Chapter Seven

Ryan tried to breath, but he felt like something was clutching him from inside, and squeezing whatever it could grab a hold of. He tried to get up, but his legs gave out and he fell back down. What was this feeling he felt towards this girl? He couldn't put his finger on it, but it felt like more then a friendship- It felt like more then he ever had with Teresa. But he was deeply frightened that he messed it up with the most perfect girl. He misled her, in the cruellest way. Perhaps, she now thought of Ryan as an insensitive pig, without any feelings?

Everything will be okay, Ryan tried to calm himself. However, Ryan's stomach said otherwise. He pressured himself to get up off from his behind, because he was going to be late for his first day of school. He exited the pool house in an orderly manner, but he ran like a psycho to the actual house, as he was petrified of giving people the wrong impression.

"Seth?" Ryan called out.

"Wefyah?" Seth responded, with a huge stack of scrambled eggs stuffed into his mouth. What he meant to say was, Yeah? But apparently it didn't come out as intended.

"We gotta go, do we not?" Ryan insisted, as Seth gulped down the chunk of scrambled eggs.

"You're right! Look at the time!" Seth jumped up like a little girl excited to play Barbies. He grabbed his keys and ran over to Kirsten to give her a big good-bye smooch. "Bye mom!" Seth ran through the door, and Ryan ran quickly after him. Seth got into the car, and exhaled. He waited until Ryan frantically got in the car.

"Why aren't you going?" Ryan asked quickly, as he fastened his seatbelt in lightning speed.

"Reality Check- school doesn't start until 9 o'clock. It is now 8:15. We have nothing to speed for!" Seth remarked. He was quite pleased with himself, and then with the leisurely speed of a crippled turtle walking through peanut butter, he turned on the engine with a wide grin on his face.

(A few minutes later, once the two got on the highway)

"We have nothing to speed for." Ryan mocked Seth angrily, as he glared at the huge roadblock. It's as if people had car accidents on purpose today, just to make Ryan and Seth late.

"How the hell was I supposed to know people would crash into trees, fall into ditches, and slam into each other? For heaven's sake, give me some credit! It's not like I summoned the death god to sabotage their cars." Seth said on his defense- Ryan could tell that Seth was too, just a wee bit annoyed.

"I don't care what you did. Get out of it. And fast." Ryan begged, but Seth merely stood, moving about an inch a minute- and even then it was a huge advance.

"So Ryan, how are things going with Marissa?" Seth asked unknowingly touching a sensitive spot.

"Is 'no comment' sufficient?" Ryan said in an uninterested voice.

"More then enough." Seth nodded, staring constantly on the car next to him, and wondering if the driver would stop gaping at the nearby accident, and start watching the road before he caused another accident- this time fists, and Seth Cohen involved. For traffic, neither Seth nor Ryan had patience. So they sat grumpily, listening to the only radio station that wasn't infested with static.

"Oh La dee da,

What a beautiful day!

The sun is shining swelly

I must say,"

Ryan and Seth looked at eachother, "Swelly isn't even a word." Seth beat Ryan to it, and yet they continued to listen to the absurd country artist.

"The world is turning

In a pretty fine direction

My boyfriend has a

Really nice complexion.

But that doesn't matter

'Cause nobody cares

You're alone in the world

With all your lonely scares

With no love at first sight

Cause we know it don't exist

The world is upbeat

If you listen to it's pace

So you gotta hurry up

Bcause life awaits, hun

This day might be your last

So live it like the sun."

Ryan couldn't stand hearing this half depressing, half reassuring tune. "Ah, what'd you do that for? I was kind of looking forward to hearing the 'Oh La dee da, What a beautiful day! The sun is shining swelly, I must say' line. Weren't you?" Seth asked, but Ryan only returned him a nice glare telling him exactly what he meant to say- shut up you idiot.

"Seth, do you have girlfriend?" Ryan asked upfront.

Seth blushed a little, but proudly replied, "Nope." Ryan couldn't be more surprised, in the most sarcastic way.

"Maybe it's because you listen to such sizzling music- it has an impact." Ryan said quickly.

Seth moved about a metre, or possibly two, "Woo hoo!" He cheered with genuine happiness encircling him. He was truly happy that he could get that much closer to where he wanted to be.

They arrived at school at approximately 9:27 a.m. Seth hadn't yet seen Ryan so peeved, but he decided to ignore it. He did do his best to get them to school on time- it wasn't his fault. It definitely wasn't his fault. When Ryan walked into his English class, Marissa shot him a worried look- it meant something like, 'Why are you late on your first day? I was supposed to show you around!'. Ryan shrugged in reply.

"Mr. Atwood, very swell to meet you. Mr. Cohen. Nice of you two to finally join us!" Mr. Gomahon welcomed them sarcastically. "Can you just tell us what we did in class? I don't think so. Because you weren't here." Mr. Gomahon said in a sing-song taunting voice. His high, quivery, off-tune voice etched into their brains. Nobody liked to be late on Mr. Gomahon's class- the torture was inexplicable.

"Sorry, sir. Really bad traffic. Thank God you weren't out there!" Seth said in a kissing up tone so Mr. Gomahon would leave them alone. Seth sat down in an empty seat in the middle row, and ushered Ryan right beside him.

"Before we were so rudely interrupted, we were talking about," Mr. Gomahon's discussions went on for a light-year, it was just something Ryan the new comer had to get used to. Ryan's chin was cupped in his hand, so he could support the weight of his head. Ryan felt a wincing sensation in his mouth- he desperately needed to yawn, and yet he didn't dare. Already, he realised Mr. Gomahon had the eyes of a hawk and the temper of a six-year old. If he weren't a teacher he'd throw a temper tantrum in about four seconds.

"Ryan, before we continue, why don't you, introduce yourself?" Mr. Gomahon spoke, as if he had discovered America- as if his idea was so amazing that he couldn't get a grip.

"Umm, no," Ryan tried to get out of it, but when he saw the deadly glare of his teacher, he couldn't resist. He got up awkwardly from his seat, as instructed gesticulatedly by his teacher. "I'm Ryan Atwood. I don't like water polo. I like video games, and I'm living with the Cohen's. Thank you." Ryan sat down, and returned the deadly glare at his teacher who presumably, was extremely satisfied.

"Moving on." Mr. Gomahon said, smiling especially at Ryan.

Class soon ended- and Seth and Ryan left side by side, as Seth was Ryan's new tour guide.

"Did you see how the guy was staring at you?" Seth asked giddy with surprise.

"It was uncomfortable, let's just say." Ryan answered.

"Well I'll bet. Rumour has it he has a thing for guys…" Seth's giddy pride now turned into a pitiful, disgusted look. "I think he digs you, Ryan." Seth joked. He didn't know Mr. Gomahon was out for a break, walking right behind him.

"You know, Mr. Cohen, rumours aren't always true." Seth turned around and saw his English teacher, with an angry, distorted look on his face. In seconds, Mr. Gomahon was speed walking ahead of them.