Thanks for all the great reviews. I'm quite surprised that I'm able to update so soon. This chapter just flowed. Enjoy. Please read and review. And of course I don't own the O.C. or any of its characters. Just toying with them along with some of my own creations.

Ryan didn't know who Mitch was right away. Not until Seth greeted him with a huge smile and they slapped hands. "This is my brother, Ryan. You didn't really get a chance to say hi last night."

Mitch grinned brightly and extended his hand to Ryan.

But Ryan just glowered and said, "Stay away from my brother."

"Cut it out, Ryan. Don't talk to my friends like that."

"Someone has got to look out for you."

"I can do that myself, thank you."

Mitch just gawked at Ryan, not sure how to respond. "What have I done to your brother?" Mitch finally spluttered. He ran a hand through his bright red hair, a genuinely puzzled look on his face.

Ryan shook his head. "If you want to mess with your head and use drugs, I won't stop you, but don't drag Seth down with you."

"Seth, you never told me Ryan was your babysitter."

"Self-appointed," Seth answered, barely able to hide the contempt in his voice. "Come on," he said to Mitch, "lets get out of here."

Ryan watched Seth walk off, not missing the fact that his brother walked in the opposite direction of his homeroom class. Ryan inhaled sharply and held his breath for a second before letting it out slowly. With a shake of his head, he took the steps two by two and headed to homeroom.

Before he arrived at his classroom, he bumped into Summer and Ryan walking with arms linked.

"Hey, where's Cohen?" Summer asked.

"He took off with his new friend."

"Is he okay?" Marissa asked. She hadn't told Summer about picking Seth up the night before, but she hadn't forgotten Seth's kooky behavior. Ryan hadn't said anything, but Marissa had seen the signs before. She knew Seth had been using.

"What was wrong with Cohen?" Summer asked.

But the bell rang, saving Ryan from having to answer. He scurried off to class trying to figure out what excuse he would give Tolliver for Seth's absence.

"Where to?" Mitch asked.

They were in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of the Land Rover.

"I don't know. Last time we cut, the school called. Ryan covered for me. I don't think he'll do that again."

"Okay." Mitch drummed his fingers on the windshield. "So your parents will come down hard on you if you're caught cutting?"

Seth shrugged. "Lately, they don't notice much, but I was never into negative attention. What about you? What did your dad do last time?"

"He told me if he has to give up his valuable time to deal with this sort of crap at school, he'd ship me back to New York."

"Those were his exact words?" Seth asked with wide eyes.

"Pretty much."

Seth shook his head in disbelief. Perhaps, with the baby, his parents weren't as attentive as they had once been, but he couldn't imagine them talking to him like that. Seth always heard about miserable parents. Hell, Marissa was always complaining about Julie Cooper and he'd seen first hand what a miserable, controlling mother she was. But Julie's problem was that she loved too much and too fiercely, not that she showed contempt for her children.

"You willing to piss off your dad?"

Mitch nodded, a lock of his red hair falling into his eyes. "That's like my sole mission in life. He won't ship me back to New York. My mother has less interest in having me around than my dad. The worse that can happen is that they send me off to some boarding school. It won't be much different than here."

Seth didn't answer, but thought to himself how matter-of-factly Mitch talked about his parents' inattention.

"Come on," Seth said, banging the hood of the car. "Let's get out of here, before one of the teachers start sniffing out the parking lot for delinquents."

Mitch didn't need any additional invitations. He slung his backpack into the back seat of the Land Rover and sprinted after Seth, who was leading the way. Mitch wasn't used to following Seth. In his short friendship with Seth, he had always been the leader. But suddenly it was Seth who was taking control. Mitch didn't hesitate. He was happy to follow. Seth had been living in Newport most of his life. He was bound to know some of the more amusing places in Newport.

Seth led Mitch down the beach to around the same stretch where he and Ryan first got pummeled by the water polo team. He had never shared that story with Mitch, preferring to keep the beginnings of his and Ryan's friendship to himself. When they were past Holly's beach house, Seth led Mitch to the road, where he hailed a cab.

"Ever seen an Imax?" Seth asked.

"We're ditching school to see an Imax?"

Seth shot a look at Mitch, and nudged his head towards the driver. Mitch laughed silently. What did Seth think; the driver would take them back to school or report them to the truancy police?

"When was the last time you saw an Imax?"

"When I was on a fifth grade field trip."

"Then you're missing a whole world. What will it be? Ocean Oasis. Volcanoes of the Deep Sea? Or maybe Space Station 3D?"

"You choose. You obviously know a lot more about this subject than I do."

"Did you see Seth?" Ryan asked at lunch.

Summer shook her head. "I don't have any classes with him, but we usually try and meet between classes."

"Shit," muttered Ryan.

"You think he's ditching?" Marissa asked.

Ryan nodded. He put his books down on the table that Marissa and Summer had secured and pulled out a chair. He sat down low in the chair. His feet extended out before him and bowed his head in concentration.

"Ryan, don't worry about him."

"What am I missing?" Summer asked, unable to hide her apprehension.

Ryan and Marissa exchanged meaningful looks and then Ryan said, "Last night when I picked Seth up from Mitch's place, he was high."

"Cohen high! You must be mistaken."

"I think by now I know the signs like the back of my hand," Ryan said dryly. "Besides, he admitted it."

"Did your parents freak?"

"Sandy and Kirsten don't know. And if I can help it, they won't find out."

"Do you think Seth has a problem with drugs?" Summer asked, her voice shaking.

