ITS NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND; seth cohen

ten

i don't want to be, gavin degraw

"any volunteers to go first?" mrs. blake asks her class. obviously no one raises their hand for multiple reasons. one: we're all scared to present. two: no one likes her. the third reason, which is exclusive to me, is because i've been spending the last 36 hours thinking about everything besides this project. specfically, seth. and ryan. and seth.

because of his compliment at saturday's barbecue, i decided not to straighten my hair for school. because of that, however, i'm unreasonably self-conscious about my curls as of right now due to the fact no one in this classroom has probably seen them since sixth grade.

"seth, why don't you and your partner go first?" leave it to her to ruin my day ten minutes into school. and of course she didn't even say my name. i'm just 'seth's partner' and not in the way i'd like to be.

i stand up with seth and we walk to the front of the room. as we get ready to present our project, seth whispers to me, "you'll be fine. you look pretty, by the way."

with that boost of confidence, our presentation goes smoothly, with the obviously bored audience clapping weakly as we finish.

"that wasn't half bad," i say as i sit down with seth.

"half bad? dude, that was great! one step closer to being the next albert einstein," he replies, smiling.

"you can be albert einstein, i'll stick with being jessica alba. or better yet, paris hilton."

"did you see she's gonna be in a new movie? 'house of wax'? it's a remake of that old one."

"no... what's it about?"

"i don't know... i fell asleep last time i watched it. i'm more of a 'goonies' kind of guy," he replies. "but... y'know who else is in it?"

i look at him in curiosity. i've never even heard of this before.

"the guy from that cinderella movie you like."

"oh my god! chad michael murray?" he nods in remembrance. "i love him! he's also in that one show, one tree hill. it's like the valley. i need to show you the pilot."

"never heard of it."

"it's like... imagine marissa and luke, but if luke was a jerk-"

"luke is a jerk," he interjects.

"whatever. so imagine if luke was a jerk, but he had a secret brooding brother who swooped in and stole her heart. but summer was actually in love with the brother too. because she's the main girl's best friend."

"who's the brother in this scenario?"

"uhhh... ryan... he's broody enough," i reply.

"i can't imagine a world where ryan is dating marissa. and where am i in this?"

i think for a moment. "you could be... mouth."

"does mouth get with the best friend?" alright, maybe i shouldn't have compared mouth and brooke to him and summer.

"um... no..." he wants to though, i add in my head. "but he does get with this other girl who's just as hot and is the best friend's other best friend." i can't believe i'm explaining one tree hill to seth cohen and i can't believe i'm trying to compare myself to rachel gatina. if anything, i'm much more of a haley james, but i really don't want to be paired with luke in this scenario.