Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, or the band Good Charlotte.

Rating: I went with PG-13 just to be safe. Who knows? It might make it there in a few chapters.

____________________________________________________________



That Monday morning, Rory was sitting at her desk in first hour English. She was reskimming a book that there was going to be a quiz on. All of the sudden the room became really quiet. She looked up, and there he stood, looking at her. Rory didn't know what to say. She looked up again to make sure she wasn't daydreaming. Because she had had this daydream oh so many times. Sure enough he was real. Tristan started walking towards her. "What was he doing?" she wondered. She didn't have to wait long, because he sat down in the empty desk next to her.

"Hey Mary, how's it going?" she heard him say. Rory was still blown away by the fact that Tristan was sitting next the her. She regathered her thoughts and replied, "Just fine and yourself? What are you doing back here? I thought you were in military school down in North Carolina."

"You know, good behavior gets you everywhere."

"I see. What does that have to do with you?" was her smart comeback. "Geesh Mary! That really hurt. I thought you cared more than that." he retorted back. "Actually, I did spend my time, and they said I improved enough to go home so I did." Rory sat silent for a moment and then said, "I'm sorry. Welcome back Tristan. I'm glad to hear that you didn't get kicked out."

That afternoon when Rory got back to StarsHollow the first place she went was Lane's. "He's back." was all she said. Surprised, Lane thought for a moment and said, "Well what do you think of his return?"

"I don't know. I'm happy. I'm confused. Why did he have to come back now?"

"Are you going to tell Jess?"

"Not right now at least. I mean he's going to have to find out eventually. I don't even know if anything is going to happen. I'll let it play itself out for a few days and then see what happens."

"You better not wait too long. Do you know how hurt Jess would be if he found out from someone other than you that Tristan was back for good?"

"I know. I know."

'Ring, ring'. Rory cell phone went off. "Hello, this is Rory." "Hey babe!," Jess said. "Where you at right now? I wanted you to listen to Good Charlotte's new cd."

"I'm at Lane's right now. Can I call you back when I leave?" All Jess said was "Sure, whatever." and he hung up.

Later that night when she got home, she flopped herself down on one of the kitchen chairs. "Honey what's wrong?" asked Lorelai. "Did you have a bad day at school? Let me guess. You and Paris got in a fight over who had the higher GPA is that it? No,No. Francine and all the Puffs started a revolt because the school refused to put Charmin in the bathrooms? Am I getting close?" By now Rory was starting to smile. Her mom always new how to cheer her up. "I know just what will fix whatever's wrong with you. Get changed. We're goin to Luke's."

"No, not Luke's tonite mom. I'd just like to stay home and order in some Chinese from Al's."

"Ah, so you got in a fight with Jess. That's so cute a lover's quarrel. "

"Mom, stop. I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on. Yes you do spill it."

"Ok. I was sitting in Mr. Medina's class going over the story for the lit test and all of a sudden guess who walks into the room. That's right you guessed it, Tristan. And to make my life even better, he comes over and sits next to me. Can you believe it? I know. It's terrible. Oh it gets better. He couldn't just be content to sit there, he had to start up a conversation with me. There. You have it. Now you know why I'm so stressed. You happy now? Just when I had started to forget and move on with life he returns."

All Lorelai could get out was "Oh."

Over at the DuGrey mansion: Tristan was in his room doing his homework when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." Mrs DuGrey entered his room. "So darling, how was your first day back at Chilton? Talk to anybody that you haven't spoken to since you left?" Tristan thought back to the conversation he and Rory had had in Mr. Medina's class earlier that morning. "No, not really." He couldn't tell her the truth, she just wouldn't understand.

"Well when you're ready, there's supper downstairs." She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Tristan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. It had been a long day. He only got to talk to Rory that one time today. She seemed like she had been avoiding him the rest of the school day. He stopped by her locker after school got out in hopes of talking more with her, but she must have left early because she never came to her locker.