A/n: Marissa got reviews, Marissa got reviews! Yay! Sorry, once again I apologize for being ecstatic about the fact that people actually read what I wrote.

KC-Chick: What you said about Jimmy not letting Julie kick Marissa out will be addressed in this chapter, don't worry. It may make a little more sense… or less. Hopefully more.

Kursk: Don't worry, no drama yet from the couples: I like their pairings too much to make them break up. Remember that…

Anyways, on with the story!

The Cooper-Nichol Mansion

Jimmy knocked on Marissa's bedroom door. He waited for the usual "Come in!" or "I'm busy!" or "I'm changing!" but no one answered. He frowned. He hadn't seen his daughter around the house for a while now. Where could she be? He turned the knob and the door swung open.

Julie sat by the pool on a lawn chair. As she sipped her martini, she leaned back and closed her eyes. This was the life.

"The life" was interrupted thirty seconds later by Jimmy shaking her by the shoulders and demanding she talk to him.

"God, what do you want? Can't a woman just tan and relax?" She sat up, irritated.

"Where the hell," Jimmy said through gritted teeth, "is our daughter's belongings?"

She sighed. She had known that this was coming; Jimmy wasn't that stupid enough to not realize Marissa had moved out. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"All that's left in her room is her bed and her vanity. No clothes, no sheets, no cosmetics, nothing. Where is it? Where is she?" Jimmy shook her again, as if the answer to his questions would spill out of her somehow.

"Well, obviously she's not here." Julie tried.

"I don't want to know where she isn't, I want to know where she is!"

"To be honest, dear, I have no idea." Julie said, convincing herself it wasn't really lying, she didn't know where Marissa was staying.

"Oh, don't give me that crap. Maybe you don't know where she is, but you know why she's not here!"

"I thought you wanted to know where she was. In fact, you specifically said, 'I want to know where she is.'" Julie lay back down.

"Tell me what you know." Jimmy said quietly.

Julie sat up again, "Fine, if you really want to know, she moved out."

"You're lying." They both knew it.

"God, what's with the third degree here? If you must have the truth, I kicked her out because she's sleeping with that Ryan kid. Happy?" Julie reached down for her purse lying on the ground and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, putting them on and lying back down once more.

"Happy? Happy? No, I am not happy. You kicked out daughter out of our home, with nowhere to stay, just because you didn't like her boyfriend! That's ridiculous! Julie, I know you're shallow but in all my life I never thought you'd stoop that low." Jimmy spat.

"It's not just that I don't like Ryan, it's just that…how do I put this…he's not right for Marissa. He's put her in danger more than once, and I don't like the idea of her becoming attached to him."

"So that's how you break them up? You kick her out? Julie, if anything that'll make the situation much worse. She'll probably move in with the guy, and if you don't like her sleeping with him now, just wait until they live together. You honestly don't have a clue." He leaned in close to Julie. "If you ask me, you're just sick of having to deal with her problems and want her out of your life."

"That could be it." Julie agreed. "Now, if you'll leave, I can finally get some sun. I'm so pale!"

"You're despicable." Jimmy whispered.

Julie waved a hand. "Whatever. Can you please go? You're blocking the sun."

Jimmy left without another word. What a woman! He couldn't see how he could have ever fallen in love with her. She hadn't changed a bit since Caleb's death. He couldn't stand to spend another minute in this house. He went upstairs and packed his bags. Hawaii was calling him.

Not before he'd have the final word, though. He pulled a picture of the family out of his wallet (in fact it was the same one Marissa had torn up). He went into Julie's room and ripped himself and Marissa out of the photo. He taped the lone picture of Julie Cooper on her wall, next a duplicate copy of that picture that she had tacked up.

One by one, Julie Cooper had lost her family, and sooner than anyone thought, she'd lose a lot more than that.

Summer and Seth sat on the floor of her room, listening to some of Seth's music.

"This sucks." Summer announced.

"It's good music! Just listen to it, for like, five minutes and you'll love it."

"What's this stupid group called, again?"

"Death Cab. Death Cab! I've told you a million times. Say it with me. Death Cab."

"Death Crap." Summer repeated.

Just then, the sound of Mariah Carey's voice filled the room as Summer's cell phone rang.

"Turn that shit down, my phone's ringing." she commanded.

Seth sighed and reluctantly paused the CD.

"Hello? Hey, Coop. Yeah, I'm with Seth right now. No, he didn't tell me anything, why? Alright, Alright, I'll be right over."

Seth could hear Marissa's anxious yell from the other side of the room: "No! Meet me at the Cohen's place."

"Ok… whatever. See you in a few." She snapped the phone shut. "Sorry, Cohen, but I've got to run over to your place to meet Marissa."

Seth yawned and stood up. "I guess I'll go too. Why did she ask you to go to my house?"

"I don't know. That is kind of weird, I guess. Whatever. Let's go."

They drove over to Seth's house, and met Marissa in the kitchen.

"What's up, Coop? What's the 911?" Summer asked.

