The Past Is Present

by Mister Anna Stern

The moon shines brightly on a Vegas quarry, where Ryan Atwood is finishing a can of Budweiser. He finishes the can, and throws it in the quarry. Behind him, headlights appear, and a beat-up Mustang enters. Trey Atwood gets out of the front seat.

"You re-bought the Mustang?" Ryan inquires.

Trey slams the door. "What's wrong with it?"

"You drove into a ditch and half of it was filled with mud," Ryan explains, even though Trey already knows.

Trey sighs. "What's up, Little Brother? Our reunion can't wait till at least 5 in the morning?"

"Yeah..." Ryan says under his breath, as he goes to the back of the van, opens the doors, and shows Trey Volchok's lifeless body.

Trey stares in shock. "This is a joke"

"I need you to help me get rid of it"

"It? Him! That's a him! Even *I* haven't killed a guy before!" Trey exclaims as he gets into the back of the truck. "Okay, I admit, I did break a guy's neck, body, torso, legs, and arms, but I didn't kill him."

Trey looks at the bloodied Volchok. "I always knew you'd call me but I never knew it'd be to dispose of a body. Who is this guy anyway?"

"This guy killed Marissa," Ryan told Trey. Trey gaped at Ryan, and stared him in the eye. After a moment, Trey finds the words and opens his mouth. "..You grab the legs"

(theOC
In the morning, Dr. Roberts opens the door to find Seth in a dark jacket, sunglasses, and .. a cane.

Peter Gallagher as Sandy Cohen

Kelly Rowan as Kirsten Cohen

Ben McKenzie as Ryan Atwood

Adam Brody as Seth Cohen

Rachel Bilson as Summer Roberts

Autumn Reeser as Taylor Townsend

Samaire Armstrong as Anna Stern

Melinda Clarke as Julie Cooper)

"What is this, Seth?," Dr. Neil says unenthused.

"I'm here to cure your daughter!" Seth says.

---

Seth walks into Summer's Room, where Anna and Taylor are on the floor keeping Summer company, while she sits in bed, with a box of Kleenex standing next to Princess Sparkle on the nightstand, while Summer, obviously sick, watches The Valley "The Vaultisode".

"What are your symptoms?" Seth asks.

"Shut it, Cohen," Summer screeches.

"Okay: Irritability," Seth says to himself.

---

Later that day, in the Pool house, Seth writes down a bunch of symptoms (Irritability, Sneezing, Coughing, General Sickiness) on a whiteboard he has set up.

"Any ideas," Seth asks to his group of "specialists", Taylor and Anna. Kaitlin also sits reading a Cosmo in the corner.

"Could be PMS," Taylor says.

"Or a cold," Anna suggests.

Seth writes down "PMS", "Cold", and "Black Plague".

"Black Plague?" Anna asks.

"She COULD have it!"

---

Ryan walks into the Cohen Kitchen later in the day, where Sandy is putting butter on a bagel. Seth is reading an "Ultimate Spider-Man" comic book. Ryan sits down next to Seth, and starts reading the paper.

"Want to go see a movie?" Ryan asks.

Seth looks away from his comic book. "You'd be up for that?"

"Yeah," Ryan says nonchalantly. Ryan can tell on Seth's face that he isn't buying it.

"We can't let this ruin our entire summer. We need Seth/Ryan time," Ryan states

"Really?"

"Really. Anyway, movies"

Seth looks at Ryan. "Dead Man's Chest"

Ryan stares. "For what, the 80th time? No no, I say Miami Vice"

"Ugh!" Seth exclaims.

"What?" Ryan asks.

"Come on, that's going to suck," Seth says.

"You haven't seen it yet!" Ryan says as fact.

"I just no. Just no! It got a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes." Seth states.

"The trailer looked awesome"

"Trailers show all, Ryan. They put all the good stuff in the trailer. That means those two minutes of mediocre excitement will be the highlights of the movie. NO," Seth says.

Ryan looks at the rest of the paper. "Ok...Snakes On A Plane."

"Come on! Pirates! Yo ho!" Seth exclaims.

"Harry Knowles said it was the greatest theatre experience of his life!"

"That guys a schmuck, and so is his talk backers. Lets just stay in and watch a double-shot of My Name Is Earl and The Office."

