Rating: Teen.
Pairings: Ryan/Marissa, Seth/Summer
Prompt: #41 - Wealth for 100 women
Disclaimer: Title is a lyric from With Me by Sum 41, I don't own The OC, nor do I endorse student/teacher relationships.
Warnings: Language, themes, and obviously a student/teacher relationship. If this is gonna scar you for life then don't read it.

Summary: It’s no secret that Marissa Cooper has everything. So when she meets a certain stranger, he’s something of a novelty, to be enjoyed from a distance. Right? Another twist on the student-teacher idea. AU RM, minor SS.

Notes: So, my thought process for this fic – about a month ago, I was sitting around trying to write a post for Your Best Kept Secret. I couldn’t come up with anything, even though my bloodshot eyes were looking directly at the detailed outline for the post, so I thought I should make a vain attempt at writing a oneshot – one with a student/teacher theme, as in YBKS, so as to get inspiration for that fic. The oneshot attempt was a total flop, and didn’t get past a few hundred words. Anyway, at the start of this week I was doing the usual (nothing, in other words). I was trying to type in the living room but my stepdad was being a pain in the arse, so as I ventured into the sunlight for once, I got this idea out of nowhere. Obviously, I wrote it, and despite the plotline it’s pretty different from YBKS, as you’ll notice…anyway, I’ve already typed it up, so it’s not a WIP. Probably five chapters, possible epilogue.

It’s inspired by the song With Me by Sum 41, and that’s where I got the fic title from. Gossip Girl-watchers might recognise it from Blair and Chuck’s limo scene. (Dude…that was hot.)

Enjoy, tell me what you think, the usual.

...

Thoughts Read Unspoken - Prologue

...

The late Saturday afternoon was settling onto Newport Beach, and Marissa Cooper still had a lot of work to do. It always baffled her that even when she had everything organised, things rarely got done on schedule. Emerging from the hot shower that had helped to soothe her nerves, she padded across the thick carpeting to where her outfit for the barbecue was laid out. This particular event was merely a prelude to the charity fashion show she was hosting; it was meant to be casual, at least, as casual as a high society town like this could get. So her simple, light yellow sundress still cost eight hundred dollars, her black headband happened to have a designer logo on it, and her flats were limited edition. Still, Marissa had chosen the outfit for several reasons. For one, it matched the late summer weather, for another, it was basic enough for the pre-party in the country club’s courtyard, not to mention it was comfortable. And the dresses Marissa would be showing off on the catwalk that night were, admittedly, not that easy to wear. They were all designer pieces, most of them awkwardly short, dangerously long, or…heavy, because of all the decorations added to the fabric. Of course, keeping the dresses she wore would sweeten the deal, but that was out of the question. Besides, she had way too many unworn garments in her wardrobe as it was.

The barbecue itself was being hosted by Marissa’s parents, while the fashion show featured various Harbor High students. It was all happening at the town’s country club. The barbecue was in the courtyard, the fashion show in the temporarily converted ballroom. Marissa was finding the idea of leaving summer behind yet again a depressing one; she was soon to start her junior year, so she supposed there wasn’t any need to hyperventilate for at least another year yet.

Marissa spent a few moments looking at her reflection in her vanity’s mirror, playing with her long hair, and eventually deciding to just leave it down. An escaped blonde tendril attempted to assault her as she searched for a handbag that matched her dress – she could have sworn she put it with her outfit but couldn’t find it anywhere. This was where that off-schedule problem came into play.

“Marissa?” Julie Cooper’s impatient voice resounded from the hallway. “Hurry up. What’s taking you so long?”

“I’m just putting my shoes on,” Marissa lied, and promptly came across her beloved Prada bag. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Fashionably late isn’t so fashionable when it’s your own party, you know,” the redhead continued to complain to her only child.

“I know, Mom,” Marissa conceded with a slight sigh, once more rushing in front of her mirror. Examining the items scattered across the surface of her vanity, she figured that her make-up should match her outfit in terms of simplicity. As Julie went on about nothing of importance, most likely because her husband was too busy watching TV for her to whine to instead, Marissa hastily applied her lip gloss and mascara, picking up her bag and rushing out the door. When she did show up in the courtyard, wandering along behind Julie and Jimmy, the first person to greet Marissa was her boyfriend.

