Not Where it's At
Disclaimer – I own nothing to do with The O.C, they belong to Josh and the people at Fox!
A/N; This is chapter eleven, one I had actually planned to include originally. In this chapter we are back to normal family life, Kirsten is still on the wagon and it's easier not to refer back to what happened.
The boys are now seven and attending Harbour Elementary, the Cohen clan have moved into their own home after Kirsten recovered. This chapter focuses on the boy's life again; Ryan is having some problems with 'those preppy little savages'.
Enjoy and please review!
"Mom! Mom!" Seth's voice bellowed down the stairs, reaching his mothers ears as she bustled around the kitchen.
Leaving the bagel half buttered she made her way out to bottom of the stairs, "Seth if you want something come here and ask me don't yell."
Kirsten laughed as she heard her son sigh loudly and stomp out to the landing, "Yes mother dearest. Have you seen my gym shorts?"
Returning her son's sarcastic grin she answered, "No darling but perhaps you should try the pile of ironing still lying on your bed!"
As if a light bulb suddenly came on above his head Seth high-tailed it off back toward his room yelling, "See that's why I don't put it away, makes it easier to find."
Shaking her head Kirsten turned back to the kitchen, her husband now stood where she had been dripping sea water all over the counter. Tutting she grab her bagel away from him as he rooted around for the last sesame seed bagel he'd spied earlier.
"Your son ate it." Kirsten butted in, giving him a statement that didn't help at all.
"Huh?"
"Your – son – ate – it."
Realising what she meant he gave up his search and headed toward her, "Oh so what am I going to have for breakfast then?"
Wrapping his arms around her he ducked down and took a huge bite out of her bagel, spying cream cheese on his lips Kirsten kissed him deeply. Last year this type of intimacy between them would have been out of the question but all of them had worked so hard to repair family life.
Hearing a disgusted grunt from the doorway, Kirsten broke away in time to see Seth's hand fly up to shield his eyes. "Urgh do you guys have to do that in the kitchen, it's where I eat."
Smiling the pair broke apart, "Did you find your shorts sweetie?"
"Yip." That was all an answer Kirsten got as Seth filled himself out an excessively large bowl of cereal.
"Where's your brother?" Sandy asked handing him the milk from the fridge; again Seth gave a signal instead of the required response. He merely shrugged his shoulders and motioned in the general vicinity of the stairs.
As if on cue Ryan shuffled into the kitchen, ignoring his parents he slumped down onto his stool and made no move to start with breakfast. His hair was still ruffled as if he hadn't combed it at all and his clothes were thrown on slap dash not caring whether they matched or not.
"Hey sweetie, what's the matter?" Kirsten set down her breakfast and made he way purposefully over to her young son. Spinning him around in the seat, she placed a firm hand across his forehead her eyes taking on their usual worried spark when Ryan was ill.
"I don't feel well mom." Ryan pulled his best puppy dog eyes at his mother and leaned heavily on the counter top.
"You don't feel warm honey, is your tummy sore?" Kirsten withdrew her hand and took his wrist leading him away to the den. Gripping him tighter she forced him to sit down on the couch, "Is your chest sore sweetie, do you want your inhaler? Sandy, Sandy get his inhaler…"
As usual Kirsten began to flap over Ryan, which for once was exactly what he wanted. Sandy stepped in lifting Ryan's spare inhaler from the kitchen cupboard, he knew it wasn't needed but it made Kirsten feel secure.
"Kirsten calm down, Ryan lie down kiddo." Sandy shifted Kirsten off the couch as he took her space next to Ryan.
"Okay I think you should stay off school, I've got some paper work to do so I'll work from home." Ruffling Ryan's hair he left to phone his office knowing Kirsten would fuss over Ryan until she left to take Seth to school.
Later that afternoon Sandy emerged from his office to the sounds of Ryan laughing ringing down the halls. Popping his head into the den without him noticing Sandy watched as his supposedly ill son stuffed chips down his throat and laughed ecstatically at the cartoons.
"How you feeling now champ?" Sandy cleared his throat and moved into the centre of the room. Quickly Ryan pushed the chips away from him and snuggled back down under the covers, his eyes had the classic 'deer in the headlights' look.
"Uh umm okay…okay I guess." He tried his best to sound ill once again.
"Okay come on what's going on?" Sandy removed the hidden chips and sat next to his son.
Ryan lowered his gaze avoiding his father's eyes, "Nothing."
"Ryan don't lie to me."
"I'm not dad I didn't feel well this morning but I feel better now 'coz I slept and then…" Ryan took on Seth's favourite excuse of rambling incoherently until the parent forgot what the original question had been.
"Okay but no playing when Seth gets home, you'll do your homework and then get an early night." Sandy used the old trick on Ryan, half punishing half believing in case either scenario was the true one.
A week had passed since Ryan's dubious illness episode; Kirsten had hovered over Ryan the night and following day constantly checking to make sure he was alright.
