Summary: After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

AN: Here's another chapter for you guys. Hope you enjoy it. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: I own no one. They all belong to Fox and Josh Schwartz.

Chapter 5: Back To Normal?

"Ryan! Wake up!" Ryan turned over in bed and saw Seth coming into his room. "It's Monday. Your first official day back to school."

"Oh, joy." He slowly sat up and stumbled to the bathroom.

"You're not excited to go back?"

"Not if I have to see Marissa." He called.
"It's a big school. You probably won't even see her."

"She's Summer's best friend." He came out to retrieve some clothes and went back into the bathroom.

"I've got your back today man."

"That makes me feel good." He mumbled.

"Boys!" Sandy called up the stairs. "Let's go! You're going to be late!"

"We'd better get down there." Seth told him.

"I'll be down in a minute. I'm almost done." Ryan closed the bathroom door as Seth walked out.

Seth walked downstairs and saw his parents deep in conversation. Sandy looked up as he spotted Seth coming into the kitchen.

"There's one." Sandy smiled. "Where's Ryan?"

"He's getting dressed." Seth told them. "Apparently, we forgot the alarm clock when we were moving his things from the pool house."

"There's the other one." Sandy saw Ryan come in with his book bag. "So how's your wrist?"

"I just took a couple pain killers."

"Are you ready for today?"

"Sure." He shrugged as he took a bagel from the basket on the counter as Kirsten placed a cup of coffee before him. "I'm fine, you know."

"We know."

"Then quit acting like you think I'm going to snap any minute."

"That's not it." Kirsten told him. "It's just-we found a therapist for you."

"Why didn't you say that?" he looked at them. "When's the appointment?"

"You're looking forward to the appointment?"

"No. Of course not." He looked at all of them. "But it's not like your dad gave me much of a choice when he pulled me out of that place."

"Your appointment is tomorrow at four." Sandy told him. "One of us will pick you up from school and take you."

"Fine." He mumbled as he finished his coffee.

"That's Summer." Seth said as they heard a loud honk. "I'll go out and make sure that she's alone."

Sandy watched Ryan take his mug to the sink as he picked up his bag and walked out of the kitchen. They heard the front door open and close as he followed Seth out of the house.

"He agreed to counseling way too easily." Kirsten said.

"I know." Sandy agreed. "I think your dad is right. Something happened to him inside that place; other than him getting attacked and beat up."


After seeing just Summer in the car, Ryan climbed into the back seat and they drove to the school. Ryan was quiet the entire ride there and silently walked into the school and to his locker.

"Hey, Chino!" Luke came up to him when he saw him. "It's good to have you back."

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"Has she tracked you down yet?"

"You mean Marissa?" he nodded. "Not yet. But we do have first period together."

"I have first period with you, too. I'll sit with you so she doesn't."

"Thanks," the warning bell sounded and they made their way to their American History class.

Ryan handed in his makeup work to the teacher and followed Luke to his table and sat across from him. He spotted Marissa sitting a few tables over and turned away from her as she tried to get his attention.

"This is not going to be easy," he mumbled as he opened up his book.


At lunch, Ryan was tired out from trying to avoid Marissa. He sat down at a table by himself and started to eat in peace. He sighed in defeat when someone sat down beside him and looked up to see Marissa.

"What?" he grumbled.

"I just wanted to make sure that you're ok." She told him.

"I'm fine. You can leave now."

"Ryan-"

"I can't see you anymore."

"That's what my mom told me after she talked to Caleb."

"He made me agree to some conditions before he would take me back to the Cohen's. One of them was that I couldn't see you anymore."

"And you're going to follow his orders? Just like that?"

"Caleb helped me out when I needed it the most. I'm not going to throw it away for someone who doesn't know how to trust."

"I trust you."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Marissa," Luke came up and sat beside Ryan. "What are you doing? He has orders not to see you."

"She was just leaving." Ryan told him.

"Ryan," Marissa tried to plead with him.

"Leave him alone." Luke told her and she silently walked off.

"Thanks for that." Ryan told Luke.

"Don't mention it. I know how needy she can be." He assured him. "So baseball tryouts are in a few weeks. Do you think you'll go?"

