Disclaimer still stands.

A/N: Hey all! Sorry for the long update, both been busy. This chapter was written by KC-Chick and read over by Converses Rolled Down.

Ryan stood in front of a long mirror trying to figure out if there was a way that he couldn't look completely wimpy in the suit he had just put on. Ryan was never one for suits. He couldn't remember wearing one since he was…actually he couldn't remember wearing one at all. Chino didn't have the need for you to dress up in nice clothes. He stared at his reflection a bit more before Seth's chatter that could be heard a mile away broke his concentration.

"So, excited?" asked Seth, hopeful that Ryan hadn't changed his mind after hearing all the details of the fashion show. Ryan turned to face Seth. One look was all it took for Seth to understand.

"Welcome to my life," Seth responded. "Except you actually have me to keep you company the first time. Me, I had to sit on a chair next to the bar and stare at people. Pretty soon the bartender got sick of me and made me go ask a girl to dance…it didn't go over too well."

"What happened?"

"Well, let's just say that by the end of the night I had a big red hand print on my cheek and a restraining order against me. But it wasn't my fault that she had something in her ear and I wanted to take it out!" Ryan once more stared at this shaggy haired kid, mainly because he didn't know what to say and had to keep himself contained for fear that he might uncontrollably start laughing, but that wasn't Ryan's way anyway. So instead, he went back to trying to figure out how he could make the suit look better.

"Its still going to look like you just came from one of those fancy waiter cartoons," commented Seth, noticing that Ryan was eyeing the suit in disgust. "But don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually."

"Does it always itch this much?" asked Ryan, scratching the back of his neck.

"The first time, yeah. Think of it this way, it's like a new pair of underwear. It feels uncomfortable at first, but then, it becomes a part of you." Ryan stared at him once more, only this time smiling a bit.

'I hope I do get to stick around,' Ryan thought to himself. He wouldn't mind having Seth around all the time. Truth be told, the kid wasn't all that bad.

There was a knock on the pool house door.

"Everything going ok you two?" asked Kirsten as she walked through. Ryan smiled slightly.

"Yea, it's great. Thanks for picking the suit up on such sort notice."

"Oh it's no problem. I'm glad you can join us tonight. It was so nice of Seth to invite you. Come to think of it, I don't know why I didn't think of it myself." Ryan didn't know what to say. He wasn't used to all this talking. In Chino, the silence was pretty much taken over by gun shots and sirens. There wasn't much time for talking, let alone the sound capacity for it. "Well, you two drive down to the fashion show alright and Sandy and I will join you soon. We just have to finish getting ready. And Seth, be careful, remember your seatbelt."

"Mom…I know…I've had my license for what…three weeks now…I'll be ok."

"Just making sure your safe."

Kirsten walked out of the pool house and back into the kitchen where she found her husband eating a bagel. "Sandy! We have to leave in 10 minutes! Why aren't you dressed?" Her husband looked at her, mouth full of bagel. Once it was swallowed he answered,

"Oh honey, do I really have to go? Haven't we been to enough of these?" Kirsten Cohen gave her husband a stern look.

"Sandy, you know we have to. It's for charity."

"Aren't half of these for charity?"

"Well yes but…"

"No buts honey, you know they're all the same scheme so Julie Cooper can gossip about the latest of Newport." Kirsten looked down at her feet. She knew it was the truth. Julie thrived on these types of events to flaunt off whatever new piece of news she had come up with or uncovered. But now that Kirsten already promised, and considering that the event was in a half hour, they couldn't not go.

"I know Sandy, but the boys are already on their way." It felt odd to call Ryan and Seth "the boys" but she liked the way it rolled off the tongue. Sandy started at his wife a second more and seeing that he couldn't talk his way out of this one, put down the half eaten bagel and walked upstairs to change.

Ten minutes later, Sandy Cohen walked down the stairs in a black suit and stripped tie. He fiddled around with the tie for a bit until he heard light footsteps walking to the front foyer. Sandy turned around and gazed at his wife who was in a black cocktail dress and black pumps. He smiled at her and she took his arm while grabbing her purse off the small table with the other. She smiled as to say 'Let's get this over with.'

As Ryan and Seth walked in through glass doors, they saw waiters and waitresses setting up tables with food and carrying those mini treys around. They all seemed in a hurry since the fashion show was to begin shortly. They stood a couple seconds and Ryan was in awe at all the chaos around.

"Dude, it's really no big deal." Ryan looked at the stage.

"This isn't a big deal? Look, that stage is huge!"

"You really don't get out much do you?" joked Seth. Ryan gave him "the stare." Seth grinned. He knew perfectly well that Chino didn't have places like this. After a few more seconds of silence, Ryan spotted Marissa off to the side of the stage and to where the curtains separating the front form the back were. She was talking to a tall guy with a perfect tan and a face that looked like it needed a good punch. Ryan cracked his knuckles.

