Untitled
Pairing: R/T
Setting: First day of school, Rory's junior year at Chilton.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Feedback: Please. I'm really not sure about this, I just feel a need for more fluffiness on this planet.


Part One:


"So." Lorelai Gilmore leaned over the steering wheel and squinted out at the huge, ivy-covered school. "There it is."

"Yup." Rory Gilmore stared grimly out the windshield. "In glorious Technicolor."

"...you gonna make it?"

"...maybe."

"You know, it could probably be worse," Lorelai pointed out thoughtfully. "At least at Chilton you won't have to play those incredibly embarrassing first-day introduction games. They'll just assign you an six thousand page essay on the religious undercurrents of `War and Peace' instead."

Her daughter grinned faintly. "Have I mentioned what a comfort you so are not?"

"Not recently, no." Sighing, Lorelai reached out and ruffled Rory's dark hair. "Get cracking, kid, you're gonna be late."

"Right." Squaring her shoulders, Rory gathered up her backpack and slipped out of the car. Waving goodbye to her mother, she turned toward the front steps. She hated the first day of school.

***

"Good morning, students," an attractive young woman stood at the front of Rory's fourth period classroom, looking extremely nervous. "As I'm sure you all know, this will be my first year teaching world literature at Chilton. Um, or at Chilton at all, for that matter. My name is Ms. Medcast." She wrote her name on the board. As she attempted to cross the "t", she dropped the chalk. Twice. The steady gazes of a classroom full of moody rich kids seemed to unnerve her.

Rory's heart would have bled for her, but since both Tristan Dugray and Paris Gellar had been in every one of her classes so far, it was busily bleeding for itself. The new school year was looking decidedly grim. As yet, no one had said a single word to her and from the blank, indifferent look on Tristan's face and the dark one on Paris's when they'd seen her, that situation was unlikely to be changing in the near future. Rory was the first to admit that she'd make mistakes in her dealings with both of them, but she really didn't think being utterly ignored was necessary-

"Anyway," the young teacher rushed on, "I realize that you are accustomed to an extremely academic environment here at Chilton, and I promise that we'll get to our first assignment before class is out, but I thought we could start off with a little-"

No, don't say it, Rory thought desperately.

"-introduction game!"

Damn.

"I'll pair you all up, and you can get to know one another, and then introduce one another to the rest of the class. You have five minutes, so let's hurry. Okay," Ms. Medcast began pointing, pairing up students from random parts of the classroom. "You and him, and you with her, and you," she pointed at Rory, "and. you."

Rory didn't want to turn around. For that matter, she didn't need to turn around- it was already painfully obvious that God hated her. Her stomach aching with the cold certainty of doom, Rory turned in her seat, her eyes following the line of the teacher's finger. And sure enough, it was pointed squarely at a haughty looking boy with a rumpled blazer, a pretty face, and a carefully careless mop of blonde hair.

And again, Rory scowled, damn.

Yet knowing the worst had come brought with it a strange sense of calm. Without fanfare, Rory scooped up her pack and went over to Tristan, sliding into the recently vacated chair next to him. "Hello, Tristan," she said quietly, resigning herself to either an insult or an innuendo. "How was your summer?"

He stared at her for a moment, absolutely no emotion visible on his almost ridiculously handsome face. "Fine," he said eventually. "And yours?"

Rory blinked- what had happened to the suddenly polite-and-distant Tristan Dugray? "What's wrong with you?" she asked curiously. "Aren't you going to. I don't know, say something?" Where was her insult? Was he not feeling well?

Tristan raised his eyebrows "I did."

He did? Oh yeah, her summer. "Right. Well, my summer was fine too, I guess. So, um, how do you want me to introduce you to the class?"

"It doesn't matter," he replied the same detached tone. "Everyone at school except for this new woman knows me already, and she's a lit teacher. Just tell her that I've gone to Chilton since kindergarten and my favorite book is "A Confederacy of Dunces"."

"Ohhhkay." Rory was really confused now. "Shouldn't we-"

"No," Tristan interrupted her briskly, "we shouldn't. Look, time's almost up. You got anything special you want me to say?"

"I don't think so. I started here halfway through last year, and my favorite book is-" Rory was cut off by Ms. Medcast's nervous-yet-still-perky voice.

"Okay- time's up. Why don't you two start?" Rory gazed up at the enthusiastic young instructor, her mouth still open.

"Um, this is Tristan Dugray. He's been attending Chilton since kindergarten. His favorite book is `A Confederacy of Dunces'." Rory groped for something else to tack on. "And. he likes basketball," she finally added, rather lamely. It had to be a safe bet. All boys liked basketball, right?

"And you?" Ms. Medcast turned expectantly to Tristan. Reflexively, Rory narrowed her eyes at him. She hadn't had a chance to say anything. If Tristan embarrassed her on the first day, she'd never-

"This is Rory Gilmore." Tristan said coolly, never glancing in Rory's direction. "She lives in a little town called Stars' Hollow, she likes girlie rock and coffee, and her favorite author is Jane Austen."

Well, Rory blinked. That was unexpected.

"Great! Lovely to meet you both. And what about you two." Ms. Medcast moved on to new prey.

Rory was still pondering Tristan's truly remarkable ability to guess all sorts of (accurate) things about her when Ms. Medcast finished her introductions and returned to the front of the classroom. "All right, class. I thought we'd start off the year with a bang." She hefted a crate of battered paperbacks on an empty front row desk. "Could you all step up here and grab a copy of `War and Peace'? I'd like for you to have read the first section by Friday, and I`d like an essay on a related topic by..."


TBC