"Earl isn't that funny," Ryan says.

"I thought you would like a show about a former ne'er-do-well who is now trying to right his old wrongs."

The banter has now become a little uncomfortable. Ryan shifts in his seat. "Little Miss Sunshine," Ryan says.

Seth strokes his chin, "Indie flick with Steve Carell in an Al-Zarqawi beard, and Greg Kinnear as... Greg Kinnear. Let's go"

---

Ryan and Seth stroll down the boardwalk on the skateboard and bike. Seth laughs as they pass the ferris wheel, and the Crab Shack. Seth and Ryan stop in the parking lot of The Newport Cinema Experience.

---

In the pool house, Anna is sitting next to Summer and 'treating' her, i.e. fluffing her pillows, while Taylor lies on the floor reading a Cosmo.

"Summer...," Anna says, "Your nose is bleeding."

Anna grabs two tissues and gives them to Summer.

"Oh, must've been the density. Or something," Summer says weakly as she plugs her nose. Her cell phone rings. Summer reaches to her nightstand and grabs her Razor, which is sat next to Princess Sparkle. She answers.

"Hello?"

Anna and Taylor share glances. "Yeah, that'd be great. I'll be there!" Summer says healthily, closing the phone.

"Who was that?" Anna asks.

"Holly's having a party at her beach house. Um, do you guys want to come?" Summer points to Anna and Taylor, moving from one to the next with her right hand. "I didn't realize till now, but you guys don't know who each other are."

---

Kirsten and Sandy walk into the kitchen, carrying grocery bags. Kirsten starts laughing, "I miss Rosa". Kirsten and Sandy put the bags down on the counter, when Julie walks in. "Your Persian Neighbors are moving out?"

Kaitlin pokes her head into the kitchen. "Yeah, Persian Guy killed Persian Girl. It was a whole thing." Kaitlin returns back to her couch to watch Interns in Love.

"Wow, I missed a lot living in that trailer park," Julie says, while she eyes the flyer of her old house.

Kirsten eyes the paper, and then Julie. "Why are you wearing a long-sleeve shirt in the middle of August?"

Julie looks up. "Have you SEEN the weather outside?". Julie points to the sunny outlook from the Cohen window. It's completely dry and winds are non-existent.

Seth and Ryan walk in through the side-doors.

"There are my boys!" Sandy shouts, laughing a bit.

Seth starts on a rant, "Oh, it's my Dad. And his Eyebrows of Doom. Seriously, they could probably suffocate whole villages." Seth turns to Ryan, "I need to check my e-mail."

---

Up in Seth's room, Ryan lays on the bed, while Seth is playing Runescape on the computer. Seth Xes out, and logs onto Myspace. and update my 'Movies' section to include Little Miss Sunshine." Seth clicks a few keys. "Taylor Townsend finally wants to be my friend. I've known that girl for a year."

"That's great," Ryan says uninterested.

"Hmm...this is interesting," Seth says, in quizzically.

"What?" Ryan says, uncaring.

"Taylor used to be a teenage model," Seth says, "I wonder if she ever did any photo shoots." Ryan gets up from the bed and walks over Seth's shoulder. Seth types "Taylor Townsend" in Google.

"Oh my god"

---

Seth and Ryan walk down the steps of Harbor. In the background, a backpack, bike, and skateboard can be seen behind the fence.

"I can't believe I turned her down," Seth continues, "Although, if you saw Summer in a picture like that..."

"I know Seth!" Ryan says.

"You don't like The Townsend?" Seth interrogates.

"Nope," Ryan says.

"Okay, that's weird," Seth says, as Ryan keeps walking. "Or not. Whatever...," Seth stops in thought.

"Assume The Townsend is on fire," Seth says. Ryan turns around and gives him a look. "Don't lose me. Assume she's on fire. You rip off her clothes and carry her naked in your arms to the bathtub to put her out and-".

Ryan stares at Seth blankly.

"What?" Seth asks not expecting an answer. "So, how are you feeling." Ryan winces, and pulls his attention from Seth. Seth sits down on the stairs. Suddenly, the sound of someone climbing a chain-link fence makes the reason why they came to Harbor clear. Seth looks at Ryan surprised as Trey walks in.

