Hey guys. Sorry for the delay on the chapter. I have some shoulder problem with my bursa, i cant remember how to spell it, and i dont feel like going to get the paper with the diagnosis. Anyhow i havent had used of my right arm for about a week and a half, so while i had this chapter in my head it took me a long time to type it out.

I really appreciate how everyone has been reading this story. It has almost 20,000 hits which is unimaginable, and the people that review make it even better.

So I have something for you at the end of the chapter... it's a link... you have to read through the chapter and then when you get to the end you can see. It's kind of a thanks for the support for the story again.

Read and Review!

xoxo Jules

Chapter 36: "-and face the truth"

Summers POV:

Doors slamming. Weird considering it's 3 am. I look up to see Ryan's huddled form in the middle of the kitchen floor. He's breathless and his face is red and stained with tears. Shit, something must have happened at Marissas.

"Ryan, Ry what's going on? Where's Coop?" I ask as I rush to his side and crouch beside him.

Ryan heaved heavily, struggling to breathe.

"Marissa's she's, I'm - I'm fine-" He said clutching his chest.

The room is so tense and my blood is rushing so fast I can hear my pulse in my ears.

"What's going on!" A voice says behind me as the light turns on in the kitchen. Alex and Seth rush over to us.

"God Ryan are you okay?" Alex asks rushing to Ryan's side. She put a gentle hand on Ryans back which he roughly shoved off.

"It's okay! Sum, Alex, just go check on Marissa will you?"

Alex and I immediately look up, our eyes meet momentarily. He said that we need to go check on Marissa. If you think about it is Ryan a threat to himself or others? No. Well others maybe but it depends on the situation. Is Marissa a threat to herself or others? Yes. On both counts.

Without another word being said Alex and I fly to our feet. As I head for the door I feel a strong hand on my arm. I turn around. Seth

"Hey, be careful alright?" He tells me. His eyes bore into my own.

I nod and plant a quick kiss on his cheek before taking off across the yard after Alex in pursuit of Marissa. I could feel his watchful eyes on me the entire way.

Breathless we reach her bedroom window, or the door rather that can be reached from the balcony. The door was still open from when Ryan had stormed out.

"Oh my god!" Alex said rushing beside Marissa who was on her bed cupping her face, blood pouring out of her hands. She turns to me frantically "Can you get some towels!"

I snapped out of my thoughts. The whole scene was too shocking. Sad. I really wonder how many years all of this trauma has taken off all of our lives.

"Um, yeah." I hurry to the bathroom and grab a plethora of towels from the closet. Did I just say plethora? I really must be loosing it. "Here!" I passed the towels to Alex who helps Marissa remove her hands from her bleeding nose and replace them with the towels.

Her mouth hung open as she was struggling to breath. See, coke is all glamorous when it is celebrities doing it in the VIP rooms of clubs but then you see things like this… Oh my god, is that like TOTALLY horrible of me to think like that right now?

I watch Alex help Marissa as the bleeding slowly subsides. Marissa's breath was steadying although she was now coughing displaying some of the blood that she just swallowed. Lovely.

Suddenly I realize I am being less than a friend.

"Are you okay Coop?" I ask slowly making my way over to the bed as she slowly pulled the towels away from her face… her nose began to drain again. "… it's okay, I think I know the answer." I give a weak smile. I'm not always good in awkward situations.

About ten minutes later when we were confident that the blood stopped flowing we let Marissa remove the towels. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying I assume.

"I'm sorry about all of this." She said keeping her eyes fixated on the bloody towels.

"No worries Kid." Alex said brushing some hair from Marissa's face.

"Yeah!" I pipe up, "what are friends for anyway right?" I give her a small smile

"So what's going on Marissa? What happened tonight?" Alex asks in a soft voice.

Marissa sighs for a minute and takes a moment to collect herself.

"You remember Volchok Sum?" She began as she turns to face me squarely.

Volchok, Volchok… Doesn't ring a bell. Oh wait, the dirty possibly rabid drug dealer from Chicago that used to tote Marissa around on his arm or drop her off on the steps of Hartford house when she was too trashed to get herself home? Yeah, I remember him too well.

"Yeah." I said giving her the abridged version of my memory. "What does he have to do with anything?"

Marissa turns back to Alex.

"Volchok, or Kevin, whatever, was my ex-kinda from Chicago. Anyhow he moved out here and we ran into each other the other day… when I was with Ryan."

I can feel my eyes get wide. If there were two guys whose paths should never cross it would be Ryan Atwood and Kevin Volchok. They both were extremely angry people, well Ryan's not angry all of the time but he gets possessive, not in a bad way but when it comes to the people that he cares about… and Volchok, well that guy is just insane.

"Kevin wanted to talk and I didn't."

"Because you're over him." Alex more states than questions

"That and the fact that I was with Ryan. I was NOT in the mood for a blood bath. Thing is I never really broke up with him when we dipped out of Chicago, so I figured I at least owed him an explanation yanno?"

Alex and I both nodded our heads.

"So I slipped him my address and he showed up… we ended up talking and it was good. It was familiar. He doesn't act like I'm fragile or like I cant stand on my own two feet. He's always just treated me like a normal person. So like I said, it was fine. We talked and drank a bit. He kissed me, then he asked when he could see me again."

Alex interrupts.

"So is Ryan this mad over a kiss?" She asks

Marissa shook her head no. For the first time the fresh bruises, hickeys were visible on her neck…

"He came over the next day. Jimmy was at work and Rhett, Caitlin and Sophie were at school. We started fighting." Marissa explains as her eyes brim with tears.

