Thank you all so much for the reviews, your all amazing!
Thanks to my beta, Lourenda.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Mom! I can't find my purse!" Rory yelled up the stairs.
"Did you check the microwave?"
"Yes, it's not there!"
"Check under the couch… That's usually where mine ends up!" Lorelai suggested from the upstairs bathroom.
Rory got on her hands and knees to see not only was her purse under there but there was half a bag of Cheetos that Rory did not even want to begin to imagine how old it might be.
"Alright, Mom. I'm leaving! See you later!"
"Have fun; don't scare the little kids to much!"
Rory glanced in the mirror one last time and laughed inwardly she was the epitome of a camp counselor.
Her hair was in a ponytail with her sunglasses propped on the top of her head. The bright yellow STAFF shirt that they had issued her had its sleeves rolled up and she had cut a slit in the neck hole to make it look more girly. Her denim shorts had her name tag clipped onto the pocket and she had white tennis shoes to complete her outfit.
-------------------------------
Rory stopped to get coffee at a nearby café, where she swore she saw two very familiar brunette boys accompanied by an equally familiar red-headed girl.
Shaking her head, Rory decided that she was imagining them. She was subconsciously trying to make things worse for herself.
She arrived at the camp and walked into the office to be greeted by Eric, "So, your Tristan's Mary?"
Rory gulped back the rest of her coffee and threw it in the trash "I'm not his anything."
"Did you miss him?" Eric prodded.
Rory weighed her options of telling the truth or lying "Yes, I did. He was a friend and I did miss him, that's no secret. I even tried to get the address of the military school but I couldn't."
"He thinks…thought…thinks…Ok, honestly I don't know what he still believes, but he used to believe that you hated him. He once told me that you actually flat out said you hated him." Eric told her. "Personally, I think you're too nice to do that and he was exaggerating."
Realization dawned on Rory; she had actually said that she hated him.
"That had nothing to do with me? Well I must have imagined it all then. Your boyfriend's waiting." Dean said going to get back into his truck.
"He's not my boyfriend. I hate him." Rory yelled, loud enough for anyone in a 50 foot radius to hear. At the time she didn't even realize the words had come out of her mouth.
"Whatever."
"Dean." Rory pleaded.
"What?" He snapped at her.
"Stop."
"Why?" He questioned.
"Because I love you, you idiot." Rory told him. Though if she was honest with herself it wasn't Dean she was saying it to. No, it was the blonde haired, blue eyed boy behind her with the extreme look of defeat crossing his features.
Rory had always known deep down she had a crush on Tristan, it was just always easier to hate him. He was cocky and constantly throwing sexual innuendos at her, she just figured the dislike outweighed the like.
"I-I never hated him." She said quietly.
Eric smiled kindly at her "I'm pretty sure he knows that, now."
"I hope so." Rory mumbled just as Tristan walked up to the two.
"Talking about me?" He smirked and playfully nudged Rory's shoulder.
"Yup." Rory smiled.
"About how much you missed me, Ror? That you want my sexy self now just as much as you did back in high school?"
"Nah, I was just telling her about your first week in North Carolina. You know, what the seniors did to you." Eric told him.
"You didn't!" Tristan's eyes widened and his voice was panicked.
"You're right, I didn't, but I'm sure I will at some point." Eric laughed.
"Well, now I wanna know!" Rory complained.
"Never." Tristan shook his head "That is a secret I intend to take to my grave."
"Mean." Rory whined.
"I brought you coffee" Tristan said motioning to the Starbucks cup in his hand "How mean am I?"
Rory grabbed the cup out of his hand. "You're not mean at all!" she said brightly and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking over to the mailboxes to chat with Sammie.
"You still like her, don't you?" Eric asked.
"I don't think I ever stopped." Tristan shrugged.
"Alright, everyone! It's show time! Campers and parents have started to arrive, get down to your assigned areas!" Wendy called before walking out of the office with a swarm of yellow shirted young adults following her.
Each counselor was assigned fifteen campers of various ages that they were responsible for. They had to account for all of their campers first thing in the morning, during lunch and at the end of the day.
During the day counselors would supervise classes, such as sports, water activities, arts and crafts, drama and creative writing.