"That's Marissa," said Seth, noticing that he was eyeing his neighbor with a curious eye.

"I know," responded Ryan.

"You know her already?" asked Seth, surprised.

"I met her outside on the driveway. She was waiting for a ride and we got to talk a bit. Then some jerk picked her up in a huge car."

"Oh, it was probably Luke…her boyfriend." Ryan cringed at the word. How could that much of a bastard be her boyfriend? 'She deserves better,' thought Ryan to himself. "That's him right over there." Seth motioned over to the guy Marissa was talking to. He was the one that looked like his face needed a good fixing with Ryan's fist. Cracking his knuckles again, Ryan now really had the urge to punch this guy. Seth noticed how tense Ryan got, so he decided to change the subject.

"So, excited?" Seth asked for the second time that day.

"I guess so," Ryan replied. It was pretty interesting to see how these people lived all the time. They worried about who was wearing what and what shoes matched with which outfit. He was just used to worrying about staying alive. Ryan looked over at Marissa again. This time, she was looking back. A huge smile came across her face and she walked over to the two boys.

"Hey…Seth right?"

"Amazed you even remember."

"Well, of course I remember, I've been your neighbor for 6 years."

"Yea, kinda funny the way you seem to forget it at school though." Marissa looked down at her feet. She felt really ashamed, especially in front of Ryan.

"So, you two here for the fashion show?" she asked anxiously.

"Yea, Ryan here decided to tag along," responded Seth.

'Ryan…so that's his name…' thought Marissa to herself. 'I like it.'

"Yea, I didn't really want to stay in a huge house by myself so I thought I'd check this out."

"Well, I'm glad you came," said Marissa happily and once again flashing a huge smile at him. He smiled back at her and pretty soon Seth got sick of staring at them.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" asked Seth, a bit pushy. Ryan and Marissa were thrown out of the daze they were in.

"Oh! Right!" Marissa said. It seemed as though she had forgotten that she actually had something to do other than stare at Ryan all night. "Well, I'm gonna go, but I'll see you after alright?" the question was more to Ryan than Seth.

"Yea, of course we will Marissa," said Seth. Marissa lingered on for a second longer, and just long enough for Seth to ask her the question burning in his mind.

"Uh, Marissa…is Summer around?" Marissa smiled. She knew about Seth's crush on her best friend. Mostly everyone did…well, everyone except Summer. But that was only for the sole reason that she didn't know he existed.

"Yea Seth, she's around, but you probably won't see her until the party afterward." Marissa wouldn't have exposed this bit of news to Seth of all people, but if it meant him bringing along Ryan, then she was all for it.

"Oh, right. Well then I guess I'll just see her then…uh…thanks."

"No problem." Marissa left to get ready for the show.

The fashion show passed in a daze for Seth and Ryan. Basically, it was spent with them watching Newport's finest flaunting off expensive clothes that Ryan could never afford. He had seen Marissa a couple of times and she had smiled at him each time. He was glad that they were becoming something like friends…the one thing he didn't like was that boyfriend of hers. But there was nothing that he could do now could he? But, its not like he was staying forever anyway. Only one more day and he'd be back in the streets of Chino, toughing it up.

"So, that wasn't that bad, was it?" asked Kirsten after they had all met up back at the house.

"No, it was great," responded Ryan, not wanting to be rude. But truth be told, if he didn't have Marissa to look at for a good portion of the night…he might have left, or at least gone out for a smoke…but Marissa was better.

"Oh, he's just being polite," said Sandy. "Now, what did you really think? I mean, if you hated it, you can tell me, it'll give Seth and I one more ally in our fight not to go to these pointless events."

"Oh Sandy, stop. It wasn't so bad. At least Julie didn't flaunt everything one hundred percent of the time…"

"No, it was more like ninety five." Kirsten gave her husband a stern look.

"Mom, Dad's right ya know, but at least this time, Ryan was with me so I didn't have to suffer all alone."

"See, the night wasn't a complete waste. So boys, its still early, do you guys want to go out or order a pizza or something?" Kirsten knew that Seth didn't have many friends so she wanted to do something nice for them.

"Well I could probably set up the PS2 and-"

"Actually, there's a party we got invited to," cut in Ryan. "Do you think it'd be ok if we went?"

Kirsten looked at her husband. She was reluctant about letting them go anywhere, but since Ryan wasn't staying long, maybe it was a way for Seth to make some friends.

"Ok, but be home at eleven ok?"

"Mom, don't worry, we'll be fine."

