And He's Back In The Game
'Come in.' boomed a voice from behind the solid oak door. Seth opened it and entered, finding himself in a large Victorian office filled with books. The dean of admissions of Brown University looked at him over the top of his glasses.
'Yes?' he questioned in a tone of voice that told Seth he better not be wasting his time.
'Uh…yes hello sir, I'm Seth Cohen.'
'Nice to meet you Seth Cohen, what would you like?' the dean's voice was beginning to sound impatient.
'Okay well I applied to Brown for this Semester, and I didn't get in by like, this much, so I was wondering, could I show you something?' Seth needed to be careful about the words he chose. It was make or break. The dean nodded but it was already apparent his mind wasn't going to be changed easily.
Not to be disheartened, Seth brought out his comic strip and laid it on the desk before him. He stood back and put his hands behind his back, and waited. For what he was waiting for he wasn't quite sure.
'Brown Life? Hmmm…' although the headmaster didn't give away too much, his body was swelling with interest, and it wasn't long before a smile spread across his face.
For that extra touch of encouragement Seth decided to further explain the comic, 'As you can see, I've used a theme commonly seen in the business, but it's also an extremely difficult one to pull off. I'm sure you've heard of it – 'first-impressionist'? Seth shot the first thing that came into his head, even though it was completely fake.
'Yes, yes…of course. Well, I've always had a soft spot for comics, I was a bit of a geek growing up!' the headmaster chuckled.
'Hey now,' Seth had found common ground here! Time to move in for the kill, 'Geekiness is the new brooding tough guy. You should embrace your geekiness, seriously. I am a real hit with the ladies, and it's all thanks to Mr. Geek. Trust me.'
'You really think so? Well I did see Gladys at reception give me a look just this morning…' he realised he was getting way off-track and wiped the thoughtful smugness off his face, 'I believe I could reconsider your application, I mean it's only fair…you came this close you said? Yes, yes consider it done. And, thank you.' He gave Seth an appreciative nod.
'Sir that is not a problem.' The loveable geek wins again.
'You can expect to hear from me in the next few days concerning your entrance. Nice to meet you Seth Cohen.' He gave Seth his cue to leave.
'And a pleasure to meet you too sir,' Seth turned and strutted towards the door, grinning like a 5 year old who'd just eaten a tub of ice-cream. 'Wait, could I please have your number? Just for you know, the admission thing.'
The dean looked a bit confused but he was a busy man so better just to give him what he wanted. He scribbled his name and the number down quickly on a slip of paper and handed it to Seth, who thanked him and walked out the door.
But on his way outside to hail a taxi, Seth made a brief stopover at reception.
'Hi, are you Gladys?' he asked the startled receptionist.
'Yes that's me, what can I do ya for?' she allowed him to slip the paper into her hand, and then he gave her a quick smile and left the building.
Summer felt the chilly breeze wash over her as Marissa pulled her quilt off her. It was 11 a.m. and Summer was still in bed. Marissa was trying to get her up so they could go shopping, but Summer looked a wreck – maybe today wasn't the best day for it.
'Sum?' Marissa tried to wake the sleepy-head gently, but that obviously wasn't going to work. She ended up having to physically drag Summer off the bed and then fill her toothbrush holder with water and pour the contents onto Summer's head before she got a response.
'Ahh Coop!' Summer shrieked as she bounced to her feet. 'Why can't you do anything the conventional way?' She questioned rhetorically.
'Sorry girl it's just I've been awake for hours. And I tried looking for Princess Sparkle to talk to but I couldn't find her.'
'Oh yeah…Princess Sparkle.' Summer remembered how she'd left Princess Sparkle at Seth's porch so he'd never forget her. She didn't know if she should be regretting it by now but she hadn't spoken to him since. And she didn't plan to. Her face suddenly became more sullen. 'Oh Coop. Cohen's screwed it up again. He lied to me! And this is what? The third huge lie?'
Marissa's face twisted in confusion, 'What are you talking about Sum?'
Summer sighed. 'Seth didn't even get into Brown. He's not going. There's no way our relationship can work! And I'm not sure I want it to with all the lies.'
Marissa wasn't sure what to say so she just climbed into bed with Summer and held her in a warm embrace. They lay there for at least an hour, and she occasionally felt tears drip onto her shoulder. When she finally pulled away from her friend, her brown hair was toussled and she was dozing peacefully.
Marissa slipped out of the room and padded barefoot down the cool marble stairs. Sitting cross legged by the motionless fireplace, she thought about ways to cheer Summer up. She knew her friend didn't feel like talking, so she decided to talk to Seth later. Maybe she should go round in the afternoon when Summer had a pilates session?
But she might bump into Ryan. Ryan. Why was that name so hard to forget? It was always there, when she slept, shopped, worked, all day at school. She kept telling herself she was over him, so why did her heart still flutter when she saw him? Why was she lost for words when she looked into his eyes?
She wasn't in love with Volchok, she knew that much. He was just an escape…from her mom, the trailer, school, memories and yeah, even an escape from Ryan. So that's what she was doing; escaping Ryan.
Maybe the phone was a safer option.
Okay so next chapter Marissa talks to Seth and something big happens, Sadie leaves, Summer meets Paolo and they all leave for college…but all will not be revealed yet. Make sure you check the next chapter cause it's huge! (Literally as well, lol, should be easily a couple of thousand words.)
Also there have been some reviews about the Princess Sparkle thing last Chapter so I included that in this one, and someone wanted the story to be R/M all the waty through – well I can't give any guarantees but it may well come to that somewhere along the way…
califreakinfornia xx.
P.S. Sorry if some of the line spacing is different this time, something may havehappened there but you'll just have to bear with me until I work that out. (I'm not the best with computers!) Should be readable though.