"What like arguing?" I ask raising an eyebrow

"No." Marissa corrects me. "Like physically fighting."

It was then that I looked harder. Marissa has dark blue rings around each of her exposed wrists, bruises…

"He threw me against the wall… I kneed him in the stomach, and the he grabbed me and pinned me down on the ground and then it just got quiet… he kissed me, I tried to fight him off…" Her voice is lost, distant… "He, he um, he had a flask in his back pocket… he took a sip and then put it up to my mouth… my hands were pinned at my sides… one with his knee, the other with his hand… I finished the flask… and then he… it just happened." Her eyes glaze over as if she is recalling an event that just happened in someone else's life… anyone's but hers.

"Babe, it's not your fault, you tried to fight him off!" Alex said rubbing the small of her back.

"I didn't say no!" Marissa said softly

"But you tried to fight him off! He should have gotten the hint." Alex said again more firmly this time.

I got a sick twisted feeling in my stomach. I had been in this situation like thirteen too many times. This had been the first twelve years of my life. Meaningless sexual acts with meaningless guys, me trying to figure out so many times whether or not it was rape that it didn't even matter anymore.

"Summer?" Alex said turning to me. Her eyes plead for me to help.

I don't have any answers. I sigh slowly. This route was going nowhere, she is lost and confused. One thing that I do know is that Kevin Volchok is dirty, a walking cesspool for everything diseased. We need to deal with that aspect first. I sigh again.

"Did he use a condom?" I ask pointedly.

Both Marissa and Alex's eye snapped toward me.

"Summer!" Alex says in an almost warning tone.

I roll my eyes ignoring her annoyance. Objectivity is virtue.

"Did he use a condom Coop?" I ask again.

She looks down for a second. I can tell that she is thinking.

"Yeah, I think so…" Her brow furrows again, "I mean, I don't really know… maybe not… wait he… I felt… uh, no. No, I don't think he did." She shook her head as the corners of her mouth turn down.

I nod. Someone needs to think about this situation objectively. Apparently that person is me.

"Alright, well, … I guess tomorrow we should go to the clinic, we can go somewhere out of town, Chino or Riverside or something then you can get the morning after pill and a rape kit just to be sure."

Marissa was chewing her lip, the area around her nose was still stained with blood. I smile softly at her.

"You should go wash up and then the three of us should try to get some shut eye."

She nods standing up heading for the bathroom.

"Thanks again guys." She says softly before shutting the door.

Alex turns to me as soon as Marissa is out of earshot.

"Do you think she's going to be alright?" She asks

I shrug. Marissa Cooper was never alright. She was born beautifully broken, comfortably confused, triumphantly tragic.

"I hope so."

I start to strip the bloody sheets from the bed.

Seth's POV:

I've always, and never had a way with words. This situation sadly is no exception. I mean, I feel like I can comfort people alright but this isn't just anyone, this is Ryan. He's like a rock, dudes like him don't cry…

I take a seat next to him Indian style on the kitchen floor.

"Wanna tell me what happened man?" I ask softly, maybe a little too soft. I'm not quite sure he heard me… until he speaks up.

"I don't even know man."

He was in a white tank top and sweats as usual… I'm in my simpsons boxers and a star wars shirt but in my defense it is way early and I couldn't find anything else to sleep in.

"I went over, and she was crying… I tried to hug her, she turned away and then I saw these massive hickeys on her neck…" He spoke slowly with his eyes closed and his head turned downward.

"So you think that she cheated on you?" I ask

That would be the topping on the cake. As if things could not get worse for He and Marissa.

He shrugs in response.

"Who would she cheat with though? She doesn't know anybody here… well besides us and I didn't hook up with her, and then there's Luke, Oh my god was it Luke, I always thought that they seemed kind of compatible in a dysfunctional why is this happening sort of way but I never-"

"SETH!" Ryan cuts me off… I'm rambling

"Sorry."

Ryan sighs before he begins again.

"Some guy, this scrub Kevin Volchok from Chicago."

My eyes got wide. Kevin Volchok. Back in Chi Town he'd only mugged me up like a couple thousand times.

"He used to talk to Marissa right?" I ask already knowing the answer

"Yeah. He showed up, they ran into one another and bam." He said

I thought for a minute. Something about this doesn't sound right… especially Marissa just fessing up to it.

"And she told you all of this?" I ask

Ryan looks back at me almost angrily.

"She didn't have to Seth! It was all over her. She had hickeys on her neck for the love of God!"

"But she didn't confirm it! She didn't say 'Hey Ryan I slept with my diseased ex!'" This situation may be turning around.

"Well she didn't deny it either!" Ryan said flying to his feet recognizing his possible error.

"I think that you should talk to her dude."

Ryan nodded lazily.

"Yeah." He was about to head towards the door.

"Hey man," He turned around. "try in the morning, Summer and Alex are over there with her right now, they've got it under control."

He stood for a moment, pondering what I said before nodding and heading past the pool house and down to the beach. For a moment I thought about going after him. Then I realized that he might night time.

Time like this its hard to know what to do. Trying to help can make things ten times worse. It's hard to trust your gut when there are so many people involved with guts telling them different things.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen."

Albert Einstein

So like i said there is going to be someing down here.

I dont know how much any of you know about vidding, i supposed thats what they call it. Anyway i made a video for the story, it kinda ties it all together with the song Bohemian Rhapsody. I took two different versions, one by Michael Buble, and the other Lauryn Hill and the Fugees, and edited them together to make this video. I really hope that you guys enjoy it!

they wont let me post the link here but it's going to be my profile homepage. Just click on my name and then homepage and the link will be there. it will play automatically!

yours,

jules