Summary: Marissa's POV when she sees Trey at school from a distance.

Disclaimer: I do not own the O.C., its characters, or the sentences in italics. Too bad…if I did, Ryan and Marissa would always be together.

A/N: Again, thx for reviews. Please keep them coming! Norbert-theduck: thanks for the feedback about the dialogue. I am not sure how to change that so that it shows who is talking but that it is what they said in the show. Any suggestions? For now, they will stay the same. Sorry!

When the bell rang, Marissa jumped out of her seat. She could not wait to get home and take a long bath and a sip of vodka.

As always, it was beautiful out. The sun was shining and she could detect the smell of the ocean. She turned the corner and was about to go down the stairs when she saw him. Just the sight of him caused her hair to stand on end.

What the heck was Trey doing here? At school. In broad daylight. Was he trying to let Ryan know what happened?

Trey looked nervous, jumpy, like he couldn't sit still. He looked—like he was on something. Maybe he was. Maybe he had been that night. Ryan would flip out if he found out. That made two things Ryan was going to flip out about.

For some reason, Marissa was fascinated with watching him. She enjoyed, no relished, the thought of Trey being uptight about what he did. She hoped that he couldn't sleep and thought about it every minute of the day. Wait, ewww. That would make him seem kind of stalkerish.

From the distance, she could see a spot of red on his head. She figured that was from where she hit him with the stick. She remembered how the stick had felt in her hand. Really, it was driftwood, she guessed. Never before had she been thankful for the wood that the ocean washed up. Before it had always just been annoying and gave her splinters. That night, when she had seen it lying there, just inches from her reach, she had felt saved. It was as close to being saved as she could get. As she had held in her hand, she had felt its weight. It was heavy and she knew that it would get the job done.

There had always been times in her life when she needed that strength, that weight, to make her live. No, not just times—her whole life was based on that need for a pillar of strength. It had been Luke since fifth grade. Then, when things ended with Luke, it was Ryan. Ryan was the strongest yet and the best for support. There was no place better than being wrapped in his arms when she was feeling down. At that moment, when Trey had been grabbing her, the wood was the closest thing to Ryan and the strongest thing in sight.

What are you doing?

Summer! Hey, I was ah, I was ah…waiting for you. Look, my car's like, completely out of gas, so could you give me a ride?

Sure, come on.

The only thing is, I uh, I left a book inside. So, could you pick me up around back?

Yeah, whatever.

A part of her blamed Ryan for not being there. If he hadn't gone to Miami, she wouldn't have been alone with Trey, and he wouldn't have tried to rape her. She knew that if Ryan ever found out, he would blame himself as well. After he beat the living daylights out of Trey. True, a part of her wanted Ryan to feel the guilt. The vulnerable part (there were so many parts to her) wanted him to know so that he could comfort her and kiss her pain away. But another part, the good part of her, never wanted Ryan to find out. Ryan could never know.

Shaking her head, she went to meet Summer. Trey would just have to learn to keep his mouth shut and his feelings at bay. It had always worked for her.