"Welcome to the OC bich" shouted Luke after just beating the crap out of Seth and Ryan. Ryan's really gonna wanna stay now thought Seth as he tried to stand up but thought better of it when stars appeared.

"Hey you alright man" asked Ryan as he got Seth underneath his arms and yanked him up.

"Yeh no problem I was mid blink when that guy hit me, we could so take em if we wanted" he started to sway on the spot"or maybe not". Ryan laughed as he threw Seth's arm around his shoulder and started walking down the beach.

"So what are your parents gonna say bout this" Ryan asked as he pointed at Seth's already forming bruise.

"They'll be fine, my parents actually encourage me to fight as they actually think its extremely educational in my development into (puts on a gruff voice) a reeall man" Ryan rolled his eyes"really" he asked with disbelief.

Seth grimaced as he thought of they reaction" well no but hey I can dream cant I" at this point he tried to walk without Ryan's help, failed and so threw himself on the sand and lay down looking up at the stars.

Ryan sat down next to him"so what's this Luke guy all about, how come Marissa's with him? his such a jackass, I mean don't get me wrong or anything I'm not like interested in her, god how stupid would that be" he continued to ramble"I mean yeh she's pretty and she's got amazing eyes and...but she seems quite up her self really, what do you think" there was silence"Seth" Ryan looked down at Seth and was greeted with Seth fast asleep with a piece of drool coming out his mouth. Ryan groaned and flopped down on the sand, "great, just great"

The Cohen Kitchen the next day…

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU TWO" Kirsten shouted as she walked into the kitchen. She walked over to Seth and looked at his bruises. He winced as she felt them.

"Who gave you theses, who have you been fighting with, I thought you would know better" she stood in front of him with her hand on her hip"tell me what the hell you two have been doing"

Seth squirmed in his seat"well that's a funny story, you see, well it started with an evil kangaroo who... oh wait is that the time, look Ryan its time for school, god I cant believe we were gonna be late" he grabbed Ryan's arm and yanked him towards the door.

"YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW SETH" Kirsten shouted.

"sorry mom gotta go I'll explain later, if you see any kangaroos run for it, it wont be pretty" he shouted back as him and Ryan sped out the door.

"She is so gonna kill us later" Seth commented as they walked down the drive.

Ryan nodded his head"yep, pretty much"

The Next Day At School…

Ryan and Seth turned the corner and strolled down the corridor," so, are you gonna actually talk to Summer one day" Ryan asked as they stopped at his locker. " because ever since I've been here all you've ever done is talk about that girl, I mean I think I know her favourite colour, animal, what she wants to be when she's older and her most horrific experience, I mean its ridiculous Seth" He slammed his locker and carried on talking as he and Seth walked into first period.

"well its just hard, I mean when I speak to her I end up making the worst jokes, seriously man, did you hear the one about the hosepipe, the horse and Michael Jackson" Seth asked as they sat down.

Ryan frowned"umm, no and to be honest I don't think I want to".

"Exactly" Seth exclaimed. Just as he said this Summer strolled into the room with her perfect smile, perfect clothes, perfect hair, god she was so beautiful. Seth sat staring at her thinking, I wish I could speak to her, I wish she liked me.

Ryan waved his hand in front of Seth's face but he had no chance, he was gone to the world. He wished he would just act more confident, I mean obviously Summer wasn't going to like someone with no confidence. Seth just needed a shove in the right direction. He jumped up from his chair and leapt into the chair Summer was about to take.

"What are you doing Chino? If you didn't notice I was gonna sit there" the teacher who was sat at her desk looked over"summer I'm not in the mood this morning theirs a seat next to Seth, now take it"

Summer was about to argue but changed her mind when the teacher gave her a warning look. She trounced over and sat down; Seth sat stealing glances at her.

"What the hell are you looking at" Summer said after catching one of Seth's looks. Before he could answer the teacher got up from her chair"Right then folks, I'm sure you're glad to be back" this was answered with numerous groans. "and because I'm such a lovely teacher I've decided the best way to get back into the swing of things is to prepare a presentation on a subject of your choice, obviously related to history" she added as two guys started snickering. "and seeing as we always have problems with groups I want everyone to work with the person their sitting next to" there were cries of arguments from all sides of the room.

"No argument, that's my decision, make sure their ready for Friday" and with that she walked out the room.
Summer looked at Seth"great" she said not hiding her annoyance.
Seth looked back at Summer"great"; he said not hiding his excitement.

