Chapter Twenty Seven

Seth cocked his head up, toward the opening door. He looked at Summer closely, studying her eyes. He could never decipher those dense, black eyes that Summer cradled. He looked at her lips that were curled in a gentle smile towards him and he understood that nothing was wrong. Summer walked over gracefully, as she sat down at her seat. She flung a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, and she started to listen to her teacher's discussion. Seth turned to her, with a glazed expression in his skittish eyes. He turned away, knowing that Summer would tell him every single detail after class.

Once the bell cackled into Harbour, Seth followed Summer out of the class quickly. They both had lunch right now, and Seth couldn't wait to talk to Summer. His entire body was inching to find out what Summer and Mrs. Cramelle had discussed. Seth touched Summer's arm gently, when she didn't even turn around to see if he was following her. Seth, with the most perplexed of stares looked at Summer, as though he were hurting inside from a certain neglect.

"Where are you going?" Seth asked, stunned that Summer barely looked at him. His mouth was just slightly opened. He was waiting to swallow Summer's explanation whole, with a certain anxiety that was burning his flesh. Seth smiled gently, as she looked up.

"Um," Summer started, as she her forehead creased gently- Seth knew that was her signature look, while she was contemplating whether she should tell him the truth, or lie. Seth pressed her with his defiant gaze. He felt a sweltering itch in his fingertips, a sort of gnawing pain. He was excited, and awfully curious to know what the girls had discussed, but more so, he wanted to kiss the girl that he hadn't kissed in a little over a period, or two, "I'm going to the library." Summer coughed the words up, as her face flushed underneath Seth's confused stare. Seth watched her eyes, searching for a little flare that signified some sort of joke, "I'm not kidding, Seth." She said quickly, once she noticed a small smile creeping on Seth's face.

"Why?" Seth managed to ask, without another smile revealing his shock. Summer punched him on the shoulder lightly, as she glared at him.

"Because, I have to," Summer didn't say anything else, as she turned around and walked away. Seth went to follow her, as he tapped her shoulder gently. She swung around, and Seth plastered on one of his genuine smiles. Summer rolled her eyes, "Seth, I'm not mad at you. It's something I have to do for me,"She frowned, "And I know you want to know what Mrs. Cramelle and I were talking about, but I'm not going to bug you about it; it's nothing you should worry about- again, it's about me." Summer bit down on her bottom lip, as she peered at Seth.

"Are we breaking up?" Seth asked, and Summer cracked a smile- finally. He had been waiting to see those pearly white teeth, exposed behind one of her wide, and welcoming grins. Summer wrapped her arms around his waist, as she placed her lips on his, kissing him so that he would no longer worry. Just as Seth started to fully close his eyes, Summer pulled away with a smile,

"I got to go, Seth. I'll talk to you later, sweetie, okay?" She said softly. Her voice was now as gentle as a mother's talking to a child, and it sent chills of happiness down Seth's back. He nodded, not able to resist kissing her again. He pulled her in to his arms, before she could refuse, as he pressed his lips against hers', at first forcefully so that she could not object. Soon, she was kissing him back, and even deepening the kiss. She pulled away again, only to see Seth's eyes still closed, "You're such a dork, Cohen." She shook her head smiling, "Happy, now?" She asked and Seth nodded, jolting his eyes open, only to see Summer walking down the hall.

Ryan clasped his hand firmly on Seth's shoulder, causing him to turn around violently. Seth exhaled deeply, "Damn, you scared the crap out of me." He said quickly, "I thought I was about to get my ass kicked or something… Then again, by the look on your face- I might." Seth looked confused, as he looked into Ryan's warped gaze, "What's up?" Seth asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Do you know where Marissa is?" Ryan asked him, his expression constantly troubled.

"Ah, how I wish we could go back in time, and have one of those Seth/Ryan talks, and a big void where the topic of 'girls' is usually discussed." Seth sighed, as he said in a dreamy voice.

"Do you?" Ryan pressed, ignoring Seth's entire previous sentence, as though it were nonsense in its entirety. Seth lowered his gaze, as he felt a tinge of sadness envelop his body,

"No, I don't." Seth snapped, before Ryan could degrade him further, with talk of Marissa Cooper.

"What's the matter?" Ryan finally asked, even though he felt obliged like he simply had to, or Seth would hate him forever. Seth looked up excitedly, his eyes enlightened,

"Well it's just tha-" Seth looked at Ryan. Seth noticed Ryan had an oddly bored, and unwilling expression on his burdened face. Seth realized Ryan didn't care much for his voice right now, as he was eager to find Marissa more than anything, "Nothing." Seth pocketed his hands, and Ryan smiled appreciatively. He patted Seth on the shoulder, as a sign of a goodbye, and he darted down the hallway, where he saw a small glimpse of Marissa's golden-brown hair. Seth's eyes were trailing the ground, as he frowned. He felt so alone, as everyone trampled beside him, roaming to their next classes. Seth went to the lounge, as he plopped down on one of the leather couches- where he, and the other three usually sat. He placed his hands at the side, as he felt the coolness of the smooth, untouched leather against his skin. He turned his attention to the pile of magazines that sat so persuasively on the coffee table in front of him. Eagerly picking it up, he noticed a bunch of articles he could read during his lonely meeting in the lounge.

A sweet aroma of coffee tickled his senses, as he willed himself to stand in the kilometer long line, and purchase some luscious, and tasty coffee. He refused to get out of the comfortable position he was sitting in.

"Can I get you something?"