“Hey, babe,” Luke offered, kissing her forehead in a way that made Marissa think of old people, for one reason or another. “You look hot.”

“Thank you,” Marissa responded, feeling oddly detached. Out of nowhere, she had a wish to go home, even though she had barely arrived. It was bound to be a long night. “You too,” she added as an afterthought. A rather automatic one. Luke Ward, the water polo captain, had been her boyfriend for a long time…since fifth grade, specifically. They were that teenage couple that everyone knew would end up getting married, living in this town for the rest of their lives and producing a perfect family – a new generation of pod people, as Seth Cohen would say. While she hadn’t mentioned it, Marissa had to admit she was getting a little bored in her relationship with Luke. She assumed it was normal, as they had been together for such a long time. Her best friends, Summer and Holly, were carefree, easily bored, and boy-crazy, tending to go from one guy to the next and having a ridiculous amount of fun. While they gossiped about who they’d hooked up with at the previous night’s party, who was next on their list, Marissa would only find she had nothing to contribute to the conversation. Probably because she was still keeping her virginity safely away from Luke, for quite a few reasons.

On the other hand, a lot of people would love a relationship like her one with Luke. They were the two most popular people in their grade, they loved each other, and they were apparently meant to be together. What more could a girl want?

It was only a couple of minutes before Luke went off to his friends and Summer Roberts appeared, immediately dragging Marissa away in the direction of the bathroom. While reapplying her lip gloss, the petite brunette questioned, “So, have you and Luke done the deed yet?”

Marissa chuckled, somewhat humourlessly. “How many more times do you plan on asking me that?”

“Okay, I’ll stop. I just think it’s kind of weird, that’s all. You guys have been together forever and you’re still going to be a couple in ten years – why are you waiting so long? Not that it’s bad, or anything…but he’s a guy.” Summer was nonplussed. “Is he a bad kisser or something?”

The blonde shook her head, “No…kind of dull, sometimes, but not bad.”

“Then what’s holding you back?”

To be honest, Marissa didn’t know the answer to this herself. Her friend was right; it had been a long time, and Luke would eventually get bored with waiting for sex and find his entertainment elsewhere. The strange thing was that Marissa didn’t mind that much – otherwise, she would have already lost her virginity to him to ensure he stuck with her. Maybe it was because she didn’t want her first time to be in the back of Luke’s truck when they were both completely wasted, maybe it was because she hated the way he just kept pushing when she told him she wasn’t ready or just wasn’t in the mood. Maybe it was because he was a jackass to most people and it was a hell of a turn off.

What are you doing? She silently asked herself. You’ve never had this many problems with the relationship before. You’re being ridiculous.

Exactly.

“So, subject change,” Summer was now saying. “I saw this hot guy earlier -”

“I’m stunned,” Marissa dryly remarked, causing the shorter girl to roll her eyes.

“Anyway, he’s new in town. Blond, blue eyes…and older.”

A little hesitantly, Marissa asked, “How much older?”

“Twenty-three,” Summer responded with a slight sigh, looking put out all of a sudden. “It sucks. Hopefully he’s still hot and around here in two years, but what the hell – he’s fun enough to look at. And his name is, apparently, Ryan, because I heard Taryn ask him. I haven’t spoken to him and Holly doesn’t know anything, so we’re trying to, like, guess his life story. Our working theory is secret agent.”

Laughing, Marissa echoed, “Secret agent?”

“What?” Summer said defensively. “Like you could come up with anything better.”

“I haven’t even seen him yet,” Marissa pointed out patiently as the two girls exited the bathroom. She glanced around for the mysterious Ryan but failed to find anyone of interest. Possibly, he had already made a run for it – it was remarkably dull around here. If he was new to the town, he was going to discover that quickly. The residents thrived on gossip and scandal, but nothing interesting had happened as of late. Meanwhile on the other side of the empty pool, Luke and friends were acting like preschoolers; Marissa plucked absently at the hem of her sundress, the lemon-coloured cotton feeling oddly rough on her fingers. She was so used to silk, satin, and fine materials. It felt nice to be wearing something this light (even if it did cost a slightly ridiculous amount…) While Holly and Summer resumed a discussion about a possible afterparty at Holly’s beach house, Marissa went to get something to eat.

