"You know Naomi, another week here might do you the world of good. There's lots of things we can still do. We –"

"Mother" Naomi Clark cut her off. "I adore you, and our four and a half weeks together has been great but it's time for me to go home."

Tracy Clark pouted and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "But I feel like we've hardly gotten to spend anytime together."

Naomi nodded, surprised at the force of the embrace. "Again mom, four and a half weeks."

She tried to shake her mother off. Four and a half weeks was enough. She had thought that by visiting New York, she would have an opportunity to hide out for a while and gather some composure after the events of the prom but to her shock and ultimate horror, her mother had become quite lonely in New York and was vying for company. They had spent the first two weeks in the Hamptons, the remaining two weekends in different spas and the days in between, they had shopped, gotten manicures, pedicures and dined out in the fanciest restaurants. While the upside of this was that Naomi looked great for her return to LA, the downside was that inside, she was still a mess.

Tracy sighed quietly. "I wish you'd think about my offer".

"No".

"But if you're having nothing but problems back in LA then a fresh start will do you good."

Naomi shook her head firmly. Her mother had been entertaining the idea of her moving to New York long before she had even arrived and Naomi had no intention of following through. As much as she hated the place right now, Beverly Hills was still her home.

"I do miss you Naomi." Tracy sounded hurt and Naomi softened.

"I know you do mom and I miss you too but I'm not going to run away from my problems". She looked at her mother sadly. "I wish you would do the same".

Tracy nodded awkwardly and released Naomi from her embrace. "OK well you better go, I don't think that you'll be waiting long and I hope your flight will be pleasant." Naomi rolled her eyes and the hard exterior returned. "Yeah ok mom have fun, let me know when you're out of denial and ready for reality". Before Tracy could say another word, her youngest daughter stormed through the terminal.

"Man summer sucks", Navid said as he tossed the football to Dixon.

Dixon caught it expertly and shook his head. "Tell me about it". The boys had been playing all morning and Dixon found that without a group the experience was very boring. "You wanna go get food?" he asked tossing the ball back to Navid.

"No man, I gotta eat with the family. You know the rules." Ever since Navid had moved back home, his parents had reinforced the family meal rule with no exceptions. It didn't bother Navid, he was just relieved that they hadn't attempted to stop him seeing Adrianna. "Besides", he continued, "aren't you banned from the Peach Pit?"

Dixon laughed. "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not banned. That fight wasn't my fault and Nat just thought I should take time off for personal reasons."

"Speaking of those reasons"… Navid threw the football back to Dixon. "Naomi's back tonight".

Dixon froze. His face turned stony. "I didn't know that. Adrianna tell you that?". He tried to keep a calm exterior.

Navid nodded. "She's picking her up from the airport tonight. I just thought… well you know maybe Annie would want to know that she's back?"

"For what? Annie doesn't leave her room. Do you really think that Naomi coming home is going to make her feel different?"

Navid shrugged. "I don't know. I just thought that you should know. To prepare yourself, in case you bump into her….."

"Prepare myself? What're the chances that I'll ever see her? There's nothing going on this summer, everybody is away and the few people that are here can't even make eye contact with me because of what happened with Annie…. And with Silver"

Dixon trailed off feeling lame. Navid only knew the outlines of what had happened between him and Silver during and after the graduation party. After six weeks, Dixon still wasn't ready to talk about it. Navid was a good friend though and would never pry for information.

"Face it Navid" he said throwing the football back to him, "it's just you and me this summer".

Navid missed the football and instead watched it tumble down his driveway. He walked across his garden to Dixon. "All I'm saying is that… well maybe Naomi coming home could help Annie".

Dixon rolled his eyes at Navid. "Navid you're a nice guy and all that but c'mon, you really trust that witch? After all that she started? After she led that attack at Annie? She changed –"

"Whoa Dixon chill". Navid held up his arms in defence. "I'm not asking you to trust her, I don't know how I feel about Naomi but I know that I trust Adrianna… and she- well she says that a lot more went down then what we saw and she doesn't believe that Naomi would lose her temper with Annie like that unless she really thought that she had betrayed her. She may be a bitch sometimes but she's not callous."

Dixon nodded and regained his cool." Annie would never sleep with Liam, she would never sleep with anyone unless she thought it would be special and all that girly crap that girls want. She's not like that."

"I know Dixon." Navid said understanding. "But like I said, none of us were there and something must have happened… and maybe if Naomi was to come home and we could get her to believe us or at least tell us why she thinks Annie did that.. well maybe Annie might face up to things or at least venture out into your front lawn."

Dixon remained stiff but he managed a smile. "OK man, whatever you think. Let's just see what happens".

Navid smiled at slapped his friend at the back. "Excellent. Now let's play some video games".

