A/N You guys are awesome and I'm sorry I didn't post before. I've been going through a lot. Someone I thought I knew hurt me and I couldn't write. Then my grandma got sick and went to the hospital and I was freaking out about that. So please forgive me for not posting sooner cause you guys deserved another post.

Chapter 12: Clean up your own mess

Monday came quicker than Marissa wanted. She had spent every free moment with Ryan after their first night together on New Years and the last couple of days of their break were amazing. She made a point of ignoring her friends from school so that she couldn't be reminded about that stupid bet. She knew she had hell to pay when they went to school, but she wanted everything leading up to it to be absolutely perfect. This was her chance to show Ryan that they were great together, that he should still continue wanting to be with her after he found out about the bet. They went to the beach, the pier, the mall, Chino, a park, the movies, and anything else they could think of. Not to mention they spent nights in bed becoming acquainted with the other's body.

Early Monday morning Marissa's phone alarm went off, signaling she needed to get up and head back to her house before her parents realized she wasn't home. She turned off the alarm quickly, trying not to wake Ryan up just yet. She turned back to the position they had been in, her head rested in the crook his neck, her arm slung loosely across his bare front, and his arms wrapped possessively around her naked body. After their activities, they didn't want to put their clothes back on. They both enjoyed the feeling of their bare bodies pressed together, so they slept in the nude.

After a few minutes Marissa let out a small sigh, deciding she really did need to get up despite how comfortable she was with Ryan. Her parents would kill her and restrict her from ever coming over to Ryan's house again if they knew she had spent the night with him, especially since it had been a school night. What they didn't understand was Marissa's bed no longer felt comfortable, that it couldn't be if Ryan wasn't there. She loved his arms around her, she loved his manly smell – she just loved him.

She gently kissed his neck and then slowly got up, carefully pulling his arms from her. She was sitting on the edge of the bed looking around for her clothes when she felt a strong arm pull her back down. She giggled and turned to see Ryan watching her with a lazy smile. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I have to get home before my parents wake up." Even as she said this, he wrapped his arms around her as she rested her head on his chest.

"Or, we could forget about your parents, ditch school, and do something fun," he suggested.

She smiled. "I would love to, but you know we need to get back to school. Finals are coming soon and we need to be there for the last minute information that will be on it."

He let out a dramatic sigh. "Fine, I suppose we can go to school."

She laughed. "I'm glad you realized that, Will you let me go now?"

He shook his head. "Of course not."

She rolled her eyes but continued to smile. She couldn't not smile when she was around him. "Ryan, I need to go home and get ready."

He looked over at his clock. "It's not even seven."

"My parents wake up every morning at seven," she reminded him.

"But I don't want you to go." He gave her an adorable smile that made her feel warm and giddy inside.

She pulled herself from his arms and said, "I'll be back later when I'm dressed."

"But I like watching you get dressed," he said, eying her suggestively.

She laughed. "If I recall, you like watching me get undressed even better."

He smiled and put his hands behind his head, looking at her with tired eyes. "Yeah, that too."

She laughed as she dressed, but slowly her mind turned to what school would bring. She kept a smile on her face, but inside she was terrified. What would Ryan say when he learned the truth? She walked over to the bed and kissed Ryan's cheek. "I expect you to be up and ready in an hour." She gave him a firm look and then walked to her house.

As she got dressed, she thought of Sarah and what she had in store today. How would they judge, anyways? How could you tell someone loved you? She sighed and sat on her bed, running her brush through her hair as her mind wandered. She had taken a shower and dried her hair, but didn't straighten it. As she sat thinking, she heard her phone ring and quickly answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey Coop," Summer said. Marissa relaxed a little hearing her best friend's voice until Summer said, "So, it's D-day...how do you feel?"

"Terrified," she admitted.

"Do you think he really does love you?" Summer asked.

"I don't know, I hope he does but I kind of don't at the same time." Marissa sighed. "If he loves me then it's great because I love him too, but he's going to be so mad. But if he doesn't love me, then he won't really care either way."

"You should have listened to me."

"I know," Marissa said with a large sigh. "I wish I had never gotten involved in the bet."

"Well, I have to go. I'll see you at school?"

