None of it's mine. Two more chapters after this. Leave a review; peace and love...

One year, six months later...

Leaving so much hair out, Summer pulled her hair up into a high ponytail and pulled a sweatshirt over her head. She pulled a basketball out of her cupboard and fell down on her couch. She tossed the ball into the air in perfect free shots and caught it when it fell back down. She had her stereo up high and singing softly to herself.

"She's a good girl, loves her mama. Loves Jesus, and America too. She's a good girl, is crazy bout Elvis. Loves horses, and her boyfriend too. It's a long day, living in Reseda. There's a freeway, running through the yard. And I'm a bad boy, cause I don't even miss her. I'm a bad boy, for breaking her heart."

It was the best part of the song, and it was the beginning, so she aimed the remote and started it over.

"...loves her mama..." She hummed along with Tommy and threw the ball back over her head too far. She was too tired to move, so just turned the boy up a little bit more.

"All the vampires, walking through the valley. Move west down Ventura Boulevard. And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows. And the good girls are home with broken hearts. And I'm in."

The front door opened and Marissa and Luke came in, his hand on her waist like it always seemed to be.

"Hey Sum, we were going to a movie. Wanna join?"

"Um...no, I, uh, I need to do some cleaning around here. Some other time?"

"Yeah, okay. Have fun."

"I won't. But thanks. You guys have fun."

"All right. Bye, Sum."

"Bye Coop."

They walked out the same way they had come in and Summer fell back down on the couch. She had tagged along before on a Marissa/Luke make out and it hadn't been an experience she was quick to repeat. So pretending to be Michael Jordan occupied her afternoon. She stood up and stretched out her arms. She grabbed the ball, bounced it twice and looked behind her. Sure that she actually was alone, she bounced the ball to the other hand, back and forth, and jogged into the kitchen.

"Roberts comes up to the three point line, this girl's been having a hell of a season, let's see if she can top it off and get her team into the playoffs. She moves up to the foul line and shoots..." She threw the ball into a pot sitting on the stove. "And the crowd is loving Summer Roberts! She bows and blushes, but it's obvious the girl is beyond happy. This girl is loving the crowd as much as they love her."

She left the ball in the pot and grabbed another one nearby. She filled it with water and dropped it on the stove. She turned on the heat, put the top on the pot, grabbed a box of Kraft, and left the room. She fell back onto the couch and shut her eyes as Tom hummed about Mary Jane.

"There's pigeons in that market square; she's standing in her underwear..."

Summer's eyelashes started fluttering and Tom sang her to sleep.

Brrrrrrrrinnnnng. Brrrrrrrrinnnnng.

Summer patted her forehead with her palm and shook her head as she grabbed the phone from behind her head and yawned.

"Hello?"

"Summer? Oh, hey, it's, um, it's Chad. You know, Muller?"

"Oh, yeah, hey."

"Hi. So, I mean, I was wondering if you were, you know, doing anything on Friday."

"Friday? I, uh..."

"Oh. Okay. I under—"

"No, I mean, sure. I mean, I'll go out with you."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, um, sure. I'll see you at, like, 8?"

"Yeah, all right, great."

"Great. Okay."

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

She hung up the phone and yawned again. She stood up and saw smoke around her head. She coughed once at the smell and followed it into the kitchen.

"Holy shi..."

The flames shot up again and she ducked. The rubber basket ball was shooting up higher and higher and seemed to take over the kitchen. She thrust her cell phone in front of her and dialed 911 as she ran her hand through her hair.

"Hi, um, is r-rubber flammable?"

A smooth, slightly British accented female voice came out.

"Certain types of..."

"Like the type in basketballs because my uh kitchen is on-on fire."

"Excuse me?"

"My freaking kitchen is on fire, get it?"

"Yes ma'am. What's your address?"

Summers sat on the sidewalk as she saw the firefighters that seemed to come directly out of a movie burst through her door and blow the fire out that seemed to get bigger by the second. Apparently whoever built her kitchen had been really stupid because so many things followed the basketball's path.

When the extremely loud blowing sound ceased, five men came out of her house and she rose to her feet.

"Hi, uh, your name's Roberts?"

"Summer. Yeah."

"Is your guardian here or close by?"

"Um, my dad's about half an hour away."

"And your mother?"

"My step mother's in Costa Rica."

"All right. Could you call your father? Get him to come home?"

"Um, I can try."

"All right. You should do that."

"Okay. Um, sir, do you know how bad it is?"

"It's not horrible. But there's a good amount of damage."

Summer pulled out her cell phone and dialed her dad's number as she ran her fingers through her hair again. She turned around and spoke quietly into her phone. After about ten seconds, she turned around and held the phone a few centimeters from her mouth.

"Around how much money do you think it would take to fix it?"

The firemen smiled at each other, but shrugged.

"Something around 25 grand if you want it to look as nice as it did."

Summer sighed and turned back around. After a lot of hurried muttering, she turned off the phone and turned back around, biting her lip.

"Thanks so much, you guys, I'm sorry you had to come out just because I was stupid."

"It's no problem."

The only brunette of the five smiled at her and she smiled back. The other guys rolled their eyes and walked away. The guy blushed slightly and grinned.

"This is going to sound really weird, but, uh, how old are you?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to ask you out."

"Sixteen."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. How old are you?"

"Twenty."

"That works."

"It does."

"So, are you going to do it?"

"I'm getting to it."

"I'll be waiting."

She smiled as she turned around and walked to her house to try to see in to the kitchen. The guy laughed behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hi. I'm Kevin."

