Okay, so it looks like it's taking me about a week to update. Sorry for the long wait in between. Enjoy.

Usual Disclaimers apply.

"Sorry about last night," Mitch told Seth after school the next day. It hadn't taken much coaxing for Seth to agree to go over to Mitch's house. He lived in the penthouse of one of the luxurious apartment homes for Newport's modestly wealthy.

"It's okay," Seth said, praying his voice didn't show how bummed out he'd been by Mitch's refusal to get together the night before.

"My dad insisted on my attending this dinner he was having with some business associate. Ever heard of this dude Caleb Nichol? He's supposed to be like one of the most powerful guys in town."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, I've heard of him." He didn't bother to let Mitch know Caleb Nichol was his grandfather.

"His wife is a looker. Half his age."

Seth smiled knowingly, though he had never thought of Julie Cooper Nichol as hot. When he thought of Julie, he pictured a vulture with its claws out. "Julie is Marissa's mom. Marissa and my brother Ryan date. Also, they used to live next door to us. The Coopers that is. Before they got divorced and all."

"Is Newport this incestuous town? Everyone knows everyone? Everyone has been married to everyone?"

"Yup," Seth said. "Actually, it's even more incestuous than you think. Caleb Nichol is my grandfather," he admitted.

Mitch guffawed. "So Julie Nichol is your grandmother!"

Seth had to laugh. Because when Julie and his grandfather had first gotten engaged, he had rehashed the family tree for everyone in the kitchen. His father had choked on his coffee when Seth pointed out that Julie would be his mother-in-law and his mother shot him a lethal look when he pointed out that Julie was her step mom. And he thought Ryan was about to kick his ass, when he mentioned that technically, Ryan was dating his aunt.

Now lounging in the futon chair in Mitch's bedroom, Seth had to laugh at his friend's assessment of the town he was now living in.

"Dinner was a drag. I needed to unwind bad afterwards."

"How do you unwind?" Seth asked innocently.

Mitch shrugged. "It depends on the situation. But last night I used this." He took out a joint and showed it to Seth.

Seth started when he saw what his friend was holding. It wasn't that he had never seen drugs before. He had, just not up so close. And he hadn't pictured Mitch as a dope addict. He seemed too smart to start in on that stuff.

"It makes me forget," Mitch explained.

Seth sighed. "I wish I could forget lately."

"Try it." Mitch stretched out his arm, handing over the joint.

Seth shook his head. "I couldn't."

"You're worried your parents will notice?"

"No," Seth answered truthfully. Six months ago, he knew his parents would definitely notice. He wasn't so sure anymore.

"So what's the problem?"

"Oh, you know. Drugs are evil. They'll mess with your head. You know the commercial. This is your brain," Seth said, deepening his voice. "This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"

"A little won't hurt," Mitch said laughing. "Come on, try it."

Seth didn't know why he was doing it, but he took the joint from Mitch's outstretched hand. If his parents found out, they would probably kill him. If Ryan found out, he'd kill Seth too. But his parents would be too busy to notice and if Ryan did notice, he'd convince him to keep quiet about it and take whatever his brother had to dish out.

Seth inhaled deeply as soon as the joint was lit and immediately coughed. Mitch gave him a patronizing smile.

"Just take a drag," he instructed. "Don't inhale yet, not if you're a virgin."

Seth raised his brows. At least he wasn't really a virgin, though he knew Mitch was not referring to his sexual experience.

Seth tried again, letting out the smoke right away. He tried it a couple of more times, getting the hang of it, when Mitch suggested he might try inhaling again. This time, the smoke didn't bother him too much and he only sputtered slightly before swallowing the smoke.

He handed the joint to Mitch and said, "Your turn."

Mitch took it gratefully and took a couple of puffs before passing it back to Seth. When Seth was experimenting with his second round, Mitch put on his CD player and music blasted from the speakers. Seth wasn't sure if it was the effects of the drugs or the numbing sound of the music, but suddenly everything he'd been thinking about cleared from his mind.

They didn't finish the joint. When it was halfway done, Mitch stubbed the end with his thumb and forefinger and put it in a Ziplock™ bag, which had more weed inside of it.

"It really does look like grass." Seth was lying on Mitch's floor and staring at the ceiling.

Mitch giggled. "You've never seen marijuana before?"

Seth shrugged. "From a distance. Never paid much attention to it." He rolled over onto his stomach and buried his head in the carpet. With all the crap he had endured from the jocks in school, he had never felt the need for drugs before. Tonight he understood why people used drugs. His mind felt numb. It was blank. All he had to do was shut his eyes and everything he had felt in the past twenty-four hours evaporated.

"You're pretty trashed," Mitch commented.

"Yup."

"Don't know if you'll want to be here when my dad gets home."

Seth shook his head. "Probably not."

"How are you going to get home?"

"Good question." Seth didn't say anything and Mitch waited. "Maybe my brother can come and get me."

"Will he tell your parents?"

Seth shrugged then shook his head. "Probably not. He's no choir boy." Seth took out his cell phone and dialed Ryan. "Hey bro," he said into the phone. "Do you think you could snag a ride and pick me up?"

"Seth?" Ryan asked.

"That's me. The one and only."

At the other end, Ryan rolled his eyes. Sometimes Seth was just too weird. "Where are you?" he asked.

"At Mitch's place. Can you come?"

Ryan looked at Marissa and then reluctantly said yes. "Give me the address."

"You're a peach," Seth said, before giving his brother the directions.

As Ryan drove to pick Seth up, he tried to work out in his mind what was wrong with Seth. He knew his brother sounded off. He just wasn't sure what was wrong with him. As weird as Seth was, he didn't recall his brother usually sounding so bizarre. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized Seth hadn't said anything too unusual. Maybe it was the way his voice sounded. Ryan couldn't put his finger on it.

He glanced over at Marissa who had connived her way into the front seat. He hadn't wanted to leave Marissa, but he knew that something was up with Seth and he had not been too excited about letting her come along. But Marissa could be stubborn and it was easier to give in than to fight with her.

"Ryan," she said quietly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything is great."

"Why does Seth need a ride?"

"Because Sandy and Kirsten refuse to get us a car of our own."

"Why couldn't Mitch drive him home?"

"I didn't ask. Maybe the kid doesn't have a car either."

"You look upset."

"I'm not upset." He sighed. "But I probably will be when I see Seth. He sounded…"

"Weird? Seth always sounds weird."

"He sounded weird for Seth."

Minutes later, Ryan's fears were confirmed. As soon as he looked Seth in the eyes, he knew his brother was high. "What did you take?" he asked.

"Huh?" asked a woozy Seth.

"What drugs did you take? Did you snort coke? Smoke weed?" He grabbed one of Seth's arms and pushed up the sleeve of his polo shirt. "Did you shoot up?"

"Chill Ryan. I only smoked some pot. Between the two of us, we didn't even finish a joint."

"Are you nuts? Sandy and Kirsten are totally going to freak!"

"Mom and Dad won't even notice. Can we go?" Seth gently prodded Ryan to the car. "Since when did you become such a mother hen anyway? Like you never smoked weed before," Seth muttered.

But Ryan heard every word. He wasn't sure if Seth meant for him to hear or not, but it was too late. "For your information," he said hotly, "I've only experimented once or twice and never since I came to live with your family."

"Our family," Seth returned irritably.

"What?"

"Our family," he repeated. "You're part of our family. Why don't you include yourself in our family?"

"I was talking the past tense, Seth. From before Sandy and Kirsten adopted me."

"Oh."

Seth wobbled and Ryan caught him.

"Come on man," Ryan said, taking Seth by the arm. He forced the gangly teenager to lean on his shoulder and Ryan half dragged his brother to the car.

Marissa glanced at Seth, but didn't say a word when she saw the state he was in. She wondered if that's how she acted when she was drunk. Looking at Seth made her glad she had a grasp on her drinking problem. She wondered if Seth had a problem or he was just experimenting. From the look on Ryan's face, it looked like a mess he was used to cleaning up, but Marissa wasn't sure if it was Seth's mess or Dawn's disasters that was familiar to him.

When Ryan walked into the kitchen the next morning, Seth was already there, devouring a bagel and eggs, sunny side up. He held up his cup of coffee, acknowledging Ryan's presence with half a smile.

"You look like crap," Ryan said.

"Thanks."

"Any food left for me?"

Seth shrugged. "I've been like a bottomless pit since last night."

"What's new?"

"Hah hah. Ryan made a funny."

"I'm getting good at that."

"Another funny. Soon you'll be cracking more jokes than me."

"Impossible."

"An—" But Seth didn't finish, because Ryan threw him one of his patent looks. He had never tried to mess with Ryan and wasn't going to try now.

"It's normal to be hungry after you've —" Ryan didn't finish, because he didn't want Kirsten or Sandy to walk in on them. That was Ryan's first priority – to keep Seth's secret from his parents. All Ryan kept thinking was that they had enough on their plate without any trouble from them.

"Since when are you such an expert? You've only tried it – what? Once? Twice?"

"Marijuana was one of my mother's drugs of choice."

Seth wasn't easy to silence, but whenever Ryan brought up his past life, Seth didn't know what to say. He didn't have to try and respond because Sandy walked in.

"Good morning," he said cheerfully. His hair was dry, but he was dressed in his surfing gear. The boys realized that he was hoping for a morning-surf before going to work. Last year, Sandy always finagled a surf before the boys went off to school, but with Christina taking up so much of their time, he didn't always have time for his favorite pastime.

"Seth, how are you doing this morning?"

"Fine," he mumbled. As soon as Ryan had brought him home, Seth had hid out in his room, claiming a headache. He didn't come out for dinner, afraid his parents would smell the pot on him. It wasn't like his parents hadn't experimented with drugs. Seth knew if put in front of them, they'd recognize the signs of drug use almost immediately.

"Good," Sandy said. He glanced at the clock on the stove. "Aren't you boys going to be late for school?"

"Yeah," agreed Seth. "We better get going." He tossed a bagel to Ryan and said, "We can eat on the run."

"Ryan," Sandy said, as the teenager grabbed their bags.

"Yes."

"We have an appointment with your probation officer on Tuesday."

Seth watched as Ryan swallowed nervously.

"I- I just met with him," he stammered, eyes wide with fright. He stole a glance at Seth. "I didn't do anything."

"The judge wants to meet with you," Sandy explained.

"Why?" Ryan tried to keep his voice in check, but he could hear it rise, almost to a whine. He didn't notice the twinkle in Sandy's eyes or the smile that played on his lips.

"Haven't you been keeping track, Ryan? Your probation is over."

Ryan shook his head in disbelief. "Over?"

Sandy had always been on top of Ryan and his probation. And aside from the time last Christmas when he was pulled over by the police and Marissa had an open bottle of vodka between her legs, he had stayed out of real trouble. Last year, Sandy had a coronary when he ditched school to visit his father in prison, because Dr. Kim had threatened suspension and that would have raised some red flags with the probation officer. To think that constant looking over his shoulder was nearly over was more than Ryan could process at that particular moment.

"I'll make sure not to make any plans for Tuesday."

"And I'll pick you up from school. Maybe the two of us can go out afterwards and celebrate."

"That would be great."

"Come on," Seth urged. "We'll be late."

During the drive to Harbor, neither Seth nor Ryan spoke. Seth fiddled with the radio dial, trying to find music that they could both agree on, but that was hopeless. They were so incompatible; it was amazing they ever became friends.

"About last night," Ryan started when they were just a minute away from school.

"Forget about it already," snapped Seth. "You really know how to beat a dead horse, you know?"

"I'm worried Seth."

"Don't worry."

"Mitch is bad news."

"You don't know Mitch."

"I know people like him. I've been around them all my life."

"This isn't Chino."

"So what is it?" shouted Ryan. "Rich kids playing with things they don't know shit about? You're smarter than that."

"With your brains, didn't you know it was stupid to go steal a car? You still did it. At least my little experiment didn't nearly get me thrown in jail."

"Drugs are stupid, man."

"You sound like a public service announcement."

Ryan pulled into Harbor's parking lot and pulled the Land Rover into an empty spot. He glared at Seth, resisting the urge to punch the other boy in the gut. He decided it wasn't worth trying to reason with Seth when he was like this. Maybe he would calm down in a few days.

Ryan alighted from the Land Rover and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He walked around the car and fell in step with Seth, even though they weren't talking. They were at the bottom of the steps that led to the heart of the Harbor campus when Mitch Weider walked up beside them.

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