A/N: Wow, you guys it's been forever since I've updated this story. School has been getting in the way, so I haven't really had time. But know since its Christmas break I figured maybe I can at least get a few chapters done. I hope this isn't too bad considering I haven't written this story in a long time. Anyway, please read and review if you're still reading this story!

The following morning Summer found herself waking up with butterflies in her stomach. She was nervous she would go to school only to find Seth Cohen once again ignoring her. She carefully and slowly pulled the covers off of her and sighed. She took one long glance at Princess Sparkle hoping the plastic horse could foresee her future. However, the horse did not show her what she wanted; it instead stood firmly on her nightstand. Summer grabbed her glasses and pushed a stray hair away from her face, once again sighing she pushed herself off her bed and towards her closet. She glanced at the clothes that were hanging from the hangers and she once again selected a t-shirt. There was no use in trying to impress Seth Cohen if he wouldn't even acknowledge her.

Summer quickly ran from her bedroom and into the kitchen and grabbed an apple for the road. She waved goodbye to her father, and bounded out of her front door. She opened her car door vigorously not wanting images of Seth to fill her mind. But no matter how hard she slammed her door or how many shots of tequila she drank, she could never get those damn dimples out of her head.

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She pulled into the parking lot later than she usually did; however, she was greeted by something very different. There was a parking spot in the front and center of the parking lot. Summer furrowed her brow and looked both ways seeing if any cars were coming. She hesitantly pulled into the spot and then checked in her review mirrors to see if any of the water polo players were going to taunt and attack her. Once she saw the coast was clear she slowly got out of the car and closed the door. She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

She entered the building and immediately looked for any sign of her closet romance. No sign of him yet. She bounded to her locker to see Luke standing leaning against his, appearing to be waiting for her.

"Hey Luke, what's going on with you?" she chuckled at the stupid chagrin he still had planted on his face.

"Nothing, I just have this feeling that today is going to be a really good day, you know? I had this dream last night that me and Marissa were making out on the couch and then one thing led to another and—"

"Ugh, Luke, please spare me the details. The first thing I don't want to hear in the morning is your fantasies with Marissa," she playfully teased at him.

"But all I'm saying is if that was reality damn—"

"Luke, please?" she raised her voice slightly at him.

"Okay, okay. I'll back off. So how are you and Cohen?" he playfully hit her arm.

"We're fine. I mean it's not like we're dating. We talk. Okay actually we just talk when no one else is around, but that's fine. It's not like we're ever going to date or anything."

What Summer wanted to tell Luke is that she hoped that she and Seth would one day date, and that one day they could talk when others were around.

"At lease its progress…right?" he shrugged.

"Right," she said to Luke, while trying to reassure herself at the same time.

The morning bell rang throughout the school and it once again signaled for Summer to return to hell, with the devil herself, Marissa Cooper. She made her way towards the gym and finally saw him. Not wanting to draw embarrassment to herself, she looked away. She didn't want to see the evil smirk or the avoidance of eye contact. However, if Summer had looked, she would have seen the wave and the friendly smile that Seth was trying to give her.

She pushed open the gym doors and made her way towards the locker room, she kept her head hung low, not wanting to see the laughter she would get everyday. And so she continued her journey, her head hung low in pseudo confidence. She reached her destination and sighed, not wanting any more torture from Marissa Cooper. However, when she opened the door she found the locker room to be empty. Confused, she looked around for any sign of the girls playing an evil trick on her. And then she remembered. Her class today was going to be held in the auditorium, it was supposed to be another boring lecture about safe sex. Not wanting to sit through another one of those, and especially in the vicinity of Seth, Summer did something she never thought she would do—she skipped class.

Hoping no one would see her out of character act, Summer quickly fled from the gym to the girl's bathroom. She entered quickly and chose a stall to spend the next hour of her life. Summer sat down and grabbed a comic book out of her purse, and tried to remain calm. However, she could not shake the feeling out of her head that she would somehow get caught, but she pushed the feeling out of her head and she tried to concentrate on the next adventure she would have with Superman.

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Unlike Sleeping Beauty, Summer was not awoken from her sleep by a kiss, but rather by a very loud bell that pierced her ears. She looked at her watch, and panicked when she saw that she had not only missed gym but also Calculus, and World History. Shit, Shit. Why did I have to freaking skip? Damn Seth Cohen! If it wasn't for you then I wouldn't have skipped gym at all!! Now, I'm definitely going to get in trouble.

Summer stepped out of the stall and strolled to her locker to grab her lunch. She couldn't believe that she had slept through all of her first three classes. All she wanted to do was go to lunch and make it through the day without getting caught. However, Summer knew that the latter was nearly impossible.

