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Chapter 5: The Speeding Cars
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(It's three weeks later. Ryan and Marissa are about to head off to Berkeley. Seth and Summer will be going to Rhode Island a few days later (Seth goes to RISD in January but will spend the meantime in RI with Summer. She and the three Cohens were saying goodbye to Ryan and Marissa. Marissa had already said goodbye to her mom earlier.)
-At the Cohen's-
Ryan put the last couple of wife beaters on his bag. He looked around at the partially empty poolhouse, remembering all he had done there...how his 16-year-old self, who had fullfilled his biggest dream: to escape Chino and have a real family, while he was about to fullfill another dream: to become an architect. He owed it all to the Cohens: going to a real school, having real friends, experiencing so many adventures, meeting the love of his life, going to college... Still he couldn't believe he was about to leave. Leave the house, leave his friends, leave his family, his home.
There were so many memories lingering all around his poolhouse, it was hard to go. But he should.
Kirsten hugged Ryan tightly as he got out of the poolhouse and entered the living room with his luggage.
"Awww guys I'm so proud of you" she said moving on and hugging Marissa. "Look at you, full of Berkeley spirit".
Ryan smiled at him and Marissa. He hadn't noticed before, but they were both wearing Berkeley sweatshirts: Marissa's was the light pink Summer had given her for Harbor's sweatshirt party, and Ryan's was a brand new deep blue sweatshirt. Both sweatshirts had "BERKELEY" on them with the same type and size of letter.
"You are going to love Berkeley" Sandy smiled hugging Ryan "Four years?" Sandy shook his hand sarcastically. "It's nothing! Be sure to enjoy yourselves."
"Yes, Sandy, they will" Kirsten frowned, hugging Ryan again. "But, please, don't forget to do all your homework, don't go to bed late, feed yourselves correctly..."
"Come on, mom!" Seth shook his head. "They're not kids anymore, chill, mother"
Kirsten smiled as Summer ran to hug both Ryan and Marissa at the same time.
"Guys, I'm going to miss you so much!" Summer was already crying and so was Marissa. "Please, don't ever forget Cohen and me. Stay in touch! Awww guys...."
Summer let go of Ryan and Marissa, who was silently crying. Seth stepped forwards and hugged first Marissa and then Ryan.
"See you around, bro" Seth's voice broke slightly. Then he took something out of his pocket.
"This is for you" he handed it to Ryan: it was a copy of the Atomic County. "It is for you guys to never forget our calm, pacific, lovely and super friendly Newport".
They all smiled sadly. Ryan looked at his watch: it was time to go. After hugging everyone a few more times, he helped Marissa get her luggage into the cab.
As Ryan closed the front door of the Cohen's, he couldn't help but feel terribly empty. This was the house that had literally been his true and only real home; the house of the family who had made a place for him in it; the house, the town, in which he had lived so many experiences, so many adventures. He had met Marissa there. It was just a house, just a poolhouse, just a shallow town called Newport Beach, but for him it felt like he had been there forever and done so much there. He felt completely, absolutely scared and alone. But as he looked at the silent crying girl sitting next to him on the moving taxi, he realized he was not alone at all. She was scared too, probably more scared than him since Newport had been her home forever. He moved closer to her and kept her close to his body.
"Don't cry, baby" he whispered to her ear while drying her tears.
"I...I'm sorry, Ryan" she sobbed "It's just...I can't believe we're leaving Newport. I've always wanted to get away from here, but it's just that---there are too many memories here...I...I met you here. I couldn't imagine us in any other place. Please, promise that once we're finished with college we'll come back."
"I promise" he smiled comforting her. "Remember it's not forever".
"I have a little surprise for you when we get there" Marissa smirked.
Ryan smiled.
"I can't wait"
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The plane landed in Berkeley at noon. It was just a matter of an hour for Ryan and Marissa to go through the airport's security tests, pick up their luggage and get a cab to take them to the campus.
While on the cab, Marissa couldn't help but admire the beauty of San Francisco. Sure, she was going to miss her hometown and friends, but this city...It was not like Newport at all. There were more parks, not just trees and palms; more cars, not limos; more typical family houses, not huge mansions. The city itself was not superficial or shallow. It was all so pretty.
And before they knew they were already entering the University of California, Berkeley.
The campus was just as Sandy had described it, Ryan thought. It was massive, crowded and...truly amazing. Now he could see for the first time that his college experience was going to be good, too.
After paying the cab and getting their luggage, Marissa and Ryan entered the campus. It was filled with cheerfull students, bookworms and a shy freshman every other time. Ryan took out of his pocket his Berkeley map and checked where their dorms were. Oddly, Marissa hadn't written on the map where her dorm was, so Ryan assumed it was near his and they both went to Ryan's dorm.
He opened the door and got to be face to face with his new room, the one which had been Sandy's room. There were the two single beds Sandy described, the same closet, the same bathroom. The only thing that was missing was his roomate...and his roomate's stuff.
"The room looks kinda...empty" Ryan said.
Marissa smiled at his comment.
"Yeah, thats...kind of the surprise" she explained. "We're...gonna be sleeping on the same room now" she smiled.
"Wha...How d...Huh?" Ryan babbled. "Do they allow guys and girls to sleep in the same room? If so, I would've asked them to put us together, I didn't know..."
"Ry, it's ok, I already did that one for you" Marissa said with a big grin. "See, since I, kind of 'RSVPd' to Berkeley a little later than usual, I was accidentally put in a guy's room. I was trying to get into a normal dorm with girls, when I heard my former roomate was friends with your former roomate; so I asked him to come to my first dorm so I could be with you. It's not something they normally allow in Berkeley, so I asked Sandy to call his friend here, and, well, summarizing, at the end they agreed as long as we had single separate beds".
Ryan kept staring at her, perplexed.
"And you did this all by yourself?"
Marissa bit her lip.
"I told you I wanted to make it up to you". she hesitated. "This way I can keep an eye on you".
Ryan went over to her, smiling, and kissed her.
"It's perfect" he said. "Thank you" he looked around.
"Although we have to do something about these separate beds..."
"This reminds me of Oliver and Palm Springs" Ryan murmured.
"Don't worry about that" Marissa said with a little smile. Ryan went over to the beds and pushed them until they were together.
"This way it's cooler" he nodded as they both sat on the edge of the bed.
Ryan sighed and Marissa kissed him on the cheek.
"I guess we're on our own now, are we?"
Ryan looked around so did Marissa.
"I guess we are".
"What do you wanna do now?" Marissa whispered with a mischievous smile.
Ryan smiled back.
"I think you know what I wanna do".
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oh man. GREAT! I FINISHED IT!!!!! for this chapter I had to enter Berkeley's web page to find information; a friend told me there was also a campus on LA (ok there was but it wasnt berkeley) and I was trying to put my ideas in order...but hey, I hoped you liked it! sorry if I took long....I had to go back to school after the holidays. ew!
love!
