A/N I apologize for how horrible this chapter is. I don't really know how I incorporated 'play fair' into it other than the very ending, and that's not even really it. Oh well. Thank you for your reviews, they really mean a lot! R/R, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Play Fair

Ryan hated the first day of school. To him it was the worst day out of the whole year. Not only did you have every single school day of the year ahead of you, but you also had to deal with the really annoying kids that tried to get caught up on their summer vacations. If they really cared so much about each other, they would've contacted each other in some way during the break, and if they didn't get that into their stupid little heads, he shouldn't be the one penalized for it.

So when he heard Seth swing open the pool house doors and shout, "It's time to get ready for your first day of school!" he knew it was going to be a bad day.

"Seth, go away!" He angrily said, throwing a pillow over his head as he tried to block out the bright rays of sunlight Seth had led in.

"But I brought you coffee," Seth said in a way that made it seem like everything was forgiven by that action. "And I made you a bagel..."

"I didn't ask you to," He replied irritably, sitting up straight in bed.

Seth shrugged and said, "I know, but not only is it your first day at a new school, you also apparently can't make your own bagels without burning them."

He glared at Seth and said, "And what makes you so sure of that?"

Seth smirked and said, "Need I remind you of the little incident on registration day?"

"That was only once!" He protested, the glare still fixed on his face.

Seth shrugged. "I didn't want to risk you giving yourself bad luck by burning your bagel again. I was merely looking out for my new brother."

Ryan's face softened a little bit at the new brother comment, but then his eyes turned hard again. "Still..."

Seth smirked and turned to leave. He quickly twirled back around when he got to the door. "Oh, and Ryan?"

"What Seth?" He asked with a long sigh.

Seth raised his eyebrows and said, "You might want to do something with that hair of yours. The last I heard, the bed-head look was not in at Harbor."

Seth quickly closed the door before Ryan could throw a pillow at him and whistled his way into the main house with a pleasant smile on his face.

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About an hour later Seth and Ryan pulled up at Harbor. Ryan quietly observed the campus once again, still amazed that this was where he was attending school. The same guys were playing out front, and the same people sat reading under trees or watching the others. He wondered if things were always like this, or if they traded off and tried something different every now and then.

He opened the passenger door and got out, closing it shut behind him. Seth had insisted for the well-being of the old ladies crossing the street that Ryan shouldn't drive, which earned him a death glare, though he seemed unfazed by it. He walked to Seth and together they proceeded to the entrance. "So, man, are you nervous?"

Ryan shrugged. "I don't know."

"Hmm, you excited? Ecstatic? Completely and utterly terrified?"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "I don't know," he repeated with agitation marking his words.

Seth sighed. "You should talk more."

"Or maybe you should shut up some," Ryan retorted.

Seth shrugged. "There's always that possibility, though it's not a very realistic one."

"And me talking more is realistic?" Ryan countered with a raise of his eyebrows. "Come on, seriously?"

"Stranger things have happened."

"Like what?"

Seth thought about this. "Um, we put a man on the moon?"

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "Still not going to happen."

Seth pursed his lips together in thought. "Um, we have a black president?"

Ryan shook his head. "Nope, still not going to do it."

Seth sighed and over-exaggerated by scratching his head in thought. "I know! George W. Bush was elected. Twice."

Ryan laughed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Seth, let's get inside."

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Marissa sighed as she locked her car and made her way inside of the school. As she was walking she saw Seth Cohen talking to the new kid. The blonde hair, blue eyed boy looked annoyed by whatever Seth was saying. She stood there watching for a second, completely transfixed by him. His hair was spiked in places, looking like a mix between styled hair and just plain bed hair. She looked him up and down and decided the look suited him well. His eyes – though annoyed – were shining as they looked at Seth, signaling that he was obviously comfortable around the geek. He wore jeans with a black t-shirt unbuttoned to reveal his wife-beater. She had to admit, he looked good. Really good.

He laughed at something Seth said and they ascended the stairs before walking past a group of people that blocked them from her view. She bit her lip and shook her head at herself for paying such close attention to the new kid since she obviously couldn't have him. If it wasn't her mom holding her back, surely the rest of the school would. After spending the last three years of her life pretending that the new kids weren't worth her time, actually acknowledging him would be the most gossiped about thing at school.

