Title: Black Diamonds

Summary: Ryan makes friends with an African-American student at Harbor.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to The O.C..

Chapter 4

A couple of days later, on Friday, Ryan and Sam were having lunch in the cafeteria. It was just the two of them today.

Sam had news. "Angela tried out for the junior varsity girls' soccer team and she made it."

Ryan nodded, absentmindedly, as he continued eating. "That's great."

"You know, don't you, that she only did it because of you."

Ryan looked at Sam, confused.

Sam laughed. "Didn't you notice? She totally has a crush on you, man. You're like her knight in shining armor. You play soccer, she plays soccer."

"But -- you came to protect her from those water polo jerks, too."

"Yeah, but I'm just her brother."

Ryan shook his head in disbelief, but he couldn't help but smile, too. It was cute -- a little girl with a crush on him. Although, wait, she's 14, not 4, hardly a little girl. Ryan could remember being 14 himself and getting it on with 14-year-old girls. And even when he was 15, or 16 before he left Chino, girls one or two years younger weren't too young for him.

Ryan scowled a little. Those 14-year-olds in Chino seemed so much older, more mature, than Sam's sister did. Must be the difference between Chino and Newport. Another difference between Chino and Newport.

"Ryan? Is something wrong?"

Ryan looked at Sam. "What? No. Just thinking."

Sam looked at Ryan for a moment, like he wanted to know what Ryan was thinking about, but didn't want to ask. Ryan really hoped that he wouldn't ask. He didn't want to tell his new friend that he was thinking about what it would be like to hook up with his baby sister. Not that Ryan hadn't done that sort of thing before... Luckily, it looked like Sam decided not to pursue it and he just continued with his story.

"So, yeah, you're basically all she's been able to talk about for the last couple days. She's been gushing about how cool you are, how you came from out of nowhere to defend her honor, crap like that. Which reminds me..."

Sam paused there, like he was reluctant to say what he was about to say. Ryan gave him a questioning look.

"Um... She was going on like this to our Mom and Dad, and mentioned that you were a friend of mine. So... um... they wanted to know what I knew about you."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Ryan sighed. "Let me guess. They told you that you couldn't hang out with me any more."

"No, no. They just want me to bring you home so they can meet you."

Ryan raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Sam added, quickly, "It's nothing personal. They want to get to know all our friends. They're like that, you know, kind of old-fashioned. But don't worry, they're just happy that I made a friend here."

Ryan kind of doubted that it would be that simple, but he just nodded. "Um... OK... Sure."

"Great. How about tonight?"

"I can't. I'm going with Marissa to help set up for this charity thing on Caleb's yacht that she's dragging me to tomorrow, with her mother, no less."

"Caleb?"

"Caleb Nichol. Seth's grandfather."

"Caleb Nichol? As in the Caleb Nichol? Seth's his grandson?"

"Yup."

"Wow. I had no idea. I mean, it shouldn't really matter, but..."

Ryan smiled. "In Newport, money always matters."

Sam smiled back. "Yeah."

After a moment, Sam asked, "OK, so, how about next week?"

"Yeah, that should be OK. I don't know when, yet, though."

Sam teased, "Have to ask the girlfriend, huh?"

"You know it."

The next Monday, Sam and Ryan were talking before their pre-calc class started.

"About coming over to my house this week..." Sam's parents weren't pushing, yet, but Sam knew they would be soon, so he had to ask.

Ryan shook his head. "I still don't know when I'll be free."

Sam nodded, a little disappointed. He wondered if Ryan was reluctant to come to his house, meet his parents. He hoped it wasn't anything racial. Ryan didn't seem like the type and Sam had heard that Chino had a large minority population, so he figured that Ryan would be fine with it. But, of course, he could always be wrong.

"How's Angela doing in soccer?"

"Good, I guess. It's only been like two practices..."

Sam was a little surprised that Ryan was interested. Maybe he felt a little something for Angela. God, he hoped not. Not that there was anything wrong with that. It was just -- his friend and his little sister. Shudder. Plus, he was too old for her.

"Do you play?"

"I have. Hasn't everyone?"

