02E03 - The New Kids on the Block

Caleb spends the night in jail until Sandy bails him out, and all of Orange Country finds out about his troubles via a front page newspaper spread. Seth realizes that he really does make everything about him, as Summer previously suggested, so he decides that he needs to become selfless, for the greater good of man, and just in case Summer might want him back. He decides to get tickets to a Walkmen show at The Bait Shop, but they're sold out. So he accepts a manual labor job at from the co-manager, a punk rock princess by the name of Alex, of cleaning toilets to be rewarded tickets so that he can give them to Summer and Zack to prove his selflessness to her. Summer realizes that Zack is the perfect guy, though he may not be perfect for her, and agrees to arrange a lunch where Zack can meet her Dad, hoping it will go better than when Seth met him last year. Ryan gets assigned a lab partner in his AP Physics class, a new girl named Lindsey, though he's already met her. Earlier that day he had spilled coffee all over her shirt, accidentally slammed his elbow into her nose and spilled the belongings in her purse all over the floor. They are less than thrilled to be working together, but are forced nonetheless. They are given their first assignment, an assignment they are to work on together, but Lindsey distrusts Ryan's level of smarts, assuming he's another dumb, rich kid from Orange Country, and hands the assignment in without consulting Ryan or letting him contribute in the slightest. Kirsten, Sandy, Julie, and Caleb are all fretting over Caleb's current state, and what it is to come if he does get sent to jail. But Sandy is hot on the trail of finding ways to get Caleb out of hot water. And Sandy has plenty of time to deal with the matter now that he has quit his job at his top law firm; because the partners agreed that as long as he was representing Caleb, he wasn't working there. Later, Seth finds out this his new boss, tough girl Alex, is only 17, got kicked out of three different high schools and her parents' house. He earns the tickets, and gives them to Summer, but Zack convinces her to go to the concert alone, see Seth and talk about their status. Everything is going fine and a friendship is forming, until he tries to kiss her, and ruins it all. Caleb announces to Kirsten and Sandy that he will be stepping down from his position in the Newport Group, and appointing a new CEO-Julie. Kirsten is furious, and quits, saying she refuses to have Julie as her boss. Caleb convinces her to come back, saying it's just a figure-head position, and Kirsten will continue to run the show as Chief Financial Officer. Seth goes to talk to Marissa about his problems with Summer, because he's burned out anyone else who was willing to listen. She tells him it would be best just to apologize if he really wants a friendship with her. He shows up at the restaurant where she's having lunch with her father, but is crushed to see Zack also joining them, and having an enjoyable time. Meanwhile, Marissa sees Ryan at Harbor doing his Physics homework with Lindsey, laughing, flirting, and smiling. Turns out, Seth and Marissa are floating in the same boat of loneliness and making several attempts of not sinking.