The Catch-22
Love gets you tangled up in emotions.
You know the person is so wrong for you,
But somehow,
It seems perfect.
Chapter 2 Unattainable Love
Summer impatiently tapped her black pen in an effort to keep herself dying from boredom. She was glad that she was in a higher level journalism class, only Marissa was with her. Holly was extremely ditzy and materialistic. And she acted like everyone else were her slaves. Which in some cases, people would serve hand on foot for her.
Summer glanced at Marissa who was sitting next to her. Summer exaggerated a silent yawn and Marissa laughed.
Marissa and Summer were really starting to connect. They were both so similar, girly but with a hint of sophisticated air.
Marissa started scribbling something in her notebook. Ripping it out, she passed it to Summer when the Ms. Rosen's back was turned.
Summer uncrumpled the neatly folded scrap of paper.
This class is so boring.
Summer quickly wrote back.
OMG, I know.
Marissa ripped out another piece.
Today, you can meet my boyfriend, Ryan and some other guys.
Summer took a whole page out of her notebook.
Sounds awesome.
She passed it back to Marissa, but unfortunately, the teacher had seen.
"Ms. Roberts. Were you passing notes in this class? That is a very serious offense. You can merit a weeks worth of detention." Ms. Rosen sternly said.
Summer started to sweat. "Um . . ." She started off nervously.
"Ms. Rosen, Summer was just asking for notes on passive articles. She was so caught up on all the different techniques of eye-catching headlines." Marissa jumped in for her.
Ms. Rosen blushed. "Oh, of course Ms. Cooper." She resumed writing on the board.
Summer leaned back in content, life was sweet.
The bell rang and Summer gathered her stuff while Marissa patiently waited.
"Out of curiosity, what's your last name?" Summer asked as they walked in the hallway.
"Cooper." Marissa answered.
"Coop. That's a weird last name." Summer mused.
Marissa laughed. "No it's Coop-er."
Summer and Marissa giggled.
"I'm going to call you Coop. It'll be our inside joke."
Marissa shrugged. They walked outside into the California sun. Walking further, Summer spotted a couple of guys skateboarding. She noticed there was one particular guy that was doing grinds. A cluster of girls watched him in admiration. They were like his freaking groupies.
"Seth!" Marissa yelled. "Seth!"
The guy looked up at Marissa who was waving to him. He stopped his skateboard, mid-grind, and skated towards them.
To Summer's astonishment, it was the guy in the office.
"Seth." He held out his hand.
"Summer." She said as she shook his hand. "You're Mr. Cohen."
"The one and only." Seth smiled his brilliant smile.
Girls watched Summer enviously.
Marissa's face shrouded in confusion. But before she could ask, a blonde haired guy wearing a letterman jacket slid his arm around Marissa's waist.
"Hey Ris." Ryan whispered in her ear.
Marissa turned and gave him a kiss.
"You must be Ryan." Summer said.
Ryan was surprised at her forwardness. He cocked her a stare.
Summer didn't really know what to say when he didn't answer.
Seth laughed. "Oh, see, Ryan here, never talks. I think the most he's said is 3 sentences at a time. He just looks at you."
Ryan blushed.
"I'm Summer?" Summer offered.
Ryan blushed again.
"Ryan, here isn't very talkative. He's really silent." Seth jumped in again.
Summer turned to Seth. "And you talk for him? You're really talkative for a guy."
Seth touched his heart, dramatically. "Touche, m'lady."
Marissa and Ryan rolled their eyes at Seth's antics. Just then, Holly appeared with another tall guy wearing a letterman jacket.
"Hey guys!" Holly said brightly.
Everyone offered a dull, "Hi."
Holly pointed to Luke, "This is Luke." Then she pointed to Summer, "And this is Summer." Luke and Summer waved at each other.
"So are you guys going Newport bash?" Marissa asked everyone.
Ryan and Seth groaned. Marissa shot them a glance. "I organized it." She said meaning fully.
Ryan and Seth sighed.
Luke patted them sympathetically on their shoulders. "It's the Newport way of life."
Seth irritatedly turned to Luke. "Shut up, man."
Summer shifted uncomfortably. "I wasn't really invited."
"Now you are." Marissa said.
"Okay, it's settled. I'll pick everyone up at 8?" Holly said not caring if she was interrupting anything.
