"Hey man, didn't expect to see you back so soon," Ryan let go of a crutch to wave with one hand at Luke who had arrived at school at almost the same time as Ryan and Seth. Seth glowered at them both and then pushed up past them and into the school.

"What's his problem?" Luke asked.

"Who knows," Ryan shrugged and started to limp towards the school. He decided Luke had enough on his mind without worrying about Seth's petty jealousy. "How are you feeling?"

Luke shrugged and then rolled his muscular shoulders, "A little sore, but not too bad."

"Face looks pretty good," Ryan smirked, it was still black and blue.

"Yeah well, I'm just hoping I look better than the other guy."

"So what's going on with that? Are you in trouble?"

"Nah, not really."

"So you're allowed to go around practicing vigilante justice now? Nice- mind taking out Oliver for me?"

"Err..." Luke hesistated, "Not quite, I'm just not really in trouble for this..."

"Right..." Ryan looked away, and Luke realized he probably thought that he had bought his way out of trouble.

"They kinda..." Luke swallowed, "Ryan, look, don't tell anyone but... I'm basically not getting intro trouble because Summer's keeping her mouth shut about what happened."

"And you're okay with that?"

"No..." Luke squirmed uncomfortably, "But believe it or not, that's what Summer wanted."

"Huh? I have a hard time believing she'd be okay with that..."

"Yeah I know... But this way, the whole thing just sort of goes away..."

"Goes away? What? How?" Why had Ryan never been offered a plea bargain deal like that? And why did Luke always seem to get off scot free no matter what kind of trouble he got into?

"Look... Promise you won't say anything?"

"Yeah, sure," Ryan was good at keeping secrets.

"Summer was afraid that if she went to court and lost she'd become totally unpopular. Even if she went to court and won she might become a complete social outcast."

"She's keeping her mouth shut because she wants to be popular?" Ryan stared at Luke and disbelief.

"And to protect me..." He muttered, slightly ashamed.

"What do you mean?"

"If she took Max to court... His dad was going to sue me. We'd be in court rooms long after we graduated from this stupid place. It just... Isn't worth it."

"Isn't worth it? But she was almost-"

Luke cut him off, "Almost, but he didn't... This way the whole thing just goes away."

Ryan started to nod, and then he saw Marissa walk by with Oliver. She didn't see Luke and Ryan who stood down at the bottom of the steps, "You can't just ignore these things and hope they go away you know." He growled, "You have to stand up and fight..." His eyes were fixated on Marissa who was smiling as she sat down on a makeshift seat on the wall. Luke followed his stare,

"You're one to talk... You only have one leg to even stand on... And I'm not willing to risk that much if I'm not even sure it's worth it." Summer had been standing nearby, and overheard the last part of the conversation. Not even worth it? So that was what Luke thought of her? She turned around and fled, before she was forced to hear another word. "I mean, if Summer was willing to fight for it, then of course I'd go for it, but she's so afraid of risking her popularity... I wanna do whatever she thinks is best... And it's not worth it to put up a fight if she won't keep up her end of the bargain."

************************************

"Summer?" An all too familiar and unwelcome male voice asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Seth, go away." Summer hastily wiped the tears off her face.

"Yeah... Sure you are..." He muttered, bouncing uneasily from one foot to the other as if debating whether or not he should obey her. "You know... I really am sorry about Max... It really sucks that he did that..."

"Thanks..." Her head was still turned away from him.

"Are you sure you're-"

"I said I was fine!" She snapped.

"Right..." He turned and started to walk away but Summer grabbed his sleeve.

"Can you...?" She turned her tearstained face to his. "Can you wait with me... For a minute?"

"Yeah, of course Summer," As if he would have ever said no. "Okay, I know this is like the third time I asked, but I'm going to give it one more try- Are you sure you're okay?"

Summer shook her head, "No, not really."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Seth asked, slightly ill-at-ease, feelings, particularly of the female variaty were not his strong suit.

"Did you... Not stand up for something because you were afraid of what would happen?"

"Me? Summer, that's not even a fair question. Ryan's the one who stands up for stuff... Me... I'm a lover not a fighter." His cheeks burned with a temporary moment of shame as he thought about all the times Ryan had stood up for him and he had done nothing. Okay- this wasn't about him, later there would be time to pick this realization apart and do something about it...

"Right..." Summer was saying, "Okay... But I meant like... Never mind... Do I look okay?"

"Huh?"

"My face- does it look like I've been crying."

"Uhmm... Sorta..."

"Great..."

"Wet papertowel,"

"Huh?"

"Wet a paper towel with cold water and hold it over your eyes... Or just tell everyone you have allergies."

"Seth, has anyone ever told you that you are kind of a girl sometimes?"

"Thanks Summer, next time I won't offer you my words of wisdom."

Summer managed a small smile, "Thanks Seth,"

"Anytime... Look, Summer, is this about the whole Max thing?"

"Yeah, kinda..." She admitted.

"If you need to talk... I'm here."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, but... For right now, I'm just going to pretend everything's fine."

"Really?"

"Yes really Seth, it just makes life too complicated to try and fight every stupid little battle,"

"You know, that's what I said the first time a kid bullied me, in like kindergarten."

"What's your point Cohen? You still get bullied."

"Exactly, nothing's changed, because I didn't think it was worth it to fight."

"What if fighting meant that someone else got hurt? What if you could fight it now but like, it would hurt Ryan or Anna?"

"Well, my not fighting and just letting kids bully me all the time almost did get Ryan hurt. Remember the beach party? The where you hit on- Oh never mind. Anyway, I'm just saying, letting people push you around is a great way to survive, but not if it makes you miserable. Until Ryan came along and started fighting my battles for me, I hated this place. I hated this school, and I had no friends."

"Thanks for the invite to the Seth pity party,"

"No, Summer... Look, all I'm saying is, sometimes it's worth it to fight. Even if it makes things messy..."

Summer looked up at Seth and smiled, "Wow, I really didn't think you were capable of being that deep..."

"Yeah, I surprised even myself with that little pep-talk there. It was pretty good though, wasn't it?"

Summer nodded, "Yeah not bad, I'd say like a seven out of ten."

"Only a seven? That seems a little harsh."

"Fine, an eight then."

"So, does this mean your going to go fight the good fight?"

Summer sighed, "No,"

"No? What? Really? After my whole speech? What if I'd done while riding back and forth on Captain Oats?"

Summer giggled, "Might have helped a little... But no, that's not why."

"Then why?"

"Honestly... I just want to move on from it and forget about it. I know that's what Luke wants... Luke doesn't think it's worth it at all."

"What?"

"Never mind..."

"Should I go beat Luke up for you?"

Summer shook her head, "Like you said, he's totally not worth it."

"I know, but he's all injured and pathetic. I might have a chance for once!"

"He'd still kick your butt,"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Summer," The bell rang.

"I should uh... Get to class."

"Yeah, me too. See you at lunch?"

"Uhmm... I was going to sit with Hailey and all them,"

"Oh right, well, see you around."

"Right, see you. Oh Seth- do I look okay?"

"Yeah, you look fine."

"Thanks."

"Anytime," Seth said, mostly to himself as he watched Summer walk away, "Anytime."