"Hey little brother"

Seth looks from Trey to Ryan with a scrunched face. "Hey man," Seth says dorkily raising his hand in a "Hi". Suddenly, a ringtone set to the tune of "Why'd You Want To Live Here - Death Cab for Cutie" starts to play, and Seth answers.

"Hello?" Seth asks.

On the other line, Anna asks "Cohen?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"Summer is dragging us to Holly's beach house. Apparently, her black plague was cured with some Jamba Juice," Anna says.

"Holly's beach house, Summer hasn't gone to a party with Holly since ... tenth grade," Seth says, a look of concern covering his face.

"We're coming," Seth said, hanging up.

"Uhh, but Seth!" Anna says, before the dial tone comes on. "...It's not for another 3 hours...," Anna says weakly, to herself.

---

Seth, Ryan, and Trey are walking back to the range rover. "Holly's beach house, dude. Holly's BEACH HOUSE!"

Ryan looks at Seth, "So?"

"She hasn't gone to a party like that for 3 years! Ever since Marissa died-

Ryan is uncomfortable again, and diverts his attention somewhere else.

"She's just been off. I don't mean weird PMS "off", degenerating to your old self off," Seth finishes his rant.

"Off?" Trey asks.

---

"Summer, this just seems a little off," Anna says on one side of a Fashion Island waiting room. On the other side, we reveal Summer in nothing but a bikini and a jean shorts.

"What do you mean "off"? What's "off"? This is normal etiquette for a beach house party," Summer says.

Anna walks out of the dressing room. Moments later, she returns. "Well, how about this?" she asks, holding up a skirt.

"Uhh, ewww!"

---

The clock reads "7:47" on the Cohen clock as Sandy sits down on a barstool, while eating out of an ice cream carton. Kirsten walks in.

"Dairy Queen?" she asks.

"Baskin Robbins," Sandy replies.

Kirsten sighs. "How long do you think The Cooper Family will be in The Cohen House. Not to mention, I think something's wrong with Julie."

"Kirsten, Julie just lost her daughter."

"I know, its just, I don't know. I'm worried."

"Well," Sandy says. "Just look at it this way." Sandy kisses Kirsten on the cheek. "Can't get any worse".

The phone rings.

"I may have spoken too soon."

---

Seth Cohen pulls into the driveway of Holly's beach house. "A threesome in the bathroom. That's fine. A threesome in the bedroom. I can handle that. But a threesome in the driveway?!? COME ON!," Seth yells, honking the horn.

In the backseat, Ryan brings out his cell phone. Trey reaches over and plays with the dials on the radio. A Limp Bizkit song starts playing.

Seth looks over at Trey. "Don't you ever touch a Jewish boy's radio"

Trey turns it back to Seth's indie-rock music. "Thank you," Seth says.

In the back of the car, Ryan closes his cell phone. "Uh, Seth," Ryan says. Seth turns back to Ryan with an irritated look. "Yes?"

"Summer, Anna, and Taylor aren't even here yet," Ryan says.

Seth turns to the driveway. "Oh."

---

Sandy hangs up the phone, and looks up at Kirsten. "What is it?" she says. "Jimmy Cooper just tried to commit suicide."

---

Seth, Ryan, and Trey are parked across the street from the Beach House. Seth and Ryan are half asleep. "The girls are here," Trey says. Seth and Ryan pull their heads up. Through the window, Seth sees Anna walk out fully dressed, while Taylor and Summer walk out in the bikini and jean shorts combo.

"Oh my god," Seth says.

---

Summer, Anna, and Taylor walk into the beach house. Summer practically runs away from Anna and Taylor and goes to the kitchen. Summer sees Holly, drinking a bottle of tequila. "Hey Holly!" Summer says enthusiastically.

"Umm, Okay," Holly says, giving Summer a disgusted look as she walked away. Summer frowned and stood embarrassed in the kitchen. Several water polo guys were watching her. She ran out of the kitchen, and up to the keg.

---

Now inside, Seth sees Summer going to the keg. He wanders off from Ryan and Trey and goes out to the beach. Ryan and Trey look as he runs off.

"Want me to go get him?" Trey asks.

"I think he wants to be alone," Ryan says.

---

Out on the beach, several water polo jocks are playing Truth Or Dare. Seth walks by them. "What are you looking at queer?" says one of the water polo dudes.