Dixon looked toward the football. "But what about football?"

"Dude it's been six weeks, I suck!"

Naomi walked dejectedly threw the airport. She felt bad about leaving on a bad note with her mother but the woman frustrated her too much. She could no longer understand what was keeping her in New York. Her marriage breakdown was a distant memory, her fake son was a distant memory. There was nothing to keep her in New York any more but she had her family waiting for her in LA and this didn't seem to be enticing to her at all.

Naomi was tired of being the adult with her. It was bad enough that she was more or less supporting Jen financially but the fact that she had to come to New York and emotionally support her mother was pushing her over the edge. She was sick of playing the grown up. She had her own problems. Problems her mother barely knew about but yet she could face them. Naomi was going back home. She wasn't going to let her problems swallow her up like her mother was doing. She was going to face them head on. She was needed back home. Her best friend was going through a very difficult time and Naomi wanted to be there for her. Adrianna was trying to hide her confusion and devastation by throwing herself back into work but Naomi knew that her friend needed someone to talk to and emails and phone calls wouldn't be enough. She'd blown enough friendships in her life to know that Adrianna was too important to ignore over all the problems that had occurred after prom night.

"Someone called the cops".

Naomi and Jen had gotten lucky that night. Jen had been in highschool with one of the officers that had been called to the house. She worked er charm and no charges had been pressed. The boy who had died hadn't been attending their party and Annie had been gone for hours so Jen and Naomi were free from blame of the tragic ordeal.

"Naomi, it was Annie. She was the one who hit that boy with her car. Apparently she hit him and fled and then admitted to it last night."

Sometimes Naomi felt guilty over what had happened. Other times she didn't. She would never wish what had happened on anyone because it was a horrible and life changing ordeal for all involved. She had even initially felt guilty. Adrianna had doubted Annie doing that, Navid had doubted it, Ethan had doubted it, at one point even she herself had doubted it. Once her mind cleared, she felt it could have been an honest mistake for Annie's shawl to have been left there and had even planned to go and speak with her former friend about the events that had gone down.

"Naomi, I saw them go into your room together. I didn't stop them because I didn't think that he would do that to you but once I saw her come out, it was obvious that they had slept together".

The confirmation had felt like a slap in the face but Naomi trusted her sister and couldn't se any reason for her to lie to her about something that serious. As much as she hated Annie though, she hated Liam more. He had treated her so badly but she had never given up on him and then she finally believed him to have let her in when he betrayed her in the worst possible way. Everyday she wondered had it just been a game to him.

"Naomi it's Liam, I know I screwed up, I need to speak to you"

She had erased his message and hadn't heard anything from him since. It hurt her that he hadn't tried harder but it hadn't surprised her. It was for the best.

Naomi's thoughts were interrupted by the announcement of her boarding gate closing. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she had lost track of time. She raced towards the gate just as she could see the last few passengers boarding. As she ran, she tried to awkwardly shuffle through her bag for her boarding pass. She didn't see the passenger that walked out in front of her though and ran straight into her. Ten seconds later, they were both on the ground with their belongings scattered everywhere.

"Damn it you moron," the passenger shouted angrily without looking at her. "You don't watch wear you're going?"

Naomi was too shocked to think of a comeback. She recognised the laptop case, she recognised the movie magazines, she recognised the outfit and she knew the girl well enough to know that she shouldn't be in New York.

"Silver?" she said astonished.

Erin Silver froze in her knelt position. Her expression of anger changed to one of matching astonishment as she recognised the voice. She looked up slowly and gave Naomi a tiny smile.

"Hey there."

"Silver what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Japan?"

"How do you know that?"

"Because Ms. Taylor told Ade who told me."

Silver climbed to her feet and looked around sharply. "Well I was in Japan.. but then well-"

Naomi arched an eyebrow. "You know Silver, there's only one reason that I could imagine has you in New York."

Silver's shoulders fell. She knew that she was caught out. Before she could say anything, a familiar looking man approached the two girls and placed an arm on Silver. An arm which she immediately shook off.

"Well Naomi Clark," he said smiling at her. "It's been a long time and I had heard that your mother was living here now. Are you coming back to LA with Erin and me then?"

Naomi looked at Mel Silver and his grimacing daughter and smiled. "You know Mr. Silver it is a small world-"

"Too small," Silver muttered.

Naomi slipped in between the two of them and linked with the both of them. "Exactly Erin, too small and I just can't wait to find out how exactly you two have ended up on my flight home to LA." She smiled at both of them. Mel smiled back and Silver rolled her eyes.

Naomi led them both towards the gate excited to find out not only how Silver had ended up in New York but also why Mel Silver was returning to Beverly Hills.