Two counselors were paired up for each class, usually a girl and a boy. Wendy picked the teams so no one would argue.
--------------------------------
Rory was sitting at her post doodling on a piece of scrap paper when two little girls with bright green eyes and curly red hair walked up to her. "Are you Rory?" one asked in a small voice.
"Yes, I am. Who are you?" She asked leaning down to their level.
"I'm Danielle and this is my twin sister Darla. Our mommy said you're our counselor."
"Do you two want to help me find your names on my list?" Rory asked the two little girls, who nodded wildly in response.
"Ok." Rory pulled her list of names out and showed it to the little girls "Where are your names?"
"THERE!" Danielle yelled excitedly pointing.
"Danielle and Darla Ross. You're both six years old?"
"I'm five minutes older!" Darla said proudly causing her sister to pout and Rory to laugh.
"How about you two sit here and help me check off the other girls in our group when they come." Rory suggested. She knew that little kids loved to feel like they were helping.
"OK!" Both girls said in unison.
Twenty minutes later Rory had all fifteen girls. Darla, Danielle, Tory, Kiah, Emily, Mackenzie, Casey, Melissa, Shelby, Brittany, Nikki, Jen, Aubrey, Paige and Shannon.
"How old are you?" A brunette, thirteen year old named Nikki asked.
"Twenty." Rory answered knowing there were a lot more of these types of questions coming.
"Do you live in Hartford?" Shannon who appeared to be Nikki's best friend questioned.
"No, I live in a little town outside of Hartford called Stars Hollow." Rory smiled "How
many of you have been to this camp before?"
Everyone except for Darla, Danielle and Kiah who were her youngest campers raised their hands.
"Then I don't need to get to into the rules, you all know what you are and what you are not allowed to do?" Rory asked looking at all of the girls, who were nodding.
"First off, I want you all to be able to come to me with anything. It's important that we all trust each other. We're stuck together until the last week in august and it will be a lot easier if we all get along.
"Agreed?"
"Agreed," they all replied at the same time.
"Secondly. Darla, Danielle and Kiah are our youngest campers in the group. I obviously cannot be everywhere so would you all help me keep a look out for them. Not babysitting but if you happen to be in their classes or you see something happening, you watch out for them or help them if they need it?"
"We can do that." Aubrey said and everyone nodded.
"I don't think there is anything else…You all know the schedules and everything. Oh, Boys." Rory began. "You all know how to conduct yourselves appropriately with boys at camp. No sneaking of to the equipment sheds. You know the consequence if that happens."
Her campers responded by nodding their heads intently.
"And, my own rule is you must inform me of any juicy gossip that happens. Just because I'm old, doesn't mean I want to be out of the loop." Rory said causing her campers to giggle.
She had decided she was going to try the Lorelai Gilmore method of authority. Don't force rules on them, give them guidelines and be their friend. It was an awkward age and the last thing these kids needed was someone ordering them around.
Tristan watched as Rory talked to her campers. He didn't really know what to think of her being a counselor, he'd only ever seen her at Chilton and that wasn't the best environment to observe someone in.
He liked her approach, she wasn't bossy or stiff like some of the other counselors he'd seen come into the camp.
"Attention! Campers, Counselors!" Wendy said from the stairs of the camp office gaining everyone's attention.
"Most of you are aware that during the summer we pair up a girls group and a boys group. We have summer games which teams will go against each other but that will all be explained at a later date."
Chatter over took the crowd and Wendy waited for the counselors to quiet the children.
"The teams as are follows: Red team: Eric and Abigail, Green team: Jeff and Sammie, Blue team: Tristan and Rory, Purple team: Frankie and Kelsey and last but certainly not least the yellow team is Jake and Tina." Wendy announced "You have about ten minutes for your teams to meet and then the first class will begin!"
Tristan silently thanked god that he had managed to get paired up with Rory. He had no idea if Wendy had done it intentionally or it was pure coincidence but either way he was ecstatic.
"I'm glad we got Tristan, I had him last year. He's hot." Nikki said smiling brightly.
"I remember! We kept trying to set him up with Abby but he kept saying that counselor relationships weren't allowed." Aubrey added.