Marissa nodded and sighed. "Look for me, I'll be the one with a broken heart." She hung up and finished getting ready. She stared in her reflection in the mirror, at the hope in her eyes. She wondered if the day would bring heartache or if Ryan could find a way to look past everything she'd done. She laughed at herself softly; she was making it sound like she'd killed someone. When she thought back to Ryan's story with his mom, she immediately wiped the smile off her face.

On her way to the pool house, she ran into Seth. He was sitting out on the patio with a cup of coffee in his hand, staring down at the table. She slowed and he looked up, catching her eye. She bit her lip and quietly said, "Hey Seth."

He nodded towards her. "Marissa."

She stood there awkwardly, fidgeting with her fingers. "Um, I was just going to go get Ryan..." She started walking towards the door but his voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Why did you do it?" He asked, looking at her angrily.

She sighed and walked towards the table, pulling a chair back. "You mind?" Before he could answer, she sat across from him. "At first it was because Sarah provoked me. Then I wanted to win because I was sick of her spreading bad things about me. I was sick of people acting like I was some horrible person, because I'm not." She let out a deep breath. "And then I fell in love with him and I couldn't bear to let him go. I knew if I told him, he would leave me, so I tried to make him fall in love with me too so that maybe he wouldn't care."

Seth didn't say anything while she spoke, just stared at his coffee mug. When she couldn't stand the silence anymore, he finally said, "Did you ever think that the reason people think you're such a bitch is because you are?"

"I'm not-"

He cut her off. "You ignore people because they're not from Newport, and the one person that you did talk to was because of a bet with a friend." He stood and shook his head. "Think about it." Without another sound, he walked away.

Marissa sighed and stood, pushing in the chair before brushing her hair out of her face and continuing towards the pool house door. She slowly opened it and put a smile on her face as she walked in. "Are you ready?" she asked Ryan.

He nodded and smiled at her. He stood and made his way to her, wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her softly before pulling back and giving her a gentle hug. He looked into her eyes and gave her a smile that made her knees weak. Did he love her? "I got ready just like you asked." He looked at her suggestively. "Do I get a reward for being a good boy?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "I suppose I can give you one small reward..." She leaned in and kissed him passionately, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Mmm.." he murmured, kissing her back just as passionately. After a few minutes he pulled away, breathing heavily. "I should be a good boy more often."

She laughed breathlessly. "Good idea. Maybe I'll give you a little more later when we get home from school."

His eyes sparkled. "I'm looking forward to it."

She continued to laugh and pulled away, grabbing his hand. "Come on, let's get to school you horny boy." He laughed and followed her.

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Sarah Fisher hated Marissa Cooper. Ever since the first grade she had paled in comparison to little miss perfect. The boys always chased her on the playground. The teachers always knew her first name before she even stepped in the door of their classroom. She was always on the A honor roll. She was the first girl to be asked out in the fourth grade. She was the prettiest girl in their middle school, and the most popular in high school. She got every guy she wanted by just smiling. She won all the awards. She was known by all the adults in Newport. She was rich. Her only flaw was that she didn't talk to outsiders. The only person more annoying than Marissa was Taylor Townsend, but no one liked her anyways.

Sarah had hated Marissa for eleven years and she was willing to do whatever it took in order to make her hurt. That's why she spread so many rumors about Marissa; rumors that weren't anywhere close to being true. She told people that she looked down upon people if they were poor, that she had slept with teachers and thats why she got such good grades. She even made up a story about Marissa having an affair with a married man. People believed whatever Sarah said, no matter how outrageous, because they wanted gossip. They thrived on it.

When Sarah arrived at school on Monday morning, she knew she was going to lose the bet. That much had been made obvious to her on New Years when she saw the way Ryan followed Marissa like an obedient little dog. He was head over heels in love with Marissa, and it annoyed Sarah because he was actually a nice guy and of course Marissa would get a nice guy to fall for her. Not to mention Sarah had a crush on Ryan ever since he stopped the guy from hitting her at a party.

But just because she lost the bet didn't mean she couldn't hurt Marissa. She'd seen the way Marissa looked at Ryan too, and she was just as if not more so in love with Ryan. After Marissa begged her to call off the bet, Sarah was pretty sure she hadn't told him about it, which made things even more perfect. At the beginning Sarah had planned on finding someone to judge Ryan's love for Marissa, but now she had a better idea. A more painful one.

