A/N: Okay, sorry, I know the wait for this chapter was really long. The good news is that I've planned the whole story so the next chapter shouldn't take as long as this one to be written/uploaded. This chapter is kind of like a filler, there's no drama but it is essential for the later part of the story. It's kind of boring but I hope you guys will understand. Enjoy and please leave a review! :)
Ryan and Seth walked into the kitchen for breakfast. Ryan, noticed Theresa was sitting at the table with her back towards them with a bowl of cereal in front of her. She was not eating it though, she was just stirring it.
"Hey," Ryan joined Theresa at the table with his plate of toast and OJ. "You okay?"
"Yeah sure, I'm fine." Theresa replied with a smile, finally, some time alone with Ryan. 'So-"
"Hey Theresa," Seth interrupted as he settled himself next to Ryan, with the Art and Leisure section of the newspaper in hand.
Urgh. Scrap that. Time alone? Theresa was never going to get time alone with Ryan so long as the others were around.
"So you're okay right? No morning sickness or anything?" Ryan asked while eating his toast.
"Uh-" Theresa paled at the thought. Morning sickness?
"Morning!" Summer sang as she entered the kitchen with Marissa trailing behind her. Marissa made a beeline for the coffee maker while Summer joined the others at the table.
"You don't look so good," Summer said to Theresa who was still pale at the thought of morning sickness. "I'll go make you a cup of tea." Summer offered and went over to Marissa, making sure her body was kept the cup out of the boys' sight while she made the tea.
Marissa was done first and joined the guys at the table, taking the other seat beside Ryan. She was barely wide awake and she looked as though she was about to fall asleep if not for her cup of coffee.
"Marissa, any idea what's up with Summer?"" Seth asked, leaning over the table to talk to her, almost as if it was a divider between Ryan and Theresa. Seth and Marissa both knew that Summer was not a morning person and would never be so cheery at such an early hour.
"Seth, you're going to topple my glass of OJ." Ryan pointed out and Seth muttered a 'sorry', returning to his original position.
"Beats me. She practically dragged me out of bed this morning." Marissa took a sip of her coffee and turned to Theresa. "Hey, had a good nights sleep? You look kind of pale."
"I'm fine." Theresa managed, starting to calm down.
"Is it morning sickness?" Marissa asked Theresa.
Theresa gulped. What was it with Ryan and Marissa and their idea of morning sickness?
"That's funny 'cause Ryan here, thought it was morning sickness too," Seth told Marissa while gesturing to Ryan.
"I guess great minds think alike," Marissa smiled and raised her eyebrows, looking at Ryan.
Okay, that was enough for Theresa. First, the constant mentioning of morning sickness and now, Marissa was going to be flirting with Ryan over breakfast at the table. If she did not puke due to morning sickness, she would have if she witnessed more flirting.
As Theresa excused herself from the table, Summer arrived with the cup of tea. "Here, I don't know if tea helps morning sickness but I guess it couldn't make it worse."
Theresa closed her eyes, and wished that when she opened them, they would be done with this morning sickness thing. She counted to five slowly and opened an eye. With a jolt, she realized that Summer was still standing patiently in front of her with the cup of tea. She had forgotten all about Summer. Quickly, she accepted the cup from Summer and apologized.
Summer smiled and said, "It's okay. I bet you were suffering from a bout of giddiness there just now."
Theresa didn't bother shutting her up, she just gave her a weak smile, drank up all her tea and escaped out of the kitchen
----
Later.
Theresa heard their laughter even before she entered the room. She hated seeing them so blissful, it made her feel lonely and around them, she often wondered why couldn't she have a group of friends that cared and loved her too. That was a motivation to steal Ryan. She was sure that Ryan could give her the happiness that she longed for. She had enough of Chino; it was so dull and depressing there. No one seemed happy there, not even the children who were not suppose to have a care in the world. She was sure that together with Ryan, she would go to somewhere else and leave her old life behind.
Yet, somehow, walking into the room, she felt like an outsider.
"Hey," Summer greeted her with a smile. Although this time, her smile was more sincere. It was almost as if her frostiness had melted overnight, Summer seemed to be genuine friendly today.
"Feeling better?" Marissa asked as Ryan and her scooted over to make space for Theresa to sit. Theresa half-turned to face her. Marissa was a nice person and Theresa was sure that she would be a great friend but Theresa had to go all out for Ryan. She had no doubts that he was the key to her happiness.
Theresa just nodded and sat down next to Marissa. She tried to push her guilt away, reminding herself that it was a dog eat dog world and she had to fight.
"So, we were thinking of getting jobs." Summer paused and looked at Seth and Marissa then seemed to change her mind about what she was about to say. "It could be fun if we all did it together."
"Right, the problem is, who would want to hire five teens?" Seth pointed out and reached for the newspapers.
"I-I could probably go back to the bakery to help out. I should anyway, with the baby and all." Theresa added and noticed Seth, Summer and Marissa exchanging looks.
"Ryan and I could work in Crab Shack. So the only problem is with you two." Seth said, opening the newspapers to the job section.
Marissa and Summer turned to look at each other. "So what do you say Coop? We get a job together?" Summer's excitement was obvious.
As Marissa was about to answer, Seth interrupted, "Sorry to disappoint you but there's hardly any job that you qualify for in here." Seth folded the newspapers and set them back down on the table.
"There's bound to be something…" Summer grabbed the newspapers and opened them as Marissa's cell rang and she excused herself.
Summer scanned the list, occasionally muttering things like, "Definitely not", "Too long" and "Too little pay".
Seth sighed. "Summer, I've already ran through the list, there's nothing suitable for you."
"Um, Sum?" Summer lifted her head to see Marissa standing in the doorway. "My mom called and she's planning this big thing and she wants me to co-plan it with her so I can learn. The thing is, they're willing to pay me to co-plan it."
Summer tried to hide her disappointment. "That's great, Coop. At least one of us has found a job."
"You sure? 'Cause I didn't tell my mom whether I would do it…"
"Really. If there's a vacancy, I'll join Theresa."