"Not yet. I'm pretty sure it was his first time."

"But why would he even try it?" Marissa asked. "It's so not like Seth."

"Mitch," mumbled Ryan. "Bad news Mitch."

Ryan noticed that Seth and Mitch had left their books in the car. He didn't know when to expect them though, so he drove home without Seth. Kirsten was waiting for him as soon as he opened the front door. Christina was in her hands, sucking intently on her pacifier.

"Where's Seth?" she asked angrily. Her hair was uncombed and disheveled. She wasn't wearing any makeup and it looked like she hadn't even bothered to make sure if her clothing matched when she got dressed that morning. It bothered Ryan to see Kirsten, who had always been so put together, so overwhelmed with the baby.

"I don't know," he answered honestly, closing the door behind him. He started to walk to the kitchen, hoping Kirsten wouldn't follow.

"Why didn't you come home together?"

"I waited for him. When he didn't show, I just left without him."

"Did you see him in school today?"

"Of course," he answered, grateful he still didn't have to lie. They had left together. And until Mitch had arrived, Ryan had seen Seth in school.

"At lunch?"

"We don't have the same schedule."

"But you share homeroom."

Ryan nodded. The school must have called. He knew they would. They had called last year when Ryan had ditched. No reason to think the policy had changed. The school was small enough that they could afford the time to check up on their students.

"Was he in homeroom?" Kirsten demanded.

Ryan stood rooted to his spot and looked down at the floor. He had hoped he could manipulate this conversation without telling a lie.

"It's a simple question. If you don't answer, I can call Mr. Tolliver and find out. I prefer the truth come from you."

"He wasn't in homeroom. We got into an argument before we got there and he took off."

Kirsten closed her eyes. "I don't have the energy for this," she whispered. "Thank you," she said after a moment. "I'm sorry to grill you like that. Are you hungry? You want me to fix you a snack?"

Ryan shook his head. "I can do it myself. Do you want me to take the baby for a little while."

"No, thank you. I'm interviewing another nanny in a little while."

Ryan couldn't wait for Kirsten to find a nanny. If she had someone she could trust the baby with, then maybe she'd go back to work full time and maybe things would get back to what it had been like before the baby was born. He bit his lip, squashing the laugh that was bubbling up inside of him as he recalled how insecure Christina's impending birth had made him feel about his place in the family. But Christina hadn't just usurped his place in Sandy and Kirsten's life, she had usurped Seth's place as well.

As Ryan rummaged through the refrigerator looking for something to eat, he wondered where Seth was and if he had taken any drugs. At least Mitch had left his bag in the car. It was less likely that he kept pot stuffed in his jeans pocket.

When he found some lunchmeat and bread, Ryan heard the bell ring and Kirsten shuffling to the door. He peeked into the den and saw a middle-age woman with graying hair sitting down on one of the sofas. She immediately stretched out her arms, offering to take the baby from Kirsten, but she refused. He knew it wasn't polite, but Ryan eavesdropped anyway. This woman was the tenth nanny that Kirsten had interviewed and Ryan wanted to know what was making Kirsten reject them all. As he watched the interview progress, Ryan had an inkling that perhaps it wasn't the women for hire, but perhaps it was Kirsten instead. If Sandy were around, he would have said something—maybe. Kirsten caught him gazing and threw him a dirty look, so he stuck his head back in the kitchen and dialed Marissa to see if she wanted to do something.

Seth still had a couple of hours before his curfew, though he had missed dinner. He took a cab home, hoping the school hadn't called or that his parents still had their head stuck in the diaper pail so that they wouldn't notice the school's call on the answering machine. It never occurred to him that Kirsten had been home to take the call. He didn't realize that Ryan would rat him out.

Seth was famished. He and Mitch had stopped for a late lunch at the crab shack, but that had been over three hours ago. Seth was ready for an entire meal. He sprinted into the kitchen and yanked open the refrigerator.

"You didn't have dinner?"

Seth jumped. "Dad. You scared me."

"You didn't call to let us know where you were," Sandy said, getting right to the point. He was still wearing his tie, though it was loosened at the collar. "Your school called and told us you never made it to homeroom, let alone any of the other classes. Care to explain?"

"No." He stuck his head back in the fridge.

"It was a rhetorical question, son."

"I don't have anything to say," Seth said, taking out a Chinese takeout container.

Sandy grasped the counter tightly, his knuckles turning white. This wasn't his Seth. His Seth hadn't talked to his parents like that since Kirsten had sent Ryan back to Juvie. But this time he didn't know why Seth would react like that.

"Ryan said that you two had a fight and that you ran off."

"Ryan needs to mind his own business." He grabbed a fork from the drawer and started to dig into the sweet and sour chickent.

Sandy inhaled sharply. "I'm missing something. Ryan's your best friend. What did you fight about?"

"Nothing important. It was stupid."

"So stupid, you cut school?"

"Yeah. That stupid. I just needed a day off. I should have asked. Sorry. Okay?"

"No. It's not okay. Your mother and I have to go down to school tomorrow so that we can meet with Dr. Kim."

"Wonderful," he said with his mouth full.

"You don't get it, do you? You're applying to college in a month or so. The last thing you need is a suspension on your transcript."

"I'll probably just get detention or in house suspension. Don't make this a big deal. It's not."

Sandy banged his hand on the counter. "You're grounded. More because of this attitude than what you did."

"Fine." With container in hand, Seth left the room.

Sandy stood in the kitchen, his mouth hanging open in disbelief, wondering to where his innocent, compliant, easygoing son had gone.