Meeting the Uncle,A walk home from school,and a new Job
By the time Marissa reached home it was about four. She closed the door. She dropped her bag and headed for the kitchen. She wanted to find out what the smell was. She went in and found her uncle. He looked up.
"Hey Marissa so how was school?" He said. "It was different then Caldcott that's for sure." She said. "Yeah I guess it does take some getting used to. How about that counselor was he nice?" He said.
"She was really nice it turns out according to Seth that she's everybody's favorite in the school." She said. "Seth?" He said with a smile. "Seth Cohen he lives two blocks away and he seems kind of cool." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. He laughed. "So it seems like you had a pretty good first day" He said.
"Well that was until my locker decided to disagree with me" She said. He laughed. "It's not funny it was totally embarrassing!" She said laughing a little. "So how'd you get it to open?" He said. "I didn't Ryan helped me out" She said.
"Now why doesn't Ryan sound like a girl's name?" He said teasing. She laughed. "Because Uncle Pacey he's not a girl. He is very much a guy. Anyways he was sort of creepy he knew my name without even asking for it" She said.
"Maybe he asked around. That does tend to happen" He said. "Yeah well I've had enough of meet the new kid for today. I'm going to wash up for dinner" She said. "Marissa" He said. She turned around. "Yeah" She said.
"Your mother called she wanted to know if you were alright. She asked if you could call her later" He said. "Yeah well she should have thought about that before she picked him over me" She said walking away.
"Marissa wait" He said. "No Uncle Pacey I'm done with her. You don't know what it was like. I'm tired of it." She said not wanting to go further. "So talk to me" He said. "There's no point I'm just done with her, with my dad, with all of it. Excuse me" She said walking away. Pacey watched her go.
A little while later Marissa was still in her room. He was bringing her pasta he could tell from the argument that she wouldn't be coming out. He knocked on the door.
"Maris?" He said. "I'm not hungry." She said. "Can I come in?" He said. He felt the lock turn and she was standing behind the open door. "It is your house." She said.
"It's your house too Marissa" He said putting the pasta down on her desk. "Uncle Pacey I appreciate you agreeing to let me move in but this is not my house" She said sadly.
"Yes it is kiddo and it's going to be your home for as long as you want it to be. I mean you gotta get sick of me sometime right?" He said joking sitting next to her on the bed. She laughed. "How do you do that?" She said. "Do what?" He said.
"Make me feel better" She said. "Well it's a challenge but I've had a lot of practice" He said. She smiled. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you it's not your fault" She said looking at him.
"Hey I can handle you. After all we do come from the same Witter mold" He said. Except that I'm a Cooper" She said reminding him. "That's just a technicality" He said. She laughed. "Anyways I had to come in and bring you your dinner because what else where you going to eat your pencils?" He said.
"I am hungry." She pointed out. "So go eat. I have to get back to the restaurant and help close up you going to be okay?" He said. "Yeah I'll be fine" She said blinking. "Alright well if you need me I got my cell but if you can't reach me there's always Ryan" He said teasing her. "Shut up" She said joking and breaking out into a smile. " See ya later Maris" He said leaving.
At lunch the next day she sat outside at one of the picnic benches. She sat reading. "The scarlet letter no doubt a bore" Ryan said sitting down. "You again." She said looking up from her book. "You seem surprised to see me" He said.
"Well I'm not" She said not giving him the satisifaction. "So how do you like Harbor so far Marissa?" He said. She looked up at him. "Okay how do you know my name?" She said determined to find out. "That's really bothering you isn't it?" He said.
"No" She said irritated. He smiled with a laugh. "You know Seth Cohen?" He said finally deciding to tell her. "Yeah we met briefly" She said. "Well I'm living with the Cohen's and I heard Seth mention seriously like a thousand times that he had to pair up with a new student" He said.
"So what are you like related to the Cohen's?" She said. "No there just my legal guardians" He said. "Oh" She said. "So what about you? Do you live here with your parents?" He said. "No I moved in with my Uncle" She said. "Well that sounds like fun" He said.
"Well Uncle Pacey is all about the fun. In fact you might know him he opened up a bistro blue fish it's by the pier" She said suddenly wanting to talk to him. "Oh yeah the Cohen's go there sometimes. It's a nice place" He said nodding. She smiled.
"There you are sorry I'm late. Oh hey Marissa! Ryan so I see you met Marissa already?" Seth said sitting down. "Yeah we talked" Ryan said looking at Marissa. She smiled.
"Well we gotta comic book meeting to get to" Seth said. "Seth" Ryan reprimanded him because he didn't want her to know he was in a comic book club. Talk about being a geek.
"Come on we got important things to discuss Atwood." Seth said. She laughed nervously. "It's okay I gotta go anyway. See ya later" She said looking at them getting up and leaving with her books in her hand.
Ryan watched her walk away. "Ryan come on serious matters to discuss" Seth said. "Oh really well first thing on the list is to kill you" He said joking walking with him. Humor not a trait you're supposed to have" Seth said.
Marissa nice seeing you again." Seth said Ryan following behind. "What's going on Cohen?" Marissa said starting to walk home from school. "See now that's how you treat a person. Nothing much how about if I walk with you home?" He said.
"Seth its fine you can walk with me" Marissa said. "Thanks Marissa" He said. She smiled. "Your welcome" She said. "So what do you think of the bio assignment?" Seth said. She smiled politely and looked towards Ryan for help.
"Seth she's just getting settled I'm sure the bio project is farthest from her mind" Ryan said trying to get Seth to understand. "Yeah I've had so many things to do and that's just adding another to them" She said.
"So since it's Friday and all why don't you come hang with us" Seth said. She laughed. "I don't know I promised my Uncle I'd work today" She said. "Well no pressure you can come any time the Cohen house is open" Seth said.
"Thanks Cohen" She said. "No problem now if you excuse me I gotta get the car and hit the comic store" He said leaving Ryan behind. "So Seth is a little..." She said not quite finding the words to describe him.
"Yeah he's a bit strange but he's a good guy" He said with a smile. "And what about you Ryan Atwood what kind of guy are you?" She said. "If you really want to know then come hang out tonight. Maybe I'll see you later" He said.
"Yeah maybe" She said. "Oh and Marissa welcome to New Port" He said. They both smiled at each other. Marissa pushed her hair back with her hands and started up her porch steps.
Later she was almost done with her shift at blue fish. She saw her uncle coming towards her. "Well Marissa I would say you've had a great first day. And you know what's so great about your first day?" He said.
She smiled. "What?" She said. "You get out of cleanup so as soon as you give that couple there bill your gone you got me?" He said. "And just what am I supposed to do with the rest of my night?" She said.
"Well I'm sure you can figure it out" He said. "Just so you know I might go to Seth's they wanted me to hang with them." She said. "That's fine. Them?" He said. "Seth and Ryan" She said. Oh Ryan huh?" He said. "Yeah" She said. "Ok have a good time and be home by twelve" He said.
"Thanks Uncle Pacey" She said. "Hey I was a kid once too" He said walking away. A few minutes later she gave the couple their bill and she got out of there. She walked out into the fresh air and pulled her hair into a ponytail and headed home.
When she reached home she changed out of her uniform and hurried to the Cohen's.
In the next chapter: Marissa gets to know more about Ryan and his life before the Cohen's.