"Can someone else answer my phone?" Seth requested, "I do not want to explain to my mother one more time that we're not all going to get axe murdered here in Tree Hill." Seth yawned and stretched out on the couch, their fifth day in Tree Hill had dawned hot and muggy and nobody had any desire to go anyway including Seth and Marissa who had spent very little time away from Brooke and Lucas. Seth glanced around the main room of their suite. Everyone was just as unwilling to move as Seth, "Anyone? Fine whatever. " With his words Seth moved off of his couch and into his bedroom.

"Oh my God," Summer moaned, "I'm dying. I swear, who would ever choose to live in a place this humid? You could not pay me enough to leave this room, unless it's to getting a into minivan and drive away from this hell."

"So," Seth appeared back in the living room. "That was Brooke wanting to know if I wanted to go with her to the beach, so I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Ooohh," Summer sat up quickly, "The beach sounds like fun."

"Thirty seconds ago you said you didn't want to leave this room," Zach reminded Summer, his voice more edgy then his typical calm tone.

"Well, I think the beach sounds like fun," Marissa added, practically peeling herself off of the couch, "I'll call Lucas, see if he wants to come too." So with one phone call, what began as a calm and muggy day was about to turn into a tense and muggy day.


"Is that Nathan and Haley?" Summer asked hurrying away from the car. At that point she would have done anything to escape the strain that had been thick in Brooke's bug. The anger that radiated from there made Summer slightly queasy. "Hey guys!" Summer greeted them, plopping down beside them on the warm sand.

"Oh, uh, hey Summer," Nathan replied, puzzled to why she was there in the first place.

"Did Peyton call you?" Summer questioned, "I had no idea you were coming."

"What's going on?" Haley questioned, glancing at the rest of the group scattered around the area.

"Oh, well Brooke called and invited us to the beach."

"Correction," Zach spoke up, appearing beside Summer. "Brooke invited Seth to the beach and Summer invited the rest of us."

"What?" Summer shrugged, "It sounded like fun. It is a public beach." Ten minutes later everyone has arranged various towels and coolers around Nathan and Haley and had settled in. Marissa and Lucas had already become glued together at the lips, Brooke and Seth were flirting quietly towards the edge of the group, Ryan and Lindsay had gone for a walk and Peyton and Jake had taken Jenny into the water.

"We're going to go get some drinks," Seth announced while standing and pulling Brooke to her feet.

"Great, I'll come with." Summer jumped to her feet as well, not wanting to sit near her silent boyfriend any longer, "Anyone want anything?"

"You're not going," Zach told her matter of factly, "we're going for a walk, we've got to talk."

"Zach..." Summer's expression fell as she followed Zach away from the group.Once they were far enough away Zach stopped and without hesitation he gave it to her straight.

"Summer, we have to break up."

"What?" Summer exclaimed, her dark eyes furious, "Why?"

"Why?" Zach laughed, about to pull his hair out of his head, "Because you are driving me insane! I can't compete with Seth anymore, and I don't want to. I'm sick of this stupid obsession you have with him, so I'm through."

"Zach...I don't have an obsession with Cohen!" Summer promised, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Summer, ask anyone here and they'll tell you the same thing, and," Zach shrugged, "I don't want to deal with it anymore."


"You know, we really ought to talk to everyone," Lindsay began as she and Ryan skipped rocks into the water. "We can only stay here so long anyways, it's better to leave before they get too attached."

"Yeah, I know," Ryan shrugged, picking up a few more rocks, "Well, it's not going to be easy. Seth and Marissa aren't going to go without a fight."

"Exactly," Lindsay smiled, leading him back towards the beach, "Which is why you and I are going to persuade them."

"Okay, so you can talk to Marissa-" Ryan began, avoiding eye contact with his girlfriend.

"No, no, no," Lindsay laughed, stopping him in his tracks." I like you, but not that much. You get to deal with Marissa, I'll talk to Seth."

"Fine," Ryan muttered, but then cheered up, "Yeah, but getting Seth to leave Brooke? That's not going to be easy either."


The park was pitch black under the night sky, but there was still a group of kids playing basketball in the park, including Nathan and Lucas. Spotting Marissa perched on a picnic table, Ryan made his way over, hoping they could take the conversation over.

"Hi Ryan," She sighed, seeing him right away. The guys were still enthralled in the game, and didn't hear or see him walk over.

"Hey," Ryan replied quietly, "Can we talk? For real this time?"

"I guess," Marissa shrugged, staring at him with a bored face, "So what is it that you want?" Ryan thought about choosing his words, but figured it'd be better to just get it out.

"We need to go home, Marissa," Ryan told her, trying to be friendly, "We can't stay here forever."