"You don't my address. . ." Summer said. She rummaged through her backpack for a piece of paper. She couldn't find a pen.
"Here." Seth handed her a pen.
"Thanks." Summer looked into his eyes memorized by his beautiful smile.
Just then, a group of pretty girls in short skirts walked by. "Hey, Seth." A tall brunette said seductively. The others waved and batted their eyelashes.
"Hey." Seth said as he put a hand up.
A few of them passed by and traced his cheekbones.
They sashayed away, hips overly swaying.
Seth grinned as he looked at the receding figures of the girls.
Summer was disgusted as she watched the exchange. Everyone else in the group watched it with amusement. She swore she would never go out with a guy that was like that, having girls left and right. He probably only cared about getting in every hot girl's pants. She grabbed the pen and wrote the address. She gave the address to Holly and the pen to Seth.
"Okay! See y'all at 8!" Holly called.
Everyone headed in different directions to their luxury cars.
Summer rummaged through her closet. She looked at all the dresses. Dresses by Marc Jacobs, Prada, Missoni, Versace lay discarded on the floor.
Desperate, Summer called Marissa.
"Hello?" Marissa asked into her flip-phone.
"Coop, it's Summer. I have a dilemma." Summer said urgently.
"What to wear?" Marissa guessed.
"Yeah." Summer replied dejectedly.
"Wear a dress that's formal. It's pretty formal tonight so don't wear a cocktail dress. I'm wearing a floor-length pale green dress."
"What's this party even for?" Summer asked.
"It's just something that Newport holds every half-year. It's really big."
"What's the deal with Seth? He has girls practically on him." Summer said, recalling the girls following his every mood.
Marissa laughed. "Oh, he's like Harbor's bad boy. He has all these one-night stands."
"Oh." Summer said trying to convey the sinking feeling of her heart.
"Why, you like him?" Marissa asked.
"No, he's way too much of a man-slut." Summer replied.
"Oh. I got to go. See you tonight!" Marissa promptly said before hanging up the call.
Summer heard the dial tone and stared at the phone before putting it down. She looked at the piles of dress. She finally picked a floor length flowing pink Versace dress and extremely high black stilettos. Summer was filled with anticipation to seeing a certain curly brown haired guy as much as she wanted to hate him for being a womanizing jerk.
Marissa was deciding the accessories to go with her dress when she heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find Ryan.
"Hey baby." Marissa said as she leaned into to kiss him.
"Hi." Ryan lay her down on the bed and started to pull her shirt off.
Marissa rolled out under him and straightened herself up.
Ryan looked irritated. "What?"
"You have to get ready for the party."
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He muttered as he leaned back into the pillows on Marissa's bed.
"It's important to me." Marissa stated.
Ryan got up. "Is that all you care about? Stupid Newport events?"
"It's important in a Newport girl's life." Marissa insisted.
"All these things are a bunch of shit. I don't know why you even spend your time on these fucking things." Ryan yelled.
Marissa was taken back by his sudden outburst. "Why can't you just go to ONE thing without complaining? Why?"
"Because they're a waste of my time." Ryan said slowly.
"Why is everything always about what you like? Why can't you just accept one thing that I like?" Marissa screamed.
Ryan rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me? You're the epitome of selfish."
Marissa scoffed. "I don't even know why we're together. You always act like a fucking bastard."
Ryan threw his hands up in the air. "I can't keep on going acting like this. We can't pretend that we're the perfect couple anymore. It's too hard to be the Harbor's reigning couple."
Marissa's eyes started to water. "Please. . . Don't do that Ryan. I love you." She ran to Ryan and hugged him tightly.
Ryan circled his arms around here. "I love you too." He said, comforting Marissa.
Summer heard a beep outside her window. She looked out of her open window. There was Holly, through the sun roof, with a bottle of champagne. "Hop right in, girlfriend!" Holly yelled.
Summer grinned and walked down the stairs and out of the house. She locked the door behind her and slipped the keys into her Fendi purse. The chauffeur opened the door for her, and Summer climbed inside. Holly, Luke, and Ryan were already in the car with flutes of champagne. Holly poured her a glass. Summer gratefully took it.
Today had only been her debut in school, now tonight would be her debut in Newport.