"Uh, just re-evaluating my life and god. What are you guys doing?"

"Your mom," says Water Polo Guy. The other water polo guys laugh. "Get out of here, geek," WPG says. Water Polo Guy gets up from the beach and walks up to Seth. He's in his face now.

"Okay, I'm going to a college across the country. I have the most beautiful and hottest girlfriend in all of Orange County, and I'm friends with the guy whose kicked the most water polo guy ass than any person in Newport alive, so maybe you should re-evaluate your idea of geek?" Seth says, finally standing up for himself.

The Water Polo Guy thinks for a moment. "Nope, I don't think so," Water Polo Guy says before punching Seth to the ground.

---

At the keg, Summer asks "Refill?" to the overweight keg guy from the Pilot. "How many is that for you?"

"This would be my eleventh beer," Summer says, moments before passing out.

---

Anna sits awkwardly on top of the kitchen counter, she looks at her watch. "Well, I can't believe I flew back from Pittsburgh for this," she says to herself.

---

Kirsten walks to the guest house, and knocks once. No answer. She knocks again. No answer. "Julie!" Kirsten yells. Kirsten grabs the doorknob and walked into the room. Kirsten stares at the empty room. Moments later, Julie walks out of the bathroom. "Kirsten?"

---

Water Polo Guy is pummeling Seth, when another guy runs off. "Norland, get off him!" Water Polo Guy looks up and Seth sees that it is Luke. "He's one of my friends," Luke says. Norland looks up at Luke and squints his eyes. "Ward?" Norland asks. "Yeah, hey!" Luke says greet fully.

Norland looks over at his Water Polo Pals. "Hey, what's up queer?" Norland asks rhetorically. Luke frowns. "GAY ALERTZ!" yells one of Norland's water polo friends.

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard a water polo guy say," Seth says to himself.

Another one of the water polo guys says "OH HE PWNZED YOU, JB!"

"No, that was it," Seth says.

---

Ryan is sitting by the windowsill of the beach house, when Trey walks up to him. "I got the address," Trey says. "That's grea-," Ryan stops when he looks outside. "Just Seth's luck," Ryan says, pointing outside.

---

Luke and Seth are facing off against the Water Polo Team: Norland, JB, Josh, and Pierce, when Ryan and Trey run down.

"Four against Four!" Norland exclaims.

"This has got to be the stupidest way to spend a night," Ryan says.

"One time when I was fourteen, I spent an entire night watching a Degrassi marathon," Seth says.

Ryan puts his eyes back in his head. "Nope, this is still it."

Ryan, Trey, Seth, and Luke stand one side, while Norland, JB, Joseph, and Pierce stand on one side. Seth starts bending his knees up and down.

Trey, Luke, and Ryan stare at him confused. "This is what the people on Street Fighter do when they are about to fight someone...it's not very relaxing on the knees," Seth says.

---

Anna sits on the floor of Seth's room, with only Kaitlin to keep her company. Anna sighs. She falls back onto the floor, and stares at the ceiling. And then she turns her head back down, and looks under Seth's bed. She raises her eyebrow, brings her shoulder up, and pulls out two pictures that are sitting under Seth's bed.

---

The Water Polo Players and The Outsiders are still standing on their opposite sides. Norland starts "Ready, se-" "Go!" Seth yells, and everyone charges at each other. Ryan punches JB square in the face, while Seth and Joseph just kind of play-slap with each other. Pierce and Trey keep blocking, until Trey charges at Pierce and knocks him to the ground. Trey punches repeatedly into Pierce's skull and breaks Pierce's nose. Norland has the upper hand on Luke. Luke's ear starts to bleed.

Ryan punches JB to the ground and JB passes out. Seth trips Joseph, and Pierce runs away from Trey. Norland, however, has Luke pinned to the ground. Luke seems to have given up, his face turns pale. Ryan runs after Norland, picks him up, and punches him so hard that he falls to the ground and passes out. Ryan laughs out loud, while Seth jumps up and down in victory. "Welcome to the OC, bitches!" Ryan exclaims, while slapping high-fives with Luke.

---

Kirsten and Sandy walk into Jimmy's hospital room. Jimmy rolls his eyes "They're putting me on suicide watch," Jimmy says. "Why'd you do it?" Sandy says.

