It was Saturday night and Georgia was at a sleepover with her friends. All her friends seem to be enjoying themselves but she seems distracted. The Cohens left on Thursday and since, she has had this guilty conscience and she can't help but feel too egotistical. The 6 close friends sit in a circle; Bryony, Steph, Charlotte, Rachael, Georgia then Mark.

Everyone but Georgia is laughing. "Ok Bry, what's your biggest fear?" Steph asked.

"Being buried alive and…ants" They all laughed at Bryony's sweet answer. She was the baby of the group.

"They're tiny!" Rachael sniggered.

"But they can eat you!"

"That's disgusting." Charlotte said in a mellow voice.

"That's repulsive." Rachael said, also in a mellow voice. They laughed.

"Hey Bry look." Steph pointed her finger at the floor. "There's ant."

"Where!" Bryony jerked.

"Up your neck." Steph laughed, tingling her fingers up her back. Another thing about Bryony, she was very gullible. You could tell her they took gullible out of the dictionary and she'd believe you.

"Ok Mark, what's yours?" Steph asked after she stopped laughing.

"Vaginas" Mark joked. The girls all laughed hysterically except Georgia who didn't seem to be taking in what they were saying.

"Ok I have a question" Charlotte started. "two tents on fire; your family's in one, your friends in the other who d'you save?"

"Oh deep." Rachael commented.

"Let's just not go there with me." Steph laughed, they all giggled.

"Well I'd say friends; Family love is so messy, dingy and of an annoying and repetitive pattern. Kind of like bad wallpaper."

"I disagree. Your family are your family. You may not get to pick them and they, 99 of the time are pains in the asses but without them, you wouldn't be alive and you wouldn't have any friends."

"Amoebas are my friends." Mark grinned.

"You family will always love you." Rachael continued. "No one is ever born into their lives alone. Everyone has shared the bond of family, at least at birth, and for many people it is a bond that will follow them throughout life. For many people it is the most important bond of all." Georgia sighed.

Charlotte frowned. "Are you a Brady kid or something?" The all giggled.

Georgia stood up with immediacy, thinking about what Rachael said. "I gotta make a call."

-----

In Newport it was 830 pm and the city was alive. It was Ryan's 18th birthday party and it was pretty hectic at the Cohen house. Kirsten and Sandy weren't going to be the parents that stopped everyone from making a mess- they'd just clean up after them. They were there to keep this thing from becoming a rager. The music was mind-blowingly loud and Kirsten had to snake her way through people to get into the kitchen, the most unoccupied room of the house; apart from her and Sandy's bedroom. Or so she hoped.

The phone rang and the music and teen shouting made Kirsten unable to hear it. Summer picked up.

"Hello?" She shouted.

"I-is Kirsten there?" Georgia asked.

"Who?" Summer shouted, putting her finger in her other ear.

"Kirsten."

"Who? Kirsten?" It wasn't just the loud music; Summer couldn't understand the caller's accent.

"Who?" That was mutual.

"Kirsten?"

Georgia sighed. Finally they understood each other. "Yes!" She yelled. Summer looked over heads for Kristen. She saw her fixing things up in the kitchen. "Kirsten!" She yelled. She walked over to her. "Phone for you!" She had to keep yelling.

Kirsten took the phone and tried to bock out the sound of banging in the house. "Hello! Hang on!" She walked outside onto the driveway where it was actually quieter. "Hello?" She asked again. Her throat relieved not having to shout.

"Kirsten?" Georgia asked. Kirsten recognised her voice. "Georgia?" She was surprised to hear from her again but relieved at the same time.

"I know what I want for my birthday."

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In Newport it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day- no change there. Sandy had just got back from a great surf and was now sitting in the kitchen buried in the newspaper drinking his coffee- again, no change there. But what was about to change was the amount of Cohens at breakfast the next morning.

Kirsten came in and poured herself a cup of coffee. She was only going into to work for an hour or so therefore was dressed casually in jeans. "I'm picking up Georgia from the airport today so you'll have to take the boys to get their tuxes for tonight."

"Uh-huh" Sandy said, too caught up in an article about Bernie Williams quitting the NY Yankees.

Kirsten walked over to Sandy. "The Coopers have invited us round for dinner next weekend."

Sandy still was not paying attention. "Sounds great hunny."

Kirsten smiled and stood beside him at the table, putting her coffee down. "And I'm going to run away with the milkman."

Sandy all of a sudden looked up. "Huh? What was that?"

Kirsten smiled and stood behind him, gently stroking her hands over his shoulders and whispering in his ear; "It's a miracle; He actually can hear." She kissed his cheek and sat at the end off the table with her coffee as the boys came in from the poolhouse.

"Summer is killing me." Seth whined, mid conversation with Ryan. I'm telling you I cannot outdo this girl no matter what I try. She's like a ninja but worse."

"Ah nothing's worse than a ninja." Sandy swallowed his coffee. "They are masters of every style of combat."

Ryan had had the same Summer talk all morning. "Can we please talk about something else other than Summer?" He asked fed up.

"I think you should give Summer a break. It's really hard being a girl in the OC, you know. You can hide behind walls and still everyone will notice you."

"Not entirely like a ninja then." Sandy smirked.

----

"Everyone will notice you. You can't hide like a ninja. You'll stand out" A worried Helen said to Georgia in the 'Duty Free' shop in Edinburgh Airport.

"How?" Georgia said picking up her gum and giving Helen the change. "I'm not going to be carrying around bagpipes, wearing a kilt or screaming 'Flower of Scotland' as I walk down Beverly Hills."

As they stopped in the boarding lounge, Helen sighed. It wasn't all that she was worried about her daughter; she was trying to figure out any kind of excuse that would make her not want to leave. "I just don't want you to feel like an outsider. Are you sure you still want to go?"

Georgia smiled. "Mum, this is something I've got to do and I-want-to do this." She could tell her mother was thinking I don't want to lose you.

Georgia smiled simply. "You wont" She held up her pack of gum. "Chuggie?" Helen smiled. Just then a final announcement came for the flight to LA.

Helen sighed and tried to smile, teary. "That's you." They hug, tightly. "I'll be fine" Georgia reassured her. She pulled her out of the hug. "I'm not going to screw this up."

---

"Oh I've screwed things up so bad Ryan." Seth groaned. At school Ryan was yet again hearing about Summer yet again. He'd got past the point of pretending to listen.

"Well lesson learned; don't push first timer on a skateboard down your driveway."

"Believe me I learned my lesson." They walk into the cafeteria in the school. "But it's the stupid thing Newport Living party thing stupid tonight and we have to go."

"She's in a cast?"

"O yes. God yes. And she is going to kill me." Seth said burying his face in hands. All of a sudden Summer came into the cafeteria and came up to Ryan and Seth, happily and chirpy. "Morning Cohen!" She grinned and kissed his cheek before going to get herself coffee.

Seth and Ryan watched after her. Seth frowned totally puzzled. "I'm going to rule out homicide" Ryan said.

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If no one got what the gift was it was to come and stay with the Cohens. Next chapter will be Georgia arriving and meeting the boys. I maaaay be able to do this chapter AND the next; depends how my packing is going etc which I havnt started yet which mum is going ragy about.

Anyway thanx for reviews the more I get, the quicker I'll update before I leave on Saturday xoxo