Longer chapter...hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Don't own the O.C.
The Princess's Ball wasn't exactly Abby's idea of fun, but she had already convinced Seth to go, so now she had to go.

"Oh, get this one," Kirsten said excitedly.

Kirsten was overjoyed at the thought of Abby starting to "bond" with her fellow peers, so she offered to take her out to buy a dress. Now, here they were.

Abby took the blue silk cloth from Kirsten and went into the dressing room.

"You know, I still like that black one," Abby called over the stale.

She was only joking around about a black skimpy dress she had tried on for fun. She looked like a hooker in the dress. All she needed was some great boots and few young boys and she could complete the look.

"I will not allow you to wear that. I don't care if you're not my child," Kirsten said sternly back.

"Only kidding Mrs. Cohen," Abby said opening the stale and twirling around.

"How many times do I have to ask you to call me Kirsten? And no, that's not the one," Kirsten said busily going back through the dress racks.

"Ok, Kirsten," Abby said sarcastically going back into the stall.

"You're sounding like Seth more and more everyday. I think it's time to separate you two. I'd rather not have two smart-alacks living in the house." Kirsten said handing her another dress.

"That's what Ryan's for. He balances everything out. Or everyone," Abby called back.

"Yeah, about Ryan. Did you know why he came here," Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, he got in trouble with the law. Everyone in Chino knows that," Abby replied stepping once more out of the stall in a hideous purple gown.

Abby watched Kirsten as she fidgeted with a sales tag. Obviously there was something on her mind.

"Kirsten, do you want to say something?" Abby asked.

Kirsten looked at her and smiled.

"It's just that I love Ryan like my own son. You know that. He knows that. I've just never really heard the full details about who he is and how he grew up. I've pretty much just learned to accept him, but now that your here, I was hoping you could tell me about him," Kirsten said.

Abby thought about this for a moment. What was Kirsten trying to imply? Ryan wasn't an easy person to crack, Abby knew that, but had he not explained anything to them.

"Ryan is not a bad guy Kirsten. He was in the wrong place in the wrong time, and that jerk brother of his…" she stopped for a moment and looked at Kirsten.

"I know he's not a bad kid Abby. I'd just like to know more about him. He's been living with us for a while and I thought it be nice to finally hear about the real Ryan Atwood," Kirsten said picking a beautiful dark green dress off the rack.

"Well, what do you want to know," Abby asked stepping for the last time back into the stall.

"How about I take you to lunch and we can talk," Kirsten said.

"There's really not that much to say," Abby called over the top.

"Well, then we can talk about you," Kirsten said as Abby opened the door and looked into the mirror.

"That's definitely the one," Kirsten said.

Abby smiled. She never really liked dressing up, but she did love this dress!

"So, I had a little chat with Kirsten today," Abby told Ryan as he walked into the kitchen.

"Really, is that what you kids do these days," Ryan said sitting down gloomily

"It was about you grumpy gills. What's wrong," Abby asked.

"Nothings wrong," Abby wasn't totally convinced, "So, what did you say about me?"

Abby decided not to push him into talking about whatever it was that was causing him to be so down.

"Well, I pretty much told her everything," Abby said biting a little chuck of bread off from her roll.

"Everything?" Ryan said looking up.

Abby stopped a moment and looked at him. She knew what he was talking about.

"No, I guess it wasn't everything," Abby said blankly as she looked back down at her soggy roll.

She could feel her cheeks turning red as she continued to look down. They vowed never to mention that. It was like a pack between the two, and they never broke up that pack.

"So, are you going to go get ready for tonight," Ryan asked just trying to get rid of the awkwardness.

Abby looked up at him and shook her head.

"Yeah, I probably should," she said getting up and leaving the room.

Abby walked quickly to her room and shut the door behind her. She starred at the green dress hanging from her closet door and sat down on her bed. It was going to be a long night.

"Where is she?" Seth asked.

Ryan turned to him and shrugged. The dance started in twenty minutes and Abby hadn't even come down from her room yet.

"ABBY!" Seth yelled up the stairs.

"I'M COMING SETH! HOLD ON," they heard the sound of her voice ring down the staircase.

"Doesn't that mean like one more hour with women?" Seth asked.

Ryan heard the question, but he didn't answer. He really didn't want to go to this thing, but he was hoping Marissa would be there so they could talk. He hadn't even seen her at school since he paid her a visit after the baby news.

"Ok let's go," Abby said quickly jogging down the stairs. Ryan noticed that she looked very pretty with her hair all up and a little of make-up on.

"Wow," Seth said apparently noticing the same thing, "what did you do with Abby because we really have to leave."

Abby punched him in the shoulder and smiled.

"You're such a moron," she stated.

Ryan started walking out the door followed by Abby and Seth when Kirsten suddenly bombarded them shoving a camera into their faces.

"One picture," Kirsten pleaded.

"Mooom," Seth whined.

"Just let her take it," Sandy said behind them.

"Ok, but make sure you get my good side," Seth said receiving another small punch from Abby.

"I don't think I got the memo," Abby said walking into the dance with Ryan and Seth on both sides of her.

"It looks like you were the only one to," Ryan said.

Maybe following the trend of the dance flyers would have worked. The gym was bright pink. Every inch of it, including he girls.

"We shouldn't have come," Abby said feeling a little uncomfortable being surrounded by all this pink in a dark green gown.

"What I say? You never listen to me," Seth said giving her a grin.

"Shut-up," Abby said.

"Hey, I'm just gonna be over here," Ryan said motioning towards the side of the gym.

Abby looked at him curiously but nodded.

