"I thought you were going to talk to him?" Marcus confronted her before breakfast.

"I tried!" Rory said defensively. "He wasn't exactly in his most responsive mode last night."

"Will you try again?" Marcus pleaded with him.

"IF the opportunity arises…maybe. How is he?"

"Pretty sore. A couple of stitches. Bruises mostly," Marcus said. "Look, he's over by the cereal table."

Marcus nudged her.

"Okay, okay."

Rory grabbed a bowl from the beginning of the buffet line and walked over to the cereal table.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him.

He didn't look up. He didn't need to. He knew it was her. He could see her approaching from the corner of his eye.

"Not bad. How's Louise?"

Rory looked over to the Chilton table to see Louise sitting on bench, legs crossed, and flirting outrageously with the boy across the aisle.

"She'll be fine." Rory tried to get a look at his face but he kept it down. "I'm sorry you got hurt."

"Thanks," he said out of politeness. He turned to go back to his table, but Rory caught his elbow and turned him around.

"I don't hate you!" The words spilled out of her mouth before she knew it.

"That's nice to know."

"No, you're not listening. I. DON'T. HATE. YOU."

"I. HEARD. THE. FIRST. TIME."

"Okay, so if I don't hate you…then why aren't we friends?" Rory asked with a nervous smile.

He looked up at her and for the first time she saw his battered face.

"Did you maybe consider that I don't like you?" Tristan said.

"What? Since when don't you like me?"

"Forget it," he said turning away again.

"What? No! I will not forget! What did I do? Tell me what I did," she pleaded tugging on his arm.

He pulled his arm away and ignored her.

"What happened?" Marcus asked her after Tristan stormed out of the hall.

"I don't know!" Rory exclaimed. "All of the sudden he's moody, and…Did you hear what he said? He doesn't like me! Are you playing some sick joke on me? Setting me up?"

"No. I swear, no! I don't know what's gotten into him," Marcus said, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm going to go talk to him. I'll see you at the trivia comp."

"What is wrong with you?!" Marcus shook his friend by the shoulders.

Tristan shrugged.

"She's just not who I thought she was," Tristan said.

"What? Are you crazy?"

"Possibly. I thought I loved her. Then this morning I woke up and realised. I hardly know her. And I'm sick of her judging me."

"No, no, no, no! Not now! Don't be thinking this now!" Marcus urged.

"What? Why?"

"Because. Because…she's crazy about you, you fool!" Marcus lied.

"Come again?"

"Yes! She told me last night. She's fallen for you," he went on. "She was trying to tell you this morning but you blew her off."

"Telling me she doesn't hate me and telling me she likes me are two different things, Marc."

"You butt-wipe! Think about it! She's not exactly going to tell you she likes you when you're acting all….blah towards her!"

"But she has a boyfriend. A good boyfriend. Why the sudden urge?" he questioned.

"She's seen a different side of you. The gentlemanly side."

"Getting into a fist fight isn't exactly gentlemanly behaviour," Tristan pointed out.

"You were defending a girl's honour."

"Louise has no honour," Tristan said harshly.

Marcus gave out a frustrated cry.

"You can't possibly be telling me that you no longer have feelings for the girl," Marcus challenged him.

Tristan shrugged.

"Well why did you like her in the first place? Geez!"

Tristan shrugged again.

"I'll tell you why," said Marcus, marching over to Tristan's bed and pulling out his diary from beneath it. He ripped out a page and shoved it in his face. "This is why!"

Tristan looked over at the worn piece of paper.

"Things change," he said.

"Perhaps," said Marcus. "But I want you to read over what you wrote and cross off all the things that have changed about her. I've got a trivia comp to attend."

Marcus left the cabin, leaving Tristan to his thoughts.

He looked at the paper lying next to him. He had written it a month before.

"Why I Love Rory Gilmore," he read aloud. He read through the list, not being able to cross any of them off.

"Who am I kidding? I still love her," he said to the empty cabin. Suddenly he felt very bad. "I need to talk to her."