Exactly a week later the morning routine was the same; Seth couldn't find his gym shorts, Sandy was drip drying in the kitchen looking for bagles and once again Ryan was shuffling around the kitchen.
This time Sandy took charge, he refused to pander to Ryan's antics sending him up stairs to get his backpack. Kissing Kirsten gently he followed his son up the stairs and watched him angrily grab his bag wiping furiously at his eyes.
It took a moment before Sandy realised that Ryan was crying, "Hey buddy what's wrong huh?"
Dropping down to his knees Sandy wrapped his arms firmly around Ryan as he struggled to hold back his tears. This was what Sandy had feared when Ryan started to act up at home in the mornings, children could be so cruel he just had to get to the bottom of what they had done to Ryan.
"Shhh its okay honey, whatever it is you can tell me." Sandy soothed trying to comfort Ryan.
"Nothing's wrong." The standard answer that Ryan choked out through the sobs.
With that he wiped his eyes one more time and lifted his bag fleeing from the room. Sandy was left there on the floor on his own wondering what he could do to get Ryan to talk to him. He couldn't do anything to help him if he didn't talk about it, maybe he could corner Seth and get him to confess.
Later that day the boys stood alongside their other classmates warmed by the sun listening to the teacher try to work out the rules of baseball. It was the same routine every Wednesday they were sent to get changed then filed out onto the playing field for the humiliating games.
"Okay team captains…um Luke and Sam I think it's your turn. Sam you can be blue bibs, take turns to choose ten players each guys."
Seth and Ryan stood beside one another knowing they wouldn't be picked anytime soon, all the popular kids would be the first to be chosen. They watched helplessly as the jock boys were picked off first followed by the good looking girls. Eventually leaving just Janice - an overweight stalker girl who had a crush on Luke and Ryan. Seth had been picked the turn before by Luke deciding he was the best of a bad lot even though Seth couldn't catch or throw a ball to save his life.
"Umm okay we pick Janice." Sam conferred with his team mates and decided much to Ryan's horror that she would fair better than him.
Almost immediately Ryan heard the sighs and groan of Luke's team, he could hear the murmurs from the girls as they complained about being stuck with him.
Luke shoved his way to the front and sneered at Ryan, "Alright pipsqueak here's the deal stay at the back and don't go near the ball."
The team spread out ready to start fielding; Ryan wandered aimlessly to the outskirts of the field knowing the ball would never come his way.
"Ryan, Ryan come here please." The teacher yelled above everyone drawing unwanted attention to Ryan, "Stay close to me please we don't want you to have an attack, you can stay at first base. Chip swap with Ryan please."
Again Ryan kept his head down and scuffed his feet as he listened to the other children groaning as he switched places. He hated his asthma it meant he was always picked last for teams and he had to stay near the teacher so that she could be ready with his inhaler.
Chip approached him with an angry expression on his face, as he passed Ryan he slammed his shoulder into him knocking him off course. Ryan muttered an apology and continued on his journey not wanting to make the situation worse.
As the game went on Ryan was getting more and more frustrated, Luke shadowed him everywhere trying to stop him catching the ball. The other team didn't help matters either continually hitting the ball his way so that they would get more runs.
Greg Mathers one of the biggest boys in his year stepped up to the plate with a menacing look on his face. Taking aim he swung as hard as his arms would allow, the ball sailed through the air heading straight for Ryan's hands.
Finally Ryan had his chance to prove his classmates wrong, to show them that he was worth something. He kept his eyes fixed on the ball cupping his hands in anticipation, but just at the moment when he knew he was catching the ball for sure he was swept to the side by Luke's heavy weight.
Both stumbled but stayed on their feet, Ryan watched with anger as the ball hit the ground allowing Greg to take off in a sprint toward the first base. He stood stock still waiting for Luke to pounce upon the ball and run off to stop him but to his shock Luke turned on him.
"What are you doing? I called for it and you got in the way now they're going to win and it's all your fault."
Ryan felt something inside him snap he'd had enough of Luke, "My fault! It was my fault? It was coming straight for me I nearly had it and you pushed me out the way."
Luke paused for a moment wondering what had happened that Ryan was actually answering back to him, losing his temper completely Luke lunged forward shoving Ryan hard. "I told you not to touch the ball."
Ryan felt his feet tangle as he headed for the ground, falling backward he held out his arms to soften the fall. The whole class had stopped to watch the argument some shouting encouragement as Mrs. Gray made her way over to the pair.
The jeers stopped however when a sickening crack was heard as Ryan made contact with the ground. Feeling his arm twist in no way it had ever before Ryan let out a shriek feeling pain bolt up his arm.
Luke stood motionless as the colour drained from his face, he realised what had happened looking at Ryan's now deformed wrist. He stepped back quickly as the children gathered round to watch Ryan's suffering, Seth pushed his way to the front wanting near his little brother.
