Title: Black Diamonds

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

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

Chapter 9

March. Ryan couldn't believe it was March already. This school year was going by awfully fast, although the last few months were long and strange. And now, he and Marissa were broken up, Theresa had gone back to Chino and Eddie, Anna was gone, and Seth was spending all of his free time with Summer. So Ryan was spending more of his time with his other friends like Luke, and like Sam.

He and Sam had become close friends, after having each other's backs during the soccer season. Sam would come over to the Cohens', and Ryan would go over to the Reeses'. Usually it was Ryan going over there because sometimes Sam had to babysit Maggie, and sometimes Angela would have been at home alone and she got nervous so she wanted her older brother there. Of course that could just have been an excuse to get Ryan over, too. She still had her crush on him, a little anyway. But Ryan believed he was a couple deep on her depth chart by now. He heard her talking various times about several different boys her own age.

Also over the last months, Sam's parents had become good friends with Sandy and Kirsten. They had continued to talk, many times, about their plans to take in a troubled teen. The Reeses had gone forward with it, with Sandy acting as their attorney. They hadn't found anybody yet, although they had talked to a lot of kids, and even a couple of times had one over for the weekend. Just last week, in fact, they had a promising lead, and it looked for a while like a 15-year-old boy from L.A. would be coming, but that fell through somehow.

And now, this weekend, Seth was going up north for some kind of sailing tournament. Something about the sailing club that he had founded at Harbor. Apparently he went every year, and every year both Kirsten and Sandy went with him to watch him compete. And they wanted to go again this year. Ryan couldn't go because they were going to be gone from Friday through Tuesday and he couldn't afford to miss any school.

Ryan expected to just stay at the Cohens' during the long weekend, but Kirsten and Sandy had surprised him by telling him that they didn't want him staying home alone. Ryan wasn't sure if it was leftover distrust after the Oliver affair, or if it was something else. It wasn't like he wasn't old enough to stay home alone. But Ryan had given in to their request and agreed to spend the five days over at Sam's.

On Friday after school, Sam (with Angela) drove Ryan over to the Cohens so that Ryan could pick up his stuff before they headed home. Sam pulled into the driveway and parked, and the three teens went in the front door. On the way through the kitchen, Ryan told Sam and Angela, "I'll just head out to the pool house and grab my stuff."

Angela jumped all over that. "You live in the pool house? Wow! That's so cool! Can I see?"

Sam was surprised that Angela didn't remember that from when they had come over here for the barbecue back in September. Well, it was a long time ago, and she hadn't been back since, and Sam couldn't remember if it was really mentioned then or not, so maybe it wasn't so surprising.

Without waiting for an answer, Angela opened one of the french doors in the kitchen and ran up the steps towards the pool house, closely followed by Ryan and Sam. She barely slowed down enough to open the door to go in and stopped just inside to admire what she saw.

"Cool! You, like, have your own apartment!"

"Angela, you know what the pool house is like. We have one exactly like it."

"But nobody lives in ours. It's totally different!"

Sam rolled his eyes at that.

Ryan grabbed his dufflebag that was already packed off the bed and turned towards the door. "Ready. Let's go."

The three of them left the pool house and went back into the kitchen. Sam paused when the got there. "Hey, Ryan, you know, we can just stay here for a little while. Play video games or something. Have some snacks. My folks won't even know, if we get home before they do and before Maggie's brought home."

Ryan gave Sam a conspiratorial smile and put his dufflebag down on the floor in the den. Sam smiled back and headed for the refrigerator.

Ryan and Sam and Angela stayed at the Cohens for an extra two hours or so, playing some of Seth's video games, drinking soda, and eating junk food. It struck Ryan that no matter how strict the parents were, they couldn't watch their kids 24/7, and any kid was going to take advantage of any opportunity they had to break the rules without being caught.

Ryan watched Sam and Angela being so happy about getting away with not going right home like they were expected to, and playing a couple extra hours of video games above their daily limit, and eating the food that their parents didn't want them to eat. He had to smile to himself. If that was the worst that they were going to do, in terms of being rebellious and breaking the rules, then maybe the parents knew what they were doing afterall.

