~*~ Chapter 3: And So It Begins ~*~
“Busy day we have today, Ryan. And you know why that is?” Seth said as soon as he entered the kitchen and saw Ryan reading the paper as he did every single morning.
“Hm…” Ryan mumbled something. He knew he didn’t have to answer, Seth would do it for him.
“We have to meet girls at school today.”
“Why?” Ryan looked up from behind the paper.
“To continue with my master plan.”
“Oh, God.” Ryan closed the paper and headed for the fridge to get some juice “Still have that stupid idea in your head?”
“Ryan, it’s not stupid. Summer just has to go through some jealous time to open her eyes and see how much she loves me. It’s that simple. And you gotta help me, man. I’m not that good at talking to the ladies. You’re much better than me. You’re the rebel one. They love rebels.”
“I was the rebel one last year. Now I’m just another one in the crowd.” Ryan drank the juice, placed the cup on top of the sink and grabbed his backpack.
“No, no, no, Ryan.” Seth followed him around “That’s where you’re mistaken.” Seth took his own backpack from the kitchen counter and they headed for the door “You still have that rebel vibe going on. Chicks dig that. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. I, myself, if I were a woman, of course, would like the funny guy, always with a joke, always with a smile…”
“Yeah, ok. I got it.” Ryan opened the door, Seth got out of the house and Ryan closed the door behind him.
“Hey, guys” Marissa greeted them as soon as they stepped out of the house.
“Hey.” Seth waved at her “Ok, why are we going with her?” Seth asked, turning to Ryan.
“You’re father needed the car.”
“I see. Ok.” the two of them got in to the car “Hey, Marissa, long time no talk.”
“Yeah. And whose fault is that?” Marissa asked with a grin.
“Ouch. You don’t have to be rude.” Seth said.
“Hey, baby.” Ryan greeted her and pecked her on the lips.
“Ok, ok. So I don’t want to and don’t have to see this display of affection. Can we just go to school, please? I got an important assignment today.”
“Oh, yeah?” Marissa started the car and asked, actually interested “What’s it about?”
“Can’t tell you.”
“Ryan?” Marissa turned to him.
“Oh, you don’t even wanna know.” Ryan shook his head.
“Hey!” Seth got offended.
“Ok, then.” she smiled and they continued on their way to school.
“I’m going, mom!” Brandi informed her mother that was in the kitchen as she picked an apple from the counter and headed out of the house.
“Wait, wait.” Alice asked “Have a good day at school, honey.” Alice kissed her daughter on the cheek.
“I doubt it, but thanks, mom.” Brandi smiled and trailed to her car.
When she got to the car, she turned on the stereo and placed the CD she had burned the day before. She picked song number 5 to start her drive to the high school. She had listened to that song over and over again the night before. It described exactly how she was feeling there in Newport.
The melody started softly and then it got heavier.
I walk
a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Till then I walk alone
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line of the edge
And where I walk alone
Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything is all right
Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive
And I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Till then I walk alone
*Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams*
“I’ll see you at lunch, then?” Marissa asked Ryan.
“Sure.” Ryan pecked her lips, Marissa went to one side and Ryan and Seth to the other.
“Ok, now, back to the plan.” Seth insisted on it.
“Give up, man. Summer is never gonna be jealous of you.”
“She is! She was actually. Remember that time we ended up in that strip club with that guy from ‘The Valley’? She was totally jealous of a girl I met there. And also, Anna. She couldn’t stand Anna, she was so jealous of her.”
“But that was different. She was in love with you back then.”
“Ryan, she still is! She just has to know that.” Ryan couldn’t believe his ears, so he just rolled his eyes.
“What about that one?” Ryan decided to go with the plan and pointed to a girl dressed in a pink skirt and black sleeveless shirt.
“She’s hot, but… nah… too… I don’t know.”
“Too much for you, maybe?” Ryan joked and grinned.
“Funny.”
“And that one?” now they were inside the building and Ryan was pointing to a blonde girl by her locker.
“That one is fine! Go talk to her for me, please, Ryan?”
