Hey, hey. Seriously, the reviews are awesome. Seth is in this chap. Yay!

Chapter 3

He Made Her Better

Seth was sitting beside her in their Earth Science Lab class. It was making Summer kind of jittery. He had his hair messy, well, when wasn't it? But he hadn't combed it, she loved it like that, just natural, out of bed look. Damn sexy. He still had a morning shadow, he obviously woke up late. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and he had bags under his eyes, but for some reason, he looked gorgeous. All she wanted to do was drag him to the janitor's closet and have her way with him. They did that once. It was a Tuesday during study hall, yeah, true rebels, huh? They had lunch before and decided to ditch study hall and made their way to the AV closet. No one ever went there. Like ever. They participated in a heavy make out session and didn't notice when the lights came on and two super-geeks were gawking at them. If they hadn't been super-geeks, Summer would have been beyond embarrassed.

Summer, shaken out of her thoughts by Seth, jumped.

"Geez, Cohen, like give me a heart attack!"

"Uh, Summer? The bell rang." As if she could feel any stupider.

"Oh, ok." She packed her things while Seth waited for her, as they had the next class together. They practically had the same schedule, except she had yoga and he had gym. She was still a bit jumpy, and unfortunately for her Seth noticed.

"Are you ok? You're like all… jumpy. Not the good kind of jumpy, either. Like, there's something wrong jumpy. So, are you? Okay, I mean?" Aww, he's rambling. Could be anymore perfect? She smiled at him.

"I'm fine, Seth." And she was, simply because he made her okay. She was no longer jumpy. It was amazing how he could calm her like that, without even knowing he was doing it. He made everything better. Zach, well, he didn't. He only made her feel … nothing.

Marissa was shooting glares across the class room at Summer. And to help matters, Seth also noticed.

"Why does Marissa look constipated?" Seth, leaned over and not so subtly whispered in her ear. Ignoring the shivers that ran down her spine, she laughed and answered the question.

"She's not constipated, Cohen! She's glaring at me!"

"Oh, and why? Did you try to feed her?"

"Cohen!" Laughing her ass off, she almost fell off her chair, but quickly recovered after seeing her Study Hall advisor shoot daggers at her. "I told her off yesterday. So, she's pissed at me."

"You told her off?! Go you! I've been waiting for the day! Oh my god! We should, like celebrate! We can mark the day on the calendar, and go get like a sundae, or a twist, as I know you prefer!"

"I don't know if I'm for the marking the day but a twist sounds good."

Suddenly, things got serious, and Seth stopped laughing. Summer not sure what happened stopped also. Then, he smiled the sweetest smile she had ever seen. He didn't look tired anymore, his eyes were no longer bloodshot, and the bags under his eyes had disappeared. She smiled back, and they locked eyes for a minute. Seth spoke first, and she was glad.

"So, what do you say, twist? Today after school? I'll meet you out front?" He was kind of nervous.

"That sounds good. But you're buying!"

She was standing at his car, waiting for him. She was so nervous, her hands were actually shaking. She didn't know why she had agreed to this! It just slipped out, and she couldn't cancel now. But he was so adorable when he asked, and the eye contact they shared! How could she have said no?

"Hey, Summer!"

Oh, god. Summer turned around and visibly winced.

"Hi, Zach." He came and hugged her and leaned in for a kiss, but Summer moved her head to the side so he only caught her cheek.

"Are you ready?"

"What?"

"The movies? Remember?"

"I- oh, I forgot, Zach. I made plans with-" Summer answered flustered, not knowing how to answer.

"Heya, Sum." Seth walked up casually. Turned his head to Zach and nodded. "Zach."

"You made plans with Cohen?" Zach stated, obviously pissed.

"Yeah. I'm sorry Zach. We were talking, and then we made plans-"

"Plans? Plans to what? Screw your ex when you have a new boyfriend?" Zach had been talking loudly, not quite yelling, but loud enough to cause a scene.

