Thanx 4 all the reviews thus far! I should probably clarify, Traverse City's in upstate Michigan, and Tristan and Co. are going BECAUSE the parents are gonna be in Italy and there'll be extra room. I realize I worded that wrong, and I apologize. Lack of time and lack of sleep will do that to a person. I will be updating more often now, because all of the projects that I have been swamped with lately are FINALLY DONE! (Dances around joyfully) Oh, all of the places mentioned in this chapter and the last chapter are real, and I DON"T OWN ANY OF THEM. (Except the cabin, well, my parents do) I do own Sunny (she's modeled after my dog, right down to the name). Oh, and I figured out that I've been spelling Lorelai wrong, so from now on it will be spelled L-O-R-E-L-A-I. I was spelling it with an 'E' because that's what the spell check said to do, but the spell check is wrong, damn it! Ok, we can finally get back to the fic now…

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"Turn here" Tristan instructed Rory, pointing to a dirt road. She had begged to take over the driving, and Tristan had finally let her. Rory loved to be behind the wheel of his SUV. It was so much fun to drive, much better than her mom's Explorer or Luke's truck. Tristan was riding shotgun, and Mona and Matt were in the backseat. Danni, Amanda, Sarah, and Washu had taken Sarah's car. Sarah didn't live on the island, like Tristan, she was a summer visitor. She had her BMW X5 parked where Tristan's car was.

After driving along the dirt road for about a mile, Rory finally pulled into the driveway of a cabin. It was made entirely of logs, and it had two floors. The ceiling was lofty and the cabin looked large. The driveway turned into a parking lot situated behind the cabin, but it also sloped down to one of the side doors of the cabin. There were steps leading down to the other side door.

"Tristan!" A girl with blond hair and a nice tan came running out of the cabin.

"Hey, Luce! These are my friends: Matt, Rory, Sarah, Amanda, Mona, Danni, and Washu.

The girl looked puzzled. "Washu?"

"It's the name of an anime character. My friends and I are each a character from the show Tenchi Muyo. Ashley's Ayeka, Chelsea's Sasami, I'm Washu, and Paula's Ryoko. Our friend Ben is Tenchi. Unfortunately, none of the rest of them could come, as Ashley and Chelsea is at Chelsea's condo in Florida, and Paula's probably having a roll in the sack with Jeff."

Lucy just looked confused. "Ok… Well, come on in, I'll show you around."

The group followed her down the steps and into one of the side doors. "My brother's here, but he and his girlfriend haven't left Mom and Dad's room since we got here last night." Mona looked disgusted. "It's the only one with a double bed," Lucy explained. "Besides, the sheets are brand-new. Here's the bathroom, and this is the back room, we mostly just use it for storage, and for the dog. She ran away this afternoon, but she'll be back." The group went up a step into a great room/kitchen. "This is the great room, and this," Lucy led the group to two bedrooms "is my brother's room, where you and Matt will be sleeping, Tristan. Don't worry; the sheets in here are new, too." The little bedroom had two twin beds, set up in an 'L' shape against the walls. There were two dressers, and a luggage stand was in the corner. Tristan and Matt decided to unpack, while Lucy led the way up a spiral staircase to a small landing with a railing. She opened a door. "This is my room. Hope you girls don't mind sharing!" Nobody minded, luckily.

The loft room was large and gorgeous. It ran the entire length, and almost the entire width, of the cabin. 3 of the four walls had windows, each with a gorgeous view. There were two daybeds, one against each wall. There was a long table between the beds. There was no overhead light, but there were lamps scattered all over the place. One wall had shelves hung up on it. There were six in all. Knickknacks were on the two dressers. There was also a closet. It was attached to the wall, but it stuck out. Posters were scattered around the walls, and two cots were set up near the daybeds. A small bathroom was at one end of the room. It barely held the sink, toilet, and shower stall. "There's a bigger bathroom with a tub downstairs" said Lucy. "But it's a lot easier with two bathrooms, so Mom and Dad had this one built.

"Do you share this room?" Mona inquired.

"No, but I usually have guests when we come up here, thus the extra daybed and dresser. The other daybed makes a great couch. Plus the stuff all came as a set, so…"

"I see." Danni plopped her stuff down on one of the cots. "I'll take this bed… I don't mind sleeping on cots."

"I don't care which bed I have," said Mona, "as long as it's not a cot."

Rory had already put her backpack down on the other daybed, without really thinking about it. "Well, I guess we know which bed Rory wants" Amanda said, chuckling. Rory blushed. "I don't need to have a daybed; do any of you want it?"

"No, no, it's fine babe. I'll take the other cot," said Sarah.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Guess that leaves Washu and Mona with the trundle beds" said Lucy. The girls unpacked their stuff quickly, and went outside. They found Matt and Tristan sitting on the huge back deck, which overlooked the lake. They were sipping cokes and grinning. "I don't think they'll stop checking the curtains anytime soon!" said Matt. Lucy groaned.