"So go," Marissa responded sheepishly, "I won' t stop you, but I'm also not going with." Her eyes were dark and serious; he knew she wasn't going to compromise.

"C'mon, we can't just leave you," Ryan explained, shifting his weight, "We have to go. We've got lives to get back to."

"Maybe you do, " She looked at him sadly, "But God knows I don't."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan asked, running a hand through his hair. This wasn't really as hard as he thought it was going to be, but it wasn't a cakewalk either.

"I don't have anything back home," Marissa stated her eyes stuck on Lucas, "At least here I have him."

"You barely know him," Ryan rolled his eyes, kicking at some dirt, "You have plenty back home, you'll be just fine without that dude."

"Excuse me?" Lucas came up from behind him, a basketball still tucked under his arm, "Marissa, is he bothering you?"

"No," Marissa shook her head, "Annoying me, yeah, but it's okay."

"Well why don't you back off," Lucas said to Ryan anyways, narrowing his eyes at the other blonde.

"What the hell are you going to do if I don't?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, "C'mon Marissa, let's go." He turned around to leave, pulling Marissa with him.

"Get your hands off of her!" Lucas shouted, pushing Ryan out of the way. Ryan stumbled a little, but kept his balance, only growing angrier. Who did this guy think he was?

"Look, I'll give you 5 minutes to get your ass out of here," Ryan sneered, "And after that I'm not going to be responsible for what I do to you."

"Oh really?" Lucas stepped up, ready for the fight.

"Guys, enough!" Marissa shouted, getting between them, "Act like men, okay?" She pushed Lucas back towards his car, before turning to Ryan, "I'll be back later, okay? Just let me figure things out for myself."


"Hey Seth, hey Brooke," Lindsay greeted, meeting the couple halfway between the beach side soda shop and the blankets.

"Uh, hey Lindsay." Seth responded slowly while Brooke just nodded her greeting, "We'll see you back there, okay?"

"Actually, um, Seth I thought maybe we could talk for a minute," Seth shot Lindsay an odd look, before turning to Brooke, "I'll be right back." Following Lindsay up the beach, he finally stopped when they were a few yards away, "So what's up?"

"So Ryan and I have been talking about the trip back, the van should be done soon, so everyone has to get ready to leave Tree Hill."

"I was thinking about it too," Seth responded, "And I was thinking, what's the point. Our trip is already almost half over, and by the time we got to Florida it'd be a waste. Besides we've got everything here that would be in Florida, and since we're a day closer we can vacation longer."

"Seth I don't think..." Lindsay sighed, knowing this wasn't meant to be easy.

"Think about it Lindsay...everyone likes it here. Sure the humidity is killing all of us slowly, but they have humidity in Florida. Plus Marissa won't want to leave Lucas, and I like it here with Brooke. And Summer and Zach have each other and you and Ryan have each other. Why can't we just hang out here?"

"We have hotel reservations in Miami that we can't take back," Lindsay pointed out, folding her arms against her chest.

"So what, your dad paid for the entire trip. The trip, which I must point out, you didn't even care about going on in the first place."

"I..." Lindsay began but stopped, it was true that she hadn't been completely in love with the idea of a road trip to Miami, and this was definitely proving her inhibitions right.

"So," Seth continued on, "I vote be we stay. And if you guys are serious about heading down to Miami have fun, pick me up on the way back. Because I'm staying here."

"Seth," Lindsay sighed, giving him a stern look.

"Sorry Lindsay, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to head back now." With another sigh Lindsay dropped onto the warm sand, giving herself enough time so that Ryan could talk to Marissa without getting roped into it as well.

"Hey," Ryan appeared several minutes later. "So Seth came back and you didn't, I'm assuming it didn't go well."

"Seth has decided that he's staying here even if we don't. How'd it go with Marissa?" Lindsay asks glancing at Ryan, the expression on Ryan's face made Lindsay laugh, "You chickened out."

"Not chickened out per se, I just...well I think you'd need a crow bar to pull her away from Lucas. Could they be more all over each other?"

"You'll have to talk to her later," Lindsay responded not wanting to even discuss Ryan's issue with Luke.

"Oh yeah, that'll be a fun conversation."


Ali: Hey guys! It's all my fault that it's taken so long to update, sometimes I wonder how life can really get so crazy! Anyway, here's your update and hopefully things will be calmer for both of us this week so we can get out updates out to you guys as soon as possible!Thanks for all the reviews!

Steph: Don't listen to her! It was my fault as well. I had exams (ah) and then a very busy weekend. But hopefully this will tide you guys over for a few days. Thanks for all the reviews- we hold them very dear! Remember the steps to an update!