This is my first story-like piece. After watching "One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes", I couldn't help but wonder what happened after Lane and Rory walked by. You just know Jess must have said something. Here's my best guess as to what might have occurred...

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned Jess, alas, I do not. Or any other characters, for that matter.


"That girl's a freak." Shane asserted in the way that only a preppy blond girl can. Rory and Lane had just waked by. It was obvious that Shane had meant the former. Jess couldn't help but smirk.

"Huh. Why's that?" He asked, trying to seem only vaguely interested. In truth, he was desperately engaged, as he always was when something dealt with Rory.

"She came into the beauty shop twice today. The first time she bought purple hair dye. Purple! Who dyes their hair purple? I wouldn't be caught dead. Everyone knows..." the Blond Bimbo, as Jess had privately nick-named her, began to ramble on about some trivial fashion bit. He sensed he was losing her and tried to steer the conversation back to Rory.

"So she's a freak because she bought purple hair dye?" He prompted. While he was slightly curious about the purchase, it was going to be quite a let down if that was all it took to gain "freak" status in this town.

"Well duh." Shane said, rolling her eyes and popping her gum at the same time. Who said blonds can't multitask? "But that's not all. While she was buying it she just kept staring at me with this annoyed look on her face. Then she asked if she could get her money back if her Asian friend-"

"She's Korean." Jess interjected.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, she asked if they'd get their money back if the hair dye made the Korean girl's hair fall out. Everyone knows that doesn't happen." Jess had to stifle a laugh here, remembering a time when he was younger and Liz had tried to dye her hair. It had fallen out, and it was pretty dang funny. Shane glared at him.

"Sorry, just a memory. Continue." He didn't even make an attempt at sounding sincere.

"Then a couple hours later, she ran back in and wanted to buy black hair dye. Actually, that's when I was on the phone with you. She rudely interrupted me and started giving a lecturing on how I was doing my job. Then she accused me of thinking the way ice was made was interesting!" This had obviously been quite the insult to her, as she ended with a large wave of her hands and her voice about three registers higher then normal.

Jess bursted out laughing, both at Shane's sheer absurdity and Rory's insult. He couldn't help but whole-heartedly agree with her.

"What?" Shane shouted, hands stereotypically placed on her hips.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." He was pretending to be serious. "I just remembered, I have to go help Luke with something. Musn't keep Uncle waiting." Jess' voice dripped with sarcasm. He turned on his heel, making his way back toward the diner.

Yet the diner was not where he went. Instead, he went straight to his bridge. His and Rory's bridge, as he had begun thinking of it. He sat, staring out at the water. His mind wandered. There was something about Rory that made Jess dissect every detail. Something inside of him had to know what she was thinking and why she did the things she did. It was something he'd never admit, but he knew he probably thought too hard about her motives. She'd be impressed with all of the possibilities he could come up with, he thought.

Today, there was only one possibility. Jess could only think of one reason why Rory would be so critical to someone she'd never met. Sweet Rory, who couldn't hurt a fly. Until today, he honestly hadn't thought she had a rude bone in her body. Yes, only one explanation, and it made Jess ecstatic. His plan was working. An actual smile found it's way onto his face, where it remained as he pulled a book out of his back pocket and began to read.