For a while she looked at all the appetising, freshly grilled foods, starting to load up a plate. In terms of weight, she was tiny; yet Julie always found something to nag about. Apparently Marissa could never thin enough, but she was immune to all of her mother’s comments by now. The pressure could have led to something dangerous, like depression or an eating disorder, but thankfully Marissa had managed to avoid all that. Plate satisfactorily filled, she turned around to make a quick escape back to her friends, immediately colliding with someone. Thankfully nothing was dropped, but Marissa was caught off guard, and had to grab the random guy’s shirt to avoid falling on her ass, food and all. Automatically, she apologised, only to find herself looking into a pair of incredibly blue eyes. Nervously, she swallowed, temporarily unable to think of anything helpful to say. The stranger carefully loosened her grip himself; she snapped out of it, embarrassed, and hurried off after uttering yet another apology.

Marissa assumed that the guy she had just fallen over, literally, was the mysterious Ryan. And now she couldn’t quite believe she had let herself act like a little kid with a crush. It wasn’t like she had never seen an attractive guy before. Luke had blue eyes, she wasn’t totally fascinated by them…then again, they weren’t quite of that clarity.

Cheesy much?

Summer and Holly went on with their various gossip, but Marissa just couldn’t get into it. Instead, she locked her eyes onto the one person here that she found truly interesting.

Even though everyone else was also going by the requested casual dress code, Ryan still seemed a lot less uptight than the typical Newport resident. Blue jeans, a navy t-shirt…hell, even his posture told Marissa that he didn’t confirm to town stereotype. He seemed approachable, quietly confident, which was more than she could say for most people around here. Biting her lip, Marissa finally let her curiosity get the better of her. After getting a drink – bright pink, almost painfully sugary, and non-alcoholic – she walked over to Julie, who was currently standing around looking expensive.

“The fashion show is going to be great,” Julie gushed the second her daughter came into view. “I can’t wait to see you in the Marc Jacobs.”

Marissa felt a twinge of nervousness, which she dismissed as irrational. “Yeah…um, who’s that?” she enquired, as casually as she could.

“Him?” Julie appeared indifferent. “He’s just one of the new teachers at Harbor.”

Surprised, Marissa choked on her drink. Harbor was renowned for its staff – prestigious people, at least in their late thirties, many of them former college professors. Ryan was barely out of college, surely. “Isn’t he a little young?” she asked upon getting a hold of herself.

Julie shrugged, still failing to show much interest. “It’s part of Harbor’s new plan to reconnect with its students – integrate younger people into the faculty. Apparently,” she went on, “He’s teaching Math, while studying Psychology. What can I say, if I wasn’t married…”

The blonde wrinkled her nose distastefully at the overshare, before making some awkward comment and heading off with her friends, who started steering her in the direction of the ballroom. Right now the barbecue was winding down, the guests going home to change into something more formal, and it was time to start getting the show underway. The ballroom had been converted for the night, and Marissa sat on the edge of the catwalk, letting her legs dangle over the edge.

During one of her rare moments alone, Marissa would ponder life in general. There was so much more out there. But it wasn’t like she was going to go out and experience it for a while…besides, she had everything she could possibly want. Travelling the world and visiting the places she dreamed about, fulfilling all her lists of things she fully intended to do after high school – that could all wait. It would have to wait, actually, she was only beginning her junior year. There were always plans. And back-up plans were always necessary when life tended to be insane. At the end of the day, no amount of organisation or outlining could be a massive help when life threw you for a loop.

Marissa had done the fashion show for…years, actually, even when she was little she was featured in the kids’ section. Summer and Holly were regulars as well, but while they were exceedingly confident, Marissa had always been self-conscious. After all, they’d all seen those disaster videos were even the most graceful, experienced models fell flat on their face – or their ass – mid-walk, in front of a large crowd. Thankfully, Marissa hadn’t suffered anything like that yet. Last year, Holly had done the show while tipsy, and walked right off the side of the stage. She wasn’t hurt so most people were laughing, and when she did regain consciousness she brushed it right off and hosted her usual after-party that night.

Holly Fisher wasn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but at least she was at ease with herself.

