A/N: So next chapter, kinda short, but I hope it dosen't suck too much. Hopefully it provides a little bitmore information about the plot.Flashbacks are in italics, apart from the song lyrics. I hope I picked the right song for this chapter, I wasn't sure which one to choose and I went through several!Anyways, read and Review.

Marissa looked at her phone, and chucked it across the room when she saw Summer hadn't phoned back.

"Bitch." She muttered under her breath, and got up off of her bed, and went over to her stereo, turning it on, pumping the volume to full blast. At least that was something to drown out all her hatred.Which was a hard thing to drown out these days. She flicked through the stations until something she felt was good came on. Finally settling on one, sheturned it up one notch higher. Green Days "Deadbeat Holiday"poured out of the speakers, vibrating and echoing around the huge empty mansion she now called 'home.' Nodding her head to the beat, the song started.

Wake up, The house is on fire
And the cat's caught in the dryer
Philiosophy's a liar when
Your home is your headstone

Walking over to her shelves, she looked at all the photos she had collected over the past few years. Most of them were with Summer, Ryan and Seth. Most were with Ryan. Her heart shot a stab of pain through her body as she looked at one from last year. Seth had taken it on the beach, when they were cuddled up together in the sunset. She sighed, and turned away, remembering there was no such thing as heroes.

'Icon' is the last chance for hope
When there's no such thing as heroes
Your faith lies in the ditch that
You dug yourself in

"The fucking Fantastic Four…." Marissa shook her head mockingly at her own words, and slipped one of the photos out of its frame, scrunching it up and tossing it in her wastepaper bin. It landed perfectly in the bottom, and she guessed all those years of tennis training her mother had forced her to go paid off. She turned to the frame and smashed it into perfect pieces.

Last chance to piss it all away
Nothing but hell to pay
When the lights are going down

Nothing ever went right in Marissa Cooper's life. Her family, her love life, even she was a screw-up. The only thing she excelled in was her school-work. Charity chair, Social league were just a few of the accomplishments Dr. Kim had promised would look good when she applied for college. Which would be next year. She groaned again, and turned her stereo up eevn louder.

Deadbeat Holiday, celebrate your own decay
There's a vacant sign that's hanging high
On a noose over your home

She knew she had to be strong after everything that had happened. But the trouble was, she didn't know whether she would be able to. She was at a loose end permanently, like a rope fraying. She was a bomb just sitting there ticking in the corner, waiting to explode.

Deadbeat Holiday, get on your knees and pray
There's a vacant sign that's hanging high
But at least you're not alone
Christmas lights in the middle of August
Grudges come back to haunt us

Marissa Cooper held grudges. She held them for as long as it would take to get what she wanted. That wasn't normally a long time. At least, it never used to be. Life when she was in a functional family was a distant memory. Her dad had left her, for what? To be a better dad? Where was he when she needed him? Where was anyone where she needed them?

Your oldest allies are your long lost enemies
Grounded in a duplex to find that
You're living on a landmine
Vacation hotspots is a cemetery drive

Summer wasn't much help. She put on a strong face for Marissa, but even Marissa could see past the make-up pasted on mask. Summer was always the sensible one in the girls friendship, and Marissa was even slightly jealous of her. Summer was always the one who got the guys, who was more popular, who had a better figure, prettier looks. At least, that's what Marissa thought.

Last chance to piss it all away
Nothing but hell to pay
When the lights are going down

She sat back on the bed, not knowing what to do with herself. Tapping her fingers on the bedside table, she heard her phone suddenly ring. She quickly got up off the bed, and ran to where it had landed. Marissa looked at the screen, Private Number was displayed. She frowned but flipped it up anyway.

"Hello?"

"Marissa?"

"Erm…yeah. Who is this?" She asked, waiting for someone to answer her. Instead the line crackled, and she had to repeat herself. "Hello?"

"Its…Ryan." Marissa took a sharp intake of breath, sitting back down on her bed.

"Ryan? Ryan…Atwood?" Marissa asked, shakily, picking a piece of thread that hung down from her jeans. A slight laugh was heard from the other end.

"How many other Ryan's do you know, Riss?" Marissa gave a slight smile, happy to hear he was at least…laughing.

"Erm.. none, I guess." Marissa replied, shrugging. Ryan stood at the other end, leaning against a hard wall.

"So, how are you?" Ryan asked, calmly under all the circumstances. "I mean, how have you been after.."

Marissa quickly cut him off, not wanting to think about that. "I'm fine, everything's fine." A loud shout could be heard, and the slamming of something against something. "Where are you, I can hear shouting?"

Ryan paused, "Where am I?"

Marissa stopped talking for a minute, expectantly waiting for an answer. When none came, she replied. "Yes, where are you?"

"I'm in prison."

Last chance to piss it all away
Nothing but hell to pay whan all you
Want to do is...not to...give up...

"I can't!"

"You have too….!"

"I told you , I CAN'T!"

A piercing scream was heard for a short moment, and then silence reigned in the darkness.

The temperature was high, and he could smell the rank odour of seat drift aboutthe buildings. He leant back onto the wall, sitting on the stone-like mattress. The person opposite was asleep, and was snoring loudly. Looking at the wall opposite, he caught sight of the clock, and sighed.

"Atwood?" Ryan looked up from his bed suddenly, and through the bars. The officer took that as a reply, and got out his thick ring of keys. Unlocking the door, scraping it into the metal lock. The door was opened, and Ryan stood up.

"You got a visitor."

A whisper broke the eternal silence, and she jumped, turning to see who it was. Searching through the darkness, she couldn't quite make the figure out. . . .