Friendship Is Like Glass
Chapter Three: The Partnership

For the entire following week, neither Sandy nor Kirsten seemed to notice anything – they didn't notice that one sheet of glass in the pool house looked brand new, they didn't notice that Seth was wearing a beanie on his head everywhere he went, they didn't notice that neither Seth nor Ryan was answering any phone calls from Marissa or Summer – no, they didn't notice any of that; they just noticed that neither one of the teen boys had said a word to each other for all of seven days.

That is, until that Friday morning.

"Seth, breakfast! School starts in half an hour!" Kirsten called up the stairs. Breakfast, of course, consisted of a broad selection of different cereals. Kirsten padded over to the door and called a similar beckoning to Ryan.

Both boys entered the kitchen at the same time. Their eyes met, but they quickly broke their gaze. Noticing this, Kirsten bit her lip, wanting so badly to interfere. Both she and Sandy had been noticing their unusual behavior, but her husband had told her it was best to let them work it out on their own; whatever problem they were having was their own issue and neither adult would help them whatsoever.

"Mom, do you think that I could get a car of my own?" Seth asked as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.

Sandy, entering the room, answered for her. "If you get a job to be able to afford one."

Kirsten stepped in. "Why do you want a car?"

"So I can drive myself to school. I'm a senior now, mom. Can't be having my mother bring me to school every day." Before Kirsten could say anything else, he threw in, "And don't even suggest taking the bus."

"Actually, I was going to suggest getting a ride from a friend," his mother stated, pouring herself a mug of coffee. She looked at him.

"Before I can get a ride from a friend, I need a friend," Seth said, half joking, half serious.

"Why not get a ride from Marissa or Summer?" Sandy suggested, imitating his wife by getting his own coffee. He took a sip. "They wouldn't mind, would they?"

Seth rolled his eyes. Parents. Didn't they pick up on anything? "If you haven't noticed, I haven't really been socializing with either of those lovely young ladies as of late. No, nothing's wrong, so don't ask."

"Maybe you and Ryan could pitch in on a car together, then," Kirsten threw in. She knew that Sandy was giving her one of his looks, but she didn't even acknowledge it. So she had intervened a little bit. It was cunning enough. At least she wasn't doing it directly.

"Ryan who?" Seth asked, pretending to be confused.

"Jackass," Ryan muttered under his breath, not even looking up from his bowl.

"Fuck you," Seth spat back, just loud enough for his parents to hear.

"Watch your mouth!" Kirsten said, appalled. This was just ridiculous. Whatever the two of them were mad at each other about, they were going to get over it. She didn't care what Sandy thought about it. "Until you two work out whatever you're fighting about, you're grounded."

"You can't ground me for that," Seth said, holding in his frustration. He had almost said "us," but caught himself in time to change it to "me". "That's just stupid. Plus, there's nothing to work out."

"Don't tell me what I can or can't do. You're grounded, and that's final. I don't want to hear another word about it. Now, finish eating and I'll take you both to school," she said huffily, and turned to Sandy. Surprisingly, he looked impressed.

"Bravo," he whispered to her, and with a quick kiss, he left the room.

- - -

Kirsten dropped them off at Harbor School, neither boy saying a word to the other. It was actually kind of a relief to hear Seth so quiet, but at the same time, she almost missed his incessant babbling. Not to mention that she didn't like seeing her boys mad at each other. She just wished she knew what was going on.

When they exited the Range Rover, Seth and Ryan took off in opposite directions. Even though they shared their first class, they were taking different routes to get there. Ryan had only gotten so far when Summer hurried up to him. "So Chino, what's up?" she asked casually.

"I'm not going to talk to Seth," he said robotically, not bothering to let her get to that point. She had already been ragging on both of them to fix the problem, as had Marissa, but neither were willing to oblige.

"Come on, Ryan. It's weird never seeing you guys at the same time. You guys are like best friends. That would be like me and Coop not talking. It's almost impossible to imagine. It's just so weird."

"When Seth is willing to apologize, I'm ready to talk to him," Ryan said, actually glancing at the snarky firecracker next to him. "I may have been the one who started it, and I know I was the one to finish it, but he just took it too far."

Summer stopped walking. "It's two-sided. Neither one of you is more at fault than the other. But one of you just needs to stand up and be a man and apologize first. Do you want that to be Cohen? Do you want him to out-man you?"

Ryan didn't stop. "Out-man me? If you say so, Summer."

- - -

Meanwhile, Marissa was in a similar situation with Seth. "Please?"

"No," Seth said, obviously bored with the conversation. "It's not gonna happen. Look what he did to me. I've been wearing this stupid hat for a week straight." He pointed at his beanie without much enthusiasm. "It just sucks, being pushed around for your whole life and then having your supposed best friend do the same thing."

"He didn't mean to hurt you, Seth. You guys were drunk. It was an accident," Marissa told him.

"Drunkenness is not an excuse," Seth said, almost as if he was reading it straight from some anti-alcohol pamphlet. He waved a half-hearted goodbye and finished his trek to class.

- - -

Ryan and Seth entered the classroom at almost the same exact time. Both boys were still standing when the teacher decided to make an example of them. "Ah, Misters Cohen and Atwood. Since you've decided to slack off and arrive to class late, you two may slack off together for your senior group research project."

to be continued...