It was Thursday morning and Rory couldn't concentrate. Using her pen, she scratched viciously into her paper:

FRIDAY...

Rory looked down at what she'd been penning down in Science lab the whole day. The word 'Friday' encompassed three pages of lined paper, taunting her. Big Friday's, small Friday's, loopy Friday's, fancy Friday's, angry Friday's, they were all written down in her handwriting.

Sitting next to her, Paris leaned over not-so-discreetly, "What's happening on Friday?"

She startled Rory, who was already on the verge of starting a giant 'Friday' for the back cover of her notebook. She sat up a little and closed the notebook, "Oh, nothing."

"I know what it is," Paris said excitedly.

"You do?"

"Yeah! Everyone knows about it!"

"About what?! And could you please lower your voice?" Rory asked, eyeing her Science teacher nervously.

"Big man-on-campus. You know. The....date..." Paris winked. The fact that Paris hardly ever winked only heightened Rory's alarm.

"Date? What date?!" she asked, as nonchalantly as possible, trying desperately to mask her fear. But then again, why should she be afraid? This was an innocent dinner after all. Yeah, right. How many times had she told that lie to herself. She buried her head in her hands.

"How do you know?" Rory asked warily.

"Tristan just about told everyone on campus!" Paris trilled, "Of course, you should be concentrating on your studies..." she frowned disapprovingly, "But it's alright...I forgive you."

Rory and Paris were lab partners, and they had just been assigned another project together. Rory could at least smile at the fact that Paris was really excited for her. It was nice to have a friend. It was hard when Lane and herself hardly ever saw each other. She definitely needed to bond with Paris more. And then a thought struck her.

"So Paris," she asked casually, "You free this Friday?"

Paris squinted into some imaginary corner of her mind, where all her dates and figures were kept, "Actually, I have an English project due next week...but I should be able to finish it by today. Why?"

A smile crept up Rory's face, "You wanna come along with Tristan and I?" Inside her head, she reasoned. Tristan has no reason to be mad. After all, this is just a dinner 'for fun'. He can always adjust the reservations, I'm sure. And then I can go to Jess' dinner after Tristan's....it was perfect, fool-proof...Rory congratulated herself.

"Sure, that sounds like fun!" Paris said, a little too eagerly. Rory frowned. There was honestly something iffy going on with Paris. But she decided not to dwell on it too much.

At the end of Science, as they were walking out, Paris thanked her once again for inviting her.

"No problem!" Rory smiled, but inside she could feel her heart sinking. If only Jess hadn't invited her to go for dinner on the same day...she'd wanted desperately to be alone with Tristan.