She sighed and went to the lounge to find where her friends were sitting on the couch in the corner of the room, far away from everyone else so that no one could hear or bother them, but close enough so that they could hear snippets of others' conversations and see what was going on around them. Summer saw her first and smiled widely, waving her over. Marissa put on the fake smile that she'd come to master and headed towards them. "Hey, Coop, how's it going?"

She shrugged and sat down next to her best friend. "Fine. What were you guys talking about?"

One of the other popular girls, Jessica Douglas, opened her mouth and said, "We were just talking about the new kid. We haven't seen him come in yet."

She rolled her eyes. These people could be complete stalkers sometimes. "I saw him when walking in. He was hanging out front with Seth Cohen."

Sarah from the other day squealed and said, "Look, guys, he just entered the lounge!"

All eyes turned towards the boy that she had just been observing. He was looking at Seth with an amused expression as Seth talked animatedly about something. He diverted his eyes and suddenly looked Marissa's way. Their eyes locked and for the life of her she found that she couldn't look away. He offered her a small half smile that made her completely melt, so she offered him a soft smile in return. Seth must have said something to him that caught his attention because suddenly he turned and faced the geek.

"Hello, earth to Coop?" Summer asked, waving her hand in front of her friend's face.

Marissa blinked quickly and turned back to the group she was sitting with. "Hmm?"

"Did you not just hear a word that we said?" Summer asked with raised eyebrows.

Marissa shook her head and offered a sheepish smile. "Um, no...what did you guys just say?"

"We were just talking about how awesome it is that this is our senior year..." Summer trailed off. "What exactly were you looking at?"

She was about to say nothing when Sarah butted in and said, "I know! I know! She was totally staring at the new kid." She smirked and said, "Ha, told you he was hot."

Marissa rolled her eyes and said, "That is so not true. I was not staring at him."

"So you admit that he's hot?" Sarah asked with a wider smirk. Marissa glared at her but didn't say anything, finding it best just to shut her mouth. "I thought so."

"Geez, Sarah, why don't you get your own life and stop pestering her?" Summer said, finally coming to her friend's rescue. "It's like you're obsessed with her or something..."

Sarah glared in Summer's direction. "Okay, you know that's not true!"

Marissa rolled her eyes and quickly glanced back over to where she had last seen the new kid. He wasn't there anymore, but she spotted him sitting on the sofa next to Seth after giving the room a quick scan. He looked bored and she bit her lip to keep from smiling at the adorable look of irritation on his face. He looked up and saw her watching him again, so she quickly turned and pretended to listen to her friends. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get him off her mind.

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Ryan swore that the girl was the most beautiful one in the world, even though he had never really been the sappy or romantic type. In fact, he wasn't even the dating type, or the type that even hung out with girls unless he was making out with them or hooking up. He knew it was wrong, but that's just the way he was in Chino.

Seth was talking about something, but he had tuned out a long time ago, too busy staring at the girl. They had locked eyes and – as corny as it sounded – it had seemed like they were the only two people in the room. Seth had interrupted his moment by loudly commenting that he was obviously not paying attention and started wondering what he could be staring at when Ryan had turned and glared at him. Now Ryan wanted to find out more about this girl without seeming obvious, though he supposed that wasn't really possible. "Hey, Seth?"

Seth sighed and said, "You just interrupted my story about the time I stayed at sea on my sailboat for a week."

"Sorry, now anyways, I have something to ask you," Ryan said, wringing his hands as he tried to think of a good way to put this.

"Okay, I'm all ears. Hit me, though not literally." Seth nodded and gave him an encouraging look.

"Well, the other day I was getting a muffin..." he started.

Seth nodded and rested his hand on his chin. "Hmm, I see. Now, was this a particularly good muffin?"

Ryan rolled his eyes and shrugged. "I don't know. Anyways, so when I was getting this muffin..."

"The average muffin that was neither good nor bad..."

Ryan sighed and tried to remain calm. "Yes, the average muffin that was neither good or bad. Anyways, so when I was getting this muffin..."

Seth stopped him. "Hold on there. Now, what kind of muffin was this?"

Ryan glared at his friend and ignored his comment. "So there was this girl."

