Kirsten stopped the car and parked on the field that was being used as a parking lot.

"Here we are!" she exclaimed.

Summer turned off the radio and rolled down her car window. "The Orange County Summer Carnival 2004 is my surprise?" she asked skeptically.

"When was the last time you went to a carnival?" Kirsten asked rhetorically.

Summer sighed and unfastened her seatbelt. "We can go,"

Kirsten quickly got out of the car with a huge smile on her face.

"I love carnivals! I never got to go to any as a kid, my dad just can't stand carnivals," she explained as the pair strolled along.

"Let's get cotton candy," Summer said absent-mindedly.

"Have you talked to Marissa recently?" Kirsten asked.

Summer steered toward the cotton candy stand. She took five dollars out of her purse and put it on the counter. "Yeah," she answered, "She's been drinking, and, we went to the beach, and I told her to call her therapist and set up some appoitments, 'cause Ryan would want her to,"

Kirsten nodded. "My gift to you," Summer said as she handed Kirsten one of the blue cotton candies.

Kirsten accepted the sugary treat happily. "Do you think she's going to? Or should I talk to my dad?" she asked.

"No, no, no. Marissa will do it as long as her mom doesn't find out. That makes her want to do anything else. She likes to, um, rebel, but mostly because she hates her mom," Summer replied quickly.

"It's not like my dad would want to hear from me right now. I got in an arguement with him at the charity ball the other night. He takes about five days to get over that, which is just five days for me to do my work without him on my back," Kirsten sighed.

"Oh. What was it about?" Summer asked with a mouth full of cotton candy.

"He's just been giving me all this work and I snapped. I said something like him trying to replace my mom with Julie,"

"Ouch,"

"I know. Let's just go on the ferris wheel, okay?" Kirsten said, slightly annoyed with the thought of her dad.

The pair got handed over their tickets and got on a ferris wheel cart. "I know how it is, though. My dad tried to replace my mom with Lauren," Summer commented.

Kirsten remembered that Summer had a similar experience, it was nice to talk to someone who had the same hardships. She never got to really have anyone know how it was without having to explain anything to them. There was Hailey, of course, but about a month after their mother died, Hailey took off because she couldn't stay. Without their mother, Hailey felt like the place was empty. She was supposed to go on a trip to France for a month, when a month became six. After that, the trips got longer, Kirsten got involved in finishing college, and the two sisters grew apart.

"It sucks," Kirsten stated in reply.

"I've tried to call her, I just...can't. I sort of want to know her again, but then, I don't want to even see her," Summer said, staring down at the ground below them.

"I don't want to tell you what to do, but, to never have anyone maternal, that must be hard. Don't you just want to...see what a mother's like?" Kirsten asked, feeling guilty about even making Summer consider contacting the woman who did so many horrible things to her.

Summer looked up at Kirsten and smiled. "As cheesy as this might sound, I already have,"

"Oh my God, that little boy was so mean!" Summer yelped as the two walked out of the carnivasl to the car.

"Well, I think he'll be a little nicer next time he plays Bumper Cars thanks to you," Kirsten said lightly, in between laughing.

"What? He was, like, giving us whip lash, okay?" Summer retorted.

"Right," Kirsten teased.

"Can you drive straight to my house? I have to get up early tomorrow. Hair appoitment," Summer requested.

"How early is it?"

"Um," Summer hesititated, "Ten. No teasing,"

Kirsten sighed, "Fine. We'll go home, Miss Bumper Cars Road Rage,"

A/N: This one was short, it's really just a break from all the angst and drama, because up next, there's a lot. This chapter was basically all dialogue, so is the next chapter. Well, it will be, I think. Please, if you're reading, review. Reviews give me motivation to update, people!