"Which is bullshit because I know for a fact Kelsey and Jake were dating last year." Mackenzie contributed.
"Language." Rory warned.
"Sorry."
"Are you single?" Emily questioned with an evil glint in her eyes.
'The name Emily and an evil glint in her eye. Add about fifty years and you've got my grandmother.' Rory shook her head of get rid of the thought.
"Yeah, Mary. Are you single?" Tristan asked walking up to her with his campers following.
"Mary? I thought her name was Rory." One of his campers said from behind him.
Rory just laughed "See what you do Tristan? You confuse the children!"
"Her name is Rory. Mary is a nickname I had for her a long time ago." Tristan informed them. "I'll be right back I'll go get our assignment."
--------------------------------
Rory nodded and sat on the picnic table watched the kids talk amongst themselves when a little boy walked up to her.
"I'm Travis." He told her.
"I'm Rory. How do you do?"
"Good."
"That's good." Rory smiled as the cute little boy with glasses and a khaki vest on.
"I like bugs. Do you?" He asked her.
"I don't-" Rory began but before she could finish a bug came flying out of the boys cupped hands at her. "OH MY GOD!" She screamed as she jumped up and fell into Tristan's arms. He looked down at her confused then she pointed to the little boy "He had a bug."
Tristan smiled and released Rory before walking over and kneeling in front of the little boy. "Hey Trav."
"Tristan!" The little boy said excitedly and threw himself into Tristan's arms for a hug.
Rory's heart melted a little at the sight of Tristan, the formally known heartless playboy of Chilton Prep, giving a little boy a hug.
The little boy let go and Tristan smiled "Who's your counselor this year?"
"Frankie." He said sadly. "I wanted to have you again."
"Don't worry; you might have me for a class, maybe fishing." Tristan reassured him.
"I hope so."
"Now, what did I tell you last year about showing girls bugs?"
"Always ask before I show them." Travis said quietly.
"Did you ask Rory?"
"No." Travis admitted grudgingly.
"Then I think you have something to say to her, don't you?" Tristan asked motioning for Rory to walk over to them.
"I'm sorry for not asking before I showed you the bug." he said quietly.
"It's ok. Next time, I'd love to see your bug but I'd just like a little warning." Rory said sweetly.
"Really?" Travis asked brightly.
Rory nodded and watched the little boy wave and run off.
"Who knew I could make the kid's day by agreeing to see a bug?" Rory laughed.
"You'd be surprised how such a small gesture can mean the world to some of these kids." Tristan told her.
"When did you start working here?" Rory asked as they walked over to where their campers were sitting.
"The summer break after I was shipped off to military school, it was the only thing my mom could think of to keep me out of trouble for the months that I was home."
"And you liked it so much that you decided to come back every summer after?"
"The kids don't judge." he shrugged as a bell rang signaling that the first class was to begin. "C'mon, we've got painting."
"Painting?" Rory asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes Mar, Painting. Finger paints, sponge paints, paint brushes, window paints, the list goes on and on."
"Are there face paints?" Rory asked excitedly.
"As a matter of fact, there are." Tristan said warily.
"You'd look adorable as a tiger." Rory told him.
"No."
"Yeah, I bet I can even get the girls in our class to agree with me." Rory smiled innocently.
"I refuse to let you paint my face like a tiger…I haven't had my face painted since I was probably five years old."
"Well, you're what? Twenty? It's been fifteen years, I think it's time to try it again." She smiled and grabbed his hand as she skipped to the painting center.
Rory decided working with Tristan this summer was going to be fun, she'd already seen a side to him that she hadn't been aware existed. A side that showed compassion and sensitivity, not to mention he gained major points by providing her with coffee.
The kids she was with and the memories of Tristan brought her back to a time when her life wasn't so screwed up. Before she had slept with Dean and broke up his marriage, before she had started casually dating Logan, before she had gotten arrested. More importantly, when school was something she valued just as much as her family and friends.
Note: I am aware there were a lot of names were mentioned in this chapter but most of them will not play a large role in the story. Most of it was to give you an idea of the environment that Tristan and Rory are in.
Reviews are always appreciated!