Down A Rabbit Hole We Go – Chapter 12
Disclaimer: I do not own the OC or any of its characters.
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It was Monday and Ryan didn't know how he'd gotten himself into this situation. On Sunday, Caleb had mentioned that they needed to go shopping for clothes for Ryan. In the past, Caleb would buy Ryan clothes periodically. He had expensive tastes and more than once Ryan had come home from school in Chino to find the nice clothes Caleb had purchased gone, either because Trey decided they'd look better on him or his mother or her latest fling had sold them for beer or drug money. Ryan never told Caleb, but he did convince him that really nice clothes made him stand out to bullies in Chino and that clothes from Walmart or Target were fine. However, this morning Caleb had insisted that he was in Newport Beach now and would need a whole new wardrobe, the not from Walmart or Target was implied. To make matters worse, Summer had somehow found out about the impending shopping spree and had recruited Hailey. Since both the girls insisted on helping him shop, Caleb had decided that he needed to take care of some other matters and that the girls could handle it. He'd offered up his credit card and, with a devious grin, told Ryan to have fun.
Ryan was not having fun. They'd hit the mall at 9 AM. It was four hours later and just when Ryan thought they were finished Summer had insisted that he'd need a suit for her upcoming fashion show. More than one suit, Haley had added, citing the frequent Newport functions that he'd be required to attend. Ryan briefly thought about trying to escape back to Chino.
"When is this fashion show?" Ryan asked as Summer held a dark blue suit up in front of him.
"It's Friday night. You remember. I was supposed to leave early from our trip to the lake to get ready for it. Now, you get to come too." She chirped.
Ryan looked to Hailey for help, but she just grinned and said, "Welcome to Newport, baby brother."
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Caleb Nichol was furious. The day had started off ok. He'd stopped by Harbor to see what he needed to do to get Ryan enrolled. Dr. Kim hadn't been in, but her secretary had him fill out forms to request Ryan's records from his previous school and assured him that she'd arrange a meeting with Dr. Kim once the records were received. Then he'd gone to meet with his lawyer, Phil Simons, who had handled all his affairs related to Ryan, including the monthly payments he'd been making to Dawn to make up for lost wages and in support of Ryan for fifteen years. He wanted those payments stopped immediately and wanted to file for sole custody of his son. He'd been aghast when his lawyer told him that the custody issue was not a sure thing. Caleb had explained what had happened over the weekend, the fact that he suspected he'd been missing signs of abuse for some time, and the state of Dawn's home when they'd gone to pick up Ryan's belongings. Simons said he believed Caleb, but with no prior reports of abuse from Ryan it might be harder to prove Dawn's unfitness than Caleb believed, especially if she managed to straighten up her act. He also pointed out that courts typically sided with mothers and the fact that Caleb had kept his relationship with Ryan a secret from his family and had never officially had joint custody of Ryan wouldn't help. Caleb had especially bristled when Simons pointed out that "the boy" didn't even share Caleb's last name. Indignant, Caleb told the man in no uncertain terms that his son was never going back to live with Dawn Atwood and if he wanted to continue on the Caleb's payroll, he would make sure that there was no question about that. In the end, the payments to Dawn had been stopped and Phil Simons had assured Caleb that he would file the paperwork for sole custody of Ryan and the paperwork to change Ryan's last name to Nichol as soon as possible.
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Around 3:00 PM, their shopping done, Ryan, Summer, and Hailey got a table in a local bistro for a late lunch. Ryan sighed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"You ok, baby bro?" Hailey asked.
"I'm fine," Ryan muttered, straightening in his seat beside Summer and trying to look more upbeat.
"Did you forget your anti-inflammatories?" Summer questioned. At Ryan's tight nod, Summer started fishing around in her ginormous purse. "I should have some in here."
Ryan tried to ignore Hailey's quizzical look as he gratefully took the Advil that Summer offered.
Summer didn't ignore it. "He's got more bruises courtesy of AJ than those on his face," she said in disgust.
"Summer," Ryan's tone expressed his displeasure with her sharing his personal business.
Hailey let it go but decided her father had more explaining to do when she found a moment alone with him.