A/N: Thanks for reviewing everybody who did! This chapter is for ItalHunni28, because she's been desperate for this to happen...

Having reached this conclusion, Summer was suddenly unable to think of a single reason to stay any longer at the party, everything she was surrounded by repelled her and she was overwhelmed by a need to speak to Seth…to explain to him, to smooth things over, to make him see exactly what he means to her…or even just to hear his voice.

She would give up the Newport Party scene in a second for just another moment in his arms.

Edging her way through the throbbing crowds, Summer headed towards the stairs hoping to find a quiet room somewhere to call Seth. Glancing around to figure the best way through, Summer's heart sank as she realised she was walking straight towards a gaggle of shrieking girls; Jen, Katie and numerous other in exactly the same mould…in short, a crowd of her old friends…people who she now felt less than zero connection to.

For Summer, they simply embodied her past. Which is why her gut reaction was to walk the other way and get the hell out of there as soon as possible… to finally leave her past behind her.

As she turned to do so however, a stab of conscience permeated through the haze of alcohol.

"Ugh..." She muttered almost inaudibly to herself "C'mon, you can be the bigger person here Sum…at least just go and say thanks."

Gathering her senses, and against some of her better judgement, Summer headed back over towards them, intending to merely say good bye and thank you. She laughed to herself as the irony of what she was going to say dawned on her …"Yeah thanks Jen, it was a lousy party, but at least I know I'll never have to come again!"…Summer smiled as she pictured the look on Jen's face.

"No…" She instructed herself, sternly but silently, "You must fight the urge to say what you think…Hmmm…" She pondered "That's never worked so well in the past…"

As she approached the group, Summer painted as genuine a smile as she could muster on her face and opened her mouth to greet one of them, but stopped short as she caught a snatch of their conversation…

"...He looked about ready to cry after I'd finished with him." Katie snickered "That's probably why Summer's here… she got bored of talking about comic books and left the geek alone with his tears."

All the girls surrounding her giggled drunkenly at her wit as Summer felt anger rising uncontrollably through her body.

"Oh and you'll never guess what he told me..." Katie continued bitchily "He said that it was all ok because he and Summer were in love!" Her mocking tones sent another wave of hilarity through the assembled throng "I mean…can you say deluded!"

Summer's anger had now spread through every part of her body and a deep sense of loathing for Katie was working its way into her conscious. She physically shook from the strain of repressing her rage as she loudly cleared her throat to grab their attention.

The laughing ceased and a strained silence fell almost instantaneously on the group as they became aware of Summer's presence. A couple had the decency to at least act a little ashamed; directing their glance towards the floor and shifting uncomfortably on their feet, but the majority surveyed Summer with a mocking sneer or, in the case of Katie, a smug grin.

Summer took in their expressions as she inhaled deeply in vain attempt to calm herself down. "What did you say to him?" she demanded coldly

Katie regarded her with amusement and simply raised an eyebrow in response.

Somewhere deep inside Summer, a devastatingly combustible reaction of both anger and alcohol fused…and something snapped "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY TO HIM?" she screamed.

A rapt silence descended on the room and even Katie looked a little taken aback by the force of the outburst, but soon recovered herself.

"Calm Down Sum…" she began with a sneering smile "I just gave Cohen a little reality check…that there is no future for you…Beauty and the geek?" she questioned lightly "Doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it Sweetie?"

Summer gritted her teeth "Don't you ever talk about him like that again." her voice was low and quivering with rage "You do not know anything about Seth…so you don't you dare judge him, or our relationship." Summer's voice rose again as she struggled to keep her emotions in check.

Katie gave a short patronising laugh "Relationship? Don't you think that's a bit strong!" She stepped closer to Summer and stared coldly into her eyes "We all know your affection for freaks will only last so long…"

"Freaks?" Summer exploded "You think Cohen is the freak in all this? Look around you Katie, your whole life is a freakshow! And this…" Summer gesticulated wildly to the room around her "…this is it for you…it's as good as it's ever gonna get!"

Underneath her steely exterior Summer could see that Katie was rattled, but she wasn't done yet. As she took a deep breath, the patheticness of Katie's life suddenly hit her and she gave a soft laugh.

"And none of this Katie, none of it, is real…and one day…" Summer's voice dropped to a threatening whisper "you'll wake up and realise that you life basically amounts … to nothing"

The sneer vanished from Katie's face "This is your life too Summer." She shot back

"Nope." Summer shook her head triumphantly "Not any more. Because I know there's something else out there…something more. Cohen opened my eyes Katie…and that's one of the many reasons why I love him…"

A gentle ripple of laughter spread through the room and Summer whipped her head round to face the crowds "Yeah that's right…" she clarified smiling "I love him…Seth Cohen…I love Seth Cohen. So have a good laugh everybody… because he's twice the person any of you will ever be."

Suddenly, a wave of exhaustion swept over Summer and she became aware she had nothing left to say, but turning to see the defeated look on Katie's smug face she realised… she didn't have to.

A small smile of triumph played on Summer's lips as she wended her way through the stunned crowds and into the relative respite of the upstairs

A/N: Ok, so she didn't exactly smash her head through a wall, but Ihope it satisfied everybody's desire for revenge! Unfortunately, I'm going away for the next few days so I won't be able to post but I promise you all some S/S interaction when I get back!

(Just realised I refered to ItalHunni28 as a 'her' without actually knowing if this is the case or not! Apologies if you're male:) )