"Hey, man, c'mon. We were just going to grab something to eat. Take it easy." Seth stepped in between Summer and Zach, but was actually pretty terrified that this water polo jock that shaves his chest was going to beat him to a bloody pulp.

"This has nothing to do with, asshole." Zach shoved him to the side.

"Zach! Just calm down!" Summer exclaimed.

"Shut up, Summer."

Ryan had been walking by along side Marissa. They had been talking about the night before, it wasn't going to well, Ryan was just not going to take her stuff. Seeing Zach, Summer and Seth in a heated argument, he walked towards them cautiously and happened to hear Zach telling Newport's queen to shut up.

"Hey, hey. Chill out." Ryan said, placing his hands on Zach's shoulders and slightly pushing him back, not in a threatening way, just to try and cool him off. But Zach, having other plans, pushed Ryan out of the way and moved towards Seth and jutted out a swift left hook to Seth's jaw. Seth's face flew to the side and he stumbled a bit but didn't fall.

Summer, watching the whole scene play out, walked over to Zach and pushed him as hard as she could, which in turn made him fall.

"Asshole! What is your problem?"

"At least I'm not a slut!'

"Oh, great comeback!" Summer paused for a minute, realizing everything that had happened in the past five months. "Oh my god! I can't believe I went out with you!"

"Yeah, well not anymore!" Zach, who was standing now, said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And you're a lousy lay!" He called back towards them as he walked away.

Seth totally surprised by his statement stared at Summer in disbelief. She couldn't have slept with that asshole, could she? Seth thought to himself.

"I didn't even sleep with you, jerk!" Summer yelled. Oh, thank god, she didn't.

Most of the kids cleared out after the fight, Summer had noticed. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to say those things. She was usually a good judge of character, well not so much. But she could usually smell those asshole jocks from a mile away. But Zach had seemed so… nice and normal. But that was one of their games: act all nice and all boy next door and use that to get you in to bed. Summer was shaken out of her shock, by Seth asking her if she was okay.

"Me? What about you? You're the one that got decked!" Summer laughed.

"Oh, that? That was nothing." He said stone faced. "Except it really hurts when I talk."

"Aww!" Summer reached up and pinched his cheek as if he were five. Of course he had a look of distaste on his face.

"Hey, man, what was that about?" Ryan asked. Marissa was behind them wanting to hear the story but not willing to really ask and forgive Summer for the horrible things she had said to her. (feelin' the sarcasm, anyone?)

"It was my fault. I forgot I had made plans with Zach and then made plans with Seth, Zach just totally blew up."

"Sum, that was totally not your fault, he was being a total asshole. It was not your fault." Seth told her in the softest and most reassuring voice she had ever heard, and it made her melt. But she didn't quite believe him.

"It's just if I had remembered…"

Marissa had enough.

"Summer, Seth is totally right, it wasn't your fault. You're allowed to have friends, and, no matter what, Seth is one of your closest friends even if you guys have a history. And Zach was annoying anyway. Better off without that loser." After lifting that off her chest, Marissa shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of three of the closest people in her life.

"Thanks, Mariss." Summer whispered softly. In that simple exchange, it broke the tension between them. But they both knew that had to talk, and neither of them were looking forward to it.

"So, Sum. What do you say to that twist now?" Seth asked, breaking the silence.

"I say yes to something to eat and then a twist. And a sundae for you." Summer smiled up at her hero.

Ryan was looking oddly at them, as if to say "Oh, no, it's happening again." Not that he had ever doubted it or anything. He knew they would get back together, he just didn't think it would've taken this long.

"Alright, well, I'm going to head back home, Seth. Are you taking the car?"

"Uh, Summer?"

"I got a ride with Zach this morning."

"I can drive you home."

"Uh, thanks, Marissa." And with that the two awkward-never-right couple stalked off.

"So, are we ready, your Majesty?" Seth offered her his arm. And she gladly took it.

Yep, my hero.

Wow, that was the longest I've ever written for a story, I'm going to try to break it, lol. Ok, some of this is a little hokey, but whatever. Hope ya enjoyed.