House of Straw: Chapter Six

Disclaimer:
It's not mine.
Kate Ward leaned closer to her friend, whispering, "I heard Mark's the reason Marissa left Ryan."

"Oh, I heard that too," replied Jenna Dotten. "But I thought it was also because he's secretly in love with Seth Cohen!"

Kate giggled, "Who wouldn't be? He has that trust fund and his paycheck definately reflects that he gives the best boob job in Orange County!"

"You know he did Summer's though, and hers are a little too round."

"Mmm-hmm," Kate replied, although she would have killed for Summer's body.

A very annoyed Summer Cohen could hear them from her position by the band. "Oh, no," she whispered to her son, "these are a hundred precent natural. Jealous bitch."

"Ew, Mom," replied Cam. "Too much information."

"Sorry sweetie. Where's Elle?"

"I dunno. Probably at the dance with Jake."

If Summer noticed the sudden agitation, she didn't let on. "I don't think so. Marissa's been working on this benefit for months, she wouldn't let Elle just skip it."

Cam shrugged, and Summer took a sip of her wine, wondering where the hell Seth was. She wondered if the rhinoplasty ran late? But no, it had been scheduled for four, hadn't it? Oh whatever.

Across the room, Marissa and Elle were arguing in hushed tones.

"But Mom! I promised Jake I'd meet him there at seven! It's six fifty, and there's no way I can be there in ten minutes unless you get in the car and drive me now!"

"Well, you're just going to be late then."

Marissa's tone was very matter of fact, but Elle was reeling. "Nooo," she whined. "It's the Spring Fling! Everyone's going to be there. I can't be late!"

"I've been working on this benefit for six months with Mark! Can't you let me enjoy myself for twenty minutes?"

Elle rolled her eyes. "You already do that with him when I'm at Dad's," she mumbled. Her Mother pretended she didn't hear her.

Ryan entered the banquet hall, unsure of why he had showed up. Yes, he had donated $150,000 to Anorexia Awareness, but that had been before the divorce. It was Marissa's decision to write the check, anyway. He would have much rather given the money to abused children or a rehab center then rich girls striving for the perfect body.

He didn't see Elle, but he did see Summer, angrily marching up to him.

"Have you seen Seth?" She demanded.

"Uh, no?" Ryan replied, "I just got here."

"Hmph." Ryan expected Summer to leave his side as aburbtly as she had walked to it, but she didn't.

Cam walked towards them, and Ryan thought he looked a lot like Seth might have at that age. His curly brown hair was uncombed, and his bow tie untied. He obviously was uncomfortable in his tuxedo. "Hi Cameron."

"Hey Mr. Atwood."

"Where's Elle?"

Cam shrugged, and Ryan noticed the tension. "I wouldn't know. I haven't talked to her in like a month."

Ryan paused. "I thought you did the whole surfing thing on Saturdays."

"Nah. Elle stopped showing up." Ryan tried to hide the confusion on his face. Where else would Elle be early on Saturday mornings? She always said she needed to go to bed early on Fridays, and he didn't question it. He wondered why he didn't make sure she was in her bed, since he was doubting she actually was. After all, he had been fourteen once, too.

"She's probably at the dance with Jake," Cam added. Ryan knew that name was familiar; Elle had mentioned him before.

"Her boyfriend?"

Cam nodded in response.

Summer looked on, amused by the exchange.

Elle scowled at Marissa. "He's my boyfriend! I can't stand him up! What if he hooks up with Gigi or something?"

"Then he's not worth it."

Elle hated how her mother was always right. She crossed her arms across her chest. "I don't want him to get mad at me." She paused. "Don't even try to give me some lame advice about that. You are, like, the expert at getting Daddy pissed off."

Marissa tapped a high heeled foot on the ground. She was ready to slap Elle. Marissa worked so hard on this benefit and Elle just wanted to ditch it?! Didn't she appreciate anything? Marissa swallowed hard. She tried to remind herself to relax. After all, the last thing she wanted to do was make a scene and give all the other Newpsies something to gossip about. This evening just had to be perfect. She had to show eveyone that Marissa Cooper was just fine on her own.

Elle continued to glare at her mother as Mark casually walked up to them. He grinned, oblivious to the situation at hand. Mark wrapped an arm across Marissa's toned waist and handed her a glass of her favorite drink, vodka on the rocks.

"Hey ladies. You both look beautiful tonight. Why are you lurking in the corner when you could be enjoying yourselves?"

Marissa plastered a saccharine smile across her face. "There's a dance at Elle's school tonight, and we were trying to figure out how to get her there."

"Oh," Mark replied. He fished the keys to his BMW z3 out of his coat pocket and dangled them in the air. "You want me to drive her?" It sounded more like a statement than a question."

Marissa sighed with relief as another smile filled her face. It was a real one this time. She reached up and lightly kissed his cheek. "Oh, that would be perfect, honey. But make sure you're back here in time for the silent auction, okay?" She got back up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "I bid on that romantic weekend in Lake Tahoe."

Mark grinned at Marissa, winking playfully. He turned towards Elle and nodded his head toward the door. She followed him out.

Seth arrived to the benefit, hastily tying his tie as he ran up the stairs. The rhinoplasty had ran an hour later than he expected. He hoped Brooke would be happy with the results. Then the receptionist had tried to hit on him again, Seth cringed at the reminder. No thanks to the hotshot in the BMW, he'd almost wrecked Summer's Lexus GX470. She so would not be happy with him if it had ended up totaled.

Elle adjusted her black silk dress as she stepped out of Mark's car. She liked the guy; he was nice and he seemed to make her mom happy enough. Right now, she mostly liked the face that he had driven her to the dance. After thanking him and exchanging goodbyes, his car sped back to the benefit. Elle slowly walked into the gym of Harbor, making sure not to trip on her high heels. She smiled at everyone as she looked around the room, looking for her boyfriend, Jake and her posse of friends. They were huddled in a group towards the back of the room. Elle slowly approached them, wondering what was going on. "Hey guys!"

They all turned toward her and smiled, greeting Elle appropriately. She saw Becky holding a small plastic baggie and gestured to its contents. "What is that?"

Becky frowned as she scrunched the baggie into her fist. She leaned closer to Elle, "If you don't know, than you're more naive then I thought." She pressed the baggie into Elle's palm and Elle studied it for a second.

"Oh my god!" She shrieked. Drawing her voice to a whisper, she added, "Is this pot?"

No one noticed Mrs. Brown approaching.

Elle quickly tossed the baggie to Jake. She didn't want to smoke a joint of marijuana! She had listened in Health class and she knew that every inhale destroyed brain cells. She wondered who had been dumb enough to bring it to school. She might have smoked a joint at Becky's beach house but definately not at Harbor.

Jake fumbled with the bag. He gingerly placed in the pocket of his cargo khaki pants and struggled with the button.

"Can I see that please, Mr. Schnekkan?" The group turned around and saw the elderly social studies teacher.

Shit.