With a huge sigh Summer Roberts sat down at her desk, randomly picking up her crystallized brush and running it through her brown hair.

She missed Marissa Cooper, her long-time best friend, already; the blonde girl had gone to have a fresh start with her father just hours ago, and it would probably be a long while before she was seen again. Summer gazed at her reflection. "Well, looks like the Fantastic Four isn't going to be brought back together any time soon, Princess Sparkles," she murmured, picking up her second-best friend. "I can't sleep, and it's freaking midnight. This sucks."

Summer got up, still holding Princess Sparkles, and wandered over to her closet. Opening the doors, she knelt down and pushed aside all the shoe boxes, a familiar object catching her eye: an old non-shoe box, pretty big, dusty, and decorated with stickers and drawings a kid named Summer Roberts put on it. She smiled a little and brought it out of the closet, taking off the lid, but not before putting the sparkly-haired horse down.

"Hey! Take a look at this, there's a photo album! I totally forgot I had one in here." Silent Princess Sparkles.... "Yeah, whatever. What did I write on the front? 'Reminiscences of My Childhood.'" Summer blew off the dust and opened the album, slowly leafing through the pages. She giggled at the picture of her and Marissa as nine-year-olds with plump cheeks and sparkling eyes; they were dressed up, and Summer recalled the time they tried to look like movie stars for an entire weekend.

There was a photo of her, Marissa, and Holly Hunter at the beach, all three of them twelve and in bathing suits. Feeling a burst of anger all of a sudden, Summer stood and came back to her desk, pulling open a drawer and snatching a sharpie from inside.

As soon as the album was back in her grasp, the dark-head vigorously wrote above Holly's -- ahem -- stupid white-blonde head, "WHORE!" in big, bold letters, then carefully put, "BFF" next to Marissa in perfect handwriting. Satisfied, Summer capped her sharpie and was about to continue going through her prized possession when something else caught her interest.

Closing the photo book, the curious teenager moved aside a Baby-Sitters Club story -- miraculously, it was in good shape -- and, surprised, picked up... a diary?

It was pink. And small. The spine was torn slightly, and on the front of the diary it was peeling, as was the back. "Hm." Summer took a peek and realized the pages were going yellow. "Gross." But she looked further anyway, and noticed a couple of short entries from way back.

"I forgot I kept a diary, Princess Sparkles." Yet again more silence. "You know, I wish you could talk. At least you're listening, right?" the young woman inquired. She was about to read what she had written, but there was a knock at her bedroom door, startling her like no tomorrow.

Quickly shoving the items back into the box, Summer put the lid on and pushed the old thing into her closet, putting a pair of sandals on top -- why she chose them, not really sure -- and slammed the doors closed. "Who is it?" she called irritably. It couldn't be her Dad; he had left a while ago for work, and Julie was still at her trailer, getting stuff packed for when she came to live at the Roberts' place.

"Um, your boyfriend, who else?"

"Cohen!" Summer let him in... then hit him on the arm. "You asshat! You scared the crap out of me!"

"One, owww," the curly-haired geek groused, rubbing his arm. "Two, that hurt like no tomorrow. And three, owww."

"What about 'four, I'm sorry'?" hissed Summer, giving him a death glare. "Wait, how the hell did you get in here?"

"Let's see. A certain someone left the front doors unlocked."

"Damn it." Summer mentally scolded herself for being that forgetful. "Well, anyway, what do you want, ass? Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"Actually, yes, I do, but Dad sent me here anyway, seeing as you, my love, wouldn't answer your cellphone," Seth answered.

"I didn't feel like talking to anyone tonight, so I turned off my cellphone." Summer was confused. "Why? What's going on?"

"I don't know, but from what I could tell, it's not good. Julie and Kaitlin are at my house right now--"

"Wait, what? I thought Kaitlin was gone."

"Like I said, I don't know. Apparently Kaitlin had arrived at Newport sometime after Marissa and Ryan left for the airport. We should really get going now," Seth said hurriedly, and his girlfriend nodded slowly, alarmed.

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"--the hell is going on?" Julie's impatient voice came from the Cohen's kitchen as Seth led Summer into the house.

"Julie, calm down. We'll let you know when our son gets home," came Sandy's reply, and Summer noticed how the adult sounded somewhat shaky and nervous, but he was clearly trying to control his emotions.

"Apparently now you can enlighten us," commented a familiar brunette as the said person and his girlfriend entered the kitchen.

"Kaitlin," Summer said tersely. "Why are you here?"

The younger teenager shot her a look. "I was here to congratulate everyone for graduating Harbor High, including my sister, but I guess I was a little late on that. Speaking of which, where's Marissa and Ryan again?" she asked, turning to Julie.

Agitated, her red-haired mother said, "Marissa should be on a plane on the way to her father right now, and Ryan should be back here after driving her to the airport. Anyway, now that Seth and Summer are with us, what is it you wanted to say that was so important?"

Sandy's expression darkened. "You're here because something happened," he began slowly. Nearby, an obviously upset Kirsten was trembling as she tried to drink some water out of a glass.

"What happened?" snapped Julie, her green eyes flashing. Though very annoyed, she seemed to realize the importance, the intensity, of the upcoming news.

Dread crawled through Summer's stomach. Her hand found Seth's, holding it tight. Whatever happened was so not good....

Taking a deep breath, Sandy spoke, and Summer knew she'd never forget this night, "There was an accident...."

"Accident?" repeated Julie. "You mean..."

"I'm so sorry. Marissa's dead."

"Oh, my God," the Coopers said in unison, stunned.

"Please tell me this is some... sick, sick joke," begged Summer, breaking the sudden silence. Seth squeezed her hand a little, shocked by the news.

Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a devastated glance, and Summer pulled away from Seth. "I can't believe it," she said, evidently torn. She watched as tears filled the eyes of Julie and Kirsten, as Kaitlin moved stiffly to somehow comfort her mother, as Seth stared at each person in turn, as Sandy stepped forward in uncertainty. "No. Just... no."

But it was true, her best friend since childhood was gone. Gone forever. Not another smile from her... not another laugh... not another word... nothing. Just memories....

Whirling around, Summer dashed to the nearest bathroom she could find, slamming the door shut so hard the floor seemed to shake. But then, that was just her. She quivered from head to toe as she made her way to the toilet, her dinner from earlier coming up her throat.

The last thing Summer could remember before puking and losing herself in unconsciousness was seeing someone watching her.

The Fantastic Four was never to be brought back together again.