Author's Note: Wow, I was shocked by the complete and utter lack of reviews for the last chapter. I didn't even get one. Oh well. Even if you think the story sucks, just let me know. Okay?
Thank you to Rachel who reviewed a week or so ago and encouraged me to start writing this again.
The ride to school was silent as Mark pulled up in front of the Harbor school. He had to leave the Cooper house for a meeting with his business partner David anyway, and Mark offered to give Elle a ride too.
"Thanks for the ride," she offered before getting out.
"No problem," he flashed her a smile. "Good luck."
Elle slammed the door shut and walked to Harbor and to the entrance of the library. Since all the other kids involved had sworn Elle didn't bring the pot, she had gotten off with only a Saturday Detention. Becky and Jake had both gotten suspended, however.
Elle walked into the library with a Chanel tote swung over her shoulder and a look of confidence plastered across her face. Inside, she felt anything but confidence. She nervously looked around the room for a seat. The proctor nodded at her and crossed her name off of the list.
Elle noticed a familiar head of curly brown hair bopping to the music coming out of her headphones and she set her bag down on the table beside him. His eyes closed in concentration, she reached over to tap them.
He winced at her touch but smiled as he met her face. He pulled the headphones off of his ears. "Hey Elle!"
She smiled back. "What's up, Cam? Why do you have a detention?"
Cameron rolled his eyes. "Can you believe they gave me a detention for skateboarding on campus? I mean, seriously, it is just as viable a form of transportation as bike riding and you know the school encourages bike riding—they even go so far as to have a specialized bike rack. They should know that by encouraging the riding of bikes, they encourage all modes of transportation such as cars and roller blades and yes, skateboards."
Elle giggled as she took the seat next to him. She hadn't realized until now how much she missed hearing him rant. "Seriously, Cam, they didn't just give you a Saturday for riding your skateboard."
"Well, noo. They gave me the Saturday for riding my skateboard into Ms. Kim's office."
Oh, this was great. "Why would you do that?"
Cam sighed. "We were protesting the fact that Harbor promotes so many physical activities but yet does not allow skateboarding on campus nor does it have a skateboarding ramp."
"We? Why are you the only one with the detention then?"
"I'm not." He gestured to a table near them where three people were sitting.
"Why aren't you sitting with them?" Elle knew the guys only as freaks, and she was surprised to hear that Cameron was cool with them.
"They're sort of mad at me."
"Why?"
Cameron squirmed in his seat. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh. Okay," Elle was surprised. She and Cameron used to talk about everything—why wouldn't he want to talk about this? You didn't even know they were his friends, she reminded herself. You haven't talked to him in ages, so why should he want to talk to you? Elle knew she had been a bad friend to Cameron lately, and she felt sad about it.
Ryan sighed as he flipped through the file of papers. The new mall he was working on was being met with much more opposition than he had imagined. After all, this was the Orange County. Who wouldn't want more stores to shop at?
When he'd first announced the project, Elle and Marissa had been thrilled. He'd even promised to try and get Hermès as a tenant. But that had been two years ago, and although things had rapidly changed within his family unit, the building of the mall was moving much slower.
His concentration was broken when a familiar face entered his office.
"Hey little bro. See you looking all business-man." Trey grinned.
"Hey Trey."
Trey reached over to shake Ryan's hand and sat down opposite him. "So what 's up? How are Marissa and Elle doing?"
Throughout the divorce, Trey had maintained that he thought Ryan and Marissa should never had filed. Trey was of the belief that Marissa was the most beautiful and perfect creature in the world and had even once tried to snag her for himself back when Marissa was a junior in high school.
"Elle is currently serving a detention since she and her friends were caught with some weed." He ignored the mention of his ex.
"Weed? No kidding." Trey shook his head. "But, come on, you were doing much worse shit at that age."
"Yeah, but it's different. Elle is…"
"Your daughter."
Ryan nodded.
Trey rolled his eyes. "Ry, just 'cause she's yo' baby girl doesn't mean she'll be good."
Awkward silence followed since Ryan knew that even though he was the one with an Ivy League degree and Trey had only a GED under his belt, his brother could be much smarter.
"So how's the whole single thing going for you? Got a girlfriend yet?"
"Nah, but Marissa does."
Trey cocked an eyebrow. "Marissa's gone gay again?"
Ryan stifled a laugh as he remembered her brief affair with Alex back when they were sixteen. "No, she has a boyfriend."
"Ahh," Trey leaned back in his chair and pushed his dirty construction boots up against the mahogany desk. "You don't sound happy 'bout that."
"Not like my opinion about it matters."
"'Course it does. You're the father of her child, her ex-husband…love of her life?"
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Trey was used to Ryan not talking so he gave him the time he knew he needed to ponder this.
"Well," Ryan quickly sprung to action, sitting up and picking up a file of documents. Trey was one of Newport Group's construction managers now, and he was there for work not just chitchat. "I need you to make sure that all the beams are congruent, like here, see?" He pointed out some things on the blueprint and the two brothers continued to work.
