Anna had a smile on her face as she locked her car in the school parking lot. She thought about the past weekend she'd had in Pittsburgh as she walked toward the school, jingling her keys as she swung her arms. She couldn't wait to tell ... Her smile faded, as her walk slowed. Were she and Seth even friends anymore? She'd broken up with him. Maybe he wouldn't even want to talk to her.
But there was always Ryan. Anna picked up her pace and her smile returned. They had English together after lunch. She could tell him all about her weekend.
Anna walked into her first class. She was about to take her seat when she noticed Summer talking to Brad from the water polo team. Seth was watching them talk but he didn't seem to be part of the conversation. Was he really that pathetic that he would follow her around? Anna thought Seth should just get over his obsession with Summer, because he'd never be happy until he realized it would never... oh, wait. Brad left and Summer and Seth were talking like...like they were together. God! She'd been gone for three days and Seth had gotten together with Summer already. What happened to mourning periods?
Summer walked away, which put her right in Seth's sight. Anna braced herself. She'd broken up with him; she'd rejected him. Yes, I can do this, she told herself. She walked towards him.
Anna!
So you guys are together now. Well, that didn't take long, did it?
Um, yeah, Summer and I...uh, I'm sorry.
It's OK. I mean I did see it coming. It is the reason I broke up with you.
Yep. Hey, how was Pittsburgh?
It was good to be home.
Yeah.
Mm hmm.
It's also the home of Andy Warhol, Mr Rogers, and ketchup, and you can't compete with that.
No, you can't. Yeah, it was really great. I got a tuna melt at my favourite diner, I saw Some Kind of Wonderful at the midnight movie, and hung out with all my friends.
That sounds awesome.
It was really nice. I guess I didn't realize how much I missed them.
She sighed as she watched Seth walk away. For a minute, she had forgotten that they were broken up. There's no way that Seth and Summer got along as well as she and Seth did. They had, like, nothing in common and he was way smarter than Summer. Anna was sure that sooner or later, they'd get bored with one another because she only wanted what she couldn't have and he'd remember how great Anna really was. All he needed to do was get Summer out of his system.
After eating lunch by herself, she walked into the Student Lounge at lunch, looking for someone – anyone – she knew that she could talk to. She spotted Seth sitting on one of the sofas, reading a book by himself. She saw him turn the page, frustrated, and she followed his glare to see Summer sitting with the water polo team, laughing and ignoring Seth. Anna walked over and plopped down beside him.
Hi. So this is you and Summer being a couple.
Mm hmm. Ain't love grand?
Yeah, I can really sense the bond. Your closeness, it's overwhelming. Oh my gosh, wait, is it last fall already? Come on, Seth, she's totally ignoring you.
No, Anna, she's not ignoring me. Summer just has her priorities in order; you know how she feels about charity.
Was he really trying to explain away her behaviour as noble? Was he really making excuses for her? No, she wasn't going to say anything – their relationship could self-destruct without her help.
Yes?
Yeah, good luck with that.
As Anna walked away, she realized that she had no one to talk to now. She went to her locker to get her books for her afternoon classes and then headed to the library. She planned to find a back carousel to get some homework done when she spotted Ryan at one of the tables. She dropped her books beside him and sat down.
"Ryan! How are you doing?" Anna hadn't seen Ryan since the night Oliver had held a gun to Marissa and himself.
"Hi, Anna." Ryan smiled lazily at her. "I'm getting by. How was your trip to Pittsburgh?"
Anna didn't fail to notice how Ryan deftly switched the topic of conversation away from himself. "It was fun. It was nice just to see my old friends, to be with people who know me. You know?"
"Yeah, I do." Ryan sounded sincere. Anna had learned from Seth that the best way to get Ryan to talk was not to say anything at all. So she waited as they both said nothing. Just as she was about to give in and speak, he said, "I ran into a friend from home this weekend." Anna still didn't say anything. "She's actually coming by again tonight."
She? Interesting. "So you and Marissa...?"
He shrugged. "She wants to try to be friends."
Anna raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you want?"
He shrugged again. "She's coming over after school today."
She smirked. "So you've got Marissa coming over after school and..."
"Theresa."
"...and Theresa coming by tonight. Does Marissa know about her?"