"Do NOT tell me…" the boy's grins were answer enough. "Ewwwwwwwwwwwww" Lucy moaned in disgust. Just then, a golden Labrador retriever ran up the steps onto the deck. "Sunny!" Lucy yelled. The dog began to jump on Sarah, licking her face and sniffing her hair. "Where were you? Come on." Lucy grabbed the dog's collar and led her into the cottage. She shut the half door (you know; the kind of door that has a bottom but no top? Kind of like those old-fashioned stable doors you always see in movies and books) that separated the back room from the rest of the cottage firmly and went back outside. Sunny just flopped on her bed, panting.

"I'm hungry" Tristan stood up. "What's for dinner?"

"There's a great place if you want burgers," said Lucy. "My appetite's gone now, (she glared at the boys) but I can take you there if you want. Bring your roller blades!" Everyone got them and put them in the trunk of Lucy's car, and Lucy grabbed her's and her brother's out of the shed for Rory.

Amanda's stomach growled loudly, and she laughed. "I'm ready to go!" she said. The rest of the group agreed. Lucy knocked on the bedroom window, and yelled that the teens were going to Sledder's; did the couple want to come along? Lucy's 21 year old brother, Rob, shouted "No!" Rory, Tristan, Matt, Sarah, and Washu all piled into Tristan's car. The remaining four climbed into the brand-new Mustang Cobra belonging to Lucy.



By the time they got to Sledder's, the place was packed. Matt spotted a huge round table, and grabbed it for the group. The place was crowded, noisy, and smoky. The bar and all of the tables and chairs were made of old, scarred wood. There was a non-smoking room, obviously an addition, off to the side. That, too, was packed. The walls were decorated with the heads of various animals. A bell rang behind the counter, and Rory looked up to see a little girl being lifted off of a ladder. "Someone kissed the moose!" exclaimed Lucy. Washu wrinkled her nose. "People actually kiss that thing?"

"It's fun! You used to get a free T-Shirt when you did it, but now all you get is some people clapping for you."

Tristan looked suggestively at Rory. "You wanna be my moose?"

Rory sighed. "Tristan, you've been so good all summer. Don't ruin it now!"

A waitress came over, and took the group's orders of burgers, fries, and sodas. "This place is great!" said Danni.

"Yeah, it's one of my favorite restaurants" agreed Lucy. "So, Tristan, how are Aunt Louise and Uncle Martin?"

Tristan sighed. "Not too bad- for them. Dad's always working, and Mom's always away, so they don't even see each other most of the time, anyway. Tess is with her friend Laura for the summer in New Orleans," said Tristan, referring to his twin sister, who went to boarding school in New York City, and had been for most of her life. Tristan used to go there, too, but he had gotten expelled due to some "minor" pranks he had pulled his freshman year. He had liked Cranbrook (actually, Cranbrook is in Michigan, but whatever) a lot better then Chilton. There were no uniforms required, and he had been able to live away from his parents.

"Oh." Lucy felt bad for her cousin. His parents didn't care about him or Tess much at all, they were never home. As a result, Tristan and Tess stayed away from home as much as possible. Lucy had always had a happy life at home, her parents cared about her and Rob, and they did whatever they could to be good parents.

"So, guys, how's life on Mackinac Island?" Lucy asked suddenly, turning the conversation to a cheerier topic. The teens kept up an easy chatter while they finished their meals. Each of them made sure to kiss the moose before they left the restaurant.

After dinner, the teens got ice cream from a stand across the street, and decided to work off the calories by blading along the bay. They laced up their skates and rolled off, crossing a busy street before coming to a paved path that ran along Grand Traverse Bay for miles. They skated, laughed, and had a good time. When Mona began to complain of achy legs, they decided to head back to the cabin.

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When the 9 kids got back to the cabin, they found Rob sitting at the kitchen table with a leggy blonde. "Wow, you're up" commented Lucy. "Hi, Katie, nice to see you." Katie returned the greeting.

"Shut up, Luce" said Rob, scowling. "We just came out to get food. But I see the lake…" he turned toward his girlfriend "and I'm thinking we could have some fun there." Katie grinned and nodded, and the couple ran out the door, dressed only in robes. Tristan yawned. "I'm gonna go to bed" he said, going into his room, followed by Matt. The girls decided to follow their example, and headed upstairs.

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"So, guys, how's your summer been so far?"

"Not too bad" answered Amanda.

"Where are you from, Lucy?" asked Rory.

"I'm from Bloomfield Hills. It's in Lower Michigan, about half an hour away from Detroit. It's an incredibly boring place, there's not even really a town. It's just a bunch of houses. Luckily, there's Birmingham and Royal Oak to shop in if you want entertainment."

Mona wrinkled her nose. "Sounds boring. At least there's stuff to do on Mackinac."

"It is boring," Lucy agreed. "But what can ya do, right? I'm gonna go to sleep now, I'm tired. You all wanna go into town tomorrow?"

"Sounds good" said Rory. With that, everyone went to sleep.



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OK, ending this chapter. It just seems like a good place to stop. Please R/R! The more reviews I get, the faster the next chap gets up!