It was two am and Marissa heard her cell go off. "Ugh" She said leaning up. She reached for it with the little strength she had. She flipped it open. "Hello" She whispered in a raspy voice. "Did I wake you?" He said.
"Of course not its only two am what else would I be doing" She said sarcastically. "Sorry kiddo I forgot about the time difference go back to sleep" He said. "Its okay dad so how's Hawaii?" She said softly. "It's beautiful the weather is fantastic and the surf well lets just say Sandy would be jealous" He said.
She smiled. "So I heard you got back into Harbor. How's that going?" He said. "Wow so I haven't talked to you in awhile then" She said. "I'm sorry about that" He said. She smiled sadly. "Harbor's great dad. It was a little rough at first but now things are better and I have Ryan, Seth and Summer so it's good" She said.
"That's great to hear. How's your mom?" He said. She debated on what she should say. "She's Julie" She joked. He laughed. "We're all okay you know even Kaitlyn came home during her winter break" She said.
"Jimmy you got to take this" She heard a voice in the background say. She sighed. "You better go" She said. "Yeah well I love you Sweetheart and good luck on graduation take pictures" He said. The tears threatened to fall.
"I will I love you too daddy" she said. "I'll call you soon. I want to hear about College" He said. She smiled and hung up. She laid there staring up at the ceiling. There was no way she could sleep now. She pulled her covers off and slipped out of bed. She peaked in Summer's room and found her asleep instead of bothering her she grabbed a hoodie and her keys and snuck out of the house.
She noticed the lights were out she snuck through the back so she wouldn't wake anyone. She slowly opened the pool house door and closed it behind her. He was a light sleeper so he automatically woke up rubbing his eyes and looking at her standing in the door way.
"Marissa" He said getting up. "What are you doing here?" He flipped the light on and looked at the clock "At 2 30 am. What's up?" He said leaning up. "He's not coming" She said sadly continuing to stand in the door way. "Your dad?" he said.
"To graduation. I mean I know it's because I asked him not to come home but I guess a part of me thought he would be there" She said with tears slipping down her cheeks. Ryan went into friend mode and immediately jumped out of bed and came towards her. "Come here" He said pulling her into a hug.
"I'm sure he wants to be here you know I mean he loves you. At least you have your mom who's gonna be there and, Kaitlyn's coming home, and you know you have Seth, and Summer, and of course Sandy and Kirsten, he paused and you know you always have me" He said in a whisper. "I know" She let out still clinging to him.
"It's gonna be okay Marissa" He whispered. Ryan was there for her because he knew she needed him right now. After a few hours Marissa had calmed down and fell asleep and soon sleep found Ryan.
The sun had just risen and Marissa felt someone breathing rather close to her. She slowly woke. She took in her surroundings suddenly remembering how she got here. She was upset and crying and she probably looked a wreck. She turned to see Ryan asleep.
She felt bad for waking him but Ryan had convinced her that it was okay because that's just how he was always protecting her. She slowly slipped out of the bed trying not to wake him. She searched around for her shoes.
"There over by the desk" He whispered into the pillow. She jumped not realizing she had woken him. " Sorry. Thanks" She said going to grab them. He sat up he looked tired. "You going home?" He said squinting his eyes as he was just adjusting to the sunlight.
"Yeah I have to get ready for school. Go back to sleep" She whispered. He nodded. "You okay?" He said. "No, but I will be thanks to you. I'll see you at school" She said with a smile. He smiled and watched her leave. She snuck out of the yard so that no one would see her leave.
She snuck back in and made it up the stairs. She went straight to her room and shut the door she pulled her hoodie off. "Where were you?" She heard a voice say. She jumped and turned towards her bed to see a very much awake Summer. "Summer you scared me" She said.
"I woke up to get some water and you just disappeared. Where were you coop?" She said. "Ryan's I got a call from my dad" She said. "How is he?" Summer said knowing it couldn't have been a nice conversation if she ended up at Ryan's.
"He's not coming to graduation" she said. "I'm sorry Coop you okay?" She said. "I'm too tired to cry anymore" She said slipping off her shoes. "Well we have English first period so lets say we skip and sleep in a bit" Summer said. "Sounds great" Marissa said jumping in bed.
Summer passed her some covers not even bothering to go back into her room she was to worried about Marissa. "Thanks Sum" She said. "It's gonna be okay Coop and you know maybe he'll change his mind" She said turning over on her side and fell asleep the same as Marissa.
Later that morning she came into the student lounge she spotted Ryan sitting there. "Hey. So what I'd miss in English?" She said. "That would imply that I actually made it to 1st period" He said. She laughed. "I'm sorry" She said. "Not your fault I turned off the alarm.
So I take it you were late this morning?" He said. "Yeah Sum and I decided to sleep in which went from missing 1st to missing 2nd to being five minutes late for 3rd" She said. Ryan smiled. "So I feel bad about waking you last night" She said.
"Don't worry about it" He said. "At least let me buy you a coffee" She said. "If it helps you sleep tonight then alright" He said. "I'll be back" She said going to get coffee. He smiled watching her go.
Ryan and Marissa walked towards the quad being it was lunch. "So we're you able to pay attention in class?" She said. "No but there's always summer school" he joked. She shoved him and smiled. He laughed. "Actually it was pretty boring just final stuff" He said.
"Ugh don't remind me" She said walking towards a table and sitting. He dropped his book and sat down. "You're like Harbor's best student you got nothing to worry about" He said. "Actually that's Taylor I heard she was named valedictorian" She said.
"Should be fun listening to her speech" He joked. They both laughed knowing his was true. "Regardless you do pretty well so there's nothing to be worried about" He said.
"Hey guys" Summer said. "Marissa sorry I didn't get to say hello but you were sneaking out the back gate and I didn't want to bust you since mom was right there" Seth said. Marissa glared at him. "Cohen Shut up" Summer said. "Ryan" He said. "Seth" He said.
"So was I the only one up and ready for school this morning?" Seth said. The girls shrugged their shoulders. "You didn't seem to complain when I didn't come out Kirsten said you decided to go back to sleep until I was ready" He said.
Marissa and Summer laughed. "Well I figured you were already late might as well get some sleep while I could." He responded. Ryan smile turned into a laugh. "So who here can't wait for this day to be over already?" Seth said sarcastically. Ryan glared at him and Summer and Marissa busted out laughing in hysterics Ryan followed suit quickly after.
In the next chapter: Ryan takes on a secretmission of his own!