With a slight sigh, Marissa brushed herself off unnecessarily before heading backstage. She wasn’t surprised to discover that it was total chaos. Girls were running out in nothing but their underwear, some with clothes half on, others stuck in too-small outfits. There was remarks of ‘too much make-up’ or ‘the nude lips are so five years ago’ as a few of the Newpsies (matured brats) roamed around trying to get a handle on things. Marissa wriggled her way into her first dress, a tight black and white…thing, a Chanel, and while it was a nice enough dress, it was really not her thing. Pulling on the white heels, she manoeuvred her way out of her changing room, directly into Summer.

“Coop, you look amazing.”

“As do you,” Marissa replied, wishing she could wear a bright red minidress without feeling like a fire alarm.

“So, Coop, are you ready?” Summer’s voice once more cut into her thoughts.

“Yeah, sure.”

...

There wasn’t any need for Marissa to worry; the fashion show went off without a hitch, plenty of money was raised for charity, and no-one embarrassed themselves. After once more escaping backstage, she took a seat at her parents’ table. Also there were the Cohens – Sandy and Kirsten, and their son Seth – and the Ryan guy. Great. Julie asked if Ryan was ‘taken’, which he wasn’t. No-one really seemed to notice her presence at first, so Marissa waited for a few minutes, until her mother registered that she was there.

“Ryan, this is my beautiful daughter Marissa. Marissa, this is Ryan Atwood, he’s going to be your Math teacher this year.”

“Hi,” Marissa meekly reached over to shake Ryan’s hand.

“I guess you’re one of my new students,” he mused, and much to Marissa’s embarrassment, she was tongue-tied again. She just nodded her head and smiled, probably looking ridiculously strained as she did so. His hand had been warm, but not too warm, and she found herself thinking that hers was probably clammy or something.

Noticing how comfortable Ryan and the Cohens seemed to be with each other, Marissa asked, “Do you guys already know each other?”

“He’s my brother,” Seth explained, and Marissa was baffled. Seth was the school geek, the guy with the curly hair and killer sarcasm, the one that Luke and his friends always had on their hit list. Personally, Marissa liked Seth; they had always lived next door to each other, and had similar tastes in music. But he hadn’t really mentioned a brother…then again, they didn’t talk often. What she did notice was that Seth and Ryan looked nothing alike. “Well, not biologically, but Mom and Dad took him in about eight years ago.”

“Cool,” Marissa said, unable to think of anything more interesting to contribute. She fidgeted, and figured the best course of action here would be to be quiet and observe other people. She was, admittedly, somewhat taken by Ryan’s charm (as was Julie, but she was also Julie, so that didn’t really count.) Not to mention his looks…the strong jaw, perfect body and slightly messy hair to name a few things. Marissa then realised she was drooling over her new teacher – even if he was young and attractive, it was still kind of creepy. She doubted that would stop half the Harbor students coming onto the poor guy, though. As everyone began leaving the ballroom, Summer and Holly escaped to the after-party, figuring Marissa would go with Luke, who had already left with his buddies. Seth didn’t intend to go, most likely because the water polo team would kick his ass. In public. Marissa was still trying to think of a solution to her newfound problem (sadly, just going home to relax wasn’t an option) when Julie offered her own solution.

“Ryan’s going that way, if it’s not too much trouble, maybe he could drop you off at Holly’s?”

Hastily, Marissa interjected, “Uh, it’s fine, I’m sure someone here can take me.”

And yet, she still ended up in the passenger seat of Ryan’s Range Rover.

“Am I making you uncomfortable or something?” he asked after a while.

Feeling awkward, she explained, “I’m just on edge, from the fashion show and everything. I’m not always this weird.”

“Weird,” he repeated, like he didn’t get what she was talking about.

“Yeah, like you haven’t noticed that I practically twitch every time someone talks to me.” Marissa was, at least, relieved by how easy he was to talk to outside the stuffy ballroom.

Conceding, Ryan said, “Okay, maybe a little.”

“You’re too nice to be a Harbor teacher,” she remarked as the beach house came into view. No-one on the Harbor staff seemed particularly nice…and very few of them seemed to have functioning personalities. “Seriously, the kids are going to slaughter you. Don’t underestimate the power of brats in Prada and Lacoste.”

With a sigh, he mused, “I wish I were as badass as Dr. Kim.” The reference to the school dean made Marissa laugh, and she finally found that she was feeling comfortable for the first time that night.

“Yeah, you’re dead.”