As she walked down the halls, she caught sight of Ryan and Marissa leaning against Marissa's locker, staring at each other in a way that made Sarah feel like throwing up. Ryan held his hand up to Marissa's face and brushed the hair away, tucking it behind her ear. Sarah rolled her eyes and opened her locker, pulling out the books she would need for class. When she closed it she saw Ryan lean in and kiss Marissa in what could only be perceived as a loving way. Sarah sighed and leaned against her locker, looking away from the grossly cute couple She smiled when she realized she was about to destroy them.

When she looked back, she saw that they were gone. She walked to the lounge and saw Ryan getting a coffee. She smiled, taking this as her chance. She grabbed the first guy she could find and pulled him with her to Ryan. "What the hell?"

"Just go along with it." She observed the nerd she had grabbed and gave him a dazzling smile. "I'll go out with you tonight."

This seemed to be a good enough incentive and the nerd nodded. Sarah discreetly rolled her eyes. When she got to Ryan she said, "Ryan! It's good to see you."

He turned to her and gave her a polite smile. "Sarah," he acknowledged.

"So, where's Marissa?" she questioned with a bright smile.

He looked behind her and said, "She left to go ask a teacher a question." He looked at Sarah's face. "Why, did you want to talk to her?"

This was perfect. She shook her head. "No." She smiled sweetly. "I actually wanted to talk to you."

"Me?" Ryan questioned with a raise of his eyebrows.

She nodded. "Yeah." She turned and saw the nerd staring at them, confused. "Have you met my friend..." She gave the nerd a questioning stare.

"Jude. Jude McCartney," Jude spoke up.

Ryan looked between Jude and Sarah, not seeing how this pertained to him. "Um, no...nice to meet you Jude, I'm Ryan Atwood."

"Everyone knows who you are because you're dating Marissa Cooper," Jude spoke up. He saw Sarah shoot him a look. "What? It's true."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Anyways, Jude here is going to evaluate you."

Ryan gave her a weird look. "Evaluate me?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes."

Ryan looked at her tiredly. "And what exactly is Jude evaluating me on?"

Jude decided to butt in. "Yeah, what exactly am I evaluating him on?"

"We'll get to that in a minute," Sarah said with a sly smile. "But for now, I have some questions for you."

"Um, isn't it time for class?" Ryan said, trying to escape.

She grabbed his arm. "Class doesn't start for forty five minutes and you know that. Marissa always brings you to school early so she can socialize."

Ryan sighed. "What questions?"

She dragged Ryan to the couch. "Sit." He rolled his eyes but sat down. She sat on the table in front of him and made Jude sit next to Ryan. "Okay, we're going to play a game. I want you to clear your mind. Then I'm going to say a bunch of stuff and you're supposed to tell me the first thing that pops into your head."

"I don't see the point of this."

"You will. Now, are you game?"

Ryan looked at her like she was crazy, but then sat back in the couch. "Fine." He closed his head and let out a deep breath. "Okay, it's clear."

"Alright, let's start off easy. Color."

"Red."

"Sport."

"Baseball."

"Band."

"Journey."

"Movie."

"The Notebook." At that his eyes flew open. "Um, Marissa made me watch it..."

Sarah smirked. "Okay, that was fun. But now onto the real stuff. Close your eyes and I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions now, okay?" He nodded and closed his eyes again. "Would you rather drown or fall off a cliff?"

"Fall off a cliff."

"Computer or laptop?"

"Laptop."

"Sunny or rainy?"

"Rainy."

"Paul McCartney or John Lennon?"

"John."

"Ringo or George?"

"George."

"Action or horror?"

"Action."

"Do you love Marissa?"

"Yes." His eyes flew open again and he looked at her with a panicked expression. "I uh, I didn't mean to say that..."

"So you don't love Marissa?" Sarah said with a smirk.

He sighed. "I, um, didn't say that either..."

"Aw, look at that Jude, Ryan Atwood is blushing!" Sarah squealed. "So cute."

"I am not blushing..."

She rolled her eyes and turned to Jude. "What do you think Jude? Does he love her?"

Jude studied Ryan and then nodded. "Yeah, I think he does."

Ryan sighed. "Look, this is none of your business Sarah. Mine and Marrissa's relationship is between us and only us."