"Ryan you okay? Ah look at your wrist man its all twisted and messed up." Seth looked up at his brother and quickly shut his mouth as he noticed the tears cascading from Ryan's eyes.
"Harry go inside now and tell Mrs. Curly what's happened, she needs to come here with a first aid box. Ryan it'll be okay just don't panic I don't need you to have an attack on top of this. Luke Ward you go inside this instant and sit outside Mr Williams's office."
Ryan closed his eyes tight and tried to concentrate on his breathing, he really wanted his dad right now. His parents were not going to take this well at all especially his mother.
The next morning a very solemn Sandy and Kirsten sat in the car dressed in their best business suits. They were headed to the school for a meeting with Mr. Williams, the head of harbour elementary; they had demanded a meeting to discuss Luke's actions.
The night before had been spent in the emergency room, long hours waiting for doctors to come and go. On initial examination they had been assured that Ryan's wrist was broken it was just a case of setting it and slapping a cast on.
It wasn't a big deal to a staff that saw this kind of thing daily but Sandy had been enraged. He had received a call at work that Ryan was being taken to hospital, of course he was worried but he expected it to be another episode. On arrival when he was told that Ryan's wrist had been broken in a fight he had completely lost his temper at the staff demanding to be told where he was and what was being done about his injury. Of course he wasn't angry at the staff or Ryan but at himself for letting something so major go unchallenged, he should have persisted with Ryan demanded to be told the truth.
Seeing Ryan hurt in a hospital bed again made Kirsten go to pieces, she lay in the bed with him stroking his hair and watching every flash on the monitor. Sandy had slipped into lawyer mode and interrogated both boys until the whole truth had been shared.
They had had a long talk the night before and decided that they needed to sort out the problem at the source. That was why they had taken the morning off work to meet with the head of the school, Kirsten knew from Sandy's mannerisms that he was ready for a fight.
They had kept both boys at home, deciding that evasive action would get the attention of the school. Hailey had gladly taken the day off school to watch the boys although she did have to suffer a long winded lecture from Kirsten about responsibility and trust.
Entering the office she felt like she was going into battle, but she knew with Sandy by her side they would come out on top.
"Sandy Kirsten lovely to see you again I just wish it was under better circumstances. Are the boys with you?" Mr. Williams launched straight into the pleasantries and ass kissing hoping to do some damage limitation.
"No we left them at home, we don't want them attending school until this situation has been rectified to our satisfaction." Kirsten had to hide a smile; nearly cracking up at Sandy's use of language he hadn't been quite so polite in private yesterday.
"Oh I don't think there's any need for that. It was an accident, just a school boy mishap."
"Mishap, he broke his arm." This immediately got Kirsten's blood up, how dare he try to play this down.
"I'm well aware of the damage done but there's no need to withdraw the boys from school. I met with the boys parents yesterday and I'm satisfied with his story."
"What story? He broke Ryan's wrist over a baseball game, not only that but as far as we can tell Luke's been bullying Ryan for sometime now."
"Oh now I don't think that's possible here at Harbour we have a very strict policy on bullying. Ryan has never reported anything to us about being harassed."
"He's a child, he was sacred it would make things worse, last week he pretended to be ill so that he could stay home. As far as Ryan knows the boys don't like him because of his asthma, maybe you should educate the children better about a condition over which Ryan has no control."
"What about punishment, how are you going to stop this happening again?" Sandy gripped Kirsten's hand tightly as she wiped away tears guilt consuming her again.
"Luke will have to attend detention and has been taken off the soccer team. As well as this he has written an apology to Ryan and his parents assure me that he'll be punished at home."
"What get $20 instead of his usual $30 this week?" Sandy mumbled under his breath frustrated at the attitude toward Ryan's treatment.
Ignoring the obvious comment Mr. Williams pushed on, "Maybe you should consider getting Ryan some help his teachers noted that he has some self esteem issues."
"What! Ryan is assaulted and he's the one being sent to counselling, he's so quiet because he was being bullied. Oh forget it obviously the Wards have already presented their check so nothing we say will make a difference." Sandy's voice rose, something he never did unless very upset, he rose from his seat and headed toward the door.
"Perhaps Mr. Cohen we could move Luke class? Would that be acceptable to you? He could be placed in the composite class which would mean he would be away from Ryan."
Kirsten had kept her cool and could see the obvious problems with this, "No that'll only make matters worse, Luke will be upset at being moved from his friends. I think what you've suggested should do fine but we'd appreciate it if you kept a closer eye on Ryan and Seth in the playground."
"Of course I'm sorry this had to happen but rest assured it will never happen again."
Leaving the room hand in hand Sandy threw back over his shoulder, "It better not."
Well there you go – poor little Ryan being picked on. I know it seems like everything happens to him but I thought that Seth would've stayed quiet in the argument – a little of Ryan's true nature coming out there lol.
Please review now!