "You can sit in the living room. It's down the hall to your right," Seth said. Ryan nodded and went inside.

Seth went into the kitchen. His parents were there. "I am so proud of you for tutoring him," Kirsten said. "Thanks mom," Seth said. "What's with his outfit? He's wearing a wifebeater, leather jacket and navy blue jeans," Sandy said. "Remember when I did the report on Chino?" Seth asked. His parents nodded. "Well, Ryan's from Chino," Seth said. Sandy's eyes widened. "What's his last name?" Sandy asked. "Atwood." Sandy looked worried. "What is it honey?" Kirsten asked. "I'm defending his brother, Trey Atwood. Apparently, Trey bought a gun to school and held it up to his teacher's head a few days ago," Sandy said. Kirsten looked worried. "Go back inside Seth. Ryan's probably getting nervous," Kirsten said. Seth went back inside.

"Sorry it took so long," Seth said. "Do you want me to leave?" Ryan asked. "No. Your fine. My dad thought you looked familiar," Seth said. "Why? Has he seen me before?" he asked. "He's defending your brother Trey. He bought a gun to school and held it to a teacher's head," Seth said. "Oh yeah. No wonder his name sounded so familiar," Ryan said. "Are you hungry? I can get us something to eat," Seth said. Ryan nodded and got back to his book. "You like reading?" Seth asked. Ryan nodded. "It helps me get away from my drunken mother and her boyfriend for the week," Ryan said. "Wow. That must be hard," Seth said. "A little," Ryan said. "So. Are you ready to learn math?" Seth asked. Ryan closed his book. "Sure. I think it's gonna be a fun subject to learn," Ryan said.

About 5 minutes later, Seth had his math textbook out. "It took you that long to get a book out?" Ryan asked. "Sorry but my bag's a mess," Seth said. "We'll start with simple problems. I'll write them down and you do them," he said. Seth wrote down 5 problems on the paper. Ryan answered 3/5 correct. "You got 3 out of 5 correct, which isn't so bad. I'll show you how to do these," Seth said. About 2 minutes later, Ryan got the problems right.

"Let's take a break," Seth said 20 minutes later. "Thank you!" Ryan said. Just as Seth went to go into the kitchen, the doorbell rang. "I got it!" Seth called out. He opened the door and saw Marissa Cooper standing there. "Marissa! You never came over here before. You need something?" Seth asked. "Yeah. My mom needs-"she was cut off when she saw Ryan. "Who's that?" she asked. "Oh that's Ryan Atwood. He's new and is starting school tomorrow. He's gonna be in our class," Seth said. "He's cute! Oh God! Don't tell Luke I said that!" Marissa said. Ryan noticed her. He went over to the door and put his hand out. "Uh hi. I'm Ryan Atwood," Ryan said. Marissa took his hand. "I'm Marissa Cooper. I live next door from Seth," she said. "I'll be right back," Seth said. He went into the kitchen.

Marissa and Ryan stood in silence. "So uh, who's your teacher?" Ryan asked. "Mr. Cannon. You?" she asked. "Same," he said. Before Marissa knew what she was doing, she leaned in and kissed Ryan. He didn't push her away, which was a good sign. She got really into it, but the kiss was over all too soon. Ryan put his hand out and she took it. They walked hand in hand into the Cohen kitchen.