Jimmy lays his head back, "What do you think is the reason?" Jimmy looks around the room. "Where's Julie?"

Kirsten looks down. "She said she can't see you"

---
Ryan, Trey, Luke, and Seth walk into the backyard, where a pool and a table is placed. The foursome is still laughing their asses off, while the rest of the party goers are just starting to leave. Luke looks over somewhere else, and nudges Seth. "Hey, whose that girl working the grill?" Luke asks.

Seth's eyes bulge out. "That's Taylor. You remember her, The Townsend?," Seth says. Seth looks over and sees Taylor is now wearing a Water Polo Jacket with the name "JB" written on the back, something she was probably given.

"That's HER?! She used to have glasses and really frizzy hair ... kind of like you," Luke says.

The foursome walk over to Taylor. Luke spanks her, Taylor immediately slaps him, but in the process catches her sleeve on fire.

"Oh my god, I'm on fire!" Taylor yells.

Seth's mouth gapes open when he looks at Ryan. "I'm a prophet," Seth says. Ryan matter-of-factly grabs a glass of ice water sitting on the table and throws it on Taylor, putting out the fire.

Taylor wipes soot off the Water Polo Jacket. Giggly, she says "At least its not mine."

The music at the party abruptly stops, and all the party-goers grow confused and mumble. Seth raises his eyebrows, when he sees Summer walking up to the table, holding a microphone.

A CLEARLY drunk Summer.

Slurring her words, she says "The party has officially started! Woohoooo!!!." She yells "Woohoooo!!!" again and takes off her bikini. Seth eye's bulge out of their sockets, as every water polo guy is either taking out his camera phone, taking a photo on a real camera, or getting their video camera. "Oh my god!"

---

In the hospital room, Kirsten says "I'm going to go talk to the nurse," and leaves the room. Sandy sits across from Jimmy. "Sandy, I need to tell you something." "What is it?" Sandy asks. "I didn't actually try to kill myself," Jimmy says. "I needed protection from people who want money. I need your help."

---

Walking down the halls of the hospital, Kirsten's phone rings. Kirsten answers, "Hello?". All she hears is breathing. Scared, she hangs up.

---

Later that night, at a danky apartment, Heather is going to bed for the night. She has several candles lit, when her door rings. She looks through the peephole: It's Trey. "Who is it?" she asks. "It's Ryan Atwood's brother," Trey says. It's almost as if her heart had stopped beating when she opened the door.

"Hey," Trey says.

"What's going on?" Heather asks.

"Volchok's dead," Trey says "I killed him, and since you are the last person seen with him, you need to keep quiet."

"You KILLED Volchok?"

"What goes around comes around," Trey says. Trey pulls out his gun. "Don't say anything," he says threat fully.

---

Seth helps walk Summer into the house. He puts her down on the sofa, and stands in front of her. He crouches down so they are at eye-level. "What's going on?" Seth asks.

"I-I went over to Holly, and she didn't want to talk to me. And then I realized that I had no friends anymore," Summer says, regaining some kind of sober.

"You have friends. You have me, Ryan, Anna, Taylor-"

"Not any of my old friends. I lost all of them when I started dating you," she says.

Seth pulls back, a little hurt. Summer doesn't realize that she said it like that.

Summer lays her head back on the sofa pillow. "I need to lie down," she says. "Lets go to my room," Seth says.

---

Seth helps Summer walk to his room. He opens the door and sits her down on his bed. Kaitlin sits staring at them with her iPod. She takes her earphones out. "If you guys are going to have sex, tell me so I can go throw up before."

Seth sighs, and Summer lies back. She notices something down on the ground. "Eeww!" she yells. Seth turns around, as Summer gets up, and picks up the pictures of Taylor sitting on the ground.

"Did you know Taylor was a model, because I did-"

"Ass!" Summer yells, as she runs out of the room.

Seth turns to Kaitlin as the door closes. "Taylor!" Seth says to himself, blaming her.

---

In her car, Summer stares at The Cohen House. At the window of Seth's room, and frowns. She looks at her purse, grabs it, and takes out a bag of cocaine. She takes out a "cocaine thingy", because she really didn't know what it was, and snorted it. She straightened up, and high off cocaine, put the key in the ignition, and drove off.