"That she exists? Yes." Ryan gathered his books. "We're going to be late for English." He started to walk away.
Anna grabbed her books and hurried after him. "Ryan!" She grabbed his arm to slow him down. When he turned around, she looked at him questioningly.
"It would just upset her." He shrugged off her hand and kept walking towards class.
Anna followed. He didn't want to upset her? Marissa had spent the last month and a half not caring how her actions were upsetting her boyfriend. Yet even after they were broken up, Ryan was still trying to not upset Marissa.
She slid into the seat beside him. He was nervously drumming his pen on his desk and avoiding her eye. She realized that she'd almost pushed him too far. "Did you get your essay done for today?"
Anna stayed in her room after school until supper. She lay on her bed, listening to music and thinking about Seth. The more she thought about Seth and Summer, the more depressed she got. Telling herself they wouldn't last didn't take the sting out of the fact that Seth would prefer to be with Summer, who ignored him, than with her.
She heard a soft knock at the door. She watched as it opened and her mother poked her head in. "Can I come it?"
"If you want."
Her mother walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. "How was school today?"
Anna rolled onto her side to face her mother. "It was school."
Her mother stroked her hair off her face. "Did you see Seth today?"
She nodded. "He's dating Summer now."
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. But didn't you expect it? I thought you said that's why you broke up with him."
"It is. But it doesn't make it easier, especially when I see how she treats him."
"Well, come on." She patted Anna's leg. "Come have some supper instead of moping in your room, listening to what you consider to be music."
Anna got off the bed and followed her mother down the stairs.
"Did I tell you that your Uncle Charles called last night?"
Anna shook her head.
"He said he and Aunt Janet saw how happy you were with your friends and Swifty, and they said if you want to finish out the year with them, they'd be more than happy to have you stay with them.
Anna's face brightened. "Really? And you and Dad would be okay with that?"
Her mother put her arm around Anna's shoulders as they walked into the dining room. "Well, we'd miss you, but if you think you'd be happier..."
"Let me think about it. Newport's not exactly my favourite place, but I don't know if I'm ready to give up yet."
"Good. Because I'm not sure we're ready to let you go yet."
The next day at lunch, Anna sought Seth out. She was hoping he had talked to Summer and told her that he wasn't going to put up with being treated like crap. She realized that was a lot to expect of a guy who had no backbone or confidence when it came to his own girlfriend.
She saw him walking on the path and ran to catch up with him.
So. Did you talk to Summer yesterday?
Yeah.
Oh yeah?
Well, we talked about, uh, uh, school and sports and the weather, but uh, if you're referring to the part where she's ashamed of me? No. Didn't get to that.
She knew it. She knew he wouldn't talk to her about the way she treated him. But she didn't want to interfere. Seth had to realize for himself that the relationship wasn't working, or else Anna would be no further ahead than before she broke up with him.
You gonna say something? Something very wise and helpful, Anna? Mm?
No.
No? Nothing. No advice at all for me.
Mm mm.
I thought you did.
Why do I do this?
Because you're so wise, Anna, you can't not.
All right, fine. Look. You have to take a stand, all right? You can't let Summer get away with this. Otherwise she does have something to be ashamed of because then, her boyfriend is a coward.
Anna watched as Summer's friends walked by and bumped into Seth like he wasn't there, and neither Summer nor Seth did anything about it.
Coward, got it.
As Anna walked to class, she tried to figure out what Summer was up to. Was she really that mean, to steal Seth from her and then not really want him? That didn't seem like the Summer she knew. But what else could be going on?
She walked into class and smiled when she saw that Ryan was already there. She slid into the seat next to him. "So...how'd it go with Marissa yesterday?"
Ryan simply rolled his eyes at her.
"That good, huh?"
"It was slightly awkward until she tried to joke about Oliver and then it turned extremely awkward."
"She didn't!"
Ryan's eyebrows indicated that she, in fact, did.
"Did you tell her about Theresa?"
"I didn't have to." She waited for him to finish his thought. He ducked his head. "Theresa showed up early."
Anna laughed at the absurdity of the situation, and Ryan soon joined in. She was just about to ask him what he thought of Seth and Summer when the bell rang and class started.
The next morning in the student lounge, Anna walked over to some girls from Lit Mag. "Hi, Beth Ann, Jessica."
