Disclaimer: I don't own the oc or any of it's characters

Author's note: Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 5

Ryan couldn't help staring at Andrew in the passengers seat as they made their way to Harbor wondering what his life had come to that he actually need a bodyguard.

"Oh my god," Seth blurted out staring down at his phone.

"What?" Ryan asked unable to stop his curiosity from bubbling to the surface. He was still kind of irritated with Seth. They had moved him out of the pool house last night and he hadn't been able to fall asleep. He was tired and he'd already spent the morning listening to Seth babble on about how cool everything was. Ryan had to agree some of what had happened was pretty awesome, but he that didn't including having to have Andrew and John come to school with him or those reporters outside the gates or the loose of the pool house.

"Summer just texted me, there are reporters outside the school now too."

"Why can't they just leave it alone? There's no way this is normal."

"Um dude, you're videos are viral, i.e. your famous, which means reporters and people stalking you—"

"Stalking me? You can't be serious. Come on Seth it was just a couple songs."

"Man, Justin Bieber and Greyson Chance also just made a few videos and there are actual apps that for stalking them. Hmmm…there's an idea."

"Seth, I don't… that's not even funny. Maybe a music career is a bad idea… I don't want this. I don't want to have no privacy."

Seth frowned, "Ry you like making music right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"So your kid Chino you can handle some reporters."

Ryan gave Seth a half-hearted smile, "I guess… Oh shit," Ryan mouth dropped open as the car stopped at the front of the school where dozens of reporters were lying in wait along with what looked half the student body with their phones out.

"Ryan, Seth, your both going to wait in the car until I open the door and then your going to follow right behind me and John will be right behind you, okay?" Ryan nodded even though he'd rather get the hell out of dodge.

Seth looked over at his brother, "Ryan you can do this."

Ryan took a deep breath and when Andrew opened the door he allowed his mind to wander away to music, he tried to fill his mind with notes and lyrics trying not to focus on the reporters and the camera flashes that were making him dizzy. He allowed Andrew to grab his arm, while finally agree with Sandy and Kirsten. Sure he could take care of himself against the thugs of Chino and the water polo players of Newport, but this was completely different. As a sea of people surrounded him he realized his fists weren't going to help him here, he couldn't use his fists on these reporters.

He could feel his heart thumping loudly in his chest over the roar of the people around him asking him questions and thrusting things in his face. "How do you feel about your newfound fame Ryan?" "Do you have a girlfriend?" "Are you going to pursue a music career?" "Can I have your autograph?"

Ryan almost laughed at that question. People wanted his autograph? This was unreal! Ryan could picture his brother watching this and knew Trey would get a kick out of this.

When they finally made it inside and Ryan thanked god he was now on private property, but that didn't stop his fellow classmates from snapping pictures of him. Just last Friday these kids wanted nothing to do with him and now they were taking his picture. He suddenly wished he had brought a hoodie, so he could but on some headphones put up his hood and pretend he was somewhere else. This was going to be a long day.

"Excuse me…um Ryan," Ryan turned around to find a small girl, probably a freshman, looking back at him.

"Hey," he replied, not sure what she wanted.

"Um…could I…could I have you're autograph?" she stuttered out.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Um…I mean you don't have to, but…could I have you're autograph?" she started blushing profusely and looked just about ready to runaway from him.

He smiled, "sorry, I don't really do…" he saw the girls face fall and sighed, "yeah, sure, I guess." She thrust a picture at him and he was stunned to his face staring back at him.

"That…where'd you get this?" He asked not sure about how he felt.

"Umm…well one of the guys in the computer club made them using your yearbook photo. He's selling them."

Now Ryan mouth dropped open, "umm…okay," He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that and it kind of creeped him out knowing that some guy was selling pictures of him. He tried to smile and took the picture from the girl, "do you have a pen?" He asked.

She handed him one and he signed his name as best he could. He remembered years ago when he and Theresa had practiced, laughing the entire time. They had joked he would be a famous soccer player and she would be a model. He hadn't the photo and pen back to the girl and was about to walk away, "wait can I maybe get a picture?"

He sighed, "I guess," he always sucked at saying no. She sidled over next to him and put an arm around him, he tried to act normal and forced an uneasy cheesy smile onto his face. The girl beamed up at him, "thank you so much Ryan!"

"Any time," he replied and gave her an uneasy wave before turning…and finding himself face to face with Luke. Yup, Luke Ward was exactly what he needed right now…

"Hey Luke."

"Dude did you just give that girl an autograph and do a selfie?" he asked Ryan with a huge smirk plastered on his face.

Well at least the dude hadn't changed; he was still an ass, "shut up Luke."

"Oh my god you did," he laughed grabbing Ryan and ruffling his hair. Luke was officially a dead man.

"Dude," Ryan pushed him away, "fine I did. She asked…what was I supposed to do?"

"Whatever man. What happened to you're phone. I tried to call you last weekend."