Just as she was entering the lunchroom Summer was met with a pair of dimples that could only belong to one man—Seth Cohen.

"Shit," she muttered.

"What?" he asked puzzled. He had never heard that word escape from Summer's lips before.

"Nothing," she quickly brushed his question.

"Been looking," he smiled.

"Been hiding," she looked away.

"Hiding from what?"

"Whom…" Summer continued to look away.

"Excuse me?" Seth was becoming increasingly frustrated with the short and witty conversation they were having.

"Hiding from whom?" she retorted.

"Oh," he finally understood ", hiding from whom?"

"You," she blankly stated, avoiding any eye contact from Seth Cohen.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

"But why?"

"Because you did something really nice Seth. Probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me, but I didn't want to come to school for you to ignore me."

"I don't understand. I'm not ignoring you. As you can obviously tell I'm talking to you right now. And if you go back to one of the first things I said to you, I said I was looking for you."

"You have a point…" she looked at him for the fist time since she bumped into him.

"I always have a point. It's just that people usually don't give me credit for them," he smirked.

"You have a point with that too," she smiled the first genuine smile she had smiled all day.

"Oh so now we're trying to be a smart ass aren't we? So, Summer Roberts, will you please honor me with your presence at lunch?"

"I would, but I can't. I can't leave Luke all alone. I'm sorry, maybe another time?" she smiled.

"Fine, but just realize these offers don't come around very often…" he smirked as he walked towards his respective lunch table as she walked towards hers.

Summer plopped down in the seat directly across from Luke, he looked up from the book he was reading and smiled at her. Summer didn't say anything to Luke; instead she turned around and looked at Seth. Seth looked up and caught her eyes, and instead of smiling he winked at her. Summer cocked her head and winked back at Seth, and she turned around to face a very confused looking Luke.

"What was that about?" he pointed at Seth with his fork.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," she grinned as took a bite of her salad.

Summer was interrupted from her peaceful silence by the sound of the tray hitting the table. She looked up to see another boy sitting next to Luke. Summer was confused, seeing as no one had ever sat next to Luke and her as long as she could remember. Luke noticed the confused look on Summer's face and he immediately informed her about the stranger.

"Summer, this is Barrett, he moved here all the way from New York City," Luke beamed proudly at the fact that he had gained a new friend.

Summer took the new stranger's appearance in. She found the outsider to be quite attractive. Some of his dark brown wavy hair fell across his eyes. His eyebrows were thick and dark and had what appeared to be a constant worried look etched in them. He looked at Summer and smiled, and that's when she swore she felt her knees go a little weak. His smile was crooked and his eyes seemed to light up with life. When he smiled he looked completely different. She also noticed his choice of wardrobe: a black button down that was tucked into very dark jeans and capped off with black Chucks. Summer felt her heart skip a beat when she looked at Barrett once again.

"So, New York huh?" she nervously asked him.

"New York," he reassured her.

"Is it cold there?" she stupidly questioned. She knew the answer, of course its cold there Summer, duh!

"Sometimes, but sometimes its not," he smiled again. Damn.

"Oh" was all that she could say. So she went back to eating her salad and she didn't talk to Barrett for the rest of the lunch period.

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Summer had managed to escape from any sort of punishment from her earlier skipping. That is, until she came to her last period. Once she entered the room she found herself being called to the principal's office and she was given the grand prize of one week's detention.

After school she began to walk towards the detention room she was assigned until once again she was stopped by Seth.

"What do you want now Seth?" she asked angrily.

"Wow, maybe I should come back at another time or something…"

"No! No!" she grabbed his arm,"Oh, sorry about that. It's just that where I'm going I really don't want to go to."

"And where are you going?"

"Detention," she mumbled.

"Wait a minute. Summer Roberts has detention?" he asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Yes, okay. Now let me go before I get into any more trouble."

"Okay, enjoy your time Sum!"

Summer rolled her eyes as she parted ways with him. She couldn't believe that she was somehow in love with that guy. As she entered the room she noticed no one else sitting in it, which would make the detention experience all the more dreadful. She gently placed her backpack down and grabbed her AP English textbook out, just as she was sitting down she noticed a shadow of someone else coming into the room.

Summer looked up and saw no one other than Barrett, the very guy who had charmed her with here good looks and heart melting smile earlier. His eyes spotted her and he immediately took the chair next to her.

"So, first day of school and you're already in detention?" she asked flirtatiously.

"Yeah, well funny story, they don't allow cell phone use in this school," he smiled again. Damn, again.

"No, no they don't."