Sarah raised her eyebrows, pretending to be shocked. "Of course it does, Ryan! Don't you know the rules of the bet? Today is judging day."

Ryan gave her a confused look. "Bet?"

Sarah put a hand over her mouth and dramatically said, "Oh, she didn't tell you?"

Ryan's eyes narrowed. "Sarah, what are you talking about?"

"The bet? Between me and Marissa?" Sarah continued. "You know, the one we started back on the first day of school?"

Ryan still didn't seem to understand. "What bet?"

"The one where we bet if Marissa could get you to fall in love with her?" Sarah said, waiting to see his reaction.

His eyes flashed for a moment, but then they went back to normal. "I don't believe you."

"You don't?" Sarah said, raising her eyebrows. She put her hand dramatically to her chest. "Why Ryan, I'm hurt." She looked behind Ryan and smiled widely. Boy he had good timing! "If you don't believe me, why don't we ask your brother?"

Ryan followed her eyes and saw Seth standing behind him. "Seth?" Ryan questioned, his eyes showing his insecurities.

"Seth, I was just telling Ryan about the bet," Sarah informed him. She patted Ryan's knee. "But Marissa didn't tell him anything about it and he doesn't believe me."

Ryan looked at Seth and softly asked, "Is it true?"

Seth stared at his brother and for a second Sarah thought he was going to lie. Then, after a lot of struggle, Seth said, "Yeah, it's true. Sarah told me about it the other day and I talked to Marissa this morning."

Ryan's voice dropped. "You talked to Marissa?"

Seth nodded. "Right before she picked you up."

Sarah put her hand on Ryan's knee, pretending to be sorry for Ryan. "I'm so sorry...I thought she would tell you for sure. I mean, how do you just keep that from someone?"

Ryan didn't look at her, but down at his hands. "Can you guys leave me alone? I need to deal with this on my own."

Sarah nodded and very gently said, "It's okay, we understand. But if you do need to talk..."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Sarah stood and pulled Jude with her. "Come on Jude, let's go."

Jude looked at Ryan. "What was the point of me being here?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "A second opinion. Now let's go, stop bothering Ryan!"

Sarah left with Jude and Seth followed behind, leaving Ryan alone with his thoughts.

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Marissa had been asking her English teacher a question about the current book they were reading. Now that she had that sorted out, she wanted to go spend the remaining half hour before class started with her boyfriend. She made her way to the lounge where Ryan said he would be and smiled when she saw him sitting on the couch. He seemed lost in thought and looked so adorable with his brooding face on. She made her way to him and softly said, "Hey."

He didn't look up at her as he mumbled, "Hey."

She furrowed her eyebrows and sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He didn't look at her and his voice was so quiet that she almost couldn't hear him. "Sarah told me."

Her heart stopped. "Ryan, I..."

"You lied to me," he said in an eerily calm voice. "You lied to me since the second day I knew you. Everything Seth ever said about you was true."

She shook her head and tried to blink back the tears starting to form. "No, Ryan, that's not true. I started the bet with her because I wanted her to stop spreading so many rumors about me..."

"You used me," he accused, but his words lacked emotion.

She nodded. "At first that's what I did, but then things changed." She wiped away a tear. "I changed because I started to like you, and then I loved you and I didn't want to be with you because of the bet anymore. I didn't care about it anymore at all because I loved you and I want to be with you."

Ryan stood and looked at her like she was pathetic. Then he softly said, "Well congratulations, you win." With that, he walked away.

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Guess what? I'm going to see Paul McCartney next month!! Just thought I'd share the good news.

Individual Replies:

hpfangurl12993: Sorry I didn't reply before. As I said, lots of stuff going on.

Juzzy88: Sorry :(

SRMfan: Fluff can be good, but yeah, I think something that contributes to the storyline is better.

Ninpinpin: Yes, I agree, she is.

Hopelesslyhalfhearted: lol, you need to get that checked out!

Snowwygirl14: It had been a while.

Sailaway: I'll try, but I promise you nothing.

oc_bunney: Yeah, that's what I was going for!

Kellybby: Here ya go.

Elly: I hope I didn't disappoint.

Bwunnies: Again, as I told elly, I hope I didn't disappoint.

G: Thank you.