Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing this. Reading your comments really makes my day. Sorry this took so long. This story hasn't been flowing very well lately, but with the new promos have provided some inspiration. Not that this is at all based on any of that, because it isn't. Okay, enough of my rambling. I don't own any of the characters, and some of the lines are straight from the show. Enjoy!

As Trey attempted to tie his tie, he clung to the hope that Ryan wasn't the kind of guy who'd go to prom. The Ryan he knew had always hated dancing, so why go to prom if you weren't going to dance? But for all he knew, Ryan had been taking ballroom dance lessons since moving to Newport. Marissa seemed like the kind of girl who would really like that, and she had Ryan wrapped around her finger. Trey shook his head in disbelief. He never thought he'd see his baby brother whipped. He'd gotten a little softer and mushy when he'd been with Theresa, but nothing like this.

He heard the door open, but didn't bother to turn around. "I still can't believe you're making me do this."

Jess smirked at Trey, and grabbed his hands, putting them at his side. She expertly tied his tie and looked him up and down with approval. "Yeah, well I wanted to go with Ryan, but he was already taken."

Trey was seething, but he refused to give her the satisfaction of letting it show. Of course she wanted Ryan. Everyone did. "Let's just get this over with."

When they walked into the gym, Trey felt like a fish out of water, but he certainly didn't look it. Jess clutched his arm proudly as several people stared at them, curious about this new guy. Trey recognized several of them from the party, but they were probably too drunk or high or whatever to remember him.

Jess felt Trey tense when the saw Ryan and Marissa. Jess stared daggers at the girl, who was completely unaware of her presence. She rested her head on Ryan's shoulder and her eyes were closed as they swayed to the music. She wanted to slap that dreamy smile off her face.

Ryan's head rested on Marissa's and his eyes slid over to Zach and Summer who were dancing a few feet away from them. He smiled, amused as Zach pulled out his phone, sighed in frustration, saying something about Seth, and then turned back to Summer, apologizing.

Ryan let his eyes wander, and they landed on Trey. The calm, content manner he'd had immediately disappeared and he stiffened. Marissa looked at him with concern and followed his gaze to Trey. She felt a chill run down her spine, and was bombarded with several negative emotions, primarily fear and anger. Ryan stepped in front of her protectively, trying to restrain himself from attacking Trey. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Trey held up his hands in surrender. "Look Ry, I'm sorry, I didn't want to come. But Jess-"

"What? Let me guess, Jess forced you to come? Did she physically drag you here against your will?"

"Please just-"

"I don't want to hear it. Get out of here. Now."

Trey looked into his brother's eyes and saw nothing but contempt. They'd fought many times, but he'd never seen Ryan look anything like this. He turned to Jess. "We have to leave."

"Taking orders from baby brother? Pretty lame, Atwood." Trey turned to leave, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Take another step and I'll have the cops on your ass before you can get out of the building."

Trey looked between Ryan and Jess, begging one of them to cut him some slack. When it was clear that neither would, he sighed. "Bye Jess."

She stared after him indignantly, before turning to Ryan expectantly. "You clean up nice." Ryan flinched, and squeezed Marissa's hand. "And I think you owe me a prom date now."

Ryan laughed bitterly. Marissa tugged on his hand, glaring at Jess. "Come on Ryan, let's go get some punch."

An hour and a half later, Trey was back in Chino. If Jess had actually called the cops, they weren't very efficient. When he got to the bus station, he realized he had nowhere to go. He got to the phone and started calling the numbers he knew by heart.

Eddie's line had been disconnected, so he tried Arturo. He picked up after the first ring and sounded a little frustrated and his voice was low. "Hello?"

"Hey Turo, it's Trey. Can I crash with you tonight?"

There was an unvoiced pact between the old gang, so Arturo agreed, no questions asked. Unless… "Wait, you didn't break out of prison, did you?"

Trey laughed. "No, I was released a few months ago."

"A few months ago? Why didn't you come by before now? Get your ass over here! But don't ring the doorbell, I'll watch for you."

When Trey got to the Valejos' house, he looked next door at the house that he'd spent most of his childhood in. He felt a pang of sadness and regret, but refused to dwell on that now. The door opened and Arturo, pulled him inside, embracing him.

"You look good man. So where have you been since you got out?"

"Actually, I was staying in Newport with Ry."