"I used to play baseball, but I'm rusty. I haven't played in at least three years."

"So we can go down to the batting cages and train."

"Not this week. I'm still grounded for the whole Oliver thing here at school. Besides, I can't do anything with this." Ryan lifted his bandaged left wrist.

"Ok. So next week."

"I'll think about it." Ryan sighed as lunch ended. "Great. I have Chemistry next. Marissa is my lab partner."

"Ask if you can have another partner."

"I'll try." He went to dispose of his tray and walked to his next class.

He turned in his makeup work and asked if he could have another lab partner. When the teacher was about to refuse, Ryan told him that it would be in the best interest of the class because there was a risk of explosion if they were to remain lab partners.

"Is anyone willing to switch lab partners to Mr. Atwood here?" he addressed the class as Ryan tried to ignore the look that Marissa was giving him.

"I'll be his partner," Ryan saw an overly-enthusiastic girl near the middle of all the seats.

"Very well. Mr. Atwood, you're now with Ms. Townsend." Ryan slowly moved to his new table and sat down.

"Thank you for switching." Ryan told her. "I don't want to deal with her the rest of the year."

"No problem." She smiled at him. "For the record, I knew there was something wrong with that kid."

"You mean Oliver?"

"Yeah. His smile was always creepy."

"But you never attacked him in the student lounge."

"No. But we all lose our cool every so often."

"You do know who I am, right?" he looked over at her.

"The kid who steals car, and burns down model homes. Big deal." She told him. "You did your time. Now you can get on with your life."

"So what's your first name?"

"Taylor." She told him.

"Ryan," he got out his lab assignment. "Just bare with me. I'm still a little behind in this class."

"If you want, I can help you catch up."

"You mean tutor me?"

"Kind of." She looked at him. "I have an A in this class; I can help you."

"Ok. How about this weekend?"

"You can't do it sooner?"

"I'm grounded until the weekend because of all my school trouble." He told her. "Plus I have to help out with setting up for the Valentine's Day Dance this weekend, and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow."

"Well we can hang out at lunch and try to study."

"Sure. See you then." Ryan packed up his things again as the class let out and he met up with Seth as they walked to their Spanish class.

"Were you just talking to Taylor Townsend?" Seth asked him as they found their seats.

"Yeah." He mumbled. "She's my new chemistry lab partner."

"She's a little weird is all."

"People say that about you too." Ryan looked at him. "But I know better."

"Ok. Benefit of the doubt. Got it." Seth turned towards the front of the classroom as the teacher came in.


Ryan decided to walk home instead of catching a ride with Seth and Summer. He walked through the front door and had every intention of going straight up to his room to start on his homework.

"Ryan? Seth? Is that you?" he heard Kirsten call.

"It's just me." Ryan went in to the kitchen. "Seth is with Summer."

"How's the wrist? And your head?"

"They're fine."

"Would you like to help me take this stuff down and help me start to set up for the dance?"

"I have a lot of homework." He said quickly.

"A half hour, I promise. An hour tops."

"Fine." He sighed as he helped her take the boxes out to the range rover and they drove to the club.

"So how was school?" She asked him as they took everything inside.

"Fine." He mumbled. "I went. I came home."

"Did you see Marissa today?"

"I have three classes with her. Of course I saw her."

"You know what I mean."

"No I didn't try to talk to her, but she did try to talk to me. Fortunately, Luke had my back."

They pulled up to the club and Kirsten opened the back of the car and they started taking all the boxes in. Ryan started setting up the tables as Kirsten tried to keep all the Newpsie's away from him. He got done with the tables and just sat at the bar as Kirsten kept talking to them.

"Hey, Ryan." He looked up and saw Taylor Townsend.

"What are you doing here?" he smiled at her as she sat down beside him.

"My mom is helping to set up."

"So is Kirsten." He spotted her across the room as she was ambushed by another Newpsie.

"That's my mom." Taylor told him. "She's a sports agent. She's also on the school board."

"So she wanted to kick me out." Ryan stated.

"Yeah. I hope you know that I don't share her feelings."