Ryan gave Sam a little smile at that. "You know, there's an opening on the team. One of our players just went down for the season. His knee. If you want to, you could try out. But you'd have to do it like, today. The spot will probably get filled pretty quickly."

Sam looked at Ryan. He seemed awfully eager for Sam to join the team. Sam thought about it. He could imagine that Ryan was having a hard time with his teammates, being who he was. Ryan could probably use a friend on the team, someone to watch his back. And Sam didn't have an extracurricular activity, so...

"Um... Yeah... I could do that, but I have to ask my parents first. They were a little unhappy that Angela tried out without telling them."

"Oh. Maybe you could call them and ask?"

"Yeah... Yeah. I'll do it at lunch."

So that's what Sam did. At lunch, he used his cell phone to call his mother at work. She gave her permission, so Sam arranged with Ryan to meet up before soccer practice.

Ryan caught up with Sam after his last class of the day and they headed off to the gym. He was glad that Sam's parents had given him permission to join the team. Asking your parents before you did something, what a concept. He never had that with his mother, of course. And even Kirsten and Sandy didn't really require it, you know, other than for like an overnight trip or a concert or something special like that. He didn't even ask them before he applied for the job at the Crab Shack and they didn't seem to mind. Ryan was glad that the Cohens had a hands-off style. He wasn't sure if he could handle strict parenting after pretty much taking care of himself for years.

When they got to the gym, Ryan took Sam directly to the head soccer coach's office. Ryan was still pretty much in the coach's doghouse after the Luke incident and he still had one more game to go on his suspension. But Ryan was hoping that the coach wouldn't hold his problems against Sam.

When they got to the office, the door was closed, so Ryan knocked.

The coach yelled, "Come in!"

Ryan opened the door and walked in, followed closely by Sam.

"Coach?"

The coach looked up from whatever he was doing at his desk and said, impatiently, "What is it, Atwood?"

Ryan gestured in Sam's direction. "This is Sam Reese. He wants to try out for Millar's spot."

The coach raised his eyebrows and looked over at Sam. He seemed to study him closely and seemed to like what he saw.

"Reese, huh? OK, Atwood, go ahead and get him some practice clothes and bring him out to Coach Wallace for a tryout." Coach Wallace was the assistant coach.

The coach looked back down at the paperwork that he'd been working on, effectively dismissing Ryan and Sam. Ryan turned to Sam and ushered him out of the office and shut the door behind them. He started to lead Sam to where the extra practice clothes were kept.

"Huh."

"What?"

"He didn't even ask you any questions or anything. You don't suppose --"

"That he assumed I'm a good athlete because I'm black?"

"Well, yeah."

"Probably, but I still need to pass the tryout, right? I mean, if I suck, they won't just let me on the team because of the color of my skin, will they?"

Ryan laughed. "No. No way. They like winning too much."

Ryan got Sam some clothes, and socks, and cleats and they both went into the locker room and changed. They tried to ignore the looks and under-the-breath comments that they were getting from the other members of the team. Ryan had been getting this kind of treatment ever since he joined the team. If Sam passed the tryout, at least they would both have the company of someone else in the same boat.

Ryan took Sam out to the assistant coach then joined the rest of the team for their regular practice session. During practice, Ryan kept on eye on Sam's tryout over on the side. It looked like he was doing well. At least he looked like a good soccer player to Ryan.

After practice was over, Ryan caught up with Sam in the locker room. Sam had already been called into the head coach's office.

"How'd it go?"

"Good. I'm on the team."

Ryan smiled and gave Sam a high-five.

The next day before pre-calc, Sam broached the subject of meeting his parents again with Ryan. Last night, after telling them that he made the soccer team, they started pushing to have Ryan come over as soon as possible.

"Ryan, about meeting my parents -- now that we're teammates and we'll be spending more time together, they really want to meet you, soon."

"Tomorrow's good."

Sam was pleasantly surprised. "Yeah? You cleared it with Marissa?"

Ryan smiled. "Yeah. I have her permission. She's got a test on Thursday that she has to study for, so she's cut me loose for the day."

"Great. My parents will be pleased. And Angela will be in heaven. I'll bet even Maggie will like you."

"Who's Maggie?"

Sam smiled. "You'll see."

To Be Continued