"Summer."

"Would you like to go out with me Saturday?"

"You know what, Kevin? Why the hell not?"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

He grinned and she smiled back at him. She was lying about her age so that she could flirt with a guy six years older than her. Better than any goddamn Chad Muller.

That night, Summer stayed with the Coopers while her dad slept in a hotel. Apparently he couldn't stand the smell.

Marissa had seen it as a 'girl's night' and rented movies and bought tons of popcorn and chips and candies that they both knew would only be eaten by Summer. They had spent a whole hour singing alone to Jewel humming "Who will sa-ave your soul?" before deciding to finally watch that movie. They lay in front of the t.v. watching John Cusack lift a boom box above his head for Ione Sky.

"Oh my god. If anyone did that for me, I would totally die."

"Don't you mean Luke?"

"I mean anyone. I could hate the guy and it would kill me."

Summer giggled and Marissa followed her. They watched the rest of the movie sighing in the appropriate places and crying in the other appropriate places. After it ended, Marissa wanted to watch another movie, but Summer shook her head.

"Can we just, like, talk?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. About what happened today?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Okay. Upstairs?"

Summer nodded and followed Marissa up the staircase into Marissa's room. She turned on the light and sat on the floor. Marissa lay down on her bed with her face cradled in her arms at the foot of it.

"So you were playing basketball?"

"You make it sound so stupid."

"Isn't that what happened though?"

"Well...technically yes. But it only burnt because I was asleep."

"You fell asleep with the stove turned on?"

"I was tired."

"From all the cleaning?"

"Uh..."

"It's okay. I'm actually the one who should feel bad. I shouldn't have made you feel like a tagalong. I miss you sometimes."

"Don't feel bad. I miss you too though. But Luke is cool; I can hang out with him sometimes. I just miss this."

"I know. I'll try, okay? One night or day like this once a week."

"All right. It's a deal."

It would feel a lot better if she knew Marissa would keep it like that longer than a month or two.

"So, what else happened today? Anything groundbreaking?"

"Chad Muller asked me out."

"What'd you say?"

"Yeah."

"Do you like him?"

"He's not bad."

"He really likes you."

"I know."

"Tell me how that one goes."

"I will. But there was something else too."

"Oh. Tell me."

"One of the firemen putting out my kitchen asked me out too."

"Are you serious? How old was he?"

"Twenty?"

"Does he know you're only fourteen?"

"Not exactly..."

"Summer!"

"He only thinks I'm sixteen. I'm practically sixteen."

"Except for two years."

"Two years is nothing."

"Sum, he's six years older than you."

"I know. But he's so cute."

Marissa giggled.

"What does he look like?"

"Brown hair, brown eyes, really taller than me, and his lips look really soft."

"Sum!"

"What? They do."

Marissa laughed and turned over onto her back.

"I'd love to have your life."

"Really? Me? I don't have a great steady boyfriend who plays water polo."

"I know. And don't get me wrong; Luke's great. But you seem to live so much."

"It's not always so great."

"I know. I'd just like to know what it was like."

"Things are exciting for you too."

"Yeah, right. Going to movies, the mall, the park with the same guy every day."

"They are exciting. Hiding from your parents so they don't know how far you go, kissing in the movies, the mall, the park."

Summer giggled and Marissa followed her.

"Well, yeah, that is a perk."

"Things are exciting and as we get older I know they're going to get more exciting?"

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll believe you only because I love you."

"I'll take it. You wanna go to bed soon?"

"Yeah, um, just one more question."

"Go ahead."

"How far have you gone with a guy?"

"What do you mean?"

"How far have you gone? Like, base-wise."

"Why do you want to know?"

"I'm interested."

"Do you mean, like, am I a virgin?"

"That too."

"Coop, you think I would sleep with a guy and not tell you?"

"No, I mean, I just want to know, you know?"

"Just, like, second I guess."

"Like, he's gone up your shirt?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"You'd laugh at me."

Marissa gave her a look.

"Sum, you know me better than that."

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone. You remember that guy? The one who we saw at the basketball game at the high school?"

"Which one?"

"The one playing basketball?"

"You dated a high school basketball player?"

"Just for, like, a week."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Wow, Sum. That's what I'm talking about. You really live."

"Going out with some kid with really cute dimples isn't 'really living.'"

"But still. I could never do something like that."

"Yes you could."

"I dunno. Well, I'm going to sleep. You coming?"

"Yeah."

It was just a little lie. She had gone on a date with that guy, but when he had wanted to do more, she had asked him to take her home. Because he didn't seem to know her. Anything about her. He even forgot her name and called her Stephanie.

Summer curled up under Marissa's covers and tried to think of something different. Different at least from what she always dreamed of. Some tall boy resting his chin on her shoulder as his fingertips brushed her waist. His curly hair smelling like shampoo that his mother bought for him and his head being a comforting weight against her. His jacket with small flecks of dust as he held her as close to him as he could. His breath hitching every now in then as if to remind himself that this was really happening. But if she thought about it, then her dreams would remember a boy grinning as he skated past her on a black piece of wood. Calling her beautiful and yelling at her when she said she was anything but. And that drifted to a thirteen year old laughing his head off with a nine year old after she beat him at Jenga. Which hinted to a guy on the top of a Range Rover making her smile for no reason. And that led to remembering her lips upon his soft cheek that was starting to hint of a five o clock shadow. And then she fell asleep wishing to god that it had been left as more than just a goodnight kiss.

"Free Fallin" written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne