Short and sweet and no appearances by the Evil One. ;) Replies are love.

"I cannot believe you didn't tell me," Summer said, hands on her hips as she stood in the middle of Taylor's room.

Taylor turned around. She'd managed to avoid this conversation for a few days by hiding out at Seth's. But she'd run out of clean clothes over there and had been forced to come home and grab some new ones so she could go to school without borrowing any of Seth's clothes.

"Hi Summer," she said.

"Don't 'hi Summer' me. How could you not tell me?"

"Because Marissa's your best friend and I didn't want to put you in a position where you'd have to lie to her."

"Oh," Summer frowned. "That makes sense, I guess. You still could've given me some warning before playing tonsil hockey with him in front of half the school the other day."

"Sorry," Taylor looked a little sheepish.

"Is he a good kisser?"

"Yeah," Taylor giggled. "I'm surprised Marissa never told you that."

"I always felt weird asking Coop about Chino because when he first got here I sorta went for him."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Turned me down flat," Summer admitted.

"That's only because he knew Seth was into you."

"Really?"

"Ryan's the loyal type," Taylor said with a smile.

"I have never seen you smile like that," Summer said in wonderment.

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's kinda nice."

"Feels kinda nice too."

"Man on the floor," Seth's voice said from outside her bedroom door. "So, I'm coming in. If I shouldn't because you're not dressed, tell me now before I open the door in three, two-"

"Get your ass in here Cohen," Taylor said, rolling her eyes.

Seth came in and stopped. "Oh. Hi Summer."

"Hey. I'll see you two at school," she said making her escape through the bathroom, the door on her end of the room shutting behind her.

"So, Ryan's waiting in the car for us."

"Why didn't he come in?"

"Because I knew if he did, we'd be late for school."

"Haha," Taylor frowned at him before she looked back at the door Summer had disappeared through.

"What?"

Taylor looked back at him, "Nothing. I just remembered the name of the song I had in my head the other day."

"Oh yeah? What was it?"

"Sk8er Boi by Avril Lavigne," Taylor said as she walked past Seth. "C'mon, we're gonna be late."

Seth considered her words for a moment before following her, "Does Peyton know you listen to her? 'Cause I'm thinking she'd be embarrassed by it."

Taylor rolled her eyes as Seth completely missed her point.

They got outside and climbed over the sides of her car into the driver's seat and backseat respectively.

"Sorry I took so long. Summer detained me," Taylor explained as she backed her car down the driveway and pulled away from the house.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, she was just a little miffed I didn't tell her about us before we made out in front of half the school," Taylor smiled. "But she calmed down after I explained to her that I just didn't want to put her in a position to lie to her best friend."

"Very considerate of you," Seth said.

"Thank you, I thought so."

OCOCOCOCOCOC

Seth, Anna, Taylor, and Ryan came in through the front door of the Cohen house after school loaded down with books. Anna and Ryan had a biology test at the end of the week, Taylor's English paper was starting to give her a migraine, and Seth had a major French test on Monday.

"Where are we working?"

"In here, the snacks are better," Seth voted.

"Okay, I'm gonna go and change. Seth, I'm borrowing a T-shirt," Taylor said. "Anna, wanna borrow some track pants?"

"Yeah," Anna nodded. "I'm borrowing a shirt, too, Seth."

"I'm gonna go change, too," Ryan said as the girls disappeared upstairs. "Set some food up, man."

"Naturellement," Seth said.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just practicing. Go," he pointed.

Ryan disappeared out the door and two minutes later he came running back in.

"You okay?"

"There's a woman I don't know who's currently in a towel in my bedroom," he said.

Seth thought for a moment and then laughed. "Hailey's home. Mom must not know or she would've warned her about the fact that the pool house is now your room."

"Hailey? Kirsten's sister, Hailey?"

"Yeah. We haven't seen her in a while."

Taylor and Anna came in and stopped when they saw Ryan's shirt was half unbuttoned and the expressions on the boys' faces.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a towel clad woman in Ryan's room," Seth said earning a glare from Ryan.

"Excuse me," Anna folded her arms and fixed the blonde boy with a look.

"Calm down, Anna," Taylor smiled before she looked at Seth. "I didn't know Hailey was coming home."

"Yeah, neither did we," Seth said. "And I'm guessing Mom didn't either because Hailey didn't know that the pool house is now Ryan's bedroom."

"Yeah, I thought I'd surprise everyone," Hailey's voice said from the door. "Looks like it was mutual."

"Hailey," Taylor smiled as she moved to hug the older woman. "It's so good to see you."

Hailey returned the hug with a grin, "This cannot be Taylor Townsend. What happened to the little girl with braids in her hair who used to torment my nephew into playing Barbies with her?"

"Aw Hailey," Seth groaned.

"Barbies," Ryan grinned.

"We were seven," Seth said.

"God has it been that long," Taylor asked rhetorically.

"Unfortunately. We haven't been properly introduced," Hailey said to Ryan as she and Taylor released each other. "I'm Hailey Nichols," she offered her hand.

"Ryan Atwood," Ryan took her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," she smiled. "Seth, get your ass over here and give me a hug."

"It's good to see you, Hailey," Seth gave his aunt a hug and caught sight of Anna looking at them. "Oh! Sorry. Hailey, this is my girlfriend, Anna Stern."

"Really? Well, it's nice to meet you," Hailey shook Anna's hand with a smile.

"Same here," Anna nodded.

"So, I know Mom doesn't know you're home but does Grandpa know?"

Taylor started to smile but bit her lip to hide it.

"I wanted to get cleaned up before I sprang myself on Dad," Hailey said. "Oh and don't tell Kiki I'm home. I want to surprise her," she added over her shoulder as she went out the back doors again.

"Hailey's back," Taylor said with a smile as she leaned on the counter. "So, just thinking out loud here, but is there any chance Kirsten isn't going to go nuts?"

"None whatsoever," Seth shook his head.

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

OCOCOCOCOCOC

"Guys? Dinner," Sandy said from the door of the den. "Hello?"

Taylor was the first to look up, "Sandy? How long have you been there?"

"Just a minute or two," Sandy smiled. "Dinner's on the table."

Taylor hit Seth with a pillow.

"Ow! What?"

"Dinner."

Ryan and Anna finally looked up when Seth and Taylor passed them. They got up and followed.

"Where's Mom?"

The door opened and shut.

"Never mind," Seth took a seat.

Kirsten appeared in the kitchen, looking a tad upset.

"Honey, what's the matter?"

"She's home. Nothing for years. Then she just shows up! She's more inconsiderate than my father was on Thanksgiving when he just assumed he and Julie could stay for dinner."

Sandy looked at the kids to see them biting their lips, trying not to smile and avoiding each other's gazes before he looked back at his wife.

"Who are we talking about?"

"Hailey! Ryan, she told me that she surprised you in your room. I apologize. Trust me, she won't be staying long."

"It's okay," Ryan mumbled.

"No, it is not. That is your space and she cannot have it," Kirsten said as she marched out the door towards the pool house.

"I better go make sure she doesn't destroy any of Hailey's property on purpose or yours by accident," Sandy said following his wife. "Oh and by the way, thanks for the heads up you four."

Sandy left, shutting the door behind him and dead silence reigned for a minute.

"She's back," Taylor said in that creepy little girl from the Exorcist way and all four of the teenagers busted up laughing.