"Newport, huh? Have you gotten all soft like he has?"

"No way. I'm not a spineless little bitch. Does he ever bother to come visit the old crew?"

Arturo hesitated. "Not recently. But hey, with the life he's got in Newport, can you blame him?"

"Guess not. I can't believe my little brother lives in some rich family's pool house, is fucking the homecoming queen, and has turned into a science nerd."

"He's a science nerd?" Arturo asked in disbelief. Trey nodded. "Really?"

"It's a miracle how much difference a little good parenting will make. The Cohens are really great."

"Yeah, that's what Theresa said too."

"Theresa knows the Cohens?"

Arturo bit his tongue, realizing his error a moment too late. On second thought, he probably shouldn't have let Trey stay with them in the first place. He was bound to find out about his nephew since they were staying under the same roof. "Long story. So if you've been staying with the Cohens, why do you want to crash here?"

"Oh it's just…I got into a fight with Ry. He's changed, ya know? He thinks he's too good for me now and I don't know if we'll work it out this time."

"What happened?" Arturo asked curiously. Something about that statement seemed off.

Trey looked at Arturo apologetically. "Could we talk about this tomorrow? I'm really tired."

"Yeah sure. Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

"Is she still staring at us?" Marissa asked Ryan.

"Don't let her ruin this for you." His hands rested on the small of her back. "She can't do anything to us."

"I know. I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Shh," he whispered, kissing her temple. "Tonight it's just you and me."

She smiled, tilting her head to kiss his neck. "Perfect."

The song ended and the announcer tore them from their trance. "It's time to announce the homecoming queen and king!"

Summer appeared beside Marissa. "I think I'm gonna take off."

"I'm sorry, Sum. If you want I'll come over after this."

Summer hugged her. "Thanks. But you should be with Ryan. I'll be fine."

"Sure?"

"Sure."

Summer turned and started to walk away, and Ryan whispered to Marissa, "You were going to ditch me on prom night?" He smiled playfully.

"Well I wasn't going to ditch you until after prom was over. Besides, I didn't know prom was so important to you," she retorted sarcastically.

"Prom? Not so much." He grinned wickedly. "But the after part? That's what I've really been looking forward to."

She swatted him playfully. "You mean when you spend some nice alone time in the pool house after you drop me off at home?"

"Yeah. That," he replied dryly.

The announcer's voice came over the speakers again. "And your homecoming queen is…Summer Roberts!" She hadn't made it to the door yet and the spotlight landed on her. She hesitantly walked up to the stage, as the students applauded. Marissa gave her a sympathetic look.

When Zach was announced homecoming king, Summer looked around nervously. "No one's coming."

It was quiet and awkward. A movement by the door grabbed Summer's attention. Seth. And he was quickly making his way to the stage. When he jumped up, Summer didn't know if she was thrilled he was there, or embarrassed by whatever he was about to do.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I got held up in traffic…I'm on stage."

"That's not Zach Stevens!" someone in the crowd yelled.

"No I'm not."

"Please step down. You're not the prom king."

"Seth Cohen's a tool!"

Seth grabbed the microphone and Ryan tried to keep from laughing as he watched this display unfold. "Okay, I know I'm not who you all imagined as prom king, seeing as how I'm not who any of you actually voted for, but…she's the queen." He dared a look into Summer's eyes. "And I love her, so I guess that that makes me the king."

"Cohen-" Summer started, nearly laughing.

"No, I'm just the guy standing next to you. You're the queen. I'm…the jester perhaps, if that works. So let me ask you this, your highness. What can I do to make it up to you?"

Summer started to respond, when Seth thrust the microphone towards her. She laughed. "Well, you could start by dancing with me."

Marissa turned to Ryan, grinning widely. "I can't believe those two."

"Yeah, wasn't it just a few hours ago that she said she would never speak to him again after prom was over?"

Marissa laughed and nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck, as his hands found the familiar place on her back.

"So now that you don't have to worry about keeping Summer company tonight…" he trailed off.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking maybe we could hang out in the pool house for a little while."

"And by 'hang out,' you mean 'make out,' right?"

He shrugged, grinning innocently. "I suppose we could do that if you really want to."

She kissed the spot on his neck that made him tremble slightly. "I really want to."

Please review! Since this was originally a one-shot, I only have a vague idea of where I want to go from here. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Constructive critizism too.