Title: Prom Queen
Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.
Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.
Chapter 2: Paris
Summer was sitting at a table with Marissa. They were talking about how boring History was and how a new person would spice it up. Summer was thinking of Tom and Marissa was thinking of any random guy that would get her mind off Ryan. And there, as if Summer wishing it had made it happen, was Tom. He walked up to Summer behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.
Summer leapt up and turned around, she was getting ready to tell Seth off because he knew not to tap her when she was unaware. She was extremely jumpy sometimes. As she was she whirled around with a lollipop in a stabbing position, ready to stab him. Tom looked down at the lollipop and then up(his eyes didn't travel far) to her face, back down to the lollipop and up to her face.
"Did I catch you at a bad time?" He started staring at the lollipop which Summer eventually lowered and then returned his gaze back to her face.
"Uh, no. Of course not." She motioned to a chair and they both sat down. Marissa had, by now, assessed Tom and found him to be good rebound material. She leaned across the table and offered him her hand. Tom shook it politely and said,
"Tom Chase, came over from Australia." Marissa smiled widely at him and replied,
"Marissa Cooper, lived here all my life." He smiled back at her brightly. Summer couldn't help but notice that he didn't kiss her hand as he did with hers. This made her feel better even though Marissa and Tom were smiling across the table at each other. Tom not quite so flirty as Marissa.
"I love your accent." Marissa said and Summer could barely believe this. This was the new Marissa Cooper. The one who didn't have a boyfriend. Thought you couldn't blame her, she hadn't been without a boyfriend since year six or whenever she and Luke started being official boyfriend and girlfriend. Summer really had to do something about getting her back together with Ryan. They were such a cute couple.
As Summer had been thinking about this Tom and Marissa had been chatting about random things. Marissa's side of the conversation was flirty and Tom's was levelheaded and logical but also quick witted and funny. But Marissa always added a few extra levels on the volume button when she laughed. Her laugh seemed to scare the birds out of the trees.
"You know, you should go to Paris next year Sum." Marissa directed at Summer and her eyes said it all. 'Paris' was a codeword used in the past (by Summer mostly) to say that they wanted the other gone so that they could make their move. A nice way of saying 'Get lost I want to pash him!'. But there was no way Summer was letting Tom be the rebound man.
"No, I reckon you would fit so much better in to Paris Coop. You know way more French than I do." Marissa's eyes widened as Summer retaliated and then they narrowed as she realised that Summer wanted her to go.
"But you'd enjoy the shopping in Paris more than me."
"You'd like the art in Paris."
"You'd like the guys in Paris." Tom had been watching the Parisian sayings being tossed between the two girls as if it had been a tennis match. He decided to cut in at the last sling. As much as he was enjoying it he knew he had to cut in a the last one. He didn't like the idea of Summer hanging around those smooth French guys from Paris.
"Girls, girls. There's obviously a codeword you using here, I'm wildly guessing that it's Paris, and I reckon that it should all boil down to this. A rock paper scissors competition. Best out of three." Tom grinned at their disbelieving faces. Then both of them made their decisions and said,
"Fine." Tom's grin shrunk slightly. He hadn't really expected them to say yes. He was just messing with them. But then he settled down, this might be even more fun than messing with them. In this he didn't have to choose and that made everything better. For everyone.
The first game was Summer chose paper and Marissa chose rock. In the second Summer chose rock and Marissa chose paper. After a long staring competition and a few suppressed snickers from Tom Summer chose scissors and Marissa chose paper. Summer was pronounced the winner and Marissa slinked off.
"So, what did you win? A house, a car or a date?" Tom asked and hoped that it was the last one.
"Time to talk to you." Summer said offhandedly and ignored the puzzled look Tom gave her.
"So how did yesterday go?" Tom gave her a questioning look and she elaborated, "You know, with the surf and the sand and Seth."
"Oh yeah, right. Well, Seth forgot his board and ended up sitting on the sand while I surfed for an hour or so. Your waves are alright, I still miss Aussie waves though." Summer nodded and decided not to tell Tom that Seth didn't actually have a surf board in the first place. It was one of the things she pointed out to Seth after they'd had that conversation with Tom yesterday.
"So why'd you choose to come to Newport?" Summer asked and Tom replied,
"Actually, I came her because a friend was here and my mum wanted to meet up with them but ended up missing her. Just. But she ended up getting a job in this new restaurant called the..."
"Lighthouse." Summer and Tom said together. Tom smiled at her and asked,
"Yeah, you know of it?" Summer replied,
"Seth's dad and Marissa's dad are your mum's boss. Is she a chef or a waitress?"
"A chef. Head chef to be exact." Summer nodded and then asked,
"Who was your friend?"
"Anna, she left for her aunt and uncle's place." Summer's mouth dropped,
"Anna. As in Anna Stern?"
"Yeah, you know her?" Summer replied in a voice higher than usual,
"Yeah, I mean, Seth and Anna had this thing... You know, before Seth and I got together..." Summer trailed off and Tom just nodded, saving her from any further embarrassment. Summer rolled her eyes at him and said,
"Okay, moving on..." Tom was looking at her, enthralled. She seemed to be completely unawares of him but secretly she was smiling on the inside. Tom then said suddenly,
"I'm coming to your class."
"You are?" Summer looked shocked and surprised and happy at the same time. Tom nodded and said,
"They underestimated my History ability, and my Maths ability, and my Music ability, and my Geo ability, and so many more that I really can't remember them. I mean, they reckoned that I was the stupid idiot from Australia." Tom rolled his eyes in a Summer fashion.
"And you're not?" Summer asked mock curious. Tom grinned at her and then said,
"So now I'm in your history class." Summer smiled remembering Coop's original conversation with her about how the History class needed spicing up.
"Do you have a Prom date?" Summer blurted out. Tom looked at her and was speechless. For once a smile didn't appear on his face after she'd said something. Now it was just a look of confusion and possibly a defensive look.
"Uh, no?" He asked/replied. To him Prom night wasn't the most revered night of the social year. Tom was the sort of person who preferred to do personal stuff. The sort of stuff that hit the girl right in her most personal place. Her heart (get your mind out of the gutter!). But if that was what the girl wanted then so be it. Prom it was. And he'd heard from Anna that social stuff was pretty holy in Newport.
"Because I mean, you would be Prom King. I mean, you have the potential. The personality, the looks, the instant popularity and the surfing skills." Tom got his cool back and grinned at the last point,
"You've never even seen me surf before." Tom protested. Summer brushed that off,
"I can tell. So whoever your date is she would probably end up being Prom Queen. You know?"
"Uh, no?" He said again, her sudden outbursts were starting to worry him now more than make him amused. He knew she wanted to say something but couldn't quite spit it out. He wanted to help her but he knew there was nothing he could do.
"Marissa would make a good Prom Queen." As soon as it popped out of Summer's mouth she regretted it. She didn't want to say it but it just seemed to pop out, as did everything else that she thought. She saw the hurt look on Tom's face and felt even worse than she already did. He was really hurt by what she said.
"I guess she would." Tom said quietly and then got up and left Summer all alone to curse herself for what she'd just said. It was something she was going to regret for a while.
(Okay, next time Tom is going to talk to Marissa because he knows about what happened with her and Ryan. And then, I don't know if it will be next chapter or not, he'll talk to Ryan.)