It had been three months since Marissa had gone to see the district attorney, and nothing had happened about the shooting. No one had heard anything about the fate of Marissa Cooper over the summer, and now school was about to start.
Marissa was apprehensive about starting her senior year at The Harbor School. She knew that people would frown upon her for what she had done, and worse - she would be even more outcast than she already was. Not only had her dad defrauded everyone, but she had overdosed on painkillers, and now she had killed someone. The only way that she felt that she could escape from her pain was to drown her sorrows in alcohol just about every day.
Usually, this went unnoticed. Her mother was always out shopping or at the Newport Group. Jimmy went back to Hawaii recently to pack up his things and get his business affairs in order, so that he could move back to Newport. Kaitlin had gone with her father to Hawaii because she had not been before, and to spend some quality time with her father - alone. Since she had gone away to boarding school, she had not seen her father for quite sometime, and now they had the chance to bond again. This meant that Marissa was left home alone, most of the time. Sandy would try and drop in on her some mornings before he went to the office, but she was usually asleep at that early hour. Sometimes she would make plans with Summer, but most of the time, these days, she would spend her days wallowing in self-pity - drinking whatever she could find.
Summer tried to be a friend to Marissa, but she found it hard to be a good friend to her. Whenever Summer saw her now, it bothered her to see Marissa like this. Each time Summer saw Marissa, she saw Marissa becoming more and more like her step-mother. She felt as if there was nothing that she could do to help her best friend. Marissa's behavior drove Summer closer and closer to Seth over time. At the beginning of the summer, Summer and Seth were just kids who had puppy love for one another, and now they were two adults who were passionate lovers. Everyday they yearned to be with one another. Together, they were one complete person, but apart - they were only pieces of a whole.
Surprisingly, Ryan had dealt with the situation rather well. While he had been initially saddened by the loss of his brother, he came to terms with it quickly. Ryan knew that if Marissa had not shot and killed Trey, Ryan would not be there. He just wished that Marissa would realize that. He wished that Marissa would look at the positive side of the situation, and not the negative side. Most of the time, he would hang out with Seth, leisurely hanging out in the pool, playing Play Station, seeing a movie, or playing some shuffleboard in an old age home; but once in a while, when Seth was doing something that only he and Summer could engage in... Ryan would take Kirsten's car and drive down to Chino. He never stopped at Theresa's house, but he would drive by a couple of times, and think about how different his life would have been if the Cohens' had not taken him in, or if Theresa had not lost the baby.
Over the summer, Sandy had buried himself in work to give him something to do. With Kirsten gone, he felt as if he had lost his companion and closest friend. He did not know what to do with himself sometimes. Sandy still tried to go out surfing every morning, and he and the boys would have dinner together every night; however when he climbed into bed was when he felt the most alone. Not having Kirsten at night was the hardest. Since the two of them had demanding schedules, that was the time when they would see each other, and now there was no one to see. No one to come home for.