A/N- To all the Josh haters, you will def. love this chappie! Please REVIEW!

Chapter 8

A few weeks had past since that day at the party when Marissa and Ryan had had that verbal fight. Marissa had been with Josh for approximately three weeks now and Ryan had been with Liv for the same amount of time. Marissa felt horrible about what happened. She hadn't been doing well in her classes because her mind was on Ryan. She had been blowing Summer off because Josh wanted to spend every waking hour with her possible. Finally, one Wednesday, Marissa didn't care. She didn't go to classes that morning. She didn't feel like facing everyone. She went down to the beach to get away from it all. After she had taken off her shoes and starting walking in and out of the waves, she heard her name being called. She looked around and came face to face with Ryan.

"Ryan…hi," she said a little uneasy. What she really wanted to do was run into his arms and apologize for everything she had done to him…but she didn't.

"Hey," Ryan replied.

"You aren't in school," she noted. Of course he's not in school. DUH! She thought, mentally kicking herself for sounding so dumb.

"Nope. Neither are you though," Ryan pointed out.

"Nope," Marissa replied. There was silence between the two, only the sound of the waves was heard. "Listen, I want to apologize to you," she said all of a sudden.

"You don't need to apologize," Ryan said.

"But I do! Look, I didn't mean to be all bitchy to you at that party. Really, that was the last thing on my mind," Marissa said nicely.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Ryan needed to know.

"I guess you could call him that," Marissa answered. "What about Liv? Your girlfriend?"

"I guess so," Ryan mumbled. There was silence again. "Are you happy with him?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah…yeah I am," Marissa managed. The truth was, she was miserable with Josh. She wanted to be with Ryan…forever. The conversation was interrupted when Marissa's cell phone started ringing. She answered it.

"Coop?" demanded the voice on the other end.

"Hi Sum," Marissa sighed.

"Where the hell are you? Cohen and I haven't seen you all morning!" Summer exclaimed.

"I'm at the beach," Marissa said meekly.

"The beach? Coop, you're supposed to be in class!" Summer hissed.

"Sum, I don't want to be in class," Marissa complained.

"Too bad! Get your ass over here! I have important news!" Summer said excitedly and hung up. Marissa turned to Ryan.

"I have to go," she said stupidly. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I'll probably just go back around lunch time," Ryan replied.

"Okay," Marissa said. She turned to leave, but then thought about something else to say. "This morning was fun. Thanks."

"No problem. I'll give you a call sometime," Ryan said, before she walked off.

After classes, Josh met her on her way back to her dorm. He offered to give her a ride, so she got into his car. When he parked in front of her dorm, he turned to her.

"I saw you talking to Atwood earlier," he mentioned. Oh shit, Marissa thought to herself.

"You…saw us at the beach?" Marissa guessed.

"Yeah," Josh replied. "I thought I told you I didn't want you hanging out with him."

"Yeah, but it wasn't like planned or anything," Marissa tried to explain.

"Just don't talk to him anymore, okay?" Josh said firmly. Marissa had it. She really had had the last straw.

"You know what Josh, you don't get to tell me who and who not to hang out with, that's my own choice. And suddenly, I don't feel like going for coffee with you tonight," Marissa spat.

"Well, we could go somewhere else," Josh said hopefully.

"No. I don't want to go anywhere with you. This is over!" Marissa cried. She tried to open the door, but Josh held her back.

"Nobody dumps Josh Smith," he mocked. Marissa felt like laughing.

"Well guess what? You just got dumped," she slapped him across the face. "See ya, jerk." She got out of the car and walked into her dorm without looking back in Josh's direction. When she got inside, she sighed and threw her purse and backpack down on her bed. She saw that she had a message on the phone, so she went to see who it was from.

"Hey Marissa. I was wondering if we could meet." She would know that voice anywhere. It was Ryan's.