They managed to make it back to the Reeses' before either Maggie or the parents got home. Ryan went upstairs and dropped off his bookbag and his dufflebag in the guest room. Sam had told him that his parents didn't want Ryan staying in the pool house, they wanted him inside the house, so it was the guest room for him. It was upstairs next to Sam's room. Angela and Maggie had their own rooms across the hall. The guest room was large with its own bathroom.

Maggie got home first and by the time Mr. and Mrs. Reese got home with the take-out dinner that they picked up on the way home, Ryan, Sam, and Angela were innocently hanging out in the den and watching Maggie as if they had never broken any rules that day at all.

They all had an uneventful family dinner. After dinner, Sam's Dad addressed Ryan. "Can we talk? Why don't we go in the livingroom? Sam, why don't you join us?"

Ryan nodded and followed Mr. Reese into the livingroom. He wasn't sure what Sam's father wanted to talk to him about. He took a quick look at Sam, but Sam just shrugged, so he didn't know either. In the livingroom, Ryan and Sam sat down on the couch, and Sam's Dad sat down in a chair opposite them.

"Ryan, I know you're a guest here and we're not your parents, but while you're here we'd appreciate it if you would respect the rules of the house that we have."

Ryan nodded. He pretty much had expected this. "Of course, Mr. Reese."

"Great. I know that you're already familiar with most of them with all the time you've spent here, but I'd like to go over them with you now just in case. And, Sam, you can let me know if I've missed anything."

"Sure thing, Dad."

"OK. The basic ones are no fighting, no drinking, no drugs, no smoking. And our kids have a curfew. Sam's is 11 O'Clock on school nights, and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. I'd appreciate it if you could honor the same curfew."

Ryan nodded. That was the same curfew that the Cohens had, and the rest was the same too.

"And you know about our policy about soda and junk food. Please don't bring any of that kind of food into the house. I know you're also familiar with Sam and Angela's limit on the amount of video games they can play and TV they can watch every day."

"Yes, I am." Ryan took a quick glance at Sam. He looked like he was trying hard to look innocent.

"And basically, we expect you to do what you're supposed to. Go to school, do your homework, be home for dinner, the usual. Sam, is there anything I've forgotten?"

Sam shook his head slowly. "I don't think so."

Sam's Dad nodded. "I'm sure if there is anything else, it will come up as we go along. Ryan, it is good to have you here. I'm sure we'll all have a good time together this weekend."

"Thank you."

Sam's father got up. Ryan and Sam followed suit. That was the end of the conversation. Not too bad. Ryan wasn't planning on skipping school or anything anyway. There was a reason that he couldn't miss school these three days, and he still couldn't afford to. He had a test and a major project due.

Later that evening, Sam's mother had a few concerns of her own that she addressed with Ryan up in the guest room. Ryan had gone up to get ready for bed. She knocked on the door and Ryan invited her in.

"How's the guest room look? I know you're used to the pool house..."

"It's great. It's fine."

Mrs. Reese nodded. She looked a little uncomfortable. "Um... Maybe my husband should be the one to talk to you about this, but..."

Ryan was curious but waited for her to continue.

She cleared her throat and looked directly at Ryan. "We have girls in this house. Girls with curiosity. I'd appreciate it if you could be aware of this. It would probably be best if you lock the door when you're showering or changing. And we expect you to be decently clothed whenever you're outside of this room."

Ryan nodded. So that is what this was all about. "Of course."

"And... umm... I don't know what you usually wear to bed, but if it is... um... less, maybe while you're here you could wear more? I would say you could lock the door while you're in bed, but that's really not a good idea in case there is a fire or other kind of emergency and we need to get in quickly."

With that, Sam's mother looked embarrassed and didn't really wait for Ryan to answer before she ducked out of the room.

After she left, Ryan smiled to himself. He could understand her concerns. He didn't want to give Angela any more fuel for her fantasies. It was a good thing that he was used to sleeping in a t-shirt and sweatpants.

To Be Continued