Monopoly
Chapter 1
A/N: See the prologue for the disclaimer. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy the beginning of, what I hope will be, a pretty good story.
Important note: There's no Dean in this story. =) I'm sorry, but I don't like him and I don't want to waste a perfectly good story making Rory dump him for some reason or another! BTW: if you're wondering what Monopoly has to do with this, you'll find out in the next few chapters or so.
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Rory opened the door of the school library, dropping her backpack down by the door. Walking toward her usual spot by the window, she saw that it was occupied. Rolling her eyes, she sat at a written-on table near the librarian's desk and opened Metamorphosis, instantly getting comfortable despite the hard wooden chair she was sitting in. Making a point to glare at the person who had stolen her chair by the window, she was more than shocked to discover that he was staring at her. Rory quickly turned her eyes back to her book. Much to her dismay, the boy walked over to her and stood in front of her for a few minutes, waiting to be acknowledgement.
"Yes?" Rory asked, not bothering to look up from her book.
"Uh… hi. Rory Gilmore, right?" At the mention of her name Rory looked up and surveyed him. Raising her eyebrows, she replied.
"It depends on who's asking – and, by the way, who are you?" He looked completely offended at the fact that she didn't know him. A smirk appeared on his face, and she rolled her eyes. No, it didn't have the same effect on her as Tristan's.
"John Parker, at your service." Rolling her eyes again at his inanity, she smiled. He was a good looking guy, for the most part. Dark brown hair, blue eyes. Like Tristan's. Shaking her head as if to remove her last thought from her head, Rory sighed.
"Something the matter?"
"What? No. Of course not. But… I'm kind of wondering – why did you come over to talk to me? I don't even know who you are."
Ignoring her question, John glanced at her book. Oh, reading Metamorphosis? That was a good book." She smiled at him, temporarily forgetting the fact that he avoided answering her question.
"You liked it? I think it's pretty interesting so far." She was beginning to warm up to him. At least now she could talk to someone about books. As appealing as that sounded, she realized that she had to be pretty pathetic to think of something like that.
"I can kind of relate to the character, anyway. It must suck to have everyone hate you for being, well, you." His smile faltered a bit, but he managed to grin at her.
"What do you mean? How could everyone hate you? You seem nice." Confused by his previous statement, Rory turned her attention to him, placing her book down temporarily.
"Well, not everyone hates me. It's just – a few people, I guess."
"Like who?" Rory didn't understand. Why would anyone hate him? He appeared to be so down to earth.
"Well, one person in particular. And I guess all of his friends hate me now too. Yeah, I've gotten a few threats." He looked at her, hoping to see pity in her eyes. He grinned to himself, happy to see that she looked almost sympathetic.
"What did you do to this person?"
"That's just the thing. I didn't do anything to him. He just hates me because… well… it's kinda personal." Hoping that his last comment would send her over the edge, John waited for her to plead.
"Oh. Okay." His smile disappeared. He was surprised to know that she wasn't concerned at all.
"Um, anyway. I was wondering, would you like to go somewhere with me after school? Maybe to get a cup of coffee or something?" Please, he told himself. Please accept. Oh well, I'm a good manipulator.
Rory looked unsure for a moment. Should she accept his offer? After all, it wasn't like she was going out to dinner with him. They were going to get a cup of coffee. And if coffee was involved, she found it hard to refuse. "Yea, I guess that would be okay."
John's nervous smile turned into a grin. "You won't regret it. I guess I'll see you after school. I know where your locker is. We'll arrange everything then." As soon as he was done with his comment, the bell rang. "See ya later, Rory. It was nice talking with you." As he was walking away, he couldn't believe his good luck. What a way to get back at Tristan for what he did to me. This is going to be easier than I thought. He left the library with a malicious grin on his face.
Rory smiled up at him, and watched him walk away. He seemed like a nice person, but something about him made her feel – different. She couldn't quite place it, but it wasn't a good feeling.
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After the last bell of the day rang, Rory fumbled with the lock of her locker, opening it carefully. She had too many problems with this locker to know that if she opened it too hard, it would bounce back in her face. She wasn't in the mood to be hit in the face today.
After she was done getting her books for the evening, she leaned against her locker, waiting for John to come. Tristan walked to his locker next to hers and stared at her for a minute.
For a second she met his stare but turned away quickly. Luckily for her, John walked up to her and greeted her, ending the awkward moment between Rory and Tristan. She smiled at him, silently thanking him. However, John didn't notice her smile; because he was too busy glaring at Tristan. Curiously, Rory turned to Tristan, noting that he had the same look of dislike on his face as John's.
"Ready to go, Rory? I'm sure the coffee doesn't like to be kept waiting. I'll drive." Turning her attention back to John, she smiled and nodded. They began to walk down the hall. Glancing back at Tristan, she found him staring at John, a look of pure hate and anger on his face. He turned his gaze to her, looking slightly confused, and shook his head. After he had turned his attention back to his locker, Rory turned around.
As they were walking in the parking lot of the school, Rory noticed that John was walking at a fast pace, and she had to run to keep up with him. He didn't stop until he was in the driver's seat of his black BMW. After throwing her backpack in the trunk of his car, Rory sat down in the passenger's seat.
"So, where to?" He asked, grinning.
"Um... Starbucks? It's a poor substitute for Luke's coffee, but I'm not going to introduce you to the town yet. You might get a bad impression of me." She laughed, and smiled when he agreed to go to Starbucks, a 10 minute drive from the school.
Turning on the radio, he focused on driving, while Rory made a note to herself to bring up the subject of Tristan later on.