Disclaimer: I own nothing, just my box set.

Yay! Thanks, sincerely for all the ace reviews xGoingunderx, thanks, I really wanted them to work well as friends and wasn't sure i was doing it well. Thanks for reassuring me. I wanted Ryan to be protective but not in a bad, jealous way. I hope that came accross.

To Brightest Firefly and BrSoccerChic, I'm kinda on a roll with this at the mo, so I (cross fingers, touch wood) should be able to update kinda quickly.

Anyway, thanks for reviewing, you made my day!

On with the story,

Chapter 3

Marissa woke up the next morning wondering why she felt so depressed, the sun was shining, well it always was in Newport, it was Tuesday, which meant she had double bio, her favourite, and she was going out with Scott tonight. That was it, she was meeting Scott. Her heart sank. Then she jumped out of bed quickly to try and clear her mind. It didn't work. You were supposed to be happy when you had a date with your boyfriend, not sad. Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door.

"Marissa? Are you ready?" Ryan said softly. Oh god, Ryan. He and Seth always gave her a ride to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Another reason why she liked Tuesdays so much. "Marissa?"

"Yeah, wait a sec." All the time Marissa was thinking, 'why the hell is he so early, surely it's only like 7.30' She glanced at her watch. It read 8.25. She must have slept through her alarm. She opened the door. Ryan smiled.

"Let me guess, you slept through your alarm" He said knowingly.

"No," she said defiantly. He raised his eyebrows "Well, maybe, sort of. Can you wait like five minutes?"

"Marissa, I know you. You could never get ready in five minutes, not even if there was a pair of Jimmy whatever's on sale for twenty dollars." He grinned.

"Is that a challenge Atwood?"

"I guess it is."

"Ok, I'll meet you, and Seth in the car in five."

"No you won't."

"Oh, I think I will, now shoo, let me get dressed."

Ryan walked down the stairs, shaking his head and smiling to himself, there was no way she would be ready in five minutes. At the same time, as she rushed around trying to get ready as fast as she could Marissa was wondering why, all of a sudden she didn't feel so depressed anymore.

As Ryan had predicted it took Marissa longer than five minutes to get dressed, but only by two minutes or so. He was impressed. "Wow!" he said as she got into the front of the car. "That was quick." She looked cute, dressed down without any make up.

"I know," she smiled "Was it under five minutes?"

"Very nearly." She winked at him.

"Awesome, lets go."

As they arrived at school Marissa saw Scott talking to some of his water polo playing friends.

"Oh god!" Seth muttered. "She's dating a water polo player."

"Problem Cohen?" Marissa spun around in her seat to confront him.

"No, no. I'll see you guys later." He sped off to find Summer and escape the water polo players. Marissa laughed.

"I'll see you later" Ryan said as he saw Scott approach them. He had never spoken to him but he had a feeling that Scott didn't like him that much.

"No," Marissa grabbed his arm "Come meet Scott, he's nice."

"I'm not saying he isn't…" Ryan protested but before he could stop him Marissa had dragged him toward Scott.

"Hey babe," Scott leant down and kissed Marissa on the cheek "You ok?"

"Yeah I'm good thanks." Marissa wrapped her arm around Scott's waist "So, this is Ryan." Ryan held out his hand and half smiled.

"Hey man, I've heard a lot about you." Scott said as he shook Ryan's outstretched hand. Ryan smiled again.

"I'll see you later Marissa, Scott." Ryan said before walking to his first class of the day. He couldn't believe Marissa was dating this guy, he was exactly like Luke, maybe even worse.

"Bye," Marissa called after him. "See," she said turning to Scott "he's nice, isn't he?"

"Babe, I never said he wasn't nice" Scott said. "Are you sure he hasn't got the hots for you?" Marissa frowned "Ok, I'm sorry."

"Don't you trust me?" Marissa said, even though she knew what he was going to say next.

"Of course I trust you, I just don't trust anyone else around you." He said, it was every bit as spine chilling as it had been before. "Anyway, I have to go," He kissed her again. "I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Yeah sure," Marissa mumbled.

"Oh and babe," Scott turned around, Marissa looked up at him "Try and, you know, make an effort, tonight. It looks like you got dressed in five minutes or something." She turned around to respond but he had already gone. She couldn't believe he had just said that, but she tried to block it from her mind as she made her way to bio.

Nine hours later and Marissa still couldn't decide what to wear for her date with Scott, part of her wanted to go in her oldest clothes without any make up just to wind him up, but she would never do that. Eventually she decided on straight jeans and a sparkly top with her trademark flats on her feet. Scott maybe taller than Ryan but she still wasn't out of the habit of wearing flats.

"Honey," Julie Cooper-Nichol called up the stairs "Scotts here."

"Ok, I'm coming" she called back. She sprayed her wrists with her favourite perfume, J'adore by Dior, and made her way down the stairs.

"Wow!" Scott whistled "You look hot." Marissa blushed.

"See you later Mrs Cooper-Nichol." Scott said as he and Marissa made their way out of the door

"Please, call me Julie" She giggled. Marissa sighed.

"C'mon Scott lets go."

"Your Mom's nice" Scott commented as they got into his car. 'You have no idea' Marissa thought.

They had a really nice date, Scott took her to a really nice Italian restaurant and treated her perfectly. Maybe, Marissa thought as he drove her home, she had overreacted about the trust thing. Scott was, well perfect. She sank back into her seat, he looked over and smiled at her thinking exactly the same thing. She was perfect, gorgeous, and according to Luke, really easy to get into bed, after a while. He wasn't going to let some kid from Chino ruin this one. She was his.

They pulled into her drive and he undid his seatbelt and leant over to kiss her. She let him, soon he had his hands under her top reaching to undo her bra strap. She sat up, and pulled away. He was going way too fast. "What's wrong babe?" He asked kissing her neck.

"Nothing," She kissed

"Was I going to fast?" His face was full of concern.

"Just a bit." She smiled nervously.

"It's ok, I can wait."

"I'd better go," she said opening the car door.

"Ok babe. I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"Thanks for a great night." She said sincerely

"No problem babe." He winked at her before driving off.

"Well?" Julie demanded as soon as she walked through the door.

"Well what?" Marissa asked tiredly

"Did you have fun with Scott?"

"Yeah, it was nice."

"Good, I'm so glad you've got a new boyfriend, maybe that Chino boy won't be hanging round so often then." Julie said hopefully. Marissa couldn't be bothered to correct her.

"Yeah maybe."

"Good." Julie was pleased "And honey," she called as Marissa climbed the stairs "I love you."

'Whatever' Marissa thought, "Thanks Mom" was what came out.

As she got into bed Marissa's mind was racing. Who was she kidding? Scott was not perfect. He liked her Mom, he didn't like Ryan and he basically told her what to wear. They were just three of his faults. Maybe he was just using her for sex? That didnt sound very plausible but then what did she have to compare him to? Luke? Disaster. Ryan? He had never, ever pressured her but then how had that turned out? Well, actually quite well. She turned out the light and lay down, she would talk about it with Summer tomorrow. She would know what to do. Summer knew exactly how to avoid Cohen when she had liked him but didn't want to admit to it. Yeah, but look how that had turned out.

I know that I said I would write more Seth/Summer in this chapter but I couldn't really fit them in. They are in the next chapter (honestly I've already started it!) Please review, I hope you like it! Thanks! Also the bit about Scott saying 5 minutes just came out, I hope it wasn't too cheesy. I kept it in to show the contrast with him and Ryan.