"A coffee- wait." Seth looked up at the girl that hovered over him, "Harbour doesn't have waitresses." He stared at the girl peculiarly. She smiled at him,

"I know. I'm just practicing." She smiled deeply, "Is anyone sitting here?" She looked down at the empty place on both sides of Seth. He shoved over to the end of the couch, hoping the girl would be unbothered if she sat on the other. Instead, she collapsed on the seat beside him. Seth raised an eyebrow, and the girl continued to smile at him. Seth looked as though he was terrified of the girl- it looked like the girl had a nasty, unwelcome wart on the tip of her nose that made this beautiful girl, typically unattractive, "I'm Bianca." She smiled weakly, as though she were shy. Seth continued to stare at her, obviously, confused, "I'm in your math class." She reassured him, wondering how he didn't know this off the top of his head.

"And I'm confused." Seth said, without any trace of emotion.

"Usually, guys just introduce themselves; but thankfully, I already know who you are. Seth Cohen, right?" She asked casually. Seth found this more than creepy.

"Okay." Seth nodded, "Nice to meet you. I'm going to go find a totally empty seat in the lounge, where creepy people don't come and talk to me." He got up awkwardly, as though his legs were made out of gelatin. She grabbed his arm, and pushed him back down,

"Don't be afraid of me." She said a little too defensively, which frightened Seth more. He stared at her widely, as she kept her constant smile evident, "I'm Bianca Taylor." She extended her hand politely, and Seth reached to get it. He quickly pulled away, skeptically. He made it seem like this Bianca girl, had a very contagious disease that could simply be passed on by the act of shaking hands, "Okay, must I walk you through this? I'm not going to kill, I also don't plan to rape you, so what else do you think I'm hiding?"

"Maybe a bomb?" Seth suggested consciously.

"Yeah, you caught me. I'm hiding them, in these suckers." She said, as she looked down at her chest. Seth didn't catch her joke, "I'm joking, Seth." She exhaled, as she rolled her eyes, "I'm really bored, cause all my normal friends ditched me today… I believe they're in the library, or something or other?" She groaned, "Anyway. I couldn't be caught dead in that library. Something about books totally terrorizes me!"

"Something about you totally terrorizes me!" Seth said quickly, knowing he sounded a little immature. The girl laughed,

"Well sorry. I can just as well leave, if you don't totally appreciate my company; cause no offense, I can name at least twenty people, off the top of my head, that just itch to beat you up without your Superman-Atwood around." She sunk into the sofa, and got comfortable. Seth found it quite peculiar, how she kept glancing at her watch every few minutes. He tried not to make anything out of it, however, or he would make himself look like a bigger loser, "Okay, so you're letting me stay?" She grinned deeply, "Good choice." She kept staring at him, as she got comfortable right next to Seth.

"Not much of a choice." He muttered, afraid that in any moment Summer would barge in and scream her lungs out at this skinny, mini chick, and roast Seth, and later on, put him on a bun with some ketchup.

Meanwhile, in the library, Summer's phone started to vibrate in the front pocket of her jeans. She opened in, and noticed a text message, under a private number. By the tone of the text message, she figured it was Cohen. "I miss you. Meet me at the lounge at exactly 12:30, okay, Sum? Don't be late, I want to show you something. – Cohen." Summer mumbled the words out loud to herself, as she gazed at the time; 12:25. She'd leave within a matter of time, she decided.

"So what are you into?" She asked nonchalantly, like someone who usually hung out with Cohen would say.

"Er, nothing really." He stammered, trying to show this girl that this conversation was going nowhere. She glanced at her watch again, as she started to fumble with her fingers.

"I've heard you are quite the comic book geek." She continued to stab attempts at making a conversation.

"So?" He glared at her, "Does that make me different than you?"

"Uh, yes, it makes you a geek, and me a desperate girl trying to make a conversation with one." She lowered her gaze, as she started to show signs of shyness and a trace of dead realization that Seth just didn't want to talk to her.

"So why don't you just leave?" He suggested coolly, as he continued to flip through a magazine.

"Because, something about your charming self makes me want to… well, stay," She steered the conversation further. Seth looked up at her, and he glared at her mildly. What was this girl doing?

"I really can't listen to this." Seth said, as the girl targeted his weak spots.

"Why not?" She moved in closer, and with a last glance at her watch that read exactly 12:30 p.m., she leaned toward Seth and pulled him into a kiss he simply could not refuse. With her hands cradling his head, and her dynamic grasp that she had on his head, he could barely slither out of it. Summer swung the lounge doors open, and she searched for her curly-haired companion. Once she saw just that, with another female body all over him, Summer's eyes widened, as jealousy and anger spurted through her veins. She was just about to march over to that sofa and beat the crap out of Cohen, but she felt two firm hands on her waist, and lips against her neck. She threw her head back to see her harasser, and she wasn't at all surprised to see, Daniel.

She pushed him away, but before she could completely, he had her back in his embrace kissing her deeply. She tried to squirm and move, but his forceful grip on her was much too strong. Finally, he pulled away, when Summer's lungs were about to burst from lack of air, "What the hell are you doing?" She yelped, and it seemed like the entire lounge's eyes were on her; even Seth's. Daniel smirked,

"Just comforting your yearning lips," Daniel said frivolously, "Miss Roberts, I felt you kissing me back." He said, staring at her with a grin on her face.

"You did this? You set me and Cohen up!" She snapped quickly, "I cannot believe you, you creep! When will you understand that you're a gross faggot, and that I will never like you." Summer tried to tame herself, underneath the intrigued stares of her schoolmates. She couldn't contain herself further, "How many times must I tell you that I don't like you, Brooke?