With that, the two boys headed down to the beach where the party was. They walked in through the back where they heard booming music. They walked closer and it was complete chaos inside. Seth and Ryan managed to make their way partly through the crowd a short girl with black hair got in their way. Seth stopped abruptly and looked the other way.

"Ooo!" the girl shrieked. "Who are you? I haven't seen you before…Coop! Come check this out…there's a new kid on the block." She giggled in delight because she had actually made reference to an old 80's band. This girl was obviously drunk.

"Yea Sum?" came a voice that was soon followed by Marissa coming through everyone.

"Coop, look, we have a new piece of fine-ness to look at!" Marissa blushed and was a bit embarrassed by her drunk friend.

"Yea, that's Ryan and Seth."

"Seth? Who's that?"

"Him," pointed Marissa to the shaggy haired kid trying to hide his face.

"Hey…" Seth waved awkwardly. But Summer didn't respond, she just turned her drunk attention back to Ryan.

"So, tell me more about…Ryan…Marissa."

"Oh, well he's staying with the Cohen's, but he's from Chino…"

"Ooo! We have a bad boy on our hands!" screamed Summer. She then took Ryan's arm and dragged him through the crowd and they disappeared behind all the mini skirts and polo shirts leaving Marissa and Seth standing by themselves.

"That went over well…" said Seth glumly.

"Yea…she gets that way sometimes…"

"I know." Seth looked at his feet, disappointed that Ryan was the one being dragged off instead of him, and then, he looked up and walked the opposite direction.

Ryan was finally out of the crowd and outside letting the warm sand get into his new shoes. 'Damn these dress shoes,' thought Ryan. He was on the lookout for Seth. He hadn't seen him since that wasted Summer character had dragged him off into a crowd of dancing people and only now had he managed to get away. It was only because she had gotten drunk enough not to realize who was who anymore. Ryan gazed off onto the rocks that stood off the shore and noticed Seth sitting on one of them, hand under chin and staring out aimlessly. He walked over.

"Hey," whispered Ryan.

"Hey Ryan, have fun with Summer?"

"No, actually, I didn't. she dragged me into the crowd and starting flaunting me off and all I really wanted to do was punch someone."

"Yea...sure." said Seth, unconvinced. "You know you liked it." Ryan stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you mad at me?'

"No, why would I be upset that you went off with the girl you know I like. You were just doing it to rub it in weren't you?"

"Seth! I didn't ask to be dragged off like that. I would have gladly stayed where I was and let you go off with her."

"Yea, I'm—" Seth never got to finish the rest of his statement because a scream interrupted him. It came from the house and Seth and Ryan ran to the doors again to see what was going on. Marissa was on the floor, unconscious and that Luke guy was hovered over her. There was also another blonde next to him. She looked as though someone had tried to pull her hair out because it was all messed up and sticking out all over the place.

Ryan ran to Marissa's side only to be yelled at by Luke.

"Get the hell away from her!" said Luke in an aggressive tone.

"Or what?"

"Or I'll punch your face in, that's what."

"I just wanna make sure she's ok."

"She'll be fine. Now don't make me say this again, get the hell away!" Ryan looked at this guy. He really needed a good punch in the face, but he wasn't going to do it above Marissa's unconscious body. He bent down to his knees to pick Marissa up and right as he was sliding his arms under her limp body, a cold hand stopped him.

"You really don't understand me do you?" Luke took Ryan by the arm and dragged him outside. Once there he saw that Seth was outside as well. "Do I get two for one today?"

"Whoa, hold on Luke, I didn't do anything."

"Shut up geek, come one boys." Luke called over his other water polo teammates and they swung Seth upside down and gave him a really bad wedgy.

"Hey, get away from him," Ryan said defensively.

"You again? I thought that me giving me this preview would teach you a lesson. I guess not." Luke Ward gave Ryan Atwood his first punch since arriving to the OC. Ryan collapsed on the ground and was too surprised to come back up and punch Luke back. "Welcome to the OC, bitch!" laughed Luke. Right as he turned around to walk back in, Ryan got back up and punched him back. This time Luke was the one to fall helplessly on the California sand and he groaned in pain.

Ryan walked over to Seth, who was trying to fix his underwear that was uncomfortably placed between his butt cheeks.

"You ok?"

"Yea Ryan it's all good. I'm used to it. They've been doing this since 7th grade. I just learn to avoid them but ya kinda got in his face…"

"Sorry about that."

"I guess it just comes with the territory of a new kid."

"Well come on, get up. I think we have to be going or Kirsten's gonna kill us."

"Right. Just…don't mention this to the parental units alright?"

"Deal…just one thing."

"Yea?"

"Don't ever try to take a wedgy out in front of me ever again," joked Ryan.

"You try getting one from Luke Ward, captain of the water polo team, and then we'll talk."

A/N: So, what'd ya think? Push that review button and say so for more!