“What? No way, man! It’s your plan! What am I gonna say?”
“I don’t know! Work your magic, man. You’re good at that.”
“Seth, I don’t know.”
“Please, Ryan, you gotta help me out here. I just want Summer back. Please, please, pretty please?” Seth joined both his hands together and begged Ryan.
“Pretty please?” Ryan chuckled.
“Yeah, that’s how desperate I am.”
“Ok, ok. I’ll see what I can do, but I won’t promise you anything.”
“Awesome. That’s fine. Just go up there.” Seth pushed Ryan a bit and in a few seconds, saw Ryan talking to the blonde girl. He smiled and tried not to look at them, just in case the girl turned around, she wouldn’t see him standing there, just staring at them.
He decided to go to his locker, which was just a few steps back from where he was standing. On the way to his locker, he saw this girl. She had her back to him, but he could see by the side of her face that she had pale ivory skin, long curly auburn hair with natural highlights and was about 5’7’’. He also liked the way she dressed, not too stylish. Her style was very laidback. She was wearing a low-cut black skirt, which went almost down to her knees, just a palm above them, had a thick belt around her hips and it got frizzy under the belt. He couldn’t see the t-shirt, but it was a red one and by the look of it, looked like a t-shirt of some band, and she also wore a red All-star, to go with the t-shirt, obviously. She was different from the Harbor girls and Seth was amazed he never noticed her there. He liked her style. Maybe she could go on the list. He turned around to look for Ryan, but he was still engaged in his conversation with the blonde, although his face didn’t look too enthusiastic. Maybe he had to approach this girl. What if he couldn’t find her later? Seth thought it impossible, she would stand out in the crowd, but he couldn’t take that risk. So he took a few steps closer to the girl.
When he was just some feet away from her, he coughed to get her attention.
“Jeez!” she closed her eyes and placed her right hand over her chest. Seth frowned as he looked at her.
“It’s you.”
“What?” she asked angrily, but then opened her eyes and saw who was standing in front of her. She blushed a little.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Seth apologized.
“That’s ok.” she closed her locker and started to walk. Seth followed her.
“Wait.”
“I’m late for class.”
“Can’t you just stop for a second?” Seth grabbed her arm and she freezed up. She couldn’t say a word when she stopped and Seth didn’t pick up on that, so he continued “You’re Brandi Jackson, right?”
‘He remembers my name. My full name!’ Brandi thought and then answered him “Yes.”
“We met yesterday.” Seth turned her around a little, so she’d face him “I don’t know if you remember me, but we…”
“Comic Book Club.”
“Yes!” Seth smiled big.
“Seth Cohen, right?” she smiled too.
“Yep. So, you do remember me.”
“Yes. Actually, you were the only person I talked to yesterday, so, it was hard not to remember the name of the one person that I talked to.”
“What?”
“Well, I’m new, and I kinda sensed that this place doesn’t welcome new people very warmly.”
“Well, that’s a Harbor tradition.” Seth nodded and she grinned.
“But you were not like that.” she said looking down.
“Oh, actually, I don’t belong in Harbor. I don’t know what I’m doing here actually, but I’ve been here all my life.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah…” Seth suddenly felt intrigued by her “And what about you? Where are you…”
“Here’s her name and number. Never ask me for anything else.” Ryan faced Seth and gave him a piece of paper where Seth read Tina Cornell and her digits. When Seth looked up, Brandi was not there anymore.
“Where did she go?” he turned 360º to look for Brandi.
“Where did who go?”
“Brandi. The girl I was talking to.”
“I didn’t see any girl, man.”
“She was right here. I was talking to her!”
“Ok…” Ryan made a doubtful face, but pretended to believe his friend “She’s not here anymore. And we’re late for class. So let’s go.”
Ryan pulled Seth by the shirt while he still kept on looking for Brandi on the corridors.
* Thanx Hannah and Thea for reviewing and correcting the grammar errors *
~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~
~*~ Chapter 4 ~*~
Feedback: [email protected]