That Evening in Seth's Bedroom…

"You have a toy horse" Summer stated with not much enthusiasm. She put it back on the desk top. She carried on walking round the room looking at everything.

"Well no...Umm that horse isn't mine...its ummmm...well...its RYANS" he finally spluttered. His cheeks went red as he realised how obvious it was he was lying. He looked over at Summer, was that a smile creeping on her mouth or was he just imagining it? she had been so cold since she had got here.

"You really are a geek aren't you" nope she was still cold he thought.

"...umm well not a geek more a bit strange… well not strange just ummm different, yeh different that's what I meant" she back tracked after seeing the hurt look on Seth's face, she didn't mean to be so harsh, she just didn't want Seth getting any ideas while they spent time together. She was gonna get the work done as quickly as possible so that she didn't have to spend anymore time with him.

"You're really a charming person aren't you? I mean you don't even know me" Seth threw back at her, not hiding the hurt in his voice.

"Look lets just get on with this project then you can get away from me because it's obviously horrible for you to be around me" Seth said as he got out all the research he had done earlier. He watched as she opened her mouth to speak, thought better of it and just nodded in response.

Later At The Cohens Front Door

DING DONG

Ryan walked towards the door"I'll get it" he shouted to anyone that was listening. He grabbed the door handle and yanked open the door where he was greeted with a tall slim girl.

"Marissa, hi...umm...how are you" He managed to get out after recovering from the shock of seeing her there. She pulled some paper out of her bag. She looked uncomfortable.

"Well I just went over to Summers and her mum said she was here with Seth" there was amusement in her voice"...and I really need to give her this before tomorrow, so is there any chance you could hand it over to her" she held it out to Ryan.

"Yeh sure...i mean you could come in and, we could...you know, hang out for a bit and you could give it to her yourself if you want? Ryan managed to get out. He stood waiting for her to refuse. What he would do to spend time with her, he now realised that he had feelings for her, but he had also realised that there was no chance she would ever like him back so he was just gonna take what he could get.

"You know what...yeh sure why not, I haven't got anything else planned, hey have you got that Tony's Hawks game, don't tell anyone but I'm a huge fan" she laughed.

He looked at her surprised"yeh we got that, come on in" he pulled open the door and stood back as she walked past. Her hair caught his face as she passed him, god that smelled good he thought, I wish I could stroke her hair and kiss her soft...God what am I thinking, if I'm gonna deal with nothing happening I cant think things like that. He was brought out of his thoughts by Marissa"I'm just gonna pop upstairs and give this to Sum, ok" She turned towards the stairs and started walking up.

Marissa walked along the corridor towards what she guessed was Seth's room. What was with that look Ryan just gave me downstairs she thought. It almost seemed like the kind of look Luke gave her every time she was in his arms. Ryan couldn't have feelings for her, could he? No...God what was she thinking...he couldn't have feelings for her...how ridiculous was that! She was knocked out of her thoughts by loud laughter coming from Seth's room. The door was open so she walked in and the sight that greeted her was strange to say the least; the laughter was Summer's who looked to be having the time of her life...with Seth. What was going on Summer hated Seth! She coughed slightly. Summer looked up shocked.

"umm...hey Coup what you doing here?" She jumped up from the bed where she and Seth had been sitting. She looked extremely uncomfortable. Marissa tried not to laugh as she spoke.

"Well I needed to give you this list of stuff we need from you for the dance next week, you know the stuff you said your dad could get us" Summer walked over took the list out of her hand.

"Oh...right...yeh sure...well me and Cohen are done" she looked extremely flustered. "right then...ummm...I'm gonna go" she looked over at Seth who was still sitting on the bed looking on top of the world, and then she hurried out the room.

"BYE Summer" Seth shouted after her, he flopped back on the bed with a goofy grin on his face.
Marissa looked at Seth, and looked at the look on his face, he looked so happy, it was obvious he was smitten with Summer, shame she didn't feel the same. Or did she, Summer obviously had a good time with Seth and the way she acted a minute ago was definitely very odd, maybe Summer did like Seth? She was definitely gonna find out... right after she kicked Ryan's asse at Tony Hawk. She hurried down the stairs and found Ryan hooking up the Xbox he looked up at her and smiled. She felt butterflies in the pit of her stomach, god what was with that, surely she didn't have feelings for Ryan, did she?...no she couldn't, it wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible, she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, they were too dangerous.

"So you ready to get your asse whipped" she said to Ryan as she took her controller. He grabbed his own"You wish cooper" he threw right back at her. They both laughed, happy to be in each others company.