Chapter 21 – If You Can Hold On
Summer got out of the after-school social committee later than she had expected. She checked her watch. She cursed herself for not excusing herself earlier. The corridor was empty save for a lonely cleaner at the end forlornly sweeping with a large old-fashioned brush. He gave Summer a toothy smile as she walked out into the sunshine. She looked around herself. She couldn't see him. She checked the nearby benches. Nothing. No one. Not a soul. A slight breeze blew through the trees causing the hair on the back of Summer's neck to stand up. She walked round the building desperately searching the grounds. Still nothing. Then in the distance on the slight green grassy slope of a gentle hill there sat a figure. Summer smiled to herself. Her pace quickened as she made her way across. Then she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The figure was not alone. There was someone else sitting beside him. Summer moved closer for a better view. She could now clearly see Seth's face, smiling and laughing, as he sat beside some blonde-haired girl. A fury welled up from within Summer. Her fists clenched together with rage. She started towards the couple but stopped herself. No, she thought, he wasn't worth it.
Ryan and Seth entered school together. Ryan hadn't spoken to Marissa since she had come to his pool house. He didn't know what he would say if he saw her anyway. It was all so confused. He didn't know if she had broken up with Luke. He didn't know anything. He figured that the best thing he could do was let her sort it out herself. When she was ready she would tell him what she decided. Seth was still confused about yesterday. He wondered why Summer had shown up. She probably had gone shopping and forgotten about him or something, Seth concluded. He would ask and find out.
Marissa and Summer entered school together. Marissa was still torn over what she should do. She kept seeing the image of Hope's hands all over Luke's body. Then as the anger filled her body she saw herself kissing Ryan. She couldn't be mad at Luke for doing the same thing as her. But was it the same thing? She didn't know how far Luke and Hope had gone, she didn't want to know, but that didn't look like a first date, or time, or whatever. She knew one thing though. What she and Luke had was over. It was clear to her, they just weren't meant to be. As for her and Ryan, she didn't know. It was all so confused. She didn't know how he felt about her. She figured the best thing she could do was let him sort it out himself. When he was ready he would tell her what he felt.
Ryan and Seth walked into the corridor first but were soon joined at the opposite end by Marissa and Summer. Neither group noticed the other at first but soon Ryan's gaze happened upon the two girls. He made his excuses to Seth and walked in the opposite direction. Upon seeing his departing body Marissa made her excuses and left Summer to wonder what was going on until she saw the approaching figure of Seth Cohen. She tensed up as he got closer.
"Where were you last night?" Seth asked. "I waited for you."
"Yeah, I know." Summer replied nonchalantly.
Seth looked confused. "Huh?"
"I saw you." Summer said desperately trying to hide her emotions. "I saw you with her."
"Oh." Seth said with realisation. "That was just Anna. We're just…"
Summer cut him off. "I don't want to hear it, Cohen. Look, who were we fooling?"
"What?" Seth said dreading what Summer was going to say.
"It's just no worth it, okay? It would never have worked. Deep down, did you really think it would?" Summer asked.
"But Summer…"
"Hope you and little Miss Blondie are happy together." Summer said before storming off.
"But, we're just friends." Seth said to himself as he watched her walk away.
Anna picked up a comic book, looked at the cover, and put it back on the shelf. She turned to Seth, "Did you know they made a cross-over with Mermaid Man and Elephanto?"
Seth did not respond. He just stared at the row after row of comic books in front of him. The shop the two were standing in was dimly lit, smelt of old books and even older medicine, and was populated mostly by greasy teenagers plagued by swarms of bright red spots.
"Seth?" Anna asked with concern.
"Huh? What?" Seth replied.
"Are you okay?"
"Err…yeah." Seth said turned to Anna. "Well, no. There's this girl, Summer."
"Oh." Anna said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"I've been obsessed with her since forever and then finally a couple of weeks ago she spoke to me." Seth said.
"She spoke to you?" Anna asked surprised.
"Yeah, it was great. She actually spoke to me, and knew my name and everything. Ever since then things have been getting weird. One minute you can't get enough of me then the next she can't get away from me quick enough."
"She sounds a crazy to me." Anna said.
"Now, she's jealous of you." Seth said.
"Me?" Anna asked.
"Yeah, she saw of together yesterday and she thinks something is going on. I mean, how crazy is that?" Seth asked.
"Yeah, crazy." Anna replied quietly.
"What am I going to do?" Seth asked earnestly.
Anna thought for a moment. "It sounds like she's scared."
"Of what?" Seth asked confused.
"Of rejection, of getting hurt." Anna answered.
"But I won't hurt her." Seth said passionately.
Anna picked up another comic book. "Sounds like you always have."
Ryan walked out of the school building and over to his bike. He bent down and entered his combination into the lock and clicked it off his bike. As he stood up, his hands on the bike's handlebars, he saw Luke pleading with Marissa. They were standing about thirty yards away from him at the bottom of a set of stairs. Luke had his hands clasped together and was clearly begging Marissa. She had one hand up by her hair and stood half-turned away from Luke. Ryan stood and watched the scene unfold before him.
Seth and Anna stood in the school cafeteria applying ketchup to their tuna melts. Seth glanced over to see Anna drawing a smiling face on her toasted sandwich. He was about to add his own artistic efforts to the face when a voice behind made him spin round. "Hi, Seth."
"Oh, hi Charity." Seth said uncomfortably looking the tall blonde up and down.
"So, we're, like, having this party this weekend. You wanna come?" Charity asked not even acknowledging Anna's presence.
Seth looked confused. "You want me to come?"
"Of course." Charity looked disapprovingly at Anna. "Okay. See you there." She smiled at Seth before walking away.
Seth smiled to himself then looked down at Anna who was gave him a severe look. "What?"
"You hate Newport parties. You told me yourself."
"Yeah, but…" Seth couldn't think of how to end the sentence.
"Summer will be there?" Anna asked.
"No. Well, yeah, but…" Seth mumbled. "This is, like, terra incognita for me. Girls don't ask me to parties, especially Newport high school girls. I panicked, okay? I was a deer in the highlights."
"Surgically enhanced highlights." Anna muttered to herself.
"Anyway, how better to introduce you to Newport society than a high school party with lots of alcohol?"
"You're taking me to the party?" Anna asked.
"Well, I assumed…" Seth paused. "We are friends after all." Seth said.
"No, yeah, of course. Friends." Anna said.
In the corridor Summer opened her locker and grabbed a book. She felt the presence of a person standing behind her open locker door. She slammed the door shut but disappointingly found Charity on the other side. "Hi, Summer."
"Charity." Summer said quickly and began to make her way down the corridor.
"I'm throwing a party this weekend. You should come." Charity said nonchalantly.
Summer stopped, turned round, and looked at her suspiciously. "You want me to come?"
"Of course." Charity said with a smile.
"But you haven't spoken to me since…" Summer didn't want to finish the sentence.
"Well, we all go through our geek phase, don't we?" Charity said with warmth.
"Yeah." Summer agreed betraying no emotion.
"So, you'll come?" Charity asked.
"Of course." Summer said defiantly.
Charity clasped her hands together. "Great."
Summer made her excuses and rushed off to class. Charity watched her go and when she was out of sight a small subtle sinister grin crept slowly onto Charity's face.
Ryan watched as Luke put his hand in Marissa's. He watched with envious eyes as they walked slowly to the car park and got in Luke's large black pick-up truck. He turned his back his gaze falling to the floor as thoughts raced through his mind. He did not see Marissa recognise his slumped figure in the side mirror of Luke's truck. By the time that Marissa had got Luke to stop the truck Ryan had vanished from sight.