Friends First
Tristan Dugay strutted down the hallway. He loved going to Chilton, he had always been the most popular guy in his class, and now that he was a senior in the whole school. All the freshman girls stared as he passed them, and giggled once he went by. Most days it annoyed him, but today he needed some self esteem. He was headed for the guidance office for his weekly meeting. Although he had been given many opportunities in his life because of his families wealth he hadn't spent them very well. He had slacked off on his school work every year and the whole chance he stood at going to a good school was his final exams, and that was only because of his father's money. Tristan had come to this realization halfway through the first semester of this year and had worked his butt off taking extra classes to make up for all of his near failures.
"Come on in Tristan," said his
guidance counsellor as he stepped through the doorway. Mrs. Black had been
helping him get his act together all year and had helped with everything.
Tristan sat in the chair opposite her desk and looked on curiously as she stood
near the window, looking outside constantly.
Tristan coughed quietly to get her
attention and she turned around and looked at him. It wasn't the same kind and
helpful face he was used to seeing, she looked really mad and upset. "Is there
something wrong?" He asked nervously.
"Is there something wrong? Of course
there is. The fact that slackers who don't care at all can get into college
while so many people who deserve it much more can't!" She almost yelled, pacing
around the room.
"What.." He began, but she stopped
and looked at him.
"Oh I'm sorry Tristan. It's almost
the end of the year, I've got a lot on my mind, I didn't mean to snap at you
like that. I know how hard you've been working this year."
Tristan just looked at her shocked.
"What? Who?"
Mrs. Black went and sat back at her
desk. "Rory Gilmore."
"Rory? What are you talking about?"
"She can't afford to go to Harvard.
There's no way she can, and she's such a great kid, and worked so hard it's not
fair for her."
Tristan sighed. He'd had his share
of run-ins with Rory as well. Their entire sophomore year had been spent
exchanging harsh words and even one tender kiss. Tristan had had the biggest
crush on Rory, but she had absolutely hated him. She broke his heart on the
last day of school ditching him for her old boyfriend. And since then they had
only spoken a few polite words. "Wow, that's got to really suck," he said,
trying to hide his true emotions from the teacher.
"It sure does.." she said sighing
and looking away.
Tristan
immediately knew she thought he must be an insensitive jerk, so he continued,
"That really sucks. You were telling the truth before. Why do I get all these
stupid opportunities when I barely even care. Can't she get a scholarship or
something?"
"She tried. They can't cover all of the costs. We've
tried everything. She came in here just before you in tears about it."
Tristan felt his heart clench up. He thought he had
managed to bury his Rory feelings, but it seemed they were ready to emerge. "Do
you," he paused and tried to decide whether this was the right thing to do or
not. "Do you know where she is? I think she could probably use a friend right
now."
"I told her to go home, but I don't know if you're
the kind of friend she would want to see right now Tristan. You with all the
doors opening up in front of you after hers just slammed shut." She looked up
and saw how sincere he looked. "On the other hand maybe you could give her a flicker
of hope."
Tristan smiled at her and
got up. "See you next week Mrs. Black" he said as he closed the door behind
him. He rushed out to the parking lot and hopped into his SUV.
"Mom, I really don't see what that would do."
Lorelai groaned.
"Just think about it for a minute Lorelai. When you
are upset what do you want to do?" Emily asked.
"Mope."
"Well I've heard you tell Rory on plenty of
occasions that moping is not the way to solve your problems."
"No mom. That's you telling her that. I tell her to
mope."
"Lorelai…" Emily said loudly.
"Okay mom. We'll do what you want like always. But
remember this is my house. Next time I make the decision."
"Great," Emily said standing up quickly. Now I was
thinking we could whip up a cake.."
"Do you know how to 'whip up a cake'?"
"No."
"Me neither. How about we buy a cake."
"Yes, yes, whatever dear.
Cake, now some decorations. Who should we invite?"
