Disclaimer is the same…

A/N: haha the story hasn't even shown up yet and I'm still having fun writing it

Important: This takes place very beginning of Senior year.

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Seth stood in the cafeteria at lunchtime, he couldn't handle anything anymore. He picked up his cell phone and dialed home, "Hello?" Kirsten asked into the phone.

"Hey mom!" Seth smiled, glad his mom was sounding lively.

"Seth if you are calling to ask how I feel, I promise I am OK Seth," she sounded annoyed that he was calling.

"Mom…you have cancer," a couple of the water-polo guys stared at him in disbelief, "but I'll go, bye." Seth slammed his phone shut and took a seat on one of the study couched.

"Cohen," Summer walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "How's it going?"

"My mom is starting chemo Monday, its Friday, what do I do?" he looked so restless, almost cute.

"Spend time with me tonight and her the rest of the weekend," she grinned, "you need a little fun in your life!" Seth sighed. Besides the fact that the whole school now knew his mom had cancer (from his shouting) he decided that he was going to make that night special. Ryan could spend time with his mom anyways.

"Hey man," Ryan grinned, sneaking up from behind.

"Hey, uh, I'm going out tonight, so spend quality time with the fam," Seth alerted him.

"Sounds cool," Ryan shrugged. He loved the Cohen's. He WAS a Cohen.

"God, its like, our second day back and we already have, like, a test next Friday," Summer complained, hoping that Seth would listen to her.

"We are seniors you know," he smirked, reminding his girlfriend that they weren't in seventh grade.

"Well I have to go find Coop, I promised I'd eat with her," Summer told Seth, "Love you!" She planted a kiss on his forehead.

"I…I….love you too," Seth was amazed that one thing goes wrong with his family and Summer is all over him.

"So are you going straight with your little princess after school?" Ryan joked.

"Yup, I'll be back sometime like nine," he responded, "And don't call her princess, she's conceited enough." Ryan laughed at the comment, Seth was back.

"Do you know what we need for Chrismukkah?" Seth asked Ryan, even though it was months away.

"What?" Ryan questioned.

"A CAR!" Seth exclaimed, he had wanted a Hummer since he got his license, "more important…a black Hummer."

"Ha…ha…how about we both get cars?" Ryan laughed, "I'll go simple if I don't have to share with you. Seth punched him in the shoulder.

"How the hell did we get on this conversation anyways?" Seth questioned Ryan. The boys were having a normal Ryan-Seth conversation, one that didn't include the words: Kirsten, mom, cancer, chemo, or hospital.

After-school

"Take the Range Rover Ryan," Seth called to him, "Summer has her car."

"Thanks man," he replied, catching the keys Seth had thrown at him, "have fun you too…wear protection." The couple just laughed and Summer walked up to punch Ryan.

"Tell my mom I said hey," Seth told Ryan, nothing about cancer, he assumed the whole point of the day was to keep her off his mind.

Ryan climbed into the Range Rover and backed out of the parking space and left the school parking lot. He wished he was going out with Marissa, but he didn't really know where they stood now. Couple? Friends? He really didn't have a clue. Ryan pulled into the driveway of the Cohen estate and parked the car; Sandy wasn't home.

"Hello?" Ryan called, walking in the front door.

"Hey Ryan," Kirsten was watching TV in the den, sounding beat.

"Seth is out tonight; with Summer. He's going to be home later," Ryan told Kirsten, standing in the doorway of the den.

"Sit down, I was thinking about watching a chick-flick, I haven't watched one in ages," she smiled at him, giving him his afternoon hug. Ryan saw that she had noticeable bruises on her arms and that the bags under her eyes were visible. She didn't have make-up on and he assumed she had been sleeping all day.

"How are you feeling?" Ryan gently asked, sitting down.

"Sleepy, bruised, sore," she solemnly responded, "but all right, I had a peaceful day." Kirsten smiled at Ryan, showing him the selection of movies.

"A Walk to Remember?" Ryan questioned, "Never heard of it." Kirsten laughed, it was the only movie she had chosen.

"Yeah, I love it," she smiled gently, sliding the movie into the DVD player. Ryan settled down on the couch next to her. He was finally starting to feel like a Cohen.

The movie continued and Kirsten, surprisingly, stayed awake. Near the end of the movie, when the girl died, he could see the fear in Kirsten's face. He could see tears falling down her face too. He scooted closer to her and gave her a hug. She looked up at him and returned the hug. The two stayed in the position for what seemed like forever.

"Hello," Sandy walked into the kitchen, looking at Ryan and Kirsten, sitting next to each other.

"Hey Sandy," Ryan felt awkward and got up from his seat.

"Hey honey," Kirsten stood up, wobbled back and forth, and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek, "Seth will be back later, he's out with Summer."

"What do you guys want for dinner?" Sandy asked, holding up menus from various take-out restaurants.

"Chinese," Kirsten told him, "Get me General Tso's Chicken over WHITE rice."

"Okay," he told her, he was afraid that food that she wasn't used to wasn't going to stay down.

"I'll take Beef and Broccoli," Ryan told him, "and maybe some dumplings? Seth isn't going to be home for dinner."

"Summer is so good for him," Sandy sighed, "do you want to invite Marissa over for dinner too?"

"Uh…its OK, I'll be fine," Ryan tried to hide his smile.

"Come on Ryan," Kirsten put her arm around him, "we could invite Julie too, I think I need to talk to her."

"Julie…as in Julie Cooper?" Sandy asked her, laughing to himself, "do whatever you want…"

"I'll invite Jimmy too, not Caleb, Julie called and says he's gone to San Francisco to spend time by himself," Kirsten told her family, walking over and dialing the Cooper-Nichols phone number, "Hi Julie, its Kirsten…yes I'm fine….will you come over for dinner?...Marissa too….is he?....In an hour?....Ok bye Julie." Kirsten hit the off button on the phone and started to dial Jimmy's number, "Hi…Do you want to come over for dinner…Julie and Marissa will be here…OK see you in an hour….bye," Kirsten really knew how to work her magic, "I think we will need more than just a couple dumplings." Suddenly Kirsten made a disgusted face, and turned pale.

"Sweetie? Are you OK?" Sandy asked, Ryan's face got huge.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but Jimmy doesn't know!" Kirsten put her fists in the air in a huge rampage, she had had a good day, but she knew it wasn't going to end well.