Seth grinned for a few seconds, and then remembered he was supposed to be acting serious so he pursed his lips. "Mhmm, I see."

"And she also wanted a muffin, but there was only one left, so we argued over it for a little while," Ryan said, remembering the argument. "When it was all done we decided to split the muffin. Anyways, so I was hoping you could tell me her name..."

Seth nodded and rubbed his chin, trying to look serious. "Okay, I see what you're saying. Well, what did this girl look like?"

"She's sitting over there..." Ryan said, gesturing towards the girl that had captivated his attention.

Seth followed his friend's gesture and saw the girl staring at the two of them before quickly blushing and looking away. He shook his head and mumbled, "Well, this is a problem."

"What's a problem?"

"This girl you like, is she the one with the light brown, almost blonde hair?" Seth asked. Ryan nodded. "Okay, so basically you don't need to know her name. She'll never talk to you anyways. She's too stuck up and snobby for that."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Ryan asked, just as the bell rang.

Seth shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter anyways. Come on, let's get to class."

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During second period Marissa had Communication Applications...aka speech.

She hadn't wanted to take it, but at Harbor it was a required course that had to be taken worth a full credit. She had put it off as long as she could, but considering she was a senior, she couldn't delay the inevitable anymore. She walked in and the teacher told her to find the table with her name on it. She searched the room and finally found it, then took her seat. She glanced at the spot next to her since it was a table for two, not an individual desk and saw that the person sitting next to her was named Ryan Atwood. Her eyebrows furrowed. She had never met a Ryan Atwood, had she?

She glanced up just as the new kid walked in and was given instructions to find his seat by the teacher. He looked around and her stomach fluttered when she saw him walk over and sit next to her. He looked at the sticker with her name on it and asked, "Marissa Cooper?"

She nodded and looked into his amazing blue eyes. "Ryan Atwood?"

He nodded and said, "Nice to formally meet you."

She smiled a little and said, "You too."

The teacher tapped on her desk and everyone turned their attention towards her. "Hello, my name is Mrs. O'Dowd and I am the Communication Applications teacher. Now, I know that you all probably think that this is just a blow off class because we all obviously know how to communicate, but that just isn't so...." She began a long speech about how hard communication is and how it can help us not only better understand others, but ourselves as well.

Marissa tried to listen, but it was hard to when she could practically feel the heat radiating off of Ryan beside her. The table wasn't really that large and the two of them were close enough that if she scooted over a couple of centimeters, their legs would be touching. It was tempting, but also completely inappropriate, especially considering her stance when it came to talking to new people. She silently cursed her mother and her own reputation for creating this problem for her.

"Now, for the last half hour of class, I want you to have a conversation with the person sitting next to you. Take some notes and you will have to present five interesting things on each other next time. Sound easy? Okay, good, now get started!" Mrs. O'Dowd said with a smile.

Ryan turned to her and said, "So..."

She sighed and said, "Yeah, so..."

They both frowned for a moment, and then he asked, "What's your favorite color?"

She thought about it and then shrugged. "I don't really have one. You?"

He shrugged. "White, or black....or maybe gray...."

"So you don't really have one either?" She asked with a smirk.

He nodded and smiled a little. "I guess not."

She decided that she could use this situation to learn more about him and where he really came from. "So, you hang out with Seth Cohen?"

"Is that a problem?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow tauntingly.

"No, it's just weird. No one hangs out with him..." she explained.

"Well, maybe you guys are all just a bunch of idiots," he suggested, quickly getting defensive.

She raised her hands in surrender and said, "I'm just telling you how things are. Whether it's right or wrong depends on how you look at it. Now, tell me about your parents."

"I don't have any," he said, his eyes going empty. The loss of emotion shocked and even slightly scared her.

"Come on, everyone has parents," she pushed.

His eyes narrowed at her and in a threatening way he said, "Just don't, okay?"

"Fine."

"Good."

She sighed and looked at the clock; they still had another twenty minutes. "Okay, I know, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

He was silent for a minute and she thought he was going to get upset again, but then he said, "One: Seth."

"Oh..."

"The Cohens adopted me," he officially informed her.

"Why?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"Because someone had to," he replied quietly, his eyes staring at the desk for a long time.

She figured he wanted to change the subject so she quickly said, "I have a younger sister named Caitlin. She really gets on my nerves sometimes."