"Mymmfooutthaizptwifryananzenshkikdmeotheouae." Marissa rushed through the sentence without taking a breath.

Summer blinked. "Huh?"

Marissa leaned over and whispered in her ear, "My mom found out that I slept with Ryan and she kicked me out of the house."

Summer's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"What?" Seth asked, upset at being left out of the conversation.

"Hang on, Cohen, this is important." Summer said. "Oh, my God, Coop! I can't believe your mom would do that!"

"Do what?"

"Cohen, go find a video game to play or a comic book to read. This'll be a while." Summer said distractedly.

"Fine. See if I care." Seth huffed, and went off to his room.

"How'd she find out about you and Ryan?" Summer asked.

Marissa stared at her feet. "I told her."

"You told her! Are you crazy, Coop?"

"She wanted to know what had been going on lately, so I told her."

Summer shook her head. "So where are you staying?"

Marissa gestured around her. "Here."

"In the Cohen's kitchen?" Summer looked concerned.

"No, Sum, in their guest room." Marissa laughed; it was weird. After the events of the past couple days, no one had really been able to find much to laugh about.

"Well, Coop, you know you can always count on me if you get sick of Seth and Ryan and Sandy, there's a place for you at the Robert's house." Summer stopped herself just in time: she had almost said Kirsten's name after Sandy.

Everything always seemed OK until someone accidentally reminded them of the tragedies that had happened. Why does it have to be like this? Marissa wondered. Why can't everything be okay, just for once?

Maybe someday it would be, but not for a while.

"Well," Summer said, as though she could read Marissa's mind, "It'll be OK for now. At least you have Ryan. I can't believe you guys actually did it!"

Marissa nodded. "I know."

And all of a sudden, she remembered what had been lurking in the back of her mind since last night.

"Oh, my God." Marissa said.

"What?"

"I just remembered. This might sound kind of gross, but I just realized what's been bugging me all day. Last night, we didn't use protection."

Summer gasped. "Are you serious? Coop, that is really bad in way too many ways to count."

"I know, I think I've heard that before. Before, as in seventh grade health class."

The girls both recalled their middle-school health teacher, a nervous young man who was having trouble teaching the curriculum.

"Class, today out topic is safe, er, um, sex," Mr. Dobson, their new health teacher said, a bead of nervous sweat trickling down his brow. "Now, when you are in college or maybe even high school, you're going to want to go out there, and, um, uh, do things with each other. Always, always, always use a condom. No matter what."

"Why didn't you listen to him?" Summer asked.

"I don't know! We were caught up in the moment, and neither of us thought of it."

"Coop, what if you got HIV or AIDS or something? What if you're pregnant?"

Marissa nervously laughed. "Sum, I doubt that happened."

"It could have, though. You should check. There's no harm in taking a test." Summer persisted.

"Fine, if it'll make you happy, we can go down to Walgreen's and get a test."

"Good."

They drove down to the local Walgreen's, and followed the signs to "Pregnancy," where they found wall after wall of condoms, birth control pills, and pregnancy tests.

Marissa looked for the cheapest one, which happened to the new and improved Walgreen's brand kind, with digital "Positive" or "Negative" readout.

The girls headed to the only cashier open, a pimple-faced fifteen-year-old.

"So," he said as he rang them up, "which one of you ladies is the single one?"

"How would you know if one of us was going out or not?" Summer asked, confused.

He pointed to the test that he had just bagged.

"Oh."

"Your total is $9.57, but if you'll go out with me, it's on the house." He informed them.

"Ew." Summer said, handing him a ten. "Keep the change."

Marissa took the bag and headed back to the car.

Ten minutes later, Marissa emerged from one of the Cohen's upstairs bathrooms. "It says here that it takes three minutes to register. So we've got to wait three minutes."

"You should get Ryan." Summer said suddenly.

"What?" Marissa asked.

"If you are, then he should know."

"If you insist," Marissa sighed.

Summer dashed into the family room, where Ryan had joined Seth in a video game competition. "Ryan," she announced, "Marissa needs you."

"For what?" Ryan asked, putting down his controller.

"You'll see." She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up the stairs, explaining along the way that Marissa, just to be safe, was taking a pregnancy test and she wanted Ryan there with her to check the results.

He entered the upstairs hallway and stood next to Marissa, who was holding the test face down.

"Did you look yet?" he asked.

"Nope. We've got to wait about three more seconds. Annnnnd... now."

She flipped the test.

There, on the screen, was the ugliest eight-letter word that Marissa had ever read.

Summer had her eyes shut. "Well, what does it say?" she asked Ryan.

He looked around the room, desperate for an escape. But Summer was unintentionally blocking the door, and out the window was not an option.

Marissa's eyes filled with tears as he read the result to Summer: "Positive."

A/N: Hehehe… I have 1/2 a mind to not update for a week just to drive you guys nuts on thi one, but I won't. What did you think? Did you like it? I know after the Jimmy/Julie scene the writing kind of sucked, but it's extremely hard to write that part. Sorry bout that. Please review and tell me whether you like my chapter! Thanks!