"Ok, I guess we'll be over in a minute," Abby said.

She watched Ryan as he walked away. Some of her wished that she could just take him outside right now and figure out what was wrong. The other part wanted to get that conversion they had earlier out of her head. It wasn't good to open a can of worms, especially in a place like Newport where word travels fast.

"uh-oh," Seth said.

Abby looked at him and saw that he was pointing across the room to where Summer was walking across the dance floor with Zach. Of course, she was in pink.

"Summer," Seth said throwing up his hand, but then quickly going silent.

"Cohen, Abby," Summer said giving her a glare.

"Hey Summer! I love the party! It's so….pink!" Abby said putting on a fake cheery voice.

"Why do you even bother coming if your just going to be rude and make fun of it?" Summer said.

Abby looked back at Summer. Why didn't she like her? Oh, yeah. Because Abby was stubborn and would never give in to the evil ways of Summer Roberts.

"I come because I care about being oh so popular and loved by everyone because I'm a little miss perfect," Abby said.

Yes, it was cheesy, but she was never good at making insults.

"Abby, don't pretend like you don't think your perfect," Summer said.

"Hey, maybe we should just go," Zach told Summer trying to pull her away.

"No, this is good. Let them get all there anger out," Seth said watching the two girls closely.

Abby noticed that a small crowd was gathering around them. Even Ryan was over there.

"Summer, I would never steal the crown away from you," Abby said.

Summer looked more and more irritated by the minute.

"Your just mad because I'm better than you," Summer said.

This really was like a fourth grade war between two girls fighting over the monkey bars.

"You're better than me? In what ways? You're arrogant, preppy, always aware of what other people are doing wrong, and consumed in the fact that you lost Cohen but were to scared to try and fix it," Abby said.

"That wasn't my fault!" Summer declared.

By this time the whole gym was circled around them.

"I heard the story Summer, and yeah, Seth was a jerk for leaving but if you really loved him you would have talked to him about it instead of sitting around all day moping because I'm the one spending time with him," Abby said.

Summer cocked her head to the side a little and smiled.

"You think I'm the one still in love with Seth? You were the one who hit me in the face when we were kids because he liked me and not you! The fact that you brought this whole Seth thing up must mean you have some felling for him." Summer started.

Abby immediately regretted this whole argument. Seth was never supposed to know that she liked him back then. And now? No, she didn't like him now. At least she didn't think so. Maybe…

"So somehow after mommy died you managed to wiggle your way back into Newport, maybe for one more round with Cohen. What about the rest of your family Abby, where are they? It's been floating around the school that your dad is in prison for money fraud. Is that true?" Summer asked slowly getting louder.

How did she know all this. Abby had only told the Cohen's and Ryan.

"Summer," Seth began but Summer cut him off.

"Ever since you've been here you've constantly acted like you were somehow better than I was, but your not. Your just a wannabe who lost her mom and dad and had to come back here. You'll never fit in here Abby. You never did and you never will," Summer said her voice now yelling at Abby.

That was it. Summer had brought her family in to this kiddish brawl and that wasn't funny. Abby soon felt herself pounce on top of Summer and pin her to the floor. People around them started hooting and applauding as she soon felt hands grab her and pull her off.

"Calm down," She heard Ryan say in her ear.

She watched Zach help Summer off the floor as Ryan and Seth held her back.

"You know what Summer? You will never be better than me. You know why?" Abby asked.

She watched Summer's mouth gape a little but nothing came out.

"Because I'm not a fake. I don't put on a show to please everyone, because it's wrong. This show you have will wear off soon and it will drag you down with it," Abby said turning around and walking out the door into the cool air.

What had she just said? Did it even make sense? She didn't even know Summer all that well.

"What happened in there," Ryan asked quickly walking in front of her so she'd have to stop.

"I don't want to talk about it," Abby said pushing past him.

Abby walked for who knows how long until she reached the highway where there was a bus stop. She was mad at Summer, but not as much as she was herself. She had allowed someone to get under he skin and push her off the edge. For no reason either.

The psychiatrist had mentioned anger issues to her when she used to go for coping with her mothers death. Apparently taking things out on other people showed her dealing with her loss.

Abby thought for a moment until she felt someone sit down beside her.

"Hey," Seth said.

Abby didn't look at him. She didn't want to.

"Do you want to talk. I've actually gotten to be a very good listener," Seth said.

At least he was trying.

"Am I a loser," Abby asked.

"Yeah, anyone could have told you that," Seth said apparently trying to make a joke.

It wasn't very funny.

Seth seemed to see her expression and sighed.

"No, your not a loser," he said.

'Seth, I punched Summer Roberts in the third grade because you liked her! That wasn't even her fault, If anyone, I should have punched you!" Abby said.

"I don't see where this is going," Seth said looking a little uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry for being me. Or like I am. I get selfish and then angry and it's not fair." Abby said looking at him

She wasn't exactly thinking while saying this stuff. Everything just seemed to be flowing out by itself.

"Are you saying your jealous of Summer, so you jumped on top of her," Seth asked.

"I guess," Abby replied.

"Why/" Seth asked.

"Because she got you."

Before Abby could think about saying this she already had. Did she like Seth? How could she? When? Why? Abby looked over at Seth you looked a little baffled and somewhat amused.

"You know what? Forget I ever said anything," Abby said getting up from the bench and fleeing down the street.

"Abby wait," She heard Seth call out, but she was already to embarrassed to even speak to him.

In fact, she never wanted to even look at him again.

Ok...I hope you liked it! I'm moving a little fast, and I hope you all don't mind! Please Review!