Newport's Romeo and Juliet
Chapter 3: Against all Odds
"Hey Ryan! Leave me alone!" a drunk Seth slurred. Ryan shook his head, his brother and alcohol were never a good mix. Try as he might, Seth's limit was nonexistent. "Come on Seth," Ryan coaxed, "at home there's the new Legion." Seth's eyes lit up and immediately ran after Ryan. "Bye Summer!" he cried. Summer waved back, looking at Ryan with sympathy. "I got her phone number!" Seth yelled as he piled in the car, "I really like her!" Ryan nodded absentmindedly as he rummaged around the back of the car. He finally found what he was looking for, money. He needed to get Seth coffee, to at least make his twin appear somewhat sober. Two coffees and four "When she comes around the mountain" later, Seth was sound asleep in the passenger seat. Ryan took this opportunity to call Marissa. "Hello?" she answered. "Hey," Ryan said, "sorry I left so suddenly. It's just my dad, he sounded angry." "Don't worry," Marissa replied, "my dad called not five minutes after that and yelled at me to come home." "That's really weird." Ryan mumbled. "Yeah." "But," he began, "we're still cool right?" "Of course." Ryan smiled. "Ok good. I gotta go, I'm at my driveway. I'll call you later. Love you." "Love you too." Now came the tricky part, waking up Seth. Because, not only was Seth an angry drunk, but he was loud one too. "Ryan!" Seth screamed, "good morning. No, evening. Afternoon?" Ryan laughed silently. "Time to get to bed." Seth nodded and stumbled out of the car. Ryan opened the door and saw that his parents were watching TV, maybe they wouldn't notice Seth. With a finger to his lips, he quietly led his brother upstairs. "Nice try Ryan." Sandy's voice proclaimed, as it floated up the stairs. "Daddy! Mommy!" It gets worse and worse, Ryan thought. "I'll deal with you later." Sandy said firmly. "Bed." Seth nodded and ran blindly up the stairs.
"Ryan," Kirsten said, as the family entered the kitchen, "did you call a girl named Marissa today? Marissa Cooper?" Ryan slowly nodded. He was shocked to see that his mother turned pale white and fell to the floor. "Don't worry," Sandy assured, "she'll be fine." Ryan only gaped. He didn't want to cause his own mother's death. "The Coopers are a bad memory to your mother, son." Sandy stated getting straight to the point, "that girl's father promised your mother that they would marry. Then he left her for Marissa's mother Julie, who he got pregnant. It broke your mother's heart. She almost committed suicide." Ryan gasped. "But Marissa's not like that. She's a really great person." "I forbid you to see her." "You can't," Ryan whispered, "I love her." Sandy looked like he would kill something. "You can't!" he bellowed, making Ryan jump a foot in the air. "Her father almost caused your mother's death!" "But that was her father." Ryan reasoned, "Not her." Sandy shook his head, "It makes no difference." Ryan nodded, turned around and walked upstairs. As he fell onto his bed, he thought,"There's no way I'll stop seeing her."
At Marissa's a similar scene was unfolding. "Your father was almost sent to jail because of that woman's crazy actions!" Julie Cooper yelled at her daughter. Marissa was sobbing, "I love him." she whispered. "What?" her father, Jimmy, screamed. "You heard me!" Marissa yelled as she stood up, "I love him! I don't care what happened in the past! You don't understand!" And with that she ran up to her room, locked the door and fell on her bed. She awoke what seemed hours later to her cellphone ringing. "Hello?" she answered, her voice still shaky. "Hey," Ryan breathed, "I just found out." "Me too. But I don't care what they say. I'm going to be with you whether they approve or not." Ryan smiled. "Ok, good. Because I don't care about my parents either." A silence stood between them for a while. "How do you think they found out we were talking to each other?" Marissa asked. Ryan thought for a second. "Caller ID," he said finally, "my and your parents must have seen the name and phone number of the last call. That makes sense, thought Marissa. "You know what I just realized!" Marissa suddenly said happily. "What?" "They can't forbid us seeing each other when school starts. And that's only 3 weeks away." "I still want to see you though." Ryan said sadly. "And you will. We'll have to sneak around, but we'll manage." Marissa decided. "I think I hear my parents coming!" she frantically whispered, "I'll call you tomorrow. Love you. Bye." As Ryan hung up the phone, he could hear Sandy lecturing Seth about his drinking style. Or lack thereof. Now was the time to take action. Against all odds.