"Kirsten and Sandy took it away. They caught me and Seth sneaking out," he decided not to mention Seth breaking Kirsten's mother's vase as being the reason. "Then someone gave a bunch of reporters my number."

"That explains how you didn't know about the YouTube videos…Summer told me; you know Seth's a total jeek. Anyway I had no idea you could sing or play the guitar, but remember I can still beat your butt at any sport."

"Sure Luke."

"So what does Marissa think about all of this?" Luke asked.

"I have no idea, but me and Marissa are over. I don't know what's going on with that Oliver guy, but she kept standing me up and I've had enough."

"Good for you dude. Shit are those girls filming you? And you realize that there the hulk over there has been following you right?" He asked looking over to a gaggle of girls with there phones out following Ryan's every move and then to Andrew.

Ryan sighed, "yeah, that's Andrew, Kirsten and Sandy's idea… he's my new bodyguard. This whole thing is like a really weird dream. I'm just gonna ignore it."

"That's hilarious, you actually have a bodyguard, I love it!" Ryan groaned and was glad when Luke's attention moved back to the gaggle of girls, "Man those girls are hot. If you're not with Marissa anymore…"

"Luke, come on. I don't want to be with a girl, who only likes me because of a few videos."

"Well then you wont mind me using you to get a few numbers?"

"By all means, Mr. ladies man," Luke grinned and strolled over to the girls, while Ryan just shrugged and walked on to his first period class.

The entire day was weird, Andrew followed him around from class to class, waiting outside his classrooms for him and probably drawing even more attention to him.

As he walked through the halls everyone had their phones out videotaping or taking pictures of him and the little girl from that morning wasn't the last person to ask him for an autograph or 'selfie'.

Summer thought it was all hilarious, but she still stopped anyone from coming over during lunch by giving any one who came too close one of her death glares.

"Chino did you and Marissa really break up?" Summer finally asked after glaring at a group of giggling cheerleaders, who left quickly after catching sight of Summer.

Ryan looked down at his food uncomfortably, "yeah," he replied simply.

"Because of Oliver?" she asked.

"I'm sorry Summer, but it's not only Oliver. We've barely spent a few minutes together in the past few weeks and that's only when she needs something from me. When I told her I wanted to break up she didn't even fight for us. I'm tired of it Summer. I still love her, but I can't be with her anymore."

Summer just nodded, "you're right Chino. She's been ignoring me too. I love her, but she's getting on my last nerve. She hasn't returned any of my phone calls all week and I only saw her for like five seconds on Monday," Summer's eyes glimmered with anger and frustration.

Seth rubbed her back in an attempt to stave of a possible rage black out.

"Whatever, she'll always be my best friend, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop being friends with you Chino.

Ryan smiled, "thanks."

"Yeah, he's gonna need you to help get rid of all the ladies, might have to start batting them away with a stick though. Jeez Chino, if I knew you could get so many girls this way I would have taken up the guitar a long time ago."

They all laughed and Ryan felt he could finally relax a little now that he was with his friends, though he couldn't completely ignore the people snapping pictures and Andrew standing beside the table; he thanked god John had stayed outside.

Friday afternoon…

"Hi Ryan, I'm Simon, your record manager and these are Brian and Adam, they're recording engineers, responsible for the technical side of recording," Ryan waved to the two guys sitting in front of a tech table.

"We're all going to be working with you on your demo and hopeful after this we can work together on an album," the skinny red headed man added with a smile. "I watched your videos, you've got a lot of talent kid."

"Umm…thanks," Ryan replied blushing.

"Uhh… come on kid with that voice and those badass guitar skills it's alright be a little cocky," he stated with a cheeky grin. Ryan wasn't sure what to say to that so he just tried for an awkward smile. "Okay kid, basically the game plan is to pick a song out of the collection we have for you. All the songs already have prerecorded instrumentals, so all they need is a voice. We'll record you, which basically means your going to sing the song over and over again, until we have a good enough sound. After that you can chill out and help us put it all together. What do you think sound good?" Simon questioned.

"Yeah, sure. You're the boss."

"I like the sound of that. I think this might just be the beginning of a beautiful relationship," Simon laughed.

Ryan decided to try for a joke, "well as of last week I'm available."

Simon choked, stared at Ryan, and then he Brian and Adam all burst out laughing, "funny kid. So someone break you're heart that could be good for a song."

Ryan looked down, "she…it's complicated…I guess I kind of broke up with her."

"I see, so you're the heartbreaker. We'll I promise you that girl's kicking herself now. Bet you have all the ladies running after you now," now Ryan was blushing profusely and had found a very interesting spot on the carpet to stare at.

"Aw, Si stop giving the kid a hard time," Brian said, winking at Ryan. "Let's get to work already, we don't have all day."

"Yeah, we gotta get the kid home before curfew," Adam added. Ryan decided not to mention what time that was, and instead, followed Simon further into the recording room.