Tristan drove into Stars Hollow and found the
Gilmore B&B. Rory's car wasn't parked outside so he figured she must have
stopped somewhere along the way just like he would have. He turned his vehicle
around and drove out the other way back towards Chilton thinking about where
she might go. Then he realized that the Stars Hollow Inn had a large park
behind it where they had held their Chilton party two years ago at Rory's
request. He remembered overhearing her tell everyone it was her favourite place
on earth.
As he drove into the parking lot he saw Rory's
scrappy little car at the edge of the lot. He drove up and parked beside it. He
must have come to the right place but where was she now?
He wandered
around the paths leading out from the parking lot and was almost about to give
up when he spotted a little cabin in the woods. He peeked in the window. "Storage.
Should have figured." He thought to himself . He turned around and
right at the base of a tree was a girl stretched out.
"Rory?" He called over. The girl didn't answer so he
went closer to investigate. Within a few steps he could tell it definitely was
Rory, and she was definitely asleep. He sat down on the ground a few feet away
from her. She was so beautiful, how could he have been able to forget about
her. Sure, the fact that she had a boyfriend was one reason, the other was
probably that she hated his guts, but he couldn't help the way he felt towards
her.
Tristan sat there for a few minutes, a few times he
was going to wake her up, but she probably needed the rest, plus she was so
cute sleeping there. A bug crawled towards her head and he leaned over to sweep
it away, accidentally brushing her arm as he did. She sort of shook and her
eyes opened slowly. Tristan couldn't do anything but stare, even though he was
still leaning right over top of her. She opened her eyes and closed them again,
then she opened them widely, her eyebrows creasing.
"What!? What am I? What are you!" She said
quickly sitting up and knocking him away. "Tristan?" She said totally confused.
"Uh.. yeah" he said incapable of saying anything
else.
"What are you doing here? Why were right I my face
when I woke up? Were you like going to kiss me or something? That's weird okay,
I was asleep!"
"Umm.. No! No, nothing like that. I came to make
sure you were alright."
"Alright? Alright about what? And how did you know I
was here."
"I guessed okay. And I guess you aren't as upset as
Mrs. Black made it sound. Actually you seem to be your normal self again."
Tristan said standing up, as he began to put his fronts back up. He couldn't
let Rory know he still liked her.
"What! She told you. That was supposed to be
private!" Rory yelled getting to her feet as well.
"Well she told me okay. Maybe she thought we could
help each other." He said grasping for strings so he could be with her longer.
" Help each other! With what? You have a perfect
life. You can go to any college you want. I'm the one with problems okay. You
can't even begin to imagine."
"Uh huh? You want to bet. I wasn't going to be able
to go to college either. Maybe not for the same reasons, but I did something
about it besides falling asleep in the woods."
"Why do you even care? I don't get it!" Rory said,
utterly confused.
"I don't know. I felt bad."
"Felt bad! You should feel bad! You barely work at
all and can get in anywhere while I work as hard as possible and can't go at
all." She said, sitting down again. She could feel the tears coming, but had to
stay brave. Tristan was a jerk and she wasn't going to let him see that.
"Rory, I wish it wasn't like that. I really wish
that you could live your dreams. I barely even know you but I know that you of
all people deserve at least that, and plenty more." He said dropping to his
knees to look her in the eyes. She stared back at him, eyes wide open with
tears beginning to well up. "I want you to know that I will help you okay. I
feel so bad that this has to happen to you and I want to be able to support
you. What do you say? Friends?"
Rory was still shocked. She didn't know that there
was this much human inside of Tristan. She had hated him from the first moment
she had met him and he had insisted upon calling her Mary. She looked at the
ground.
"Rory, I promise I don't mean anything else except
that I want you to be my friend all right. I think we could actually both
benefit from it a lot, I want to get to know you."
Rory sighed and looked up. She could see in his eyes
he was being truthful. There was no way he could be pulling a prank on her it
was too sincere. "All right." She said
Tristan stood up and offered her a hand. She grabbed
it and he helped to pull her up. He was about to let go, but she grabbed his
hand tighter, she felt so safe and secure. She looked up and saw him looking at
her curiously. "I like this," she said. He grinned and they walked back towards
their cars.