"It's ok. Although Kirsten doesn't look like she's enjoying herself at the moment." He told her as he winced painfully.

"My mom does tend to bring that out in people." She looked at his pained face. "Are you ok?"

"My wrist is just starting to throb again." He said softly.

"Do you have any pain killers or anything?"

"They're at the house."

"Just stay here. I'll be right back."

Ryan laid his head on his good arm as Taylor went to Kirsten.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Taylor told her mom. "But Mrs. Cohen, I think you should take Ryan home. He said his wrist is hurting."

"Oh. He should've taken another dose thirty minutes ago." Kirsten glanced at her watch as she went to the bar where Ryan was. "Come on, sweetie. We're going home now. Sorry. I got bombarded by Veronica Townsend."

"I saw that." He mumbled as he stood up and followed her towards the doors.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ryan." Taylor told him. "Feel better."

"See you, Taylor." Ryan offered her a smile as he walked out and climbed into the car.

"You know Taylor?" Kirsten looked at Ryan as they pulled away.

"She's in my Chemistry class." He told her. "She volunteered to be my lab partner when I told the teacher I didn't want to be stuck with Marissa for the rest of the year."

They arrived home and Ryan slowly walked into the house as Kirsten followed behind him and found his pain killers. Ryan quickly took a couple and went to lie down in the den. Kirsten was talking on the phone with Sandy telling him to pick up some supper when she heard the door open and close and saw Seth coming into the kitchen.

"There you are. Were you at Summer's?" she asked him as she hung up.

"Yeah. Where's Ryan?"

"In the den. He just took some pain killers." She glanced at him. "So did you try to wait for Ryan so you could give him a ride home after school?"

"He said he didn't want to wait around for us, so he just decided to walk home."

"I'm home." Sandy announced as he came in with the take out containers.

"Seth, go wake up Ryan." Kirsten told him. "Those pain killers knocked him out."

"Sure." He went into the den and saw him passed out as a copy of the book they were reading for English was lying across his stomach. "Ry, wake up."

"Huh?" his eyes shot open and he spotted Seth standing above him.

"Dad just got home with take-out."

"Oh. Ok." He slowly stood up and followed Seth to the kitchen and sat down at the table as some plates were brought over.

"So how was school, boys?" Sandy asked them.

"Fine." Seth mumbled.

"Ryan?"

"It was fine." He mumbled as well.

"You guys can't give us anything more than that?"

"Ryan has a new chemistry lab partner." Seth said. "Taylor Townsend."

"Dude, that's my story. Not yours." Ryan glanced at him.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Sandy asked.

"Because I didn't feel like sharing." Ryan mumbled. "Besides, Kirsten already knew."

"She was at the club with her mom when Ryan came with me to set up. They talked while I was cornered by everyone."

"All the Newpsies were telling you that you should've just left me at the facility." Ryan mumbled as he picked at his food.

"I was hoping you didn't hear any of that." Kirsten told him.

"It's not like I haven't heard it all before."

"It doesn't make it right." Sandy told him, which in turn made Ryan shrug his shoulders. "So other than that, how was school?"

"Uneventful," Seth told him. "Which is how I like it."

The rest of the meal was spent in silence with Ryan pushing the food around on his plate, eating only a few bites. He excused himself as they were packing away all the leftovers, saying he needed to do his homework.

"He sure didn't eat that much." Sandy observed.

"And he was moody." Seth said. "More than usual, I mean."

"Loss of appetite and irritability are side effects of the pain killers." Kirsten told them. "I think he'll be ok; as ok as someone can be after spending time in a facility like he did."

"His first psychiatrist appointment is tomorrow." Sandy told them. "Hopefully it will help him."

Ryan sat on his bed reading the sixty pages he was supposed to read for English class. He didn't really understand what he was reading; too occupied with thinking about his therapy session the next afternoon. He just hoped it was better than the sessions he had at the youth facility. Anything had to be better than that. It still made him nervous and apprehensive to think about what was to come the next afternoon.

AN: So what'd you all think? Please R&R!

Preview Of Next Chapter: Ryan's first therapy session.