---

Seth came out of the room, and slowly walked through the empty house. He felt completely alone at that moment. He stopped and sat on the sofa.

---

At the side of the road, Summer stops the car. She looked at the bag next to her. She opened the car window and threw it out at the side of the road. Summer lied her head back, and held her breath. She kicked the car door. And then kicked it again. And again repeatedly, until she dropped her head on the steering wheel. She rested her head on the wheel for a moment, and then opened the car door, and got out. As a car passed her, she walked over to the side of the road and picked up the bag.

---

Ryan Atwood stood in his pool house, and paced. He was going through his drawers and found a wife beater. It was like getting acquainted with an old friend again. He slid open the shades a bit and saw Sandy sitting on a pool chair. Ryan swallowed his throat and went out there. He walked over to the pool and sat on the other pool chair. Up close, Ryan saw that Sandy had an ice chest full of beer next to him.

Sandy looked over to Ryan, "Want one?"

Ryan opened his hand fully, "Nah, not old enough."

Sandy smiled. Seth walked out of the house. "Beer son?" Sandy asked. Seth grasped it in his hands. "Sandy Cohen is the coolest dad ever," he said, and sat down on the cold floor. Sandy went back in the ice chest and threw Ryan one, even though Ryan had just refused.

The three Cohen men sat by the pool, drinking beers, and thinking about what to do next.

Later that night, Ryan wakes up on the pool chair. He looks at his watch and it says "5:22" AM. He drops his arm to see Seth drawing the word "Testicles" on Sandy's sleeping face. He laughs, and gets up, and heads for the pool house. He taps Seth on the shoulder to come with him.

---

Seth and Ryan walk inside the pool house. "So, this was a fun day," Seth starts, "Yeah, my girlfriends probably being defiled by a bunch of horny 12-year-old French Kids on Youtube at this exact moment, we beat a bunch of Water Polo Kids in a real-life Mortal Kombat on the "Beach" level, and we successfully set Taylor on fire."

Ryan reaches into his backpack and pulls out his jacket, the one he entered Newport in. "What are you doing?"

"I have to go," Ryan said. An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Seth looked down at Ryan's backpack. "You..Why?"

"Volchok, I went to his house and I," Ryan shifted his eyes down, a little embarrassed. "It was for Marissa."

"Marissa wanted you to ruin your life to kick some guy's ass?" Seth asks, a bit angry.

"She wouldn't have wanted me to, but I wanted to," Ryan says. "I have to get out of here. I'm going to Austin," Ryan explains.

Ryan walks past Seth, whose still staring at the room. "My bus leaves at 6AM."

Ryan opens the pool house door. "Wait," Seth says. "Bye," Seth says. Ryan nods, and walks out the door. Seth sits on Ryan's bed, and lowers his head.

Guest Starring


Logan Marshall-Green as Trey Atwood
Michael Nouri as Dr. Neill Roberts
Willa Holland as Kaitlin Cooper
Ashley Hartman as Holly Fischer
Drew Fuller as Norland
Josh Waters as Keg Bro
Erin Foster as Heather
Mike Vogel as Pierce

With Special Guest Stars
Tate Donovan as Jimmy Cooper
Chris Carmack as Luke Ward

Production Code 402

---

Music Featured In This Episode
Why'd You Want to Live Here - Death Cab for Cutie
Rollin' - Limp Bizkit
LaDeeDaDee - Sunday Allstars
Melt Your Heart - Jenny Lewis
The Soldiering Life - The Decemberists

---

Next Week On An All-New The OC

*Ryan knocks on Seth's window, Seth opens it*

Seth: Aren't you supposed to be in Texas by now.

*Ryan holds up a WANTED sign*

---

*Seth, Ryan, Taylor, Anna, and Luke stand in a group at dawn at the boardwalk*

Seth: Long story short, we got to hide him out.

---
*Sandy walks up to Jimmy*

Sandy: These guys aren't going to come back out unless they can have you. That's the hard part. The easy part is; once they do come back out, we can snatch them and this case is closed.

Jimmy: And the only way they are going to come out is if I do.

---

*A man points a gun at Jimmy*

An All New The OC, Next Week, Same Time