Both girls turned to look at Anna. "Hi." They turned back to each other and continued their conversation.
"Did you get your articles finished for this month's issue yet?" Anna tried again.
"Yeah."
Anna stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds as they ignored her, then she turned away. As she walked over to the video games, she heard Beth Ann say, "What was she wearing? Did it say 'Je t'aime' on her shirt? Man, she is so weird." Jessica laughed.
As she dropped quarters into the machine, she told herself there was no way she was going to let those stuck-up snobs make her cry. As she maneuvered the joystick, she got the uneasy feeling that someone was watching her play. She turned her head slightly and saw from the corner of her eye that it was Summer. Not exactly the person she wanted to see right now. She took in a deep breath and decided it would be better to ignore Summer than to yell at her for how she was treating Seth.
Hey.
Hi.
Look. I'm sorry. OK? It's not like Cohen and I planned to get together. It sort of just happened. And if it makes you feel any better, I don't think it's going to work out.
Well, that makes me feel great.
I just can't be like one of those couples. You know, who hold hands in the hallway and make out in between classes. Let the whole world know what's going on. It's none of their business, you know?
Yeah, well, you don't have to ignore him, Summer.
I don't ignore him. OK, maybe a little. But only in public.
You spent so much time trying to get his attention; I mean you dressed up as Wonder Woman. Well, Wonder Woman is supposed to have an invisible jet, not an invisible boyfriend. I mean, either you're really evil or there's something else going on.
I just don't know why he likes me. I mean, he's way smarter and we have, like, less than nothing in common. And he's just going to get bored with me because pretty much all boys do. If everyone knows we're dating, then everyone will know when he breaks up with me, which he will. Dumped by Seth Cohen? Real good for my reputation.
That's not what Anna needed to hear right now. She did not need to hear that Summer Roberts really cared for Seth Cohen. And she certainly didn't need to tell Seth what the problem was. But she found herself walking towards his locker, planning to do just that. The problem was that as much as she wanted Seth, and had hoped he'd get Summer out of his system and return to her, she also wanted Seth to be happy. And Summer is who made Seth happy. Not her.
Turns out you're not the only one who's a coward.
Oh, well, it's nice to see you also, Anna.
Summer's scared too.
I know she is. She's scared to be seen in public with me. It's fun.
Come on, Cohen. She fought for you. She was fearless. Ruthless, in fact. Now she's got you. There's nothing scarier than that.
There's nothing scarier than being with me? Or do you mean like, anyone?
Look. Once you get what you want, that's when you have something to lose. She's afraid of losing you, Cohen.
Why? I'm not going anywhere.
Maybe you need to let her know that.
She might as well have not gone to class that morning – she didn't hear a word any of her teachers said. She spent the time trying to come to terms with the fact that Seth and Summer just might make it as a couple. She had little hope left now.
At lunch she walked into the Student Lounge to see the kissing booths set up. She couldn't believe how many girls were lined up to pay ten dollars to kiss Brad. She couldn't be paid ten dollars to kiss him. She saw Beth Ann and Jessica lined up. Figures. She went back to the video games.
She heard some commotion coming from the kissing booth area and turned around to see Seth attempting to climb up on the coffee cart beside Summer. She couldn't believe he did that for Summer. And she couldn't believe Summer finally admitted her relationship with Seth in front of everyone. Anna smiled at the sweetness of it, until she realized what it really meant to her.
She ran out of the Student Lounge, into the bathroom, and closed the stall behind her. She sat on the edge of the toilet and let the tears fall freely for the first time since she and Seth broke up. It was one thing to think she that she wasn't getting Seth back – it was another thing entirely to know it.
When she was all cried out, she washed her face with cold water, hoping her eyes didn't look too puffy. She headed for English class, looking forward to seeing Ryan. She knew he was supposed to meet with Theresa after school yesterday, and she was hoping he'd have a funny story that would make her feel better and forget about herself ... forget about everything ... for a few minutes.
Ryan wasn't there when she got to class. Anna kept looking for him to come in but his chair was empty when the bell rang, and was still empty when class ended. He didn't show up at all.
That night over supper, she told her parents that she had finally decided. Maybe moving back to Pittsburgh to live with Uncle Charles, Aunt Janet, and Swifty wasn't such a bad idea after all.
THE END