He looked up at her with a sad smile and asked, "Is that so?"

She nodded and smiled back at him. "Yeah, she is pretty cool though...even if I would never actually admit that to her face."

The teacher walked by and asked, "Are you two taking notes?"

They got out paper and a pen and the teacher smiled, then walked away. Ryan looked at her and said, "Okay, so I know that you have a younger sister, don't have a favorite color, and you steal peoples' muffins..."

"I was waiting for you to bring that up..." she said with a roll of her eyes. The smile on her face gave away her true feelings. "Okay, so I know that you were adopted by the Cohens, you have one brother, and your favorite color is either black, white, or gray."

"You know more about me than I do about you," he pointed out, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Well, what more do you want to know about me?" she asked, the question causing them both to grow silent.

"Do your parents love you?" he suddenly asked.

She gave him an odd look and said, "I guess so...."

He gave her a bitter smile and said, "Good. Any hobbies?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, I guess I like to listen to music...."

"Anything else?"

"Um, my favorite book is 'The Pact' by Jodi Picoult?"

He smiled and said, "Kirsten loves that book."

"Kirsten Cohen?" she asked.

He nodded and said, "Yeah. She even went and met the author over the summer."

"Wait, that's so cool!"

The bell rang and they both grew silent. He looked at her intently for a minute before saying, "I don't think we finished our conversation."

She stood and slung her bag over her shoulder. "What do you think we should do about that then?" She asked with a small, almost flirtatious smile.

He shrugged and gave a smile of his own. "I guess it means we have to exchange numbers so we can get our five interesting things about each other..."

"Yeah, I know, we don't want to get a bad grade, now do we?" she pointed out. She took his hand and quickly wrote down her number on his palm. She leaned in close to his ear and softly said, "Call me," before heading out the door, smirking to herself the whole way to her next class.

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"Wait, you gave him your number?!" Sarah asked exasperatedly. "But you're, like, banned from talking to new kids! Banned!"

Marissa rolled her eyes along with Summer. "This is completely business only. Exceptions can be made for situations such as these."

Sarah rolled her eyes and said, "Whatever. You are totally going against the rules here."

Marissa rolled her eyes once again. "You are being overly dramatic."

Sarah sighed and whined, "No fair, I want to give the new guy my number."

"His name is Ryan," Marissa said with an annoyed tone.

"Woah, someone's getting a little moody," Sarah commented with a smirk. "Afraid that I'm going to steal him from you?"

"Oh, please, like he would ever choose you over me," Marissa said with a small, rude laugh.

Sarah grinned wickedly and asked, "Want to bet?"

Summer quickly interjected, "Um, we should probably start heading to our lockers...."

They both ignored Summer and Marissa asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Sarah shrugged and said, "Let's see if you really can make him actually like you."

Summer weakly continued, "Cause you know, class is about to start again..."

Marissa ignored her best friend and her eyes narrowed at Sarah. "Like? That's way too easy."

"Well, what do you propose then?" Sarah asked, an evil smile on her face.

Marissa stared at Sarah for a long moment and then said, "I can make him fall in love with me by New Years."

"Four months is a long time," Sarah pointed out.

"Do you have a better idea?" Marissa challenged.

Sarah thought about it and then said, "I'll be kind and let you have that long." She paused and then said, "So the day we come back from winter break, we will get someone to judge if he loves you or not. If I win and he's not in love with you, then you will have to make sure that I am prom queen this year."

Marissa thought about this and ignored Summer's desperate looks. "And, assuming I actually go along with this, what do I get out of it?"

Sarah grinned widely and said, "It's simple: I'll stop people from always talking about you."

Marissa let herself imagine this life where she could walk down the hallway without everyone whispering behind her back or shoot her dirty looks. She never knew exactly what Sarah said to people other than the 'no socializing with outsiders' thing, but from the nasty glares she received she had to guess it was pretty bad. "Coop, think about this long and hard before giving an answer!" Summer advised.

Marissa glanced at her best friend and even though she wasn't technically allowed to speak to outsiders due to her mom's weird way of thinking, mouthed 'sorry' before looking back at Sarah. "Okay, deal," she said, and with a quick shake of their hands, sealed her fate.